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09-08-2007, 08:12 PM
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Coordinator
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Not too far away
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Insanity: A RL Coaching Dynasty
Basketball season is officially upon us again. Since I last wrote, I had an agonizing decision about what team to coach this year, as HP, as I mentioned during baseball season, came through with an offer. After a lot of contemplation, I decided that I would do both teams, which everyone agrees is insane. So today was Day 1 of tryouts for HP.
Basically it sucked. Not because of the players (more on that shortly) but because of the format. The way HP does tryouts is that they have the coaches as basically extra help. The tryouts themselves are conducted by Brian and Eric, my two bosses at HP. They also bring in some coaches from a local D3 school to be the evaluators. This already was a bad situation. Making things worse is that I don’t think I acquitted myself very well in the few things I was asked to do. I felt very unsure of my place, as it seemed to be clear that I was to be semi-invisible and so that’s what I did. I would have loved to have been able to not be in the backseat, but driving, but that’s not the way it was. Oh and further making things suck? I had to be there all day, for all three teams tryouts, and the gym was sweltering. It was just not good from top to bottom. Also making this hard is that I will be coaching the sixth grade B team. I saw a lot of talent out there, but it’s hard to have any idea, since I have 0 input on the decision making, to know which players I might end up with. My gut tells me I’m going to get 3 or so tall guys without a lot of athletic ability. This will be interesting as I prefer an athletic game, but am sort of excited at the possibility of having to stretch myself as a coach and do a more post oriented game. What makes this even more funny is that the coach of last year’s 4th grade team is coaching again and told me how he wants a post player to build around, where as I was most impressed with a couple of 4th grade guards. I think we’d both be happier flipping roles, but oh well. Unlike in 4th grade, I think it is possible to have a team that plays really well due to post play at 6th grade. I have no conception of these kid’s names so when the list goes up on Wednesday I’m going to have no idea about the talent I’ll have. Anyhow, tomorrow the second day of tryout. According to the tryout plan, they end the tryout with kids divided up roughly based on their ranking so I should have an idea, based on who is in the second group of 10 who my players likely will be. GL’s tryouts are a week from Monday and I’m so nervous and excited about those. More about that, as well as my realization about myself as a basketball coach, later on. On a more housekeeping note, I’m committed, once again to doing this blog. However, with all agreeing that coaching 2 travel teams is a form of mental insanity, I’m not quite sure what I’ll be doing for this blog this year. Not sure if it makes more sense to focus more intensely on one of the teams, or try to do a less in depth coverage of both. We’ll find out as we go along, I suppose. |
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09-10-2007, 11:05 PM
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#2 |
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Coordinator
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Seattle, WA
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Wow. I'll be following along whenever you get the chance.
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We have always been at war with Eastasia. |
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09-12-2007, 08:03 PM
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#3 | |
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Coordinator
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Not too far away
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Quote:
Sunday’s tryouts were a little better in that I figured out some stuff to do, rather than sitting around doing nothing. I also wisely (I thought) wrote down the names and numbers of the players to start to get a grasp of who was who. It was funny, the guy who coached the 4th grade team last year that I knew named just about every player there and said “you won’t be having him”. I disagreed. I also felt validated as there was one short kid who I had pegged yesterday as a potential starting point guard for me. At Sunday’s tryouts he played really well. So well I worried that he might have played onto the A team. Turns out that that the professionals had marked him as a likely cut after day 1 but were now seriously unsure about whether he was going to be on A or B. It was nice to have picked out some real talent that others had initially over looked. One of the duties I had was to wait outside while everyone was picked up in between tryouts. After the 5th grade tryouts a kid asked me if I coached GL last year (he was one of many to do so). I said I did and he said that he had played on the dreaded JCC team last year. I asked him if he was trying out for them again and he said no, but when I followed up gave me no reason why. I was hoping he would bad mouth them so I could reinforce my negative image of them. Then I get a phone call yesterday. Brian left me a voice mail and said that after looking over the kids and parents they were concerned about the make-up and would I be willing to move “down”, err over, to 4A. I called him back and agreed. I have quite a few different feelings about this. On the one hand, I had originally wanted to coach an A team. However, after watching tryouts I grew really excited by the prospect of being able to do some neat stuff with sixth graders, who were absolutely light years ahead of the 5th graders, who were substantially ahead of the 4th graders. It was going to be a new challenge and I was excited by it. So on that level I was disappointed. However, I am happy about having an A team to coach. More than anything I wanted talent to work with and I had originally thought that to be an A team, though that had morphed into the B team. Then there is the whole fact that I have been effectively demoted before even starting. It’s a bit of an insult to me and I think I’m actually going to talk to Brian about it when I see him on Saturday. That said it doesn’t really bother me, as much as I think it should bother me, so I simply want to make it clear to him that I think of myself as capable and agreed to the change to be, well, agreeable and not out of inability. There is also the benefit that my life will be slightly less insane as the 4th graders only practice once a week until January as they are expected to play in house league. Regardless, the teams are up. And I have 11 players. I am NOT excited about that. My ideal number to be at a game was always 8 or so since everyone got good playing time that way. Having one more player to juggle is going to make it that much harder to get everyone quality minutes AND to still go for victory. It’ll be interesting, that’s for sure. The only player on my team who I know is Gavin, who is the younger brother of Alec and Austin, volatile players from my baseball team. And because I can’t seem to coach a team lately without siblings, I also have a set of twins. I seem to recall that one twin was considerably better than the other during tryout so I am really hoping that twin 2 wasn’t the 11th player on the team because his brother was going to be on the team. Man that would suck so much to not only have 11 but have the 11th be a place who doesn’t deserve to be there. Hopefully that’s just not the case (or at least that brother is so good to make up for it ). Anyhow what I’m really excited, and nervous, about is GL. As I mentioned last entry, I had a realization: I am a different sort of coach than most. Where most do drills, I try and do games as much as possible. At one point Eric, the head of HP Athletics, said to me “Bet they don’t do this at GL” and I could whole heartedly agree. I think that GL does it better, or at least I do it better. My tryouts are going to look substantially different than what went on in HP. We’re not going to have any crab walks (where they put the ball through their leg, take a step, put the ball back through their legs, and so on down the court) as that’s not a real basketball skill. We’re going to do a drill for rebounding. We’ll include more than 1 competition (not counting scrimmages). Hell, at the HP tryouts they never even bothered to introduce the people there. Talk about intimidating. Anyhow, I hope to have an entry this weekend about my plan for GL’s tryouts. GL’s tryouts which are Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Have I mentioned that I’m excited and nervous? Yeah I have. But I really am both at the prospect of seeing who will or won’t come out. Who has improved. Who that didn’t make the team last year is ready to step up and join the team. More about all of this over the weekend. Last edited by Barkeep49 : 09-12-2007 at 09:03 PM. |
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09-12-2007, 11:29 PM
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#4 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Troy, NY
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What age/skill level are you coaching in GL (A or B)?
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Quis custodiets ipsos custodes? |
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09-13-2007, 02:57 AM
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#5 | |
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Coordinator
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Not too far away
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Quote:
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09-15-2007, 09:12 PM
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#6 |
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Coordinator
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Not too far away
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My post about my GL tryouts will be going up tomorrow, but today is a special bonus post since it was the first of 3 clinics for HP basketball. Today was my first chance to start to put together what my team was going to be like. These clinics are option so of the 11 players on my team I think 8 of my 11 players were there. The clinics were divided into 4th/5th and 6th grade clinics. Today’s (and next Sunday’s, I believe) was focused on defense. With the younger age group this meant a lot of footwork drills, while the older group did a bunch of work with man to man defense, something I’m sorry my kids didn’t get.
I think my team has definite potential from what I saw, though they don’t know yet that they’re my team as it’s a secret until Tuesday (dumb if you ask me). Things sort of started off perfectly as one of the first kids to arrive was Adam, a short quick player who will be a guard. So he was shooting and being 9 was doing what many 9 year olds do in using their upper body, rather than lower body in shooting. After he’d missed a couple of shots outside his range I suggested he try using his legs to get more power. Fortunately he made his next couple of shots. The twins Ben and Jon (they’re not identical so I THINK I can tell them apart) both look like they’ll be good players and are likely to be my post stalwarts. At the end of the clinic their father was waiting in the gym as the players were attempting to make 70 full court layups, with four balls, in 4 minutes. Their father made a “suggestion” to one of them that was not well received by the son, not to mention was not a suggestion I’d have made. Then there is Gavin. Gavin is going to be a show boat. We were doing a free throw drill and he bragged to me how he made 5 shots (a legitimately good amount in that drill) and then repeated it 2 more times as I talked to some other player. I finally said “that’s pretty good but I did hear you the first time”. Not really pleased at my lack of awe he proceeded to try and tell another coach, at which point I pointed out that his individual accomplishment didn’t mean as much considering it was a team oriented drill. Fortunately, Gavin’s mother thinks I walk on water so at least I’ll have parent support to start with. Besides this my players are a kind of mush in my head though again I was overall pleased with them. The exception to this is Josh. Josh is a shorter pudgy kid who did not impress me with anything today and very much looked like B team material. From what I saw today he wouldn’t have made my GL team last year so for him to be on the A team is remarkable and I will be paying pretty close attention to him next week in the hope that he just had an off day. I did talk to Brian about the switch asking him “Should I be worried about the change”. His answer was no, but really the answer is yes. He went “we want you to be successful” and then explained how there is a lot of potential BS with the 6B team and they didn’t want me, as new to the program, to be caught up in that. He also commented how well the players responded to me, especially during a drill that I was able to lead. I still think that the 6th graders would have been fun to coach. And I know I could have handled them, as one player said to a friend after I had just asked him not to sit down “He scares me but he seems awesome” which I like as an initial impression. I feel more excited about the team now that I’ve seen some of the talent, as I hadn’t paid too much attention to the talent during tryouts (why would I bother?). Interestingly enough, the one kid who I had pegged as a good player is on the B team. Hopefully that’s a good sign. |
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09-16-2007, 05:38 PM
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#7 | |
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Coordinator
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Not too far away
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Well tomorrow is the day I’ve been anxiously anticipating for quite a while. Tomorrow I have the tryouts for GL. The way it’s working this year is that there are tryouts Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday for an hour each night. In order to be eligible for the team, a player must come to two of the three tryouts. We’ll have a full court and six total baskets to use for the tryouts.
Last year’s team compiled a 20-5 record, winning the Conference Tourney and finishing second for the season, despite losing the team’s best player (and one of the league’s best players at that age), David, part way through the season. The reason for the team’s continued success after losing David was David’s two brothers, Scott and Brian. I heard a very unsubstantiated rumor over the summer that David was going to play on the team of our dread arch-rivals, JCC. At first I was concerned that I would lose Scott and Brian, as well as David, to the team. I had invested a lot of time and effort into both of the, especially Brian, and it hurt me to think that some other coach would reap the benefit of what I’d done and it especially hurt to think that it was going to be those *&!$# at JCC. Now I’m concerned that they’ll be back. Because if they come back we’re in a very awkward place. The Commissioner of the league talked about moving us up to the A Conference from the B Conference last season. With David, there is no question that is where we belong. After all, we went into the HP tourney and won their fourth grade A level tourney. Without David we were the second best B team, as MP1 was really better than us. We only beat them in the Conference tourney since their best player was home sick. If we moved up to the A Conference and got crushed week after week that doesn’t seem good. .500, what we’d be with David, I can handle. Team that other teams beat up upon? Not so excited about that possibility. On the other hand, if all three triplets go, it’s clear we’re a B level team. We’re an upper mid level team in that case, again something I’d be just fine with. I’ve already thought of some ideas about how we’d change things up in this case, even. So much of my anxiety is over whether any of the triplets will show up. Now as these paragraphs make clear, I am not going to pretend that the tryouts are an even playing field. Several players from last year have a lower bar to cross. The triplets, for instance, are unlikely to go from having been 3 of our best players to not being one of the best 10 of 15 or so (remembering that I got 16 for last year’s tryouts). After the triplets, Lucas has the lowest bar to cross. While he’s not the most intellectual player on the team, he’s a gifted natural athlete (on the day we won the Conference tourney, having played two games, he then went to a hockey game and help them win their championship as well) and a quite kid who doesn’t, I think, have a mean bone in his body. In our first play-off game, we struggled and a large reason for that struggle is that we were missing Jack M. The problem with Jack M is that he’s short, and if we’re moving up to the A Conference especially this could be a problem. But again I imagine he’ll make the team. Then there is the middle group of Dante & Jack P. Jack P is a great athlete, however his poor shooting was a fairly big problem by the end of the season. If he’s improved there he could actually be one of the team’s best players. If not, well it could be interesting. Dante was our big man last year. He’s not much of a physical presence, but he is coordinated, if slow, which is nice to have in a bag man. Then there is the bottom group of Tom, Gordie, and Noah. Tom was the heart of the team last year. He’s every coaches dream in that not only does he work exceedingly hard, but he’s a leader who’ll encourage others to work hard. That said he had dropped over the course of the season from being a mid-level talent to one of our three bottom players. However, I’ll be looking for a reason to take him. Gordie and Noah are more of a mixed bag. Noah, without a doubt, showed the most growth relative to where he started. However, he still wasn’t all that great by the end of the season. And then there is his behavior. On the one hand, the kid was grateful for every moment he played in a game since he knew he wasn’t the best. On the other hand, he was often off task on practice, enough that it was aggravating. He’s a good kid, but distractible, which makes it frustrating to coach him at times. Finally, there is Gordie. Gordie who had been a star in earlier years. Except that Gordie was the shortest player on the team (“beating” Jack M by a smidge). And bigger players took advantage of that. He led the team in turnovers despite having played the fewest minutes per game. And sitting on the bench killed him. Mind you he averaged 13.3 minutes a game, which is a lot considering we have 28 minute games. But when the fourth quarter came around and I would shift players in and out and he was rarely one of those players? It killed him. What will kill me is cutting a kid from last year, as I really do genuinely feel affection for each and every kid on the team. While that would be hard enough, I have decided that any kid who is at the tryouts on the last night will find out that night whether or not they make the team. So cutting a kid who I like from last year will be hard, but I told the team last year when the subject would come up, and I’m going to say it in my opening speech, that my goal is to put together the best team for this year. And I mean it. I know that it is quite likely that some kid will be there who is better than at least one of my players from last year. I’m also going to have a check on me to make sure I’m not viewing last year’s players with tunnel vision. The other boys travel coach, Jon, will be assisting me with our tryouts, while I assist him with his. This second pair of eyes should help. I have planned out Days 1 and 2 of tryouts. Here’s what we’ll be doing. Quote:
The things with question marks mean that they might get scratched depending on how long these are taking and what I feel like. I really want to get Animal Rebounding, a drill which shows aggressiveness and post play, in there at some point so if I don’t get it in Days 1 and 2 it’ll be there on Day 3 for sure (I’ll explain how it works when I actually use it). Guts is a drill where players are simply asked to run sprints until they can’t anymore, and then a new player does it, giving them a short break, and then they do it again. Not jogging mind you, but sprints. If they do it right, it won’t take very long but will be a good drill to help determine desire and commitment. So I’m ready to go. I have my introduction speech all set to go (which I’ll post with the Day 1 recap). I have the plan laid out. And now it’s just waiting until |
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09-17-2007, 11:05 PM
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#8 | ||
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Coordinator
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Not too far away
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This is long. Sorry for the length, but a big reason I do this is to help me get my thoughts down and tonight I have a lot of thoughts.
