The coaching between rec and club.
Two- and three-day skills clinics for kids 5–18 in volleyball, soccer, basketball, softball, baseball, and flag football — scheduled for the moments that matter, like the weeks before junior high and high school tryouts.
Most kids get rec play or club ball. Very few get coached on technique.
Rec leagues are built for participation. Club ball delivers coaching but asks for a year-round commitment most families can't make. Most athletes live in between — and tryouts are where that gap shows. Read the full argument.
Rec leagues
- Built for
- Participation, fun, and community
- Coaching
- Volunteer parents, many kids, limited practice time
- Technique time
- Little room for individual correction
- Commitment
- One season at a time
Elevate clinics
- Built for
- Focused skill development
- Coaching
- Experienced coaches, small groups by age band
- Technique time
- All of it — every athlete gets individual feedback
- Commitment
- 2 or 3 days, timed before tryouts and seasons
Club ball
- Built for
- Competitive teams and travel play
- Coaching
- Dedicated coaches, often strong instruction
- Technique time
- Real — inside a team practice plan
- Commitment
- Year-round: tryouts, travel, and a major family investment
Club programs and rec leagues do valuable work. Elevate complements them — plenty of our athletes play both.
Pick a sport. We’ll teach it the right way.
Every clinic follows the same model: real coaching cues, small groups by age band, and a practice plan to take home.
Volleyball
Passing, serving, setting, and footwork, taught with clear cues and lots of reps.
HS season: Fall (girls) · Spring (boys)See the volleyball clinic →Soccer
First touch, clean passing, and better decisions with the ball at your feet.
HS season: WinterSee the soccer clinic →Basketball
Shooting form, ball handling, footwork, and defense, built on repeatable cues.
HS season: WinterSee the basketball clinic →Softball
Fielding, throwing, hitting, and windmill pitching basics, taught step by step.
HS season: SpringSee the softball clinic →Baseball
Throwing, fielding, hitting, and baserunning, taught with arm care in mind.
HS season: SpringSee the baseball clinic →Flag Football
Flag pulling, route running, and quarterback basics in a fast, non-contact game.
HS season: Fall (girls)See the flag football clinic →Training with a date on the calendar.
A tryout date focuses practice like nothing else. We schedule clinics in the weeks before each sport’s typical tryout window, so athletes learn the skills, practice them at home, and walk into tryouts ready.
Typical CIF Southern Section timing. Schools set their own dates — always confirm with your school’s athletic department.
Short. Focused. Built to stick.
Pick a sport and an age band
Clinics group athletes by age — and by experience within an age band when numbers allow. Beginners are welcome.
Two or three focused days
Technique stations with a coach at each one. Demonstrate, try, correct, repeat — then use the skill at game speed.
Leave with a plan
Every athlete goes home with feedback, the cues to remember, and drills to practice before tryouts or the season.
Coached for where they are.
A seven-year-old and a seventeen-year-old need very different coaching. Four age bands keep every session at the right level.
You’re trusting us with your kid. We take that seriously.
Every adult is screened and certified before they work a clinic, and every site runs the same safety plan.
Every adult is screened
Every coach and staff member completes a background check before working a clinic, along with mandated-reporter training as required by California law for youth service organizations.
First aid, CPR, and AED certified
Every coach and staff member holds current CPR, First Aid, and AED certification. An AED and a stocked first-aid kit are on site at every clinic.
When in doubt, sit them out
Coaches complete concussion-recognition training. An athlete with a suspected head injury is removed from activity for the rest of the day, parents are notified right away, and the athlete needs written clearance from a licensed health care provider before returning to an Elevate clinic.
A heat plan for Southern California
Water breaks are built into every session. On hot days we add breaks, move work into shade or indoors where possible, and adjust intensity. Coaches are trained to recognize the signs of heat illness.
Notes on technique, tryouts, and development.
More Reps of the Wrong Movement Build a Habit, Not a Skill
Technique before volume: why quality reps with feedback beat sheer repetition, how sound mechanics connect to arm care in throwing sports, and what that looks like from ages 5 to 18.
Read →The Weeks Before a Tryout Matter More Than the Day Itself
A practical countdown for junior high and high school tryouts: what coaches commonly look for, how to use the weeks beforehand, what to do on the day, and how to handle any result.
Read →The Gap Between Rec and Club Shows Up at Tryouts
Rec leagues are built for participation, and club ball asks for a year-round commitment. Many kids train somewhere in between, and junior high and high school tryouts are where that gap shows.
Read →Before you sign up.
How do I register?
Registration opens county by county as clinic dates are confirmed. Join the list on the registration page with your sport, your athlete's age band, and your city, and we'll email you as soon as a clinic that fits opens near you.
My child is a complete beginner. Is that okay?
Yes. Many of our athletes have only played rec ball or have never played the sport at all. Clinics start with fundamentals, and coaches group athletes by experience within an age band when numbers allow.
My child already plays club. Is a clinic still useful?
It can be. Club athletes come to clinics to work on a specific skill, to learn a second sport, or to get focused technical work before a school tryout. A clinic complements a club season; it doesn't replace one.
Will a clinic get my child on the team?
No program can promise that, and we won't. What a clinic does is help an athlete arrive at tryouts prepared: cleaner fundamentals, a sense of what to expect, and confidence. The decision belongs to the school's coaches.
Give them a date to get ready for.
Join the list with your sport, age band, and city. We’ll email you when a clinic opens near you — no commitment until you register.