ND Attack Overview & Interview: Greg Foster
ND Attack was founded in the fall of 2017 as a boys and girls AAU basketball program. They have been developing and producing high-quality basketball players since then and are doing so at a high level. Greg Foster is the…
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Continue ReadingND Attack was founded in the fall of 2017 as a boys and girls AAU basketball program. They have been developing and producing high-quality basketball players since then and are doing so at a high level. Greg Foster is the man in charge of ND Attack and we will learn more from him below. They have players on their teams from North Dakota, Montana, and Minnesota. Before meeting any people from ND Attack I had heard through the grapevine that they do great work developing players and teaching skill development. After getting to know Greg Foster, it is quite evident that he knows the game of basketball inside and out!
ND Attack
Program Director – Greg Foster Boys Program Director – Bob Beaudrie Girls Program Director – Jill Vote
CORE BELIEFS:
-Players will develop individual and team basketball skills.
-Players will learn to compete in a challenging basketball environment.
-To provide local basketball athletes an opportunity to gain experience playing in highly competitive tournaments throughout the Midwest Region.
-To provide an opportunity for area basketball athletes to showcase their talents in front of recruiting analysts and college scouts and coaches.
-To provide an opportunity for these student-athletes to build relationships and life skills through the North Dakota Attack Basketball program.
Current Teams:
Boys – 17U, 16U Green, 16U Blue, 15U Green, 15U Blue, 15U White, 15U Black, 14U, 13U West, 13U East, 12U, 11U
Girls – 17U, 16U, 15U Green, 15U Blue, 14U West, 14U East, 13U, 12U
Full Interview:
PHD: Why did you get involved in AAU Hoops?
Greg Foster: It started about six years ago when my older son’s travel team (ND Cougars) started playing in AAU tournaments during their 16U & 17U seasons. I quickly realized how the level of competition was elevating their skills, and they were getting on the radar of several college programs. During that same time, I was getting the opportunity to work with a lot of players across the state conducting camps and workouts as the North Dakota Director of Warwick Workouts. I had few coaches encourage me to consider starting an entire program. In the fall of 2017, I decided to take on the challenge of running a boys’ and girls’ program. We were able to put together 14 teams (8 boys and 6 girls’ teams). One year later we almost doubled to 26 teams! We are now in our 4th year of existence.
PHD: How did you become the Director of ND Attack?
Greg Foster: My titles are – Director – Owner – Founder – CEO – CFO – And many other titles – Ha!!!
I had a few coaches encourage me to start the program and I decided it was an opportunity I wanted to try and provide for players across the state.
PHD: Can you tell us about your basketball playing and coaching career?
Greg Foster: I coached HS basketball at the varsity level for 16 years. First, for seven years in South Dakota. Then, for nine years at Rugby High School. After I got out of coaching basketball at the high school varsity level, I coached a few years of JH basketball and several years of traveling and AAU basketball.
PHD: What Is the most rewarding part of running an AAU program?
Greg Foster: There are several things that I find rewarding. Probably the number one thing that comes to mind is player development. Seeing players improve their skills and basketball IQ is very gratifying. I feel there are several factors that help make this happen; our skill development workouts, being coached by quality coaches we’ve been fortunate to find to be a part of our staff, getting to play with other highly skilled players, and being challenged by playing against some of the best players in the region at the events we attend. I know that what we do only plays a portion in their development. Most of their development is due to the fact that these players have great high school coaches, and they are highly driven players who work hard on their skills. Being a part of this development is rewarding.
PHD: What is the most challenging part of running an AAU program?
Greg Foster: I’d say our biggest challenge is organizing and communicating with about 200 players. We do our best to keep our parents and players informed about when and where we are going to practice, work out, and play throughout the season. I’m fortunate to have a great Girls Director (Jill Vote) and Boys Director (Bob Beaudrie). They both do a lot to keep our program organized and running smoothly along with the work all of our coaches do for us.
PHD: What qualities are you looking for when you are selecting a coach for one of your teams?
Greg Foster: We want coaches that have a passion for the game, a desire to help players improve, and want to continue to improve their own coaching skills. I’ve been fortunate to have the majority of our teams coached by experienced high school coaches and young college coaches. Regardless of whether our team is coached by a veteran coach or a younger coach, we want coaches that we trust are going to work on developing all of our players, teach them to play the game the right away, with energy and passion, and to get our players to be great teammates.
