Frequently Asked Questions

What makes The Academy so special?

We’re focused on basketball education and long-term growth. We know that the allure of “exposure” isn’t relevant until a certain age as college coaches simply don’t care about middle school or elementary age players. We want players to experience and learn through making mistakes in games that are within a +/- 9 point margin because nobody learns from winning or losing by 30+ points. Our staff of experienced coaches care about teaching and creating an enriching environment in which players are taught, corrected and inspired to fall in love with the process.

Is The Academy open to everybody?

The Academy is only available to Members of The Scoring Factory.

When and where can I schedule an Evaluation for my child?

Evaluations can be scheduled during any of our Skills Clinics at all of our locations.

What is the Evaluation?

We require Evaluations for all new players to give new families a chance to meet our coaches and experience our teaching environment first hand. This is not a “try out” per se, but rather an opportunity for our coaches to evaluate your child’s coachability and current skill level.

When do The Academy practices start?

Practices start the first week of April and each location has 2 practices per week.

My child is only a beginner, can they do this?

The Academy is open to players of all levels and our goal is to meet them at their level and teach them the necessary skills to help them improve. Everybody was a beginner at some point and we enjoy working with players that want to improve. We will help them find their inner passion, challenge them to learn new concepts and help build their confidence so they can experience success in our tournaments.

Is my son too advanced for The Academy?

We have had countless future college basketball players come through The Academy over the years. Sometimes parents get caught up focusing too much too soon on “exposure” and rankings, when in reality players need to be focused on constant improvement if they want to someday play at the next level. Learning in our environment and having the opportunity to get game reps working on high level basketball concepts has helped our alumni step into their college environment far more prepared than their peers.

What days of the week are practices?

There are 2 weekly practices with one geared primarily toward individual and technical skills development, and the second focused on team and tactical skills. The practices at “Location A” for example will take place on Mondays and Wednesdays, whereas practices may purposely take place on staggered days at another location.

What’s the difference between the skills and team practice?

Each practice location will have a “Skills” practice and a “Team” practice. The skills practice is focused on helping players develop in terms of footwork, passing, finishing with both hands, cutting, off-ball movement, shooting form and a myriad number of areas designed to build confidence when they step on the court. The “Team” practice is designed to help players better understand how all the pieces of the game fit together on both offense and the basic principles of playing aggressive man-to-man defense with gap principles.

Can we split between two different practice locations?

Yes, absolutely! For example: if your child participates in other activities on Monday and Thursday, they could practice with us on a Tuesday at one location and then on Wednesday at a different location. Just let us know in advance and leave that in the Notes section when completing the online sign-up.

Is The Academy co-ed?

We play co-ed through 7th grade. Keep in mind that we place players on teams based on ability and current skill level so we can ensure that games are challenging and at an appropriate level of competition. If a 7th grade boy is physically advanced mature for example, he would play in a different group.

Do practices consist strictly of a player’s team and coach?

The practices do not consist of just a player’s team and coach as Tournament teams will change from week to week. There will be several high level coaches at each practice teaching, correcting, encouraging and educating utilizing our specialized curriculum.

Is it one game per week or how do the Tournaments work?

Games have traditionally been held on Saturdays at rotating locations with players playing 2+ games each weekend. We now also have the option to play Sunday games as well (although parents can chose to only play one day or the other based on their schedules).

Are the Tournaments every weekend from April until mid-June?

The first Tournament will be a few weeks after the start of practices in order to ensure that players are prepared, trained and understand concepts. We want our games to be much more than simply tossing up a jumpball and letting chaos takeover. Players will be encouraged and allowed to play with freedom to stimulate decision making, but it’s equally important to have enough structure so that they’re prepared to think their way through the game as well. There will be a 8 Tournaments.

Where are the Tournaments and what is the general travel range?

Tournaments take place in Pittsburgh. We strive to make The Academy and our Tournaments as convenient as possible for parents. Therefore, we provide the schedule and exact locations well in advance in order to help parents plan ahead because we realize that logistics and scheduling can be a challenge for busy families involved in multiple activities.

What if the games are too hard or easy?

We’re constantly evaluating the development of each players and therefore shift players to different teams to ensure that they’re appropriately challenged. This means that where they start may not necessarily be where they’re playing by the end of The Academy season. We want ever player to be challenged while also never feeling too “comfortable.” The key is forcing players to take chances in order to build their own confidence. Through high level teaching and competitive game repetitions, we can stimulate their individual growth within a team environment.

Are the games only among players in the same grade?

