The Team Carolina Showcase was loaded with great talent and competitive play!  Our numbers compared to the first event nearly doubled and the players enjoyed more variety regarding competition.  We would like to thank all who brought the players to compete and look forward to having you at more of our events in the near future.  Below we will have attached our standouts as well as winners from our last showcase!

Mason Harris- Strong, skilled, and a capable perimeter threat that played with passion and competitive spirit the entire event!

Jack Teesateskie- Jack shows a ton of promise and potential.  He is highly skilled, can shoot from anywhere, and has elite footwork and pivots.  Be sure to keep an eye out for Teesateskie in the near future!

Kadence Vanover- Vanover is a great combination of strength, skill, and aggression as she dominated in our 1v1 and Skill Challenges.

Dot Mills- Mills, coming off of an injury,looked right at home while showing her ability to attack, shoot, facilitate, and leading the entire event.

Cambry Stamper- Cambry showed competitive spirit the entire event, due to her talent and ability she competed in multiple divisions.

Our Team Carolina Showcase was a fantastic event!  We were excited to see all the talent in the gym and loved watching them compete the entire day!  With a ton of activities and events we were excited to see the players leave it on the floor keep great attitudes and encourage each other.  We are looking forward to holding another showcase on October 1st so be on the lookout for more information regarding our Showcase!  Here are our most current standouts

Chase Evans
Strong and athletic downhill guard capable of getting his shot off.  Great defender and can defend multiple positions with aggression and intensity

Eli Lewkowicz
A high IQ guard that seizes every opportunity given based on the mistakes made by the defense.  A lock down defender that always seems to be at the right place at the right time.

Evan Bringle
A crafty and very intelligent player for his age.  Evan showed the ability to go left and right and utilizes his pivots and footwork well for his age.  He had a great competitive showing at the showcase!

Austin Raby
One of the most advanced players we have had in our youth division.  Her aggression and ability to create at the basket is uncanny at her age.  She was dominant in her division the entire day!

Anna Wilcox
Tough strong guard with great shooting touch and the ability to get down hill by using angles to her advantage.  Anna was dominant in many of the competitive events and played stellar in the 1v1 competition.

Sara Larios
Talented shifty guard with a beautiful shot that competed fearlessly in the high school boys division.  By the end of the day she had earned everyone’s  respect.

Create the "I've worked too hard to fail mentality"

When players put in the work they will not let themselves fail mentally or physically.  It is so easy to get down on yourself regarding the game of basketball due to the many ups and downs the game offers.  You are never going to play the perfect game but if you know in your mind that you are properly prepared to compete, you will not be your own worst enemy and psyc yourself out of your success.  If you put effort behind your goals, your purpose will trump your doubt and that is what we want our players to experience.  The work you put in validates what you deserve.  Even if you fail the validation is that you gave everything you had and can never say what if.

Fight the excuses you make! Everyone has "what if's" in their brain and we have all failed ourselves due to that. A "what if" can be positive when it turns into a motivation prior to a goal you will conquer. A "what if" can also be a negative that comes with regret of not attempting to pursue that goal.  I would prefer to see "what if I work as hard as I can to become the best player I can be?" instead of "what if I HAD worked as hard as I could to become the best player I could have been?" At Hooplab we want to eliminate the negative "what ifs" by pushing our players to their potential especially when the excuses begin to creep up.  In order to do so we must acknowledge our personal excuses that hold us back from reaching that potential.  Do not let excuses sway you toward under-performing which will create that negative "what if" later. Excuses are fears that lead to failure and we fail to the level of our training and preparation.  We encourage all interested in continuing the push to take a look at our programs and see if something fits.  We look forward to partnering alongside you to work towards your potential! 

We just finished a great Southeast Exposure Combine and I was pleased to say the least.  35 eager young men came and competed, learned, and grew as individuals on 10/20.  I would like to thank our staff for dedicating their time and effort to this event and want to thank the young men for attending.  This was our first event and we expect to continue to hold events of this caliber to help players in the southeast region with exposure and education regarding the game.  The hope from this event was to raise awareness for the players, as well as any collegiate coaches watching.  If you are a coach, be sure to follow Western Carolina Media group on facebook and twitter for the live stream and more information on player standouts.  The athletic aptitude test was cool.  I think once we figured a system out, it ran quite smoothly. For results on the aptitude test, visit our SE exposure site here South East Exposure Combine.  Then we had education seminars touching on injury prevention, strength, conditioning, and advantageous film break down which was great because all serve as intangibles that translate to the next level.  Finally we competed and though we didn't have the time we liked, I was happy with the competition.  I was pleasantly impressed with Luke Taylor of North Henderson.  Luke is a talented, and poised player that has a skill set that surprises you.  Standing at 6'4 with the ability to handle, shoot and defend, this will give him an advantage going into his senior season.  We were also impressed with Devin and D'Angelo Elliot from Carolina Day School who are physically and offensively gifted on all 3 levels.  Ben Beeker of Hendersonville High School is a MAN and I am still scratching my head as to why he is still available (Coaches go watch this guy!!!).  Ben standing at 6'9 has the ability to put the ball on the floor, hit the open jumper, and dominates with his back to the basket.  Look for a fantastic year from Beeker and company!  All in all I can not wait to hold bigger and better event of this caliber and hope to help any player aspiring to play beyond high school get to where they would like to go.

As a trainer, sports commentator, and coach, you begin to see similar traits in athletes.  I have noticed a common trait in the the really good athletes, and that is the ability and want to compete, the ability to never give up, and the innate optimism in any and every situation.  We as coaches, trainers, viewers enjoy testing, challenging and pushing players to see what type of competitor they are.  Coaches that recruit players not only recruit talent and potential, but also your response to challenges.  Do you embrace your challenges with confidence, poise, and grace, or do you shy away, get angry, mope and give up?  These are tell tell signs of a competitor.  Jimmy Butler for the Timberwolves is a competitor.  Jimmy took the 3rd string squad and defeated first string.  In basketball first string usually beats second string and demolishes third so hearing that Jimmy Butler was able to take the third tier group and wipe the floor with the first group is impressive.  What also is impressive, is that Jimmy took third string with confidence and had the mentality "No challenge is too great" and he responded accordingly.  For young players who mope and get angry at the obstacles simulated, planned and created by the coach, just understand that you failed his or her challenge presented to you.  Win, lose or draw you need to compete no matter what with the understanding that with an L comes an opportunity to improve, to find out something about yourself, to never give up and to always compete.