What we learned about girls basketball in Canada?
I can only speak to the u15 level as I only saw a handful of u17 halves, but as I look back there are some definite trends you can see looking back over the week and competition:
Final Rankings:
1 - Quebec - Most athletic bigs and players. Greatest depth of length meeting athleticism.
2 - Manitoba - Most athletic skill other then QC.
3/4 - BC/Ontario - Best bigs other than QC. High skill level, big size, but less athletic then MB & QC.
5/6 - NS/NB - Top defensive teams remaining. No size but both with game plans to compete without it.
7/8 - Sask./Alb - Top 4 size, but limited/young ball handling. Run a lot of sets, packline defense. Trying to grind out low scoring games.
9/10 - NFLD/PEI - 9th-10th best teams talent wise, athletically and depth. Play hard but with rule mods not enough adjustments to be made without tactics.
As I look back, Canada still continues to be a defense first country. Every team at nats played hard with their own game plan for how to defend. Top end teams were able to pressure and disrupt, while still protecting rim and paint. The lower teams in their final standing the less able they were to do both consistently.
Skill/athleticism in size was the biggest determinant of final success. QC won with the most skilled and athletic bigs, having two 6 foot plus girls starting at the 4-5 who could play any position on the floor. Defensively even teams with size couldn't guard them on the perimeter or out of movement, offensively their overall length and skill level eliminated a number of turnovers other team had. Similarly MB was able to use high level athletes with skill to generate turnovers, while limiting their own and exploiting mismatches on the offensive end.
Offensively whether you were guard focused, bigs focused, sets/motion type offenses everyone was dependent on getting the ball to the rim. Even the top 2 teams scored primarily on drives and movement
to catch at the rim. There were no teams there that shot the ball with a high rate outside of the key consistently. Therefore top defensive teams either had the length to protect the interior, or could generate enough ball pressure to prevent easy entry to the paint. I didn't see a lot of scoring generated on footwork, or reading defense. I also didn't recognize anyone I would consider a pure shooter.
What we learned about basketball in NB?
We can put a team on the floor who can compete with anyone in the country, at this point though we need to play great defense for 40 minutes every game in order to give ourselves a chance to win. On top of that we must limit turnovers just to not give up extra scoring chances to teams with more offensive weapons then us. Basically to beat the very best teams we need to play great d for 40 minutes, outwork the other teams best 8 with our 12 and still take care of the ball and make shots.
Our offensive struggles come down to being able/willing to execute skills under pressure. We need to make shots, particularly free throws at at much higher rate. We also struggle with simple things like footwork, passing and catching and dribbling through national level pressure and contact. We need to be stronger, better balanced and have much better ball skills. Simple things like shooting, dribbling, and passing with compact proper form are still an issue. Even the best 12 girls we have in the province can't all bounce with both hands, get open through contact, and use simple footwork and body control to get past defense.
I think EDP (which all these girls came through) is a great step but it has to prioritize the skills, strength and footwork training over the offensive team reads. We also need to educate more coaches to make some of these things up to date. Kids are still being trade in bio-mechanically flawed or dated methods. Just because it worked 10-20-30 years ago and/ creates a competitive high school player in NB doesn't make it right or able to create high level athletes. Until our coaching education and training methods improve we will still have our best kids who are right at the edge of their potential but struggling to maximum.
There seems to be an ongoing debate about whether we need to play fast or grind out wins. I'm a proponent of playing fast as it encourages our kids to play hard and use our depth of balanced talent and makes other provinces trust kids they might not normally have in key situations. It also allows us to dictate how the game is played, that being said in order to play at pace you must punish teams on the score board or you are just playing a lot of defense. We need ball handling skills, better shot pockets and percentages, and the ability to play on balance through contact. Fast or slow we need ways that we can score. In transition we will get more open jump shots that we have to be able to make. In a 5 on 5 game we have to be able to get open, catch a pass under duress and finish through contact and make three throws.
Finally, we need to play at a high level all the time. How we train, who we play and the style of play as a province are all factors that need to improve. We don't see national level defense until we are at nationals, we don't play through national levels contact until we are at nationals, and we don't need to make national level reads and tough plays until at the event. Going to Montreal/ Ottawa one weekend a summer doesn't cut it. We need our entire basketball community to work towards making our provincial basketball experience match the pressure, structure, physicality and intensity of nationals. In how we train, what we demand, and how we view ourselves we have to do a better job. We still have too many stakeholders focused on making things less demanding and challenging while concerned over factors we can't control, rather then making tougher more relentless kids that focus on what we can control.
In part 2 I'll review my personal reflections on myself as a coach as well as feedback from my evaluation at Nationals.
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Nats Comp Day 6
Final day of nationals for our girls who are planning on heading back to their homes after the closing ceremonies.
