Basketball Clinics in First Nations Communities Across Canada
122 communities. 10 provinces and territories. 218 visits. Here is what actually happens when HoopLife comes to a community, and how to book one.
- The standard clinic is two full days in your gym, with three HoopLife coaches.
- No hard cap on numbers: we scale the clinic to the community, not the other way round.
- Most kids at a clinic have never had real coaching before, and beginners are grouped separately.
- You need a gym with working hoops and one local contact. We bring everything else.
HoopLife has run basketball clinics in 122 communities across 10 provinces and territories, over 218 separate visits. Some were a drive up the highway. Some were fly-in. The clinic is the same in all of them: two full days of real coaching, delivered in your gym, by coaches who came to be there.
This is the plain version of how it works, for the person in a community who is deciding whether to bring us.
What a clinic actually is
Two full days in your gym. Each day mixes real skill work — shooting, ball handling, finishing, defending — with games and scrimmages where the kids immediately use what they just learned, plus our Confidence, Leadership & Basketball IQ sessions.
It is deliberately not two days of drills in lines. Kids are moving, playing, and being coached by name the whole time, and the leadership work is built into the days rather than bolted on at the end.
We can build a longer visit — five days is common — if that suits your community better.
Who comes with us
Three coaches as standard: one Senior Elite Skills Coach and two Elite Skills Coaches. The senior coach runs the clinic and is the person your coordinator deals with on the ground. If your group is unusually large we send more.
Every coach who travels holds a current criminal record check, we carry liability insurance for the clinic, and we follow the Rule of Two, so no coach is ever alone with a child. If your band office, council or school division needs that paperwork on file before a visit is approved, ask and we will send it — we know it is a requirement, not a nicety. Our Safe Sport page sets out how it works and how to raise a concern.
Who it is for
Everyone who comes. In a lot of communities that means most of the school. We group by age and ability on the day and run the sessions around the group actually in front of us.
Most of the kids at any clinic have never had real coaching before, and those are usually the ones the two days change the most. Nobody sits out, and a beginner is never stuck behind a kid who has played for years.
What you provide, and what we bring
You provide: a gym with working hoops, and one local person who is our point of contact for the two days. That is genuinely it.
We bring: the coaching team, a custom curriculum, a printed training booklet for every child to keep, and the clinic equipment.
If your floor is short, your hoops do not lower, or you are working with a community hall rather than a full gym, tell us. We have run clinics in every kind of space and we will build around yours rather than turning you down.
What it costs
We quote every community individually, and we do it that way on purpose. Driving distance, whether the team stays overnight, whether we fly in, how many days you want and how many coaches you need all move the number — a same-day drive from Regina and a fly-in to a northern community are not the same trip.
Rather than publish a price that would be wrong for most people reading it, we send a written, itemised quote: the coaching team, the curriculum, a booklet for every child, and all travel and logistics to get the team to you and home again.
And if you can host the coaches — a school suite, a band-owned unit, billets, a hotel you have a rate with — that comes off the quote. Communities do this all the time. We would rather build the trip around what you already have than bill you for it. The full how-to is here.
The part communities tell us about afterwards
It is rarely the jump shots. Coordinators consistently say the change they see is in confidence, and in how the kids treat each other.
That is what the Confidence, Leadership & Basketball IQ sessions are built for: teaching young people that the opinion of themselves that matters most is their own, and how to carry that back into their school and their community. Communities report feeling more connected and supported afterwards, and less bullying in their schools.
"Our youth always ask when the next HoopLife session is. HoopLife not only teaches but they inspire our youth to believe in themselves." — Tanya Littlechief, White Bear Council Member
How to start
Tell us where you are, roughly how many kids you expect, the age spread, and the dates you are thinking about. We will come back with a written estimate.
Request clinic dates for your community, or read the two-day breakdown first.
Frequently asked questions
Does HoopLife travel to First Nations communities?
Yes. HoopLife has run clinics in 122 communities across 10 provinces and territories, including remote and fly-in communities.
How long is a clinic?
The standard is two full days, which is what most communities book. Longer visits, including five days, can be built and quoted.
How many kids can take part?
There is no hard cap. We scale the clinic to the community and group by age and ability on the day. A rough count in advance tells us how many coaches to bring and booklets to print.
What does a community need to provide?
A gym with working hoops and one local point of contact. HoopLife brings the coaches, curriculum, booklets and equipment.
Are the coaches screened and insured?
Yes. Every travelling coach holds a current criminal record check, HoopLife carries liability insurance, and we follow the Rule of Two.
Not sure where your kid fits?
Leave your name and email and a HoopLife coach will help you work it out. Or start with the $10 Get Started package: a planning meeting with a Director plus their first session.
