Basketball the Right Way
Perhaps you have experienced or heard of it yourself.
A club basketball program that is run as a for-profit business by various adults and/or a club program that is disorganized, with deficient communication, with coaches who seemingly unleash teams onto the court with little structure, yet hoping for the best.
Practices that promise skills development, but in reality consist of little more than players aimlessly scrimmaging or standing around in a crammed gym.
Mammoth Basketball strives to be different.
In addition to skills development being a meaningful part of practices, Mammoth Basketball strives to teach players the game of basketball as a substantive, strategic topic. Among other things, Mammoth Basketball players are instructed on the so-called "four factors" of basketball team success and play a modern style of basketball. We play fast and simple by creating advantages and playing out of the advantages created.
The goal of Mammoth Basketball is to help players reach their full potential so that they can best position themselves for success in high school and perhaps beyond.
There are several unique qualities of Mammoth Basketball compared to several other club programs.
First, no one associated with Mammoth Basketball makes money or has a business strategy focused on youth basketball. Because of this, the player fee to join Mammoth Basketball is generally 1/3 the fee charged by many other club programs.
Second, the “youngest” team Mammoth Basketball will offer is 13U (7th grade). Perhaps for the reason mentioned above, many other club programs offer teams beginning at 9U (3rd grade). If a 3rd – 6th grader wants to get better at basketball, that's great but there are other ways to best accomplish this in a more time and cost efficient manner compared to club basketball.
Third, Mammoth Basketball only offers one team per grade level. Perhaps for the reason mentioned above, many club teams offer multiple teams per grade. At some point, this may just become a way to fund a for-profit business. If a player joins Mammoth Basketball, there is no “Gold,” “Elite,” “Select,” Premier” teams per grade, there is simply Mammoth Basketball.
Fourth, Mammoth teams are not going to travel around the country for tournaments on the theory that a tournament 10 hours away is better than a tournament 1 hour away. There is an abundance of high-quality tournaments in our area and Mammoth teams generally play between Appleton, Milwaukee, Wisconsin Dells, Chicago, Minneapolis, and points in between. Might a Mammoth team register for a “destination” tournament? Perhaps and there can value in the experience that provides for players and families, but such a tournament will be an exception, not the norm, and will be approved by player families well in advance.
Even though Mammoth Basketball is unique compared to many other club basketball programs, Mammoth teams successfully compete against other club programs. In recent years, Mammoth teams have succeeded on the court against teams from the following club programs: 24UP, All Wisconsin, Chapman Basketball, Foundation Athletics, Full Package, Kessel Heat, MXTE Premier, Pride Roc Hoops, Wisconsin Academy, Wisconsin Blaze, Wisconsin Blizzard, Wisconsin Swing, Wisconsin PHD, Wisconsin Rush, Midwest Renegade, Minnesota Crossfire, Minnesota Fury, West Michigan Premier, and several others.
Other club programs may tout how their players receive “exposure,” but pause for a moment and ask yourself what does that even mean?
Given the current landscape of college basketball, absent rare circumstances, college coaches are generally not focused on recruiting a player until their 16u summer.
Moreover, if a player is interested in college basketball, data shows that approximately 90% of Wisconsin high school players who play at the next level will play for a Wisconsin college or a college located in a nearby state. College recruiting (and most certainly D2, D3, NAIA, and JUCO) tends to be regional. Thus, player prospects should prioritize playing in regional tournaments because these are the tournaments a future college coach is most likely to attend.
Finally, Mammoth players do receive "exposure" by leading basketball media sources as the following examples, among many others, demonstrate.
