Brian Sacks, entrepreneur and former publisher of bizAZ Magazine, has launched his latest project.
Jump Athletic is a youth basketball program for boys and girls ages 7-16 that teaches the fundamental skills of basketball through a training academy.
The program, which kicked off in March, takes place 6-7 p.m. Tuesday and Thursdays at the Tesseract School in Phoenix; practices may increase during the school year.
Jump Athletic strives to not only instill the basic skills needed to become a decent player, but also to encourage leadership on and off the court, Sacks says.
"I think sports is so much more than just playing sports; it's really about becoming leaders," he says. "It's also preparing (children) for peer pressure ages - 12, 13 years old."
Cindy Mand, mother of two boys, or "little jumpers" as Sacks would call them, helped Sacks put together a focus group to find out if a program like Jump Athletic was needed in the Greater Phoenix community. Having found out that there was a void in the market for this kind of basketball-intensive program, Sacks approached the Tesseract School about hosting the program. Sacks says he hopes to find a facility of his own in order to expand.
Right now the program has about 60 "jumpers," ranging from age 7 to 16. The children also form basketball teams with 10-12 players that practice around the academy's schedule.
The teams have plenty of opportunities to play in tournaments around the Valley, and even host their own. However, Sacks' program emphasizes the fundamentals, and he makes sure his teams know that honing fundamental skills comes before playing games.
"They (the kids) love that part," says Sacks. "They just want to go off playing games but they have to learn this stuff (the fundamentals)."
Mand sent her two boys to Jump Athletic because their private school didn't offer a basketball-intensive program. She says she also wanted a coach that was dedicated and knowledgeable.
"If you want to move up to a competitive level, it's just random which coach you get," Mand says. "They are usually volunteer coaches, and nobody is really working on the fundamentals. So nobody is breaking down their shot, nobody is working on their ball-handling."
Mand is also pleased that her boys are meeting other basketball players from around the Valley. Jump Athletic has a diverse group of children from all around Phoenix and Scottsdale, as well as West Phoenix and Mesa.
The trainers are a diverse group as well; some have played professionally overseas.
"One of the better things that we have, which I've purposefully done, is our high level of player-to-trainer ratio," says Sacks.
Jump Athletic offers not just the training academy but private and small-group training as well.
Its summer camp, which takes place July 27-30 at the Tesseract School, is in partnership with the Phoenix Summer Pro league; registration is still open. The camp will include fundamentals training as well as guest speakers, such as former NBA player Maciej Lampe, who spent two seasons with the Phoenix Suns.
Sacks named Jump Athletic with the idea that the company's players will "rise" and "excel," or "leap to the next level," in terms of basketball and life.
One of the most important aspects of Jump Athletic, as Cindy Mand points out, is that these children are dedicated to their sport "and not just kids that are messing around."
"Most kids that come here really love basketball."