Before the Tryouts Begin The great thing about teaching is that when I’m doing it, I can’t think of anything else. I am completely absorbed in what I am doing. The bad thing is that I have a new position that has a lot more downtime. All day long was killing me. Anyhow, at lunch I check my e-mail and see one from Lucas’s dad. I anxiously open it up. He wanted to let me know that Lucas wouldn’t be there (Cubs game) but would be at the next two nights. I was so thankful for this as I had all the uncertainty over the triplets. I could just imagine showing up and seeing neither the triplets, nor Lucas (who with-out the triplets I would anticipate would become far more important for our offense). Anyhow I was unable to concentrate after school ended so I left a mountain of work and came home to try and relax before practice. I waited as long as I could and then went to the gym, the 4th/6th grade coach, Jon, and I had agreed to help out each other during practice. I get there and there are a few 4th graders already there. And then who should show up but Tom. God bless him. I let him know he’s more than an hour early and so he goes away to practice some before hand. I then go in to help with the 4th grade tryouts. A little less than 15 minutes before the start of our tryouts I go out there to start writing down names, as I hate referring to someone as #3. Besides Tom and a kid named Rodrigo, there is a kid named Cameron who tried out last year. I was REALLY happy to seem Cameron as he nearly made the team last year (it was between Cameron and Gordie). With at least 1 anticipated opening I was glad to see him. I went back in to the 4th grade practice for about 5 more minutes and then headed back out to registration as they were coming in fast and furious. I get out there and who do I see, but Scott and Brian? Despite my anxiety about them I was really happy to see them. And then, as if in a movie, Cameron moves and who should appear but David. I was blown away. And then it is just one kid coming after another. In the end we have 19 kids tryout. I was hoping to have closer to the 16 from last year. 19 just blew me away, especially as I know that at least one more player (Lucas) will be there tomorrow. The tryout As soon as the 4th grade is done I have our team go to the far side of the court so I can give my intro speech. As I explained, it’s about the only time they’ll see me read off a paper. I’m a very good extemporaneous speaker and so it takes a pretty special occasion for me to do more than just jot down talking points. However, I wanted to make sure I didn’t leave anything out and that I used carefully considered language in a couple of areas. Of course I go through the effort of writing down, and revising, my speech, even practice it 2 or 3 times, and I get there and realize I don’t talk about having fun so I’m forced while watching the 4th graders to add some on that. Here’s the speech I delivered: Quote:
Overall the tryouts went well. I had them do a couple of dribbling drills, with both hands, to warm up. We then did full-court layups, followed by 1 vs 1 dribbling. Next we did triangle passing. I then gave them the choice of a shooting drill or a rebounding drill and they voted for the shooting drill. We then concluded with some hard running, something I don’t really do during practices, as it’s a shortcut to see who can really dig deep. To be honest the number of players through me as it was more than I was expecting, but not so many that I needed to go to the back-up plan I had, and would have gone to if we’d been closer to 25. Things took longer than expected, of course, and I didn’t get anywhere close to done with my plan, but that’s the way I like it. I then gathered everyone in and told them that on Wednesday, if they’re at the tryout they’ll find out that night if they made the team or not. Otherwise they’ll have to wait for it to be posted. I also explained that each of them would get a card saying what they had done well and what they could improve on. I am planning on making clear tomorrow that they will find out privately if they made the team or not. The idea is to be humane, not to publicly humiliate a kid. The Players I’ll just say that with-in a few minutes of practice it became clear that not only were we going to be an A team, but we might be a better A team than I was expecting. Going in order on their tryout number. Cameron – He’s clearly improved from last year, both absolutely and relative to his peers. Jon put him down as a yes. I see him as a maybe. We’ll have to see how he does in games. Tom – I talked about how possibly there could be 11, though my plan was to take 10. If Tom’s not in the top 10 he’d be a reason to take 11. I think that highly of the kid. He was very unimpressive to me, but Jon has him as a yes, which is a relief. Scott – One of the triplets. I think it’s possible he’s a better all around player than David at this point. In fact, in our two objective drills (full court layups and hot shots) he had the highest combined number of shots. He’s a definite yes. Brian – Second of the triplets. Had the second highest total between our two objective drills. His defense looks better, which isn’t surprising as his ankles should both be fully healed from a bad run of luck he had last year. Definite yes. Jack P – Jack P is in real danger of not making the team. His ball handling is excellent. However, his shooting continues to be abysmal. I should have NO problem finding ball handlers on the team, so he’s going to need to impress me with his defense tomorrow. Jon has him as a yes. Rodrigo – This kid is big but uncoordinated. Seems like a real nice kid. My only definite No. Brian H – Last of the triplets. Last year he was one of the two best players I saw play. Like so many early stars his peers are catching up to him. However, if he was 4th Grade Hall of Fame material last year, he’s at least All Star level this year. After tryouts I very privately talked to his mother. I said that I have at least 20 players trying out and it wouldn’t be fair to give him a slot if he can’t commit to the full season. She said she understood but that I really needed to talk to her ex-husband. Of the adults involved in the triplets lives (mother, step-mother, father, and two care takers) he is by far my least favorite. The jerk came to 3 games, including playoffs, last season, where as step mom was at 2/3. Dad and mom alternate weeks of custody so that means step mom was there weeks that she didn’t even have the kids at her house. Anyhow, I am going to have to call dad tomorrow. Definite yes. Jack M – Jon didn’t have a yes or no for him. If he makes the team his role is going to be reduced. Last season he was missing for our first play-off game against a team we’d KILLED two time previously. As he was our main point guard besides David, we, not surprisingly, had offensive problems that day such that their coach thought we were going to lose our next game. If we’d had the same team that day we would have, but Jack was the difference. However, he’s short, and his peers have caught up to him in a lot of ways. He’d be a soft yes (like Tom) if not for one other factor: he’s very fragile emotionally. Losing was really rough on him. Even losing a drill in practice was rough on him. So more losing and a less featured role? Could be poison for chemistry. Andrew – This kid appeared out of the woodwork, but I am hardly complaining. He told me before tryouts that he had a broken foot last year when it was time for tryouts. This kid looks to be a good, though not great, dribbler, passer, shooter, and on ball defender. Definite yes. Daniel – I have no real sense of this kid. Jon has him as a definite no and his absolute scores aren’t very high but I have at least remember which kid he is before I make him a no. Matthew – Tried out last year for me and then played on the B team for JCC, our arch rivals (more on them in a second). He was actually the worst scored player at last year’s tryouts. At our game against them I paid extra attention to him and felt that I had made the right decision cutting him. He’s definitely no longer the worst player on the court, but is still a likely no. Justin – Justin’s being at tryouts alone would have equaled the karma balance of possibly losing David to JCC. JCC was a team which had a player as good, if not better, than David, this kid’s name was Luke. We played 3 epic games against their A team and 1 semi-epic game against their B team (where they actually brought Luke down just to give him a chance to beat us). Justin was on their B team. I heard he was from GL and was astounded that he was on their B team. He was a great player, he was able to dribble, pass, shoot, and rebound. I know his mother commented at our game on how much nicer I was than his coaches. And I was. Anyhow getting this player to tryout out for our team was something I had previously hoped for, but had recently, in my anxiety, forgotten. And I didn’t even mention the best part: he’s a center. Even playing up in the After the triplet’s he was the first kid who I marked down as a yes. Really funny? I’m waiting with the triplets for them to be picked up and Brian starts telling me how good Justin is and how maybe he didn’t show it tonight but that he’s really good inside. And I’m thinking, don’t worry, Brian. I’m salivating at the thought of having a true center. Definite yes. Jake – I don’t remember this kid, but he had the best score of any kid on Hot Spot so I need to give him a second and third look. Jon also didn’t comment on this kid. Noah – You could tell he had worked on his skills as he’d definitely gotten better since I saw him last spring. Jon marked him as a maybe and he’s a tentative yes for me. Dante – I found Dante very uninspiring. Jon has him marked down as a yes and he’ll likely make the team because having a back-up center is good and he’s a great kid. But man is he slow. I mean he’d be the slowest kid I took. Miles – Jon has him marked down as a no. I continue to like this kid, though not as much as last year. I was impressed with his defense so he’s got a somewhat neutral slate as far as I’m concerned. Kevin – No comment from Jon or I. Can’t really remember anything he did, good or bad. Colin – Another kid who I don’t remember much about. Jon has him as a no and I think I agree. Gordie – Jon has him marked as a no. And I think I agree. But I feel like I owe it to him to give him a few more chances. I had prepared myself for this so while it makes me sad, at least I saw it coming. Going Forward We didn’t play any games tonight. My new practice plan for tomorrow looks like this: Quote:
The idea is to spend most of the time on 3 on 3 and 5 on 5, ideally 40 of the 60 minutes, though I have a feeling it’ll be closer to 30-35. No Jon tomorrow so that changes some of what I will do. Wednesday will then be a lot of games, with the exception of a drill or two to see some skills for kids on the border. Between definite and probable yeses I have 7 players, Scott, Brian, David, Andrew, Justin, Tom, and Lucas so there are at least 13 kids fighting for the last 3 (maybe 4) spots. Wednesday will be brutal for me, but after today, which was better than the best case scenario I’d ever envisioned (getting the triplets plus Justin), I’m fine with it, especially as I know it’s the right thing to do for the players, and that counts more than how I feel. |
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09-18-2007, 02:32 PM
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#9 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Troy, NY
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(following)
Great read!!
__________________
Quis custodiets ipsos custodes? |
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09-19-2007, 08:38 AM
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#10 |
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Head Coach
Join Date: Sep 2004
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Glad to see this back!
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2006 Golden Scribe Nominee 2006 Golden Scribe Winner Best Non-Sport Dynasty: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) Rookie Writer of the Year Dynasty of the Year: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) |
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09-19-2007, 02:36 PM
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Coordinator
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Not too far away
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Tryouts
Before the tryouts began I called over each of my players individually from last year and sat down with them. I told them that I was talking to everyone from the team last year and this didn’t mean they were going to make, or not make the team. I told them how we were going to move up to A. Could they handle losing more than last year? I also said that we’ll be having some new kids on the team. Could they handle a new role? Obviously all the kids were going to say yes to both of these points, However, it was a pointed I wanted to start making early, as while it won’t sink in yet, I’ve planted the seeds to hopefully prevent a possible problem later on. I started off by having them recap the highlights of what I was looking for. Not surprisingly they did a great job. I then also talked a little more about how tonight will be working, in terms of calling over each player individually and telling them whether or not they made the team. Then we got started. I started off with them first running a full suicide and then a half suicide. This gave me some good information about their speed, something I hadn’t paid attention to yesterday. Next I gave them 45 seconds to get in order by height. Much to my surprise they did it in 30 seconds. I thought for sure that this would give me an opportunity to make them run again, instead I lavished praise on them for their accomplishment. We then did Animal Rebounding, basically with groups by height, though I did cheat some (for instance I had Scott go with the tall group, instead of David). Overall, as I expected, my players from last year did better than others, as they were more used to the physical nature of the drill. After the big guys took too long to go to 5 points I cut it down to 3 and it moved much more quickly. Following this we did a 3 man weave down, 2 on 1 back, which went better than I expected, though I very dumbly wasn’t making notes as it was going on so I can’t give specifics about it. I really regret that. After that it was time for some 3 on 3, followed by full court lay-ups to end the night. In the full court layups instead of a minute I gave them 45 seconds and with the exception of Rodrigo (1), Kevin (5), and Colin (5), everyone got 6 or 7, about the same as they got last night in a minute. The bad part is that overall things went really well. In my end of practice speech I told them how genuinely impressed I was and how some of them are going to just have bad luck, in that they were born in a year with a lot of talent. I went home in a real funk because of how tough I knew my job was going to be. The Players Here’s where we’re at with the players. I am not really going to comment, for the most part, on guys who have made the team, preferring to save that for my “Meet the Team” post that’ll come later. Players are classified as on my try-out sheet tonight as either black (made the team), green (almost for sure made the team), yellow (on the fence), and red (cut). Cameron – Cameron showed he had the skills, but not the decision making. He passed up shots he shouldn’t have passed up and took shots he shouldn’t have taken. He showed that his skills deserve to be on the team, we’ll see if his attitude follows. He’d be a green, if not black, except for my concerns there, instead he’s a yellow. Tom – Was not present last night. I really hope that he’s there tonight as he’s a green. I do know he was frustrated with himself (as so often happens) after the first night. My fear is that he cut himself when both Jon (for his talent) and I (for his heart) had marked him as likely pick-ups. I almost called him to check that he was coming back (as he and Gordie were the only two to show up Night 1 but not Night 2), but we’ll see. I really hope he didn’t cut himself. Green Scott – Black Brian – Black Jack P – Black Rodrigo – Slowest kid out there, with no real discernable skills. Red. David – Black Jack M – Ahh Jack M. Jack M is probably the 7th or 8th best player there. However, the chemistry issue is what is holding him back. While he could certainly earn a higher place, he’s likely to have a greatly diminished role this coming year. Not to mention we’re going to lose more. Both of these things are going to be hard on him. Evidentially, Jack has a football game tonight and Jack’s mom wants him to go to that, while Jack (sensing that he’s on the border) wants to be at the tryout. I frankly hope he’s not there so I can have some extra time to think about him. Andrew – He was a for sure yesterday. However, he did not do well in the 3 on 3 or in Animal Rebounding. He’s still a green, but I have concerns about him being a tryout kid rather than a gamer. Daniel – Daniel, by many accounts, should be cut. Except he’s a great kid. Oh and he finished first in his (short) group for animal rebounding. That counts for something. Just barely a yellow. Matthew – His dad and I talked a little before practice. The kid loves basketball. Except he’s short. Matthew commented to me how frustrating it was that players were taller than he was. I remarked back that we’re going to be a short team compared to others. Red. Justin – Black Jake – He’s weak inside. He’d be a post player if he made the team, so that’s a huge negative. That said he’s got pretty good ball handling skills and speed given his size. He needs to show me he can play inside tonight. Noah – My second heart breaking kid. Noah has improved so much since last March. I asked him, as tryouts were ending, if he’d practiced a lot during the off season. He said he’d played every day at camp. It showed. However, he’s not likely to be one of the top 10 players. He is very coachable, in that if you ask him to work on something he’ll work on it. Not to mention how grateful he is for every moment of playing time. Then there is the fact that tonight, during tryouts, he decided to try and climb up a wall. If he makes the team I know I will be spending a lot of practice time in management of him. There are quite a few pluses and minuses for him in both ways. The true definition of a yellow. Dante – My third heart breaking kid. Dante is such a great kid, and, to my surprise, he finished second in Animal Rebounding. That said he is painfully slow, second slowest after Rodrigo. What I need from him most of all, is defense. We’re going to be playing some big kids and we’ll need to shut them down. If Dante can’t do that, his offense is less important. If he can do that, the fact that he’d be slowing us down on offense could be forgiven. In all likelihood he and Jake are competing against each other for a slot. Miles – Speaking of speed, Miles seems to be faster with the basketball than without. He’s got a great sense of humor. I think if I were teaching his class, he’d be one of my favorite students. But he’s short and despite the desire and love of the game the skills aren’t there. Red. Kevin – Kevin is a potential post player, except his ball handling and aggressiveness aren’t anywhere close to where they’d need to be to make the team. Red. Colin – Colin is a big ole nothing. His skills aren’t poor but nor are they great. He’s very quiet so I have no sense of his personality even. Red. Gordie – Gordie, along with Tom, was 1 of 2 not to be back for the second day of tryouts. I simply can’t imagine his skills are going to surpass others I’ve been looking at. Red. Lucas – Lucas came in and played exactly the way I’d hoped he would. Black. Tonight So by my count there are 6 players on the team. I have basically resigned myself to taking 11, so we have 8 players competing for 5 spots. With this football game going on I am guessing that we’ll have fewer players tonight, which is nice because it will give me some flexibility on the players who aren’t there. Hopefully my Yellow players will be there to make the cases for themselves. The plan for tonight is to do some 5 on 5 games. The teams, for the first gaeme, tentatively, are:
These teams should have a mixture of kids who are making it, not making it, and on the fence, with a variety of positions. The second game will be with teams made up of
These teams are not balanced, but instead giving me more of a chance to see how they interact with each other. The goal is to play 1 game with each of these teams for 5 minutes each game. That should take a tad over 20 minutes. I’ll then run, depending on what I need to see, either Animal Rebounding, or doing Full Court Jump shots. And then it will be time for the 1 on 1 conferences. Last night after tryouts I stayed up late creating a notecard for each of the 20 kids. They will receive a notecard which looks like this (with better formatting) Quote:
I will bring each kid over, thank him for trying out, tell him if he’s made the team or not and hand him his notecard. I’ve pre-written out strengths and weaknesses for each kid, but am also prepared to revise, as necessary, tonight. While this is going on, I will have a game of continuous knockout going on in the other side of the gym. After the kid gets his notecard he’ll have the option of either rejoining the game or going outside to wait to be picked up. I have heard from someone who has done this before that a surprising amount of kids who get cut will want to stay. When I write next I should have a basketball team. |
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09-19-2007, 02:38 PM
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#12 |
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Coordinator
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Seattle, WA
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All the triplets back -- nice! Good luck with today.
