Farewell To Mom O...

On Monday, November 30th Mom O. (Lance's Mom) passed away. She had been battling pancreatic cancer for over 2 years. To some of you, this may come as a shock but for those of you who knew her, you understand that she was an extremely private person. She didn't want people to know and at one point specifically asked us to not say anything to others about her condition.

Although we knew that her "time" was near, we didn't know it was going to be that soon! We spent Thanksgiving at the house along with Lance's sister, Kim and her family, and his brother Ryan and his family.

We lost her way too soon and there is an emptiness in our lives without her. The holidays will especially be difficult because it was her favorite time of year when all of her kids and grandkids were together. She was such a proud Grandmother and absolutely loved each and everyone of her grandchildren with all of heart.

Thank you all for your support, kind words of sympathy and love. Please help us all by remembering the good times that you shared with her and keep those memories close to your hearts!

Thanksgiving Skillz Camp 2009

Our Thanksgiving Skillz Camp was our biggest camp yet! We had close to 60 campers in attendance. It was awesome! Even with that many kids, the camp ran smoothly, was on time, was structured, fun and exciting.

Next up: Winter Skillz Camp 09

The New School

What can I say about Joshua and Jayden's new school? In one word, amazing. Although the boys started at the end of the first trimester and only a week before the parent-teacher conferences, it was a smooth transition.

Academically, they both had more homework and studying in the first week of school than they did at their old school in a month. They were assessed right away and are at the top of their classes! They have an awesome accelerated math program that is just up Joshua's alley and exactly what he needed to excel and be challenged. In the first trimester, the entire 5th grade class goal was to complete 21 tests. Joshua completed 21 tests in the first week! The exciting thing about this program is that the students can move on at their own pace if they keep passing the tests. Joshua's teacher is waiting to see if he'll ever get stumped and so far he's passing each one with ease. Joshua also was allowed to take a social studies test that his class had been studying for weeks. He only had 2 days to study for it and he had never studied this way for a test before. His teacher didn't expect him to ace it. But, to our excitement, he got an A+!

Jayden is also doing extremely well. He is in the highest reading group of all the 2nd grade classes combined. He is learning and loving his new environment.

At their former school, they would rarely have homework as their teachers would allow them to complete their homework in class because they'd complete their classwork ahead of time.

Now they both come home with lots of homework and studying, but they are thriving and work on it the minute they get in the door. They both have great study habits.

Their principal is a great hands on leader of the school. He takes pride in his school, staff, and students and knows every single student's name (684 students total). The atmosphere is so positive and really has a family feel to it, it's absolutely wonderful!

Joshua and Jayden have made some great friends already and have adjusted so well. The transition to their new school was so easy for them! I asked both boys which school they liked better and they both said their new school!! They are both happy and love being here in Rocklin! This is just confirmation that we did the right thing at the right time!

Rock-Town

In October, we officially sold our house in Lincoln and moved to Rocklin. We had a great experience in Lincoln for the past 7 years and loved our home. However, there were more important things at stake and the reason for our move was to get our boys into the Rocklin unified school district. We knew that we'd end up in Rocklin eventually. Originally our goal was to get to Rocklin before Joshua started 6th grade. However, things happened and we made the decision to just get out to Rocklin sooner than later. Honestly, we had know idea that we'd sell our house that quickly. We put it up at the end of June and closed escrow at the end of October!



Joshua and Jayden weren't being challenged to the best of their ability and I worried that there wasn't enough in Lincoln academically for our boys. They both had great teachers at some point who did challenge their needs, but then there were some who didn't challenge them. In fact, before we left Lincoln, Joshua was informally appointed the assistant teacher. He would go outside during class time to test the kids in math, sometimes correct papers and even log grades into the log book. Although Joshua loved being a helper, I felt that it was inappropriate for him to be responsible for other students and teaching them things when he should have been learning things himself.