Day started off with some real concern over our remaining level of focus. With a 5th place game against a tough NS squad who we had already had a close game with early in the summer, the first conversation I heard in the morning was teenage girls getting weepy about it being their last day together. I'm glad our kids bonded over the summer and look at each other with such regard that the idea of of the season ending makes them sad. However, it had been a long week already and no such thing as an easy game all week we needed to find a way to crank it up again.
Same routine was followed as with Alberta game the previous day: up early, breakfast, down time, gym, pregame. In our pregame prep for NS defensively we focused on containing their dribble drive with early rotation and communication to leave 1 player open vs gang help and sagging of multiple shooters, we wanted to limit extra points (no threes, no free trips to foul line, control boards, and limit turnovers). On offense we wanted to get into our stuff because we felt like they played a number of undersized guards who denied hard all over the floor and gamble on turnovers. We decided if we took care of the ball and sealed them off cuts and screens we could get good looks. We also wanted to keep what was also an emotional game vs a rival on the last day of nats in check. We asked the girls to play this 40 minutes for these 40 minutes. No focus on what happened before or implications for after, just 40 minutes for themselves and each other vs a common opponent.
Game's first half was only partially as we had scripted it out. Offensively it was our best opening quarter and 1st half of the tournament. We shot the ball well, we took care of the ball and got all our looks out of our movement. We scored 34 points in the half which was the most we'd scored in a half all week, and that was with our focus on playing slower then we normally had on the offensive end to make sure we ran our stuff. Defensively though we were a mess. No communication, being reactive instead of proactive and no one stopping the ball on their own with or without rotation. We gave up too many points, committed too many fouls and were only up 6 at half. I had spent both timeouts and now spent out half time talk begging for better defensive effort. One of the downsides of the rules limiting defensive tactics is that there are really very few adjustments defensively that coaches can make other then attention to details and making sure kids putting in a kid effort are on the floor.
The 2nd half 3rd quarter resembled the first with us jumping out to a 12 point lead but then as the quarter went on fouls and poor communication began to hurt us and chip away at our confidence. Going into the 4th we felt like we were in survival mode rather then still up. At that point though between players battling injuries, foul trouble, and players who had clearly mentally checked out we just didn't have the depth we were used to having at our disposal.
The 4th quarter turned into a mess. We got outscored badly, gave up more points in the quarter then we had averaged giving up in a half all week, most importantly we suddenly couldn't score because we couldn't get the ball inbounds or get shots against NS pressure. In short the wheels came off. A couple of players Courtney Bulman and Molly Gulliver kept battling but without some help and unable to play the entire 4th the game slipped away. That said we had a free throw to tie with 30 seconds left but missed it and ended had a three to tie with 14 seconds left coming out of a time out but bobbled the pass and ended up with another turnover. Lost 70-66.
Lots of issues to address but mostly we didn't meet our defensive goals. We felt that NS had enjoyed a much easier road to get there having played sees 8,10,7 (2 times), and Quebec. None of those games had ended with close scores and as a result they hadn't played hard wire to wire, where as in all but one of our games we were the underdog and had to play hard all game long in a number of emotional physical battles. We believed we were the more battle tested and had learned how to defend at a nationals level that they hadn't seen or learned to deal with yet during the week. The defense that was giving up less then 50 points per game, and less than 35 if you eliminated points we gave up off turnovers just didn't show up. We gave up 70 pts. We had asked them to limit extra points and sent them to the free throw line 39 times and go 6/18 from the three point line. In a nut shell our worst defensive effort of the week and we lose despite some improvement on the offensive side of the ball.
After the game they were upset. We gave them time to debrief and focused on the positives from the week and reminded them that the 40 minutes was over. We gathered ourselves and went to a BBQ hosted by the Fredericton parents. It was a nice way to end the week, before heading back to pack up and watch the finals.
In the rest of the days actions there were very few surprises. Ontario u15 did lose to BC u15 who they'd handled easily early in the week, but after their tough lose to MB the night before didn't look like they wanted to be there. Allstars didn't play, the kids who did were those who hadn't logged huge minutes against MB and they shot the ball as poorly as they had all week. In the other games things shook out as expected. The u15 girls final went to Quebec by a wider margin then I think most expected but MB only played 8 kids the night before and had very little left in the tank vs. a great QC team. They also couldn't guard QC's best players because of matchups and got very few points off turnovers and QC's bigs were able to help with pressure.
After the games, we had the ceremonies and all star nominations. I was a little surprised that Courtney Bulman didn't get the nod for 2nd team all star as she was our best player all week and averaged close to 14 pts per game in less the 20 min per game. I think our depth though and the fact that her stats reflected 1/3+ less time on the floor may have hurt other coaches impressions, but she was far and away our all star and IMO better then at least 2 kids who got awards.
Overall 3-3 isn't as nice as 4-2 would have been but we battled tough all week and I couldn't be prouder of our kids.