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We have always been at war with Eastasia. |
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09-19-2007, 10:07 PM
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#13 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: May 2003
Location: heaven
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Do the Red kids know they are Red, i.e., that they are not really good enough? The Yellows? Or, do all the kids believe themselves to be the next great thing with a scholly from UNC by the time they are 9th graders?
I ask this in all seriousness because, as a coach in HS for 15 years, I am in a varsity/jv/cut situation for the first time in my career. My first 10 years were spent at a school with a girls soccer team that never even had enough for a JV team and cross country with an unlimited jv so no cuts necessary. I moved to a school that had a soccer coach so I did cross country and some swimming- no worries there. Now the coach is gone and I finally get the team. There will be 40-50 or so girls trying out with spots for 16 varsity and 16 jv (more or less). I am not very hard-assed about things, especially as it is girls and am worried about how hard it will be for me to tell someone they just aren't good enough. Thoughts and/or suggestions? (Tryouts are not until november, btw...weird seasons in Texas.)
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Check out The Unofficial FOFC Movie Guide Here |
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09-20-2007, 04:08 AM
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#14 | |
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Coordinator
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Not too far away
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Quote:
As for general tips about tryouts, I would say that they need to be seen as fair above all else. That means clearly explaining how you will be choosing players and sticking to it. It is also why I don't do any coaching during tryouts, except to the whole group. I probably should have done more whole group coaching this year, to be honest. I don't want to make it seem to a player that I'm giving them extra attention either because they're good or bad nor do I want other players to get the idea that I'm favoring certain players. Similarly, I was more careful about what I said to players this year. Last year I remarked to a kid who didn't make the team several times on his attitude. As I had listed that as one of the three things I judge, I probably gave him a false hope. Another thing would be one thing Jon did, which I don't think he thought about. When doing lay-up lines, for instance, kids would go through an uneven amount of times. Sometimes that can't be avoided but when possible try and make sure they have an even go through. Even tonight when I really only cared about a few players, everyone got equal, or close to it, court time during the 5 on 5 games. But to me, the big things are laying out clear explanations, and giving some way, whatever it is, for players to get feedback from you at the end of the process. |
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09-20-2007, 09:29 PM
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#15 | |
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Coordinator
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Not too far away
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Well it was the night to really see who had what. As I started tryouts, promptly at 8:15, all were there except Dante. We immediately kicked off into our 5 on 5 games. First with the fair teams. Andrew showed that he indeed deserved to make the team, as did Cameron. Jon also felt strongly positive about Dante. Tom, by virtue of his have shown up, made the team. Even better is that during one of the second set of games, Tom actually took a shot. He air balled it, but I was just so happy he actually shot the ball, as he’d become loath to do that by the end of last season.
The initial 5 on 5 was nice, but far more instructive were the uneven 5 on 5 teams. The second team made up of Brian, Cameron, Dante, Jack P, and Tom showed that they could run, at least for a bit, with a team of Andrew, David, Justin, Lucas, and Scott. At one point during the game Justin got the ball at the 3 point line, Dante was sticking back giving him space (as he’d been told to do last season by me). Justin decided to take the shot. It was gorgeous and a perfect swoosh. There were murmurs of approval. There was then a great moment (at least from my perspective) when I said, “We don’t settle for that shot after 1 pass”. The murmurs went away. More interesting was the way Team 3 played. This had 3 players on the very close bubble: Jack M, Jake, and Noah. Noah and Jack M stood out above the others. In fact perhaps the sweetest play of the night was a pass Jack made to Noah cutting through the lane which resulted in Noah making an easy lay-up. Basically those two were competing for the last slot. Each team plays two games, with it being 1st vs 2nd, 3rd vs 4th followed by 2nd vs 4th and 1st vs 3rd. I then sent them off for a water break and conferred with Jon. He reiterated his support for Cameron and Dante, which I both agreed with. Cameron in particular won me over with his speed on defense. I conferred with people online and with Jon in person and with all of them pushing Dante, and Dante doing much better than Jake, inside (though Jake is likely a better shooter) that suggestion was given and accepted. In the end Jon didn’t seem to have any feel for Jack, but felt that Noah would play well and admitted that he liked the family and that was likely coloring his view. I agreed Noah had a great family. However, by the end of the water break I felt that Jack was the better player and I had made the tough decision in my head. I gathered everyone around and talked about how now was the time to be supportive of friends who didn’t make the team. How, if you made the team you needed to be committed otherwise you were stealing a place from someone else who could have been a good member of the team. I also reviewed what would happen. I would give them the note card, talk about the strengths and areas they could improve and they could either stay or go at that point. When this was all said and done, Emily, my boss at the Park District, came into the gym upset with me for having done this. I didn’t back down, and raised the points that everyone found out equally, I told players they could walk outside the gym after they found if they wanted (and explicitly sat by the door, for just this purpose. Overall, I hope I did the right thing by these kids by giving some immediate feedback, but I don’t know. I do know I was respectful to and upbeat about every kid who didn’t make the team. Hopefully that means something, but having to confront ones peers, as they choose to do, couldn’t have been easy. It won’t be an option again for the future, which in some ways is nice, as it takes my unease out of the equation. Notable Cuts Kevin – My first cut. He took it really well and set the precedent of staying in the gym. I wished he had gone out and not been able to handle, seemingly, the news so well. Noah – He could barely hold it together when I told him that he hadn’t made the team. I told him I really did think he had improved tremendously and if he kept working hard and improving that he’d stand a real good chance for next year. I specifically suggested that he play a bunch with his brother so he can play against someone bigger and work on that. I really like Noah, despite my aggravation over his lack of focus at practice. If the final decision had been between Noah and someone who hadn’t been on the team last year, I’d have given the nod to Noah. I really hope he works hard this coming year. Daniel – This kid did something which surprised me each night at tryouts. He kept hanging on barely and was a surprisingly tough cut. I think in most years he’d have made a GL team. A real nice kid. Godie – The other player from last year besides Noah to get cut. I think he knew it was coming. Wasn’t a whole lot to it. He’d really have to work hard and improve a bunch just catch up to where players were this year, let alone where they’ll be in a year. Meet the Team So while I still feel upset and confused about the cuts, I feel an equal amount of excitement over this year’s team. I think this team is better than HP’s 6B team, and in fact I am going to try and arrange a scrimmage early on just to prove that very point. I think we are, top to bottom, a better team than last year. Me - Hopefully I’ll be able to be a good enough coach for the talent assembled. My friend Jeff asked me if the key to being a good team was coaching throughout the season or picking the right players at the start. I said I didn’t know. If it’s the latter I think I did a good job. If it’s the former, only time will tell. I will say that I am in a much better place professionally and given my recent success at work, and coaching last year’s basketball and baseball teams I don’t lack for confidence right now. At the same time I worked REALLY hard on preparing for tryouts which I’m pleased about. Confidence and hard work are good things, I would hope, to be in a coach. Andrew – As I mentioned I started with Kevin, which was done semi randomly, and then went down the list alphabetically telling each player. For some reason, on impulse, when I got to Andrew I asked him what he saw as his strengths and weaknesses. He identified something which I don’t remember and shooting as his strengths. He identified rebounding as a weakness. I think I perhaps did this to get a sense of his personality as he was pretty quiet overall. Anyhow, after I did this and told him he’d made the team (I immediately told all the people who didn’t make it, as I just felt that was right) he let out the biggest sigh of relief. I’ll be interested to see how he fits into the team dynamic but I think I’m going to like him. Brian – I haven’t really talked much about him, other than that he was a given. He’s a great shooter. His ball handling skills aren’t as great as I would like and he does make passes which get intercepted. The biggest deal is that he had a rough bout of injuries a year ago. Coming into last year’s tryouts he had just gotten a cast off after 4 weeks after breaking his ankle at camp. A week after practices started he broke his other ankle. I don’t think he’d full recovered by March. However, at this years tryouts he was quick, as he was at least years tryouts. Hopefully he’ll stay injury free this season. He is a rather large hot head and can really go off on himself, and others, though more often on himself (or at me because of himself). So there’s that whole side. But he’s also a kid who, if he likes them, will go out of his way for others. I wasn’t surprised he would talk up another player after Night 1, not to tell me how to do my job, but because he was worried that the kid had had a bad tryout. He is just thoughtful, being the only player on the team, for instance, to ask me when my birthday was. On his note card, I had listed two areas for improvement. I told him the first was based completely on last year and that was playing team basketball and that he hadn’t done anything to the contrary during tryouts. Of course that was also true last year which is why I put it on the card anyway. I also talked with him on his tendency to try and play defense in a way that allows him to steal passes, at the risk of leaving his man open. When we did the triangle passing drill on Day 1, I noticed him doing this, just as he had last year. The nice thing about Brian is that I this year I start with a huge amount of built up trust with him. I know on multiple occasions he’s said, when I’m not around, that I’m awesome and his best coach ever. This has, and will, make dealing with him easier than it would have been otherwise. Cameron – Before I talk about Cameron now, let me post what I said about him last year during tryouts Quote:
Dante – First I should say that when I was debating about whether or not to take Dante, I wasn’t fair to him. Of the three areas I was evaluating (athleticism, basketball skill, and attitude) I focused entirely on his short coming, athletic ability, rather than on his tremendous strength of attitude. I’m real glad several people focused on that and pointed it out to me. I mean the kid practically hugged me when I told him he made the team. I commented to him how his post play had really improved and he said he’d gone to a camp for that. I’ll have to ask him what camp that was since it did him a lot of good as he was a bit of a weak player inside last season and I gave him the Dirk Nowitzki award to recognize the fact that he had a pretty good mid-range shot. I told him that the big thing this season was going to be his speed. I wasn’t worried about it on offense, but was concerned about it on defense. He took this area to work on the best of anyone in that you could tell he genuinely wanted to improve on it. I told him he’d have to work hard to earn his minutes and he seemed excited by the challenge. David – David should be the best player on the team. David should be the best player on either team in many games. He’s fast, can use either hand to dribble penetrate. Guarding him in practice is always a pain. Best of all he’s not selfish in the least. He, more than me, deserves credit for the unselfish ball we played last year. With his example, my encouragement fell on receptive ears. I will say that this tryout format allowed me to do something that I’m not sure I could have ever done otherwise and that is for me to tell David honestly how much I respect not only his basketball ability but also how he works hard to be better. I had never told him that last year. I had done so in other ways, and I think he knew that I knew how special he was but I felt it was important for me to vocalize it to him. His areas for improvement was that he needed to show more often that he was having fun playing basketball and to not feel the weight of the team on his shoulders. I told him how he knows that I don’t run the offense through one person and that already I could see people who had stepped up after he quit starting to defer to him (Lucas and Scott were both guilty of this) and that it didn’t have to be that way, so he could relax and just do his best. Finally, I told him that I was going to ask a lot from his defensively. I said that I was going to have to ask him to guard big guys this year as we have a bunch of people who can guard guards but fewer who can guard inside guys. He nodded his head in understanding. As our talk ended I commented how I was glad he’d come out as I’d heard a rumor that he was trying out for the JCC team and he chuckled in a way that told me that was not a serious consideration. That made me feel good. Jack M – In the end Jack made the team because he’s short but he knows how to compensate for that as much as possible and he sees the court well. He is also surprisingly good at penetrating going left or right which takes defenders by surprise. I was tough on Jack. I called him over and asked him why he deserved to make the team. He talked about his ball handling and passing. I agreed with both of those areas. I asked him why maybe he wouldn’t make the team. He couldn’t come up with anything. I gave him a moment to think and he still couldn’t come up with anything. So I told him that he was one of the 10 most skilled players out there, but that I was concerned about what things would be like for him this season. How I was concerned that being a gamer the losing would bother him. I told him how he’d really stepped up for us last year when David left the team, but that there is a lot more talent on the team this year and he’d have to earn every minute he played. By this time he was incredibly choked up. I then told him he had made the team. He kind of spit out “I thought I wasn’t going to.” As I’ll talk about when I get to Tom, I didn’t really weigh the three factors equally, but I am glad to know that as a coach, I have enough credibility in Jack’s eye that even though I told him he was one of the 10 most skilled players that I would leave him off the team because of the other factors. I ended with Jack saying that I really had confidence that he’s older and more mature now and so I have confidence that he could handle these issues. I then repeated myself, not for effect, but more out of nervousness. Conciseness would have been better in this situation so it was unfortunate that I didn’t deliver this last point more effectively. Jack P – It is little known but September 19th besides being International Talk Like a Pirate Day is also “Give Jack a hard time at tryouts” or at least it was in GL. Unlike with Jack M, I told Jack P right off the bat that he’d made the team. I then told him that I’d considered not taking him after Night 2’s tryout. I then explained to him how it was ridiculous for me to even think about that. I told him how his speed and defense were too good to not have on the team, but that he was the lowest percentage shooter last season. And how missed shots drive me nuts. I will be explaining to everyone later how a missed shot is, in my eyes at least, the same as a turnover since we are giving up the ball every time we miss a shot. I told him that this season he was going to either have to improve his shooting percentage or we’d have to find other ways for him to contribute on offense. Jack just shook his head that he understood, but Jack is always a bit of sphinx when I talk seriously with him and so I’m not sure what was going on inside his head. I really wish if I knew it was “Coach is wrong and I’m going to show him” or “Coach is wrong and is an idiot” or “Ok I’ll have to do better” or “I’m awful”. I just don’t know. I do know that Jack was new to GL last school year and he had been a leader in Massachusetts so he’s got some good qualities there, even if he doesn’t yet have a firm place in the social structure here yet. Justin – Poor Justin was the last kid to go. He actually talked some tonight and I think I’m going to really like him and will be a kid who I’m going to have to shield to some extent from his father. I told him how impressed I was with his shooting ability and that the 3 point shot he did was a beautiful shot. The admiration in my voice was clear. However, I also told him that he could ask people on the team about how I have sat people who have shot beautiful shots like that without working the ball. I also told him that I put on his note card as an area for improvement “It sometimes seems like you’re half a second behind what is happening” but that I wasn’t sure that was true at all. I said that I had detected something in his playing which bothered me but couldn’t place my finger on it yet but that we had a full season to figure it out. I also told him how I was real happy he came out for the team this year as I’d noticed how good he was when we played against him last year. Justin is going to be an incredible tool for us to have on offense. If he, Brian, and David can give us some credibility on the outside, causing other teams to guard us closely there, in particular Justin drawing out the big man, or forcing a team to go to zone, I think we can then use our speed to take advantage of them. The possibilities of Justin excite me. Lucas – Lucas is a great kid. Where as last season I forced him to play post, he has grown more up than out and I’m not sure he’ll have the bulk to do that this season. I also know that we’re doing a much more sophisticated defense this year and that Lucas is going to struggle with that at first. Not a whole lot to say here as he was an easy pick as he just has a lot of good qualities, but nothing as outstanding (or negative) as some of the others. I had a real hard time, in fact, coming up with an area to work on and ended up putting “Being more of a leader on the floor” as he’s a real quiet kid but one everyone likes. He was, based on his name, the first kid to make the team. I’ll also point out that his father just LOVES me and his mother likes me a lot too. It’s nice having a couple of parents so firmly in your corner. Scott – Scott told me he played guard a whole bunch at camp over the summer and kind of enjoyed it. I’m sure he did. I’m glad he’s willing to do that. I hope he’s still a scrappy kid as we need kids who can guard big kids. Sadly, like Lucas, he’s grown more up than out, and I don’t know if he’s big enough to play the post anymore. I hope he is though since he’s a tough defender, probably the best on the team after David. The neat thing about Scott right now is that he really doesn’t know just how good he is which makes him so absolutely enjoyable to coach since he’s got so much potential but works so hard. Tom – Noah was probably a better basketball player during tryouts than Tom. However as I’ve said from the beginning Tom could make the team on attitude alone as long as he showed me SOMETHING. When talking about how I was looking for athleticism, basketball skills, and attitude, I talked extensively about attitude and didn’t really explain athleticism. Yet, when compiling the team I only really considered attitude as a secondary factor. It was ALMOST enough to keep Cameron and Jack off the team but in the end their talent won out. Noah was a mixed picture but overall positive in the attitude category and he didn’t make the team in favor of athleticism and skills. I’d like to think if we didn’t have so much talent I would follow my own dictum better, and in fact advocated that very position to Jon during his 4th grade tryouts for a couple of players. I don’t like it when my rhetoric and actions don’t match up so I will have to really rethink about this in the future, but for now it is simply a disappointment with myself. I think I would be less disappointed with myself if I’d considered this more in the case of Dante. I did think about it in Lucas’s case but he was a nearly automatic player so that doesn’t really count for anything. All that is a long way of saying, I think the world of Tom and he is the only evidence of my not having been completely hallow in what I said. I was quite concerned, as he’s a bit of a perfectionist, that he’d cut himself after he had a poor showing on Day 1. When I talked with Tom, I told him that while his shooting accuracy might not be there he had beautiful form and we’d work on his shooting this season together. So that’s the team. I really do think they’re more talented than HP’s 6B team and if that’s true we’ve got a real chance of being better than the .500 team I thought we’d be. That said, practices don’t start for a month so in the meantime we’ll be focusing on HP which is meeting weekly. |
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09-20-2007, 09:40 PM
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#16 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Troy, NY
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What exactly did Emily want you to do???????