It was challenging and sometimes stressful with the selling of our home, offers falling through etc., awful nightmare movers, and so on...but it was all worth it because now we're in a great house in Rocklin and at an amazing school. So it all worked out for the best as it always does and we're very thankful.

Next post: The New School.

Double Digit Birthday

On September 20th Joshua turned 10! It's hard to believe that our 1st born is already 10 years old.

This year Joshua wanted to celebrate his birthday with his friends by....(I'll give you 1 single guess)...playing basketball of course!! We rented the gym for 4 hours. The boys played 5 on 5, had contests, ate pizza, dessert, and opened gifts, then played more basketball. As if that wasn't enough basketball, Joshua's team was asked at the last minute to play in a tournament. So, Joshua and a few of the boys played in 2 back to back games on Saturday, went to the party, slept over, then played in a championship game on Sunday!

Needless to say, the boys were exhausted! But it was a fun filled birthday weekend for sure. Joshua said that this was the best birthday ever.

Here's to a fantastic 10th year for our little (or not so little) Joshie!

Oh...what a year it has been!!!

Here is our post from exactly 1 year ago, about us starting our own youth basketball training business - Next Level Basketball Training.

Fast Forward to today...the past year has been a great year for us! We haven't surpassed the million dollars in revenue just yet, but we are having a blast! We started small (1 client) and have grown every month (a key in business). In the beginning, we were renting gym time at different locations (the Lincoln Community Center has been great to us - and is a great gym), and schools. We even did some sessions outside in the winter! Then we took a step (a chance, really) and became the youth trainers for Johnson Ranch Racquet Club - where we entered into our first "contract". All of these places were great - but my initial vision when we decided to start the business was bigger! I saw us in a much bigger "venue" at some point (where there were multiple courts, even other trining-such as plyometircs, speed & agility training), and knew it would take time. Not only that, I felt we'd have to buy our own place, so it'd take money AND I figured we'd have to become a VERY "established brand" - like Nike.

Over the year we worked on making a name for our business...we wanted to be professional and organized, but most of all we wanted to provide VALUE to all families we touched. We did camps in the winter and the summer, topping out at about 40 players. We also did an after school program with the City of Lincoln. We donated food to the local food closet, and we were able to sponsor a couple of kids through our "Make an Assist" donations so they could continue their basketball passion (a dream of mine - to provide some sort of "scholarship" opportunity for kids to keep their passion for sports.)

Ever heard the saying "you have to believe it,before you can see it"? Well...recently (9/8/2009) we held our first training session as the "Official Youth Trainers" for Hardwood Palace! Why is this so important? Only because the Hardwood Palace is over 100,000 square feet of indoor basketball & athletic training facilities (including plyometrics and speed & agility)!! 8 Hardwood courts, and more importantly - it is THE hot spot for youth basketball leagues and AAU basketball tournaments. Translation: HUGE amounts of traffic, and people!!! It is very close to my vision from a year ago! Needless to say, we are excited about the opportunities!

Here's some perspective: They had a big academy coming in from the Bay Area on the weekends to train their youth. This academy is VERY big in the Bay, and the GM of the Hardwood Palace brought us in to replace them! Wow!!

We've started a Training Academy for grades 1st-7th, we've got Shooting Academies, Special I.T. (Intense Training) Clinics and we'll be soon scheduling upcoming camps.

We consider this a VERY big step in the right direction, and we are very thankful for Hardwood Palace putting their trust in us and for all of the people that have supported us in our decision to start the business! We are looking forward to exponential growth in the coming months, and are excited about the opportunity to touch many young players' lives!!!

Here's to a great year!!!

Alex & Marisa's Summer Visit

Last month, after Mom and Dad spent a couple of weeks in Colorado, they brought Alex and Marisa here to stay with us for a little over a week. This was the first time Alex and Marisa traveled without their parents. Donnie flew in a few days later and joined us. What a fun visit we had. The kids had a great time playing, singing, dancing, and acting goofy as usual. They have always gotten along so well and are such good friends. Of course when Donnie arrived, all 4 kids attacked and terrorized him like they always do.

