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.
Evaluations/TryoutsWhat the Cobra program is
Cobras are our most competitive club teams, for grades 5 to 12. Teams train several times a week and compete across BC and beyond.
This is where our thinking shows up most. Everything runs on the 12 Winning Habits and the character behind them.
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 build them two ways.
Box Out
Wall Up
Turn the Ball
Floor is LavaCharacter Cornerstones
Skill gets a player noticed. Staying the one every coach, and every teammate, wants on the floor rests on four cornerstones, the character the whole game is built on. They show up everywhere, on the court and off it, and we work on them as hard as any of the twelve habits.
Hard Work
You can be talented and still not get picked. The player everyone wants is the one who works, every practice, not just on game day.
Resilience
You have to bounce back, from a missed shot, a bad game, an injury, and come again.
Togetherness
The player everyone wants shares the ball, and is first off the bench when a teammate scores.
Commitment
They show up. For practice, for their team, and in the games that matter most.
Is the Cobra program right for my child if they do not dream of playing university basketball?
The vast majority of high school players never go on to play at university, and that is not the goal. If anything, it is why the thinking behind the Cobra program matters even more: the goals we set, and the character we want every player to build.
A player who works hard, bounces back, shares the game, and stays committed carries that a long way past basketball. It is harder to see and harder to measure than a box out, and it matters just as much.
From our gym to the next level
We develop players over years, not seasons. Some go on to play at the next level, and we love to see it.
playing post-secondary
“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
Others you will never see in a box score, but they carry the same habits into school, work, and the rest of their lives. Both are what success looks like to us.
A year with the Cobras
From the first evaluation to spring tournaments, here is how a Cobra year unfolds.
Evaluations & Tryouts
Younger players are evaluated and placed where they will grow. Older players try out and earn their spot.
Season & Champions League
Teams compete in the Champions League and local tournaments.
Training & Development
Skill work, team sessions, and steady focus on the habits.
Spring Tournaments
Spring evaluations in March, then tournaments, local and travel.
Our High School Cobras run close to year-round, training and competing right through the summer.
What it costs
Cobra teams run on a few schedules: younger teams, year-round high school teams, and shorter seasonal teams for select age groups.
| Team | Grades | Season | Training | 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 |
Is everything included?
Your monthly fee covers all the coaching, gym time, insurance, and gear, including your coach's time on tournament weekends. The one thing billed separately is the entry fees for the tournaments and leagues your team plays in, always passed along at our actual cost.
The people behind it
What you are really paying for is the people. The Cobras are led by Jeremiah Kabia, our Head of Cobras, who came up through our own coaching staff, with Daniel Shashar, who leads coach development across Split Second. We keep the same coaches with the same players, season after season, because that is where a lot of the growth happens. You can meet the full staff on our Coaches page.
How tournament and travel costs work
Tournament entry fees are charged during the season, once the schedule is set, because we keep it flexible so it can change with the team and the players' availability. They change year to year, so treat these as rough.
A local tournament usually works out to around $65 a player. For an away tournament we drive to, you also cover a share of the coach's travel, their gas and on a longer trip like Kelowna a share of a hotel, which usually brings it up to around $135 a player.
We show you every dollar, and you get the total before your child registers. If a player has a longer injury, about a month or more, we generally do not charge them for tournaments during that time.
The Cobra experience
A lot of what makes the Cobras is hard to put in a table. It is the friends a player makes, and the alumni who keep coming back to train with us long after their last season. We run events through the year, and we are always looking for ways to give our players more. Once a Cobra, always a Cobra.
Get a sense of our practice environment.
Ways we have gone further for our players
Over the years we have brought our players strength and conditioning with high-performance coaches, mental-performance sessions, guest coaches including a European pro and many U Sport coaches, trips across Canada and to the US, and alumni games and summer runs with current and former pros.
Not every player gets every one of these in a given year. They are examples of how far we will go when it fits the team and the season.
Common questions
How much does a Cobra team cost?
What is the difference between Evaluations and Tryouts?
What ages and grades are Cobras for?
How competitive is the Cobra program?
How do you choose which tournaments and travel to do?
Do you support multi-sport athletes, and what if my child misses some sessions?
Can my child play for another club team at the same time?
What if we need to withdraw partway through?
What Evaluations and Tryouts are like
Do not picture a tense, formal audition. Both are mostly games against other players the same age, and they are a lot of fun, competitive, and high-paced. Most run over two evenings, two sessions of about ninety minutes each. They let a player see where they are against their peers, and they let our coaches see who is ready to compete and where each player fits. Come and play, and we will take it from there.
Spring 2027 Evaluations/Tryouts Are Open
Spring 2027 Evaluations and Tryouts, boys and girls, are open now on LeagueApps. Register to hold your spot.
Register for Spring Evaluations/Tryouts