2024 marked the 28th year of The Winston-Salem Stealers Girls Basketball Program!
THE PHILOSOPHY:
Our program has done its’ best to remain as consistent and true to our founder’s philosophy which was created in our early years: HERE
THE PEOPLE:
What has really made the program strong and consistent over the years is simply the people. That is not just the players, but the coaches, the parents and the friends. The people have been willing to step in and step up when asked to help and understand that it takes all of us to make the experience great for our most important customer… the participants.
THE GOAL:
To make our participants not just better players but better people. Our hope is to provide as many opportunities to all of our players should they choose to take advantage of them (individual skills, group skills, teams, leagues, camps, etc…). The basketball brings us together and it’s our job as adults to try and provide as solid a program as possible.
NO PROMISES:
We have always had the philosophy of trying to help our participants become better players so they could make their high school team. If a player goes beyond that, that’s great. We have been fortunate to have over one hundred and fifty girls go onto play basketball in college as stated in this 2019 article: HERE.
We’ve managed to help so many girls go onto play ball in college despite following another long-standing philosophy of not becoming part of the “hype machine”. We stated, back in 2002-03 when the 292 program started, that we don’t and won’t promise any player a college scholarship: Click HERE to read “What the program does not promote or promise”.
If someone signs up for this program with the sole purpose of receiving a college scholarship, they more than likely will not enjoy their time here.
MERIT BASED:
Coach Robinson’s reputation with college coaches is important. He believes that opportunities are merit based. The more you work, the more opportunities will come about, and if the talent or physical trait is not above-average he tries to fill in what’s lacking to close the gap. However, it is up to the player to do the work.
NO HYPE MACHINE:
Coach Robinson is always looking at the big picture when it comes to the end point “Z” of each player when they begin “A”. It’s an interesting dichotomy of sorts that Coach Robinson won’t be a part of the social media hype machine when it comes to promoting players, yet the Stealers have had so many of them go onto play in college. Why is that? Coach Robinson believes that if you hype up one kid and not another it gives the impression of playing favorites which is never a good thing. That’s implying that one kid is good and others aren’t. If you then try to make everyone happy by hyping up everyone, you then lose your credibility with college coaches and those coming in the years to follow won’t have the best of chances of maybe playing at that next level because of a damaged reputation of over-hyping players that played before them.
It may go against the grain that the basketball world may follow, but, going back to “the people” post above in our organization, they understand that things will work out as they need. They understand to let their kids enjoy their time as players as those years will be fly by in the blink of an eye without the pressure of “Where’s my scholarship” or “I need an offer”. Those will come over time if you work and be patient. Read Straight From The Parent’s Mouth Page.
INTRODUCING THE WORLD:
Coach Robinson’s long-standing work with national and global organizations such as the WBCA and USA Basketball allows our kids to experience, when ready, the big world of basketball. Read HERE.
Being able to open those doors to the world is something that several of our kids have enjoyed. Those have been one-of-a-kind moments for them.
TEACH THE GAME:
So that we don’t rush our younger players into the world of AAU Basketball, we offer the Teach The Game program which is just that… Teaching The Game to the players so they know how to play before they step out into the AAU world. The AAU world can be unforgiving to those who have only the experience of YMCA, recreational or a similar level of basketball. The Teach The Game is also offered to our experienced players who want to continue to work on their skill set and fundamentals aside from their team practices.
The development of a player and teaching them how to play is way more important, especially at the younger ages, than running plays and just trying to win.
In 2024, we introduced the TTG – 2024 Program which helps players in grades 2nd-12th understand the game better. They can then take what they have learned in TTG – 2024 to their Stealers practices and games and beyond. LINK: Teach The Game 2024 – GOLD PROGRAM | The Winston-Salem Stealers Girls Basketball Program (thewinstonsalemstealers.com)
There is an App for Teach The Game. LINK:Teach The Game App | The Winston-Salem Stealers Girls Basketball Program (thewinstonsalemstealers.com)
GO STEALERS!!!
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