What a great way to end the summer!

Best Cupcakes Ever

On Lance's birthday this year, I ordered some gourment cupcakes at Icing on the Cupcake. Boy or boy were they YUMMY! These are definitely the most delicious cupcakes around. The Icing on the Cupcake shop is very cute! What a great thing they have going on...serving beautiful, scrumptious, decadent cupcakes. They have so many wonderful varieties and really unique flavors like,macaroon, peanut butter & jelly, chai, caramel apple, red velvet, etc. They're about $3 per cupcake but so very worth it. You have got to try some!!

3 Peat CHAMPIONS

Earlier this month, Joshua's team played in 3 tournaments in 3 weeks. They came home with 1st place trophies for all 3 and were undefeated each week! Congratulations Joshua and the DAWGS!

August 15th-16th "To The Hoop" tourney, 4th grade division.


August 8th-9th "Fast Break" tourney, 4th-5th grade division.

August 1st-2nd "Fast Break" tourney, 4th grade division.

Say CHEESE!!

Can you guess why Joshua is smiling so wide? No more braces! He's had his braces for approximately 9 1/2 months total. He used to have a Class III cross bite, or "underbite". Now, he has a perfect bite and a great smile! During the 9 1/2 months he had many restrictions...no caramels or sticky candies, no gum, no popcorn, etc.etc. The first thing he wanted after we left the orthodontist was gum! He was gum happy for about a week straight. Yeah! No more braces!!

Lebron James Kings Academy Basketball Camp

Joshua had the opportunity to attend the Lebron James King's Academy Basketball camp on the UC San Diego Campus on July 24-28th. The camp was from 9am to 9pm (sometimes later). Some people told us that it wouldn't be worth it and some questioned sending our child to a "celebrity camp" for various reasons.


My expectation of the camp was that Lebron would be there. There were no promises made other than that. No promises of other NBA players. Just that Lebron would be there. But what did that mean? We had heard in his past camps, he was there every day. But would that be the case? From a parent standpoint, all I wanted was for him to be there so Joshua could see him up close and personal. Fom a coach’s stand point, I just wanted them to be organized and have basketballs there.


Note: Joshua is Lebron's #1 fan - so to see his "idol" is like a dream come true. And isn't that why we parents are here? To help them realize their dreams?

To see the wonder on their faces when seeing their idol up close - PRICELESS!!!


The "King"

First day was registration - And Lebron was there to welcome everyone. Points earned for showing up the first day.



Mo Williams (Lebron’s teammate on the Cavs) was there too.



Anyhow, as a coach - I wasn't expecting much in terms of learning new skills, but I figured in a span of about 5 hours of basketball (time taken out for lunch, dinners and breaks), they'd go through some drills. But, for me - Joshua was not there to learn a new skill. If he picked something up along the way, then that'd be wonderful.

They had a huge staff of coaches - so that made me feel good. Each team consisted of a coach and about 10 players. Good Ratio. Coaches were mostly former coaches and current and former college players. Joshua’s coach played in both JR College and College. Didn’t catch where – but that really doesn’t matter, does it?

King's Academy Coaches.

They started the day off with warm-ups and ball handling drills. Throughout the day they played 5-on-5, 3-on-3 and 1-on-1 games along with having free throw and hotspots contests. And I know there was defense drills mixed in there. They also got coaching on some team offense (ball side screens, and rolling to the basket) and team defense (help side). But a large part of the time was playing the 5-on-5, 3-on-3 and 1-on-1 games.

Good or bad? For Joshua, this turned out to be good. Now, I could take the negative route and think "well, we paid this much money for him to learn, not play games...", but here's what I saw.

I saw Joshua have to...one more time...HAVE TO...learn how to play with players he just met, players from different backgrounds. Players from different cities...East Coast in the house! He had to learn what to do to earn their respect. Joshua is not a ball hog, and he's a team player first. So, when a few players on his team weren't passing him the ball, it bothered him. But after a short talk – he knew what he had to do.

