With the 2025-26 high school basketball season approaching, young athletes in the Chicago area have several upcoming opportunities to sharpen their skills, including camps, tryouts and clinics. This is important for middle schoolers who are starting to get serious about the sport as they transition to high school basketball teams and skill levels. The following five organizations will be holding basketball clinics throughout this fall and the following winter for grades five through eight.

The Chicago Bulls hold multiple basketball clinics throughout the year for young athletes of all grade levels, providing kids with chances to prepare for tryouts, practice playing in teams, practice individual skills, participate in competitions and meet coaches. For grades five through eight, a few of the clinics scheduled for fall and winter of 2025 include the following:

Preseason Prep Clinic: 11 am.-1 p.m. Oct. 25, 2025, $40.
Youth Hoops x Windy City Bulls One Day Clinic: 1-4 p.m. Nov. 2, 2025, $60.
Statement Edition Clinic: 1-4 p.m. Nov. 16, 2025, $60.
Advocate Center One Day Clinic: 1-4 p.m. Jan. 31, 2026, $60.
Windy City Bulls One Day Clinic: 1-4 p.m. Mar. 15, 2026, $60.

The following clinics are for grades 3-8 and offer kids the chance to build their overall strength and agility and hone several different skills, including work on their form, speed, footwork, offense and defense for 1on1 and 3on3 matchups. Registration begins on Dec. 1, and participants are required to bring their own balls.

Ball Handling & Shooting Clinic: 9 a.m.-noon Jan. 19, 2026, $40.
Speed & Agility Clinic: 12:30-1:30 p.m. Jan. 19, 2026, $20.

President’s Day Clinics:
Ball Handling & Shooting Clinic: 9 a.m.-noon Feb. 16, 2026, $40.
Speed & Agility Clinic:  12:30-1:30 p.m. Feb. 16, 2026, $20.

Pro Skills Basketball holds clinics all over the country, including the PSB Chicago Grade School Skills Clinic, which is meant for grades five through eight. The clinic will take place 6:30-8 p.m. Oct. 29, 2025, at Saint Ignatius College Prep, 1076 W. Roosevelt Road, Chicago. The price to participate is $20.

Chicago’s own Sky Basketball Academy offers clinics, camps and scholarships for Chicago’s young basketball players. The academy will host its Fall Tune-Up Clinic for grades five through eight at 7-8:30 p.m. Oct. 29, 2026, at the Latin School of Chicago, located at 59 W North Blvd., Chicago. The registration fee is $35. Student athletes will have the opportunity to both sharpen their skills and meet coaches.

There are multiple YMCA locations throughout the Chicago area, and they hold a wide variety of sports programs, including sports clinics, throughout the year. The Fry Family Fall YMCA 2025 Basketball Clinic for ages 10-13 is scheduled for 6:15-7:15 p.m. Sept. 9-Oct. 21, 2025, and Oct. 28-Dec. 9, 2025. Participation in the clinic costs $95 for members, $125 for non-members.