The Elite Hoops Blog

Version 1.1.0 of Elite Hoops is available now, and it takes advantage of your iOS device like never before. Along with features such as widgets, shortcuts and more — now you can also add your team’s logo to share your team pride everywhere. Here’s a brief look at what’s new.

Widgets

There are several widgets in this version to help you get things done faster and keep your team mentally locked in:

Basketball Quotes
We all know it’s a mental game, so the quote widget will cycle through motivational quotes from the game’s greats to help keep you and your team hungry. You can even tap on the arrow to cycle through different quotes:

The best part? Tap on the widget to spruce up the quote, and share it as an image to your team, or on social media:

Team Widget
As a coach, your team is never far from your thoughts. Now, you can get started on your next play design for them with the team widgets. Tapping on it will quickly open them up in Elite Hoops, ready to go.

All widgets are available in the following places:

• Lock Screen
• Standby Mode
• Home Screen
• On iPad
• On Mac

Shortcuts

You can use Siri to open a team in Elite Hoops, get a basketball quote or add a player to a team. Either open up the Shortcuts app to get started, or in Elite Hoops go to Settings -> Widgets, Shortcuts & More to see how it (and several other features) work.

Spotlight Search, Home Screen Quick Actions & More

In addition to all of that, we’ve packed this update with several quality of life fixes and additions. Tap and hold on the Elite Hoops icon from the Home Screen to open up teams quickly, or get a basketball quote. Search for your roster or team using Spotlight. There’s even more, but know that Elite Hoops is committed to not only being a great way to share plays, but also provide you with a sturdy, reliable and expertly-crafted iOS app.

Team Logo

Finally, you can now add in your team’s logo. It’ll show up all over the place, too. On widgets, plays you share, images you make and more. Plus, if your logo doesn’t look quite right, maybe the background is a little off, you can use our in-app tools to remove the background and edit the logo.

All of this is available now, go check it out and remember — you can reach out to Elite Hoops anytime with feedback.

Elite Hoops is the quickest way to record and share plays, defensive concepts, BLOB or SLOB sets or anything else basketball related. Coaches can make scouting reports, draw up drills for practice and more. Want to know how to get going quickly? You’re in the right place.

In fact, using Elite Hoops is so easy — we can explain it in three steps:

1. Create a team: Everything in Elite Hoops works around the teams you add. Each one can have its own roster, complete with your players, or coaches can simply use our quick add feature to add one player for each position. Or, you can use our demo team too — get started by using the dream team roster from 92’:

2. Just hit record: Now, simply draw up whichever concept you need to explain. We’ll record the whiteboard and your audio. It’s just like being in the huddle with your players, anytime, anywhere:

3. Share anywhere: Finally, share the recording as a video to any of the apps your organization uses. As long as video is accepted, it’ll work with Elite Hoops:

This post is short and sweet because using Elite Hoops is that easy. If you know how to write on a whiteboard, then you already know how to use it. Of course, this is just scratching the surface. We’ve got a lot of tools to help coaches explain anything in the basketball world, from our zone overlays, inbounding mode and more.

Apple Vision Pro is a new device from Apple that will usher in a new era of how we interact with technology. It’s called spatial computing, and among its advantages are that you can use software that goes beyond the limitations of a physical screen. Today, Elite Hoops is amazing at creating plays on your iPad, mac or iPhone:

Now, imagine being able to make the court the size of your living room. Or, creating plays on a canvas several times larger than the whiteboard hanging on your wall at your facility. What if you could zoom into details more precisely than you ever could before?

All of that and more is what Elite Hoops on Vision Pro will do:

We’re proud to be the first basketball play making software available for Apple Vision Pro. Every single feature that coaches from all levels have come to rely on us for will be available on visionOS. Draw up your plays on a half or full court, use any court dimensions, use a full array of different markers and more:

Managing your rosters will be easier than ever thanks to all of the screen real estate spatial computing gives us:

And, of course, recording plays is a dream in Apple Vision Pro. It’s like you’re standing in front of the big whiteboard in front of your team, but so much better. As always, you can easily send plays to your players and coaching staff:

We’re just getting started, too. Today, in a few short months since lauch, we’ve helped coaches share over 3,000 plays with their teams and coaching staff. We can’t wait to add to that number when coaches get their hands on Apple Vision Pro. Make no mistake, we will continue to innovate and invest in the spatial computing space - and as cliché as it sounds, this is just the beginning.

As a parent of three children in sports, I’ve had several of the “talks” after a game. Sometimes they’ve went well, and other times, not so much. But from those moments, I’ve also learned. Most of us just want the absolute best for our kids when it comes to sports. The reasons vary (scholarship opportunities, personal growth, etc), but to hit that mark - we’ve got to take how we communicate seriously.

Though it may not feel like it in the moment (especially after a “bad” game), how we communicate with our kids after the final whistle blows has far-reaching consequences.

Here are three things you can always say after the game to build your young athlete up.

1. “I Love Watching You Play”

This is a phrase I took directly from Greg Berge on X (you can read all of his tips on this same subject here). No matter how your young athlete plays, this is an ideal way to start any conversation. It’s something we should always tell our kids (especially at younger, developmental ages) - that we simply loved watching them compete. When we do, it instills in them everything that we’re wanting sports to give them in the first place:

• Confidence
• Gratification
• Motivation

For many kids, their love of the game came directly from you, the parent. You taught it to them, exposed them to it and they’ve likely taken to it much the same way you did. Because of that, they really care what you think about how they did. There are no critiques in this statement, only the backing of the person whose opinion they care about most – you.

