FAQs

Hoops School History and Mission
Hoops School was founded in 1997 in Deer Park, Texas, by Dena Evans, a former University of Virginia basketball player and college teammate of Coach Heidi. In 2000, after retiring from professional basketball, Coach Heidi was entrusted with Hoops School when Dena gifted it to her.

At first, she focused on coaching elite players who were preparing for student‑athlete scholarships. However, she soon recognized that even top athletes often lacked essential fundamentals. This realization led to a shift in Hoops School’s mission: focusing on younger players, starting at age six, to build strong foundational skills early.

That focus remains at the heart of Hoops School today, and our program is dedicated to providing youth with comprehensive, high‑level training that builds both fundamental skills and strategic understanding. Our goal is to teach kids how to “think the game” while inspiring kids to become the best they are capable of becoming to the glory of God on and off the court.

Our training is for ALL skill levels—beginner, Intermediate and advanced. Our Skills Classes are for elementary and middle schoolers, best suited for beginner/intermediate level players, while our Pre-Season Prep Class is for intermediate/advanced levels. We coach first grade beginner players, all the way up to eighth graders who have played 5+ seasons of basketball.  Our 3-on-3 league at MDPC is more geared towards beginner/intermediate players; while our Pre-Season Prep Skills Class + 3-on-3 is for intermediate/ advanced level players. All classes are co-ed (boys & girls).

Anyone and everyone! Coach Heidi teaches the game “from the ground up.” Kids learn how to “think the game,” and therefore understand strategies to becoming better. They learn the steps in the mind, and then work through them with their bodies. Kids are continually reminded WHY they are doing certain steps/moves, rather than just “running through drills aimlessly without reason.”

This tough question can be best answered if you ask your child or yourself this question: how many seasons of basketball has your child played in a league with live game situations? If your child is just starting out in basketball and has limited live game play, he or she would benefit from our age-level skills classes. If they have played basketball three or more seasons, intermediate level classes would most likely be more appropriate. However, if your child is still missing some fundamental skills such as “game play” and “thinking the game,” one of our classes will help them improve greatly.

A child who still lacks the knowledge of essential skills such as “off-ball movement,” “cuts” with purpose, “defensive triangles,” and team concepts cannot contribute to a team if they have not played or learned details of GAME PLAY. Individual players who have even learned decent “shot form” often-times lack the ability to play a game well. We allow “live game situations” nightly at every one of our classes or camps. We teach individual and team skills through target-specific drills. Coach Heidi brings 20+ years of amateur and pro-level player status as well as 30+ years of coaching to the gym! Her coaches work under her tutelage, to carry out the drills in group format at each skill-appropriate basket.

Coach Heidi and her staff know and value the character-building traits that are required to be successful in life and basketball. The best character-building traits are found in the Word of God, which is “sharper than a two-edged sword.” The wisdom of the Bible, paired with quotes from famous coaches like John Wooden or Vince Lombardi of football fame all help focus kids on the importance of being good people, not just skilled players. Kids receive a “quote of the day,” often a Bible verse on virtuous behavior such as sportsmanship, discipline, hard work, integrity, honor, selflessness and grit!

Hoops School’s specialty is COACHING. We let each church location place our class or camp under their program schedule so that they can handle the massive task of class registrations. In addition, church staff is available to handle any questions or needs of the registering families. Partnering with churches allows us to use their gym space while their portion of the class fees goes DIRECTLY to the church’s ministries to help in our community and larger body of Christ. Hoops School, Inc.’s portion of class fees covers coaching staff, admin, and marketing.