Hoop Stars Academy

Our goal and mission is to teach the youth respect for themselves first and foremost, for their peers and to their community by instilling a code of ethics built on honesty, responsibility and the key element being team work. We are here to provide a safe and disciplined environment in order for each child to reach their full potential and develop their skills and talent in order to increase their skills in the game of basketball, for both off and on the court.

Based on our research, there are several generalist basketball programs currently in the community that provide basic to intermediate coaching on basketball skills, although these are limited to participants where the parents have the capacity to pay the (high) coaching fees. Our program focuses on delivering the best empowerment program whilst we utilize basketball as the platform.

The primary focus of the program is to expose participating children to the benefits that flow from involvement in sporting activities, regardless of their skill level, religion, socio-economic position or gender.

We have identified that there are many talented young children with great potential - not only as great athletes. In many cases, they come from violent backgrounds in a foreign country, and are marginalized and disenfranchised. However, they have the capacity to become valuable members of the community, given an opportunity.

The Hoop Stars Empowerment Program has a dedicated holistic approach to learning the required basketball skills. Young participants gain confidence through learning, team building and participation. They develop leadership abilities through captaincy, community engagement, participation in a safe environment and most importantly, lasting mental and physical wellbeing.
Our program is not only designed for a basketball path, it is to enhance their opportunities to provide education and to build character and integrity.

The Hoop Stars Empowerment Program and their coaches/leaders (all with varied life experiences of their own) both on and off the court, work with the participants each week to engage and guide them in their transition into adulthood, whilst becoming great community members and even greater basketballers, athletes and rising stars.
The purpose of this program is to reach out to youth in our community who aspire to be basketball players, athletes or who want to just participate from an enjoyment aspect to interact with other kids that they otherwise would not connect with whilst we focus on providing them with basketball skills, life skills, education assistance, health and wellbeing.

The Hoop Stars Academy team will assist youth in our community; giving them an outlet and a better option than they may presently face with feelings of hopelessness and despair. Most young people aspiring to be basketball players are not afforded the opportunity to excel due to lack of funds for this particular type of skill level and training and most schools and programs do not offer anything beyond trying to win the game. We emphasize the importance of education as the vehicle to their future success. Not just the knowledge of the game but overall health and academic achievement. We can provide tutoring and assistance with projects. We encourage our children to set attainable goals and dreams. If they have something to focus on, they have the capacity to reach their full potential and destination.

The Founder and Director - Ivan Harris is an internationally acclaimed basketballer, having played for The Ohio State University and then across five continents in Finland, the NBA Development League, Argentina, Uruguay, Australia, Japan, Romania, and Canada. He played alongside the NBA greats, LeBron James, Chris Paul, Michael Conley, Greg Oden and Evan Turner.

Being invited to play for the Oak Hill academy was a huge honour and opened the doors for Ivan to play on the winning team at the 2003 McDonald’s All-American game in Ohio. That same year, he was ranked fourth in the Final USA Today Super 25 national rankings. Ivan was one of just five high school players invited to a tryout by USA Basketball for roster spots on the 19-and-under USA Junior World Championship team and the USA Pan American Games squad. Following his high school success, Ivan joined The Ohio State University basketball team and later played internationally.

In recent years, Ivan has made Australia his home. Ivan has played in the SEABL and BIGV League and is successfully running his Hoop Stars Program.

The Hoop Stars program runs twice per year for 16 weeks of contact time across two school terms with a 2-week break during school holidays and two intakes in January and July each year.

During sign up, players are individually assessed to determine their skill level and define skills that need improvement. Throughout the Program Block these skills are perfected and reviewed every 2-3 weeks to determine progress. At the end of each Block, we expect the player to ‘graduate’ from the Academy having conquered skills identified during their assessment.