OT: Revolution Basketball Training Manchester/Milford

[husky429]

A kid whose dad I know is interested after I told him his AAU program is a mess and he needs to get some real skill training to level up his game.

I know Jaquann (one of the owners) a bit but not much else. It's an "I'm Possible" training center.... I've been iffy on them historically but do like the idea of a perimeter skill 'curriculum' for kids. I think typically these places fall into the trap of teaching kids to do too much on the court instead of reallynailing fundamentals first... but again, never been to this place.

Anyone know anyone who has been there? Feedback?

 

[Mister P]

Going back many years and before AAU became popular, legendary coach Vito Montelli ran a great camp at St Joes HS called Metropolitan Basketball Camp.
I attended it in the 70’s, through my elementary and middle school years, then helped as an instructor there for one year.
His core values were all about the fundamentals of the game, skill development, hustle and having an overall hard work ethic. There was a reason why his players at SJ always wore knee pads.
His teachings got kids ready for middle school, HS and college ball.

 

[Lefty2one]

In this day and age I'd tell someone to go to social media and watch a bunch of videos from the top guys. There are YouTube channels with a bunch of content from college and NBA coaches and as well as the skill trainers who work with NBA guys in the summer.

You can find everything from drills galore for individual skills to strategy to how to run team practices.

 

[Fatroony5]

I run basketball trainings in Charlotte & one thing I notice from the kids who are involved in AAU around here is how much they “try to do” on the court in terms of individual skill showcasing. The step back, euros, 1-on-1 moves etc. It’s all sloppy. With our trainings, way bigger focus on movement, quick decisions, spacing, things like that. The “passable” training programs are a dime a dozen everywhere and my experience is most of them are a waste of money.

The biggest hurdle to these is always about gym space. If you have access to that, people will often go to these trainings because they think they’re getting legit basketball skill development: frustrating to see for sure. My emphasis is always about keeping it simple, affordable, and engaging for the kids. More of a rant than anything else but wouldn’t be surprised if the experience with this one is similar to what most of these high priced trainers are doing. It ain’t groundbreaking.

 

[UConnKev]

There’s a place on the Glastonbury/Portland line called Bloodline Basketball that I have heard is solid. There’s Box and One in Wethersfield (don’t know anything about).

My 8 year old is just starting to really get into basketball so I’m in the same boat and looking for a good trainer.

She’s also very tied up in the premier soccer world. We found a great coach/trainer and that’s a game changer.

 

[husky429]

I run basketball trainings in Charlotte & one thing I notice from the kids who are involved in AAU around here is how much they “try to do” on the court in terms of individual skill showcasing. The step back, euros, 1-on-1 moves etc. It’s all sloppy. With our trainings, way bigger focus on movement, quick decisions, spacing, things like that. The “passable” training programs are a dime a dozen everywhere and my experience is most of them are a waste of money.

The biggest hurdle to these is always about gym space. If you have access to that, people will often go to these trainings because they think they’re getting legit basketball skill development: frustrating to see for sure. My emphasis is always about keeping it simple, affordable, and engaging for the kids. More of a rant than anything else but wouldn’t be surprised if the experience with this one is similar to what most of these high priced trainers are doing. It ain’t groundbreaking.

I agree basically 100% on this. I trained for am EYBL team and coached fornthem for years until I felt like offing myself from the travel. I see kids with a bag 16 moves deep, but they can't dribble-pass-relocate playing pickup basketball. They have every finish you could think of, but can't make a strong hand jump stop if a 90lb 5th-grader provides physical defense.

Reality is that when you watch the best at any level, their bag is pretty simple. Who was doing anything groundbreakin on that 2024 Huskies team? They weren't... it was just solid, solid fundamentals at every spot. Make open 3s, move the ball and find space, cut when your defender looks off, finish through contact off two feet, know how to close the gate in the mid-post, etc.

My training was always A LOT of small sided games or 1v1 with advantage/disadvantage situations built it.

 

[husky429]

There’s a place on the Glastonbury/Portland line called Bloodline Basketball that I have heard is solid. There’s Box and One in Wethersfield (don’t know anything about).

My 8 year old is just starting to really get into basketball so I’m in the same boat and looking for a good trainer.

She’s also very tied up in the premier soccer world. We found a great coach/trainer and that’s a game changer.

Bit far from him but I'll check out Bloodline too. Thank you. And good luck with the little one!

My kid is still in utero but I've already perseverating over if I should coach her or not. I would like her to get different perspectives... but so many bozos coach youth sports.

 

[husky429]

In this day and age I'd tell someone to go to social media and watch a bunch of videos from the top guys. There are YouTube channels with a bunch of content from college and NBA coaches and as well as the skill trainers who work with NBA guys in the summer.

