50 All-Stars

January 1st, 2017

The Official Newsletter of 50 All-Stars Basketball

Issue #2

IT'S A NEW DAWN. IT'S A NEW DAY.

We're feeling good, as the last 3 months have been a whirlwind of excitement for our program. Using our recruiting page as bait, we've just had a successful round of emailing all 8,000+ NCAA head & assistant basketball coaches in America. Integrating this into what we do has already paid off in getting one of our main players recruited, and we can't wait to do that for more.

We've learned the most efficient route for our players to reach their dreams is to perfect both the system and the process, and that's exactly what we've nearly completed. See below for details :-)

EMMA GODFREY: NCAA BOUND

For 4 years, Emma's been the epitome of what our program is about. From 9th-12th grade, she's attended over 90% of our 6:00AM boot camps. Whether it be summer or her high school season (even on game days), she just hasn't missed. And on top of that, she shows up with a dominating and relentless frame of mind. She and I see one another other so often during these early morning hours, we've actually noticed the sun's rise change throughout the seasons just as we've noticed the players who've come and gone after trying & failing to emulate her efforts.

Due to her hard work, Emma's managed to start Varsity all four years and has garnered All-Conference honors each of those years as well. With the help of her dad, we've uploaded tons of game film to our recruiting page to send out to every college coach in America. Because of these efforts, dozens of schools have tried to nab her. Emma ultimately chose Pomona-Pitzer College, a school that is notoriously difficult for any high level academic to get into. She's definitely a high level academic, but having basketball in her repertoire was surely the key ingredient in getting accepted.

Although we still have a few months to go, we're already starting to miss her. Fortunately she leaves behind a string of players who have managed to survive and thrive to be her legacy. The blueprint has now been laid out, and we're excited for others to stay the course. Thanks Emma, and good luck at the next level!

EMAILING COLLEGE COACHES

So many players and programs have countless goals, but we've chosen to make our mark by focusing on just one: IMPROVE SO THAT YOU'RE GOOD ENOUGH TO MAKE THE NEXT LEVEL. When you keep things simple like that, it makes it fairly easy to create a plan of action.

With that said, it's not all about what takes place on the court. We must also make sure colleges are aware of our efforts. For most programs this is the most perplexing piece to the puzzle, as they go through extraordinary & time-wasting lengths parading their kids all around the country instead of using that time to actually improve their skill set. We've changed all that by only attending events that occur during the specified recruiting periods, and by emailing all 8,000+ college coaches the profiles of our most outstanding players. Collecting the emails was a task in and of itself, but my goal since DAY ONE has been to work as hard for these kids as I worked for myself during my basketball career.

Due to gmail limits, I could only send out about 400 emails a day, but I got it done over the course of a month. The best part is that it actually worked! So many coaches replied. Even a few huge D1 programs told me to let them know when we had a player on their level. I'm looking to do the email blast again in April, but this time we hope to have a bunch more video and a few more players to highlight. Parents can do their part by sending me as much high school video as possible, and players can do their part by showing up all the time.

We're in this together, and I assure you there's no one out there who will work harder for you than I will.

2016 AWARDS CEREMONY

2016's Awards Ceremony was an extremely fun event. We got the chance to highlight some very special individuals, raise some money for the program, and we had the opportunity to bond as a community.

The top 50 players in this year's attendance were all awarded their prizes, Ben Levy showed off his clutch free throw ability by dominating our Free Throw Contest's championship round, Sofia Fidelus was added to our Hall of Fame, Emma Godfrey officially accepted her NCAA College basketball spot, and 2nd grader Kai Parker won our raffle's top prize of ONE-YEAR's FREE MEMBERSHIP!

Due to the accumulative effort of many donors (and a few huge donations as well), we've nearly reached our $30,000 fundraising goal for the year. With a few more free throw contest pledges yet to chime in, we should definitely hit our mark. We'll be using these funds to upgrade equipment, to pay Coach Kendrick a bit more than peanuts, to add more gym dates to our schedule, and to recruit some top talent to join us in our effort to reach our goals.

A big thanks to all those who donated, and an even bigger thanks to all the players and parents who have given so much of themselves for the betterment of us all!

DEREK'S 1-YEAR QUEST

It may be random luck... or maybe the end result of the hard work we've put in on a daily basis... or it may be a mixture of the two, but EVERY PLAYER in the top 20 on our all-time attendance list who hasn't quit the program has played Varsity their freshman year of high school. Seeing as how that's a fairly rare feat, chances are our streak is bound to end one day.

Enter Derek Kotarba - the only 8th grader in our program currently in our top 20. He weighs 95 pounds, is headed to a high school with a pretty good basketball team, and isn't set on quitting any time soon. If ever there were a candidate to break the streak, this kid would be it!

Luckily for us (& fortunately for him), Derek has other plans. He's signed a contract to never skip a day of our workouts from November 1st, 2016 to November 1st, 2017. He's also decided to do a bit extra by joining our morning boot camps. He's the leader of our 8th grade elite team, but he'll play for our high school elite team as well.

