Where Are All of the Girls Basketball Players?

As women’s basketball is on the growing rise in popularity in America, thanks in large part to Caitlin Clark, in Alaska there is an interesting contradiction to this trend. In the last decade there has been a palpable decline of girls basketball players in urban areas and, contrarily, a substantial increase in volleyball players.

A necessary disclaimer, this statement is based on a decade of experience as a basketball player development coach and strength and conditioning coach in Alaska. There currently is no research to support this claim that is not the opinion of myself or others; and with that I’m thinking this would make a great thesis for a University of Alaska Anchorage college senior.

We really need to identify if there is an actual exodus happening, and why.

As a basketball player development coach, I train athletes of all ages primarily in Anchorage and around ninety percent of the kids across all ages are boys.

I am also fortunate to be able to do basketball camps all across the state of Alaska. While the 90% trend does not apply in these cases, it does help highlight the reality that basketball is Alaska’s primary sport.

Many non-Alaskans think it’s hockey.

While we do play hockey here, it is an expensive sport to play and manage logistically. In poor rural areas across the state, the ability for a community to have a hockey team is less likely than you growing another big toe.

What is easy to play anywhere is basketball. You don’t even need shoes. I’ve been to several communities in Alaska where kids show up in socks because their family, for whatever reason, hasn’t been able to get them gym shoes, and after basketball camp, they’re at it again shooting outside on hoops at parks.

Ballet shoes and boots at basketball camp in Point Hope, Alaska.

Thus, in rural Alaska, basketball is alive and well for both genders and I don’t see that changing any time soon. But, in urban areas like Anchorage, there appears to be a significant downward trend in numbers, and here are my three main theories as to why:

Volleyball is the pretty girl, popular sport to play

In volleyball, you can sparkle not sweat, and for teenage girls this is a much more appealing reality than becoming a human swamp sprinting up and down a basketball court.

Being a great basketball players requires a level of ruthlessness and aggressiveness that isn’t ingrained in what we as society typically value for our young girls. Most of the time, when you meet a young girl who is unapologetically emboding these areas of toughness, a male role model in her life (and sometimes female) is not far away encouraging her to grow these qualities, and most often has a background in athletics.

Basketball is mentally and physically demanding

In the weight room I’ve trained collegiate volleyball players, and currently at the Sweat Lab we work with the high school level, and with all due respect to all the wonderful volleyball athletes out there, there tends to be a general lack of tolerance to intensity.

By design when comparing volleyball to other sports, it’s one of the least intense by nature. While it challenges athletes to have excellent hand eye coordination, vertical jump, hitting power, reaction time, and be excellent at volleyball skills, the need for a high aerobic threshold, muscular endurance, and ability to create and take physical contact, is not like it is in other sports.

This doesn’t mean volleyball players don’t have or need a level of toughness, my argument is that the toughness needed for volleyball is simply much different than that of basketball. And, different isn’t bad, but I am guessing that it’s a deterrent for a lot of young girls out there to continue with basketball as they get to a middle and high school age.

Her basketball experience was a bad one

The number of young ladies who have ended up at my skill development sessions because they need to, “rebuild their confidence” is very disheartening. I’m not trying to point fingers or offend anyone who takes on the responsibility of coaching a team because that’s certainly no easy task, but there are a few bad eggs out there who unfortunately have misguided priorities and are more focused on winning instead of building players love of, and character through, the game.

Having played volleyball and basketball myself in high school, I will say this, volleyball is an extremely fun and valuable sport, and this article is not intended to take anything away from that.

What it is intended for, is to bring awareness to the possibility that this is happening at an accelerated rate and my question remains:

Why is this actually happening?

What are your thoughts?

Ball Handling Warm Up & Workout

Ball handling is one of the easiest skills to work on because there are so many drills you can do and you can do them just about anywhere.

Some coaches aren’t fans of two ball ball handling because you aren’t practicing game-like moves; however, I personally think it’s a great way to warm up your body and mind! If you can handle two balls with ease, handling one is going to feel a lot easier.

Two ball drills shown in order:

• Dribble Elimination

• Juggling

• Behind the Back Juggling

• Pin & Counter

• Three Dribble Switch

Learning change of pace with one ball is essential to being an effective player, especially if the ball is in your hands often.

Change of pace drills shown in order:

• Rhythm Cross Between

• Glide Cross to Between the Legs Advance

• High Bounce to Low First Step Bounce Back

• Hesitation to Speed Stop

Time to put in the work! Happy sweat collecting.

