Travel/AAU basketball club
We are happy to announce that Ares Basketball will be hosting the local 2020 Jr. NBA Skills Challenge!
The Jr. NBA Skills Challenge presented by Under Armour provides boys and girls, ages 13 and younger, the opportunity to showcase their basketball skills through a dribbling, shooting, and rebounding competition. The program is free for all 13 and under for both boys and girls.
[Read more…] about 2020 Jr. NBA Skills Challenge
AAU Basketball tryouts are here! With the school seasons coming to a close, ballers still need a place to push their passion against competition.
Because we understand schedules are busy, we are offering limited tryout spots over the month of February. Please review the matrix below to find a date or two that works for you and your student athlete. Once you have chosen a date, fill out our basketball tryout interest form and add the dates you would like to come out and meet the team!
| Date | Day | Time | Location |
| 2/4/2020 | Tuesday | 7:00pm – 8:00pm | Mountain House Gym |
| 2/6/2020 | Thursday | 7:00pm – 8:00pm | Mountain House Gym |
| 2/11/2020 | Tuesday | 7:00pm – 9:00pm | Mountain House Gym |
| 2/12/2020 | Wednesday | 7:30pm – 9pm | Mountain House Gym |
| 2/18/2020 | Tuesday | 7:00pm – 9:00pm | Mountain House Gym |
| 2/27/2020 | Thursday | 6:30pm – 7:30pm | Mountain House Gym |
| 2/28/2020 | Friday | 6:30pm – 7:30pm | Mountain House Gym |
| Date | Day | Time | General Location |
| 2/4/2020 | Tuesday | 8:00pm – 9:00pm | Mountain House Gym |
| 2/5/2020 | Wednesday | 7:30pm – 9:00pm | Mountain House Gym |
| 2/12/2020 | Wednesday | 7:30pm – 9pm | Mountain House Gym |
| 2/13/2020 | Thursday | 6:30pm – 7:45pm | Mountain House Gym |
| 2/18/2020 | Tuesday | 7:00pm – 9:00pm | Mountain House Gym |
| 2/20/2020 | Thursday | 7:00pm – 8:00pm | Mountain House Gym |
| 2/26/2020 | Tuesday | 7:30pm – 9:00pm | Mountain House Gym |
| 2/28/2020 | Friday | 6:30pm – 9:00pm | Mountain House Gym |
| Date | Day | Time | Location |
| 2/6/2020 | Thursday | 8:00pm – 9:00pm | Mountain House Gym |
| 2/12/2020 | Wednesday | 7:30pm – 9:00pm | Mountain House Gym |
| 2/13/2020 | Thursday | 8:00pm – 9:00pm | Mountain House Gym |
| 2/19/2020 | Wednesday | 7:30pm – 9:00pm | Mountain House Gym |
| 2/20/2020 | Thursday | 8:00pm – 9:00pm | Mountain House Gym |
| 2/27/2020 | Thursday | 7:30pm – 9:00pm | Mountain House Gym |
| 2/28/2020 | Friday | 7:45pm – 9:00pm | Mountain House Gym |
If the date above is still available on this page, then we still have room. We are taking 5-6 kids per tryout. Once we have filled those spots, we will remove the date from the list. You can sign up by visiting our tryout page on our Ares Basketball main website. Make sure to include the desired dates you would like to join us.
Ares Basketball is happy to announce a free fundamentals basketball clinic for the Tracy/Mountain House and surrounding communities. This basketball clinic will focus on fundamentals for athletes 9 to 17 years old. The goal is to work on fundamental basketball on both on the offensive and defensive end of the court.
Our very first clinic will be on January 30, 2020 in Mountain House. Times for the clinic are 6:30pm – 7:30pm for ages 9 – 12/13 and 13/14-17 from 7:45pm – 8:45pm.
To receive updates regarding the clinic, you can visit our free basketball clinic page to sign up.
This basketball clinic is for boys and girls ages 9-17. We have two, one hour sessions depending on age/skill set. The earlier times are usually reserved for the younger age group while the later times are for older age groups that are normally more advanced.
Support this free clinic by purchasing one of our shits, hoodies, or rally/game towel! We look forward to seeing you there.
We are excited to announce that Ares Basketball now has a brand new AAU basketball girls team!
With the first practice only a few days away, the excitement from the coaches and parents has been so much fun. This group features mostly new girls to AAU but love basketball so we look forward to developing them and watching them grow.
We have been looking to put together a girls team for a few months now and became lucky enough to be able and muster up enough to get a team going. So if you missed tryouts, there is nothing to worry about, we are still looking to fill a couple more spots for the season
Find out more information how to join our tryouts mailing list
Season starts Thursday, January 16th with our meet and great and practice following right after. The season will end in May and start back up in June.
The team consists of mostly 5th graders new to AAU. Looking for girls 4th-6th.