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Quis custodiets ipsos custodes? |
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09-20-2007, 10:04 PM
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#17 | |
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Coordinator
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Not too far away
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Quote:
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09-23-2007, 02:35 PM
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#19 |
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Coordinator
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Not too far away
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Had another HP clinic today. Attendance was pretty poor overall. Clinics, by their very nature, are focused on fundamentals, which I think is great. However, fundamentals also happen to be the thing I need to work on the most before I coach it. I don’t know what is going to be taught at any given clinic which limits my ability to really do my best. Fortunately I was able to coach rebounding today at my station which is good because I know how to rebound.
With attendance being so poor I didn’t get to see a lot of my team. However, I can tell you that Ben and Jon, my twins, are going to be kids I really like. I also know that Henry, who is the shortest or second shortest kid on the team, doesn’t deserve to be there. Henry has an older sibling, however, who plays well and I think they put him on the team because of that. Another coach also indicated that she had attitude problems from him. Nothing better than the untalented kid with attitude. Overall though it was a nice clinic, but I’ll be excited when in two weeks I get to start practicing with my team rather than having someone else dictate what I’m doing. |
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09-23-2007, 03:42 PM
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#20 |
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Head Coach
Join Date: Sep 2004
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I'm really glad you went with Jack M. I liked him over Dante and Noah from your initial descriptions though after I saw someone post in the thread on FOFC that athleticism bursts can happen at that age, I was also reminded of one of the goalies on the U-14 team I coached. Very tall but very awkward and unsure of herself at the start of the season. By the end of the year, she was our top goalie and showed some serious potential.
So I'm glad you took Dante too. I really have this hunch that Jack M will surprise you.
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2006 Golden Scribe Nominee 2006 Golden Scribe Winner Best Non-Sport Dynasty: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) Rookie Writer of the Year Dynasty of the Year: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) |
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09-23-2007, 11:22 PM
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#21 |
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Coordinator
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Seattle, WA
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I hope so because I also really like BK's description of him. I worry about Jack M's morale though.
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We have always been at war with Eastasia. |
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09-24-2007, 08:23 PM
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#22 | ||
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Coordinator
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Not too far away
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Quote:
Quote:
Jack really surprised me last year. Entering our first game I'd have said he was the 8th or 9th best player on the team. He proved me wrong last year about his talent and I hope that he proves me wrong about his attitude this year. Though I will admit, that heading into practices, depending on how I shake out the team in terms of positions, he could be battling again for his guard spot. |
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09-30-2007, 08:27 AM
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#23 |
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Coordinator
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Not too far away
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Well we had the last HP clinic yesterday. For the kids who came to a couple of them, Adam, Ben, Jon (and let me just note that I think I can already tell them apart which is good), Danny, Zack, Henry and Gavin, I have a fairly decent idea of what to expect. That just leaves the Jacks, Jacob, and Josh. Overall it was similar to the other ones in that a lot of time was spent on defensive footwork at the start. There was then a lot of time spent on doing a 3 man weave and 3 on 2, 2 on 1. The most important thing that I learned here is that Joey, from the HP 5A, is a really good kid in addition to being a really good basketball player. I also learned that a couple of the kids on the 4B team are, well, not the brightest bulbs in the box. For station work I was stuck doing passing and did some work on bounce, chest, and overhead passes. I did emphasize the idea of jump stopping towards the ball for chest and overhead passes, something I failed to really do in the long run last year and which was exposed as a weakness when we had our drubbing against the WK 4A team. I hope to not repeat that mistake with either of my teams this year. Overall nothing too exciting.
A few thoughts on the players: Henry was much more impressive this week. In fact, I had to talk to him about taking something off his passes so that they could be caught. Seems like he was just having an off day last week. Ben and Jon are perhaps the most fundamentally sound players on the team. They’re also going to be leaders and are going to be kids who I can use in the post, despite not having the typical post player size. At the end of the clinics they ran sprints. I could tell Danny was holding back and asked if he was. He confirmed that he was and I commented that there was nothing wrong with finishing first. So next time he sprinted, he finished first, even beating out some fast 5th graders. He had a big smile when I congratulated him on his feat. Brian (my PD boss and 5A opponent) told me that Adam wouldn’t say two words the whole season. That seems about right. He’s still the early favorite to be our starting point guard. Gavin wasn’t present at this clinic. But I did get an email from his dad telling me that he won’t be able to attend Thursday practices when they start. We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. I’m still excited to get started with an actual practice next week. We’re going to follow, for at least the first four practices, roughly what I did last year at GL. I think those were good introductions to the fundamentals I stress (things like pivots) which weren’t necessarily stressed at the preseason clinics. Only bad thing is that I already know that we’re only going to have 8 players, since the twins and Danny both can’t make it. Should be a fun season. Last edited by Barkeep49 : 09-30-2007 at 08:35 AM. |
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10-04-2007, 01:53 PM
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#24 |
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Coordinator
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Not too far away
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Last night there was a meeting with the coach of the HP varsity basketball team. It was a good meeting. I got a nice zone offense to try with my 4th graders who don’t have as much ability to make skip passes, the big problem with the zone offense I tried to use last year with GL. From tryouts I think that offense, which I like better, will work this year with GL 5A, but I have a backup now for that as well. I also picked up a few useful drills, that I’m excited about and will be using. It was also nice that some of the biggest points that impacted on others, were things I already did. Things like having shooting drills be competitive or not ignoring how to catch the ball (though I did pick up a nice new drill on how to do this). But I will say that one thing that really hit home was how “Basketball is a game of mental transitions”. This was so true and will be a new teaching point I want to use on occasion, as a reminder.
It’s also nice since I get to take all of this positive energy and excitement and translate it into a practice. Saturday is our first HP 4A practice. I will be following pretty closely my plan from last year. We’ll start off with some talk about expectations, follow it up with some conditioning work, some wrist work, how to pivot, how to jump, do some very basic shooting stuff, and call it a day. It’ll be a real day for fundamentals. My plan had been to kind of just copy what I had done last year with this 4th grade team. However, reading things over from last year I discovered that I was quite unhappy with how practices went before games started. So while I’m keeping the first practice the same I am going to have to do some serious work on the practices that follow. One other final note. I am not somebody to regret things. I have made some bad decisions in the past, some decisions I shouldn’t have made, but I don’t tend to regret those. After I make a decision I move on, since there’s nothing I can do to change the past. However, the decision not to take Noah continues to linger at me. I think I was wrong to not take him. I’m not sure I was wrong to take Jack over him, but I was wrong not to find a way to take Noah. I talked a good game about what was important to me, and Noah took me seriously, did what was asked of him, and was close enough that he deserved better from me. |
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10-04-2007, 04:27 PM
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#25 |
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Coordinator
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Seattle, WA
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Aren't you limited exactly to team size? If you don't think taking Jack was a bad move, who could you have let go in order to retrain Noah?
I feel for all the kids who get cut. That happened to me a couple times and it sucked.
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We have always been at war with Eastasia. |
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10-04-2007, 08:40 PM
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#26 |
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Coordinator
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Not too far away
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I took 11 kids. I could have taken 12 without any problems. The problem comes in playing time. So yes I'm limited in team size, but the decision for 11 was my restriction, not an external one.
And yes the whole getting cut thing sucks. That was me for every time I tried out from 4th grade to 7th grade. And for the most part I don't feel bad about it. Last year's decision between Gordie and Cameron, which considering how Cameron came out at this years tryouts might have been the wrong one, isn't one I regret. I also don't regret cutting Miles, who I think is an unbelievable kid who loves basketball, or Kevin, who made a real case for himself as a post player. But Noah, yeah I'm having trouble with Noah. I feel like all he did was do everything I asked of him. I keep feeling like he upheld his part of the bargain: He listened to what I had to say, he attempted to do what I suggest, and it worked so he listened to more of what I said, he showed he loved the game (by playing it all summer long), and my part was to give recognition to that. Don't forgot it wasn't a case like with Miles where the attitude was all there but the athleticism, and to a lesser extent, basketball talent wasn't. Noah wasn't the most athletic kid, but he had basketball talent. The kid might drive me nuts at practice, but that doesn't mean he didn't want to learn, it just means he drove me nuts. That's my problem not his. So once I imputed a flaw on his attitude, something that is true with Jack M, than it became about talent and athleticism, where Jack M had him beat. But the accounting I gave him there wasn't fair. He has far more positives there than negatives and there is a reason that people both online and in person were telling me that. I regret it because I like to live up to my word, Noah thinks that I do live up to my word, and so he's not, I'm guessing, going to be mad at me for being cut, but instead say he wasn't good enough. But based on the criteria I laid out, he probably was. |
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10-05-2007, 07:25 AM
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#27 | ||
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Coordinator
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Not too far away
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Quote:
All very true. And it's why I wasn't regretting my decision about who to take, so much as feeling guilty about cutting Noah. Quote:
Last edited by Barkeep49 : 10-05-2007 at 07:25 AM. |
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10-06-2007, 06:59 PM
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#28 |
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Coordinator
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Not too far away
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So I had my first practice with HP 4A and it was thoroughly OK. 9 AM on a Saturday is a hard time to be having practice. Things are worse when it’s 80+ degrees outside so the unair-conditioned gym, which didn’t even feature a fan, was hot. The kids are still figuring me out (I only got 1 laugh which is unusual). Finally my teaching was fine, but not great. That’s all the negatives. The positives are I think some good skills were learned.
As expected, people were late. Only three kids were there on time. Everyone who was expected by 9:06 so that was good (the twins and Danny were unable to make it). I did my introduction speech. I talked about who I am and my goals of improvement, fun, and winning, in that order. I talked talked about our rules (be respectful of self, others, and the game). I also introduced suicides and permissions. These are my motivational tools. A kid gets a suicide for bad things, while gaining a permission for good things. At the end of practice if a kid has more suicides than permissions they have to run a suicide. Oh and every kid starts off with a suicide. We started off with how to hold the ball. I didn’t make this as fun as last year with the animal noises. I don’t know why not. A bad spur of the moment decision. After practicing this, and practicing grabbing the ball, we started our continuous motion. They flamed out after only 7 minutes; the goal is 15. I want to get there fairly quickly, but it’s harder having the once a week versus twice a week practices to get there. Next we talked about what it means to be respectful of others and as part of that I did a listening demonstration. After that we went into wrist flexes for a while. I then went off plan and we played two games of dribble knock-out, hoping that would loosen them up some. Only kind of happened. Dribble knock-out is a game where the players are in a space and must continuously dribble, while trying to knock the ball out of the hands of their peers. If they lose control of the ball, or step out of bounds, they’re out. The boundries get progressively smaller as people lose. Next we practiced pivoting, and we ended by practicing using our legs for our shots. We concluded practice with a relay race game. In the end only two kids would have had to run a suicide if I’d been honest, so I faked it and said no one earned one. So the skills were there. The energy and excitement were not. GL’s team had (and has) an amazing amount of love for the game of basketball. That love simply isn’t there with HP. Perhaps that’s some of my disappointment. Anyhow, here’s a run down of the kids. Adam – Said perhaps two words the whole practice, but was a hard worker. Gavin – Gavin was one of the kids on time. He’s also going to be a kid who’s going to need a lot of management. He lacks a lot of self discipline and does stuff like shooting a half court shot at the end of our continuous motion drill. He actually got two permissions, but still would have been one of the kids running due to bearing the only kid to earn a suicide, and then another one later on for good measure. Henry – Henry is going to be another difficult player. I think the skills are there but there is that attitude as well. He finished in second place in one of the games of dribble knock-out and started to argue. My response was (sympathetically) “Oh Henry. That’s too bad. You had earned the permission I talked about to the person who knocked away the most balls, but just earned a suicide for arguing with me.” I did it well as he was angry at himself and not me. Jacob – Seems like a nice kid. He’s got some weight on him so he’ll be a post player for us, most likely. He seems good, but not great or even very good (which would actually apply to a lot of these kids). Jack A – Did every little thing I asked of him. He ended up with three permissions, which was impressive. Not quite sure where his skills fall compared to others (he wasn’t at the clinic and what I saw today is hardly indicative of overall skills) but if this is his real attitude he should learn a lot this season. Jack B – See Jacob. Josh – The other kid who would have had a suicide. Not a particularly hard worker (though not lazy as I might say Gavin is). I remain unconvinced that he belongs on the A team. RATHER unconvinced. Zach – A really fun kid. His shooting form needs work. So that was this practice. Not quite sure where we’re going to go for next weeks practice, which will be more defensive oriented I know. I’ll probably do ball handling as well. We’ll see. I am hoping that with the twins there the excitement will improve since I imagine them being leaders and they do have a love of basketball. |
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10-09-2007, 11:38 AM
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#29 |
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Head Coach
Join Date: Jul 2001
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Ugh, 9am practices are going to be hard to deal with. Good luck with that. Also, you moved up a level basically to be coaching this year, correct? Why only one practice a week?
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10-09-2007, 01:46 PM
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#30 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Roseville, CA
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Thanks for the updates, Barkeep. One thing I've always thought about was coaching basketball more. Figured I'd give back to a sport that gave a lot to me. Maybe I'll be able to find a place here to help out and get into it again.
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10-12-2007, 09:35 AM
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#31 | ||
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Coordinator
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Not too far away
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I had missed these posts until now.