He got more aggressive on defense, he fought for more rebounds than I ever have seen him fight for – and he’s not blessed with height. But the fact is he got more aggressive, and now understood what he was capable of doing. And, as a result – he made more things happen for his team, he scored some baskets, and the other players on his team began to realize his value and by the last day of camp, Joshua had the ball in his hands more. And to me as a coach, that was worth the price of admission.

Back to Lebron…he was there EVERYDAY. Didn’t necessarily interact with ALL of the kids, but when you have kids spread out at four different spots on campus, it’s tough to be in all of those places at once. On the very first day of camp, Lebron was passing through and watching Joshua's group do some drills. After Joshua completed his drills, Lebron James walked up to him and rubbed Joshua's head! That was one of the highlights of the day for Joshua. I mean, he didn't rub any other kid's heads! Lebron played in a scrimmage every night, (except one) and the kids all got to sit on the floor courtside to get a great view of the action. Mo Williams played in two of the scrimmages.

The camp was organized for the most part. The camp organizers had huge help from the UCSD athletic department – so there wasn’t a whole lot of chaos…which is VERY POSSIBLE with 600+ kids and their parents under one roof.

On the last day, the kids got to have one item autographed by Lebron, and the autograph was authenticated by Upper Deck. Joshua chose to have an Official NBA ball signed (an early bday present from Grandma and Bumps). He was able to hand it to Lebron for signing, so another close encounter.



Authentic Autograph!!
Also on the last day, individual and team camp awards were given. If I had to guess, there were maybe a total of 100 plaques given out. This was to a pool of 600+ kids. Joshua was chosen by the coaches to receive the “Most Improved” award for his age group, which consisted of around 100 kids. There was only one of these awards given per age group, so we are very proud of him! But the important part was Lebron presented the plaque – so a hand shake from “The King” himself was a great way to cap off the day!!

Each camper was given a King’s Academy T-Shirt, a team photo with Lebron, all the Vitamin Water and SMART Water they could drink at the camp, as well as a personal evaluation from their coach and the one autographed item.

Of course Academy Gear was sold, and Joshua HAD TO have one of everything!

Overall, it was absolutely worth it. Not only did Joshua get to play the sport he loves, be with a few of his friends and meet his idol…but we, as a family, were able to enjoy a week at a beautiful resort (Hilton La Jolla Torrey Pines), no cooking or cleaning, and even got to enjoy Sea World and Legoland with the boys! On the last day of camp, Joshua and his friends were already talking about coming back next year! It was definitely a great experience and a fun trip! A special thank you to Grandma and Bumpa for pitching in to send Joshua to this awesome camp!!


Here's Joshua receiving his Most Improved award!! We are especially proud of Joshua because he was chosen from about 100 players in his age group to receive this award...presented by "The King"!!


Award Winners! Alex and Blake received the 5-on-5 team champs award and Joshua received individual award for most improved.


Joshua and his Lebron camp coach with his individual camp award!

Fun In "Sun-Diego"

We were in beautiful San Diego for one week. Joshua attended his idol's (Lebron James) basketball camp for 5 days (more on camp in next entry). We all had such a wonderful time. Lance and I celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary, went to Sea World, Legoland, we went swimming, shopping, and Lance's favorite...eating, etc. The weather was perfect. We stayed at the Hilton Resort and Spa, Torrey Pines in La Jolla.
Joshie and Jayden at Sea World first in line to ride the "Journey to Atlantis". Joshua pictured above winning this giant official NBA Cavs bear by shooting and making 3 baskets on the very high, triple rimmed, and difficult game. The guy working at the booth was shocked that Joshua made 2 shots in a row...he said, "oh my gosh!! Grown men can't even make one of those baskets"...needless to say, he was very impressed with Joshua! Joshua wanted that bear badly and said he'd win it. He did it!! At first he wanted to carry his bear because he was so proud of it, and everyone at Sea World knew he won it. The bear is literally bigger than Jayden! Joshua could barely walk and carry it at the same time, so Lance ended up taking the bear to the car.