Coaching and competing in the AAU circuit is and can be tough. The competitive environment we find ourselves in can be an incredibly stressful situation that can create barriers with each other even if we have similar goals. Some folks realize how these barriers are created in an early stage of their experiences of life and are usually OK with not really understanding the other person or need a special bond to work well with others. However, the benefit in creating that special bond in a work environment or on a basketball court really makes a difference in overall performance.
Team bonding can come in different forms, in our case, we had the opportunity to gather our teams together and have a team bonding night at the Stockton Kings season opener against the Santa Cruz Warriors. Both these teams are affiliated with the NBA and compete in the G-League.
After speaking with our representative at the Stockton Kings, we found a perfect match for what our goal was with the teams. What better way to bond as teammates and parents than going to something they already enjoy! Practices and games there is limited time to get to really know your teammate and outside of the few hours you spend together during the week, there is no real time to hang out as a team unless planned out.
At the Stockton Arena, we were escorted onto the court to participate in the opening night “tunnel buddies” program the Kings had put together for us. Long description short, the teams got to participate in welcoming the players to the court and got to watch the opening ceremonies from the sideline. They had an absolute blast!
Once all the opening ceremonies were concluded, our group made way to our seats and gathered snacks along the way. It was family night so that meant $4 unlimited pop-corn, $2 hot-dogs, and $1 drinks. With the players and kids satisfied and excited, we enjoyed the game from some great seats.
The night didn’t end with just a great victory for the home team but a great time for the kids as well. At the end of the game, the teams had an opportunity to take a few shots on the court. The group made their way back out to the court as the game concluded and was able to interact more with the opposing team and entertainers who were court side leaving or getting ready to perform.
Overall, the experience was great and just right for the group. The players walked away with a better bond and a great night out. Over the last few weeks, I have seen the growth in the player’s chemistry on the court and has been helpful with the team bonds as a whole.
Here at Ares Basketball, we get to speak with a lot of parents and other AAU basketball club directors & coaches. One common theme from our conversations with these folks is finding the right team or a team at all, so we did a little digging to see what is out there.
There are many ways to find a basketball team in the area. A common search term would be something like “basketball teams near me,” however, some basketball organizations can be hard to find. Since we are a AAU member, we can see the different types of clubs located in the area, so we put a list together of AAU basketball teams in Tracy (directors, I hope next time we bump into each other, you thank me for putting this together).
This list of basketball clubs in Tracy contains all the information we could find regarding the club publicly online through google, instagram, facebook, and twitter.
If you found us, then you probably already know about us! If you haven’t seen our social media, then check out the social links below.
Website: https://www.aresbasketball.com/
Instagram: @ares_basketball
Facebook: Ares Basketball
Instagram: @lightningaaubasketball
Website: http://steelhousebasketball.org/
Twitter: @Steelhousebuckets
Instagram: @tracy_falcons
Facebook: TracyHurricanes
Instagram: @tracy_kings1
Facebook: TracyKingz
Tracy Spartans
Website: http://www.tracyspartans.com/
Facebook: tracyspartans
Since our time in Tracy, there has been a few teams that are listed on the AAU website that we cannot find any information about online. Here is that list:
With an overwhelming amount of choices in basketball clubs in Tracy, some may not be ready for that level. There are some great leagues here in Tracy that could benefit a student athlete just getting into the sport. AAU basketball is a big commitment and going through a recreational league would be helpful before committing such long hours and really get the athletes confidence up. There are still members of Ares Basketball that join the recreational leagues to get some extra games in and help with their confidence along the way.
Here is our list of the clubs here in Tracy.
The Boys & Girls club is another great way to start getting some experience under the student athlete’s belt. The program this year consisted of 60 kids so seems as spots may be limited and all games are played at the Boys & Girls club in Tracy. If interested in their program, I would highly recommend on contacting them for more information. You can find out more about the Tracy Boys & Girls club and their programs offered by visiting https://www.bgctracy.org/
Jr. NBA used to be called “Jr. Warriors League” when it first started out. Over the years, the NBA adopted this program nationally and changed it to Jr. NBA. Locally, this program is ran trough the city of Tracy so the information is hard to find. Sign ups for this program is usually distributed by the school. For more information reagarding the programs the Jr.NBA offers, make sure to visit their website: https://jr.nba.com/
Tracy NJB has been around town for a long time now. At the peak, NJB would attract over 700 players. Today, that number of kids is down to about 150 but its a great place to get started. Here is what we dug up online:
Website: https://www.tracynjb.org/
Facebook: NJBTracy
There are several options in just Tracy alone and there is a right club out there for everyone. Having so many teams can also thin out a lot of the talent in town but could open a lot of opportunity for those players looking to grow their skills after playing recreational basketball.
Remember that all clubs are not created equal and I highly recommend to ask questions regarding each program. Some vary in prices but what is included? What type of network does that basketball team or club have? What are some of the clubs goals?
For the reader trying to find the right team for their student athlete, we hope this resource helps you find the right option for you.
If you are a club director here in the Tracy area and would like some edits made, feel free to comment or reach out by contacting us!