FAQs

There are two ways to register for Point Guard College courses:

The first way is to register and pay online. If paying online, you may pay the full amount or pay just the deposit ($200) with Visa, MasterCard, or electronic check.  The remaining balance is due by May 15, 2008.

The second way you can register is by mail. To do so, download and completely fill out the registration form and mail it in with your payment.  Just remember that your spot is not guaranteed until we receive your application AND your deposit, so if you do mail it in, don’t wait until the last minute.

Essentials and Think The Game are open to players entering 9th grade and up.  Essentials is the best place to begin your PGC education.  Players who have attended Think The Game previously will benefit from attending an Essentials course.

Advanced Concepts is open to players who have completed Think The Game.

Multiple Courses:  Players are permitted to attend Essentials and Think The Game in the same summer.  Players are also encouraged to repeat a course at any time.

Typically, the first sessions begin to sell out in late February.  Some sessions have openings until the end of May.  It often just depends on the specific session.  To see what the availability is like for any particular session, click here.

Open - indicates that there are many spots available.

Limited - indicates there are less than 15 spots available (if there is a number beside the word 'limited', that indicates how many spots are left).

Sold-Out - indicates a session is full.  You can be placed on the waiting list though. The number next to the word 'Sold-Out' will tell you how many athletes are on the waiting list.

For athletes, the Essentials course tuition is $595, the Think the Game tuition is $635 and the Advanced Concepts tuition is $675. This includes room and board for 5 days and 4 nights.

The cost for observing coaches at all three programs is $475.

You can deduct $50 off your tuition if you commute. However, we highly discourage commuting because of the rigorous schedule, the early mornings, and the late nights. Athletes who stay in the dorms generally get more out of the program.

Two reasons:

1. Occasionally spots come available at the last minute and many athletes on the waiting list have made alternative plans.  We go down the waiting list (sometimes very deep) until the spots have been filled.

2. If we have enough athletes on a waiting list for a given location, we will know to offer more courses in that location the following year.

When we read the evaluations we get from athletes week after week and year after year, we realize that our tuition is more than a ‘camp fee’, it’s an investment.  We provide significantly better basketball in five days and a blueprint to future, dramatic improvement, on and off the court.

What is it worth to you to transform your game (or your son or daughter’s game) and move a big step closer to realizing your potential? What is it worth to you to transform your approach to life (or your son or daughter’s approach to life)?

We feel it’s worth a lot…more than we charge. And, as we turn away countless athletes each year, it would only cause us to turn away even more athletes if our price was less. We do not apologize for the price, and we’re very confident that serious athletes will realize the value of the instruction they are getting.

We do not offer team discounts at the present time. 

Essentials and Think The Game are open to players who are completing the 8th grade and up.  If you are going INTO 8th grade in September, you will have to wait one more year. We make no exceptions, regardless of talent, size or athletic ability.

We may add a course for younger players in 2009.

We do not want your (or your family's) lack of financial means to stop you from being able to attend and benefit from Point Guard College.

We understand that the cost of attending quality summer programs can place a financial burden on a family.  We also understand some families are not able to fit additional expenses into their budget.   Although we don't have a scholarship program available for 2008 (we are working on one for 2009), we do have strategies that many other athletes have used successfully.

Yes!  Even though only about 10-20% of the athletes each week will be college players, the curriculum for Think the Game and Advanced Concepts is designed with a college-level player in mind.  And, because of their experience and maturity level, college players typically benefit more from PGC than other players. There are currently over 40 PGC grads playing at some of the top Division 1 schools in the country.

(The NCAA will not allow us to publish quotes about PGC from any Division 1 student-athletes or coaches.)

Here’s what some college players have said about their experience at PGC:

Strategy #1:

Ask for part of your PGC tuition to be a birthday, Christmas or graduation gift from your parents, relatives or grandparents.

Strategy #2:

Ask your school athletic department or basketball program (school or club) to assist with your tuition.  Many programs are delighted to support an athlete attending Point  Guard College.  If needed, get help writing your letter from your guidance department - they will be pleased to assist you.  We do not recommend 'just asking'.  Submitting a letter to your coach or athletic director demonstrates that you are serious about pursuing this opportunity.

Strategy #3:

Get a part-time job or summer job to pay for the tuition yourself.  This requires initiative, planning, and responsibility - three great qualities to develop.  Many athletes have babysat, flipped burgers, or washed dishes in order to be able to attend one of our courses. 

Strategy #4:

With a coach's or teacher's help, seek assistance from community organizations.  Many local organizations (ie. Rotary Club, Lions Club, Kinsmen Club) raise money for the purpose of supporting students in need of assistance (especially when a student has the opportunity for an enriching experience).

If you’re already a Think the Game graduate, you can attend any of the three courses. Both Essentials and Advanced Concepts will offer you information that’s not covered in Think the Game.

As for attending Think the Game again, it offers more basketball information than anyone can possibly absorb in one week. Plus, as you get more experienced in the game and more mature as a student and as a person, you’ll hear and notice things at Think the Game that you missed or heard differently the first time around.

So yes, as long as you come back with the desire to learn even more about the game, we think that’s exactly what will happen to you. But the best people to ask are the two- and three-time PGC grads.