Quote:
Yes I'm coaching in the A level with both my teams. HP players are required to be part of their house league so until January, while house league goes on, HP only has practices once a week. Definitely puts us at a disadvantage. GL starts Wednesday and that'll continue to be 2 practices for an hour and a half each. Quote:
I would definitely encourage you to if you love the game. Coaching has been a far more rewarding experience than I'd ever imagined. |
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10-13-2007, 04:35 PM
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#32 |
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Coordinator
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Not too far away
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HP Practice 2
Practice 2 is now in the books for HP. The practice was OK and it wasn’t because of the players, it was because of me. The players were attentive, listened well, were eager to learn and have fun. And I came to practice prepared with a full practice plan and a clear idea of what I wanted to accomplish. The fun part was mostly accomplished as we played two dribbling games that most of the players seemed to enjoy. No problem with anything I did there. The problem is that my instruction seemed OK. The ball handling instruction was hardly spectacular but was fine, and since this was the focus of the practice that’s a good thing. However, my defensive instruction, something I value far more in the long run, was not something I was proud of. Basically I feel like this practice was held back from being a good one because I wasn’t on top of my game mentally (I think the 9 AM practices are rough on me even though I get full nights of sleep beforehand). I also feel like my strength as a coach comes in teaching team skills rather than individual fundamentals, so it figures that the practices when I focus on the fundamentals (as it should be at the start of the season) are going to be weaker. The nice thing is that these players have given me far less problems when it comes to listening than I had last year with the team. Tiring them out at the start of practice with continuous motion no doubt helps (this team isn’t in as good of shape as last year’s team). In fact we’ve been overwhelmingly on the positive in suicides rather than negatives, with only Gavin finishing in the negatives today. So that’s all good. While I know that I can help kids accomplish the fun of basketball, it’s a reminder that I’ve seen good basketball coaching and while I like my style and methods I don’t always have the skills to be as effective as I’d like. GL Update GL’s practices start this Wednesday. I’m really excited. Due to the coaches’ meeting I will only be practicing for an hour rather than an hour and a half. We’re going to have a parents meeting afterwards. Bad news is that Dante is out. He sliced open his foot walking on glass. All concerned seem to agree that this was a lesson Dante won’t have to learn twice. His stitches are due to come out this week and his doctor said it would then be a week or two before he could do physical activity. Speaking of stitches, Brian also has them but assures me they’ll be out by Wednesday and he’ll be fine to run. I’m real excited to get started with this team again. I had sent out an information packet and as I was making reminder phone calls when possible I talked to the players and asked if they had any questions. All assured me they didn’t. Good. So when I throw a quiz at them, they’ll be ready. My message is going to be that we’re all going to have to move our games up this year and this will, I hope, set the right tone from the start. Coaches’ Meeting Wednesday, besides the first practice for GL, is also the coaches’ meeting. This is our chance to schedule games and boy will I be doing some scheduling. As it stands basically every weekend there is some kind of conflict that will need to be resolved, whether it’s lack of gym space in GL, or my having to be in two different places at the same time for the two teams. It is going to be a long frustrating night. Making things worse is that a lot of GL’s home dates are on dates that the gym is not available. There was this same problem last year, but we had home and home dates so normally it was just a matter of switching these. This year, there are 15 teams in the conference. We play a slate of 16 games which means that we only play 2 teams twice. This means that if we want to keep our home court advantage we might have to schedule on Saturdays, something I’m not sure is possible or have two games on one day, or give up our home court advantage. I figure, realistically, instead of 8 home games we’ll likely end up with 5 or 6 home games. Just another challenge for us to overcome. |
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10-18-2007, 03:13 PM
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#33 | |
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Coordinator
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Not too far away
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First GL Practice
Despite Wednesday not being a particularly busy day for me at school, I was surprisingly focused on work and not waiting with anticipating for the practice. I had become seriously distracted by basketball around GL’s tryouts and I was a little worried that with the start of practices that this distraction would return. Fortunately it didn’t. As I get to practice I hear Scott and Cameron talking. Scott says how there were a lot of good kids who didn’t make the team so maybe we’ll do alright against other teams. I’m glad to hear him say this. I thought about eavesdropping longer, but decided against it. We go into the gym and they start shooting around. David and Scott decide to shoot 3 pointers. David then goes on to make a ridiculous 15 of 20 that he shot. As others come in there is quite a bit of 3 point shooting and the team, as I expected after tryouts, definitely have a better shot of making them than they did last year. Finally it is time for practice to start. Andrew, as expected, is late, while Tom is surprisingly not present at all. Due to the coach’s meeting that night we only have an hour for practice. And I then proceed to spend a fair amount of time talking. Granted it’s an interactive conversation, but still a lot of my talking. One of the first things I talked about was how last year I hated the 3 point shot. It isn’t because I hate 3 points, it’s because it wasn’t normally a smart shot. I said this year I hate the shot less because some of the time it will be a smart shot. I have a feeling we’re still going to see a few too many threes, now that the restriction isn’t absolute, but I will deal with that in time. I begin to set up the them that I want to focus on this season: We can’t let up for a moment because every game we go into we’re at a disadvantage. I talked about how we’re a town of 8,000 and we’ll be playing towns of 60,000. Talked about the three goals. Laid out the expectations and rules. Lots of good stuff. And then it was time for the ball busting move. I had sent out the letter with vocabulary and the introduction to the offense and defense. I even asked, when I talked to a few of them on the phone last week, if they had any questions. I got a lot of “nos”. So it was time for the quiz. First part was matching vocab to its definition, second part was asking what our defensive goal is, third part was identifying different spaces on the floor and then ranking those areas from strongest to weakest for us. Finally, there was a Yes/No section about our offensive rules. I’d have never done this with a team I didn’t know, but I think it set the right tone of higher expectations. There was some moaning and groaning, but less than I expected. Now what was less than ideal? My grading of the quizzes. My answer key was wrong. I had planned on grading them while they did continuous motion but even mucked that up. It was a mess. In the end rather than giving them the feedback that night I simply said I’d return them to them tonight. They will be running half a suicide for each question they got wrong. Their scores were Quote:
I had told them that while we’ll be running individually this time, a week from Thursday there would be a similar but not identical quiz and that time we’ll be running as a team, with a 1 question wrong lee-way. I really expect the scores to go up now that we all know that I’m serious. After everyone had taken the quiz as I started to grade I had them play a game of Golf. Golf is a shooting drill. Teams line up on the elbows. They take a shot. If the miss the shot they must rebound before it hits the ground. If the ball hits the ground the team gets a point. If a team makes three shots in a row they lose a point. First team to 7 points loses. Our golf winners, Jack M, Jack P, Justin, Lucas, and Scott, will each get to run one less for the permission they’d earned, except for Scott that simply cancels out the suicide he owed me for his conduct at tryouts (something I talked to him about before practice began). We did a little continuous motion. Brian’s endurance has really improved, even though he was slightly hobbled by his knee (he’d just had his stitches taken out). Justin continues to impress with his solid ball handling skills and good endurance. Not to mention he’ll be the only person not owing a suicide due to his great score on the quiz combined with his Golf victory. There was quite a fair amount of groaning when I said we’d be building up to 15 minutes of continuous motion this year, versus last year’s 10. They only managed to complete 8 last night. We’re doing a much more physically demanding continuous motion tonight so I hope to see them stay at 8 despite the more demanding expectation. After practice I had a short parent’s meeting. The emphasis was on staying positive and setting up the expectations that the schedule wasn’t going to be as nice as last year owing to GL having limited times for home games. After some quick goodbyes it was off to the coach’s meeting. But not before Brian asked me as we were walking out side, “Do you know who the starters are going to be for our first game?” Coach’s Meeting Well there were a lot of games for me to reschedule. And mostly they got done. My organizational system was good for making sure I didn’t double schedule myself (though I’ve already realized I made one mistake) but not as good for allowing to notify the league of the changes I had to make. And boy were their changes. Fortunately, it looks as though we’ll be able to keep all of our home games. This is a big relief as I honestly worried about scheduling some of them. It does mean that we have quite a few Saturdays and a few double header games. There’s going to be a lot of basketball for me in the days to come, that’s for sure. |
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10-19-2007, 12:13 AM
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#34 |
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Coordinator
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Not too far away
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Well we had practice #2 tonight for GL and it was a good practice, the first for me out of the four between the two teams. I’m so excited I was having trouble falling asleep despite being pretty tired today. Part of the reason for this success? I ran them ragged at the start. With the team running its suicides people were tired to begin with. I then did a little talk about our upcoming schedule and did a demonstration of defensive positioning. Between this little talk/demo and their water break they had recovered enough that we went into continuous motion.
This was our defensive continuous motion drill where they practice sliding and posture along with running backwards. To me it’s more boring than our dribbling drills however the team liked it, because it was different. It had been my goal to spice up continuous motion this year and I think the team has appreciated that. I think I’ll introduce the last continuous motion, which is a shooting continuous motion, next Wednesday. Anyhow, they were dying somewhat doing the defensive drill and were getting sloppy with their running so after 6 minutes I put them into two teams and did a relay race with the winning team being done and the losing team having to go for a minute more. The losing team lost because of Dante, who wasn’t full recovered but insisted on going. I really should have put my foot down for this relay but didn’t. We then spent some time in the shell drill to work on our man to man defense. Our goal this year is to force the ball to the corner and keep it out of the lane so the positioning for our man to man is a little different than traditional. Cameron really struggled with his positioning as did Lucas and Jack P to a lesser extent. Lucas’s struggles didn’t surprise me (he’s more an instinctual player and the intellectual side of the game is hard on him) while Jack P’s struggles were surprising to me. It was then time to run the second half of the suicides, as each kid ran about half of their assigned amount at the start. We followed this up with two free throws. Our shooting percentage? Not so hot. Finally we ended with a new game. While the shell drill had been somewhat useful, this game is what made the practice from an OK one into a good one. I need a better name for the game, but for now I’m calling it 3 on 2, 2 on 3. The way it works is that there are 5 players on each side. However, players are only allowed to go on half the court. 3 players are allowed in the front court (offense) and only 2 in the back court (defense). One team’s offense starts with the ball. It then plays as a game of 3 on 2. If the 2 player team gets the ball, either because of a turnover/rebound or after a made basket, they must then get the ball across half court with both players on the team touching the ball in bounds. Meanwhile the 3 player team is allowed to press/trap/etc. It took them a little while to figure out how to do the drill correctly but once that happened it turned into a great drill. There was lots of aggressive defense and it really applied the pressure of a full court press. Not surprisingly, it was David who first figured out how to work the drill, though in the end his team lost. After the first grouping I applied an offensive shot clock of first 15 seconds and then 10 seconds, which Dante kept track of as scorekeeper since this was too physical of a drill for him to participate in. It really started to let me see how they might act in a game. For instance, players on both teams started yelling at Tom to shoot when he was open, which he started to do. He didn’t make a shot, but they were good shots. Conversely, Andrew got criticized for his shot selection by members of his team. During pre-practice shoot around he was shooting 3’s and they were not smart shots for him and I told him as much. But it has no where near the effect of the team saying it. I think that’s the thing I’m most proud of: our team has a culture of shooting smart shots. I’m proud of it because while there was that desire there, this is an area, more than others, where I think I really imprinted my belief on the team, and now that culture is being spread. Anyhow, besides Andrew’s shot selection, he wilted somewhat under the pressure of the press. The kid who struggled the most with the press, making bad choices in his dribbling and passing? Cameron. He was constantly picking up his dribble when pressured, creating all sorts of problems for him. Jack M and Brian also got frustrated while on the 2 person teams, which is par for the course with them. Jack M really did a good job but he was paired up with Cameron and so Cameron’s troubles frustrated Jack. Jack P also struggled on the 2 person team more than I was expecting, but that could have been because his partner was Andrew, who as I mentioned seemed overwhelmed. Besides David, Scott did really well, really orchestrating the press when he was on the 3 man team. Justin showed the greatest improvement from start of the drill to the end. The game is neat because a team can rattle off 3 or 4 baskets in a row, without the other team being able to get the ball past half court, so the points can change fairly quickly. It was a winner and I think I’m going to use it with my HP team this Saturday as well. The other news from today is that JCC contacted me about scheduling some games this year. I wanted to make sure that playing them would be ok with Justin and when I asked him about it before practice was completely pumped about the idea, so I think that’s a go. I’m not sure that I want to do more than 1 game against them, as they have an A and a B. With only 4 practices left before our first game, I’m thinking we should be ready, and I’m excited about it. |
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10-20-2007, 08:27 PM
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#35 |
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Coordinator
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Not too far away
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We did not get off to an auspicious start with our HP practice today. At 9:00 we had half a team. Now granted at 9:02 4 players came in, but not the promptness I would have liked. I did start on time though so all those players were marked as late. Gavin came in just as I was finishing my practice introduction. Jack A? A complete no show.
We started off with doing our defensive continuous motion. They sort of dogged it in the middle but finished strong. They went just a tad over 6 minutes before I switched them into the relay race. Following this we practice our shell drill. I’m running a fairly conventional man to man scheme with HP whereas with GL, I am running more of a scheme. We’ll see how each works. Basically the HP team showed that they don’t have the basketball IQ that GL has and I don’t think it’s just because they are a year younger. Next we did Animal Rebounding for the first time with the group. They were mostly getting a sense of the drill. What was interesting was that in both groups the first person to get 4 points, Jacob with the post players and Jack B with the guards, finished in 4th place. Ben and Danny won. Considering Danny was on the board of going between the guards and forwards I’m glad he won. Following Animal Rebounding we did Triangle Passing where the 3 offensive players form a triangle and the defenders try and stop them from completing passes. Henry was the star of this drill, stealing the ball 3 out of the 4 times he was on defense. We then went back into the shell drill. Finally we concluded with 3 on 2, 2 on 3. There was not as much figuring out as there was with the 5th graders but it was still a good drill. For instance, for the first time I saw why Josh made the team (he’s a pretty good shot). It was interesting seeing who played tough defense and who didn’t. In the didn’t category was Adam. I told him as much after practice. I had tentatively considered him a starter, but if he doesn’t play defense that won’t happen. Also dropping in my eyes was Jacob. He played hard the whole time, but his skills were weaker than many. In the good category, besides Henry, were the twins. Both played hard on defense and on offense. Unfortunately I somehow forgot practice ended at 10:30 rather than 11 and so I had to end abruptly. Overall I’m pleased with how practices have been going. We simply don’t have enough of them. I can already tell that this once a week business is going to really hurt us between now and January when I get the team twice a week. So far the team seems to be enjoying themselves, and I think there’s learning going on, so those parts are good. Hopefully we’ll be able to compete when the season starts. We have two more practices before our first game to get there. |
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10-25-2007, 11:11 AM
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#36 |
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Coordinator
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Not too far away
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Well last night most definitely did not go as planned. As I pull up to the school I see a lot of cars parked and two buses waiting outside. I figure there is a volleyball game going on. This isn’t unusual and I just figure we’ll likely be starting practice a few minutes late. No big deal. Except I go into the gym and find out that it’s the middle school conference tournament. And that they are in the championship round. And that they could be going another 30 minutes, depending on how the current game turns out. Well that’s a problem. My first thought is to see if I can use the small gym next door. Thanks to a helpful custodian I get in contact with the head of maintenance who says it’s a no go because of safety concerns due to there being ropes in that gym. So I now have 10 5th grade boys waiting somewhat impatiently for something to do. Someone, Jack M I believe, had suggested we go and get something to eat. I decide that this is exactly the right idea. I tell the Park District representative to expect Andrew in a few minutes and to have him wait there. Andrew has a religious school conflict and will be arriving 15 minutes late on Wednesdays.
