Ignite Hoops

Great organization that puts importance of team over self! Happy Child, happy parent!

There is a major conflict of interest with Ignite Hoops because the Owner/President is also the Head Coach of multiple girls’ teams in the organization. The goal of any business owner is to generate & grow revenue and when that same business owner is also constructing teams, coaching players on those teams, and choosing parents of players to be Assistant Coaches on those teams b/c they are long-time customers of Ignite (existing players & prior siblings), that invariably creates a high level of favoritism to appease repeat customers who contribute significant dollars to the business over time.
Here are examples of the owner / coach playing both roles resulting in a conflict of interest:
*The Owner/Coach does not require players from the A Team/Regional team tryout for a new season which I’ve experienced in multiple seasons (and again recently in the Spring season March 2023 tryout) but then that player(s) automatically makes the next A Team/Regional team. EVERY player should be required to tryout, just like it’s required in every other travel league. Of course, the Owner/Coach is giving special treatment/concessions to existing A players to not upset long-time customers (parents/players) and the “sorority” and parents of siblings who have previously played on Ignite. This is unfair to all the athletes trying out, as every athlete should be evaluated on an even playing field at ALL times.
* If your child starts Ignite at a young age and stays with Ignite over time or has a sibling that played in prior years, you will automatically be given preferential treatment over any other player and have a greater chance of making the A Team/Regional Team. In other words, if your child started Ignite at a young age and stayed on the A team since that time, you’re automatically grandfathered into that team for life regardless of skill, even if the child hasn’t significantly improved their basketball skills compared to players outside the team over time. I’ve witnessed this firsthand. This is an advantage for parents who are willing to pay thousands of dollars over the course of many years and watch their kid(s) grow as players, but that reeks of favoritism when new players aren’t given the same consideration to make the A Team. What if 2 superstar players moved to the NW suburbs from out-of-state? Do those 2 superstars make the A Team at the expense of 2 long-time customers? Very doubtful. That would result in too many players on the A Team and completely disrupt the rotation of the regular A Team lineup of many years. The players on an A Team are virtually the exact same year-over-year, with virtually ZERO consideration that other players outside the sorority may have significantly improved their skills over time. Keeping the same group of players on the A Team is always the priority, so much so that those players aren’t even required to tryout. Skill is always secondary. Sales and profits will ALWAYS come before doing the right thing, hence the conflict of interest between being both the Owner and Coach.
* The Owner/Coach already knows who her Regional team(s) are going to be BEFORE the tryout, regardless of skill. It’s going to be the same team as the prior Winter season and all the seasons before that so to not upset long-time customer parents and players of the team and keep them together. Her A Team/Regional team has NEVER changed!! Any outsider trying out has ZERO chance to make the A Team b/c the decision has already been made well before the tryout. The tryout is simply a formality to determine how many teams she will need to construct (Regional, City, and/or Wooden). The tryout is a numbers game. Other travel teams in the area require EVERY player tryout and each player is evaluated on an independent basis and then teams are constructed.
* B Teams/City and/or Wooden teams are only created to generate additional revenue. They are simply teams added on based on demand. The level of coaching is of significantly lower quality, the practices are far less serious than A Team practice consisting of a lot of goofing around, and there is virtually zero coaching during tournaments/games, just a lot of smiles and high-fives, even when a kid might turn the ball over 10 times in a row or the team is losing by 30 points. B Teams are constructed for players that though some may be highly skilled and should be on the A Team, are relegated to the B Team by default because they aren’t considered long time customers who have contributed thousands of dollars to
Ignite Hoops and the owner/coach of the A Team doesn’t want any disruptions and/or upset any players or parents of the A Team sorority.
* In one game, I experienced a player on the A Team (5 position/Center) literally walk the ball up the court, refusing to pass the ball to the point guard, and then proceed to jack up an air ball 3 point shot 2 feet behind the 3-point line, all sandwiched in between throwing the ball away twice and traveling twice. This player should have been immediately taken out of the game and coached why that was wrong. Instead, this player was NOT taken out of the game in favor of another player that should have been given a chance. Instead, the owner/coach of the team gave a playful smirk to the player and allowed the player to stay in the game. Why? B/c the family member is an Assistant Coach and long- time customer.
* I overheard an Assistant Coach and the Owner/Coach speaking negatively about a parent on a couple different occasions. This is NOT professional. If you’re going to speak negatively about a parent, try a little harder to do it out of earshot and without the multiple crazy hand and arm gestures. People can see and hear through glass windows.
* I have spoken to AT LEAST a handful of parents that exhibit the same sentiment as me, so I promise my view is consistent with MANY parents, making my voice be heard on their behalf as well. These are actual realities of the situation that have also been experienced by many other parents that I have spoken to regarding the same or similar experiences. My regret is that I should have listened to these parents sooner, but like things in life, you always want to give people and businesses a chance and that’s what I did. Live and learn. If you are OK with starting your child with Ignite Hoops at a very young age and investing tens of thousands of dollars into the program, you will be treated like gold and probably be an A Team player regardless of skill. Maybe that’s acceptable to you, which is perfectly fine. The
existing parents of A players expect this special treatment b/c they’ve invested thousands of dollars in order to receive that special treatment for their player. For everyone else, you will be treated like a second-class citizen and your player won’t receive the same opportunities as the long-time players but pay the same fee. We’ve experienced this first-hand on many levels noted above. And don’t get me wrong, many of these A players are outstanding players that certainly deserve being on that team, but not every A player is in that category, they were simply just grandfathered in over-time and/or have family members assistant coaching the team and/or siblings that previously played for Ignite.
* The recent creation of the 3 levels (Regional, City, & Wooden) isn’t a ground-breaking invention as their email made it sound. Most travel teams have utilized the different levels of teams for decades. The issue with Ignite is that these levels of teams were created to provide the Owner/Coach an easy way to keep the sorority together & everyone else, regardless of skill, is automatically relegated to one of the other teams depending on the number of players that tryout. The irony is the Owner/Coach ALREADY knows who will be on her preferred team BEFORE the tryouts even happen. There were a couple seasons that she didn’t even go to the tryout for the A Team she coached!! Why? B/c the tryouts are not
so much to evaluate skill as much as they are to simply see the number of kids that will need to placed within the different levels. Many parents have caught on to these tactics and no longer use the services of Ignite, which has significantly reduced the demand for Ignite services over time.
* The amount of communication I received from the Director of another Travel team was significantly higher on ONE phone call was more than I ever received from the Owner/Coach of Ignite Hoops over the past 3-4 years. No joke. It’s sad. Why? We haven’t invested tens of thousands of dollars into Ignite.
* Parents, please consider other travel basketball programs for your child. Yes, the commute might be a bit farther, but if you can get a couple of your child’s friends to make the team, the car-pooling will make the commute very manageable. Ignite Hoops isn’t the only travel basketball program in the area. Is it giving your player a fair chance to reach their full potential in basketball? There are many other options that don’t represent a conflict of interest when the Owner is also the Head Coach. These other travel basketball programs are proven in developing highly skilled high school & college players and do it WITHOUT bias and operate with more integrity and character. Will your child make the high school or college team? Maybe not, but at least you will have peace of mind knowing that other travel programs operate with integrity and character and give your child the best opportunity to succeed without bias. They treat every player on an even playing field from the start EACH season. Their enrollments are always high b/c they have credibility, they have high standards, their business model has been successful over the course of time, they hire professional coaches that have been coaching in their program for many years, they hire high level college players that will help develop your player and give them the confidence to succeed, and most of all, they get results.