Here’s what some of them have to say about this question:

"This was my second time to attend, and I feel as if I passed the point of being overwhelmed and was able to soak in even more information than last time. PGC allowed me to look at basketball in a different way than most of my opponents will. I feel as if I've been given some of basketball's most important and most hidden secrets. "
- Kasey Dabbs

"I think coming back a 2nd and 3rd time is so valuable in trying to apply all the information, techniques, etc., to your game. The first time can be so consuming with writing down all the info and trying not to miss anything. If you come back another time, you walk away with a great improvement to your game just by getting everything drilled into your head again. From my experience, a return trip is an excellent way to help make the things taught at PGC into habits."
- Nevin Lubarski, 3-time grad

"This was my second year at PGC, and I learned just as much as I did the first time. Each time you come, the skills are 're-loaded' back into your game. Without a doubt, this camp has been the most intense and beneficial five days of basketball I have ever had. The three sessions a day of hearing, doing, and seeing is the perfect teaching combo."
- Michael Reimer

Then wait a year or two.  Our courses are not designed to be easy or relaxing. 

You’ll be getting up for early morning classes and court sessions. You’ll have to listen intently, take lots of notes and work extremely hard. You’ll spend up to six hours a day in the gym, not just playing, but doing drills and simulations, often with frustrating and limiting restrictions designed to reinforce new habits or principles.

There will be no free time to go swimming or visit the campus bookstore. No celebrity athletes will be stopping in to sign autographs or give you a pep talk. And there will definitely be no talent shows. Each course will be an intense week spent studying and learning the game. If this doesn’t excite you and get you counting the days until you get here, you’re better off waiting a year or finding another program.

For sessions that are sold out, we do have an online waiting list.  You MUST register online to be put on a waiting list for a specific session.  You will not be required to pay anything unless you are accepted to the session.

Many coaches say that they learned more things that have helped them with their teams than at any coaching clinic they’ve ever been to. 

Coaches are welcome to observe one full session (i.e., film, lecture, and gym session) at no charge. If a coach wants to observe the entire program, they are required to pay the coaches’ tuition (which is less than the athletes’ tuition fee).

Visit the Coaches section of our website for further details.

Unfortunately, we are not able to provide transportation to or from any of our locations. But, we are offering a new Ride Sharing Board to help you coordinate rides with other athletes, if needed.  Also, if you are flying into a nearby airport, you can often find a shuttle service that will take you from the airport to the school. Call the local airport to or search the web for shuttle services and be sure to make them known to other athletes on the Ride Board.  Sharing a shuttle service may provide significant savings to you and other athletes. Click to access the Ride Sharing Board.

Some schools do allow athletes to check-in a night early and some do not.  Our staff will not assume responsibility for athletes that check-in early. 

You will need to contact a school's Conference Services department independently to inquire about an extra night's accommodations. We do not assist with this service.

The number of particating athletes range, depending on the size of the gym at each particular location.

Essentials typically has between 130-180 athletes (although there are one or two locations which are larger).

Think The Game typically has between 110-130 athletes (although there are one or two locations which are larger).

Advanced Concepts typically has between 80-100 athletes.

Most nationwide summer basketball camps are two to three times the size of our sessions. Nearly all of our programs fill up, and we turn away many athletes each summer, but it’s important to us to try to limit the amount of time athletes are standing around in the gym sessions as much as possible.

Basketball is basketball, and players are players. Understanding and being able to teach the game isn't gender specific. To anybody who's been to PGC before, this topic isn't even an issue. But if this is an issue for you, here's what some male PGC grads have to say about it. If you read what they have to say and still don't believe a female can teach you anything about the game, then you're probably right, and you should probably choose a different program.

Here's what our students have said:

"When I first came to the Point Guard College, and I heard that a woman was going to be teaching us, I thought, 'What is a woman going to teach me about basketball?' By the first 10 minutes, I threw that question out of the window. I have no clue how you know so much about the game. Thank you so much for all of your very useful wisdom."
- Wade Schaffer

"Learning how to control the tempo, being more of a leader, and learning more about fast breaks will definitely help me to make my team more successful. It seemed like everything we did during this 5 days was for a purpose. I wasn't sure about coming to the Point Guard College at first because I didn't think a female could teach me anything about the game. But not only did she teach me, she taught me more in 5 days than I have learned in my entire life from any other coach."
- Kyle Calder

"When I first signed up for PGC, I wasn't so sure about a woman teacher, but after about the first hour of class, I found out she understood the game of basketball better than anyone I knew."
- Dace Hartman

"I will be honest-when I was first coming to this class and I found out that a girl was teaching it, I was like, 'What?!' Now, after being in this camp, I think you know more basketball than anyone I have ever met. I don't know of anyone who could do this camp any better."
- Jordan "Spud" Schade, University of Minnesota-Duluth

"Before coming to PGC, I was skeptical about being taught by a woman. But after hearing the first couple of minutes of the first lecture, I knew that she knew exactly how to be a champion at the game of basketball. Very few people have the ability to teach that attitude to young players. Thank you for all your hard work this week. I learned more than you could imagine."
- Rob Thomas