SAN MARCOS — As more families become priced out of expensive youth club sports opportunities, a nonprofit basketball club in North County is working to reduce financial barriers and invite more youth into pre-high school competitive ball.
San Marcos Basketball was founded in 2020 by San Elijo Hills resident Hilda Mateiu and her husband, Ciprian Oltean. Both of them played basketball in their youth and on the Romanian National Team. The club features several teams for boys and girls in grades 4-7, with over 200 youth participating.
Mateiu, who has now lived in San Marcos with her family for several years, said she wanted to create more competitive basketball opportunities in the San Diego area that wouldn’t break the bank for families.
“We could see how all the clubs were charging an arm and a leg. Not everyone could do sports; not everyone could afford it,” Mateiu said. “When I played, my family was in a lot of financial distress. Sports were free in my country back then, and I got a lot of help from the community.”
The team charges families between $370 per season to be on a league team and $450 to be on a tournament team — far below that of other clubs, which can run upwards of $1,000 per season. The majority of fees go toward gym rentals for the team to practice, and all training and coaching are done for free by volunteers.
Partial and full scholarships are available to low-income, single-parent, military, and families with an immediate member who has a disability.
Practices are held several times a week at San Elijo Middle School, and teams participate in games and tournaments in San Diego, Los Angeles, Orange County, Corona, Anaheim and Riverside. San Marcos Basketball draws kids from San Marcos, Escondido, Oceanside, Carlsbad and Vista.
Brian Rawlings has been coaching the club’s Thunder team for nearly a year and has two sons who also play in the club. Over his career coaching youth basketball and baseball, Rawlings said he has seen club sport costs become “insanely expensive,” making joining infeasible for many families.
“That’s one of the most heartbreaking things I can imagine, that there are kids who can’t participate on a baseline beyond recreational sports because of money,” Rawlings said.
While his coaching and training for San Marcos Basketball are unpaid, he said it is very rewarding to see families benefit from the financial assistance and players grow their skills.
“There is a sacrifice, there are other opportunities where you could get paid to do it. But I love basketball, and there’s nothing more gratifying than teaching a kid something and seeing them implement that,” Rawlings said.
The club also emphasizes training rather than games, with the goal of preparing players for high school ball. San Marcos Thunder, the club’s competitive boys’ travel team, has snapped up champion titles at several regional tournaments, including the San Diego Winter Classic (12U, 11U and 9U teams), the Ball-a-ween Corona Tournament (11U and 12U) and more.
Andy Collins, whose son Cruz is a point guard on Thunder’s 12U team, said Mateiu and Oltean go above and beyond for the club. In addition to keeping fees low, they also shuttle other people’s kids to practices when they don’t have a ride and work to make practices fun, challenging and engaging.
“It’s just phenomenal, the amount of effort they put into it,” Collins said. “You can’t complain about that level of instruction and not having to pay a lot of money. There’s a lot of programs that charge double, if not more.”
Mateiu said the club has grown monumentally in the past few years after having a rough start in 2020 with the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, they are focused on garnering more sponsors and donations so that they can get even more kids involved.
“I founded San Marcos Basketball for the purpose of making everything as affordable as possible,” Mateiu said. “It’s been growing a lot; it’s fun to make it happen.”
San Marcos Basketball is currently sponsored by The Hoop House training gym (which has a San Marcos location), the Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers, Spalding and Knott’s Berry Farm. It is accredited by the Jr. NBA and USA Basketball.
For more information about San Marcos Basketball, visit smbball.org.