No. We divide players up and organize the teams based on current skill level so we can ensure that the games provide the appropriate level of competition. Some players are more advanced than others and we will move them left or right as needed to make sure that they’re challenged.

Are the games against other AAU teams?

The majority of our games are against other Academy players. Teams change from week to week as we reshuffle players to ensure that they’re competing at the appropriate level and constantly being challenged. However, we do invite outside AAU teams to play in our tournaments. Long-term we have plans to have the best AAU teams in Pittsburgh. The Academy will be our main teaching incubator so we can ensure that our players are learning what they need to play at the highest levels. Basketball IQ is vital for future success and we want to instill these necessary principles in players as early as possible so they can be prepared for their basketball future.

What is the age range and expected team size?

Each Tournament, players will placed into teams to compete against similarly skilled players. We believe that players need healthy competition and to be able to work their way through appropriate challenges because it doesn’t stimulate growth when the competition is either too challenging or too easy. We therefore move kids left or right as needed when we notice that a player needs to be challenged. This means that a talented 4th grader may very well play with and against older players through the course of The Academy.

Is there a set coach per team?

We teach the a consistent curriculum (concepts, plans, terminology etc) at each location and every coach follows the same overall protocol. We want players to hear as many of those voices as possible, knowing that we’re reinforcing the same messages from all of our coaches.

Is playing time guaranteed?

We believe that players learn best through trial and error. We also realize that in many situations, players are so worried about getting subbed out that they play timid and scared. We want players to play team basketball and try to make the right play, but we don’t want them to be tense or play like a robot. Therefore, we take the approach of trying to ensure that players get as close to equal playing time as possible, because we want them to learn by doing and taking chances on the court.

Do you make players memorize 1,000 plays?

No, absolutely not! We teach players a simple motion and one other set action. That’s it. We want to ensure that they learn how to space, screen, pass, cut and relocate. We also want to help them learn how to read the game and find the openings which is a huge part of developing their decision making. We do not want them to be robots, but we also do not want sheer chaos. Ideally players play aggressive defense and generate transition opportunities. However, when the game slows down and settles into 5v5 action, we want them to know how to play intelligent team basketball.

Can my son still participate if we know that he’ll miss some practices and games because of baseball?

We know that some players play other sports and that’s absolutely fine with us. In fact, we encourage and support kids that play multiple sports. Our practices are purposely staggered on different days and times between locations so that parents can schedule with us to do a make-up practice at another practice location. If we know in advance that a player may miss a Tournament, we can discuss possible options to play an extra game(s) during a different Tournament.

Can my child do The Academy if she also plays for another AAU team?

Yes, we’ve traditionally had a number of players in The Academy who also play concurrently for another AAU organization. Long story short, we’re here for players that need high level teaching and game opportunities, which don’t always necessarily happen within their “normal” situation. We provide a comprehensive learning environment for players to practice, learn, play and grow. Therefore players from outside AAU teams often join The Academy to get more skills development in our practices and game reps in our Tournaments.

Is admission $50/person like those other AAU events?

Absolutely not! We provide an affordable event that the whole family can attend without taking out a loan. Yes, we have rent to pay. Yes, our certified game referees aren’t free. However, we want players’ friends and family to be able to come and watch their games and still have something leftover to grab a pretzel. Admission to our tournaments is $3/adult and kids are free.

Do you offer a payment plan?

Yes, we can absolutely accommodate that request. Please send us a message through our Contact Us page and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.

Are these just in house games?

With hundreds of players coming through our Academy every year, players are faced with a wide variety of challenges and opposition. Because we have so many practice locations in the region, we have the ability to place players on teams to ensure that they play against an appropriate level of competition. We want kids from the city to play kids from the suburbs and to make sure that players from the North, East, West and South are able to compete against each other in meaningful games with close scores so players realize the value of making the right reads and decisions. We also invite outside AAU teams and organizations to play against us and we’re extremely proud of how much we’ve been able to positively impact the overall basketball IQ and skill level on the local basketball landscape.

Does my child need more games?

When the games are designed to extract their full potential, stimulate growth and build confidence in their skills… then YES! Ironically, one of the best ways to get better at playing basketball, is to play basketball. There’s a major problem in youth development right now because kids don’t get enough playing opportunities to learn through making mistakes. School teams are so focused on winning games during the season, that players don’t always get an opportunity to break out of their assigned role in order to gain valuable experience trying things in game situations. This used to happen at the park or playground, but for the most part those courts are sadly empty no. We want to help kids fall in love with the joy of playing and develop the necessary skills to succeed at their highest levels.