“It's a really special time just because it's guys achieving their dreams, and you're a part of that process with them as they're pretty close to it,” Coach Packie said. “You're helping them, you know, make a jump to really solidify themselves and make a team take them, so it's a special time just in general [and] a lot of good energy. All the way around it's an exciting time for them as they begin their professional career.”

Unlimited Potential Basketball’s Coach Packie recently traveled to Santa Barbara from Burlingame for eight weeks to help prepare these five talented young men for the 2021 NBA Draft. The 2021 NBA Draft was held on Thursday, July 29th, and UPB is proud to be a part of the player’s journey to the league.

“The closest people I've met in my life have all been through the game of basketball, and the coolest places I've ever been or experienced have usually been through the game of basketball,” Orlich said.

Currently, Braccia has four offers to take his game to the collegiate level. He has offers from the University of Hawaii, American University, University of Alabama at Birmingham and the most recent, San Jose State.

Ferrari said living in Spain compared to his home state in California was much different. It was different from the lifestyle, to the language and to the game of basketball. He learned a lot during his time of two years in Spain, and said that he has enjoyed it and believes playing there has benefited his game.

“This year with the new coaching staff, I already feel like our relationships are so much better with our coaches, and I think that’s super important for being on a successful team,” Van Dyke said. “That’s what I’m really excited for. I’m excited to see where that will take us, and playing with the new girls and having kind of a fresh start and a clean slate to build from.”

“Being a two-time gold medalist is not something a lot of people can say, so it’s just an honor and blessing,” Jones said. “It means the world to me to make my family proud and where I come from proud.”

In that time of uncertainty for everyone during the pandemic, Randle said he was locked into working on his craft. Randle spent his time in the Bay Area, working out two to three times a day, six days a week, making sure he was prepared as possible for any opportunities coming his way.

In his first game back with the Warriors, Poole showcased his improved talent with a 26-point game against the Suns in Phoenix, shooting over 50%. He went 10-16 from the field and 5-10 from behind the arc. It was his first game of the season scoring 20 points or more, and it did not stop there.

Patel comes to UPB with these experiences in the world of basketball but most importantly a desire to help build self-confidence within all of UPB’s clients. Patel believes in learning basketball in any shape or form because he says “there’s lots of avenues for learning the game of basketball.” He also describes building confidence as a key agenda item regardless of who he is training, and so far that’s ranged from youth to college basketball players.

There’s no other way to put it besides the fact that Mikayla Cowling is a Bay Area staple. Her college career at Cal was filled with highlights, from being named to the PAC-12 All-Freshman Team in 2015 and to being named All-Pac-12 Honorable Mentions and All-Defensive Honorable Mention in 2016 and 2017, Cowling left Berkeley having impacted the area forever. After getting drafted by the Connecticut Sun in 2018, Cowling first headed overseas to develop.

Mari Somvichian started playing basketball in second grade, barely able to see the rim from her small stature. Already though, her competitive juices were flowing. Just a beginner at her new craft, Mari asked her mom to sign her up for three weeks of basketball camp in the summer. Eight years later, and now a sophomore at Oakland Tech, not much has changed: Mari is nothing if not a competitor.

Denver Nuggets’ Aaron Gordon is more than a professional athlete. He was a heralded recruit out of the Bay Area, a star at University of Arizona, and the 4th overall pick in the NBA draft. Through a diligent work ethic, mindfulness, and a strong support system he is leaving a remarkable legacy. A steady self-awareness coupled with an eagerness to always get better allows Gordon to continuously push himself in workouts and as an activist. He runs a non-profit, takes on different roles on the court, and started a media company, demonstrating to the next generation everyone's potential is unlimited.

Max Gilberg’s “Scary Hours” video of Jordan Poole in the UPB gym is a dynamic one minute mixtape showcasing the high-flying guard’s latest work on the court. The video runs for about a minute, and has garnered over 12.7k on social media. Gilberg estimates that he put close to eight hours into that video from conception to release, and actually won a video competition from it. But, even the sheer amount of work can’t epitomize just how much Gilberg lives, breathes, and eats content creation. After talking to him for just a few minutes, it’s clear how passionate he is about what he does.

There’s one particular exercise Clair Steele will never forget from UPB. And that’s Packie’s famous five-minute plank that would be thrown in at the end of workouts. Clair Steele used to dread those planks.

Kelsey Plum comes from a family of athletes. Both her parents and all three of her siblings played Division I athletics, and she is the leading scorer in Division I women’s basketball history. She is the second for both and women and had the single season record 1,109 points in 2016-17. What may seem like a career marked by milestones, even before being the first overall pick in the 2017 WNBA Draft, is one in which Plum still had much to overcome.

Drew Gordon has played for professional basketball teams in Serbia, Italy, Turkey, France, Lithuania, Russia and Poland, not to mention in the NBA and G-League. He’s seen the Eiffel Tower and Milan, and carved out a niche himself in the VTB United League in Russia, in which he’s played here for three years on four different teams. He’s averaging 15.1 points and 6.4 rebounds per game this year in the league, and is here to explain just the grittiness of play overseas.

Mia Mastrov always grew up playing up. Whether it was battling with older hoopers through Miramontes High School or Cal Stars, boys, girls, or graduating high school early to play at Cal, no challenge is too big for Mastrov. There is no challenge too big for Mastrov and that is evident in her first six games she played in for the Golden Bears while most kids her age would still be frolicking as second semester high school seniors. Mastrov, on the other hand, scored 20 points in her PAC-12 debut against Utah and hit four threes. In March, she scored 12 points against Arizona State and went 4/4 from the line. Even though Mastrov turned 18 today, her goals in the PAC-12 are simple: absolute domination.

Randle is the epitome of making the best of his situation and is currently averaging five points, two rebounds and two assists per game for the Orlando Magic. And that’s not all. Off the court, Randle is a founder of Volokit, a high-end streetwear brand. For Randle the learning never stops and that is something we all in itself can take away from his time in the UPB gym and beyond.

When Redwood High School teammates were asked to describe what it was like playing with a dynamic guard like Kylie Horstmeyer, as she enrolled early to play Division I basketball at the University of San Diego, their sentiment was clear: she’s the hardest worker.