We'll be sure to keep all of you updated on his progress throughout the next few newsletters, but I truly believe he wins whether he keeps the streak going or not. As long as he follows through with his promise, this may very well be the most profound endeavor of his life. We coaches must continue to keep him accountable, his teammates must continue to motivate him, and his parents must continue to support him. But much more than that, Derek must continue to keep his eyes on his ultimate goal through all the sweat, tears, and blood that escape from his body and soul.

I have complete faith in this kid, and I'm proud that he's even willing to go down this road. Step by step, I'll be there with him, and I'll be there for him.

4th Grade Focus

4th Grade Focus: IAN SALMON

Ian entered our program a couple of years ago, and was just a regular uncoordinated kid at the time. As his body got its act together, all of Ian's persistently hard work has manifested itself into making him an absolute beast of a player who has his eyes set on some tremendously high goals. Here's this quarter's FOUR QUESTIONS FOR OUR FOURTH GRADE FOCUS:

Q. What is your favorite aspect of our program?
A. The discipline taught by making us run when we're late to practice.

Q. What are your plans to reach your full potential?
A. I want to make the NBA by being a great defender, getting steals, and by staying in-shape.

Q. What's your biggest potential hurdle in reaching your goals?
A. Laziness and forgetfulness.

Q. Are you excited to play on the elite team?
A. Yes, because the team will depend on me this year since all the other players are younger.

2017 ELITE TEAM

Our travel team for the year is all set, and we're looking to do this thing bigger than ever before. Once CYO and High School seasons are through, we'll have a dedicated two practices a week specifically designed for these teams.

The elite team is most definitely the hallmark of our program, and should be the goal for absolutely every player that walks through our doors. As our public face, we'll do everything we can to ensure these teams get all they need.

We'll be filming many of their games throughout the year, players will be incentivized as they receive prizes for reaching certain attendance milestones, and we'll be playing the best competition we can find locally and afar.

We also have a huge surprise for 2018's elite team, as we'll be holding public tryouts at the beginning of August 2017. One full-ride scholarship per grade will be awarded, for the purpose of strengthening our teams for increased motivation, higher national exposure, and a larger overall pool of players within our program.

Perfecting the elite team process is our attempt to most efficiently display the light at the end of the tunnel for all those traveling through.

OUR NEW COACH

OUR NEW COACH: DERRICK VIRASSAMMY

So after auditioning 5 potential coaching candidates, we've been blessed to have Derrick Virassammy come out on top. He has coaching experience at the college level, has run his own basketball camps in the past, is a very good player himself, and his personality adds to the diversity of what we already have to offer.

We'll use the month of January to officially initiate him through our 21 DAY CHALLENGE process. From January 5th-25th, we'll use utilize our morning boot camps to work him and the other boot campers out so that Derrick may earn his stripes, learn everything we do, and assist the boot camp players enormously.

He's already helped out at many workouts, he'll soon be leading his own practices, and he'll also be coaching in games in the near future. We're extremely proud to have him on board, and we can't wait to take advantage of all he's able to provide us.

3-6 Year Olds Back At It!

FUTURE STARS for 3-6 years olds returns this January! We had a blast in October, and have grown a bit since. The *extremely* lowered hoops and smaller balls make for tons of fun for not only the kids, but for us as well. We've already informed 100 local preschools and advertised with Lamorinda Moms, but be sure to spread the word to those you know too. There are other dates in April, we have a huge summer camp this June, and the first session is free for those using the promo code "TRIAL". Sign-in to your account to view some bargain pre-paid credit options as well.

--- Sun, Jan 8, 2017 9:00am @ Joaquin Moraga

--- Wed, Jan 11, 2017 6:00pm @ Walnut Creek Presbyterian

--- Sun, Jan 22, 2017 9:00am @ Joaquin Moraga

--- Wed, Jan 25, 2017 6:00pm @ Walnut Creek Presbyterian

--- Sun, Jan 29, 2017 9:00am @ Joaquin Moraga

UPDATED BOOKING SYSTEM

Believe it or not, what we do and what your kids have signed up for is something of enormous magnitude, and it's simply difficult for any third-party booking system to exactly accommodate us. So we make the most of the best system we've found, and we steadily improve that relationship along the way.

We've recently taken another step towards perfection by separating our daily grind stuff and our special events. Events like workouts, practices, and boot camps are now bunched together so you can book those one at a time or consecutively in a very easy fashion. The only downside is that the system only shows a week's worth of these activities on your screen, and you must use the calendar option to view more.

Shown by default or accessed via the top tab on the Events page are our special events like ceremonies, fundraisers, camps, and clinics. We don't want anyone missing these, and they're quite different than the rest of all that's available to be booked.

Lastly, we have a Tournaments tab. This is mostly for our elite team, and it allows a view of multi-day events that can be be booked far in advance of us knowing exactly what the schedule will be for that trip.

All in all, this should be a smooth transition with the benefits far outweighing everything else. There's a quick video tutorial on the Events page for both mobile & desktop users, but feel free to email or call me if you're having any trouble.