2. Acknowledge Their Performance (Good or Bad!)

After the game, your kid probably is already aware of they performed. If they had good game, they’ll know it. They come off the court racing up to you with a big smile on their face. These moments are great, celebrate them!

However, every single athlete on earth has a bad game. Or hey, even bad stretches of games! Nobody is immune to that, and it’s one thing that, oddly enough, makes sports so wonderful. So, walk through these lessons with your athlete.

If they played great - let them know! Reinforce the things that went well. I try to call out a particular play that I know they were proud of:

• “I saw that pass you made when your teammate cut, great court vision!”
• “We’ve been working so hard on finishing with your left, way to hit it in game.”

This lets them see the value of the work they put it, which is a wonderful lesson to learn early. As parents, we want to encourage our kids no matter the outcome of their games, but we also want to show them that things don’t come free - the more work you put in, the better you get. There is a balance here that’s often difficult to find, but after a particularly good game? That’s an ideal time to show them the value of their hard work and practice.

If they had a rough game, be a parent - not a coach. Kids are all different, and some respond to a poor outing with anger, others may be embarrassed, while others are simply discouraged. In many cases, their core fear is that they let you down.

In these moments, hear them out first before you start talking. Try to correlate their experience with one you’ve had, or maybe a similar situation their favorite athlete has experienced:

• “I know what you mean, I had a game once where I had so many turnovers - it was a tough night!”
• “You know, Steph Curry has games where his shot is off too. Everybody has a night like that.”

By letting your athlete know that it’s normal to have off nights, you’re instilling in them a “next play” mentality without even knowing it! Miss a play, make a play - right? There will be another game, which is another chance to improve. Hang their hat on that.

Remember, one good game doesn’t mean they are the best baller in town. By the same token, one bad game doesn’t mean they are awful at the sport. It’s a body of work that shows where they are really at, developmentally, so remind them of it.

When they’re young, you want them to love the game more than anything. The rough nights and games will happen, no doubt. So guide them through it, and let them know you are in it with them. Let the love of the game grow, don’t stunt it by being overly critical when they are already down.

3. Switch Your “Buts” with “Ands”

In the end, maybe they are in the mood to chat about the game. If they are, be sure to switch your “but” with “and”. This helps you boost what went right while helping them correct what went wrong. Check out the difference in these two statements:

• “I thought you played great defense, but we need to do better switching off of screens.”
• “I thought you played great defense, and if you switch off of screens - you’ll get even more stops.”

The first statement dampens what they did well by immediately pointing out what they did poorly. The last statement lets them know what they did well, while also showing them how they can improve their skills even more - without taking away from what went right.

But notice that this is the first time I’ve mentioned talking about the game. Try not to start here, instead - lead with the first two tips above. Then, once they are in a good head space to hear your feedback - simply use the word “and” when pointing things instead of “but”. This helps them be cognizant about their wins while also facing up what they should improve.

Wrapping Up

Every parent wants their kids to excel. While there are outliers out there, who simply disparage and criticize their kids no matter the outcome, most of us just want to do right by them. Sometimes, we get it wrong. The competitive juices start flowing, you only notice the mistakes they’ve made - whatever the case may be.

In those times, remember to play the long game! You may think you’ve always got to “push” them to raise a great athlete, but we forget about the stages of development. You can teach them that hard work and practice are essential to succeed in sports while also building them up no matter how they perform. A good mental game will carry them far.

After all, the time will come when they are older - where it gets real. It’ll get hard. But, if we’ve raised them to love the game, have taught them how to navigate the highs and lows - we are setting them up the best we can to have an impactful athletic career.

It’s easy to forget that youth basketball players are learning so much about the game all the time. Things that are obvious to us may be new to them.

Same goes for out of bounds plays.

Today, we’ll show you a super simple one that you can use to set up your bigs for an easy bucket. We call it the “center stack”, but it follows the classic stack setup. Check out the video above for an in-depth look.

The goal of this BLOB set is to get your center a layup. We do this by clearing out the middle, and letting your big roll in.

Here’s a step-by-step overview:

Setup

1. Have your team line up in the stack set (i.e. all in a straight line).
2. Put your two quicker guards in the first and second spot.
3. Have your big be in the third spot.
4. Have the remaining player take the last spot.
5. Be sure to choose your best passer to inbound the ball.

Execution

1. The first guard goes out left to the three point line.
2. At the same time, the second guard goes right to the other side of lane.
3. Once the guards clear out, your big goes down to the block for their look.
4. The last player is your emergency outlet. We usually send them out to the three point line above them.

A lot of times, youth basketball players may not be ready to tee up from the three point line. Their bodies aren’t quite strong enough to use the correct shooting form to get it there without chucking it.

However, there are exceptions.

If you’ve got a player that can properly pull up from three point range, and is also skilled at driving in, here’s a baseline out of bounds play you can use to get them either one of those looks.

Here’s a step-by-step overview:

Setup

1. Your shooter lines up on the bottom of the lane, opposite of where the inbound player is.
2. Have a big line up across from them on the bottom of the lane, right in front of the inbound player.
3. Have your two remaining players line up at the top of the lane on the left and right side.
4. Be sure to choose your best passer to inbound the ball.

Execution

1. The two players on the same side of the inbound player set screens for the players next to them.
2. Your shooter will wait for the screen, and go out to the three point line. This is the main look.
3. If it’s not there, look for the player above him or her, who will do the same thing.