Day started off with some real concern over our remaining level of focus. With a 5th place game against a tough NS squad who we had already had a close game with early in the summer, the first conversation I heard in the morning was teenage girls getting weepy about it being their last day together. I'm glad our kids bonded over the summer and look at each other with such regard that the idea of of the season ending makes them sad. However, it had been a long week already and no such thing as an easy game all week we needed to find a way to crank it up again.
Same routine was followed as with Alberta game the previous day: up early, breakfast, down time, gym, pregame. In our pregame prep for NS defensively we focused on containing their dribble drive with early rotation and communication to leave 1 player open vs gang help and sagging of multiple shooters, we wanted to limit extra points (no threes, no free trips to foul line, control boards, and limit turnovers). On offense we wanted to get into our stuff because we felt like they played a number of undersized guards who denied hard all over the floor and gamble on turnovers. We decided if we took care of the ball and sealed them off cuts and screens we could get good looks. We also wanted to keep what was also an emotional game vs a rival on the last day of nats in check. We asked the girls to play this 40 minutes for these 40 minutes. No focus on what happened before or implications for after, just 40 minutes for themselves and each other vs a common opponent.
Game's first half was only partially as we had scripted it out. Offensively it was our best opening quarter and 1st half of the tournament. We shot the ball well, we took care of the ball and got all our looks out of our movement. We scored 34 points in the half which was the most we'd scored in a half all week, and that was with our focus on playing slower then we normally had on the offensive end to make sure we ran our stuff. Defensively though we were a mess. No communication, being reactive instead of proactive and no one stopping the ball on their own with or without rotation. We gave up too many points, committed too many fouls and were only up 6 at half. I had spent both timeouts and now spent out half time talk begging for better defensive effort. One of the downsides of the rules limiting defensive tactics is that there are really very few adjustments defensively that coaches can make other then attention to details and making sure kids putting in a kid effort are on the floor.
The 2nd half 3rd quarter resembled the first with us jumping out to a 12 point lead but then as the quarter went on fouls and poor communication began to hurt us and chip away at our confidence. Going into the 4th we felt like we were in survival mode rather then still up. At that point though between players battling injuries, foul trouble, and players who had clearly mentally checked out we just didn't have the depth we were used to having at our disposal.
The 4th quarter turned into a mess. We got outscored badly, gave up more points in the quarter then we had averaged giving up in a half all week, most importantly we suddenly couldn't score because we couldn't get the ball inbounds or get shots against NS pressure. In short the wheels came off. A couple of players Courtney Bulman and Molly Gulliver kept battling but without some help and unable to play the entire 4th the game slipped away. That said we had a free throw to tie with 30 seconds left but missed it and ended had a three to tie with 14 seconds left coming out of a time out but bobbled the pass and ended up with another turnover. Lost 70-66.
Lots of issues to address but mostly we didn't meet our defensive goals. We felt that NS had enjoyed a much easier road to get there having played sees 8,10,7 (2 times), and Quebec. None of those games had ended with close scores and as a result they hadn't played hard wire to wire, where as in all but one of our games we were the underdog and had to play hard all game long in a number of emotional physical battles. We believed we were the more battle tested and had learned how to defend at a nationals level that they hadn't seen or learned to deal with yet during the week. The defense that was giving up less then 50 points per game, and less than 35 if you eliminated points we gave up off turnovers just didn't show up. We gave up 70 pts. We had asked them to limit extra points and sent them to the free throw line 39 times and go 6/18 from the three point line. In a nut shell our worst defensive effort of the week and we lose despite some improvement on the offensive side of the ball.
After the game they were upset. We gave them time to debrief and focused on the positives from the week and reminded them that the 40 minutes was over. We gathered ourselves and went to a BBQ hosted by the Fredericton parents. It was a nice way to end the week, before heading back to pack up and watch the finals.
In the rest of the days actions there were very few surprises. Ontario u15 did lose to BC u15 who they'd handled easily early in the week, but after their tough lose to MB the night before didn't look like they wanted to be there. Allstars didn't play, the kids who did were those who hadn't logged huge minutes against MB and they shot the ball as poorly as they had all week. In the other games things shook out as expected. The u15 girls final went to Quebec by a wider margin then I think most expected but MB only played 8 kids the night before and had very little left in the tank vs. a great QC team. They also couldn't guard QC's best players because of matchups and got very few points off turnovers and QC's bigs were able to help with pressure.
After the games, we had the ceremonies and all star nominations. I was a little surprised that Courtney Bulman didn't get the nod for 2nd team all star as she was our best player all week and averaged close to 14 pts per game in less the 20 min per game. I think our depth though and the fact that her stats reflected 1/3+ less time on the floor may have hurt other coaches impressions, but she was far and away our all star and IMO better then at least 2 kids who got awards.
Overall 3-3 isn't as nice as 4-2 would have been but we battled tough all week and I couldn't be prouder of our kids.
Monday, August 13, 2012
Nats Comp Day 5
Welcome to going to war.
