Dubuque County Basketball Academy
Committed to Excellence
Dubuque County Basketball Academy strives not only to be a premiere basketball program, but a youth developmental organization. DCBA coaches, staff, and contributors all firmly believe that basketball can serve as a platform for developing leadership, teamwork, dealing with failure, dealing with success, facing adversity, goal-setting, and much more. Through sports, as in life, we learn by putting ourselves in uncomfortable situations. That is where our work as a basketball academy aligns with our goal to develop the youth to become accomplished adults in our community.
Although we strive to be winners on the court, at the end of the day DCBA does not value a trophy, medal, or t-shirt. We define what success is for each player and each team and success to us is improving practice by practice and tournament by tournament. We don't judge our success at the end of the season by how many trophies we have (or don't have). We judge our season by the growth we have seen from the first practice to the last tournament. We look to hear that our players aren't just excelling on the court but taking the lessons we teach them into the classroom, family, and job. Basketball acts as a great life teacher and with DCBA your child will be given the chance to learn these life lessons in a competitive, up-tempo, and fun environment!
Practice Philosophy
Great habits don't happen magically, they are developed at practice. Through our coaches' mentorship, we expect our players to capitalize on this time by coming to practices ready to work hard and be coached. We provide the outlet for our players to get in the gym as a team twice per week throughout the season. We are focused on basic concepts and fundamentals and emphasize playing as a team. We strive to make the game as simple as possible and work to establish proficiency in basic areas to help every team member contribute. Practices are ensured to be a great learning ground where kids are held accountable and pushed to reach their full potential!
What We Do
We take pride in teaching the game with the long term success of our athletes at the forefront. We look at our development through 2 lenses:
The individual player development
- The skills and habits that each individual player needs to be a successful team player
- Basketball IQ
- Footwork
- Passing
- Rebounding
- Shooting
- Ball handling
The majority of our practices are spent repping out drills and games that instill each of the individual player skill sets needed to be a good teammate. Once a player has these skills they can continue to master them and will become productive members of a team.
Team development
- Offensive principles: Spacing, Ball movement, Player movement
- Defensive principles: Rotation, Communication, Stance
What We Expect From Our Players & Families
- We expect our players to devote time to the game. With practice comes progress. Repetition = success. Do not expect to get better after signing up if he/she is not putting in any work on their own.
- We expect each family to cooperate and work together with the team to form a positive environment for their kids to grow and be challenged.
- We expect our families to be extensions of our coaches. We encourage messaging at home to be complimentary of what is being preached at practice - overcoming obstacles, battling through adversity, being extremely coachable. We hope those can triumph over victim mentality and the desire for instant gratification on the court.
- We expect our parents and fans to be great ambassadors of our program. Showing respect to officials and opposing teams (this is best done by not saying anything). Enjoying the game and cheering for our team. Remaining quiet and respectful to coaches at practice.
Our Club
- Teams play in roughly 8 - 10 tournaments a season. We have two seasons: Fall & Winter (youth) and Spring & Summer (youth & prep).
- Youth teams practice once or twice/week.
- Teams travel locally/regionally/nationally depending on team. Locations vary, with most teams averaging no more than a 3-hour drive to tournaments.
- Gold Teams - advanced teams that have the potential to travel nationally.
- Black Teams - developmental teams who play more in a localized schedule.
- Independent teams able to be formed for established rosters prior to joining the club.
Any other questions, please contact us.
Player Tuition
| Grade Level | Fee |
|---|---|
| 3rd - 8th | $1,200 |
| 9th - 11th | $1,500 |
We do offer 4-month payment options. Payments are due every 1st of the month. One-time payments and other option amounts are accepted. Payments can be sent to: DCBA, P.O. Box 34, Dubuque, IA 52004-0034 or brought to practices. First payment must be completed by the first practice. If you would like to learn about separate options please contact us.