Community Spotlight: Bethel, Alaska

The second of two daily flights decends into Bethel, Alaska. As far as the eye can see are patches of lakes, ponds, and rivers. This part of Alaska is characterized by a marshy tundra unique to northern coastal areas of the world.

The Bethel census area is the small red square on the left of the map.

Originally a Yup’ik settlement called “Mumtrekhlogamute,” meaning “smokehouse people,” this area has belonged to Native Alaskans for thousands of years. Now, home to 6,270 people and considered a large community in Alaska, it is a hub for the many surrounding small villages in the Yukon-Kuskokwim region.

Like many rural Alaskan communities, the people of Bethel practice traditional ways to this day. In fact, while we were there, many people were out on their annual fall moose hunt, which is a small window of time that opens for about a week so residents can go out and hunt in order to fill their freezers for the winter.

Given that the grocery store in town has astronomical prices for food, this time of year is important not only as a cultural practice, but critical for feeding families without going bankrupt.

For the most part, the ground in Bethel is made up of this sandy mud.

A modern cultural component to Bethel, and the vast majority of communities in Alaska, is the love for basketball. This simple game is a lifeline for youth in these communities. It is a healthy outlet not only mentally and physically, but from a developmental standpoint as well. Kids have the opportunity to learn how to fight through adversity, work together, communicate better, grow as leaders, and so much more. Furthermore, basketball and other sports, provides a major source of pride, excitement, and happiness for the entire community.

“Even on the darkest days, no matter what, you have basketball. Basketball’s there always, no matter if it’s outside your house, at your friend’s house, or in the gym. It’s always right there, and I believe that has just really guided me and helped me through life.”

— Gus E., Junior at Bethel High School

As someone who also grew up in a town of similar size and remoteness in Alaska, I understand to a very personal level the immense impact basketball can have on a persons life. I have the privilege to have had my journey with basketball bring me to be in a place educationally and experientially where I am able go to communities in Alaska and put on basketball camps with other amazing coaches. It’s a unique gift I’m grateful for daily.

It’s hard to understand what life is like in these communities unless you’ve been - shared laughs, suffering, meals, conversations - with the people. It is an honor to be able to share a snapshot of that with you in this Bethel Community Spotlight

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The middle schoolers.

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The high schoolers.

Leading from the Bench

In most cases, it’s easy to put all of our attention on the people in the spotlight. In athletics, this is typically the player who is scoring the most, the coach or team with the most wins, the 1 percenters.

Shining the spotlight only on these outliers can leave the rest of us feeling like catastrophic underachievers, when in reality that couldn’t be further from the truth. Should the outliers be celebrated for their uncommon excellence? Absolutely. Should we admire them and try to incorporate some of the methods that have made them successful? For sure. Should we compare and shame ourselves for not achieving the same level of excellence? Not if you want your sanity!

In basketball specifically, guess the number of collegiate coaches at the Men’s NCAA Division I level who have won 80% or more of their total games in their careers.

Answer? Two. Hit this link for the full list.

Or, guess the number of men’s collegiate players across all levels who average more than 20 points per game (in 2023)?

Answer? 105. Sounds like a lot… until you realize that’s out of a pool of 18,816 players… or, 0.005%.

The Wooden Way

John Wooden, one of those two coaches with the 80% + winning records, was well known for how he defined success. In his autobiography, Wooden, he talks about how he was just as proud, if not more, of the success of the teams that didn’t win national championships as those that did, because for him, winning games was not what it was about.

“True success is attained only through the satisfaction of knowing you did everything within the limits of your ability to become the very best that you are capable of being. Success is not perfection… you can never achieve perfection as I understand it. It’s giving 100% of your effort, body, mind, and soul to the struggle. That you can attain. That is success.”

— John Wooden

The important take away is that you’re not a failure if you don’t don’t arrive at the level of the 1 percenters. You can be an expert at something without being a superstar.

To become an expert, a person needs countless hours (10,000 and more they say) practicing, preparing, struggling, succeeding, obsessing, and repeating this process over and over again.

And you must love the work.

That type of relentless dedication certainly isn’t for everyone. It’s for the committed few who at whatever point in their life, found and fell in love with their passion. They knew that without it, their reason for existing felt a little less important. And they knew with it, that they would do whatever it took to be great at it.

The Devine Way

We most often celebrate the people who have made it already, not those who are currently in their struggle, working to overcome and make something of themselves.

As an athlete development coach, celebrating the struggle is one of my favorite things, second only to getting to be in the struggle with that individual.

