Basketball League Emphasizes Youth Development Over Athletics

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Youth sports is now a $7 billion business. That's billion, with a B.

And if you've ever felt like things have gotten a bit out of whack, you're not alone.

One basketball dad is trying to change that.

Erik Beckler played basketball at Irondale and then at Hamline. Then he coached his two sons in youth basketball. And that experience was quite a bit different than the one he remembered growing up.

"Now there's so much money, and emphasis on keeping up with the Joneses, and how do you go and make sure that you're better than the kid next to you or the kid on the other team," Beckler said. "Coming in for an 8 o'clock in the morning game, and then having to wait until 1:00 again -- that's tough on a family. And then come back on Sunday -- that's tough.

"I just knew that there's something that could be done."

What he's done is started a new league called CoreHoops, which makes priority number one using basketball to teach life skills to develop good people, instead of just focusing on developing good athletes.

"So it's a youth development program, with basketball kind of at the center," Beckler said.

It's just in its infancy -- their first tournament was in April. The goal is to eventually have enough teams for a full league.

"We would be a 20-week league playing every other weekend," he said. "Two games per weekend. So 20 games."

Bringing some sense to scheduling is one of the major goals -- to give families their weekend back.

"Two games every other week, so if you're playing at 8 o'clock, you'll play at 10, enjoy some time in the hour and then you're gone," Beckler said. "You're not coming back on Sunday, you're not coming back the next week. You have freedom to go to church or spend time with your family or just go and hang out with your friends."

Other priorities include shorter travel to games, more evenly-competitive games and less blowouts, and giving parents something to do during the wait between games -- like aerobics or financial classes.

He's taking his idea to community rec leagues, traveling teams and AAU clubs hoping it will resonate.

"Associations that are really looking to drive that messaging of what's really important," Beckler said. "Instead of this pyramid that looks to find the top elite, how do we keep that more of a box, where all these folks at whatever level they're at, they're benefitting from the experience of playing basketball.

"I think when parents get exposed to this, families get exposed to this, they're gonna say, why hadn't we done this before?"

For more information, check out corehoopsleague.org.