Fall Season Begins Soon

We had our tryouts for the 2023 Fall Season last weekend and are looking forward to workin with our coaches to form the teams. For the Fall, we do things a little differently with one practice a week and 4 weekend tournaments in October. We feel like this helps our players navigate their time efficiently if they are playing multiple sports and also prepares them for their school tryouts and basketball season.

Regarding individual and group training, we will begin that again after the Fall Season. If you are interested in specialized training for your son as well as the Spring/Summer AAU season, feel free to email Coach Kingsley or Mike Van Hoozer to get more information and be put on the list.

2021 Basketball Tryouts

We are excited about the upcoming AAU basketball season and are beginning planning and preparation for what this year will look like. We will be having tryouts for our boys 9th grade team as well as a new 7th grade team on February 7th at Campbell Elementary. The 9th grade team will have tryouts from 9 am to 10:30 am, and the 7th grade tryouts will be from 10:30 am to 12 pm. We will be abiding by Katy ISD health and safety protocols including having every player wear a face covering and socially distancing from others when not engaging in an activity on the court. Please make sure that your son brings a mask or face cover to wear.

If you are interested, click on this link to register.

Down But Not Out

Basketball on floor of empty basketball court

This was not the beginning to the Spring/Summer 2020 season that we expected! The world is adjusting to new terms like “social distancing” and new norms of interacting as we adjust to being responsible in response to this pandemic virus. No one could have predicted that the NBA would be postponed, March Madness would have been canceled, and school and churches would have to adjust to virtual interactions. Given all of this, we have temporarily put our season on hold. Your coaches will be in touch with you about the rest of the season and when we can resume practices and games.

While practices have been postponed for several weeks and AAU tournaments have been canceled for now, you can still work on your game at home. Here are a couple of resources that I have followed for years and highly recommend:

  • Home Court App – This app is being used by a lot of pro teams in addition to college, high school, and youth teams. You can download it from the app store and then use it to both record your shots and skill work and capture excellent analysis of your workout. The app is free and they have different levels of subscriptions. The biggest news is that they have opened up all of their paid features for free until the end of April in response to the current circumstances. You can check it out at: https://www.homecourt.ai
  • Drew Hanlen – Drew Hanlen is an incredible basketball trainer who has worked with college and pro basketball players including Jayson Tatum, Joel Embiid, and Bradley Beal. Drew is a great follow on Instagram and often posts highlights of his training sessions. He also has an app and courses that you can purchase on his web site: https://puresweatbasketball.com. A free resource that he offers is his text community, where you can have him text you daily and weekly drills to do at home. Text this number (314-461-1862) with the message: Include me in this community. You should then be added to the list.
  • Paul Frabritz – Paul is an NBA Performance Specialist who focuses on skill development and vertical jumping ability. He is a great follow on Instagram (@pjfperformance) and often posts videos of skill and vertical jumping skill development sessions. He also has programs that you can purchase and do at home.

The main thing we pray for you and your family is that you are safe during this time and find a way to connect in new ways. Slowing down often allows you to take stock in what matters the most and focus on the most important priorities. We also want our players to continue to develop in mind, body, and spirit and hope these resources that I have suggested will help them continue to grow in their development. Keep checking back for additional thoughts, insight, and resources.

Preparing for the Fall and Beyond

Basketball on floor of empty basketball court

We hope you had a great summer and are back into the flow of the school year! The Spring/Summer season was very impactful for all of our teams, and we are excited to see what the future holds this year and beyond for all of our players. Our goal as coaches is to help them maximize their potential both individually and collectively and prepare them for the next level. While our program is competitive and wants to do our best, we believe that achieving goals and winning are a by-product of focusing on the process of improving every day.

As we begin the new school year, we have been meeting and planning for this next year. Here are some of the things that are coming up in the Fall that may interest you:

  • We will be conducting workouts in the Katy area for our players and teams with some of our coaches and trainers to help them prepare for their school season. Also, some of our Katy Raptors 2024 8th grade teams will be playing in Fall tournaments to complement the school season. Whether you are a current Katy Raptors player or a player who wants to get better and possibly join our program, email Mike Van Hoozer to find out more and to be connected to one of our trainers.
  • We are currently evaluating expanding the number of teams for our high school players. While we have had our Katy Raptors 2022 team playing by grade for the last 3 years, we may look at having a couple of teams at the high school level across 9-12th grade. One possibility would be to have a Varsity and Junior Varsity team. We believe this would help in their development as they move through high school and open up opportunities for high school players that have reached out to our program but could not join a team due to age limitations of our current team. If you are a high school player and are interested in a different and possibly better AAU experience, feel free to email Mike Van Hoozer about your interest in our teams.
  • We also have our Katy Raptors 2025 7th grade team that will be playing school basketball for the first time this year and continuing their AAU tournaments in the Spring/Summer season.

We are always looking to improve the impact that we can make in the lives of our players and teams on and off the court. We feel confident that we have the coaches and trainers to teach them basketball skills and how to play the game the right way. It’s also the X-factors that we want to share that will help them go beyond self-imposed limitations and provide leadership skills that extend beyond the court. Let us know if you want to join in our efforts!

A Great Season So Far

This season has been excellent for all of our teams! Our Katy Raptors basketball program has grown in interest and impact, and we have expanded to 5 teams including one 6th grade team, three 7th grade teams, and one 9th grade team. The boys have improved in their basketball ability and skills, their mental toughness and resiliency, and their leadership on and off the court.

