Photo by: Kelli Anthony (Shutter Photography by Kelli)
With all of the exciting things coming up, one thing we are excited to begin to prepare for is the 3rd Season of the DuBois Dream AAU & Youth Basketball Program. Our AAU & Youth Basketball Program is open to a wide age range of players starting with kids as young as 4 (Youth Development Program) all the way up to those entering their Senior Season in High School. The last two seasons have been great to get the ball rolling and give everyone a better understanding of what our AAU & Youth Basketball Program is all about, but we are also continuously striving to make improvements within the program as a whole.
For those that may not have a great understanding of what AAU is, it is a nationwide youth basketball organization designed to give players the opportunity to participate in live action games throughout the whole year. Many players may work hard off the court developing their skills and ability, but really only get to put it to use during their schools in-season. When the actual season is over, it can become very difficult for players to continue to find games and play. AAU provides tournaments all over the country and all year-round to allow players to keep playing, learning, and advancing their knowledge, skills, and overall abilities.
Our particular team is the DuBois Dream AAU & Youth Basketball Program. Over the past 2 seasons, we have had close to 200 kids from Clearfield, Jefferson, Elk, and Clarion Counties, participating on our teams. We have traveled to State College, Pittsburgh, and Erie, but are looking to continue to expand the areas that we play, as well as host our own home tournament!
The past two seasons we have had players divided by age and grade level. The groups were, 5th-6th grade (12U), 7-9th grade (14U), and 10th-12th grade (17U) with separate boys and girls teams in each division. With the increase in players joining, along with the players becoming more talented, we are really hoping to be able to narrow down the age and grade groups this year having each kid play for their specific grade level (example: 12th grade team, 11th grade team, 10th grade team etc.).
The DuBois Dream provides a unique opportunity for players to really advance their basketball skills and knowledge, all while gaining actual in-game, competitive play experience. This is much more than just the game of basketball though. AAU allows players from all around the district to join up as one, helping the players to develop connections and form friendships. It also provides a different perspective and teaching style to the players by allowing them to play for different coaches and on different teams.
“A quick way for any player to make themselves better is to think about what they themselves don’t like to play against.” — Bobby Knight
By joining forces with other players from the area the kids will be able to pick up on things that other people may do that works! But it doesn’t stop there, the highschool groups will be given the opportunity to practice and scrimmage with the DuBois Dream Pro Minor League Team. The level of competition that these players will experience working with, and playing against guys with college and professional experience will take their game to a whole new level. The idea of this program is to give local players a real opportunity to prepare for college basketball and develop all the tools needed to do so.
The DuBois Dream is fully committed to providing players all of the opportunities possible to advance their game. Not only will these players have off-season practices and games, make friendships with players and relationships with coaches, gain first hand experience with players at the college and professional level, and get to travel around playing high level competition, but they will also learn so much more about themselves through this experience. We extend an invitation to all players to join in this Program as well as individual/group personalized workout sessions and a multiple day summer camp.
We are extremely excited to kick off the 3rd season of the DuBois Dream AAU & Youth Basketball Program and all that it has in store! If you are interested in joining, or have questions, please feel free to reach out via email at duboisdream@gmail.com and be sure to sign up and Pre-Register for Tryouts and Evaluations on November 10th at DuBois Christian Schools! We look forward to hearing from you! #DreamBig
Thanks,
Coach Jake