Here's Joshua one night after the Lebron camp (around 1030pm)eating room service!






Here's Jayden swimming and jumping in the pool at the Hilton...he did this for hours! Our boys did sleep very well on this trip, that's for sure!

Jayden at Legoland riding his favorite ride, the Lego cars! He rode this 3 times! The cars have a gas pedal and brake pedal just like a real car. All the kids were told to drive on the right side of the road, stop at the stop signs, and red lights. Jayden was probably the only one who followed directions! All the other kids were driving on the left side of the road, going through redlights, and even bumping in to each other!

We've been to Legoland a few times but this year seemed to be the most crowded! Most rides had a 60 to 90 minute wait time! We were there for about 8 hours! Most of the time we were standing in the long lines! Jayden had a great time and that's what was most important.

What a great trip we all had! Fun, fun, and more fun!

7 Already?

Happy 7th Birthday to Jayden! Here he is pictured in his brand new Chris Paul jersey from Uncle Donnie, Aunty Lisa, Alex, and Marisa! Cool! We took Jayden to one of his favorite place's, John's Incredible Pizza for some pizza and games. Fun, fun, fun!

Another year older, wiser, and cuter!!! Happy birthday to our lovable Jayden!

Next Level Bball Training 2009 Summer Skillz Camp

Another successful skillz camp to add to our record. With close to 30 campers aged 7-11, Coach Lance and staff put on a great summer basketball camp. Campers were happy, had fun, were challenged, played games, had contests, won prizes and received recognition.

Thank you to all of our special volunteer coaches: Jim, John, Jackson, Andrew, Vance, and Grant Z. You guys are awesome and we couldn't have done it without you!

Please visit our site at www.nextlevelbballtraining.com for photos, short videos, and testimonials on our camps/clinics.

A Wounded DAWG

Over 5 weeks ago, Joshua's good buddy, Jashon from the YBA DAWGS basketball team was injured in a game. He actually broke his ankle! Jashon has been out for 5 weeks and will be getting his cast off soon, followed with 3 weeks of physical therapy. Ja's a trooper though, he's been coming to all of our tournaments to support his team!

Check out the DAWGS logo that Joshua drew on Jashon's cast!

DAWGS Champions Again!

Here are the DAWGS posing for their championship photo on July 11th. They went 3-0 in this tournament! Way to go DAWGS!

Here's Jayden with Bobby Jackson from the Sacramento Kings. Bobby was over at the Hardwood Palace one weekend when Joshua played and was really nice to take some photos with our team and Jayden too!

Next Level Basketball Training's 1st I.T. Session

We (Next Level Basketball Training) put on our first I.T. Intense Training sessions. It was 6 days (hour and a half sessions) of intense training consisting of footwork, agility, defense, and offensive moves. The I.T. sessions were created for the players who wanted to take their game to the 'next level'. It was not intended for the beginner players.

This was not a summer camp. It was a clinic to refine skills and strengthen the players' abilities. It was tough and the kids who attended definitely worked hard, probably the hardest they'd ever worked in baskteball thus far!

The I.T. sessions went over really well with the campers and we've received nothing but positive feedback from the kids and parents as well.

The I.T. sessions will definitely become a part of Next Level Basketball Training's programs for sure! Stay tuned for more information!

Jayden took the William Jessup University basketball summer camp for the 2nd year in a row. Again, he had a blast! His good friend, Kai from his school took it again. Also, Coach Muhic (Kai's Dad) is the men's basketball head coach at Jessup and runs this camp each year.

