It’s closing in fast — and we’re all getting that summertime feeling here at Hoops!
Make sure you don’t miss out on all the summer fun your athlete can handle. We’ve got 8 camps to choose from this year – and they are already filling up fast! Make sure to get registered now for the week(s) summer is made for — basketball!
See all of our camps here and then we’ll see you on the court!
Do Teens Need Sunscreen in the Spring?
That’s a question just about every parent ponders this time of year! The answer is a resounding YES! The sun’s ultraviolet (UV) rays can damage your skin, even on cloudy days. While many people think of sunscreen as a summer essential, it’s important to protect your skin from the sun’s harmful rays year-round. This is especially true for teens, whose skin is still developing.
Why Teens Need Sunscreen
Teens are more likely to experience sunburns than adults. This is because their skin is thinner and has less melanin, the pigment that gives skin its color and helps protect it from the sun’s rays. Sunburns can cause pain, redness, and swelling. They can also increase the risk of skin cancer.
How to Protect Your Teen’s Skin
The best way to protect your teen’s skin from the sun is to apply sunscreen with an SPF of 30 or higher every day, even on cloudy days. Sunscreen should be applied to all exposed skin, including the face, neck, ears, hands, and feet. It should be reapplied every two hours, or more often if your teen is sweating or swimming.
In addition to sunscreen, there are other ways to protect your teen’s skin from the sun. These include:
By following these tips, you can help protect your teen’s skin from the sun’s harmful rays.
Here are some additional tips for teens about sunscreen:
By following these tips, teens can help protect their skin from the sun’s harmful rays and reduce their risk of skin cancer.
Having a hard time motivating your kids?
It’s about that time of year — the time of year when every kid in America is getting a little harder to motivate. No matter how much they try, they seem to be moving slower in the mornings, running out of energy earlier in the day, and often not trying as hard in school or sports.
As parents, it’s hard to know what’s normal end-of-year slow-down and when we need to weigh in. And sometimes, when we weigh in, it just makes things worse. If this sounds like your family, hang in there! Empowering Parents has some great insight into this and we thought it might be helpful and encouraging.
The only way to motivate is to stop trying to motivate. Instead, work towards inspiring your child by being an inspiring person. Ask yourself if your behaviors are inspiring or controlling. Understand that your kids will want to run the other way if you’re too controlling. Think about someone in your own life who is inspiring to you, and work towards that goal. Remember, the only thing you’ll motivate if you’re pushing your child is the motivation to resist you.
Let your child make his own choices. When it’s a poor choice, hold him accountable by letting him face the natural consequences that come with it. If the consequence of not doing his homework is that the computer is taken away, put the need to get that computer time back in his hands. If he finishes his work, he gets the time on the computer you’ve agreed upon. That will be a motivation for him in the right direction without you telling him what to do, how to do it, and lecturing him on why he should care.
Step far enough away to see your child as a separate person. Then observe what you see. Talk to him to find the answers to the questions above. And then listen—not to what you want the answers to be, but to what your child is saying. Just listen to him. Respect his answers, even if you disagree.
Imagine two doors. Door number one is for the parent who wants to get their kids motivated and do the right thing in life: get up, go to school, get their work done, be successful. Door number two is for parents who want their kids to be self-motivated to do those things. They want to influence their child to work toward the things they’re interested in. To not only do the right thing, but to want to do the right things.
Which door would you enter? If it’s door number one, then the way to achieve that goal is push, punish, beg, nag, bribe, reward, and cajole. If you decide on door number two, then you’ll reach that goal by asking different kinds of questions.
Rather than, “Did you get your homework done?” you might say, “Why did you decide to do your homework today and not yesterday? I noticed you chose not to do geometry yesterday, but you’re doing your history homework today. What’s the difference?” Be an investigator, exploring and uncovering, helping your child discover his own motivations and sticking points.
The goal is to influence your child when he has to do something he doesn’t want to do, and get to know him well enough to figure out what his own desires might be. As a parent, you want to strengthen his skills in defining what’s important to him. You want to help your child define for himself who he is, what’s important to him and what he’s going to do to make those things happen.
Our responsibility is to help our kids do that, not to do it for them. We need to stay out of their way enough so they can figure out who they are, what they think and where their own interests lie.
Goal is self-motivation!
Don’t wait and miss out — get registered to all the camps your summer can hold!
Our Hoops hooray goes to Jordan Vensel!
Jordan Vensel came to us at the age of 10 as the smallest player on most of the teams he played on. It didn’t take long to realize that he had a love and dedication for the game, as well as an excitement to develop his skills, and Jordan fearlessly took on any opponent.
Now at 13, Jordan helps develop our younger players, motivates his teammates, and enjoys challenging himself by practicing with the high school kids. In a game, Jordan is a force to be reckoned with. He is an excellent 3-point shooter, has impressive ball-handling skills, and plays ‘small’ very well against any opponent. We could not be more proud of him and look forward to his continued growth.
Keep it up, Jordan!
