As we began our trip to Shepherd University things starting seemingly falling apart. Before we departed, we almost left our practice gear in the locker room and then once we arrived, we found we have left the Blueberry (our nickname for the DVD player). This created quite a ruckus among the athletes as I queried them about who was supposed to bring it as none of them wanted to face my wrath. Of course, I knew what they didn't. I wasn't going to go crazy. Nope. Instead I was going to find a way to make things work without it.
Once we got to the hotel, we discovered our gym time we had reserved with the hotel's gym had been usurped by the government. I didn't know the government had imminent domain over hotel gyms! Since we had been denied practice time at Shepherd University, my wonderful staff started working on finding us a place to have a morning practice. When it was discovered our men's team had a practice time at Shepherd while we were not afforded one, we begged for a time there. After calling local schools, churches and fitness centers, we finally resorted to asking if we could use the upstairs gymnasium at SU. When we got an affirmation, we hurriedly assembled the team and got on the bus before we somehow missed our golden opportunity to prepare for the game.
Once we got upstairs to their practice facility, a class had taken over the gym. Without even batting an eye or letting a curse world slide off my lips, I led the team across the facility to the other side which looked like it was used as purgatory for wayward athletic teams and decided it would have to suffice for us. So with our men's team on the real court and a class on the next best court, we were stuffed in a makeshift rectangular hellhole with a blue rubber floor and no basketball hoops. As the team started to make comments about how everything seemed to be going wrong, I stopped them with one of my infamous stares and told them, "This is not bad or good. It is what we make of it. We can decide to use this as an excuse and tell our sad story or we can find a way to make it work. It is our choice to decide what we want to do."
I know when I was younger I would have taken every misstep as a sign things were going badly and I would have plummeted to despair and hopelessness believing the game was already lost before we had even stepped on the court. Good thing I am no longer that youngster and know better than to attach an emotion to a series of events. I now know that events happen and they are neither good nor bad; they just are. We are responsible for the emotions. And in this situation, our choice was to find a way rather than to find an excuse.
I don't yet know the outcome of the game as I am writing this before the game has occurred, but I do know this--we will not allow the events which transpired before the game to affect our thoughts about our abilities to win the game.
PLAY HARD. PLAY TOGETHER.
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Passion is The Only Way To Play
I'll be the first one to admit I haven't done a consistent job of posting blogs this year. I could use many reasons but in the end the reasons are just excuses and don't work. The truth is I've been reluctant to write about this team and the journey they have taken. It is not a journey of power and courage, not one of strength, but one of insecurity and a lack of confidence. I understand they are young, one of the youngest teams in the league. I get that in my system, there is a tremendous amount of learning which translates into a difficult freshmen year. Not very many freshmen in my system have done well.
I can only recall three freshmen who were outstanding in the eleven years I've coached at the University of Charleston: Sarah Batchelder, Lisa Lee and Courtney Thomas. All three of those players made significant contributions their freshmen years, but they also were emotionally immature and made many errors. There have been others who came through in their freshmen season and we wondered if they would ever make good players like Jihan Williams, Kika Carman, Rachel Pike, Lindsey Kentner, Tiana Beatty and Tarenna Dixon. None of those players were outstanding their freshmen season and most of them came off the bench for 10-15 minutes a game but by the time they were juniors, they were amazing.
So I sit here wondering who will grow up and become an All-Conference player and who will sink into a vat of nothingness, who can step up and become a leader and what players will never find their voices. I always want to have hope, to have this belief every player can develop into something special, but I also know after years of doing this that there are some players who have the heart, the passion and the work ethic to make it happen, and then there are others who simply fade away never allowing themselves the opportunity for greatness.
I think we have several who can be great but I haven't seen the passion, the consistent fire in them I want to see. I love passion, the thing inside players which makes them scream after a big shot or pump their fist after taking a charge. I'd rather have to tame an angry player than try to pull a small bit of fire from an apathetic one. Apathy drives me crazy, makes me want to spit and foam at the mouth. I've never understood giving less than 100% believing the giving is the part which makes the person and the player.
I want to believe in this group of players and I have tried everything in my bag of tricks to make them motivated. I have been positive, shown encouragement, yelled, screamed, thrown fits, talked circles around them, and even tried the silent treatment. At some point, it has to mean something to them; it has to come from them. I cannot carry them all with my passion and heart. So I have decided to put it back on them hoping they will see the light, hoping they will step up and want to be good, hoping they will want to put on the maroon and gold jersey of the Golden Eagles and feel what others felt inside it. I can only hope.
PLAY HARD. PLAY TOGETHER.
I can only recall three freshmen who were outstanding in the eleven years I've coached at the University of Charleston: Sarah Batchelder, Lisa Lee and Courtney Thomas. All three of those players made significant contributions their freshmen years, but they also were emotionally immature and made many errors. There have been others who came through in their freshmen season and we wondered if they would ever make good players like Jihan Williams, Kika Carman, Rachel Pike, Lindsey Kentner, Tiana Beatty and Tarenna Dixon. None of those players were outstanding their freshmen season and most of them came off the bench for 10-15 minutes a game but by the time they were juniors, they were amazing.