It is uncommon to find a person who also thrives in the struggle, and rare to find someone who is so selfless that they are willing to do whatever it takes, from handing water to their teammates to working to be as uplifting as possible, without any expectation of anything in return.

Luke Devine cheering for his teammates at a home game in Anchorage, Alaska.

One individual in particular who all of us, from the starters to the bench warmers, from coaches to fans, can learn from, is Luke Devine. Born in Wasilla, Alaska to a family of athletic royalty, Luke is the third of his family to put on a Seawolf jersey for one of Alaska Anchorage’s basketball teams.

In fact, he is the fifth in his family to play a college sport. That is an incredible feat of its own given that only approximately 4% of high school athletes will go on to play at the collegiate level for the NCAA (for basketball specifically).

Having had the privilege to coach Luke’s older sister, Alysha Devine (now Anderson), who was an incredible competitor, selfless beyond belief, tough as nails, extremely coachable, and an amazing human being, her younger brother is a spitting image.

The Devine’s are a clan of classy winners, whose impeccable character is on generational display, even in the most unideal of situations such as playing limited minutes as a walk on.

Coming off of a year off from playing, Luke made the decision to walk on to UAA. A bold choice, given that, again, the chances of playing at the next level are so limited. With just being on the roster, Luke is already quite literally a 1 percenter, as only 1.0% of high school players will move on to play at the DII level in men’s basketball.

As many of us may know and have witnessed, it’s horribly easy for a young person to mope and be a lemon drop on the bench because they’re not playing.

That said, one of the most impressive qualities about Luke as a player is not his stat line, it’s the way he selflessly gives to others from the bench. The way he leads from the bench.

“I want to do what I can to help my team win, and if that just means cheering as loud as I can and giving my brothers advice from the bench, then that’s what it takes.”

— Luke Devine

If you are currently in the process of working your way to more playing time, consider the golden lessons Luke shares in the video below. Drop a comment or a question for Luke or Coach Alysa and we’ll get back to you!

And last, but not least, make sure you get out next season to watch Luke and the University of Alaska Anchorage Men’s Basketball team!

3 Move: Solo Shooting Workout

Working out isn’t as fun as with other people, but sometimes it’s a necessary evil. When you can’t drag anyone else with you to the gym, here’s a great workout for you to get in solo.

The three moves broken down in this short video increase in difficulty, and there is a point system so that you can make your workout more challenging and play a mini-game with yourself.

Ways to Level Up your workout even more

• Set a time goal to score the 11pts in.

• Mix up the 3 moves at random.

Didn’t make your goal? Hold yourself accountable by working on your weaknesses:

• Down and backs

• Push ups

• Wall sits

• Core

• Defensive slides

• Squats

• Lunges

Find this workout helpful? Leave a comment!

3 Common Mistakes Players Make With Their Shooting Mechanics

As the third hardest skill to learn in sports, learning to shoot the basketball takes hours of time, refinement, repetition, and disciplined habits in order to get good at it. That said, it's very easy to develop bad habits!

Mistake #1: Awkward Stance

Players most often have a stance that is too wide (vs too narrow). This can cause a valgus stress on your knees which can eventually lead to knee pain. It is also inefficient because when your stance is wider than your hips on any vertical movement (jumping on a rebound, shot, etc.), your body leaks power horizontally and you aren’t able to get as much power from your legs into your shot. This can in turn lead to weird compensations with your upper body!

Thus, start refining your shot by first tackling the broken parts of your stance instead of starting from the top down.

Focus on

• Hip width stance

• Toes slightly angled away from your shooting hand

• Legs bent in an athletic position

• Ball straight out from your belly button

Drill: Line (or) Cone Hop Overs

Drill: 180 Degree Shots

Mistake #2: Pausing on Your Shot

Some coaches or players refer to this is having a “hitch”. It’s kind of like when you’re listening to your favorite song and your friend in the backseat starts singing along off key and the entire song is now ruined. Simply put, pauses in your shot destroy the rhythm.

As a strength and conditioning specialist as well as a player development coach, I often relate this in my mind to a hang clean or hang snatch.

In a hang snatch, for someone to lift a significant amount of weight over their head safely and efficiently, the entire body must work together synergistically. Weight lifters refer to this as “triple extension”, but this same term can be applied to a basketball players shot. If a part of the chain (ankles, knees, hips) or also in our case, arms, moves independently of the other moving parts, it’s just not as efficient.

