After four months at UPB as a player development coach, UCSB hired Anastasieska as their new Director of Basketball Operations in May 2023. Now two months into her new role, Anastasieska has been fully immersed in the team’s offseason preparation for the upcoming season. Her main task as Director of Basketball Operations is to coordinate administrative tasks for the team such as booking hotels and travel and also reminding the team of important dates and events off the court.

Here at UPB, we are committed to these efforts to advocate for women in sports. We seek to foster a safe and inclusive environment where women feel not only encouraged to participate in the sport of basketball, but empowered to reach their full potential through the lessons that the game can teach. With this goal in mind, we are excited to host all girls training sessions at the UPB facility led by Coach Annelise Ito.

The NBA Draft is one of the most exciting times of the year for basketball fans and players, as dreams finally come to fruition after years of hard work and dedication to the sport. The 2023 NBA Draft took place at the Barclays Center in New York on June 22, 2023. Out of the 58 total picks in the 2023 NBA Draft, 8 of them trained with Coach Packie Turner in preparation for the beginning of their NBA careers. Here at UPB we are excited to see these players embark on their NBA journey and wish them the best of luck in their career!

Basketball is a game of reps. The more you dribble, shoot, or even jump, the stronger foundation you will have to develop your game and add skills to your bag. With this in mind, here are 5 workouts you can practice at home for just 5 minutes a day to elevate your game.

“I just want everyone to have as much fun as possible. I want to make everyone as dedicated to basketball,” Gerber said. “In school or basketball or any activity… the teacher that you have changes everything…so I just want to be here and be in the moment and give my all to all the kids.”

“I'm looking forward to being able to help other people just get better at basketball,” Lum said. “It's a pretty rewarding feeling just seeing them when they are able to learn something new and apply it to their game.”

“Mental skills are just like physical skills. The earlier you start practicing them, the better, so this is proactive mental skills training. Our goal is to introduce it to the kids really early in life so they can start practicing and get better at it,” Betchart said. “This is some of the most important stuff in life. I mean, not only does this help on the court, of course, with performance and all that good stuff, but these are life skills. This stuff helps you in school, helps you with your work, with your family, [and] your relationships.”

Smith has been with UPB for a few weeks now and is helping with group training and private training. He said he has enjoyed seeing the variety of different athletes that come into the gym from division I college basketball players all the way down to three year olds. He said group training has been his favorite part so far, being able to interact with a lot of different athletes and helping them improve throughout the sessions.

WME Basketball recently announced the athletes that are officially signed with the agency. Get to know more about the talented players that Coach Packie has been working with since the beginning of April!

The Sacramento Kings had a surprising season this year as the team finished third in the Western Conference during the regular season, and made their way into the playoffs for the first time in 16 seasons. With a young and talented roster with players such as De’Aaron Fox, Domantas Sabonis, and Keegan Murray along with new additions during the season such as Kessler Edwards, the Kings finished the 2022-23 season with a final record of 48-34, the team’s best record since 2005.

WNBA Commissioner, Cathy Engelbert, said that last season, the league had its most viewers in 14 years. With 36 athletes coming in from the draft, those of which participated in a record-breaking viewership season, this upcoming season has a lot of buzz and anticipation around it.

“When my name was being announced as the sixth pick, it was just like, ‘Oh my God, that's me,’” Jones said. “I was trying to read [the Commissioner's] lips as she was going to announce what name it was. So as I saw the H being formed coming out, I was like, ‘Oh my God, it's gonna be me.’ It was just so exciting getting to stand up and hug the people closest to me.”

Professional athletes are adept at dealing with these stressful environments through years of practice and training. It is a process, so patience and persistence are also very important skills to harness when overcoming stress.

“Thank you for everyone all these years, old and new, for being a part of our family and helping us build something special in the community. For all of our donors thank you, we appreciate your belief in us and what we do.”

Basketball is a mental game. Take a look at some of these tips to instantly help you play better on the court.

Jones posted to her Instagram account on Monday, “Thankful for my years at stanford. Thankful for my people, without you I wouldn't be who I am. Thank you for continuing to keep me grounded and hungry. Ready for the next chapter.”

“It was a bit of a surprise at first [being traded,] it was something that I wasn't expecting. But you know, It all happened so fast. I can't believe how fast it happened but I'm glad to be here in Sac. It's my first day here at the facility and everybody seems cool, so I think I'm going to like it here,” Edwards told FOX40 News reporters back on February 9th.

“Last year, our motto was ‘unfinished business.’ I think this year with most of the key players being seniors, you know, we just want to go out with a bang,” Somvichian said. “ I guess our motto [this season] would be leaving our mark, leaving our mark on history, making sure that nobody will ever talk about Oakland Tech Basketball without talking about our team.”

“First off, it's an honor… [to] go out there and compete in that and then obviously to be my first one as well was really cool. Growing up going to All-Star Games and watching to now [being] a part of it was pretty surreal,” Williams said.

“We have made it our life mission to help children learn the values of hard work and leadership through sports. We want nothing more than to continue to grow our roots here in this community,” Packie and Bianca Turner.