Booking a HoopLife Clinic: What Coordinators Need to Know
A plain guide for band offices, schools and small towns on what a HoopLife basketball clinic includes and how to book one.
- A HoopLife clinic is two full days combining skill work, games, fitness circuits and Confidence, Leadership and Basketball IQ sessions.
- Communities provide a gym with working hoops and one local point of contact; HoopLife brings the coaching team, curriculum and printed booklets for every child.
- Pricing is quoted individually based on distance, overnight or fly-in travel, number of days and coaches needed.
- Kids are grouped by age and ability on the day, so no prior basketball experience is required.
- Clinic dates are genuinely limited by how many weekends HoopLife's travelling coaches can take on, so communities ready to book should send a request rather than wait.
A HoopLife clinic is two full days of basketball and character development run in your own gym, by a travelling team of HoopLife coaches, for whatever group of kids shows up. Booking one starts with a written request, HoopLife builds a quote around your community's distance and numbers, and a senior coach runs the two days on the ground so your point of contact deals with one person the whole time.
Coordinators booking their first clinic are usually juggling a few real jobs at once: getting a manager or council to sign off, lining up the gym, and figuring out what HoopLife actually needs from the community versus what it brings itself. Here is what that looks like in practice.
What does a HoopLife clinic weekend actually include?
Two full days, mixing real skill work (shooting, ball handling, finishing, defending) with games and scrimmages so kids use what they just learned right away, plus fitness circuits and HoopLife's Confidence, Leadership and Basketball IQ sessions. It is built to not be two days of drills in a line. Kids are moving, playing and coached by name the whole time, and the leadership and character work is built into the days rather than tacked on at the end. Every child keeps a printed training and character development booklet from the visit, and the whole two days runs on HoopLife's written coaching library, the same system used at the HoopLife Centre in Regina.
What does our community need to provide?
A gym with working hoops, and one local person who is HoopLife's point of contact for the two days. That is genuinely it. HoopLife brings the coaching team, the curriculum, and the printed booklets for every child. If your floor is short, your hoops do not lower, or you are working out of a community hall instead of a full gym, say so when you request an estimate. HoopLife has run clinics in every kind of space and builds the plan around what you actually have, rather than turning a community away for not matching a standard gym.
Who comes, and does my group need to already play?
HoopLife takes who comes. In a lot of communities that is most of the school, and the clinic groups kids by age and ability on the day rather than asking a coordinator to sort that out in advance. Most kids at any given clinic have never had real coaching before, and those are often the ones the two days change the most. Nobody sits out for being new to the game, and a beginner is never stuck behind a kid who has played for years. Tell HoopLife the rough age spread and headcount you expect when you request an estimate, since that is what tells the team how many coaches to bring and how many booklets to print.
What does it cost, and how far ahead should we book?
Every community gets its own quote, because the honest cost depends on driving distance, whether the coaching team stays overnight or flies in, how many days you want, and how many coaches the group size needs. A same-day drive from Regina and a fly-in to a remote community are not the same trip, so HoopLife does not publish one number that would be wrong for most people reading it. Request an estimate and HoopLife sends back a written quote with every line itemized.
What is worth knowing plainly: HoopLife's coaching team only takes on so many clinic weekends, and interest in these visits is real and growing, especially after a community sees its youth engaged at an off-reserve tournament or hears about a neighboring town's weekend. Good clinic dates get requested and get taken. If your gym and your group are ready, get your request in rather than sitting on it, because the calendar fills the way any popular program does.
How the process actually runs
- You send a request through Bring HoopLife to You, First Nations Basketball & Character Development Clinics, or the town and city clinic page, whichever fits your community.
- HoopLife asks for a rough headcount and age spread, your location, and whether you are picturing the standard two days or something longer.
- You get a written, itemized quote back. Most coordinators need to loop in a manager or council before committing, and having the full breakdown in writing makes that conversation easier.
- A senior coach, backed by a small travelling team, runs the two days in your gym and is your point of contact throughout.
For a sense of what the two days actually look like once the coaches are in the building, HoopLife's coaches have written up what actually happens at a HoopLife clinic, hour by hour, which is worth reading before your first booking call.
Frequently asked questions
Frequently asked questions
Can the clinic run for more or fewer than two days?
Two full days is the standard most communities book, and it is long enough for kids to genuinely improve at something and for HoopLife's coaches to build a relationship with them instead of showing up as strangers for an afternoon. Longer visits can be built and priced if a community wants one; say so when you request an estimate.
Is there a maximum or minimum number of kids for a HoopLife clinic?
There is no hard cap. HoopLife scales the clinic to the community rather than asking the community to fit a fixed clinic size. What matters is giving a rough headcount in advance, since that is what tells HoopLife how many coaches to send and how many booklets to print.
Do the kids need any basketball experience before a clinic?
No, and most do not have any. A good share of kids at any HoopLife clinic have never had real coaching before, and those are often the ones the two days change the most. Kids are grouped by age and ability on the day, so a first-timer is never stuck behind a kid who has played for years.
Who runs the clinic once HoopLife arrives?
A team of HoopLife coaches led by a senior coach, who runs the two days and is the person your local coordinator deals with on the ground. The team is sized to your group based on the headcount and age spread you give when you request an estimate.
Thinking about your community?
Tell us who to reach out to and a real person from HoopLife will be in touch about bringing basketball to your young people.