Focus on

• Your legs and the ball moving up at the exact same time

• Pretend the ball and your hips are connected by a string

Drill: Tap & Shoot

Mistake #3: Too Low of a Follow Through

Having too low of a follow through results in a flat shot. If you’re shooting in the gym alone, you’ll know your shot is flat if it’s constantly hitting the front of the rim. Before fixing this, make sure you have worked on the other two mistakes first! A high, perfect follow through is a result of the rest of the process being on point.

Focus on

• Bringing the ball directly above your forehead

• Extending your elbow under then through the ball

• Keep the ball off your palm

• Freeze your guide hand at your release point (right above your forehead)

Drill: Extension Shots

The Story Behind Make Yourself

The amazing Alaskan coaches and participants of the Varsity Prep Camp, 2022

I believe every single person on this planet has the innate ability to make themselves into whoever they want to be.

I feel so strongly about this, because I was once a nobody from a small town on the remote island of Kodiak, Alaska. Like many other kids, it was my dream as a little girl to some day play college basketball, and maybe even professional basketball. At the time, I was one of the best players in my community, but that didn’t mean much at all as I transitioned from a small town high school to college basketball for the University of Alaska Anchorage.

My first year at UAA, I wasn't prepared for the drastic change in level, so I red-shirted.

This means I practiced every day with the team but did not play or travel, and therefore retained that year of eligibility. This was a developmental year through and through. My second year, excited to see all the work from the year prior translate to playing substantial minutes on the court, I was met right away with a bad bout of mono that hospitalized me at the beginning of the year, and wasn’t able to recover quickly enough to come in to the year and make an impact. I played limited minutes the entire season, only being put into the game when we were up by at least 25 points.

At the end of that year, having put in extra time on my own, having gave everything at every practice that I could, having done my best to have a great attitude and be a good teammate; my coach looked me in the eye and told me “If you do not get better, you will not play more than 5 minutes a game next year.”

What an icy, verbal dagger straight to the heart.

Instead of, “This is what you need to work on to get better” or, “Hey we see how hard you’re working; keep at it, it will pay off.”

Getting good is a lonely journey. Many hours alone were spent in the gym.

She was essentially telling me, "Quit. You are not good enough."

As I left her office, I felt devastated. By the time I got to my car in the parking lot, I was angry. By the time I got home, I was ordering a heavy basketball, an agility ladder, and looking up YouTube videos so I could coach myself on how to get better.

That summer, with a chip on my shoulder, I spent an obscene amount of hours in the gym, at the track, in the weight-room, and not eating chocolate. The result? Complete physical and mental transformation.

I avoided the parties all my friends and boyfriend were inviting me to. I stopped eating my favorite summer junk food, because I wanted to lean up.

And most importantly, every day I woke up and reminded myself, that I was going to be the only person who could prove everyone wrong.

I became obsessed with lonely journey of improving myself.

I went to open gyms at 6am with a bunch of older guys, because there were no other options in Kodiak. I would then put a rock in the door, and go back when I knew no one was going to be around, and work on my skills. I would go to the track, and run till it felt like my lungs were bleeding. I went to the local gym to lift weights and get stronger. I read books on how to strengthen my mind, and allowed the mentors in the pages to help my confidence expand since my own coach wasn’t willing to help me.

Senior season with the Seawolves 2 years later… 20+ point game against a Division I opponent at the Great Alaska Shootout. Remember when games were played at the Sullivan Arena?

The next fall came around, and my teammates and coaches were shocked.

The relentless summer of work that I had put in had paid off, and I found myself not just in the starting line up, but as one of the leading scorers and rebounders on the team. Fast forward three years of college and I eventually earned a contract to play professionally in Germany for two years and another to play in Australia. Part of me couldn’t believe it.

Had it not been for the two years of failure and adversity, and my summer of obsessively improving my mindset and habits, I would not have made it.

Playing on my third pro contract with the Logan Thunder in Brisbane, Australia.

It was not an easy road, and I didn't have too many people to help me… so I had to help myself.

This is why I now love coaching and mentoring young athletes.

I understand what it’s like to not know how to do something, and how to figure it out when your back is up against the wall.

I know what it’s like to have a soft mindset, and transform it into an unstoppable mindset. I know how it feels to commit to making myself into who I want to be, and realize how much of that has to be done with a mindset very few people will be able to relate to.

Ultimately, I believe if I could overcome almost career ending adversity and eventually reach some of the highest levels in my sport, anyone can do it. And I want to help show them - YOU - how.

Our most recent camp in Kodiak this past summer. The full circle effect is a great feeling. Beyond grateful to use my experiences to help the younger generations in not just Kodiak, but all across Alaska!

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