Split Second Basketball

The Cobra
Program

Our most competitive club teams. Boys and girls, Grades 5 to 12.

Helping you become the player every coach wants on their team.

Vancouver · Burnaby · Richmond · Delta

4.8★ across 120+ Google reviews 10,000+ players trained 16 years developing players 35+ gone on to play post-secondary

The program

What Is the Cobra Program?

Cobras are our club teams for players in grades 5 through 12. Teams train several times a week and compete across BC and beyond.

The focus is long-term development and the 12 Winning Habits that run through everything we do.

How players get better

We Build Winning Habits

Winning Habits are the 12 things good players do every possession, like boxing out on every shot or keeping pressure on the ball. We aim for 80+% of every practice to be against live, real defenders, because habits only stick under real pressure. Coaches pick one to three habits at a time and keep at them until they hold.

Box Out

A Cobra goes up at the rim while a defender walls up straight

Wall Up

A Cobra protects the ball, turning away from on-ball pressure

Turn the Ball

Cobras spaced around the arc with the paint kept clear

Floor is Lava

How a season works

A Year With the Cobras

Spots are earned through evaluations and tryouts, not sign-up. Here is how a season runs for each age group.

Younger players, Grades 5 to 8

Evaluations in September for the fall and winter season, and again in March for spring. The fall is built around the Champions League Champ Games, plus a couple of local tournaments.

Older players, Grades 9 to 12

Tryouts in September, then the Champions League through the fall. Winter is focused training, with player development and mental performance sessions.

Spring is tournament season for both groups, with local games and travel.

Our alumni

From Our Gym to the Next Level

We develop players over years, not seasons.

Lily Stewart as a young Split Second player

Lily StewartQueen’s University

Stef Hart as a young Split Second player

Stef HartUBC Okanagan

Mac Steenburgh as a young Split Second player

Mac SteenburghUniversity of Waterloo

Avery playing for Simon Fraser — Avery · Simon Fraser

Lucas and Avery as young Split Second players — Where it began

Lucas playing for Queen’s — Lucas · Queen’s

Years in the makingLucas and Avery started with Split Second as kids. Today they play university basketball at Queen’s and Simon Fraser.

Where our alumni play

Split Second Alumni ›

“Since taking over at UBC, Split Second has been one of the clubs I actively recruit from. I find their players to be well prepared to make the jump to post-secondary basketball.”Dave Taylor, UBC

“Split Second emphasizes the things that really matter: developing players and people, with good character, coachability, and winning habits.”Geoff Pippus, U Sport coach

More than a team

We Are Building a Community

Community day, year-end nights, outdoor games, and the families and alumni who stay with us for years. There is a lot more to this than basketball.

The Split Second community together at the year-end celebration

Split Second players at an outdoor community event

Split Second players and families celebrating together

Sights and sounds from practice

Get a sense of our practice environment.

Fees and travel

Tuition

Team	Grades	Season	Training	Average monthly fee
Younger Cobras	5 to 8 girls from 6	Sept to Feb, training into spring	3+ a week	$395 + GST
High School Cobras	9 to 12	Year-round games Sept–Oct, Apr–July	3+ a week	$425 + GST
Seasonal Cobras	select groups	Fall (Sept–Dec) or Spring (Apr–July)	3+ a week	$450 + GST

Three sessions a week is the base, and we regularly add training-camp weeks, extra team sessions, alumni games, and adult runs.

Is Everything Included?

Your monthly fee covers all coaching, gym time, insurance, and gear. The only thing billed separately is the games, tournaments, and leagues your team plays in, shared at our actual cost.

Our players get recruited because they have built great habits over years, and they are good people coaches want on their team. We do not chase. Expensive shoe circuits are fun to post on Instagram, but they are not how kids get seen or how players improve. We play more, find the right level of competition locally, and take our teams on the road as well.

You see every dollar, and you get the exact total before your child registers.

What you get

What the Monthly Fee Covers

Coaching

Gym time

Games & tournaments

Insurance

Gear

All coaching, including your coach's time on tournament weekends, is included in your monthly fee.

