The Island Garden Men's League offers teams and individuals an opportunity to play in the premier facility in the Northeast. The league is sanctioned by the AAU and is directly operated by the AAU MEN'S BASKETBALL DIRECTOR AND THE GOVERNOR OF NY AAU.

Some of the highlights and specifics about the league are:

Does your team need someone more experienced and objective to coach them?

FE Coaches have a track record of success in effectively teaching individual and team skills to young players. They coach every practice and game with the goal of developing the skill level of each and every player.

FE Hoops is fortunate to have a number of excellent coaches who are interested in bringing their experience and knowledge to your team.

For further details, contact Jim Fox at 516-351-6642 or Bruce Eiber at 917-225-7576.

It is that time of the year when players regardless of their age or ability want to improve their skills so that they can either make their team or be recognized as one of the most talented members of the team. By improving your skills in such areas as shooting or ballhandling, you could be making all the difference in the world in how the coach of the team you want to be on sees you!

Island Garden offers several opportunities for you between now and tryouts. We have our Pre-Season Preparation Program run by Tim Capstraw and Bill Harkins which is held once each week beginning later this month or we offer an opportunity for a player to become part of an FE Hoops team that competes in our Fall League. Another option for players to improve their game in the short time remaining is to workout with a personal basketball trainer on a one on one basis.

We have made a substantial efforts to improve our offerings in this area.

Tim Capstraw has been a huge part of Island Garden from the day we opened the doors. He has conducted summer camps, run our developmental clinics in the Spring and Fall and designed our Future Hoops program. Tim is popular with the players and can always be counted on to provide outstanding instruction in a fun filled setting.

Based on popular demand, Tim has agreed to do individual instructions. He brings a very impressive background in addition to his long time affiliation with Island Garden. Tim is a fromer Division l Men's Head Coach and is presently the NJ Nets Radio Analyst and an NCAA Television Analyst.

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT SEPTEMBER 3: We have received a number of calls from players expressing interest in becoming part of an FE HOOPS team during the Island Garden Fall League which begins later this month. We would love to have enough players to field a team in every age division but that will depend on the overall response we receive. In order to bring this together, we will have tryouts on Saturday, September 11 at he following times:
4th and 5th Grade Boys - 10:00 AM
6th and 7th Grade Boys - 11:00 AM
8th, 9th and 10th Grade Boys - Noon

Any girls or Varsity Boys should contact Jim Fox at 516-351-6642 and if there is sufficient interest, we will hold a tryout later that same day.
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Do you want to play in the Fall league and do not have a team? Do you want to play for an experienced and highly regarded coach whose main interest is developing the team and individual skills of each and every player? Do you want to be part of an organization that is run by the same people who operate Lightning Basketball and Island Garden?

Every serious player regardless of level must participate in pre-season conditioning and individual skill development before tryouts for Super League, CYO, Middle School and High School teams. Working hard in September and October will give the player a much better chance of either making the team or being a key player on his/her team for the 2010-2011 season.

For the 13th consecutive year, Island Garden will be offering our Pre-Season Development Program. The program will run from September 20 through October 28. It will be under the direction of two of the top coaches in the New York Metropolitan area who have been with us for all 13 years of operation! Tim Capstraw, currently an NBA radio analyst with the NJ Nets, and Bill Harkins, the Head Coach of the Nassau Suffolk Catholic High School Champions St. Mary's High School will work with players on a small group basis. Their emphasis will be on preparing players for tryouts and the upcoming season. Considering that they have over 50 years of combined  experience in coaching at the high school, college and AAU levels, they certainly are in a position to offer expert advice to players preparing for the upcoming season.

The basic program is comprised of meeting once each week for 1 hour and 15 minutes on the same weeknight for SIX WEEKS. The groups will be limited in size and there will be at least two coaches on the floor at all times directing the drills and controlled scrimmages. It will be an intense 75 minutes of practice with the expectation that each player will also work on his/her own each and every day.

Coaches Capstraw and Harkins also are available for individual instruction which can be arranged directly with them. (This individual instruction is not included in the registration fee).

