Seattle Select Warriors 8th grade team has been ranked as high as #2 in the nation and earned a bid from Brian Hershman at the World Championships in San Diego.  In their first game they knocked off last year’s world champs Thunderstuck from Florida.  In bracket play Seattle Select ran into #1 ranked Vegas Elite where they lost by 1 in one of the most exciting games of the year.  They battled back and went up the loser side eventually losing to the Dragons from New York.  It was a great experience for the players to play on such a big stage against some of the best teams in the world.

Seattle Select High Academic has made a huge push to attend elite and high academic camps in order to get maximum exposure to college coaches and high academic institutes from around the nation. In the two days prior the Las Vegas Big Foot tournament, Seattle Select had a huge showing at the Super Bowl camp with 23 student-athletes participating from the HS program. Many of Seattle Select student-athletes were able to connect directly with college coaches at the camp and director Chase Young received a ton of positive feedback about the elite players in the program. While most of the teams and players from around the nation travel to Vegas just for the NCAA sanctioned tournament to get noticed by college coaches, the Seattle Select HA teams and players had already caught the eye of dozens of college coaches and scouts at the WCE Super Bowl camp.

The Seattle Select HA 2019 team went 3-1 in the WCE Summer Classic at Pomona College getting the opportunity to play in front of 100’s of coaches. Following the showcase a dozen of our student-athletes were invited to participate in the WCE Elite 100 camp which included elite players from all over the world. This event had more college coaches in attendance all under one roof than any other event on the west coast. We were honored to have some of our student-athletes make all-star teams at the end of the camp. 2021 student-athlete John Christofilis made the Elite MS All-Star Game, 2019 student-athletes Kenny Curtis, Charles Elzie III, and Cristian Colwell made the Elite Sophomore All-Star Game, and 2019 student-athlete Clayton Whitman made the Elite 40 All-Star Game.

The Battle in Seattle has grown every year and this year we hosted some of the top programs from the west coast such as Cali Elite, Seattle Rotary Style, NW Panthers, Drive Elite, WA Supreme, and host program Seattle Select High Academic. Although the tournament is not an NCAA sanctioned event, we still had college coaches from the D2, D3 and NAIA programs such as Seattle Pacific University, Western Oregon, Concordia, Central, UPS, Willamette, Whitman, Pacific Lu, NW University, Lewis and Clark and many others.

The Seattle Select High Academic teams had a great showing in Salem, OR for the Hoop Memorial Day Invitational. The program was honored to be invited to visit Willamette’s campus and athletic facility. All the players, parents, and coaches were very appreciative to Willamette assistant coach Nathan Covill who gave our student-athletes an amazing experience.

This past weekend the 16u team traveled to Las Vegas for the WCE Spring Classic at Bishop Gorman HS to play in front of over 60 college coaches such as Washington State, Idaho, LMU, Hawaii, Colorado, Air Force, UNLV, Montana, UC Irvine, Portland, Boise Sate, UC Davis, BYU, Univ. San Diego, and Azusa Pacific. After dropping their first game at 8am, they won the rest of the games against quality 17u teams from Los Angeles, Vegas, and Idaho.

Last weekend all our Seattle Select teams participated in the largest NCAA sanctioned Spring tournament in the Northwest. The 6th graders made it to the final 4 with some awesome defense, ball movement, and shooting.

The 8th graders played up in the 9th grade elite division and made it to the finals against 9th grade FOH where they lost by 2. There was no shame in the effort, attitude, and team execution they displayed in front of tons of college coaches on the main court at Bellevue College. The 9th graders also won their pool and made it to the quarterfinals. The 9th graders have an amazing coach in Zac Townsend and an amazing group of talented student-athletes.

The 10th graders took home the title with a buzzer beater by Edward Hochsprung to get their second championship of the Spring. The 11th graders coached by Mike Odland, also took home a title in their division going 6-0 and getting a lot of attention from academic schools for our elite high academic student-athletes.

Seattle Select High Academic HS program kicked off their season with a short trip to Portland Oregon where they competed in the Hoop Invitational. The 8th graders knocked of another nationally ranked team “Demo Prep” in the finals, 9th graders won their pool but lost in semis, and the 10th graders beat 3 shoe sponsored circuit teams to take the title.

Seattle Select High Academic coaches Chase Young and Mike Odland took the 10th and 11th grade HA teams to Los Angeles Mar 24-26 to attend the WCE High Academic Showcase at Cerritos College. Ryan Silver’s HA camp was well run, and full of elite student-athletes and high academic college coaches from all over the nation. The trip also included visits and personal tours at Occidental, Caltech, Pomona-Pitzer, and Clarmont where they met with head coaches and learned more about these elite academic institutions.

“The High Academic camp may have been the reason we traveled to LA, however the college visits that coach Young organized were the highlight of the trip. This was a great opportunity for athletes and their families to briefly experience each school, meeting with coaches, and touring facilities and campus grounds. This trip was a great way to start the Spring AAU season.” – Paul Dirksen

The 6th and 8th Grade Seattle Select Warriors won the “Washington Middle School State Championships” in Spokane March 17-19th. Both teams went 4-0 playing great team basketball and playing with a lot of intensity and grit.

http://www.statebasketballchampionship.com/wa-results