Split Second Basketball has a full-time staff whose whole focus is the experience. For players, our dedicated coaching staff work hard to deliver this vision. We prioritize keeping consistent coaches with the same players whenever we can and giving them the same messaging season after season. That's how true habits take hold.

More than practice

Beyond Our Weekly Training

We’re always exploring the best ways to support our athletes. Here are a few of the ways we’ve been able to support them in the past.

The Cobra experience goes well past our weekly sessions in the gym.

Split Second players in a strength and conditioning session — Strength and conditioning

A Split Second team on a trip to Ottawa — Travel and tournaments

A guest coach working with Split Second players — Guest coaches

Split Second players at a university recruitment seminar — University recruitment

Split Second Cobras alumni together at a run — Alumni and adult runs

Parents and kids playing basketball together — Parent-kid games

Good questions

Common Questions

How much does a Cobra team cost?

Between $395 and $450 a month plus GST, depending on the team. You get the exact monthly total for a specific team before your child is ever asked to register, and the fee is split into monthly instalments, so a month's charge is the instalment, not a count of that month's sessions. Tournament and league costs are shared separately, always at our actual cost.

What ages and grades are Cobras for?

Grades 5 to 12, with girls' teams from grade 6. Players try out and are placed on the team that fits them. Many younger players who come to a Cobra evaluation start on an Academy team first, which is usually the better first step, and we move a player up to a Cobra team when they are ready. A player who is advanced for their age can play up sooner.

How competitive is the Cobra program?

Cobras are our most competitive teams, for committed players who want to be coached hard and compete at a high level. Teams train several times a week and play in BC's strongest leagues and tournaments, including against top club teams from BC and the US. The focus is always long-term development, becoming the player every coach wants on their team, rather than winning at all costs.

How do I become a Cobra?

Players are placed by evaluation, not sign-up. Come to a Cobra evaluation, held in September for the fall/winter and again in March for spring, or get to know our coaches first through Skills Training, a league, or Academy. Teams are usually formed at the start of the season by tryout or invitation, and now and then a player is added at another time.

What does the monthly fee include?

All coaching for every practice, game, and tournament, plus gym time, insurance, and a gear package. The coaching is always part of your fee, even on an away tournament weekend. The only costs billed separately are tournament and league entry fees, and a coach's travel when a team plays outside Greater Vancouver, always passed along at our actual cost.

How do tournament and travel costs work?

Tournament fees are not part of the monthly fee. They are charged partway through the season, once the schedule is set, because we keep it flexible so it can change with the team's level and the players' availability. These change from year to year, so treat them as approximate: a local tournament usually works out to around $65 a player, and an away one we drive to is usually up to about $135. If a player has a longer injury, about a month or more, we generally will not charge them for tournaments during that time.

Do you support multi-sport athletes, and what if my child misses some sessions?

Yes, we want well-rounded, multi-sport athletes, and that means a player will sometimes miss a Cobra session for another sport. That is completely fine. What matters is the overall commitment. If a player cannot make about 80% of practices and games, they will not get the value out of the program, and it makes things harder for their teammates too. So talk to us, ideally at tryouts. It does not mean it cannot work, but we need to know, because we may build the team around it.

Can my child play for another club team at the same time?

High school and provincial basketball, yes, and we are fully behind both. Another club team, no. The honest reason is that Winning Habits only hold through consistency. A player being coached by two clubs, with different messages, systems, and expectations, has the habits we are building pulled in two directions. The Cobra program is built to give players all the training, skill work, and games they need. Extra individual work outside Split Second is fine, as long as it is not another club environment. Ask our coaches first, we often have options.

What if we need to withdraw partway through?

We look for players who are committed to the full season, but we understand life happens. If a player needs to stop, you are charged up to and including the calendar month after you give written notice, and the remaining months are not charged. Deposits and already-paid costs like gear or tournament fees are not refunded. If you prepaid for the season, your refund follows the same monthly schedule.

Cobra Evaluations Are Open for Spring 2027

Spring 2027 Cobra evaluations and tryouts, boys and girls, are open now on LeagueApps. Register to hold your spot.

Questions in the meantime? Email daniel@splitsecondbasketball.com

The CobraProgram