Ball Hogg Basketball

★★★China Knight

We signed our son up for Bitty Ballers League after hearing glowing reviews from multiple people about Ball Hogg Academy. At age 5, this was his first time playing basketball. I will start by saying that everyone we came across during our “season” there was great- from the staff to the parents, we had nothing but great interactions. However, this program was not a great fit for our son, and therefore, for us. I wish we would have known how the program worked before putting him into it as his first exposure to basketball. As I’ve said, it was his first year, so he went into the program knowing nothing. The practices were a “group practice”, so everyone of all ages in the program did the practices together. As you could imagine, it’s impossible for a 5 year old with no prior knowledge or skill to keep up with the same practice and skills an experienced 12 year old is doing. The practices consisted of an hour repeating the same blueprint- dribble in place, dribble switching hands, dribble behind your back, dribble under your leg, then do a few variations of lay-ups. We did our best to practice at home with him, but it was still frustrating for him to be doing advanced moves when he hasn’t been taught the basics of dribbling yet. The teams do not practice together- in fact none of the kids on my son’s team went to the practices- therefore he was unable to make any friends or develop the ability to work as a team unit. This became an issue at games where it became very apparent that all of his other teammates were friends (via school or otherwise) meaning he was left out quite a bit. There are no set coaches for the teams, just volunteer parents who sit on the side and help them during the game. This caused quite a bit of frustration because our son was never passed the ball during his entire season. Since it’s volunteer parents helping out instead of coaches, there’s no real incentive for them to encourage passing the ball or assisting players who aren’t as skilled, which makes a bit of sense considering they don’t know your child and only see them on game days. The difference in skill from our “first year” son to the team he was assigned was actually shocking for us. Our son was VERY far behind the skill level of everyone on his team with no way to catch up since practices didn’t consist of the team working on skills together. He simply struggled the entire season only to end up hating to go. We encouraged him to keep at it, but ended up not going to the last 2 games due to how upset it made him to feel left out with the team and how frustrating practices were when he hadn’t developed the advanced skills to keep up. If your son or daughter has been trained since walking to play basketball, has an obvious natural skill, or doesn’t necessarily care for the usual “team” experience, this would be a great fit for them. I believe they do offer solo lessons as well. However, if you’re just starting at square one or your kid thrives better in the traditional “team” experience, I would try a different program. I am hoping we can talk our son into giving basketball another try with something that fits his needs a little better! Again, I can’t express how friendly and kind everyone was! They did great at learning the names of each kid and giving them encouragement when they saw them. I just was very unaware of how the program worked and would have made a different decision going into his first year had I known. I’m hoping this review gives other parents some knowledge on what to expect to see if it will be a good fit for their kids as well.

★angela goodall

The seating at this place was horrific. If you attempt to sit on their supposed bleachers, your knees will go into the back of the person in front of you. It also smelled horrific and the floors were falling apart . They never made walls so it’s covered in what looks like plastic bags. The basketballs have hit it and there is insulation falling out all over the place. If I could give zero stars, I would.

★★★★★Jason Winkeler (jwinkphoto)

Over the years we did a lot of basketball events with Coach Hogg and team. We enjoyed everything and Coach Hogg is really great with the players and giving them the keys to success in basketball. This year my Son played for Mid-Pro south, Coach Hogg's H.S. Elite team, we were so pleased with the tournament selection and the training and workouts. Brandon was really involved with our player, coaching him up after games. It was really impressive how he cares and understands the game,.The last tournaments we played in there were college coaches lined up in the facilities we played in. Our player had great exposure, leadership and training. I would recommend Coach Hogg to all my friends and family.

★★★★★Lindy Stonecipher

Our boys absolutely love Ball Hogg and the staff! We wish we were able to send our kids more often. As parents, we appreciate the fact that the training staff, and especially Coach Hogg, always seems to go out of their way to call kids by name. They have many people and names to remember, but they were intentional about making sure my boys were "seen," each time they stepped into the facility. Coach Marcus even ran to the window to wave bye to my youngest as we were leaving one day. That, their passion for and knowledge of basketball, and the way they train kids to understand the game were the things that impressed me most.

★★★★★Dennis Daugherty

My 7th grade girl started training with Ball Hogg about a year ago. Her skills have improved a lot. All of her school coaches and teammates have noticed her improvements. If you want your kids to excel in Basketball then you should sign them up as young as you can. I wish we would have started two years prior.