PHD: What qualities are you looking for when you are selecting players for one of your teams?
Greg Foster: Of course, we are looking for players that have an above-average skill level, but we also want players that have the desire to improve and be coachable. We also want players that can be counted on to show up with a great attitude and energy level, along with being great kids off the court.
PHD: Do you care about wins and losses? Why or why not?
Greg Foster: Wins and losses are not our number one priority. Of course, our players and coaches want to win every time we play, but if your players are giving great effort and we are getting better with each game and tournament, we can accept the results.
PHD: How often do your teams practice and what are you focusing on in those?
Greg Foster: Unfortunately, since our teams are so spread out across the state, we don’t get the opportunity to practice as often as we would like to. In the spring we try to get together two or three times to both workout with our trainers and practice with their teams. We try to do a 90-minute workout with a focus on individual skill development followed by a practice where the coaches work with their players on team concepts
PHD: Do you work on skill development with your players? Please provide examples.
Greg Foster: I’ve been the North Dakota Director of Warwick Workouts since 2014 and prior to that I was doing camps and workouts through an organization I started in 2010 called Foster Basketball Instruction (FBI). I’ve always been a big believer in skill development and trying to teach players how to better workout on their own. In the spring we focus on giving players the foundation on how they can get more out of their workouts when they are on their own.
PHD: What is the highlight of the 2021 Spring/Summer and why?
Greg Foster: Our 16U Green Boys team has won 13 out of their last 14 games. I’m looking forward to seeing how they do in July.
-We currently have four teams at the 15U Boys grade level. We usually don’t have more than two teams at any grade level. So, not only has it been fun to get that many players in our program at one grade level it has also been excited to see how well they have done up to this point.
PHD: How do you find out about potential players for ND Attack?
Greg Foster: Our main source for finding players is through the tryouts we have each year in November. I think we’ve been very fortunate to have great attendance and a lot of quality players to choose from at our tryouts. Besides the tryouts, we get several players recommended to us by our coaches along with parents of players who have been in our program. Also, I’ve found that many of our players have attended Warwick Workouts camps.
PHD: What role do you play in helping one of your players get recruited?
Greg Foster: Each spring we reach out to all the coaches in the region (ND, SD, MN, IA, NE) and let them know what events our teams will be playing in and who the players are on our rosters. I’ve been fortunate to develop a pretty good network with the coaches in the region, not only as a director of our program but also with my association with Warwick Workouts.
As the season progresses, there is regular contact with college coaches and we try to highlight players we feel colleges should be looking at for their program. We also have college coaches reaching out to our directors and coaches to ask about our players on a regular basis.
I’ve always believed that regardless of which program a player plays for or even if they don’t play AAU at all, great players are going to get recruited. I’m happy to do anything I can to help with the process.
PHD: What is the best venue and what is the best city you have played in with ND Attack and why?
Greg Foster: I always enjoy taking our teams to the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, SD. All of the games are played on the nine courts they have in their facility. As a program director, it’s really nice having all your teams play in one location. Over the course of one weekend, I can watch all or part of 30 games and see a majority of our players play.
PHD: How do you decide on which events your teams participate in?
Greg Foster: Since the distance to travel for tournaments is a challenge for our players and their parents, we try to stay regional with most of our teams. We play the majority of our tournaments in Sioux Falls and the St. Cloud/Minneapolis area. We will go to a few events farther away with our top 16U and 17U teams. As our program grows, we will continue to evaluate what the best options are for our players. Our main goal is to play in tournaments that provide great competition and get our high school players in front of the college coaches from across the region. I feel that the tournaments we have been playing in over the last four years have met that goal.
PHD: What is more important for you, getting a player recruited or improving a player’s overall game? Why?
Greg Foster: We’d like to be able to do both, but for ND Attack, our number one and overriding goal will always be about player development. Like I mentioned early, I believe that if a player is capable of playing after high school, they will be noticed by college coaches; whether they play for ND Attack, another program or they don’t play AAU at all. We just want to do everything we can to make their high school playing experience the best it can be by doing whatever we can to help make them better players.