We got up in the am to have breakfast early so they could get a good meal before our game at 11:15. The girls weren't as awake or ready as I've seen them in the mornings, but Nationals is a grind. We haven't had a game yet without big time intensity, so getting up over and over again for games is becoming a concern. We had a very poor start against Ontario but found energy later. If we want to avoid the 7-8 game against a very tough Alberta team that can't happen.
After breakfast the girls went back to their rooms to go back to sleep and relax. I spent that time drawing out simple counters to what Alberta wanted to do defensively and wrestled with how detailed to get into before the game. Cursing the schedule, I decided to focus our pregame on things we wanted to work on controlling and just overview their offense and our adjustments in the context of what we want to do anyway.
In our pregame we set goals of protecting the paint by fronting posts/cutters and requiring lobs, cutters or drivers to knock us to the ground to get into the interior. We also decided that if we could beat Ontario on the boards then we could do the same today. Offensively we just wanted to get the ball inbounds and run our stuff against their pack line making them defend cuts and movement before shooting over the top.
During our taping one of our toughest kids Emma Wissink was in tears because of pain she was in from where she had sprained her thumb against Ontario and couldn't move it. We got it taped but I told our assistant I probably couldn't play her. After their individual prep time we drew up each of the sets/ continuities they ran and spent some time with simple counters to the key action. We didn't want to complicate things but asked them to talk when they heard things called to make sure we at least got that action defended. Basically we told them against all the sets wether it was horns, a post clear out, their continuity or 1-4 low that they wanted a layup for the PG #6 who lead the team in scoring, or a post touch. They did have one shooter they kicked out to but there was very little ball reversal it was just pound at the rim.
We went out to warm up we seemed focused if not energized. Any nerves were dealt with during O' Canada as their was some loud feedback at the opening of song and my 3 year old daughter yelled "What's that noise?" and ran past all the standing girls and fans out of the gym hollering while nobody else moved. Trying not to laugh we got the to the bench a quickly made sure the girls new what our early sub patterns were going to be.
We had a great start on offense. We executed and made some shots we hadn't made all week. A shooter who had struggled all summer, finally stuck her first shot and looked like she was going to have a day. Pretty early it was clear the game was going to be scrappy. On a blocked cut our leading scorer to a forearm and shoulder to the chest knocking the wind out of her. We subbed her out and on divining play for a loose ball not a minute later an Alberta player had to leave the game with a bloodied nose and change jersey's. It was going to be a war.
Defensively we weren't as active I would like. We were anticipating the next action well but instead of reacting early were simply standing in spots ignoring cutter to prevent action. We had to talk to several kids about defending our way and even the other coach was complaining about us playing zone. We weren't violating zoning principles against the rules but we certainly were very late in being concerned with moving and reacting to what the players without the ball were doing. I also thought we drew a couple of good charges early that were no calls when kids got drilled trying to hold space. To our kids credit they stuck with it and kept putting their nose in there.
We got a lead early but Alberta battled back. With a minute left in quarter I told Emma Wissink I would try her but she had to tell me if catching hurt. She went into the game and in the last 57 seconds drew two charges. She is easily the toughest kid on this team and maybe the toughest girl I've ever coached. I asked her how her hand was and through wincing tears said fine.
Pam and I made the decision not to play her again and went back to rolling the other kids in and out during the 2nd quarter. It was a back and forth battle. We would get up by 7-8, Alberta would then come back and cut it to a one possession game. As the quarter wore on I was still unhappy with our defensive activity level. We were grinding to get stops, but as our offense sputtered we were getting nothing out of turnovers as we were just battling to get stops instead of pressuring the ball.
Coming out of halftime we wanted to maintain what we were doing on offense but bring better defensive energy. Our first shift was awful no movement on offense, no communication on defense. Less the 50 seconds into the we'd gone from up 4 to down 1 and I was sending subs. I made the decision to play Emma W again because we needed defensive energy and inserted her into the 2nd group. They immediately went out and had two good offensive possessions with lots of ball movement leading to an uncontested jump shot that went down and an "and 1" for Emma W. The defensive energy was better and I personally believe it was EW's efforts that inspired her teammates to a better 2nd half.
The rest of the half was a a grind. Tough hoops, tough defense. A low scoring physical game where nothing easy was being given to either team. THe shooter who made a shot early that we'd been waiting on continued to make big shots, she also took a couple of bad shots early in the clock but I'm a believer that when it comes to scorers or shooters they must be allowed to take shots they need to take based on their confidence. Now she was shooting 50% from the floor for the game so I was willing to accept some early shots, had she been 0-8 at the time she probably wouldn't be seeing the minutes to take those bad shots anyway. Every time we needed a big hoop or play someone stepped up and made one.
Down the stretch we just kept making big plays and stops to hold on for a 47-43 win. Our kids celebrated like they had won a medal right there, and everyone was eager to meet and congratulate me and players. I sent the girls to the change room and quickly tried to find out our schedule and book practice time for later in the days. I was very proud of our girls effort, they had held their leading scorer to 6 points, and while lost the rebounding battle we did win the points in the paint vs a team who was larger and focuses on getting to the rim.
