Youth Basketball in Seal Beach
Ryan Axford has been working with kids for twenty years. Today he owns 1on1 Basketball Orange County and lives in Seal Beach.
From Long Beach State to New Zealand
Ryan grew up in San Diego and came to Long Beach State to study recreation. In 2007 he picked up a part time job running after school programs and never really left that world.
He spent a semester abroad in New Zealand and went looking for a pickup game. The university coach told him to come try out that night. Ryan made a bunch of threes in his first game, and for the rest of the season the coach drove him from his dorm to every game. That stuck with Ryan.
Lessons From Utah and Seattle
Then he moved back to Southern California for a master’s in sports management. After college he worked in wilderness therapy in Utah with kids and young adults. That's where he learned how to connect with kids and to really talk with kids instead of at them. In Seattle he ran community centers and summer camps with more than 200 kids.
Building 1on1 Basketball From Scratch
He joined 1on1 Basketball in 2016. The Orange County region was small, and Ryan pretty much built it himself. For years he worked 75 hour weeks and ate a lot of peanut butter sandwiches.
When COVID shut down schools and gyms, he kept going by coaching small groups in family driveways. In 2020 he bought the region outright.
Pro Coaches Who Connect With Kids
Ryan runs the business without layers of management, which keeps him close to every program. Many of his coaches played Division I or professional basketball, and he looks for people who can keep a group of tired kids engaged at the end of a hot school day. Every program has a backup coach, and Ryan backs up the backup. When a coach starts a private training business, he cheers them on and posts about them on Instagram.
Kids sit in a circle with the coaches at eye level. Drills turn into games, and a missed shot is just a reason to try again. It's built for beginners and kids trying something new. The company motto is Learn, Sweat, Have Fun.
Seal Beach Basketball Camps
1on1 Basketball has run the City of Seal Beach basketball camps at McGaugh Elementary for ten years. Summer camps come in full day and half day options, and there are spring break and holiday camps too, for ages 6 to 14. Ryan is often at the check in table himself, all six foot six of him, and he'll try to learn your kid's name.
Hoops All Year Long
During the school year, 1on1 runs After School Hoops on local campuses and The Ones club team in Seal Beach. Every Wednesday night, all year, the group is back at McGaugh for clinics. Each month has a different focus, like a skills academy one month and a shooting clinic the next, and there's always something for first through fifth graders.
On school campuses in several districts, coaches also run lunchtime enrichment, playing with kids and teaching sports so everyone has a safe place to burn off energy.
What Local Parents Say
Most families hear about 1on1 from another parent. One mom signed up her six year old for a spring break camp and wrote, "He is still in the phase where he's dabbling and trying different sports." Another parent texted Ryan that her son's effort came from the attitude the coaches set. One six year old came to camp all summer. At the start he couldn't shoot as high as the rim, and by the end he was making baskets.
Ryan says building kids' confidence is the part of the work he loves most. One review sums it up: "This is the best place right here."
