Getting a start at Hoop 10

Training, competition

Many players get start at Hoop 10

By LEE PASSMORE

State championships that seem to be won annually by Texas Panhandle high schools aren’t just reflected in trophy cases in gym lobbies stretching from Canadian to Nazareth and points in between, even as some of them grow fuller by the year.

For some of those state championship players, their success started in their developmental stages at a facility on Amarillo’s Hillside Road. That’s the home of Hoop 10, a training and competition program which has served the community for nearly two decades as a proving ground for young boys and girls who want to break into the game.

Johnna Pointer is Hoop 10’s director, organizing leagues and tournaments for any youngster and their family from around the area who’s interested. Pointer supervises the facility for training and practices during the week and for games and tournaments on weekends away from the school seasons.

“I truly started with just a vision of could we provide an opportunity for young players in the Panhandle to get in the gym and work on their game and develop into strong players,” Pointer said. “The game of basketball has given me so much, and it’s opened so many doors of opportunity. I looked at it as a way to give back to the game that I love so much.”

Pointer led Shallowater to the 1988 Class 2A state semifinals in Austin, where the Lady Mustangs lost 53-52 to eventual state champion Godley in a game where Pointer scored 30 points. She would return to Austin to play at the University of Texas, where she competed for four seasons and averaged 12.8 points a game for the Longhorns as a senior.

After successful head coaching stints at Frank Phillips College and Wayland Baptist University, Pointer got into individual instruction at Hoop 10, which includes a fulltime staff. It’s become a successful business and is housed in the Amarillo Netplex, which was built a few years ago.

Program has adapted to needs

Pointer said ambitions for the program have evolved since the beginning.

“I would say that the goal is ever-changing,” Pointer said. “When I started 20 years ago, the goal was different than it is now. What I love about our program right now is that I feel like it encompasses every age, every ability level, and every kid who wants to be in the gym, we have some sort of opportunity for them.”

Athletes in the program start as young as 3 years old in what’s known as the Wee League. The oldest ones are heading into their senior year of high school.

Pointer said the facility has been a major factor in maintaining the program’s numbers. The program has been able to add more leagues in the fall and summer, and numbers have gone up. There were about 20 girls teams and 10 boys teams in leagues in 2020.

“Having this facility has been a huge blessing, because it’s allowed us to offer more. Before this facility we were really limited on court size, space and availability. We knew there was a need, but we just couldn’t provide it at one time.”

Players who start with the program at a young age can result 40 Basketball News

Above, girls on a Hoop 10 team smile with their trophy from a competitive tournament. Below, a group of younger Hoop 10 girls celebrate with championship rings. Hoop 10 offers training and competition for boys and girls.

in some cohesiveness both in and out of Hoop 10 by the time they get to high school. Maci Hartsell, a senior at Vega who was a first-team District 3-2A defensive selection last year, has been with Hoop 10 for five years and started coaching third and fourth graders last spring.

“I started with Hoop 10 because there really wasn’t much else around,” said Hartsell, a 6-foot-1 post who says she’s gotten offers from six colleges. “I knew some other girls around the area I was friends with who kind of brought me here. Once I started playing with Hoop 10, they completely shaped me into the player I am

today. It was the opportunity to play with some great coaches who have taught me not only about basketball, but about life.”

Hartsell said she comes to town two or three days a week to work out at the facility, and the fact that she’s able to drive herself the 35 miles east on I-40 is a relief to her parents.

“It’s a lot of traveling, but it’s so, so worth it,” Hartsell said.

Yet for the past year and a half, traveling has been cut down when it’s come to Hoop 10 workout sessions, or at least it was. In 2020, COVID-19 brought the organization’s activity to a standstill, as it did with most other things.

Glad to be back after 2020

While sessions were fairly well attended late in the summer and after school started, the virus still has had an impact on how often athletes attend activities. “COVID has definitely been an issue,” Pointer said. “When we were first dealing with it, it was how could we still make this work, how do we think outside the box and get kids back in the gym? At that point it was just provide them normalcy, get them in a gym and get a ball in their hands. Johnna Pointer “I think at this point we realized how much we missed this. To have it back, we’re just able to do our events and not worry so much about it. It definitely was tough to shut the doors and not see the kids for several months when we were at the worst of it.”

For the most part, the gym’s regulars have returned to frequent attendance at Hoop 10. But not everybody attends at the same rate.

Pointer doesn’t take a one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to instructing players.

“We try to just meet some kids where they’re at,” Pointer said. “Some kids, they want to be here every time we open the door. They want to be in the gym every opportunity they get.”

Some develop quickly, while others are late bloomers. Sadie Sanchez, 14, is a freshman at Randall and is hoping to make the varsity this season as a point guard.

Sanchez started going to Hoop 10 in junior high at the behest of her father and goes to the gym twice a week, often with fellow Randall player Ainsley Velasquez.

“My dad started to do training, and I met coach Johnna, and she’s amazing,” Sanchez said. “What helped me is she actually put me in an older girls division. It helped me be aggressive and strong and get me ready for high school ball.”

Johnna Pointer instructs a group of girls at the Hoop 10 facility at 4101 Hillside Road in Amarillo. (Photo by Lee Passmore)

“Invested in the game of basketball”

Ultimately, playing varsity in high school, then going on to college, is a realistic goal for the most talented players in Hoop 10. State championship hardware also provides an incentive.

Pointer said almost every year, a few players from state championship teams come through the program and spend at least a little time at the gym.

“That’s so rewarding for us, because a lot of those kids have been with us since they were young,” Pointer said. “We’ve seen the work they’ve put in. We’ve seen the hours they’ve put in at the gym. For us to see them get the reward of a state championship, postseason honors and even college offers is a huge part of why we do this.

“It’s pretty phenomenal to see the numbers of players and families who are invested in the game of basketball.”

Some players who come through the doors end up getting – and giving – more than expected.

Hartsell was just learning the game when she first came to Hoop 10. Last year she started teaching it to girls who were much younger than she was when she started.

“When I was younger I never saw myself (coaching), but being around Hoop 10 and having the coaches I’ve had makes such an impact on me, it made me want to do that,” she said. “I want to help these girls fall in love with basketball just like these coaches helped me. Johnna Pointer offered me the opportunity, and we were just so excited to get a group of girls who were fresh to the game and who wanted to start learning how to play basketball.”

Hartsell said she wants to coach the younger girls again next spring. That’s another signal to Pointer that the program is reaching its intended goal.

“I would like to think our organization, as consistent as it’s been, has played a part in the success of our area schools,” Pointer said. “The way basketball is nowadays, it is a year-round sport.

“It takes high school coaches and trainers and club teams and all of that to really produce the best players and best teams in this area. I have college recruiters call me all the time who say, ‘We love players from the Panhandle because we know what we’re going to get with them.’”\