Meet Marqus Crawford

Former Sobrato High star Marqus Crawford has started his own hoops training business, hence MC-Elite and it's based in Morgan Hill.

The following is a Q-and-A with Crawford:

Q: Why the basketball direction for you as a youth and not say football or some other sport?

MC: "I played basketball through college and was even given the opportunity to play in the Philippines against PBA players multiple times.
 
I also see that there is a need for quality coaching programs in the South Bay. As a referee, I saw so many programs that have coaches with some pretty nauseating basketball philosophies. This can be anywhere from a parent-coach who does nothing but yell at their child and make them not want to play the sport (while also not correcting or coaching any of the other players), or a travel league team who has four teams in the same tournament with one coach who is trying to coach them all at the same time so he can keep all of the revenue.
 
I am not saying that I have all of the answers, but I am doing this as a full-time job and I have been through the system here as a player. That first-hand experience gave me a great understanding of the South Bay system’s successes and flaws. I was a student of the game as a player and now I am a student of the game as a basketball skill developer. I go to camps, have an assortment of DVD’s and listen to other coaches who have been around the game for a while.  

Q: What's been your best moment(s) on the basketball court for you as a player?

MC: I don’t have one specific play, but as far as experience it would have to be going to college on a full ride and enjoying the whole overall experience. The bus rides, flights, team dinners, practices, and playing against people who are now playing professional was all great. Most importantly, though, was graduating with $0 worth of student loans.

Q: Who, if anyone, has been the biggest basketball influence(s) on you?

MC: Lawrence Crawford, Carl Foster, and Larry Green have had the biggest influences on me. Lawrence, my father, coached me in high school and has been one of my biggest influences. He taught me what it was to work hard to give yourself the best chance for success. Carl Foster helped me learn what it was to really know the game of basketball and not just use my athleticism to score points. He taught me game-applicable moves and which situation to use each in. He also taught me that there was not just the South Bay when it came to basketball: there was the whole world. Lastly there was Larry Green. He showed me a whole new world of fitness and training I had never seen before. He promised me that I would never meet anyone that would push me as hard as he had at his conditioning and weight practices. With his help, not only was I one of the strongest guards on my college teams, I was also always the best conditioned player on all of my teams.

Q: When did you first know you wanted to get into basketball training?

MC: I didn’t realize this is what I wanted to do until about a year ago when I graduated college and it really hit me that I wouldn’t be playing basketball professionally. I refereed for a while and thought about coaching, but those options were not enough for me. I eventually realized that I want to help people get better with all aspects of their game; If you’re a bad ball-handler, lets get that better, if you're not a great shooter. let’s work on that, if you're not a great passer let’s do that. I have a fun attitude that allows me to relate to youth really well, so I knew I wanted to work with youth. Starting MC-Elite was a natural progression for me. 

Q: What are the reasons someone should seek training from you?

MC: There is no training program like us around, and my players and their parents find that out quickly because I truly care about the kids I am working with. I am young and do not have any other obligations in my life besides MC-Elite. It gets my number one attention, and people who train under me benefit from that attention. For example, I go and watch each of the kids that I work with play in games outside of our program. This is for a few reasons. First, it’s to see what the player needs to work on and if he is using what we practice on during the game. Second, there is no better feeling as a person than to have someone who is training you come and support you to show you he believes in you. After that it’s hard to look your trainer in the face and say “you don’t believe in me.”

Q: Say I am a mediocre or inconsistent shooter -- what would you devise as a plan for me to undertake to become better?

MC: This is one I know a lot about. Throughout my playing career, people said I was an inconsistent shooter. I could never figure out why until, honestly, my last year of college. It was because I didn’t have enough confidence in my shot because I didn’t practice “game time” shots. I would spend hours in the gym shooting, thinking I was ready, then when I got in the game and missed a few I would just start taking the ball to the rack, which is what I was great at. Shooting is all about confidence. If you honestly deep down inside think you’re going to make a shot, the likelihood that you will make it goes up. That confidence only comes with practice shooting at game speed. Many people shoot hundreds of shots that takes them about 2-3 seconds to get into the air, when in reality you sometimes have less then a second to get it off in a game. Then they wonder why they’re missing in the game, and it’s due to the fact that they have not practiced a game-speed shot.

Q: What do see if, if anything, as a positive trend in youth basketball nowadays? Conversely, a negative trend? (my pet peeve is it seems like the overriding strategy now is put your head down, drive to the hoops and see what happens -- the mid-range game is disappearing)

MC: A positive trend is that there are so many avenues to play basketball. I believe if a kid is proactive and really tries his hardest he can get the most out of playing. There are so many recreation centers, outdoor courts, gymnasiums and other facilities around that there is no reason why a kid can’t practice every day.

A negative trend is that travel league programs focus on playing as many games as possible without practice. It’s my philosophy that you can’t improve if you do the same thing 100 times wrong in a game. Alternatively, if you focus on developing your skills as much as you do on playing, you will absolutely become a much better player than just by playing.

Q: What do you envision for yourself 10 years from now?

MC: Ten years from now, I envision teaching our same basketball classes but expanding to owning a facility in the southern San Jose area. Our facility will have a sports specific weight room and basketball courts so we can hold different events and activities. I would also like to have AAU teams to try and help kids get scholarship exposure and reach their goals.

Q: How can you be reached if I was interested in your training?

MC: You can call 408-310-0399 or email Coachmarqus@mcelitebasketball.com. I also encourage you to visit my website at MCElitebasketball.com, and add us on Twitter (@MCeliteHoops) and Facebook (facebook.com/mcelitebasketball).