Jayden held his own as usual and walked away with another trophy, as he was the 2009'hotspots' champion of the camp. Scoring the most points in the hotspots competition of the entire camp ages 5-12!! Great job to our shooting machine! The highlight of this camp was when he shot a 3-pointer in his scrimmage! I nearly fell off the bench when he launched that far shot and made it!! Way to go Jayden!

Rocklin High School Summer Camp 09

In June, Joshua and Jayden took their 3rd annual Rocklin H.S. summer basketball camp. As usual, they both had fun and came home with great feedback from their coaches, prizes, and individual awards.

Great job and effort by both Joshua and Jayden!!

Straight As Again!

School has been out for a few weeks and we are very proud and happy to announce that both Joshua and Jayden received straight As this school year. Congratulations! Great studying and effort!

Joshua Ballin'

Check out this cool collage of Joshua that Lance put together. We have the best team photographer on our YBA DAWGS aau team...Tye (Jashon's Mom) takes action shots of our boys at each game. Thanks Tye!!

Sac Town Shoot-out Champions!

This past weekend, Joshua and his 4th grade YBA Dawgs AAU team participated in the "Sac Town Shootout Tournament". They went 3-0 for the second weekend in a row. It was a hard fighting, exciting weekend of games. In the championship game on Sunday, the team went into over time and won the game by 3 points. Even with the terrible refs who were making terrible calls throughout the whole game, Coach Lance kept his calm, respectable nature as always. I can't say the same for the opponent's coach. Talk about competitive! During our freethrows, the parents and the head coach of the team were yelling out trying to distract our free throw shooter. Even with the poor sportsmanship that they displayed, our shooter hit 4 out of 5 freethrows. My goodness, this isn't the NBA. You usually don't see that type of behavior at this level, afterall these are 9 and 10 year olds!

In the 4th quarter of the championship game, we were down by a point. Joshua hit an amazing 3 point shot under pressure and gave our team the lead!! Because of that shot, the Dawgs were once again fired up. The crowd and the players on the bench went wild!! It was thrilling to say the least.

The boys definitely played hard. Great job Dawgs, Coach Lance, and Coach Jim! Next up, the "qualifier" tournament! Wish us luck!

Xtreme Hoops "Spring Classic" Tournament Champions

This past weekend, Joshua's 4th grade AAU team, the YBA Dawgs took first place in their division. They played 3 games and won all 3.

After the game, they were given trophies and were photographed. Congratulations to the 4th grade division champs!

Here's Joshua all decked out in his YBA Dawgs AAU gear. He has a white armsleeve with his jersey #1 on it, a matching carolina blue Nike duffle bag, brand new personalized Nike basketball shoes with his #1 printed on the shoe along with his team name "DAWGS" (which stands for Defense Always Wins Games) printed on the shoe as well. Joshua also has an "away" armsleeve in black, along with black and carolina blue basketball shoes!

He looks GOOOOOOD doesn't he? And believe me when I say that he also plays as good (and even better than) he looks!!

Go DAWGS!

Jayden's Broadway Musical

Based on the title I bet you thought this was an April's Fools Day entry. Nope, it's an entry based on a real event of Jayden's! Last month, the first graders put on a broadway show. The boys were dressed in top hats, bowties, and tuxedos w/tails! The girls were all dolled up in pretty dresses, boas, gloves, and jewels! It was absolutely adorable. The program consisted of the 1st graders singing a medley of broadway classics like, "Hello Dolly", "There's No Business Like Show Business", "Hey Look Me Over", "Consider Yourself At Home", and so on. Jayden was proud to be in his top hat and tails and for weeks during bath time, we'd hear him practicing his broadway songs! It was an outstanding production by the Foskett 1st grade classes! Here are a couple of video clips from the show. The first clip featured "the boys song". After that performance you'll see Jayden walk across the stage as he was given the duty of a sign carrier. Just scroll down below...there you will find two video clips. Enjoy!
(CLICK THE PLAY BUTTON TO VIEW)
(CLICK THE PLAY BUTTON TO VIEW THE VIDEO CLIP)