There are many ways an athlete can improve their game on the court, whether that is their ball handling skills, their foot work, or working on their shot. Most of the time, ball players will work on these skills at the gym on the court, but there are many ways an athlete can improve themselves off of the court.

Anastasieska’s first day at UPB is on Thursday, and she said she is most excited about meeting new people and being able to work with people at all different skill levels. Anastasieska’s career aspiration is to become a college basketball coach, and she believes working as a player development coach will help her towards that goal. We are so happy to have her on the UPB team and we are excited to be a part of her basketball journey!

“Our team is so excited that we found a new space in Burlingame so close to where this journey originally began. We have spent years building up a community that feels like family. I feel blessed to know we get to continue to help the kids in the area,” said UPB’s CEO Bianca Turner. “Although change is never easy, it does challenge us to grow and innovate. I am excited for what’s to come in the future! And I can’t wait to show everyone our new home.”

“[The game of basketball means a lot to me because] the culture and the relationships that I’ve made, and sort of just the maturity and development on and off the court,” Toon said. “I like the feeling of when your team's winning and you guys are all playing a good game and there's just like there's no better feeling than that. I just love the feeling of competitiveness.”

Unlimited Potential Basketball recently hosted its first Little Hoopers Clinic last month, and it was a huge success! The Little Hoopers Clinic welcomed three to five year olds into the UPB Training Facility to be introduced to the game of basketball and get used to the atmosphere of the game. We enjoyed having the kids in the gym and seeing them develop throughout the four weeks with their peers.

“The app is a great opportunity for young athletes to get to work with the UPB staff remotely,” Player Development Coach DyShawn Hobson said. “We are excited to connect and work with athletes through the app that do not have the opportunity to train at the facility.”

“Obviously, the process of being drafted was incredible and indescribable,” Williams said. “Now, playing with such a young team, we all get along so well. It's made the transition really easy. Just because we're all able to learn together. So it's been fun, just trying to embrace every part of it.”

Mental training is important to work on for not only an athlete’s game, but for their everyday life. Mental training improves self confidence, helps with stress management, increases drive and motivation, improves concentration, increases mental toughness and so much more.

“[Aaron is] kind of the key piece to their team from a standpoint of he guards the best player and he can take advantage of mismatches and do various things. He can create, he can play make,” Packie said. “I think Aaron's finding his rhythm with Denver, and he's going to have a big year. I think he's worked his tail off, and I think he's ready to take it up another notch.”

During Packie’s three-day visit to Brooklyn, Packie was able to get a few workouts in with Edwards. The two were able to utilize the National Basketball Players Association’s gym in New York City the day before and the day after the season opener against the New Orleans Pelicans. Packie said it was a quick and productive trip.

“If you give good energy, I realized that they'll obviously reciprocate it. They are there for a reason, they want to get better. I just want to make sure that I'm utilizing their time to the best of my ability to make sure that they are getting something when they walk away from it every single day,” Hamilton said. “I'm enjoying it. I have high hopes for the future, and I just want to keep it going.”

Ito said being back in the gym has been incredible and she did not realize how much she missed basketball until she stepped foot in the facility. She has enjoyed seeing familiar faces come into the gym, meeting the new trainers, and seeing how much UPB has evolved since she trained at the facility a few years back. We are excited to have Ito on the UPB Team and to see her get back around the game she grew up loving.

Two members of the Unlimited Potential Basketball family, Josh Friedkin and Mikayla Cowling, recently made their way back overseas to Israel to play professional basketball. We are so proud of all their accomplishments so far in their career, and we are excited to see how they will perform in their upcoming seasons.

“I hope that in my last year here, I'm able to kind of leave a legacy almost. So like back to back to back Final Fours, hopefully two for three on Nattys, that is [what] I want in my senior year,” Jones said. “I want to have me personally and my class, the Funky Four, kind of cement our names in the Stanford legacy, that we came in [and] we changed the ways, like they hadn't won a Natty in 30 years. We went to three Final Fours, we went undefeated in the Pac, like that's unheard of. That's what I kind of want to leave after my senior year.”

During her overall time at UPB, Ho explained that she has definitely seen a difference in her game, and has enjoyed working with the trainers at UPB. Ho said she would recommend the foundation to other basketball players because being at the gym has “been really good, and my favorite part is all the coaches [that] are supporting me. They encourage me and always tell me what to do to be better.”

Davis has been at UPB for almost three weeks now and has been involved in both the group and private training at the facility. When he is working with an athlete, first and foremost he wants the athlete to enjoy their time and enjoy the grind that they are going through. He also wants to help produce well-rounded athletes and does this through his philosophy centered on “simplicity with detail.”

“It's been amazing because I haven't really been working anybody out or been on the basketball court as a trainer in a very long time [since] I'm overseas and I'm doing more administrative work,” Savickaitė said. “It feels really good to be back on court everyday, going to the gym, having a basketball in [my] hands. It's just a good feeling.”

“People see [basketball] as just a game, but it can be so much more than that. It brings people together, it is its own community,” LaFortune said.”I feel that the people who are working in it are just all great people, and you could learn a lot from them. Other than that, I just love playing it and I love watching it. I love everything about it. I love teaching it more than anything else, [and] I don't think I could see myself doing anything else.”

“[I] think it [is] a very exciting opportunity to learn from Packie, DyShawn and all the other great coaches that [UPB] has there. The variety of ages and skills is really cool, [for example,] working with kindergarteners all the way up to the highest level, [it is] definitely enhancing my perspective on the sport [which is] really what I'm just trying to do,” Hopkins said.

Franco believes mental training is important because it is a skill set that an athlete can add to their game that will only make them better. When an athlete mentally trains, it helps them trust and feel confident in their basketball skills, such as ball handling or shooting, when they are in competition or a game. Mental training can help with the pressure on an athlete as well as all the distractions that may come their way.