Intro to Mo’ Motion For New Parents – Please read and digest!
Thank you for your interest. Mo’ Motion serves kids in grades K-8/9 mostly and we offer stand-alone 1x per week After-School, Weeknight Boosts, Fall/Spring weekend train and play GR K-9 and in winter we offer a robust Gr K-3 Sat or Sun offering along with team play plus full teams and league in the winter Grades 4-8 and a modified game spring program as well.
This post elaborates on those programs — after giving you an overview of how we are structured and why. We also have Q&A listed below as well.
We make youth development our priority. Given the expense and time commitment of youth sports, we prioritize your child’s rate of improvement, making all the efforts worth your time and money. We teach kids to love the process of learning and that requires a commitment to the practice model not the games model. The games model has overtaken most youth programs because it is more profitable, more entertaining and more efficient. We make practices and training our masterpiece by giving kids 1,000 of touches of the ball, and shots up, and a full curriculum each season, especially during team movement / basketball season. The games model — with little to no practice or practice in tiny spaces and kids only getting a few touches or shots up in games — is the worst for player development. It’s as bad as it would be for students if they were to only take tests and quizzes or went to recitals on no rote practice and proper preparation.
Our strutcure also aligns with the advice of medical professionals who state that kids should be playing other sports — so we build an in-season winter hoops format with basketball bering a priority for team players (vs. 1x a week players – in Boost/After-school). And in our off-season, players have the option to play 1-3x a week around their other sports or to focus on our program. **SOME PLAYERS DO OUR WEEKNIGHT or AFTER-SCHOOL only options due to conflicts on weekends in winter or they do fall and spring with us and winter with their school team only or with another team. Most of our team players do our winter weekend teams and league while playing for their school team.
NEXT LEVEL: We refer our (end of) grade 8 and up players out to other “travel” programs, but we remind them that most next-level programs are build on the games model — and that is helpful and needed more as long as games and programs are the right fit. Our training has given our players the foundation and it’s up to them to supplement travel ball with various training options between our gyms and other training opportunities. NOTE: We’ve had several high school players do well without having to play travel ball. They found the best spots to train and ended up enjoying their high school careers without the stress and time commitment of what is often overrated travel ball. We’ve also seen many NYC kids who have a lot of potential not reach it because they bought into the games model too young and lost critical skill and IQ development years.
STRUCTURE and OFFERINGS
Here is how we distinguish between our offerings per season:
- After-School Hours 3:45-5pm – FALL/SPRING – Sessions outside usually ages younger – Repeat, contained workouts outside at Riverside Park with covered courts nearby if it rains. It’s okay if kids have to arrive late. Workouts are shorter and lighter intensity wise than weeknight and weekend and again, outside at W76th/RSP.
- Weeknight Evening Boost (Mon-Fri) – FALL/WINTER/SPRING – Weeknights roughly 6-8pm Grades 3-5, Grades 7-10) – 60-90 min depending on the gym – Upper West mostly with some UES locations. Coed (which is NOT a problem because we handle it well and all kids benefit) split by age/grade at each basket – skills, drills for all (not just our team players) broken into Boost JR (usually Gr 3-5/6) and Boost SR (grades 6/7-11). These workouts and our weekend training in the fall are great opportunities for kids trying out for school teams to jump ahead.
- Weekend Train and Play – FALL/WINTER/SPRING – Broken up by grades K-3, Gr 3-4, Gr 5-6, Gr 7-8, Gr 9-11 and usually separation of boys and girls gr 4 and up). Bigger gyms on the weekend, 6-7 hoops per gym, longer sessions–usually 75 minutes to two full hours with flexibility and alt workouts. Grades K-3 is ONE weekend day in the winter per season as opposed to Grades 3/4 and up team play (next item) – mandatory Sat and Sun.
- TEAM & LEAGUE PLAY – WINTER – for Grades 3 and up (includes optional Boost) and usually a mandatory Sat AND Sun depending on the age group. (We prefer both Grade 5 and up with some flexibility for Grades 3-4.) Parents/kids request to be with friends or they can be free agents. Team and league play included in our local, homegrown UWS/UES league called gothambasketball.org. Please try to sign up by Oct 15/Nov 1 because we start the second week of November and teams often fill quickly.
