The Extra Pass

For this week’s blog, I wanted to discuss something that seems to be getting mentioned a lot in Rise practices and games. The term has also come up in conversation recently amongst Rise staff so I thought it was a good topic to write about.

The extra pass. In basketball the extra pass is a philosophy that makes the defense have to quickly rotate and creates a better shot. But what it really is is an act of selflessness and an ability to see when a teammate may have the better opportunity. It is a skill that requires a certain mentality and insight about the game and your teammates. It is an attribute that should be highly used, and is extremely important the higher the level of basketball you are playing. 

Sometimes when you have a team full of offensively skilled players, it can be tough to establish roles around this age range. Everyone wants to be the shooter. Players are still trying to prove themselves and show off their growth, understandably. It can take time to build trust amongst your teammates. What we want to establish in our young player’s minds at Rise is that selflessness is a necessity of the game. We also want to establish that the “extra pass” mentality is not only necessary but goes way beyond the court. 

Recognizing when someone else may have an opportunity to shine and being selfless enough to support them is the “extra pass” mentality. It’s believing in someone to excel if given the chance. At Rise we want to be able to support every player trying to take advantage of their best opportunity. 

Because of this deep passion behind the symbolism of the term here at Rise, we have started the “Extra Pass Initiative”. This is a non profit organization that will allow us to help support ball players that just need to be given the opportunity to shine. Our goal is to make sure anyone between the ages of 11-18 who wants to play basketball at a high level has all the support and resources that they need to make it happen. 

More information will be coming soon about “Extra Pass Initiative”, but in the meantime, we would like for you to reflect on where you have needed the extra pass or have given it. How did it feel and what success did it allow? Parents, feel free to have a discussion with your student athlete about what the extra pass means to them and how important they think it is for the game and for life.