GENERAL

The CBC Skills Academy is open to boys and girls of all skill levels from Pre-K through college. The focus is on individual skill development. Sessions are generally one hour long and run by Professional Basketball Trainers. Most of our Lead Trainers played at the college level and many are former/current High School and college level coaches.

In addition to the individual skill development a small portion of every session is set aside for "play". This is skill dependent. Beginners may play "Sharks and Minnows" type games whereas more advanced players will focus on 3v3, 4v4 and/or 5v5 intras-quad competitions.

The Skills Academy is NOT a league. There are no uniforms, referees or scoreboards.

Players are assessed and placed in colored "belt" skill levels with players of similar skill similar to the martial arts.

Our belt levels are (with approximate skill levels)

1. White - Beginner

2. Yellow

3. Orange

4. Green - Middle School Recreational Level Player

5. Blue

6. Red

7. Black - Impact Player on High School Freshman Team

Players will spend multiple seasons and in some cases multiple years in a particular belt level. There is no guarantee of advancement. The player has to put the time in both at the Academy and at home.

We offer the Skills Academy every season on Sunday afternoons in Purcellville. Occasionally we offer weeknight Skills Academy when there is sufficient demand and availability of gym space and trainers.

The cost for the Skills Academy is dependent upon the length of the season and number of sessions. E.g. Fall is usually 8 - 1 hour sessions for $125.

Players enrolled in our Skills Academy should wear athletic clothing and bring a water bottle with their name on it to all workouts. Please do NOT bring personal basketballs. We will supply those.

SKILLS ACADEMY CURRICULUM AND TRAINING METHODOLOGY

As CBC grew, we determined the need for a Skills Academy to supplement our travel team training. Surprisingly (or not) there are no formal basketball curriculums to take a player from brand new in the game to being an impactful HS and beyond player, so we built one.

We combined the tenets of Instructional System Design (ISD) with the structure of the martial arts belt levels. We broke the game of basketball down into all knowledge, skills and behaviors (KSBs) needed then further broke those down into 7 levels. In theory, a Pre-K player would enter our program as a white belt and progress over the course of 9 years to be an impact player on their HS team.

Each belt level has learning objectives that are required before moving the next level. The belt levels are NOT based on age, grade or gender, they are based on skill. The curriculum and assessment drills were vetted by a myriad of current and former players and coaches. The individuals who do the assessments are led by former college basketball players, many of whom coach or have coached at the HS or collegiate level. These are not player’s parents and they only know your children if they been to our training previously. We feel this is the most objective and unbiased method of evaluating your child's actual skill level.

Players are assessed continuously and moved up or down in the belt levels to ensure all players are in the optimum training environment.

We use a concept called deliberate practice in our training to improve efficiency and efficacy. The players get better faster when we can train just outside of their comfort zone. Having players of similar skill levels allows us to do that. Nobody is bored and nobody feels like everyone is better than them. You may have an older child in with younger players. Most likely the older player is relatively new to the game and the younger players have been training for years but if you watch the workout and take out the size differences, you'll see that the skill levels are very similar.

Hopefully this helps clarify our training process a bit. We believe in continuous improvement and strive to provide the best training possible. Your feedback is crucial to helping us serve you and your player better.

We are in the process of digitizing our curriculum and hope that in the near future it will be available on the web so that you and your player will be able to track their progress on the web.