- TEAM & LEAGUE PLAY – SPRING – same as above – optional Boost plus SAT and SUN
- CAMP MOTION – SUMMER – Half and full days with hoops and scrimmage time in the A.M. and NYC fun in the afternoon. Pay by the week and/or day options are available.
- OTHER Private lessons, open gyms, b-day parties usually for members only.
Know what you’d like? CLICK HERE TO SEARCH FOR THE PROGRAM THAT WORKS FOR YOU!
MOST COMMON QUESTIONS
SEASONS? WHEN DO I SIGN MY KID UP? WHICH SEASON?
Pro tips: 1) Know your family and child’s schedule. It is the driving factor 90 percent of the time. 2) We also need to see your child – emails about your child don’t help much unless there is a medical or learning issue. Continue reading…
**Basketball season is a winter sport (roughly early November to end of February into early March) and it should be treated that way in effort to reduce overuse injuries and prioritize other sports during their prime seasons. Playing travel year-round is a mistake but it is a money maker for those who promote and participate in it. Our staff is filled with former college and some pro players. We all played different sports until about grade 8. That is when we refer more advanced and basketball-built players to the next level.
FALL PRE-SEASON
We run a fall pre-season open to all to “prepare for the season” for our winter team play, school team play, JV or varsity team play. Many kids benefit from 7-8 weeks of training before school tryouts and/or our winter team play, and yes we “play” meaning we scrimmage in every workout (scrimmages are arguably better for all kids – more touches, more time, more room to fail and grow under less pressure). *Baseball and soccer players often come into our workouts 1-2x a week around fall sports. Players who are consistent with us in the pre-season, winter season, and postseason (spring) get thousands of repetitions, cardio, strength and game play. Our kids love to learn. They love to train. Together. And yes, they love games, too, but we know to prioritize games in winter and not year-round.
WINTER IS BASKETBALL SEASON – 14-15 weeks
*Players can sign up for stand-alone BOOST weeknights or weekend Gr K-3 and NOT team play unless it’s marked as team play. We also have some practice player options for kids who want to be practice players only.
WINTER TEAM PLAY (14-15 weeks) is a larger time and financial commitment. It includes optional weeknight Boost, plus usually SAT and SUN workouts, team training and GAMES. Fall pre-season prepares kids for WINTER, but it is also optional. We try to get attendance up first before we add games or else kids tend to only show up for games. It’s a big problem in NYC, and why we build in flexibility during weeknights, but we need kids in for team practices so we can look like a team. Find your winter team play details by going into the filter and searching WINTER and your child’s age/grade/gender. Details about practice are in the listing.
SPRING IS POST-SEASON
Same as fall but we do half training, half local team play for 8-9 weeks
How do I sign up for programs within these seasons? And what if I am late? Can I try a program? Can I do a drop in?
Step 1: Go to the Find Your Program link. Note our selections are clear time frames—after-school, weeknight, weekend hours and team play (optional weeknight and weekend). Please use the filter. We don’t know your family schedule, so please use the filters provided (grade, gender, day of week, season) on the left to ID the programs that work for you.
NOTE ON TRIALS: We encourage parents to not do trials and to pay for the workout or package in full due to our high retention rate. But if you insist on a trial (one time only) or drop-in workout (limited use, permission needed), then:
A) Remember the day, time, location of session
B) Add it to the line item when you go to the trial or drop in product in our cart
***If you want to continue to full sign up but you’ve missed sessions, e-mail the office@momotion.org with your start date. Office will give you a proration code BEFORE you register to account for missed sessions.
Step 2: Register/Pay – Fill out the info, make payment.
Step 3: Schedule – We add you AND there is a LIVE CALENDAR LINK. Office will add you to the calendar link by 5pm each day or the day after unless it’s on weekends when we are in gyms or we just don’t have enough time (too close to start time). If you ever have questions about location, go to our live calendars link.
