Girls’ Team Plays for Real in ‘Totally Hoops’

It’s the final night of a field trip to Washington, D.C., for four teenage girls--read, no parents in sight--who have just decided to stay up rather than sleep. Before it’s over, they’re jumping on beds, having pillow fights, eating everything in sight . . . until, that is, hotel security arrives to tell the group to simmer down and go to bed.

This is just one of many real-life moments caught by “Totally Hoops,” a 15-part series capturing the victories and defeats of the Dayton Lady Hoopstars, a championship girls’ basketball team of 13- and 14-year-olds. The Disney Channel’s newest reality series, which premieres Sunday, followed the 11 teammates for six months--recording the dynamics of this cross-section of girls from various economic and racial backgrounds who came together to play for a team in the Amateur Athletic Union.

“ ‘Totally Hoops’ is really a mosaic about teenage life told through the eyes of these fiercely determined, uniquely talented girls,” explains Gary Marsh, executive vice president of original programming for the Disney Channel.

“For us, reality television is not about building a prefabricated house on the back lot of a television studio or putting up an obstacle course on a South Seas island. That is not reality. Reality is about holding a full-length mirror up [to tweens and teens] and reflecting their world back to them honestly and as distortion-free as possible.”

And “Totally Hoops” represents the cable channel’s third such reality offering, following “Bug Juice,” which was set at a summer camp and “Totally Circus,” about kids joining the circus during the summer.

The new series starts with intense tryouts for the Dayton Lady Hoopstars led by head coach Steve Douglas, who is determined to recruit a championship-quality team. That team--the Hoopstars--was composed of forward Aisha, forward Alisa, forward Ashley, guard Ashley, forward Kristen, forward Lauren, guard Lindsey, forward Maria, center Michele, forward Shelby and center Tiffany. (No last names were used in the series.)

Though “Totally Hoops” focuses on female players, Marsh says it was designed to be a gender-neutral series. “The idea of this show being about girl stars will attract girls,” he says. “Ultimately, it is about athletes and I think it will attract boys as well.”

Creator and story editor Lara Spotts says the production cast a wide net to find the right teams to profile. “I contacted the Amateur Athletic Union--they have a competitive sports program for all different kinds of sports,” she says.

The AAU presented the producers with about a dozen teams from 10 sports. “There was an amazing football team in California that had a female linebacker on it,” recalls Spotts. “There was a great coed wrestling team in North Carolina and there was a girls’ basketball team from Dayton, Ohio.”

A deciding factor in choosing the Hoopstars was the fact that the AAU told them that more and more girls were playing basketball.

“Once we started really looking at that team, we just felt they had a lot of interesting qualities we were looking for,” she says.

Personality and diversity were two of the key elements the producers were seeking. “None of the 11 girls in the Dayton Lady Hoopstars went to the same school--they came from very different backgrounds, socially and economically. Their parents have different jobs. One of the families is Muslim. [Yet] this team built an incredible community.”

Not only did the girls bond, so did their parents. “It really was a big supportive family,” Spotts says. “There was one girl whose parents had just opened a new business, so they didn’t come to a lot of the tournaments. Every weekend another family would take her on as their own kid.”

The producers were also impressed with the ethics of Douglas. “We wanted a coach who would be positive,” she says. “Coach Douglas is interested and dedicated much more than just teaching the girls’ the fundamentals of basketball,” says Spotts.

To make the girls and their families feel more comfortable, producer Laura Zucco hired a female crew: “The girls were more comfortable in potentially intimate and awkward situations.”

The crews also became role models for the Hoopstars. “It was really cool for them to see women lugging around 35-pound cameras and literally calling the shots,” Spotts says. “All three directors were female. It was kind of a neat experience.”

But keeping track of 11 girls and their stories was not easy. “You have no idea,” says Spotts. “In our offices we had a giant board--basically we had their whole week worked out.” Spotts kept in constant contact with the girls to make sure their weekly schedules were on track.

Forward Shelby, a self-admitted attention seeker and the team comedian, found the whole “Totally Hoops” experience “cool.”

“It is so awesome,” says the 14-year-old high school freshman who has been playing basketball since she was 5. “It’s kind of surreal. I can’t even picture myself on TV.”

Last summer marked her fourth year as on the Hoopstars. “I have learned so much from Coach Douglas,” she says. “I can’t believe there is that much to know about the game of basketball. He just seems like a basketball god. He pushes us so hard. He really wants us to learn because he knows our potential.”

During most of the filming, Shelby felt she wasn’t living up to her potential. “Toward the beginning of the season, I was having to kind of sit on the bench. I know I wasn’t busting out as much as I knew I could. Toward the end at nationals [in Orlando] I came busting out as I knew I could and actually broke through and played pretty good. That was pretty good for me.”

Shelby hopes “Totally Hoops” is a slam-dunk with young viewers. “I think the show is a great idea,” she says. “It shows real life. It’s not staged at all. It was just us. If we could influence one person out there . . . it would be great.”

* “Totally Hoops” premieres Sunday at 8 p.m. on the Disney Channel. The network has rated it TV-G (suitable for all ages).