You can find everything from drills galore for individual skills to strategy to how to run team practices.

Sifting through all that is going to be impossible for this kid (or any, really). I could send him a training regiment in a minute but I don't get paid for that any more.

Frankly, He's a 6'3 13 year old. Kid needs to get big and make layups with each and. The rest is gravy at this age

 

[Fatroony5]

I agree basically 100% on this. I trained for am EYBL team and coached fornthem for years until I felt like offing myself from the travel. I see kids with a bag 16 moves deep, but they can't dribble-pass-relocate playing pickup basketball. They have every finish you could think of, but can't make a strong hand jump stop if a 90lb 5th-grader provides physical defense.

Reality is that when you watch the best at any level, their bag is pretty simple. Who was doing anything groundbreakin on that 2024 Huskies team? They weren't... it was just solid, solid fundamentals at every spot. Make open 3s, move the ball and find space, cut when your defender looks off, finish through contact off two feet, know how to close the gate in the mid-post, etc.

My training was always A LOT of small sided games or 1v1 with advantage/disadvantage situations built it.

Exactly. It’s something I actually teach, playing off two feet & working it on consistently. I love euro steps too, but not every play in the paint needs to be a Euro, it’s one of the biggest issues I keep seeing. Kids getting stuck, swatted, bad misses at the rim because they don’t know anything else but euro stepping when they get in there.

It’s why I always tell our kids to watch UConn, watch Cam Spencer, Kon Knueppel, Derrick White, whoever. Learn to be efficient off the ball, how to read defenses, make decisive reads, all of that. Reality for most of our kids is: they aren’t going to be the main guy on their high school teams, the talent in Charlotte (and other places really) is way too high for that. I mean, last year we had a public high school game where Isiah Evans is dropping 40+ on a team with 3 D1 players on it, both public high schools. Learn how to impact winning, defend, play without the ball, & knock down open shots. Lower usage, higher efficiency play style is the only way you get on the court at these good programs. Some parents haven’t figured that out yet, but lots of kids get it.

 

[StllH8L8ner]

In this day and age I'd tell someone to go to social media and watch a bunch of videos from the top guys. There are YouTube channels with a bunch of content from college and NBA coaches and as well as the skill trainers who work with NBA guys in the summer.

You can find everything from drills galore for individual skills to strategy to how to run team practices.

I think it depends on the kid and the age. Some will take the videos and run with them. My son has the attention span of a dead fly so just sending videos won’t help much despite the crazy amount of info that’s out there. I have been lifting with him in the basement for a couple of months now to show him the ropes and also send him to workouts at his rink gym so there’s someone standing there watching and making sure he has the proper form. But if I were to send him a video and say “try this” while I’m at work, it won’t happen because some non-sensical YouTube video will pop up and send him down a rabbit hole of videos until I get home.

 

[Lefty2one]

Sifting through all that is going to be impossible for this kid (or any, really). I could send him a training regiment in a minute but I don't get paid for that any more.

Frankly, He's a 6'3 13 year old. Kid needs to get big and make layups with each and. The rest is gravy at this age

I misread. Thought you were talking about the dad looking for resources.

 

[husky429]

I misread. Thought you were talking about the dad looking for resources.

The dad isn't the type to help his kid with anything like that. (I said "know"... not friends. He's the worst). Dad would scrape together the cash for a trainer but isn't going farther than that. He's a show up on draft night dad

 

[uconndennis]

I live very close the Milford Revolution. Mark is very good. My daughter was back to back ALL SCC and trained with him a few times. He has plenty of All Conference HS girls, good college players, great young ones as well, etc... He also gets girls just trying to make HS varsity. If you've got cash to burn and your kid is addicted to hoops, its good training

 

[husky429]

I live very close the Milford Revolution. Mark is very good. My daughter was back to back ALL SCC and trained with him a few times. He has plenty of All Conference HS girls, good college players, great young ones as well, etc... He also gets girls just trying to make HS varsity. If you've got cash to burn and your kid is addicted to hoops, its good training

Their group training--I have no idea of the trainer/player ratio--is not terribly expensive it looks like. 3x a weel for 150 a month. 13 bucks an hour session is cheap.

Just getting an hour of decent runs would make that worth it to me

 

[uconndennis]

Their group training--I have no idea of the trainer/player ratio--is not terribly expensive it looks like. 3x a weel for 150 a month. 13 bucks an hour session is cheap.

Just getting an hour of decent runs would make that worth it to me

Cash to burn was definitely not what I meant. I agree, there is value there

 

[Colin G]

If summer camps are at all of interest, definitely look into any of the Reilly Basketball camps, one in Wethersfield, one at East Catholic one at Wesleyan. Great great stuff for player development and even life skills, I take things I learned from them everywhere in my life