And I’m off with 10 boys to a local restaurant for ice cream. All in all it was a good time, even if my nervousness at the expedition didn’t allow me to fully enjoy it. The only hiccup came when Andrew’s mother walked in, informing me that the Park District rep didn’t tell him and so he was sitting there by himself rather nervously. So I herd the group back. There is a slight problem as they cross the street without me being present (a no-no given the liability concerns) so the kids get to see me actually run, which surprises them at how fast I can go. We get back as they are doing the trophy presentation. I get the team sitting on the stairs as they finish that up. There is then the transition time, which thanks to the hard work of the maintenance crew goes remarkably fast. And, as I thought, we finally start practice 45 minutes late. I was going to introduce a new continuous motion drill, but that idea goes out the window and instead we do dribbling and partner passing. But not before we run a suicide as it took me unnecessarily long to give out the simple instructions. It helped set the tone that we were back in basketball practice mode. After continuous motion, which went so-so given that many of them had ice cream in their bellies, we went into our shell drill. Already there is improvement with how I want it to go. Last week we just practiced passing the ball around and our positioning. This week, I let the ball handler penetrate in. As the drill went on, and people got their reps, there was definitely an improvement on getting the ball where we wanted it. We did that for about 15 minutes. We stopped when David penetrated in and got an elbow to the eye for his efforts. Then it was time for a game to conclude practice. We played “3 on 3 switch”. In this drill players play a game of 3 on 3 full court, except when I yell “Switch” the offensive player places the ball on the ground. The offense then becomes defense, and the defense becomes offense. The last twist is that the person who placed the ball on the ground is not allowed to guard the person on offense who picks up the ball. I learned this drill from the HP boys varsity coach. It’s a drill that works on mental transitions. To be honest I was not in a good coaching mindset at this point and simply didn’t give the instruction or pay the careful attention that I should have. However, I did feel like they were doing a better job of communicating their defensive assignments by the end of the drill, which was a major goal of mine. Tonight is the return of the quiz. I already know, from talking in the shell drill, that they understand that part of the quiz better. Hopefully, the scores will be much improved. Otherwise it’s going to be an exhausting practice for them tonight. I had wanted to introduce our sidelines play and also do animal rebounding. So those, the quiz, the shell drill, and our 3 on 2, 2 on 3, will be a full practice for tonight. |
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10-25-2007, 12:36 PM
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#37 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Roseville, CA
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Enjoying the dynasty. It's taking me back to my days playing and doing some of those same drills.
When did they shift to only practicing once or twice a week? I seem to remember practicing more when I was younger. From 8th grade on, we were practicing every day we were in school. Is it the same now, or have they changed it to 2-3 times a day, even for that age? |
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10-25-2007, 04:58 PM
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#38 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Troy, NY
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He's coaching 4th & 5th graders...
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Quis custodiets ipsos custodes? |
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10-26-2007, 11:10 AM
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#39 | ||
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Coordinator
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Not too far away
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Quote:
Quote:
That's basically the answer there. When they get to seventh grade and play on the school teams it does go to once a day practices. Frankly I think twice a week is the sweet spot for this age group, and that the once a week I have with the HP team is just not enough. After the tumultuous nature of the practice on Wednesday I was pleased to have a practice run without a hitch last night. I get to practice super early as I wanted to have a chance to just shoot around myself. And to my amazement, waiting in the gym 25 minutes early is Tom. We both just shoot around for a bit and I ask him who he thinks will be next person to come. He takes Cameron. I take the triplets. I was right, though Cameron did arrive fairly early. Promptly at 7:30 we start practice and it is time for the Quiz part 2. It’s basically the same quiz as before except I changed the vocabulary section (and made it easier) and changed the Yes/No questions for the offense. I grade as they do continuous motion. I go through grading and I had already decided to give them a 1 question leeway. I also decide one question isn’t fair, so I don’t count that. In the end the team has earned 10 suicides (or rather 20 half suicides). Dante, in our free throw practicing, has made all of his practice free throws and he had told me at the first practice he worked over the summer to get up to 90%. After he shot his two free throws following continuous motion, I asked if he could do it under pressure. He said he didn’t know, so I decided to put him to the test. I tell the team that Dante will shoot 2 free throws and can knock-off 2 suicides for each one he makes. Dante goes ahead and makes both. It was beautiful. We run the first three suicides there. After a water break we go into our shell drill. This time I let the offense move around, at half speed, but they cannot dribble. Brian, thinking he’s found a flaw, points out after one correction that there’s no point in guarding his man when he’s far beyond the 3 point line. I agree. We do a fairly good job with this, maintaining the right distance for on ball, 1 pass, and 2 passes even with the men in motion. One interesting moment: I had blown the whistle to make a coaching point. I make the point, and David quickly goes over to the team and whispers something quietly. I have them reset, give somebody the ball, and all of a sudden there’s a pass to a wide open Lucas for a shot, thanks to a screen David had set. I remind them that they need to call out screens. It was a nice thought by David. After this, we go into Animal rebounding. I had divided them up into roughly centers/forwards and guards. In our first group, Scott came out on top, god bless his aggressive heart, with Justin finishing in last. In the second group it was Jack M who finished first, with Cameron finishing a strong second, and Andrew who finished in last. Someone, I forgot who, said that he thinks it was unfair since the two new players both finished last. I pointed out that Cameron finished second in his grouping, though I have to admit that the new comers are at a disadvantage there. Justin in particular looked like a deer in the headlights during the drill. I expect he’ll figure out a way to do better. More disconcerting to me was Brian who simply decided he wasn’t going to try. When it got down to 3 he put forth some effort and avoided finishing last, but his lack of effort there cost him a starting spot. I haven’t decided if we’ll do this again Thursday to have a chance to redeem himself, but giving up on a drill because it’s tough is simply not OK. Since I have a lot of kids who could make a case for themselves as starters, and more importantly finishers, a player doing something like this helps me focus. I think at this point we’re looking at a starting five of David, Scott, Lucas, Justin, and either Dante or Jack P. Following Animal Rebounding, I introduced our new out of bounds play. I had each player run through the play once at each position they might be at. We’ll be spending a fair chunk of time at our next practice perfecting this. It was interesting that most of the team, when I said we’d have a new out of bounds play, were happy about this. David, however, liked the old play saying he got a lot of good shots (he did this privately, so I was happy to discuss it with him). This was, to a certain extent, true. However, I think any out of bounds play is going to work for David. My response was that I needed a play that could be understood and executed by the team, and which would result in a few direct scores. Finally we concluded with some 2 on 3, 3 on 2. The 2 players did a MUCH better job of getting the ball across half court. Cameron, in particular, showed improvement at not picking up his ball. At tryouts he made a strong case for himself, but had been unimpressive at our first few practices. This practice was a reminder that I picked him to be on the team for a reason. If he’s inconsistent, hopefully as we move through the season he’ll develop some consistency. We then concluded with our other half of suicides from the quiz. Justin failed to finish one of them on time so they had to re-run one. When someone who was standing on the opposite side of Justin and didn’t see this, asked who didn’t finished, I was glad that my immediate response was “the team”. I gave Brian a chance to give them some added time for the first two by making a sink or swim free throw and he missed. I then offered someone the chance to try and make two free throws to give them a minute for the last suicide, which would basically let them jog. Andrew took up the challenge and missed. I can’t decide if this kid thinks he’s better than he really is, or if he’s struggling to make the adjustment from the shorter hoops they use in Small Fry, what he played last season, to the 10 foot hoops we use. It’s probably a little bit of both. After that it was time to go home. Except that I didn’t get to head straight home. Tom’s father forgot to come pick him up so Tom and I got to spend 15 minutes hanging out together. He’s a very serious young man. We started talking about shows we Tivo and he mentioned the Simpsons, Family Guy, “and of course the News”. We then talked a little bit about the wild fires in California. Wednesday when we were heading out of practice he mentioned how he barely ever had to run a suicide last year because he got a lot of permissions. I had agreed that this was true, and added it’s the reason he made the team this year because he’s such a hard worker. Thinking about it later, I realized that this was the wrong message to send to him. So when we were shooting around tonight before practice I told him that I wanted to change what I said last night. I told him that he made the team not only because he is a hard worker, but also because he is a good basketball player and in fact that Coach Jon had him as one of the top ten players out there. This is a kid that needs to hear that he’s got the basketball skills to keep up with everyone else. I had announced, while giving them a chance to rest after a suicide that there would be no practice next Wednesday (Halloween). That gives us 1 practice before our first game. I have to admit to being a little nervous about this since our first game is against MP1, a team who we can beat, but who could also beat us. If we’re going to have a winning season, we’ll need to win games like this. Hopefully with David back in full force, and with the addition of our new players we’ll have a winning effort. |
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10-27-2007, 04:54 PM
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#40 |
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Coordinator
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Not too far away
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So these Saturday practices? Seriously bad for my sleep schedule. 9 o’clock rolls around and we’ve got 5 people there on time. I decide we’ll play a game of golf. By the time I give the explanation of golf the 10 who are coming today are there (Jack B was unexpectedly absent). We play a game of golf and it is wildly successful. I just don’t understand what it is about the game that makes it so popular. The concept is that you don’t want points. Each time on a missed shot that your ball hits the floor your team gets a point. A team can lose a point by making three consecutive shots. What is it that makes this a popular drill at this age? I dunno but since it encourages good habits (following your shots & figuring out the angle the ball will come off, while still trying to make them) we’ll play it now and then.
After this we did a shooting continuous motion. I made the mistake of only setting up the court to use 5 baskets and this meant that kids got bunched once in a while under the basket. The shooting percentage after 10 minutes was definitely down, but not horribly so. That’s a good sign. I also forgot to have them shoot any free throws at this practice. Granted that was one of the places on the circuit but I really need to do a better job of having the teams shoot free throws more consistently. Following this we went into our shell drill. I kept it the same as last week, player could dribble, but others could not move. They did a really good job when there were 4 players out there. So I decided we’d add a twist and put in the 5th player in the post (who was given limited options for movement). The defense didn’t do nearly as good of a job against this setup, which is strange since there was someone in the lane to clog it up. Prior to starting this drill I announced that I would be picking the 4th best defenders to start and then either someone to be the ball handler, or if one of those four was a good ball handler, the 5th best defender. Based on this criteria I think we’re looking at a starting five of Jon, Ben, Henry, and Danny. Danny would be a great point guard except his decision making has been suspect, considerably lessening his value there. However, I’m not really sold on any of the players ability to play point. If that’s true we’re in trouble since a good point guard is irreplaceable at this age level. We then went into Animal Rebounding. This is where Danny’s defensive skills really shined. After finishing first in the guard group last week, I put him in the post players group this week and he finished second. No one else of particular note in this drill. Many of these players were clearly uncomfortable with the physical nature of this drill, but that’s kind of the idea. Following a water break we played a game of golf, best 2 out of 3, though the same team won each time. Our next drill was a fast break drill, where players line up on the free throw line extended, I call out a player’s name, that player has to run back and touch the free throw line, while simultaneously passing the ball to a player who starts a fast break. The good news is that we handled this drill very well on offense. The bad news is that we handled this drill very poorly on defense. We ended practice with the 3 on 3 full court switch drill. It was fine, though not great. After this we ran our suicides. The negative here was that Jon was SLOW running his. I think he might have been just holding back, as he actually failed to meet the time limit for one of them, and sprinted to make them on the last one, though he was going slowly so I think he really was just spent. Something for me to keep an eye on. Overall, I think the team has potential. I don’t know how good our defense will be when we get in a game situation |
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11-02-2007, 01:10 PM
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#41 |
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Coordinator
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Not too far away
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HP House League Games
Well yesterday was a night full of basketball. It was the night of the first games for house league basketball in HP so I went out to cheer for my players. Unfortunately, due to GL’s practice I could only see about 1 and a half games. Being a house league they basically do mass substitutions every 5 minutes (with two 15 minute halves) which of course limited not only the time I got to see the players but also the time I got to see the players play against each other. In the first game I saw Adam and Zach on one time, and Jack A on the other. Zach took over the game on offense. Kevin, who if you read my baseball blog you’ll remember is Park District employee, was officiating the game and told me how he thinks Zach is the best player in HP in the age group. This might be true, but he’s not so far above, at least from what I’ve seen. Anyhow, Zach’s play was definitely impressive. Adam and Jack presented a more mixed picture. Adam was acting as the point guard for his team and had the tendency to dribble the ball straight down the free throw line, rather than through the lane. He would then frequently get trapped there with the ball. If he’s getting trapped there in house, I fear what’ll happen to him in travel. His man to man defense continues to be suspect. On the good side, he hustled. Anytime the other team got a fast break, he hustled to get back and helped force some misses in that manner. He also found himself near the basket a lot on shots (see suspect man to man defense) but pulled down 4 rebounds, one of the higher totals for any individual player, despite being one of the shortest players out there. Jack did a great job of penetrating when there was a slower pace, and creating fast breaks. He didn’t always convert but he got good shots. He was particularly effective at doing the jump stop on the fast break to make pursuers over shoot him. The mixed bag part comes from the fact that it seemed like every time he touched the ball he ended up shooting. Were they smart shots? Yeah they were all good shots. But he’s going to have a harder time driving through the lane in travel than in house and I worry that we’re still going to see the same amount of shots from him as he would drive with his head down, hardly a good way to be ready to dish the ball off to a teammate. Unfortunately because I had to get to the GL practice, I only was able to see about half of the next game which featured Ben and Jon on one team and Jacob on the other. Also fun was that Jeremy F’s and Matt A’s (from baseball) little brothers were on one team while Matt S’s brother was on the other, so I knew a lot of the kids out there. Ben and Jon were both used as point guards for their teams, a role that they will not be playing on our team, so that limited the value I was able to see in that capacity. Their defense and hustle were both excellent. However, Jon got winded very quickly, just as he had in practice. I think this means I will be, for the time being, using him in short bursts, of say 2 minutes with him frequently rotating back in. Ben played well overall except at one point when there was a small kid on the ground on the other team and Ben was clearly tempted to reach in and just take the ball from him, but didn’t. So the instinct was there but not the killer attitude to follow through. Hopefully I can nudge him towards following through on that. Then there is Jacob. Jacob is a very bright kid and enjoys talking with me. So I really like the kid. He does a lot of things right, such as space the floor. In fact, I was pleased in general with how well my players moved around the floor and kept it spaced. However, Jacob lacks many of the athletic skills to full take advantage of his technical knowledge and is not a good dribbler to boot. Not sure how much I can do about the athleticism but I can certainly work on his dribbling. I was glad I got to see these games and was sad I didn’t get a chance to see my other 5 players play. GL Practice I got to practice 15 minutes early and there wasn’t a kid in sight. In fact the first kid, Jack M, showed up about 6 minutes before practice began. Then, all of a sudden, the whole team was there, except Andrew (who was late again). When it looked like the team was all going to be late, I was awfully tempted to name everyone who as at practice on time starters for Sunday’s game. After the overview of the practice, we went into continuous motion, similar to the one I did with the HP team last Saturday. Their shooting, overall, looked quite good. In particular Scott looked good, as did Andrew (after the first minute or two and he relaxed). Jack M, on the other hand, cramped up early on. He did push through it, which was nice to see versus last year when he would just give up in continuous motion. Jack P, looked as smooth as ever in what he did, but couldn’t make a shot to save his life. After continuous motion I had them shoot their two free throws. And this is where the Discontent of David settled in. He went 0 for 2 in his free throws. He has not been shooting well, overall, in his free throws. This is not good considering David will likely get more “in game practice” then any other player on the team. David was clearly unhappy with how he did there. I talked to him some to try and reassure him, but didn’t do a good job as he played unhappily the rest of practice. After this, I used a no dribble scrimmage to work on our floor spacing and offense. They actually did so well with this, that rather than doing the shell drill, we continued to scrimmage, with dribbling only being allowed in the front court. Of course as soon as I announced this the defense went down the drain. However, overall they did a good job with trapping, and even doing a little encouraging of getting the ball to the corner. I would like to see us collapse a little more when they get into our house. After this it was time for two more free throws. We then practiced our in bounds play. I am cautious optimistic about it since: A. They ran it correctly, versus last year when they never seemed to run it correctly. And B. Even knowing what the play was, we were still getting some looks. We then played a few games of golf, from different spots on the floor. I had the last game be from behind the 3 point line, to emphasize how many more shots are missed from there. Where as teams were regularly getting 2 or 3 in a row from the first two spots, no team ever strung together more than 2 from the three point line, and that happened only once. After this we did some of our 3 on 3 switch drill. They continue to do a good job of communicating pick-ups here. It was then speech time as I talked about our first game. I’m not real happy with how I said what I said, so I’m going to say it on Sunday in a better manner. Overall, I had been focusing on team skills and getting us ready, at the expense of fundamentals, these first few practices. I feel like our new players are fairly well integrated into our structure at this point, which is good. I think we’re ready for MP on Sunday. I don’t know if we’re ready for some of the new teams, such as EV, but I predict a solid victory come Sunday. Unfortunately I’m still not sure where I stand with starters. I had toyed with the idea of doing something radical, such as making Lucas or Scott our starting point guard. However, in an effort to mitigate (unsuccessfully I’ll add) the Discontent of David, I named David our likely starting point guard talking about his ability to handle the ball well. I worry now that this only added to the Discontent as he heard extra pressure rather than praise. I think I’m going to have a pretty frank talk with him asking how I can help him giving him a few different ways I might do that. So we have David starting at point. Justin will be starting at center and Scott will be in the line-up as well. Lucas is one of the 5 best on the team, but I kind of want to keep in him in reserve to give us a good spark with the first substitution group, and might even insert him at point there. If it’s a close game, however, he’ll be in there at the end of it. I’m really tempted to put Dante in as he’s been playing really well in practice, with the exception of his foot still slowing him down some. But that also causes substitution pattern problems as it would mean I would have both of my big guys out there at the start. Dante is likely capable of playing through the first quarter without a rest, however, so the idea of going big is tempting. Brian redeemed himself with some good defense last night and so I’m tempted to forgive him his bad drill in Animal Rebounding from last week. The group of Brian, Dante, David, Justin, and Scott is one which makes us “big” (as Scott continues to be able to play far above what his height and weight would indicate). So as of now that’s my starting 5. I absolutely might change this between now and Sunday. |
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11-02-2007, 02:17 PM
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#42 |
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Head Coach
Join Date: Sep 2004
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So if you go big for your starting lineup, what will your second unit look like?
