About Us

ASA Basketball is dedicated to providing a competitive environment for players to learn fundamentals and develop advanced individual skills on both ends of the court. While ASA is one of the more reputable and competitive programs in Northern California, our measure of success is not based solely on winning games which allows us to maximize our time in practices making our players better in every aspect of the game.

There are a few philosophies which we feel are vital to the success of our players at the next level.  Once again, in many cases these philosophies are not geared towards the easiest way to win youth games, but prepare our players for the next level.

Offensive philosophy

Offensive System

We spend a lot of time developing our players individual skills, whether it be dribbling, shooting, passing, cutting, finishing, etc.  We have a reputation for making our players dramatically better, and a big part of this is our work on fundamentals as well as advanced offensive skills.  Offensively, our program runs a motion style offense in which all players are encouraged to dribble, shoot, and attack the basket off the dribble. We run a system in which our players learn to read a defense, a very important and difficult skill to learn over time.  We don’t consistently run “set” plays in which our players are told exactly what to do and where to go, we want them to make these reads on their own.  This is very difficult for a young player and is not conducive to winning at the highest youth level, but our players go in to high school program MUCH more prepared because of this style of offensive work.

Defensive System

ASA and Prime teams play full court man-to-man defense 100% of the time.  We are known for our team’s ability to defend, and any local high school coach knows they are getting a player who has a very good defensive background if he comes from our program.  Although it is much easier for a young player to stand around in a zone, our style is to have them prepared for the high school level.  Good high school programs in the East Bay are centered around man-to-man defense, and teams that do zone have a solid background in man-to-man before they are able to play zone.  Defense is something too many players, parents, and coaches take lightly, not realizing it takes thousands of repetitions and countless hours of work to become a legitimate high school level defender.

Practice Philosophy

Our practices are very fast paced, much like a high school level practice. We focus on drills to develop our players individual skills on both ends of the floor. Practices will move along very quickly as we go from drill to drill, and whenever possible score is kept and there is a focus on winning the drill. We strive to make our players the best competitors they can be and at ASA Basketball we believe competitiveness is a skill, just like shooting and dribbling, and it needs to be trained on a regular basis.  We train our players to compete!

Finally, we take our role as coaches very serious and use basketball as an opportunity to reinforce character and life skills.  We believe being a quality person is an important part of being the best player and teammate you can be, and constantly reinforce it with our teams.  Whether it be shaking hands with their coaches and looking them in the eye, being an enthusiastic teammate who can communicate with others, or simply valuing the skill of giving your best effort, our players leave our program not only a better player, but a better person.

We are looking forward to continuing the tradition of improving youth basketball throughout the East Bay and beyond. We’ll see you on the court!

Coaching Philosophy

Our practices are very fast paced, much like a high school level practice.  We do not spend half of the practice scrimmaging, in fact we often don’t scrimmage at all.  We focus on drills to develop our players individual skills on both ends of the floor.  Practices will move along very quickly as we go from drill to drill, and whenever possible score is kept and there is a focus on winning the drill.  We strive to make our players the best competitors they can be and at ASA Basketball we believe competitiveness is a skill, just like shooting and dribbling, and it needs to be trained on a regular basis.  We train our players to compete!

Finally, we take our role as coaches very serious and use basketball as an opportunity to reinforce character and life skills.  We believe being a quality person is an important part of being the best player and teammate you can be, and constantly reinforce it with our teams.  Whether it be shaking hands with their coaches and looking them in the eye, being an enthusiastic teammate who can communicate with others, or simply valuing the skill of giving your best effort, our players leave our program not only a better player, but a better person.

We are looking forward to continuing the tradition of improving youth basketball throughout the East Bay and beyond. We’ll see you on the court!

ASA Hoops Coaching Philosophy

Offensive System

about-offensive-system

We spend a lot of time developing our players individual skills, whether it be dribbling, shooting, passing, cutting, finishing, etc.  We have a reputation for making our players dramatically better, and a big part of this is our work on fundamentals as well as advanced offensive skills.  Offensively, our program runs a motion style offense in which all players are encouraged to dribble, shoot, and attack the basket off the dribble. We run a system in which our players learn to read a defense, a very important and difficult skill to learn over time.  We don’t consistently run “set” plays in which our players are told exactly what to do and where to go, we want them to make these reads on their own.  This is very difficult for a young player and is not conducive to winning at the highest youth level, but our players go in to high school program MUCH more prepared because of this style of offensive work.

Practice Philosophy

about-practice-philosophy

Our practices are very fast paced, much like a high school level practice.  We do not spend half of the practice scrimmaging, in fact we often don’t scrimmage at all.  We focus on drills to develop our players individual skills on both ends of the floor.  Practices will move along very quickly as we go from drill to drill, and whenever possible score is kept and there is a focus on winning the drill.  We strive to make our players the best competitors they can be and at ASA Basketball we believe competitiveness is a skill, just like shooting and dribbling, and it needs to be trained on a regular basis.  We train our players to compete!

Finally, we take our role as coaches very serious and use basketball as an opportunity to reinforce character and life skills.  We believe being a quality person is an important part of being the best player and teammate you can be, and constantly reinforce it with our teams.  Whether it be shaking hands with their coaches and looking them in the eye, being an enthusiastic teammate who can communicate with others, or simply valuing the skill of giving your best effort, our players leave our program not only a better player, but a better person.

We are looking forward to continuing the tradition of improving youth basketball throughout the East Bay and beyond. We’ll see you on the court!

Defensive System

about-defensive-dystem

ASA and Prime teams play full court man-to-man defense 100% of the time.  We are known for our team’s ability to defend, and any local high school coach knows they are getting a player who has a very good defensive background if he comes from our program.  Although it is much easier for a young player to stand around in a zone, our style is to have them prepared for the high school level.  Good high school programs in the East Bay are centered around man-to-man defense, and teams that do zone have a solid background in man-to-man before they are able to play zone.  Defense is something too many players, parents, and coaches take lightly, not realizing it takes thousands of repetitions and countless hours of work to become a legitimate high school level defender.

Coaching Philosophy

about-practice-philosophy

Our practices are very fast paced, much like a high school level practice.  We do not spend half of the practice scrimmaging, in fact we often don’t scrimmage at all.  We focus on drills to develop our players individual skills on both ends of the floor.  Practices will move along very quickly as we go from drill to drill, and whenever possible score is kept and there is a focus on winning the drill.  We strive to make our players the best competitors they can be and at ASA Basketball we believe competitiveness is a skill, just like shooting and dribbling, and it needs to be trained on a regular basis.  We train our players to compete!

Finally, we take our role as coaches very serious and use basketball as an opportunity to reinforce character and life skills.  We believe being a quality person is an important part of being the best player and teammate you can be, and constantly reinforce it with our teams.  Whether it be shaking hands with their coaches and looking them in the eye, being an enthusiastic teammate who can communicate with others, or simply valuing the skill of giving your best effort, our players leave our program not only a better player, but a better person.

We are looking forward to continuing the tradition of improving youth basketball throughout the East Bay and beyond. We’ll see you on the court!