I sent the girls to eat with their families while I booked gym time for practice and watched NS play Sask. to see who we would play in the 5th place game. Sask looked to be in control early but caved to NS ball pressure in the 3rd to get outscored 18-5 and eventually lost by 8.
We had practice at 4 pm talked about NS and being ready for their dribble drive offense. We also adressed their pressure m2m and said if we limited turnovers by slowing down and making them defend cuts/screens we would have a lot of success. Other then that we just shot the ball a lot to stay confident.
After practice we hit the dining hall and then down to watch the semifinals. Most girls left in the 2nd half of QC vs BC as it was a 20 point spread and showered before coming back to watch Ont vs MB which was pegged as being the game of the week. It didn't disappoint, a thriller going to double overtime. There were half court shots, clutch free throws and huge plays made by both teams stars before MB escapes with a wild 2 point win.
Coaches had a technical meeting while the girls went back to go to bed.
Sunday, August 12, 2012
Nats. Comp Day 4
So we started Nationals day 4 off with as little fan fare as possible. After an emotional day 3 and with big games the rest of the way we let the girls rest and recharge. We gave them free time to sleep in or go to breakfast as they like. To rest or spend time with family as they liked. I personally used that time to get up early and drive to my parents house an hour away to spend the morning with my wife and kids. Not only did it help me personally to take some edge off of the stress, but it also gave me distraction from thinking about and potentially over thinking the key situation.
We got back together as a team for lunch and then went to practice at the STU gym. We prepped for Ontario with a focus on defending posts and the interior. With 7 players over 6 foot we were very concerned about the boards. We made a decision to front and stunt the posts to stay with our basic defensive concept knowing it may hurt us on the boards, but would allow us to pressure the perimeter to bounce and attack. We felt that if their guards attacked they would invariably get some hoops but we could still defend our way with jumps and rotation. We also would live with losing on runners rather then pounding at us and running their stuff.
At practice we also worked on reacting to lobs, and backdoors with rotation to take charges in the middle. We spent the last 4 minutes of practice just laying on the floor getting the girls to feel comfortable there. We know that we need loose balls, jumpballs, charges and to get shoved off box outs for our defense to be effective. We equate a good defensive possession with bodies on the floor. So we had them spend time getting comfortable there because to protect the key we would need them to be there all night anyway.
We felt good after practice. Went back to rest and eat lightly as we would not be having supper until after the game.
We went to the gym and went through our regular prep procedure 15 minutes to change, tape etc. 20 minutes of individual and team prep time for them by themselves to get mentally focused separated from the outside world. We put some talking or thinking points for them to focus on the board and leave them be with their music. 15 Minutes before warmup the coaches come back in and we go over any tactical adjustments visually on the board that we've walked through, remind about the points they studied earlier, and we have a quote to inspire/focus their energy. Address our four key areas of focus, head to floor. Warmup until announcements of lineups, anthem, etc. Spend final 3 minutes sharing the starting group and substitution patterns for first 4 minutes of quarter. Cheer and go.
We walked out onto the floor vs Ontario and blinked. While we were blinking they flew out to their best shooting quarter of the tournament. We didn't close out, didn't want the ball, didn't protect the paint or basically do anything except fantastic basketball players get whatever they want. By the end of the first quarter they were 5-6 from the three point line, their posts had gotten every touch we had planned to stop, and we had scored 2 points. Down 33-2 after the first it could have gotten real bad.
It didn't suddenly with the pressure off the girls were ready to grind and focus. We went to work in the 2nd quarter: drew a charge, started to scrap to get to the free throw line and as their outside shooting cooled we were able to confidently lock into our defensive schemes. We won the 2nd quarter 14-11. On the way to the locker room I was worried about our state of mind but as I came in we were laughing and positive. We happily discussed the laughable first quarter and thats how they treated it, and talked about statistical categories we could win. Be had remarkably held our own on the boards (partially because they made so many shots early) so I challenged the girls to win the rebounding battle, since we were only down 6 at half. I thought that goal alone would keep them working even if it wasn't reasonable. We also had drawn 3 charges so I challenged them to make sure we won the charge count it was 3-1 at that point. We also wanted to make sure we turned the ball over less then 10 times in the half to make sure they had to play through our defense and we got better scoring chances.
We went out a didn't focus on Ont. my assistant review their goals as I got mic'd up for my feedback and evaluation session from Canada Basketball. I'll blog about this later but was a great experience to be mic'd and have CB officials giving you live feedback to what you are saying and doing all half. They give you the dvd with all their comments back for your review and is a great learning tool. So between the instructions and their reaction to me in a microphone they certainly weren't concerned about the scoreboard or Ont.'s return to the floor.
