🏀🌍 HoopLife – more than basketball
Since 2011, the very beginning of HoopLife, we have helped over 300 student-athletes earn scholarships and travel to the USA as well as other fascinating parts of the world 🇺🇸✈️🌎
🎯 Our mission
Our primary goal is to raise awareness among young athletes that sport is a ticket to a better adult life — not its only purpose.
Even after the longest and most beautiful athletic career, there comes a moment when “the air goes out of the ball” 🏀
That is why it is so important to prepare for adulthood early on through:
✨ traveling and discovering new cultures
✨ gaining valuable life experience
✨ building meaningful relationships and connections
✨ improving English language skills 🇬🇧
✨ gaining practical education and knowledge that truly prepare for a future professional career
✨ developing character, independence, and responsibility
We believe that leaving home, combined with education in an international environment and becoming independent at a young age, is one of the key elements of success in adult life.
🚀 Stepping out of the comfort zone – the foundation of the future
True growth begins outside the comfort zone. This is where we learn the most — about ourselves, the world, and life.
By stepping away from what is familiar and safe:
💪 we build character,
🧠 we become mentally stronger and more resilient,
⚖️ we learn to act more wisely, calmly, and consciously,
🔥 we develop the ability to manage stress.
Through gaining life experience — often in situations that are not perfect (because that is how life works) — we learn responsibility, decision-making, and how to cope with pressure.
These experiences are what allow us in adult life to:
✔️ adapt more easily to new environments,
✔️ solve problems more effectively,
✔️ build confidence based on real experiences rather than theory alone.
That is why going abroad at a young age is not a risk — it is a conscious investment in the future 🌍🎓
🎓 What types of scholarships are available?
High schools and universities we cooperate with offer three types of scholarships:
✅ athletic scholarships
✅ academic scholarships
✅ combined scholarships (academic & athletic) – the most common and most accessible option
🏀📚 How does it work in practice?
Athletes with higher basketball skill levels have a greater chance of receiving larger athletic scholarships.
A full (100%) athletic scholarship at an American high school, however, is reserved for exceptional talents on an international level — players who stand out at events such as European or World Championships.
➡️ Athletes with less experience or lower athletic potential still have real opportunities to apply for:
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athletic scholarships,
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academic scholarships,
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or (most commonly) combined scholarships.
In such cases, schools usually require covering 10–50% of tuition, with the full annual cost typically ranging from USD 30,000 to USD 70,000, depending on:
🔹 athletic ability
🔹 academic grades and performance
🔹 level of English proficiency
🔹 the family’s financial situation
📸🎥 Key recruitment tools
A crucial part of the recruitment process is having the right promotional materials, which we present to schools and clubs. These include:
🎬 highlight mixtape – best plays, ideally from the most recent season
🏀 full-game footage – showcasing basketball IQ, technical skills, and team spirit
📊 academic records (up to the last 3 years of education)
🗣 English language proficiency level
➡️ The better the English skills, the greater the interest from schools.
➡️ For lower language levels, we also cooperate with schools that offer additional English courses.
⚠️ Important information
Athletes who have neglected their education, focusing solely on basketball, may find it more difficult to gain admission to academically demanding schools.
👉 For such athletes, we also provide solutions — carefully selected schools that offer the opportunity to:
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gain admission to a program,
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work consistently on improving academic performance,
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continue athletic and educational development 📈
FAQ
DOES BAD SCHOOL GRADES AT SCHOOL KILLS MY CHANCES OF RECEIVING SCHOLARSHIP IN USA?
By having bad school grades student/player chances of getting scholarships are smaller. Simply because good academic schools will not accept foreign exchange students. Fortunate thing is that there are schools that will allow students to make up their grades and give students/athletes another shot at becoming outstanding students. Being a good student is a requirement to receive a scholarship from US University or College. In order to be accepted by University or College, a student/athlete has to have the highest possible GPA (Great Point Average) from the last 4 years of high school and receive the highest possible score on the SAT exam. Higher the GPA, lower the score is needed to be accepted by higher educational institutions. This is why potential 15-16 years olds have more time before they graduate to make up their school grades. It is very hard to accomplish the goal of going to university/college in the USA with 18-20 year old students/athletes that had bad grades. It is not impossible but the SAT exam score would have to be very high if their GPA is very low.
Fortunately for those students/athletes there is possibility to enter junior college as long as they received a diploma from high school and (in most schools) received satisfactory grades on the TOEFL exam. Junior College is the 2 year college that allows students/athletes to make a transition to a university/college for the last two or 3 years of their college journey.
Students/athletes that were attending at least 2 years / 4 semesters in United States high schools do not require a Toefl exam in order to be accepted to university/college/junior college.
DOES POOR ABILITY TO SPEAK AND WRITE ENGLISH KILLS MY CHANCES OF RECEIVING SCHOLARSHIP IN USA?
By having poor ability to speak and write in english lowering the amount of school being able to accept a student. The age of the student will make a difference. Higher the age of the student with poor english lower the chances. Obviously english can be learned in the matter of a few months if a student will spend a lot of time working on it. Schools more often invest in younger students knowing that they will have more time to overcome the language barrier and they will be able to better prepare themselves for possible SAT exams.
Having poor english skills does not exclude the possibility of receiving the scholarship in the USA, but surely makes it harder.