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Testimonials
Here you will find various testimonials from parents, professionals and coaches who have experiences with Shaker and Shake True Hoops.
At Shake True Blog, we also offer a forum for instructors to explain the value they see in the Shake True Hoops program:
While never having gone through the Shake True Hoops program myself, I recognized the value of the information Shaker had to offer while playing for my high school team. He was invited to one of our practices as a “guest coach” and ran us through a few defensive drills. Not only was the information he conveyed important, but what struck me was that he made a point of explaining why we needed to know what he was telling us. Until that point in my life, many people had taught me many things, but no one had taken the extra step to tell me why what they were telling me was important. Its one thing to pass on information, but to emphasize the value of the information, letting someone know why you are telling them what you are telling them, was an illuminating concept for me at the time.
Having practiced this tool as a Shake True Hoops employee since 1999, the concept of the value of information is no longer new to me, but remains what I believe to be one of the underlying staples of Shake True Hoops’ success. This, along with instilling participants with a strong work ethic and building self-confidence while providing a fun environment in which their skills progress are the reasons I believe Shake True Hoops stands out from all other basketball development services and why I am proud to be involved with the program.
Anybody can teach someone else how to do a lay-up, but the value of Shake True Hoops lays in the program’s commitment to build a better individual with the proper behavior and mindset to achieve success, not just on the basketball court, but in all aspects of life. Not everybody goes on to become a professional basketball player, and Shake True Hoops understands this reality, making the application of the program that much more valuable for most of the people that participate.
Because of all of these principles, I relish the opportunity to work on the program. My understanding of the game has increased dramatically since I first began teaching basketball skills, and is constantly evolving in a positive direction as both a player and an instructor.
Over the years I’ve worn a few hats for Shake True Hoops with the majority of my time spent teaching skills. More recently I’ve been involved in the administrative side of things and it’s great to be so heavily involved in something I believe in so strongly. I’m enjoying my experiences as a videographer and blogger/video editor. It’s all new territory for me and the challenges have been… Well, challenging. Apart from the usual joys of building relationships with the kids and seeing them develop their skills, I’m really enjoying the evolution of both Justin and Leigh as coaches. It’s an interesting opportunity to act as a mentor to my friends and it only serves to make everyone better.
I’m looking forward to the opportunities that are on the horizon for Shake True Hoops and plan to continue working for and expanding the program for years to come.
– Joe Machen, September 2008
This summer has been an interesting one for me. As I moved to new a city and began down the path towards my teaching career, I spent a lot of time thinking of the things that I can do to prepare to become the best teacher I can be. Looking back I can say unequivocally that experiences with Shake True Hoops have not only made me a better basketball player and coach, but have been important in shaping the approaches I take with students within my classroom. The opportunity to work with such a diverse group of kids was certainly an enjoyable experience for me.
Having spent time my time previous to camp coaching and teaching kids aged 14 and up, the opportunity to work with a younger group was an exciting one. They taught me important lessons in being patient as a coach. I learned how to teach the basic skills of basketball, something that I had never had the opportunity to do before my involvement with camp. Another thing I learned from shake, was that almost every teaching opportunity on the basketball court can have a life lesson imbedded within it.
As teachers and coaches we are responsible for passing on the information related to our sphere. In my classroom, this will be information related to the biological sciences, and at camp it was basketball. But, as I have seen Shake emulate over the summer, if we truly want to make an impact on those we teach, we need to make sure our lessons involve teaching the student not only the information but also the importance of being a positive member of society.
Finally, my time with Shake True Hoops has made me a better basketball player and coach. By working with and listening to my fellows coaches, I absorbed a lot of valuable information that I have seen manifest itself in my coaching and playing. Overall camp was a great experience for me. It helped me meet some great people in my new home city, it helped me become a better basketball coach and player, and I think most importantly, it gave me many valuable insights that I can take into my classroom, where I know they can make a difference.
– Leigh Hanna, September 2008
I began attending Shake True Hoops when I was 13 years old. I learned many lessons about both basketball and life during my training with Shaker. My experiences there transformed both my basketball skills and my leadership abilities. Eventually I made a transition from student to teacher. The communication and leadership abilities that I developed through my time working with Shaker will no doubt be extremely valuable to me in the future.
As a basketball player, the Shake True Hoops program helped me immensely. I did not play on a competitive basketball team until I was in grade 10. The instruction I received from Shaker fast-tracked my basketball development and by the time I was in grade 11, I was a district all-star. Without Shaker’s help, I am sure that I would never have played basketball at the CIS level.
I would recommend the Shake True Hoops program to any basketball player, regardless of ability. The skills learned at the sessions transcend the basketball court. Experience with Shaker and his staff will enhance a person’s basketball career as well as their business career. The intangibles provided are truly invaluable.
– John Hood, Laurentian Voyageur, August 2008
“I have trained for STH for 2 years. The High Intensity training at SJK is the most complete package out there. I wish I had had this type of ‘full’ education before I went to college.”
– Jon Popofski, Div 1 Canisius, Team Canada
I have enjoyed my experiences with Shake True Hoops. The program itself is incredibly valuable. If a program like this was available in my hometown, I would have certainly been a part of it and would have benefitted from it. I appreciate seeing the difference in coaching style that is used to deal with children 11-13 years old when compared to high school students. I can see that the younger kids are taught, in subtle ways, to respect their instructors, learn discipline and, at the same time, develop the fundamental skills to become excellent basketball players in the future. At the high school level, it is evident that the kids who have stuck with the program have superior mental understanding of the important skills and strategies of the game.As this was my first experience with teaching kids, I learned to understand the different ways to reach then. As a naturally athletic kid growing up in a small town basketball system, it never occurred to me that some kids needed extra motivation and that there are so many different ways to go about creating it. Working individually with these kids, with the guidance of Shaker, has led to a greater understanding of children in an instructional setting. For the first few weeks, I was a little uncomfortable with the actual “teaching” part of the job. I had confidence with my skills and felt that I had some good advice to offer the kids, but was tentative because I didn’t want to teach the wrong thing or contradict what other coaches have said before. Although I was labeled “Coach Rob,” a lot of the times I felt that I was also a student on my shifts. I learned a lot more about individual skills and strategies from my experiences here than I ever did in my basketball career. Learning something through discussion with Shake, then turning around to teach and simulate the concept to the kids helped me think about as many ways as possible to make sure I could get the lesson across. My experiences seeing kids develop and get better were also quite rewarding. Not only was it nice to see the kids improve, it was also a good feeling to see kids getting more comfortable with me. Once the comfort and respect had been established, my time spent at Shake True Hoops was much more enjoyable.I would definitely like to come back next year to see the kids develop even more and to improve on some weaknesses in my instruction, such as maintaining control, keeping the group’s attention and to be able to notice and correct the more subtle errors made by the kids.
–Rob “Coach Rob” Bellis, April 2008