Today we’d like to introduce you to Charlie Miller.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Charlie. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I started ATTACK Basketball in 2009 as a side business when I was working in corporate America. I moved to Texas from North Carolina in 2008 for a job promotion, so I was very new to the Metroplex. One day, one of my employees who was a part-time basketball coach at the time asked me if I would be interested in training a 6th-grade boy on one of his teams. At this point, I had never done any formal basketball training with youth players but thought it sounded fun. So, I met with the player and both his parents at their house. I treated it like a formal interview, dressed in a suit and brought my basketball journals from college to show my pedigree. They were impressed and hired me on the spot. I trained this player using the hoop in his driveway as I had no connections to any gyms in the area. After a couple of months of training in this manner, the player’s family began to refer me to other families in the area.
Before I knew it, not only was I training a handful of middle school boys, they had formed a team for me to coach. Fast forward to 2010 and I had grown the number of teams I was coaching to six. As the business was growing and quickly becoming more than just a “part-time gig,” my wife and I decided to incorporate the company and bring her on as a partner. So, in January 2011, ATTACK Basketball was born as an official corporation. Over the next two years, the number of teams I coached swelled to 16 and the number of players I trained numbered more than I could have imagined. By this point, I knew that impacting the lives of young basketball players, both on and off the court was what I was destined to do. It was my passion! So in 2012, I left my corporate job and took the leap into being a full-time entrepreneur. Since the eight years of our incorporation, the services we offer have slightly changed, but our mission has not.
We aim to help players succeed both on and off the basketball court. We develop the holistic player, meaning mind, body, and spirit. We show players that, through basketball, they can develop the soft skills needed to succeed whether they are playing a sport, going for a job interview, or dealing with a conflict among friends. Recently I have been working on producing more virtual products designed to help players both physically and emotionally. My wife and I co-wrote a book called My Attack Planner: Coach Charlie’s How-To Model for Holistic Basketball Training, which allows players to become their own inner basketball coach. And on March 25, 2019, our Virtual Training System launched, which is a 10-week curriculum designed to develop a player’s mental and physical skills. I am proud and blessed to be the Master Trainer for my company ATTACK Basketball Academy as it allows me to serve today’s youth, which is what I believe I was put here to do.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
I think any journey worth taking will have ups and downs; it’s just a matter of your perspective. I tend to look at struggles as opportunities to grow through. With that being said, some of our biggest opportunities have centered around growing larger and finding consistent practice facilities and quality coaches. The North Dallas area is saturated with club basketball teams and gym space is at a premium. So it is imperative to establish your position at a location and keep your connections. We have done that over the years and appreciate all of the locations that let us utilize their gym space. Knowing that gym space is limited in the Metroplex is another factor that has pushed us to get creative and delve into the virtual products space. Having quality online products is a way I am able to impart my knowledge to players all over the world. This is important to me as, through this medium, I am able to instill confidence and autonomy into players around the world that I may have never met. And to think…I may never have delved into this arena had the gym availability not been an “opportunity.”
So, as you know, we’re impressed with ATTACK Basketball Academy – tell our readers more, for example, what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
At ATTACK Basketball, we offer one-on-one training, small group training, camps, teams, and after-school programs. While this list of services may not sound different than what other basketball programs in Dallas offer, we are the most proud of the two main areas in which we differ:
1. We are centered around the growth and development of our players vs. wins and losses.
I am constantly searching for new ways of training, better ways to reach players, and ways to bring out their inner inspiration. I always say that I don’t teach players anything…they already have the information inside of them and it is my job to bring what they know to the light. If I am doing my job correctly, the player will see and feel an improvement both mentally and physically, no matter what the scoreboard shows.
2. We focus on the mental development of our players FIRST.
Most programs focus on developing physical skills and ignore the mental development. And the player wonders why what they work on in practice doesn’t translate into games. We focus on the mental development, such as passion, poise, listening, resilience first and THEN go into the physical skill development. Over the years we have discovered that this is what translates into confident players who play the minutes they want.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
We plan on continuing to build a presence in the online world. We want to be the go-to source of information for players, parents, and coaches looking for basketball knowledge. This includes videos, diagrams, and written documentation so we can appeal to all kinds of different learners. Stay tuned for updates on our site www.attackbball.com as we are creating this library of information right now. We currently post three free basketball drill videos on our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/attackbball) each week, so make sure to like our page to get notifications when a new one is posted. When all is said and done, we want to create a standard for the youth basketball world to follow, similar to the ISO standards in manufacturing. This standard will provide best practices for every aspect of basketball, allowing coaches and players alike to create the most effective, creative, fun experience for themselves and their teams.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.attackbball.com
- Phone: 2142237865
- Email: meredith@attackbball.com
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/attackbball
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/attackbball
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/attack-basketball-academy-carrollton
- Other: https://youtube.com/attackbball
Getting in touch: VoyageDallas is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