Regarding our 9th grade team, I am so proud of the way they have played this season! They have had to learn to play with some new teammates, and we have had to manage through injuries to key position players. Through it all, they have focused on being present in the moment and giving their best – key principles that we discuss a lot during our Leadership Moments at practice. They have played in 5 very competitive tournaments with an overall record of 17-6. They have made it to the Championship game in every tournament with a first place finish in one of them.

While there have been many great wins along with some tough losses, our best tournament performance may have been the Kingwood Classic. In this tournament, they played in the NCAA Certified Division, won their Pool Play bracket, and lost in the Platinum Division Championship Game finishing with a 4-1 overall record against some of the top teams in the nation!

As our summer schedule begins, we have a couple of open slots if you are interested in joining our 9th grade team and becoming a part of our program. Email Coach Mike Van Hoozer with the following information:

  • Grade and School Team
  • Position, Height, and Weight
  • AAU Experience

2019 Season is off to a great start!

All of our teams are now full and practicing and playing in tournaments! Our 2024 teams have led the way so far with some impressive finishes in their tournaments including final four finishes in the Rytes Warriors Spring Break Tournament this past weekend! We look forward to making this season a great moment and helping to develop our players to be leaders on and off the court!

If you are still interested in playing on one of our teams, you can email me to be put on a waiting list. While we may not be able to get you into one of our programs this year, there still may be opportunities for your son to train with us either in a group or individual setting with one of our coaches or trainers.

Opportunity to Join Our Program

We have a few spots open on our Katy Raptors 2022 9th grade team and are planning a private workout for players who are interested within the next week. You can email me directly or complete our contact form to tell us more about your son and your interest in joining this team and our program. Please include the following information:

  • Name of your son
  • School team and position
  • Any previous AAU experience
  • Your contact information

We will get back to you about a time and place based upon the response. If you are interested, please contact us immediately, so we can plan accordingly. We are excited about the upcoming season and will be starting very soon!

Basketball on floor of empty basketball court

Raptors Win First Tournament!

Both of our Katy Raptors 7th grade teams began the 2019 Spring/Summer AAU season this past weekend in a Prime Time Sports tournament. They showed grit, determination, and teamwork, and we are so proud of all of our players! They competed for the top spots for the weekend resulting in one of our teams placing 4th and the other team taking 1st place!

We have had so much interest in our program and are really excited about the growth of our 2024 teams. We know that they will continue to work hard and maximize their potential both individually and collectively as a team. We are also grateful for some of the new coaches and trainers that have joined our academy including Blanchard Layton and Kingsley Oguchi! They are working hard to share knowledge, insight, and coaching that will help the boys develop into leaders on and off the court!

Interested in Joining Our Team?

We are in the planning stages for our Spring/Summer AAU season and looking forward to developing our leaders on and off the court! If this sounds like something you would be interested in for your son, check out our teams and programs and email me for more information. If you are not a part of one of our teams or academy, we would love to talk to you to see if it is a fit for your student athlete. All of our teams including our 2022 team, which I personally coach, will be looking for a few select athletes to join us for the Spring/Summer AAU season. We also offer skills and shooting training for players who might be a fit for our program.

If you are interested in joining our program, email me with the following information:

  • Your name and phone number
  • Your son’s name
  • Current grade and school
  • Current school team and level and any select teams that he has played for
  • What you are looking for in an AAU basketball program for your son

We are planning some workouts for prospective players in the coming weeks and would be glad to include you in those based on the needs of our teams and the fit within our program. We are very selective on the type of player that will be a good fit for our program and want competitive players who want to develop further as a basketball player and leader on and off the court. We don’t want to just assemble a group of talented individuals. We want to develop a great team of competent and capable leaders who want to be coached and developed to help them maximize their potential and achieve their goals!  

Basketball on floor of empty basketball court

Preparing for the Fall Season and Beyond

We hope that school is going well for everyone! We encourage so many of our athletes to focus on multiple sports and various forms of training both in season and out of season to maximize their talent and abilities. In our experience and in talking with high school and college coaches, they appreciate and recruit multi-sport athletes because of their versatility, athleticism, and leadership.

Basketball on floor of empty basketball court

As it relates to basketball, we hope everyone is planning for a great Fall and Winter season in both competitive youth leagues, Junior High, and High School. The players on our teams have invested time in their Spring and Summer AAU season to grow and become better and look forward to demonstrating what they have learned for their respective school teams.

Our Academy mission is to use basketball as a vehicle to develop leaders on and off the court, and our focus is to prepare them for the next level of competition including high school and college. We want all of our athletes to be successful and impactful leaders who leverage the skills and core values that they learn through our academy in whatever they do. We are confident that we can teach them to play basketball the right way; the differentiator is developing their leadership and mental toughness skills.

If this sounds like something you would be interested in for your son, check out our teams and programs and email me for more information. If you are not a part of one of our teams or academy, we would love to talk to you to see if it is a fit for your student athlete. All of our teams including our 2022 team, which I personally coach, will be looking for a few select athletes to join us for the Spring/Summer AAU season. We also offer some skills and shooting training for players who might be a fit for our program.

Basketball is an excellent sport to learn teamwork, leadership, and perseverance, and we look forward to helping our athletes develop in all of those areas! After all, we are preparing them for the Fall season and beyond!