Fusilli Hoopz helps to develop local basketball players

When it comes to basketball, it’s no secret that Tompkins County is flooded with talented athletes at all sorts of levels. One local coach is doing his part to help continue this trend in this county and beyond.

Jake Fusilli is the head coach of the Lansing varsity boys soccer team and the junior varsity girls basketball team and will be an assistant coach for the Tompkins Cortland Community College men’s basketball team this upcoming season. He also applies his coaching prowess to Fusilli Hoopz, a basketball training program to help basketball players in the area to improve their skills through various drills. While Fusilli has trained students over the past couple of years, he made his program more official by putting a name on it in March.

“I’ve gotten some really good feedback on the sessions and stuff, and I thought, ‘Why not make it a little bigger and try to attract some more athletes?’ Fusilli said. “So it’s been going pretty well.”

Fusilli also runs this program in his hometown of Watertown, located a couple of hours north of Lansing. Between the two locations, 18 athletes are part of his program, including some very familiar faces.

Lansing’s Aiden Hathorn and Alex Girich have both taken many sessions with Fusilli Hoopz, and for great reason. The duo will head to Rochester this fall to continue their basketball careers at Nazareth College (Hathorn) and St. John Fisher (Girich). The skills they’ve learned and improved on with Fusilli will no doubt be on full display at the next level.

“They’re both extremely hard workers,” Fusilli said. “[It] doesn’t matter the time of day. They really want to get better and obviously get some playing time their freshman year at the college level. I know what it takes to get the playing time and what they kind of need to work on since I’ve watched them a lot these last two years. It’s exciting to see what the collegiate level holds for those two, and I think it’s gonna be good.”

Jordan Sidle has also trained with Fusilli Hoopz to help him prepare for his senior season leading the Lansing Bobcats.

There are also some notable names from the girls basketball team. Izzy Wilder and Marissa Nolan have taken quite a few sessions with Fusilli. Since Fusilli is also their assistant coach on the Bobcats, he knows how beneficial his program is to both students and to a varsity team that has struggled in recent years.

“I’ve seen a lot of improvement already out of those two especially,” Fusilli said. “I’m excited to see what they do this coming year, one going into their sophomore year [Wilder] and one going into their junior year [Nolan]. Both aspire to play college basketball as of right now, and they keep coming to work. I think it’s gonna be a good season for Lansing basketball on the girls side, as well, so it’s exciting to see how that goes.”

Fusilli’s local reach has gone beyond Lansing in multiple instances, including Dryden rising junior Giuliana Pascarella and Union Springs rising junior Rocco Testa. He also has trained a professional player in Newfield native Devin Cooper, who plies his trade overseas in Scotland.

“At the other schools around [here], more kids are kind of popping up and wanting to get a session in,” Fusilli said. “Usually they go well, so they keep coming back. Giuliana is doing very well. I’m expecting her to have a great year at Dryden. Rocco is looking to take on more of a leadership role and more of a scoring role at Union Springs since they lost a couple of good players. [I’m] just trying to develop the league all-around—not just at Lansing—and each individual player to help them reach whatever goal they want to achieve.”

For someone so dedicated to teaching and coaching, the impact that Fusilli has already made—and will continue to make—on so many local student-athletes is not lost on him.

“It’s awesome,” Fusilli said. “It’s just why I love it so much, just like teaching as well. I get to have a basketball player who works hard, they listen, they trust me, and then I get to coach them—especially the girls team—or I get to go watch some of the boys play at Lansing where I work with. I get to see them use some of the stuff that we’re working on, whether that’s working on their shot, their ball handling, their IQ, making different reads and moves to the basket. It’s exciting to see how excited they are that they’re pulling it off in real time in a game. It makes me feel good and puts a smile on their face, which is the best part.”

Those who are interested in training with Fusilli Hoopz can reach out to Fusilli at jakefusilli81@gmail.com or by phone at 315-777-0593.