FAQ’s
What is the difference between seasonal ASA teams and the “Prime” program?
Our seasonal ASA teams take place in four different sessions which are separate from each other. The sessions take place in the spring, summer, Winter, and fall. Prime is a year-round commitment with the same philosophies as the ASA seasonal teams. The big differences are tournament play throughout the year including a few events in which we travel.
How often do teams practice and what type of practice plan do you follow?
Our seasonal teams practice twice a week, while our Prime program practices two days a week with a bonus day of skill development every other week. Our staff is heavily committed to teaching man-to-man defensive skills and improving our players individually. We don’t believe in teaching our players a bunch of set plays that would help them win games now, we’d rather spend time making them more skilled so they can play high school basketball. We believe if a player has great knowledge of man-to-man defense, knows how to move without the ball offensively, and is skilled in shooting, dribbling, passing, post play, etc. they will be prepared for high school basketball.
Where do you play games and how do you use them to improve your players?
Our seasonal ASA teams play in the MVP League. Games take place in Walnut Creek, Concord, Martinez, and Lafayette. Our Prime teams play games throughout the Bay Area in different tournaments depending on the weekend. Our philosophy in games is to play man-to-man defense. Every successful high school team in the East Bay starts with a base of man-to-man defensive skills. Although it would easier to put a 5th grade team in a zone and we would win more games, we do not measure our success by winning games. Offensively we follow the same philosophy. We try to teach our players how to move without the ball and how to read defenses. We don’t spend time teaching them set offenses which they won’t use in their high school programs. Again, this is not ideal for a young team if your goal is to win games, but winning games will never be the focus of our program. With that being said, our teams are typically very successful and have a reputation for being competitive in our league.
My son plays another sport and has conflicts, can we still join?
None of our practices or games are mandatory, our job is to provide opportunities for players to improve. Many of our players miss practice due to other commitments but still choose to play ASA because we practice so much that they still will have plenty of time on the court. Some players sign up knowing they won’t make any games. Further, we don’t practice set plays and other concepts that a player needs to know to be able to play in games. We are just teaching how to play basketball with fundamentals and advanced individual skills.
Prime Teams
I missed the tryout date, can I still join Prime?
Please email Frank Allocco, Jr. to inquire if there are openings on the teams. We will add players throughout the year when openings are available.
What type of offense and defense do you play?
Much like our seasonal teams, our Prime teams focus on intense man-to-man defense. Offensively, to compete in high level tournament play we do have to have our players organized and running some sort of offensive system to compete, unlike our seasonal teams. We run two completely different types of offenses, “five out” with five players on the perimeter passing and cutting, and “four out/one in motion” as the other. Both offenses rely on the players deciding what to do on their own without a coach telling them, they need to learn how to read a defense and make a good decision. The reality is, whatever offense we are choosing to run, we have a great reputation throughout youth and high school basketball in creating skilled players. At the youth level, it shouldn’t matter what offense you run, what matters is players becoming better dribblers, passers, screeners, shooters, post players, and are players learning how to read a defense.
Do you offer camps?
ASA Basketball is honored to team up with Excel Basketball camps. Excel is founded by two time National Coach of the year, Frank Allocco, Sr. is one of the country’s most reputable camps and has been serving kids across the country for nearly 40 years! Bay area players are fortunate to have access to this camp and its founders.