Then we went to work. We outworked the biggest team and province we played all summer for two quarters. We held them to 10 points in the 3rd and then 2 in the fourth. At one point in the 4th quarter Ont came back with a bunch of starters who they'd hope to leave out the rest of the way just to try to get back on track. At that point though we had spent the half defending the post so well, and fighting so hard at both ends it couldn't overcome our momentum. We ended up losing 56-37, but won the last 25 minutes 32-16. When we looked at the stats for the game we had 8 turnovers in the 2nd half had drawn 5-1 charges and won the rebounding battle 44-42. Our girls were so proud of their effort but actually more upset about the first quarter at the end of the game once they'd seen what their hard work could do.
Overall a great evening for our kids but we didn't get to celebrate as by the time we got back from letting them eat from the parents and into res we had less then 12 hours to prep for Alberta in the consolation round who had been eliminated by the same young and aggressive Manitoba team who had thumped us day one much earlier in the day. Having no practice time to prep for perrenial powerhouse who would be unhappy to have been eliminated from medal contention was not an easy challenge, but we went to work right away.
I had taken notes on all the teams all week and the one advantage I felt that we had over them was they wanted to run sets and continuity offenses to get the ball to particular people in very specific places and ways. I knew that our defense was making people play off the bounce and create so if we could negate their best player (#6 a very athletic guard in a large frame) , and make sure that they couldn't get interior touches out of their sets we could hang around defensively. They also were going to run a packline defense that would give us an easier time seeing/reading our offensive principles then we had in previous games.
Before we went the girls to bed I took them out on the lawn in front of rez and in the light of street lamps in some drizzle I walked them through the 3 sets and continuity that Alberta had run all week and what they were focused on getting out of it. Our girls were surprised that a team would play this structured and focused on key players in comparison to our 5 out motion reads and 12 person deep attitude. They went to bed and we got ready for next day.
We got back together as a team for lunch and then went to practice at the STU gym. We prepped for Ontario with a focus on defending posts and the interior. With 7 players over 6 foot we were very concerned about the boards. We made a decision to front and stunt the posts to stay with our basic defensive concept knowing it may hurt us on the boards, but would allow us to pressure the perimeter to bounce and attack. We felt that if their guards attacked they would invariably get some hoops but we could still defend our way with jumps and rotation. We also would live with losing on runners rather then pounding at us and running their stuff.
At practice we also worked on reacting to lobs, and backdoors with rotation to take charges in the middle. We spent the last 4 minutes of practice just laying on the floor getting the girls to feel comfortable there. We know that we need loose balls, jumpballs, charges and to get shoved off box outs for our defense to be effective. We equate a good defensive possession with bodies on the floor. So we had them spend time getting comfortable there because to protect the key we would need them to be there all night anyway.
We felt good after practice. Went back to rest and eat lightly as we would not be having supper until after the game.
We went to the gym and went through our regular prep procedure 15 minutes to change, tape etc. 20 minutes of individual and team prep time for them by themselves to get mentally focused separated from the outside world. We put some talking or thinking points for them to focus on the board and leave them be with their music. 15 Minutes before warmup the coaches come back in and we go over any tactical adjustments visually on the board that we've walked through, remind about the points they studied earlier, and we have a quote to inspire/focus their energy. Address our four key areas of focus, head to floor. Warmup until announcements of lineups, anthem, etc. Spend final 3 minutes sharing the starting group and substitution patterns for first 4 minutes of quarter. Cheer and go.
We walked out onto the floor vs Ontario and blinked. While we were blinking they flew out to their best shooting quarter of the tournament. We didn't close out, didn't want the ball, didn't protect the paint or basically do anything except fantastic basketball players get whatever they want. By the end of the first quarter they were 5-6 from the three point line, their posts had gotten every touch we had planned to stop, and we had scored 2 points. Down 33-2 after the first it could have gotten real bad.
It didn't suddenly with the pressure off the girls were ready to grind and focus. We went to work in the 2nd quarter: drew a charge, started to scrap to get to the free throw line and as their outside shooting cooled we were able to confidently lock into our defensive schemes. We won the 2nd quarter 14-11. On the way to the locker room I was worried about our state of mind but as I came in we were laughing and positive. We happily discussed the laughable first quarter and thats how they treated it, and talked about statistical categories we could win. Be had remarkably held our own on the boards (partially because they made so many shots early) so I challenged the girls to win the rebounding battle, since we were only down 6 at half. I thought that goal alone would keep them working even if it wasn't reasonable. We also had drawn 3 charges so I challenged them to make sure we won the charge count it was 3-1 at that point. We also wanted to make sure we turned the ball over less then 10 times in the half to make sure they had to play through our defense and we got better scoring chances.
We went out a didn't focus on Ont. my assistant review their goals as I got mic'd up for my feedback and evaluation session from Canada Basketball. I'll blog about this later but was a great experience to be mic'd and have CB officials giving you live feedback to what you are saying and doing all half. They give you the dvd with all their comments back for your review and is a great learning tool. So between the instructions and their reaction to me in a microphone they certainly weren't concerned about the scoreboard or Ont.'s return to the floor.
