Mission Statement:
The Valparaiso Basketball Skills Academy (VBSA) is an advanced
basketball experience for student-athletes emphasizing age-appropriate
development of talent, skill and attitude. Our players will be given proper
instruction developing individual skill, team skill, talent, and game strategy. The
program is a competitive environment where teamwork, commitment,
sportsmanship, and leadership are vital cornerstones for our players to reach
maximum potential. Basketball is a game of talent, skill and attitude. Necessary
skills are taught while encouraging them to practice individually is important.
In the basketball program results are important in that they are a large part
of defining excellence and determining the quality of what we do, and yet how we
do things is as important as what we do. Certainly, we will not be perfect but we
can peruse excellence in all we do. Development of the qualities of personal and
team leadership, accountability to each other, perseverance in the face of
adversity, singleness of purpose and an understanding of the importance of doing
our best each day will help these young men lead lives of significance.

​Objectives:
The main objective of the VBSA is to promote Valpo Pride, develop
leadership skills and foster lifelong relationships with connections to the Valpo
Community. An emphasis will be placed on teaching our young VCS basketball
players the fundamentals and skills of the game in order for them to have future
success within the program. We will focus on individual skill development while
engaging the players in somewhat competitive situations by placing them on
teams. We will emphasize the concepts of hard work, teamwork, determination,
and most importantly – having fun.

Structure:
Students in grades 3rd through 6 th are invited to participate in the program. Players
will learn to be great teammates and leaders, as well as develop and improve their
individual basketball skills. Players will have the opportunity to learn the skills of
basketball in an environment designed for player development.  60% of the VBSA
time will involve individual skill development and team skill development. 40% of
the VBSA time will be dedicated to playing controlled scrimmage games. After the
skill development time is completed the players will be divided into teams and they
will scrimmage. Each night the players will be assigned to new teams by the
league Directors in efforts to let the players have different teammates and keep
the teams as balanced and commutative as possible.

Attitude + Talent + Skill = Basketball Player

Attitude:
A positive mental attitude is a primary tenet and coaches along with parents
teach our players important life lessons about teamwork, commitment, leadership
and sportsmanship. Our players will play hard and work to do what the coach is
asking them to do. It is important for our players to focus on the task at hand and
“never hang their head”.
Talent:
A player’s talent is God given and they don’t have a lot our control over this
area. Height, jumping ability, speed, eye hand coordination, reach and strength
are some examples of a player’s talent. These areas hand be improved with
strength training, conditioning and the teaching of proper techniques. Players will
develop body balance, quickness, and strength during the practices as well as
becoming better conditioned athletes.
Skills:
Our players will learn and improve individual skills and team skills with the
help of an experienced coaching staff. Proper knowledge + repetition = skill. Our
coaches will teach our players the proper knowledge they need to know. It is the
players’ responsibility to put the countless hours of practice and repetition in to
become skilled. In every practice, open gym and workout time is scheduled and
dedicated to our players’ skill development. However, if the player desires to
become great they will need to put in extra time in outside those settings. Studies
have shown that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to become great in a specific
skill. The individual skills our players will be improving include: body balance, lay-
ups, shooting, catching and pivoting, dribbling, passing, screening, one on one
facing, one on one back to the basket, and individual defense. The team skills our
players will be learning will include: man to man offense and defense, zone
offense and defense, and trapping offence and defense.
Proper Knowledge + Repetition = Skill

Teamwork:
Teamwork and camaraderie flourish when everyone becomes a giver to
something greater them themselves. Helping others and playing for teammates is
a life skill, which transfers in all realms of life.

Commitment:
Our students need self-discipline to train mind and body to have confidence
in their future abilities. Students need to learn to work with all their heart for an
attainable goal. Instant gratification plagues our athletes and we want out players
to learn to work for theirs goals.
Sportsmanship:
Good sportsmanship occurs when teammates, opponents, coaches, officials
and fans treat each other with respect.
Leadership:
Our players will set the example in our community, school, and our team.
Our athletes have a responsibility to model professionalism and excellence. Every
Valpo basketball should strive to become a servant leader.
Game Strategy:
Our players will learn competitive strategies to gain individual advantages
and team advantages during the course of the season.
VBSA is Focused on Developing Position-less Players.
Developing position-less players is super important. Position-less players' simply
means developing players who can play all 5 positions on offense and defense.
Coaches need to start creating position-less players by training all players to play
every position and then allowing them to fill all spot during games.

Individual Skills:
1. Body Balance
2. Lay-ups
3. Shooting
4. Catching and Pivoting
5. Dribbling
6. Passing
7. Screening
8. One on one facing the basket
9. One on one back to the basket
10.Defense