It’s no surprise why certain high school girls basketball teams like Springville, American Fork, Timpanogos, Lone Peak, Lehi and Westlake — to name a few — have great programs and win all the time.

It’s a direct correlation to their youth programs.

During my time playing and coaching in college, the mantra was: “It’s all about players. If you have the players, you’ll win!”

The same is true in high school. In order to win you have got to have players — and the way to get players is to develop them.

The high schools that were winning and winning championships were the teams that had the youth programs playing and working. They weren’t just working during the winter basketball season. They had camps, clinics, tournaments and leagues in the offseason as well.

One of the biggest proponents of this has been the rise of Bantam basketball.

Back in 2006 when I started coaching here there wasn’t a lot of options here in Utah Valley. All the tournaments and leagues were up in Salt Lake City, so every weekend we would drive up there to play.

There were more teams in Salt Lake City and that’s where all the competition was at. There were a handful of teams down here that were really good, mostly all ran by parents that organized the team and put the schedule together.

The creation of Bantam helped tie those teams to their respective high schools, got the high school coaches involved and built those programs. The teams that benefited most from Bantam — and the teams the came before Bantam — were Springville, Timpanogos and American Fork.

Since 2010, the start of Bantam, Springville has won five state championships, while Timpanogos and American Fork won one title each.

Bantam has been a game changer for girls basketball here in the Valley.

In the first year, there were 30 teams split between 2 divisions: fifth/sixth grades and seventh/eighth grades.

From there participation has gone up every year, until now there are 152 teams. 500% growth is amazing!

This year Utah is ranked No. 2 in the Nation for AAU girls basketball participation.

Josh Kallunki, Bantam’s director, told me that getting people to buy in was huge in the growth of the progrm.

The coaches, the school districts, the high school administrations, the parents and the volunteer coaches were all very supportive and have had a great role in the increase in participation.

Since the start, Kallunki has seen the growth from more and more girls playing beyond high school and the growth in the club scene. Bantam basketball has provided a more competitive environment than Junior Jazz.

The one key thing that Josh stated was how it’s been great for the multi-sport athlete.

To have success in playing multiple sports, you have to have the experiences. Bantam allows the multi-sport athlete to be involved with basketball, especially the kids that play another club sport.

The time and financial commitment it takes compared to club volleyball or soccer has given these athletes a chance to work on basketball while also playing their main sport.

It’s also been amazing to help raise money for their high school programs. I loved hosting games at my school. It was a great way to watch all the kids play and make some money for the program.

I was able to sit down and talk with Westlake head coach Mike O’Connor. I really love what he’s done growing his program.

He loves Bantam because it provides the girls with a positive experience. More and more girls are wanting to play basketball now and are interested in the game. The girls come out to games now and get to know the players and the coaches.

This year he has nine teams. In the summer he runs his camps and clinics for pre-kindergarten to high school leves and he’ll have up to 250 kids come out.

Bantam allows him to have the ability to have teams at varying levels of skill play. He believes that it’s helped across the board with the quality of games you have, not just in varsity but in the Sophomore and JV games too. Now you’re having more competitive games.

With more and more girls playing basketball at a younger age and gaining more experiences, you’re seeing the play in high school gyms have a higher quality of skill.

We still have more to do to grow the girl’s game.

I have to send a huge shout out to the parents that volunteer their time to coach these teams. Thank you for your role in raising the bar of girls basketball.

Let’s make sure we’re focusing on a positive experience and lots of fundamentals in practice.

If you haven’t seen the girls play this year, I highly recommend you get out and watch these girls play.

If you want to see some of the best girls in the Valley play, there are some good matchups next week.

Some of the best games look to be:

• Feb. 1: Lehi at Orem, 7 p.m.
• Feb. 2: Rockwell at American Heritage, 7 p.m.
• Feb. 3: Jordan at Lehi at 7 p.m., Mountain View at Timpview, 7 p.m. and Payson at Cedar Valley, 7 p.m.
• Feb. 4: Westlake at Skyridge, 5:15 p.m., Pleasant Grove at Lone Peak, 5:15 p.m., and Springville at Spanish Fork, 5:15 p.m.

I will be at most of these games. Follow me at @coachveeks on Instagram where I post updates on the games I go to on my story. #girlcoach

Newsletter