Also, I think some of it will be dependent upon the size matchups you have with your opponent.
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2006 Golden Scribe Nominee 2006 Golden Scribe Winner Best Non-Sport Dynasty: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) Rookie Writer of the Year Dynasty of the Year: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) |
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11-02-2007, 03:12 PM
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#43 | |
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Coordinator
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Not too far away
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Quote:
Justin will likely come out in the first sub, though I know not who for, with Dante then matching up against their big guy and either Lucas or Scott guarding whoever Dante had been guarding. Other than that, I can't honestly tell you. It depends on how we're playing, and what I think we need. As an example, if David's in a funk and I take him out, I would likely sub in Jack P if I want speed & defense, Jack M if I want a ball handler, or Cameron if I want outside shooting. And the people I would sub in, and for what purpose, would be different if I'm subbing someone else. |
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11-03-2007, 05:00 PM
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#44 |
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Coordinator
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Not too far away
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Good news was that, for once, I wasn’t exhausted going into practice with HP. However, the practice wasn’t great, wasn’t bad, but not great either. The fun started before practice. Ben shows up in a foot boot. He had previously been under the “don’t do something if you were in pain” order. Ben decided to hear “you can do whatever you want”. He’s a maybe for tomorrow. Josh had been sick but showed up to practice. So we’re down two men despite everyone being there.
For continuous motion we practiced dribbling, with my placing a large emphasis on doing it with the head up. Following this, we spent some time in a half court scrimmage practicing just moving around, essentially, on offense. Giving them a “position” to play just seemed to throw them off, more than anything. I think I would have been better off saying “you 5 go in and play” on some level. Gavin was particularly upset at being told he was going to be a center. This after already being told, when he started chucking up shots during our water break post continuous motion, that if he shot like that in the game he would come out. Not a happy day, for Gavin, all things considered. Following this we played a game of golf, then did our triangle passing drill. It was then time to practice our inbounds play. I basically taught them a simple stack in/out cut and a free lance play at the free throw line. Later on, after we’ve worked on picks, we’ll probably do a box play or two. The way we did the stack is simply to alternate who cuts towards and away from the basket, based on whether it’s an odd or even number called out. Most of the players had no problem with this, though a few struggled. After that it was time for the “here’s how games” work. I talked about subbing in and then kneeling down, and telling the player who’s subbing in for you which player you were guarding. The nuts and bolts of substitution. I then did a much better job of explaining my philosophy about subbing, then I did with GL on Thursday and even took some questions. Jack A asked a good question, for instance, about what happens if you get tired. Would then mean you would get less time. I explained that when a player gets tired, I try to get them back in when they tell me they’re ready. I felt good about this part. However, I just felt like the rest of practice wasn’t as filled with instruction as I would have liked. I think I really need to start including teaching points on my practice plans, and using my practice plans when I’m doing the practice (as I’ve basically done the practice plan, but from memory). I haven’t gone into nearly as much detail with the HP practices as I have with the GL practices. Part of this is simply reflecting that I am more tired for HP practices than GL. But also, because I don’t have quite the same bond with the HP team as I do with GL and so I simply have less to say about them. I sincerely hope that this changes, as I don’t want to be that parent who favors one child over the other. I am really hoping once we’ve been in the breech together, after a few games, that the bond will start to form. But in the mean time it seems like a good time to do a team overview: Adam – I really want to like this kid. Or rather I do like this kid. I really want to like his basketball skills. However, while he’s close on a whole bunch of issues, the complete package just isn’t there. He is aggressive, which I like, but his man to man is weak. He can penetrate well, but then gets trapped and doesn’t know how to get out of it. In the long run I think he could turn into a real good player, but he’s not quite there yet. Ben – The stronger of the twins, when he’s not in a foot cast. Despite not being a tall player he’s definitely going to be an inside presence for us. He had predicted he would be playing a 2, but I explained, “No no. It’s more like 3 or 4”. He’s also a great teammate. Today, for instance, when he had the cast on and was sitting out to the side he was cheering on his teammates in a great manner. He was a definite starter, but now with being a maybe for tomorrow, I’m not sure. I think I will start him if he’s able to play, but just really limit his minutes. I’d much rather have him for January, February, and March, then play him some in November and lose him the rest of the season. Danny – Kid’s got a great smile. He’s pretty quick and a good slasher. I think he has the potential to be one of our stronger players. When we were doing triangle defense, he did a great job of getting his hands up and deflecting the pass and otherwise disrupting the passing lanes. He will be starting tomorrow. His dad, while all smiles kind of rubs me the wrong way for no real reason. I don’t want to say he’s creepy but that’s the best word to describe how he rubs me the wrong way. Off-putting perhaps? Whatever it is, I can’t really put my finger on it yet. Gavin – Our center, despite his protests. Attitude is going to be an issue with him more than ability. Well decision making and resulting attitude. He doesn’t have a sense yet of how to play the post, but I anticipate that will develop over time. I had said I was going to start the 5 best defenders, which he is not. However, with Ben a maybe, it looks like Gavin could very well get the start in his place. Henry – He’s small but he doesn’t play it. He’s a sharp kid and so he’ll be someone I use as an in bounder a fair amount. The one thing that bothers me is that he dribbles really high. Now since he’s short it’s not too much of a problem, but it does make it far easier to steal the ball from him than it would be otherwise. He’ll be starting tomorrow. Jack A – He took losing very hard in his house league game. I like that. As I said he’s got a real good jump stop and can making a moving lay-up. I tried him a little at point and that’s not the right position. And not just because he has a tendency to travel, by semi-catching the ball as he’s dribbling. He is, I think, a gamer so I expect him to do better tomorrow than he had been at practice. Jack B – Unlike Henry, he’s a small player who plays his height. I think he’s got some good instincts and could be developed into a better point guard than he is now, but he’s not there yet (as he has a tendency to pick up his dribble at the first sign of trouble). For the time being he’ll be seeing less playing time. Jacob – I basically gave my assessment of him the other night. He’s got a great grasp of basketball fundamentals, but lacks a lot of the athletic ability to execute. Because of his size he’ll get some good chances to play. I’m going to be very curious what his WS says about him. Jon – He’s a kid who I’m going to play in spurts, as he gets tired easily. I told him this and he seemed comfortable with that idea. Shares much of his brothers aggression and good nature. He’s also a lefty versus his brother being a righty which is kind of interesting. So he’s going to be a starter but will likely also come out after only a couple. Josh – He’s a bit slower than most of the other players on the team. And he doesn’t do some things all that well. But every now and then he shows a flash of something, such as today when he executed a perfect through the legs and behind the back crossover, that shows that he belongs, something I didn’t think was true of him at first. But as I can’t figure out how quite to use him, he too will likely see less playing time tomorrow if it’s a close game. Of course if it’s a blow-out I’ll likely leave him in more just so I can figure him out a little better. Zach – Reputedly the best player in the grade. This is probably true, though he’s not going to be able to take over a game the way David can, or at least I haven’t seen it yet. He is the best of a bad crop at point guard. Unlike with GL where I would feel comfortable putting half the team at point (literally), I don’t really trust any of the players to play point. But someone has to do it, and for now it’s going to be Zack. So that’s our team. Brian told me some real nightmare stories about some of the PL coaches, so we’ll see how that goes. But I’m excited at having a chance to play a game and see how we stack up. |
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11-05-2007, 02:10 PM
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#45 |
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Coordinator
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Not too far away
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Well yesterday started off the basketball season. I first had a game with GL and then a couple hours later one with HP. I will be writing them up in separate posts. Let’s start with GL because that was first chronologically.
A little background on how the games work. We play four 7 minute quarters. Each team gets 5 time outs (3 full and 2 30 second) per game. There is no press allowed in the 1st or 3rd quarter. A team may press in the 2nd and 4th quarter as long as they are not ahead by 10 or more in the 4th grade league and 15 or more in the 5th grade league. Otherwise the games are played according to “real” rules. Saturday night I was getting the stats sheet ready for the next day and wanted to put players uniform numbers on the sheet. So I got the bag with the uniforms and started writing down the assigned numbers when I realized a problem: there was no uniform for Cameron. He wasn’t on the uniform master list I had either. After doing some matching, I discovered that Lucas had changed numbers, as had Jack M. I call Lucas’s house in the morning and he agrees to bring his uniform from last year which Cameron will use. Crisis adverted. I arrive at MP’s place a good 45 minutes before the game. I had asked the team to arrive a half hour early, to hand out uniforms, and because MP is a half hour away, leaving some cushion in case there was a hold-up (like there was last game with the H’s and Lucas). As I pull into the parking lot (and having snagged the second best non-handicapped space) I see Dante and his father already walking in. When I arrive in the gym, I see Andrew is also present. Kid can’t show up to practice on time, but he gets there exceedingly early for a game. The team arrives and we sort out the uniforms. The smallest short size we have is Youth Large, which proves to be several sizes too big for both Jack M and Cameron. Ahh the joys and challenges of having small players on your team. We end up starting the game early because both teams are ready to go. I start a line-up of David, Dante, Justin, Scott, and Brian. After winning the tip, and David getting an easy lay-up (which he missed) our game goes downhill very quickly. On defense they’re killing us on screens, while their 1-3-1 offense is just tearing us apart. It doesn’t hurt that they’re making most of their shots either. At the end of the first quarter we’re down 10-2. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t more than a little concerned at this point. Mortified at the prospects of being blown out against a team we beat last year would more accurately describe my emotional state. At the quarter break I stress being patient on offense and coming off the screens on defense, but do so in a low key sort of way. I also prepare them for a press which never comes. And we settle down pretty quickly and start to find our offensive groove. By half we’ve narrowed it to 16-12. At half I stress how we’ve closed the gap, we’re playing better defense and how we’ve always been a second half team. Then just to prove my point, we tear them apart in the third quarter. We do this despite the fact that my weaker players saw extended time on the court together during the quarter. We basically ran them ragged, pushing the ball hard up the court nearly every possession and MP just wore out. When the quarter ends we find ourselves up 30-24. I stress playing solid defense and we’re off for another quarter of play. In the 4th quarter its clear that MP1 is frustrated, though I didn’t realize until part way through the quarter. Two different kids during the quarter take a hard fall and start crying, more out of frustration, I believe than injury. I had put out a group of five of David, Brian, Justin, Jack M, and Scott to start the quarter, though I sub out Jack M a minute in to the quarter in favor of Lucas. This fivesome does a nice job of putting the game out of reach, allowing me to give some end of game minutes to a few players who hadn’t seen the court as much. We close out a very solid 44-31 victory. Its nice that we struggled so much and then still proved we could win, and in a dominating fashion too. A few of the parents commented to me how they were a little concerned in the first quarter, but it was a fun game to watch. This matches my feelings pretty closely. I really struggled this game in terms of substitutions. Having 11 players versus 10 makes every bit the difference I expected it to make. Overall, I’m real happy with how the playing time worked out, with most players right in the 11-13 minute range of playing time, giving them a good chance to really get some quality playing time. Let’s do a player by player break down: Andrew – Andrew looked a little lost in his time on the court. Which frankly didn’t surprise me. He isn’t used to playing at the level we’re playing at, but I think he’s got the skills to adjust. He saw only about 10 minutes of playing time but I really hope that goes up as the season goes on. He did have the one bad shot of the game. He was in at the end and I had told them to slow it down and take their time. So he gets a pass in the corner, is wide open and takes the shot, just inside the three point line. Two problems with this. One it was hardly slowing things down. But I generally don’t fault kids for taking open shots. More troubling, was that he was so wide open he’d have been better off taking a few dribbles in and shooting closer in. Brian – He played quite well in a mostly unnoticeable way. He had 6 points, 1 assist, and 2 good rebounds. Rebounding (as I’ll talk about more in a second) was an area I was happy with overall, as we didn’t give up too many 3rd and 4th chances to MP. He also made another comment about David being the best player out there. I had forgotten to talk with him about this before the game, but am going to make sure to do so on Wednesday. Cameron – Cameron’s first sport is soccer, and he’s got a lot of the accompanying skills there. Like Andrew, the pace and nature of the game seemed to take him by surprise. While Andrew has a wellspring of basketball talent to draw on, Cameron has more athletic talent to draw upon. Cameron has the problem of being a guard, and a guard who I don’t really trust to bring the ball up. This lack of role makes it harder for me to really find a time when I think “Oh it’ll be great to have Cameron out there”. I hope that he develops a strength as the season progresses. For our first game he was pretty much a non entity besides picking up a couple of quick fouls in the third. Cameron’s mom remarked to me after the game that she can see why Cameron enjoys basketball so much since I am a positive coach. It’s always nice to hear this, as it’s certainly my goal. Dante – While Dante has been rough and really going at it in practice, that same level of intensity didn’t carry over to the game. He’s did an OK, though not great job of guarding some big men. He was fairly soft last year, and I’d grown optimistic that he’d toughened up some. I hope that he too was just finding his bearings in this game and will be more of a presence for us inside in the games to come. David – Showed again what a remarkable talent he is. Where he was sullen about his playing on Thursday, he worked through a rough first quarter to really help us explode in the second. At one point MP’s star point guard was shouting out that David had no left hand, after David had gotten fouled. I called a 30 second time out before he went to the line, pointed that out to him, asked him if that was true. He smiled and said no, and showed the next possession his left hand. When he’s relaxed and having fun (which go hand in hand) he’s just pure joy to watch. What was especially nice was that, for only the second time, the triplet’s father was there to watch and so he got to see David perform well. Jack M – Served as our point guard when David wasn’t in and even at times while David was in. I liked how he moved the ball overall, though his stats (0-2, with 3 turnovers and 1 foul) suggest he was more harm than good. However, I think that’s not totally representative of what he did for us. He saw lots of short bursts of playing time, which I have a feeling will be fairly typical for him this season, having subbed in at 5 different points. I will say that his attitude this year has been very positive and I will likely be remarking on it to him at our next practice. Jack P – He scored points on fairly efficient shooting (2-5) along with drawing 2 fouls. He played point for us at a couple of different points. This kind of performance is a HUGE step up from last year when he would regularly go something like 1-8, or worse. He is, after David, the best player on our team at penetrating, but his missed shots were driving me batty. If he’s turned that around, a big if and one I’m not willing to commit to after one game, my job will have only gotten that much harder as he will deserve to play substantial playing time. Justin – When talking about the team, I had talked about how we had a new enter. And boy do we ever. Justin, who along with David, played the most minutes at just under 21, came up huge with 12 rebounds and 8 points, with most of those points being on put backs from rebounds. Having a true inside presence, combined with our fabulous guard play really takes us to a whole new level. Lucas – Lucas played a solid game, seeing playing time at every position but 2, something that’ll be happening with him a lot this season. And by solid I mean 2-5 shooting, 2-2 at the free throw line, along an assist and 4 rebounds against 2 fouls and 2 turnovers. We lack size to have a true #4, especially if Dante continues to play soft, and so as much as I would like to take advantage of his guard ability we’re going to need him inside and guarding those big kids. Scott – Scott is pretty similar to Lucas. The kid is as tough as nails and while I think he’s got even more ability than Lucas to play point, I wonder how much I’ll actually be able to find him time there. He had 3-7 shooting 1-1 from the line, along with 4 rebounds, 2 steals, against 3 turnovers and 1 foul. His rebounding numbers are going to suffer this year because there are only so many rebounds to be had and Justin is gobbling them up. It’s a problem I like having. Tom – Tom didn’t play a whole lot for us, but played real strong in the time he played. Tom is frequently not inclined to shoot open shots, but he had an open shot in the game and he made it which was great to see. He also had a steal. In other words in limited minutes he played real well for us. Tom’s a good basketball player, but he’s not someone who can make things happen, for the most part and this effects how I use him. I have to be careful with Tom, since he’ll never complain about his playing time, which sometimes makes it easier to pick someone else when it’s a choice between two players. My goal is to not fall in this trap this season. So I’m feeling good about where we’re at heading into our LN game. Look for the write-up of the HP game to appear sometime tomorrow. |
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11-06-2007, 08:31 AM
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#46 |
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Head Coach
Join Date: Jul 2001
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congrats on the win! From reading the report on each individual player things sound extremely positive, like it was pretty much a team effort instead of just one or two kids carrying everyone(even though David and Justin clearly sound like they're going to stand out this year).