Step 4: Show up ready to go. Players play. Parents parent. Coaches coach. Parents drop kids at the workout and are allowed to watch quietly on a limited basis. You should see what you paid for, but kids need their space. We almost always have two coaches and a guard nearby. The workouts are often better when parents are not there (or they are quiet). You are free to attend the last 15 minutes of practice to cheer for all the kids. Games are open to all parents as long as they do their one and only job in the stands, which is to cheer for children.
Thank you!
Mo
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Got a Question?
7 Most Common Questions
For starters though, we are anti-AAU, anti-travel, anti-directors who pressure FOMO parents who pay a lot of money just to say “my kid plays travel” when we all travel up the block, across town, on the subway or by feet to games. We refer kids to more rigorous travel, which by every measurement of our Top 50 player in high school, several college alum and all of our coaches say is around the END of eighth grade. We are here to help and here’s how we operate.
First, know your child’s schedule. Second, figure out if he or she can do weeknight MON-FRI, after-school (younger kids outside in fall, spring) and/or weekends. You can find most answers to your questions in the SIGN UP link and search by season. If you do have to email the office with a question, please make sure you know a) your calendar b) our offerings.
There’s always room in a listing online unless you see these words: SOLD OUT.
Start at an easier entry point – beginner or a younger age group so that we promote players to older or more experienced workouts as opposed to starting too quickly *but keep flexibility for us to move your child into the more challenging age group. Coaches report on the few players who need to “move up” but note we’ve seen many kids fail after being moved up too soon, and we’ve seen many players succeed based on our eye for when to move up and when to stay put.
Short answer, no, but an important note: WINTER is basketball season. Winter is November – first week of March. Tell the baseball and soccer people who hound our kids. Winter is not their season and they should be deferring to other sports to reduce the risk of injuries and well to just let kids be kids (most pros cross-trained). How much should my child play with Mo’ Motion (and we do refer players to deeper waters if they hit marks)? Many but NOT ALL our players play year-round with us in the- Fall, Winter (**TRUE BASKETBALL season), Spring, Summer.
Some players who are out of NYC on weekends or they have baseball or soccer just do Boost until weekend time opens up. Some NYC players have too much homework Mon-Fri. They just do weekends. We customize what works for your child and family. The schedule may seem complicated. It is only because we are flexible and very effective in helping families balance many commitments.
Winter is early November to the first week of March. Winter team play is the priority during basketball season meaning it is team time, team development, team oriented. Pre-season is true preparation time (games as the core of the program do not help kids prepare for winter), Post-season is SPRING where we do a modified hybrid season of training and games. Summer is for camps, learning, development and recovery time. Both pre-season and post-season training with Mo’ Motion can and should be done around other sports where the other sport is the priority based on the amount of stories about overuse injuries for youth. (Google it.) We know how to build safe, smart, efficient training programs and when to then refer players to other programs that are year-round and require more specialization – at the end of Grade 8.
We do, but we prefer NOT to because we convert on 98 percent of trials. It’s just 2x the workload to re-do all the registration info, but sure, if you insist, email the office. Second,trials don’t guarantee that a player is in the workout meaning if you don’t sign up in full, and the class fills, you could lose your spot. We’ll try to give you the head’s up.
We have mixed feelings on privates for a few reasons. First, we are excellent teachers in small group settings, and basketball is not played in a silo. Second, they’re expensive and not the best use of space, which is scarce in NYC. Third, our coaches are usually fully booked in our totally awesome group and team sessions, which are filled with terrific kids who like to help newcomers and meet new friends. Do we do privates? Sure, if we have space, coaches and the right fit. Does Mo do privates? YES, but she sets a goal to do the least amount as possible with the player and to cover a specific area to catch a player up before totally convincing players to join the small group training. Why? The best teachers know this – we should be effective in a class setting, and only meet 1:1 to help through some rough spots. We also know that we need to see kids compete. We need to see them react and interact. This is how we approach privates – so that we are being honest with parents instead of trying to hit them up for hundreds of dollars in private sessions.