Additional information including schedules and pricing is available ........

It is rare that four prominent and such well known caoches come together here on Long Island to offer strategies and tips to coaches at all levels. This is an opportunity for everyone in attendance to become a better coach this coming season.

On Septembeer 19 from Noon to 5:00 PM, Coaches Jay Wright of Villanova, Bruce Pearl of Tennessee, Tom Pecora of Fordham and Jim Ferry of LIU will cover such topics as pressure defense, special situations, player development, zone offense, press breakers, practice drills and "quick hitters".

The clinic will be held at Long Island Lutheran High School in Brookville and is being sponsored in part by the Island Garden.

Click here for the flyer

By popular demand, Island Garden has partnered again with 5 Star Basketball to offer 2 separate one-day camps to increase your skills and to prepare players for their team tryouts.  We will offer 2 sessions on both Columbus Day and Veterans Day (which answers what to do with the kids on those days!); One session from 9AM-1PM for grades 2-8 for skill building, and one session from 1PM-5PM for grades 8-12 focusing on training for team tryouts. Register early as these sessions will certainly fill up quickly.

Our program for our youngest players resumes on September 21 and will continue for six consecutive weeks. The program focuses on training the basic fundamentals to players ages 5-8. We use smaller balls, lower baskets and an experienced instructor. Every child has a ball in his or her hands for virtually the entire session. The training is provided in a fun-filled and healthy environment. This program has been in existence for ten years.

The special new discount fee for the Fall Session is $150.00 for all the sessions or $28.00 for a single session.

Future Hoops meets every Tuesday from 4:30 to 5:45 PM.

Click here to register

For further information, please call Rosemary at 516-292-4956 or 516-351-6640

NEW POSTINGS AS OF AUGUST 26!

We receive many calls from parents and players looking for teams either to play at Island Garden or to find an AAU team. This new  posting will be updated on a regular basis to publicize opportunities for players of all ages to  find Super League or AAU teams.  Coaches may send short articles to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it if he/she is looking for players to fill out a team.  I will post brief notices if the team is a registered Super League or AAU team.

We encourage all players and parents who are interested in participating in Island Garden leagues and AAU during the upcoming basketball season to monitor this website for opportunities to become part of a team. For the next few weeks, please check this posting  on a daily basis to find a team for you. We intend to do as much as possible to place every player

Jim Fox and Rob Pavinelli have been friends for close to 20 years. Jim's sons, Jimmy and Jeff, either coached with Rob or played on his NY State Championship team. It came as no surprise then when  Island Garden and Rob  agreed to work together to offer enhanced services and opportunities to basketball players of all ages throughout  Long Island.

Coach Pavinelli will be operating the brand new state of the art basketball facility on Route 25A in Northport known as Northsport. This facility will be able to host two games on beautiful NCAA courts ( or four practice sessions). The facility is slated to open this coming Labor Day Weekend .

The first actual joint vebnture between Island Garden and Northsport will be the Island Gadren/ Northsport Fall League.. For the past 12 years, the Island Garden Fall League has  provided an opportunity for high school, AAU, CYO, Super League and club teams to kick off their season. This new venture  will provide a venue close to home for teams in Suffolk County to play in the top fall league without having to travel to West Hempstead. Coach Pav and Jim have agreed that teams playing in both leagues will have a chance to face new teams from their adjoining county in order to provide highly competititive games.

Our long time friends at Lawrence Woodmere Academy in nearby Woodmere have now joined us as a sponsor of Island Garden. You will soon see their signs at Island Garden as well as their presence at various events. This is a great match since both Lawrence Woodmere and Island Garden stand for many of the same values when it comes to student athletes. LWA is an outstanding academic institution that also has one of the top basketball programs in the New York Metropolitan area. The Head Coach of the Boys Varsity, Jeff Weiss, is one of the most respected coaches in all of New York State. He has a tremendous winning percentage but even more importantly is Jeff's proven dedication and concern for his athletes which has been the key part of his overall success in the past several years.