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11-06-2007, 08:47 AM
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#47 |
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Coordinator
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Not too far away
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When I arrive at the HP Rec Center I find that Henry and the twins are already there and that Ben has his boot on. I had called his house in the morning and talked to his mom. She says the doctor has said he should wear the boot as much as possible and while he could participate in playing basketball, practicing wasn’t a good idea for the moment. Ben assures me is just wearing his boot for now and will take it off to warm-up some. The three of us watch the 4B team play for a while, getting absolutely killed by PL’s 4B team. Most of their 4A team is there as well. I get a scouting report from the threesome who tell me that they’re big but don’t appear to be great shooters.
Unfortunately I am stuck doing administrative tasks for much of warm-up, so I don’t really get to see much of that. Even more unfortunately, I neglected to arrange someone to be our stat keeper ahead of time so I lack my normal detailed stats for this game. The game begins with Ben, Jon, Henry, Zach, and Danny getting the start. I had deliberated whether it was fair to start Ben, as he hadn’t practiced on Saturday, and decided it was as he’d participated in our other practices. However, he won’t get another starting nod until he resumes practice, or the play-offs come around (if he’s earned it at that time). In my pregame speech I talked about how we shouldn’t get discouraged if they come out in a zone and we struggle at first, as we hadn’t practiced against a zone. I tell them to remember our offensive ideas of keeping the floor spaced, moving the ball around, and finding a smart shot, and we’d be fine. This came courtesy of what had happened earlier in the day with GL. Besides giving this coaching point I will also say that where I was uptight with GL I was relaxed and smiles with HP. PL wins the tip and proceeds to have a 40 second possession to start the game, but fortunately this does not end in a basket, but instead a turnover for traveling. We then take the ball down and find a shot, all too quickly, which I’m not terribly happy with. After this inauspicious start, we are then off to the races. Our aggression kicks in, and PL is basically left stupefied as just take the ball from them, and I don’t mean steal I mean take, get multiple looks at our own basket, and force them to travel. At the end of the first quarter we’re up 10-2. The second quarter goes fairly well until they start to pressure us a little and we break down. PL has momentum for most of the quarter, but we regain it at the end and actually extend our lead to 10, with a score of 19-9 at the half. I talk about how well we’re playing at half and said how when it started to seem like the gain was tilting towards them, we grabbed the momentum back and actually extended our lead. The third quarter is basically back and forth. I fool around a lot with who is taking up the ball for us, and this only increases in the 3rd. Going into the 4th we’re still up by 10. I comment at the start of the 4th quarter, how we have a comfortable lead, but not one that they can’t come back from. We start of the quarter fairly well. But then their pressure gets to us and we make stupid mistakes and turn the ball over. However, with 3 minutes left we’re still up by 7, so I put in some players who hadn’t played so well to give them some extra playing time. And before you know it there are 45 seconds left and we’re up by 5, but it feels like we’re up by 1. I tell them if we can make 1 more basket the game’s over. Unfortunately we don’t make the basket and PL comes back to score a quick basket. I am forced to call another timeout and put back in Gavin and Jack A, who’d played very well for us, to make sure we pull out the victory. And we do, thanks to Zach basically getting the ball past half court and then waiting for them to foul him. After a couple trips to the line, and a stolen possession when we apply a slight press, we pull out a 3 point victory. Overall, I feel very happy. I’m happy with our aggression. I am happy with how well we rebounded against a larger team. I am happy that two of our larger problems were the fact that our ballhandler seemed to just fall down about 4 or 5 times during the game, and that we made stupid traveling violations, when we were unpressured in the back court. As I said to the players on the bench when this happened in the 3rd quarter, “I don’t have a drill to work on not falling down, so we just have to stop doing that.” Hopefully it was just a freak occurrence. Though one could argue it was also related to the stupid travel violations in that while trying to play fast we weren’t playing in control. Our speed and aggression were what won us the game, so I want to be careful not to discourage that. It’ll be a balancing act, but I suppose that’s why they pay me the big bucks. I’m also happy with the playing time given to all of the players. While I don’t have statistics to support it, I feel like all of the players got substantial, and fairly equal, playing time. However, this was helped by the fact that Josh continued to be sick and so while he played his time was more limited, meaning I had to worry about 10.5 players playing rather than a full 11. I continue to gain a better understanding of my players, which is a good thing. Our lack of a real PG is, more than anything, my concern at the moment. While we have kids who can dribble, quite well in fact, we don’t have a kid who can dribble and see the court. It’s pretty frustrating to go from having a team who has half the team who could legitimately play point to a team where there isn’t even one kid who I really trust to bring up the ball. I hope to be able to help develop the skills of a couple of our better dribblers but the experiences of other coaches tells me that I shouldn’t expect too much on this front. Adam – I tried him at PG and his decision making just isn’t there. Not surprisingly he wasn’t any better at in-boundng the ball. His man to man defense was actually better than I expected, which was a good thing. He also scored a couple of baskets which is nice. For the time being I would place him in a group of 3 who are just a tad below others when out there. Ben – Played unspectacularly. His defense was very good, as I expected, but he was non-presence under the boards and on offense. I hope to see this change. I am also worried about how his progress will be limited with his foot. Obviously not a lot I can do there but I hope he doesn’t become frustrated if others start to surpass him as he doesn’t progress as quickly due to limited chances to play and practice both during our times and at school. Danny – Danny was a disappointment. To his credit he made two early free throws for us, which was great. However, his man got by him a few times on defense, and his decision making with the ball was quite poor. On the better side, he did have a good sense of where to be to help break a press. Gavin – Gavin had a very strong game. It’s going to be hard to break him of his desire to be around the ball, as he constantly was wanting to bring the ball up, or even in bound it. But he did a nice job for us underneath both in terms of getting rebounds (particularly offensive ones) and in guarding their bigger players (who were nearly a full head taller than him). He got fouled multiple times and unfortunately went 2-7 from the free throw line, which is in keeping with how he does in practice. If he’s going to be drawing those fouls, helping get him to around 50% seems like it would be a boost for us. Henry – Henry’s a gamer. However, he struggled offensively against the much bigger PL team. His man to man also wasn’t quite as good as I expected. At the end of Saturday’s practice I was talking about playing time and such and Henry said at one point how he had a great idea. I told him to share it with me after practice. He did and it was basically the idea of calling our press “Kentucky”. So during a time out in the 4th I let Henry explain what Kentucky was. It was a nice moment for him. Jacob – You’d have not known the kid was out there. His man didn’t really get the ball when he was on defense, but this was more because of our good guard play than his defense. And on offense he was a complete non-presence. The difference between the kind of center play Jacob provides and what Gavin provides is substantial. I also place him in that bottom 3 group. Jack A – Turns out that Jack’s brother goes to the school I teach at, though Jack does not. His brother is a very cute 1st grader, who looks nothing like Jack. Jack is one of the stars of the team. His defense was fantastic. His ability to drive to the basket was equally good. I’d like it a little better if he made more of his shots when he drove to the basket, but he was a definite spark plug, and it was when I put him in during the first quarter that we went from playing pretty well to just dominating the other team. Jack B – An unsung hero of the game. He was open a lot, due to a good sense of the court, and it was frustrating for me, as our bad play at point prevented him from getting the ball as much as I’d have liked. He was also excellent about setting screens, both on and off the ball. I made sure to tell him how what he was doing wouldn’t show up as a statistic but was really helpful to us winning the game. I think his play earned him a start at our next game. Jon – Unlike his brother, he was a nice inside presence for us, grabbing quite a few rebounds and playing his bigger men quite well. Overall, I was very happy with his play. Josh – As I said above he was still recovering from his illness. Poor kid actually cried after the game because he’d been sick and not able to play his best. As I’ve mentioned before he’s got some real strengths, but some real weaknesses as well. Hopefully the weaknesses will be improved on over the course of the season to make him a better player. Zach – Along with Jack A the star of the game, accounting for 10 of our 30 points, and quite a few steals. He could, and did, dribble through their press. Unfortunately, he does it with his head down and so there were quite a few times where he could have passed ahead for an easy basket. I really would like him to be our PG, and had him there extensively during the game. But his head down dribbling means something needs to change, otherwise we’re going to be in big trouble. So overall a nice first victory, and one I’m glad we didn’t give away at the end. We did get a little tired in the 4th which is troubling to me since with only one practice a week I’m limited in terms of what I can do in that regard at the moment. What we need to do at practice on Saturday is pretty clear: 1. Work on offense that isn’t just Jack and Zach driving to the basket. They did it well against the man we saw, but against a good zone we’re going to be like deer in the headlights. 2. Work on our poise in general and against a press in particular. We play NF on Saturday. This is the NF2 team from last year that were a group of 3rd graders. I anticipate they’ll be a tough team to play and am excited to see how we do. |
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11-06-2007, 01:54 PM
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#48 |
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Coordinator
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Seattle, WA
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Opening wins for both teams! Well done, can't wait to see how the season (and the kids) progress.
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We have always been at war with Eastasia. |
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11-06-2007, 05:36 PM
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#49 | ||
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Coordinator
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Not too far away
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Quote:
You and me both! Quote:
I think this remark is even more revealing, and true, in light of the way HP played. Thanks for pointing it out as I hadn't really thought about it since the games. I expect my teams to be teams and not showcases for players. GL, despite having David's talent, is that way. On a per minute basis, for instance, Scott and Lucas were nearly equal to David in points scored, and last year Brian and Scott both were with-in spitting distance of David on that basis. Without Zach, and to a lesser extent Jack A, HP would have been in trouble on Sunday. I don't want that to be a long term trend. Of course, having points distributed comes from having the ball distributed and that comes from having a PG. |
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11-10-2007, 04:15 PM
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#50 |
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Coordinator
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Not too far away
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We had a practice on Wednesday with GL. It was uneventful; hence I have not posted about it. As I will be trying to keep up on both teams as the season moves forward, I will likely just not posting about certain practices in order to keep things reasonable. Especially come January I would guess I would only post about each team’s practice once a week. Information from practice will also find its way into game reports as appropriate. This has been a long way of saying, that this will be an HP focused entry.
HP House League Games Thursday GL had no practice because the gym wasn’t available so I went to see the house league teams I hadn’t seen play yet. Where I was impressed with the level of play the previous week, this week’s play was thoroughly unimpressive. There was a lot of drive and shoot without much passing by my players. Not too much different from our game, frankly, and not the type of basketball that will win it for us in the long run. Worse is the fact that there are, in reality, two kids on our team who I think will be able to consistently drive past their men in travel, but in house all of our players have that ability. I’m guessing my players have fun, but it does not help them become the kind of players I’d want them to be. Part of the difference, a large part, is that last week it was Kevin officiating the game. This week it was some random high schooler. Kevin knew how to strike the balance between making the appropriate foul and travel calls, and ignoring calls. The kids who officiated Thursday made no travel calls in the 3 games I saw and were far too inconsistent with foul calls. Basically it was organized street ball, which is fine, but could be so much more. Josh, was still battling whatever sickness he’d had on Sunday. His team played a double header, losing the first. His team then won the second game, against a team that had far superior talent, by 1. But they did it with-out Josh in the second half, as he initially sat himself owing to renewed coughing and general not feeling well. When he then appeared like he was going to go back in for the final 5 minutes, his mom and I conferred and I told Josh that he wasn’t going in. Josh told his coach. There wasn’t nearly as much for me to cheer about as there had been before. I cheered every good pass that was made, as there were so few of them. The positive to come out of the game was my continued belief that Jack B knows basketball. It’s a shame that he’s by far the shortest kid out there. I’m going to start him anyway tomorrow. HP Practice Had a fairly good practice, with all 11 players practicing. Ben tells me the doctor has cleared him to play with-out his boot and Josh is mostly recovered from his illness though I do sit him during continuous motion and our scrimmage when I hear the cough. I had two goals (well maybe closer to three) for the practice: work on breaking the press, and work on dribbling with our heads up and making passes, besides doing our normal continuous motion conditioning. For the first part we do a 2 on 4 get the ball across half court. Overall it was fairly successful. Hopefully that success will carry over to tomorrow if/when NF comes out pressing. We also did a drill where they had a partner and attempted to pass a tennis ball back and forth while not dropping the tennis ball or losing control of the ball they were dribbling. This seemed to work well as when they started dribbling during our scrimmage later they mostly did it with their heads up. We did in fact spend the last half hour with one of my rare scrimmages. Now granted the first fifteen minutes was spent with no dribble. They actually adjusted fairly well to this conditioning, and, on the whole, spread out far more than my GL team has while running the same drill. Of course matters were helped slightly by the fact that Gavin and Jack A, playing on the same team, were defending other people’s men as much as their own. Gavin’s man, in particular, was often open due to Gavin not playing defense. After a period of complete no dribble, I allowed them to dribble in the back court, and press, and then allowed them to have one dribble in the area of the lane, which was never really used. For the last 7-8 minutes I let them dribble as much as they wanted, but they needed to have at least 5 passes to 3 different people. They also couldn’t dribble with their heads down. They didn’t struggle too much with this requirement, but it still cut way down on the number of shots created simply though penetration, which was my goal. They also couldn’t dribble with their heads down, something that happened surprisingly infrequently considering how they’d played in house league and at our first game. I hope that the tennis ball drill’s effectiveness carries over to tomorrow. Next week we must do some man to man defense work. But overall, I was happy with the practice today. Tomorrow’s Games GL plays LN. LN who did very well in their first game, winning 44-27. I expect a tough game, but again a winnable game for us. LN has never seen David play before, so I think that’s a plus for us. And rumor has it that they’ve added a good new player, but so have we in Justin, so that should cancel each other out. I was going to give Andrew a start, in recognition of his being the only player to ask to sub out last game, but he’s out of town this weekend so that rules that plan out. So I think we’ll go with a starting lineup of Jack M (in recognition of his hard work during practice), David, Jack P, Lucas, and Justin. This is an aggressive group who will penetrate well. If we can set the pace as up tempo, I’m confident we’ll be able to out run them in the long run. At least that’s what we did last year. HP plays NF. This is the same NF team that gave us a tough go in the play-offs though I didn’t remember until I read my game write-up for it that we’d gone with equal playing time for the game, which hindered us. More troubling from that write-up? The fact that our lack of point guard really killed us in the game. Uh oh. We could be in trouble. I will be going with a starting 5 of Zach, Jack B, Ben, Jon, and Gavin. I think they match-up well and give us a fairly versatile group to start. I think both games are winnable for us and am cautiously optimistic I will be the coach of two 2-0 teams at this time tomorrow. |
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