Then we went to work. We outworked the biggest team and province we played all summer for two quarters. We held them to 10 points in the 3rd and then 2 in the fourth. At one point in the 4th quarter Ont came back with a bunch of starters who they'd hope to leave out the rest of the way just to try to get back on track. At that point though we had spent the half defending the post so well, and fighting so hard at both ends it couldn't overcome our momentum. We ended up losing 56-37, but won the last 25 minutes 32-16. When we looked at the stats for the game we had 8 turnovers in the 2nd half had drawn 5-1 charges and won the rebounding battle 44-42. Our girls were so proud of their effort but actually more upset about the first quarter at the end of the game once they'd seen what their hard work could do.
Overall a great evening for our kids but we didn't get to celebrate as by the time we got back from letting them eat from the parents and into res we had less then 12 hours to prep for Alberta in the consolation round who had been eliminated by the same young and aggressive Manitoba team who had thumped us day one much earlier in the day. Having no practice time to prep for perrenial powerhouse who would be unhappy to have been eliminated from medal contention was not an easy challenge, but we went to work right away.
I had taken notes on all the teams all week and the one advantage I felt that we had over them was they wanted to run sets and continuity offenses to get the ball to particular people in very specific places and ways. I knew that our defense was making people play off the bounce and create so if we could negate their best player (#6 a very athletic guard in a large frame) , and make sure that they couldn't get interior touches out of their sets we could hang around defensively. They also were going to run a packline defense that would give us an easier time seeing/reading our offensive principles then we had in previous games.
Before we went the girls to bed I took them out on the lawn in front of rez and in the light of street lamps in some drizzle I walked them through the 3 sets and continuity that Alberta had run all week and what they were focused on getting out of it. Our girls were surprised that a team would play this structured and focused on key players in comparison to our 5 out motion reads and 12 person deep attitude. They went to bed and we got ready for next day.
Saturday, August 11, 2012
Nats Competition - Day 3
Behind but I promise to put down every day anyway.
So its hump day at Nationals. Today we knew how much the girls were going to be played out. We let them sleep in a little and after practice had a prep meeting for the day. Scheduling meetings are increasing better focused, but as time has worn on there have been more complaints about things like food, family time, etc. You can tell they are breaking down mentally. Luckily hydration and our rotations sub wise are helping with physical wear and tear. Only bang ups so far are some knee tendinitis we had in a player coming in and another who has a knee strain that bothers her until she warms up. It is more of a chiropractic issue than an injury so she's playing through it.
After some time to rest we got the girls together to try to beat the heat and unwind. We filled up a bunch of water ballons and headed to an outside court. There we walked through sets using the water ballons in the heat, catching and moving with explosions of water and some soaking going on. Everyone enjoyed themselves.
Afternoon we prepped PEI. What they have done, how they play. We put a real focus on making them score without using the three point line and finishing our chances early to get seperation.
Things began to breakdown a little after that. We had to have kids go to get taped earlier then other kids wanted to be at the gym so two different groups went to the gym instead of us going together. When we got there a player had a cell phone out texting at the game before ours (we had established a rule that during team time ie. meetings, scouting, pregame, postgame etc - that coaches would collect the cell phones and you could have them back after). Then in the locker room when some kids came to use their cells for music during their 25 minutes individual prep we had more texting going on. We did get everything done and in before tip off though.
The game itself was ugly. We know there are no easy wins at Nationals and PEI came out ready to be as physical as they could be. They pushed the pace early and we made bad decisions. We know that they play a lot off hope and momentum, trying to grind and then making big shots. Defensively we never gave them the big shot, but for three quarters we let them hang in and around. We were just pressing to much on offense. A case of knowing your better but not being disciplined and trying to make a big play all the time. The game also never got any flow because PEI was fouling as a last result to break up plays and between our turnovers and missed freethrows we just couldn't get into into sync. The game also had a really negative tone with the PEI bench getting two technicals.
Eventually in the 4th we strung together some hoops. That and our depth allowed us to pull away to a 16 point win. Which takes us to hitting the wall after the game . . .
After our win I now know that we have Ontario but that we are not in a place mentally or confidence wise that we need. On the way out of the gym parents let me know that girls have been violating a team rule about textng and calling after curfew (we had allowed cells phones in the rooms at night for music and alarm clocks). So I decide to get the girls to the meal hall for supper and have a meeting about focusing on details and controlling controlables again. The girls immediately ask if they can go to supper with their parents. I said no as I wanted them to eat and begn recovery right away and meet to set up our next 26 hours in prep for a huge quarterfinal game with Ontario.