So I sit here wondering who will grow up and become an All-Conference player and who will sink into a vat of nothingness, who can step up and become a leader and what players will never find their voices. I always want to have hope, to have this belief every player can develop into something special, but I also know after years of doing this that there are some players who have the heart, the passion and the work ethic to make it happen, and then there are others who simply fade away never allowing themselves the opportunity for greatness.
I think we have several who can be great but I haven't seen the passion, the consistent fire in them I want to see. I love passion, the thing inside players which makes them scream after a big shot or pump their fist after taking a charge. I'd rather have to tame an angry player than try to pull a small bit of fire from an apathetic one. Apathy drives me crazy, makes me want to spit and foam at the mouth. I've never understood giving less than 100% believing the giving is the part which makes the person and the player.
I want to believe in this group of players and I have tried everything in my bag of tricks to make them motivated. I have been positive, shown encouragement, yelled, screamed, thrown fits, talked circles around them, and even tried the silent treatment. At some point, it has to mean something to them; it has to come from them. I cannot carry them all with my passion and heart. So I have decided to put it back on them hoping they will see the light, hoping they will step up and want to be good, hoping they will want to put on the maroon and gold jersey of the Golden Eagles and feel what others felt inside it. I can only hope.
PLAY HARD. PLAY TOGETHER.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
An Oxymoron--Patient Aggressive Offense?
December was a weird and unusual month for us as we played only four games in a five week period. For the players, it meant never-ending practices where the coaches could push them with high intensity and force them to go hard day after day without worrying about tapering off for games. After enduring six weeks of conditioning in the fall, what player would want another month of perceived conditioning?
Personally, the opportunity to work long practice hours, to get in the gym twice a day over the winter break, is a slice of heaven. With such a young team, it is necessary to teach, to do high numbers of repetitions of the same skill, to demand the right execution of offense, and to get them to buy into team defense. This past week we've been spending hours and hours on the concept of side to side and back on offense. When we broke down the game tapes of our last two games and noted the number of times we took bad shots, we knew things had to drastically change.
Most coaches don't mess with teaching the motion offense because it requires so much time, patience and structure. I bought into it because it provides freedom within structure and it teaches the players how to actually play the game not just run from spot to spot. The problem with teaching players how to set a screen and use a screen is that most of them have never been taught how to do either. In fact when I watch basketball on television at the Division I level, I am often surprised at how many elite players do run-by screens or how they screen only air.
Some of the hardest concepts about motion offense are letting the ball take care of itself meaning each player has to trust the person with the ball taking her eyes off the ball while she sets a screen or uses a screen. The next most difficult concept is to learn what a good shot is within the offense and when to take that shot which is where the side to side and back concept arises. If we can teach the team to be patient enough while still being aggressive with the ball, we will make better shots but to most players the idea of being patient aggressive sounds like an oxymoron.
It is a lengthy process but one I believe in because I have witnessed the growth of players over the years. So many of our freshmen come in averaging four or five points but by their senior year are closing in on a thousand points. I know it works but the process of teaching and learning it is very challenging.
My hope is by the time the winter break is over, our players will have caught on and our shooting percentage will be on the rise.
PLAY HARD. PLAY TOGETHER.
Personally, the opportunity to work long practice hours, to get in the gym twice a day over the winter break, is a slice of heaven. With such a young team, it is necessary to teach, to do high numbers of repetitions of the same skill, to demand the right execution of offense, and to get them to buy into team defense. This past week we've been spending hours and hours on the concept of side to side and back on offense. When we broke down the game tapes of our last two games and noted the number of times we took bad shots, we knew things had to drastically change.
Most coaches don't mess with teaching the motion offense because it requires so much time, patience and structure. I bought into it because it provides freedom within structure and it teaches the players how to actually play the game not just run from spot to spot. The problem with teaching players how to set a screen and use a screen is that most of them have never been taught how to do either. In fact when I watch basketball on television at the Division I level, I am often surprised at how many elite players do run-by screens or how they screen only air.
Some of the hardest concepts about motion offense are letting the ball take care of itself meaning each player has to trust the person with the ball taking her eyes off the ball while she sets a screen or uses a screen. The next most difficult concept is to learn what a good shot is within the offense and when to take that shot which is where the side to side and back concept arises. If we can teach the team to be patient enough while still being aggressive with the ball, we will make better shots but to most players the idea of being patient aggressive sounds like an oxymoron.
It is a lengthy process but one I believe in because I have witnessed the growth of players over the years. So many of our freshmen come in averaging four or five points but by their senior year are closing in on a thousand points. I know it works but the process of teaching and learning it is very challenging.
My hope is by the time the winter break is over, our players will have caught on and our shooting percentage will be on the rise.
PLAY HARD. PLAY TOGETHER.
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