Master Basketball Academy: Overview and Insight

Casselton, ND - Master Basketball Academy (MBA) has been around since 2015 and is based out of Casselton. Michael Kobbervig and his wife Beth are the two behind the scenes for MBA. Their love for basketball is immense! MBA does skill development, clinics, tournaments, training, and they sponsor AAU teams. If you want to get in the gym and learn some new skills MBA is a great option. Read below for much more info on MBA... 2021 MBA 16U AAU Roster: <a href="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/ph/uploads/2021/03/samkobbervig-crop-800x526-1614787417.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-1143389" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/ph/uploads/2021/03/samkobbervig-crop-800x526-1614787417-300x197.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="197" /></a> [player_tooltip player_id="1111886" first="Sam" last="Kobbervig"] (2023) |6-1 G| Central Cass [player_tooltip player_id="1176197" first="Mason" last="Bosse"] (2023) |5-10 G| Central Cass <a href="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/ph/uploads/2021/05/coleholzer-crop-2225x1461-1621740009.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-1200267" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/ph/uploads/2021/05/coleholzer-crop-2225x1461-1621740009-300x197.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="197" /></a> [player_tooltip player_id="1144578" first="Cole" last="Holzer"] (2024) |6-5 F| Central Cass <a href="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/ph/uploads/2021/03/Carter-Vrchota-crop-1200x788-1615672418.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-1149648" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/ph/uploads/2021/03/Carter-Vrchota-crop-1200x788-1615672418-300x197.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="197" /></a> [player_tooltip player_id="1144577" first="Carter" last="Vrchota"] (2024) |6-0 G| Central Cass [player_tooltip player_id="1176203" first="Tyler" last="Cruchet"] (2024) |6-0 G| Central Cass [player_tooltip player_id="1176208" first="Eli" last="Buhr"] (2024) |6-1 G| Central Cass [player_tooltip player_id="1176211" first="Chase" last="Bachmeier"] (2024) |5-7 G| Central Cass [player_tooltip player_id="1176210" first="Kamren" last="Baarstad"] (2024) |5-8 G| Central Cass Full Interview with Michael Kobbervig: PHD: Can you give us some background and more information on MBA? Michael Kobbervig: My wife Beth and I own Master Basketball Academy. We don’t have any direct employees but utilize our kids to teach classes and independent contractors, mainly Josh Dixon and other area players to coach clinics. I previously had taught occasionally at Fargo Basketball Academy for my friend Tom Wilberscheid. I have coached youth basketball for many years and knew that I wanted to coach high school basketball at some point. After applying but not getting the CCHS head coaching job, I decided that I wanted to impact local players by focusing on skill development. While coaching high school basketball is on my bucket list, running MBA has been a great outlet for me. We started the business in a friend’s home gym, transitioned to renting CCHS, and ultimately built the half-court gym on our house in 2017. We provide individual instruction, clinic sessions, DIY training 3 on 3 tournaments, and gym rentals. We have an iPad and 50" television at each of our 3 hoops that allow players to control their training via multiple online training platforms and videos. PHD: What are the long-term and short-term goals of MBA? Michael Kobbervig: Short-term goals for current CCHS players specifically would be to provide a cost-effective, efficient training platform that allows them to maximize their abilities and win Region championships. Longer-term goals for CCHS players would be to foster a love for the game of basketball and quality basketball training that allows Central Cass to be a state contender for many years to come. We started MBA to give local Casselton kids a convenient way to train but we have been fortunate to train kids from all over the state. Ultimately, I love to work with any and all kids as it’s a way for me to give back to a sport that has provided so much to me in my life: Employment, friends, experiences, and a competitive outlet. PHD: What tournaments did your AAU squad play in this spring? Michael Kobbervig: Comets Shootout, Spring Jam, Meg Vang, ECI/WC Border Battle PHD: What were the highlights of this AAU season? Michael Kobervig: I have nothing but respect for ECI as both of my boys spent multiple years in the program but our 3 team wins over 2 of the 16U ECI teams were definite highlights considering that 75% of our team was 15. Additionally, our run at Spring Jam to the championship game in our division was exciting. Lastly, we never lost more games than we won at any tournament which was impressive for us. We would have loved to play more tournaments but many of our kids excel at baseball and we try to balance scheduling as we head into summer. PHD: What do players get out of playing with MBA? Michael Kobbervig: We hope that spending more time together as a cohesive unit not only fosters a team-first culture but also provides additional training/game time together that will allow them to be more successful during their high school season. We stress to our kids that our overriding goal as an AAU/Grassroots team is to provide an environment that leads to Region wins and Region championships. PHD: Does your AAU team practice as a team? Michael Kobbervig: Yes, we do. We believe that this is a significant reason for our success. Many other AAU teams have geographical barriers that limit time together. We typically practiced 1-2 times a week and hosted drill sessions once a week during the AAU season. Additionally, kids had free access to the MBA Gym and all of the training tools, including our Dr. Dish. PHD: How important is skill development for MBA and what does it look like? Michael Kobbervig: It is the most important aspect of our AAU training. We don’t want to develop robots as players, but rather want our kids to understand how to read movements and react. We focus most of our time on ballhandling, shooting, defensive principles, and movement patterns. We provide free access in the summer to all CCHS players, 9-12th grade so that they can work on skill development all year long. PHD: Does MBA have plans of fielding more AAU teams in the future? Why or why not? Michael Kobbervig: Yes, we would love to be a conduit for our local players to stay together and play for MBA. We believe that playing together during the summer will lead to success during the school year. PHD: How did you decide on the name Master Basketball Academy? Michael Kobbervig: We wanted to help kids master necessary basketball skills. Additionally, we started with a slogan of, "Get your MBA in hoopology at Master Basketball Academy!" PHD: Anything you wish to share about Master Basketball Academy with Prep Hoops fans? Michael Kobbervig: While our initial mission was to cater to local Casselton kids and provide a convenient, high-level basketball training platform, we are open to all players that want to improve their basketball skills. We have trained kids from Jamestown, Valley City, Thompson, Fargo, Northern Cass, and Kindred. There is no facility in ND with better technology than our MBA Gym. We utilize Dr. Dish, video analysis, and multiple online training platforms. PHD: What your favorite venue and tournament to play in for AAU hoops? Why did you choose those? Michael Kobbervig: The Pentagon is our favorite venue and we are excited for Fargo Parks/Sanford to break ground on a similar facility. While we mainly chose our tourneys based on schedule availability, we wanted some of our kids that had not experienced The Pentagon to play games there.