About Us

Rising Stars Basketball Hayward Wisconsin

The Rising Stars Basketball Club is a player-development program for everyone. What does that even mean? It means that we welcome anyone, and everyone, boys, girls, tall, short, slow, fast, etc.

Rising Stars Basketball is a hybrid between a Wisconsin AAU Basketball Club, a series of developmental camps, and a summer league all rolled into one program. Our focus is skill enhancement, player development and character development.

Our aim is to develop leaders on and off the court, help teammates, fellow classmates, and become role models within their respective communities. This is accomplished by focusing on character development through the Five Pillars of Athletic Success; Attitude, Respect, Technical, Tactical and Work Rate.

5 Pillars of Athletic Success

1. ATTITUDE

The athlete's attitude is theirs and theirs alone. They can make a decision to have a negative attitude, or a positive attitude. Whichever one they choose will have a very different outcome. Keep in mind, attitudes are contagious. A negative attitude about practice, about the drills, lineups, or plays will affect the overall consistency of the team chemistry. Conversely, a positive attitude about practice, the drills, lineups, and plays can positive affect the overall consistency of the team chemistry.

2. RESPECT

Respect is a two-way street, and we completely understand that. Our coaches are instructed to provide every athlete with the same level of respect, regardless of how they return respect. Respect goes deeper than player-coach. There is respect for yourself; respect yourself enough to give every single practice your maximum effort, attention and diligence. Respect others; respect your teammates, coaches and staff enough to keep the environment safe for learning, growing and developing. Lastly, respect for the game. The game has been around longer than any of us, and will be around long after we are gone. The game has taken individuals with financial struggles, and made them millionaires, it has taken people with mental health issues, and has helped them cope, it has taken children in some of the most dangerous neighborhoods, and has given them opportunities they could only dream of. Respect the game that gives us so much.

3. TECHNICAL

Technical is the skills we learn through development drills, the ability to make a shot while squaring up and a defender is in your face, or splitting a trap, and getting to the rim to finish with contact. These are all technical aspects of the game of basketball. These elements include the passing, dribbling, shooting, scoring, defense, and rebounding. We focus on these diligently with 50% of our team practices focused on technical development. Our skills camps are 4-hour sessions focused exclusively on developing one aspect of the athlete's game. These aspects include: Perimeter Skills, Advanced Scoring, Elite Shooting, and Point Guard Academy - to name a few. Our Super Saturday sessions are 2-hour sessions focused on skill enhancement.

4. TACTICAL

The tactical elements taught are those that happen in team practices. We teach all of our athletes to play man-to-man defense focusing on rotations, positioning, help side, defending the elite scorer, defending the elite shooter, team rebounding, pressure schemes and trapping - to name a few. These are all of the tactical elements we exposure our athletes to.

5. WORK RATE

Work Rate isn't talked about enough in coaching circles or through the AAU circuits. Work Rate is something we focus on with high-intensity full-speed drills, competitive short-sided games, and 1v1 competitions. The idea is to compete, and teach the athlete's that the hardest working athletes in the gym find opportunities others usually don't find. Keeping our work rate high throughout skill sessions and team practices help athletes develop the positive habits associated with outworking their competition.

Dedication and Promise

Rising Stars Basketball is dedicated to equal playing time, equal player development, and ensuring that each player is given the chance to succeed by putting them in the right positions to help the team make a positive impact. This doesn't always come down to court time, this also refers to how players engage in their community, how they interact with their friends, family and opponents off the court.

Each player will be better ball handlers...
Each player will be better shooters...
Each player will be better passers...
Each player will be better scorers...
Each player will be better teammates...

Lastly, each player will become better leaders with a positive attitude and respect for the players, coaches, referees, parents and opponents...

Joining Rising Stars

Rising Stars Basketball will be taking registration for players for the 2023 season in 2023. We are diligently working on gyms to secure for workouts all throughout the fall and spring months to ensure players are staying sharp, and preparing for the 2023 AAU season.

Please register your player to stay up to date on the 2023 season. We'll email out regularly to ensure each player has an opportunity expand their game between now and June 2023.

Rising Stars Basketball has an annual membership that runs from Jan 1 to December 31. Your membership gets you a team jersey, shooting shirt, 14 AAU tournament games, 20 team practices, and free admission into all skills camps, and weekend skill development workouts.

MEET THE COACHES

Curtis DeCora, Club Director and Skills Trainer

Curtis DeCora, club director and head skills trainer for Rising Stars Basketball.
DeCora brings 14 years of coaching experience from K-2 skill development programs, middle school boys and girls, as well as varsity boys basketball.

Additional experiences include training groups and individuals in NCAA DII, NCAA DI, NAIA DI, NJCAA DI, and high level high school performers. DeCora was a 3-year starter at Northland College and skipped his senior year to pursue coaching. DeCora had a short stint with the Minnesota Ripknees in the semi-professional circuit.

DeCora is a Gold Licensed Coach with USA Basketball, SafeSport Certified, NFHS Certified Coach, Youth Development Certified by USA Basketball, and an NAYS Youth Basketball Certified Coach.

Josh "Hootie" Hautamaki, Player Development Associate

Josh, currently the Head Boys Varsity Coach for the Winter School District, has been coaching for 8 years total. He coached 4 years of little league (Ojibwa sluggers), 2 years youth basketball (Saturday Buckets) for Winter, 3 years Boys middle school basketball for Winter, 1 year Girls middle school basketball for Winter, 3 years middle school football for Winter, 1 year with Rising Stars Basketball.

Josh is the most positive and selfless individual we have ever met, and it's been an honor to have him join us at Rising Stars Basketball. Josh carpools kids, runs the scoreboard and scorebook when we need, he runs practices, and is dedicated to the development of athletes in the Winter School District.

Josh also holds a Level 3 certification for Coaching Fundamentals by USA Basketball through the Atlanta Hawks Basketball Academy.

Chandler Walowinksi, Youth Development Coordinator

Chandler, a former Rising Stars Basketball sharpshooting standout on the 17U team, and part of the Hurley Boys Basketball team that went to state in 2022. Chandler brings a lot of youth and intensity to the game, the athletes loved his enthusiasm, attention to detail, and passion for the game. Chandler, a student at UW-Lacrosse majoring in Sports Management is on the fast tracking to becoming a great coach early in his career.

Steve Eder, 15U Girls Coach

Steve brings a wealth of experience coaching varsity girls basketball for the Mellen Granitediggers. Steve is also an active game official for WIAA varsity sports.

2023 Registration

2022 Sponsors

Crossover Crew 2023

Registration Info