There is a major conflict of interest with Ignite Hoops because the Owner/President is also the Head Coach of multiple girls’ teams in the organization. The goal of any business owner is to generate & grow revenue and when that same business owner is also constructing teams, coaching players on those teams, and choosing parents of players to be Assistant Coaches on those teams b/c they are long-time customers of Ignite, that invariably creates a high level of favoritism to appease repeat customers who contribute significant dollars to the business over time. Don’t be fooled b/c this business operates under the guise of a not-for-profit organization. This business is coded as a not-for-profit and gets a tax-exempt status from the IRS because it filed as an amateur athletic organization, but at the end of the day, the owner pulls the strings on how much of a salary she’ll receive (which is dependent on profits generated), how much her coaches will get paid, and all other operating expenses, just like any business.
As a multi-sport athlete in high school, including basketball, and multi-sport high school coach for many years, I can assure you that the business practices of the Owner/Coach of Ignite Hoops creates a major conflict of interest, as ALL players aren’t evaluated on an even playing field in tryouts, results in players playing more than others in games when it’s not warranted, and certain players receiving a higher amount of coaching on a personal level, among other reasons. ANY business owner understands that to achieve the best results, you must detach yourself from coaching responsibilities and hire qualified coaches to coach teams to remove subjectivity to situations. And ANY coach understands that they wouldn’t want to have that responsibility of being BOTH the owner and coach of the business b/c it creates conflicts of interest. The other successful travel leagues in the area do NOT have business owners as coaches. They hire independent coaches that report to the business owner. Parents, please consider other travel basketball programs for your child. Yes, the commute might be a bit farther, but if you can get a couple of your child’s friends to make the team, the car-pooling will make the commute very manageable. Ignite Hoops isn’t the only travel basketball program in the area. It may be more convenient for local residents, but is it worth all the frustrations described above? Is it giving your player a fair chance to reach their full potential in basketball? There are many other options that don’t represent a conflict of interest when the Owner is also the Head Coach. These other travel basketball programs are proven in developing highly skilled high school & college players and do it WITHOUT bias and operate with more integrity and character. Will your child make the high school or college team? Maybe not, but at least you will have peace of mind knowing that other travel programs operate with integrity and character and give your child the best opportunity to succeed without bias. And that’s all you can ask. They treat every player on an even playing field from the start EACH season and on an independent basis, where EVERY kid MUST tryout, no exceptions. Their enrollments are always high b/c they have credibility, they have high standards, their business model has been successful over the course of time, they hire professional coaches that have been coaching in their program for many years, they hire high level college players that will help develop your player and give them the confidence to succeed, and most of all, they get results. Please think outside the box and consider these travel teams, even if they cost a bit more money. You will be pleasantly surprised.
* All of the above examples make anybody question the Christian values this organization claims to live by. I can think of some examples that the organization has actually done nice things for communities in need; however, the overall behavior toward players and parents aren’t consistent with that theme. I know this review is long but citing all these facts & examples that I and many other parents share is important to help families make informed decisions when investing significant dollars over the long run for your player(s) future with or without Ignite Hoops.