Rising Suns Sports Academy
About
Our Mission Statement:
Not only are we going to focus on bettering your skills as a basketball player. Growth and true dedication to the game can be built from the right coach and player connection. We understand that and value every session with our players. We aim to better all aspects of our players as humans.
After 7 years of Directing basketball camps in the South Bay Area for other companies, coach Kimo Francisco (AKA Coach Nasty) has paved his own way to stay around his true childhood passion: the game of Basketball. Years of affecting children in the area, teaching them the game while also connecting with their growth as a person. Kimo has decided to take his next step in his career and scale his camps and training profile into his own clinics and programs. A goal he has had for years since he stopped playing basketball in 2016.
"With this academy, I am able to connect and build relationships with student athletes that I wish I had as a player growing up. I am able to really see my work make children and parents gain a level of accomplishment and there is no better feeling. I look forward to working with all of you."
Highlights
Photos and videos
No reviews (yet)
Frequently asked questions
What is your typical process for working with a new student?
We evaluate every student and start with fundamentals of the game first. After that we move onto decison making and applying all these things into more advanced techniques.
What education and/or training do you have that relates to your work?
Coaching over 7 years & playing for over 4. Played at De Anza College and San Francisco State.
Do you have a standard pricing system for your lessons? If so, please share the details here.
50$ per session at a 4 session minimum
How did you get started teaching?
Coached and directed camps with the company Skyhawks for over 6 years.
What types of students have you worked with?
Testimonials:
Ryan Francisco (Former Student)
"Coach Kimo was one of the most influential basketball coaches I have ever had. I went to a basketball camp with him as the coach when I was in 6th and 7th grade and we just recently got in touch after about 6 years. I came into the camp not knowing too much about basketball but by the end I came out with a lot more knowledge on the sport and was a much better player overall. Not only did I develop so much as a basketball player but I was able to build a genuine connection with coach Kimo.
He was able to work with me on the little things details that matter and really started my basketball career. I played all throughout high school and still play to this day. I highly recommend training with Kimo as it could completely change your game for the better."
Matt Perham -Vice President of Operations (Former Manager)
“Kimo Francisco was employed with Skyhawks Sports Academy from 2014 to 2018 and then again in 2021 as a Program Director for year-round and summer youth sports programs in the South Bay Area. Our Sports Academy is a nation-wide organization that specializes in youth sports camps and classes. Our focus is on teaching life skills through sports, a mission statement that Kimo embodied early on with Skyhawks. Kimo’s primary job responsibilities included planning camp schedules for various program formats, preparing and managing coaching staff, managing inventory and camp supplies, handling on-site customer service, implementing camp schedules and ensuring camps met the quality standards set. Kimo was an exceptional performer in his role as a director and more than met my expectations as the one who hired him when I was in the role of Area Manager. I received nothing but positive feedback from parents whose children attended his programs and the coaches that worked under him described Kimo as a great communicator and leader. The qualities that made Kimo successful in the role were his organization, preparation and leadership abilities. His ability to effectively plan for each program and ensure that his coaching staff was up to speed on all activities definitely set him apart from other leadership staff.
Kimo was an excellent coach when working directly with our participants and an even better leader directing coaching staff and improving their abilities in the process. Lastly, Kimo showed professionalism in all his dealings with customers, partnering organizations and internally with our company. Kimo was and remains an outstanding youth leader and team player! I have no doubt that his passion and skills will lead to continued success as he explores new roles in his career.”
Coach Nimesh (former coach for Kimo):
"Coming into my first day at work as a coach I was nervous and anxious to meet the director. At the end of that day, I left meeting someone with a experience, great passion for his job and a bright personality. During my time working with Kimo, I could see the wonderful connection that he made with coach’s, the kids, and parents at the camp. I could remember in one of the last camps that I worked with Kimo, there was student who was shooting around waiting for his parents that were running a bit late. I saw Kimo go up to kid and started having a conversation with him. I could hear that they were discussing his future with basketball. The kid seemed to have lost confidence in his abilities and was contemplating quitting basketball due to his team not winning games. Kimo was having this conversation with him for a great amount of time and turned to me to give the kid a second opinion. We both agreed that the student was pretty good and had the ability to grow into something great. Kimo didn’t just stop there. He went as far as to go convince his mother that he should continue to play basketball.
Kimo was able to build so many great connections. Another example that stuck out to me was during that last camp I worked with him. Kimo had our camps planned out efficiently. On the first day he started with introduction. Introducing himself and helping introduce the coach’s. During his introduction he usually asked something along the lines of,” How many people have come back to the camp.” Me and the coaches saw almost half the camp raise their hands. This further proved to me that the connections that Kimo made were strong enough to make some of the kids want to come back to the camp.
In the time I worked with him, I also recognized a couple of the same kids come back to the same camp from my time working with Kimo I have seen his incredible personality and am very glad to have meet someone like him."
Coach Taj (former assitant coach):
Kimo actually introduced me into this work field, of coaching basketball to the youth. And I could tell from day one that this was a more than a job for Kimo. I’ve picked up many tendencies and learned so much from years of working with kimo that it has helped my own career in basketball training for the youth. The main thing Kimo taught me was, it’s not only about teaching the fundamentals of the game, But more about the relationships you build with these kids and families. Having a parent and kid trust you and your skills to help them improve is bigger than clocking in, running some drills and clocking out. Kimo’s understanding of “we were these same kids” and knowing what it means to have that influence outside of your parents is second to none. And that’s why he has been so successful in teaching/improving the youths basketball skills.