I sent the girls with Pam (Assistant coach) up to the meal hall. I had to set up a practice time for the morning and talk to my own kids before going to the meal hall. Once I got there I was informed that girls were choosing not to eat and had been arugmentative with Pam abuot having to go at all. When we got back to residence we immdeiately met with the team laying out their schedule for free time in the evening and morning before heavy prep for Ontario all afternoon and evening before an 8pm game. Then I read them the riot act.
We talked about how there were too many complaints about conditions, expectations, and generally not enough focus on controlling controlables. I pointed out that any number of girls from the development team that were cut from our team would happily spend 8 days going through worse if it meant they could be on this team. We talked about the rules violations and our performance mostly focusing on what it takes in terms of discipline and structure to get to the next level. We also told them that they would no longer have their cells phones in their rooms at night and that we would wake them up. As you can imagine tired, underfed, overemotional teenage girls reacted about as I had expected and we went from the edge of breaking to over the edge.
Kids left crying, kids went to their rooms cursing and hating me, some kids even called their parents and started packing because they wanted to quit. We let them blow up for about an hour before calling in some of our leaders to discuss what we had to do to get past this. All the kids parents came to take them off site for an evening bbq and too cool down, and our leaders started talking to the them about the things we had reccommended. By 10 pm they wanted to come back to Residence and talk again. So we did debriefing their reactions, and sharing stories about college or other nationals where first time player hit an emotional wall. They seemed relieved that we didn't think it was a big deal and refocused quite quickly on the task at hand.
As the prepared for bed coaches talked to the two players individually who had handled it the worst to make sure that there was no lingering effects or ongoing issues. Both those conversations went well and tomorrow is a huge day vs. Ontario to get to the medal round.
So its hump day at Nationals. Today we knew how much the girls were going to be played out. We let them sleep in a little and after practice had a prep meeting for the day. Scheduling meetings are increasing better focused, but as time has worn on there have been more complaints about things like food, family time, etc. You can tell they are breaking down mentally. Luckily hydration and our rotations sub wise are helping with physical wear and tear. Only bang ups so far are some knee tendinitis we had in a player coming in and another who has a knee strain that bothers her until she warms up. It is more of a chiropractic issue than an injury so she's playing through it.
After some time to rest we got the girls together to try to beat the heat and unwind. We filled up a bunch of water ballons and headed to an outside court. There we walked through sets using the water ballons in the heat, catching and moving with explosions of water and some soaking going on. Everyone enjoyed themselves.
Afternoon we prepped PEI. What they have done, how they play. We put a real focus on making them score without using the three point line and finishing our chances early to get seperation.
Things began to breakdown a little after that. We had to have kids go to get taped earlier then other kids wanted to be at the gym so two different groups went to the gym instead of us going together. When we got there a player had a cell phone out texting at the game before ours (we had established a rule that during team time ie. meetings, scouting, pregame, postgame etc - that coaches would collect the cell phones and you could have them back after). Then in the locker room when some kids came to use their cells for music during their 25 minutes individual prep we had more texting going on. We did get everything done and in before tip off though.
The game itself was ugly. We know there are no easy wins at Nationals and PEI came out ready to be as physical as they could be. They pushed the pace early and we made bad decisions. We know that they play a lot off hope and momentum, trying to grind and then making big shots. Defensively we never gave them the big shot, but for three quarters we let them hang in and around. We were just pressing to much on offense. A case of knowing your better but not being disciplined and trying to make a big play all the time. The game also never got any flow because PEI was fouling as a last result to break up plays and between our turnovers and missed freethrows we just couldn't get into into sync. The game also had a really negative tone with the PEI bench getting two technicals.
Eventually in the 4th we strung together some hoops. That and our depth allowed us to pull away to a 16 point win. Which takes us to hitting the wall after the game . . .
After our win I now know that we have Ontario but that we are not in a place mentally or confidence wise that we need. On the way out of the gym parents let me know that girls have been violating a team rule about textng and calling after curfew (we had allowed cells phones in the rooms at night for music and alarm clocks). So I decide to get the girls to the meal hall for supper and have a meeting about focusing on details and controlling controlables again. The girls immediately ask if they can go to supper with their parents. I said no as I wanted them to eat and begn recovery right away and meet to set up our next 26 hours in prep for a huge quarterfinal game with Ontario.
I sent the girls with Pam (Assistant coach) up to the meal hall. I had to set up a practice time for the morning and talk to my own kids before going to the meal hall. Once I got there I was informed that girls were choosing not to eat and had been arugmentative with Pam abuot having to go at all. When we got back to residence we immdeiately met with the team laying out their schedule for free time in the evening and morning before heavy prep for Ontario all afternoon and evening before an 8pm game. Then I read them the riot act.
We talked about how there were too many complaints about conditions, expectations, and generally not enough focus on controlling controlables. I pointed out that any number of girls from the development team that were cut from our team would happily spend 8 days going through worse if it meant they could be on this team. We talked about the rules violations and our performance mostly focusing on what it takes in terms of discipline and structure to get to the next level. We also told them that they would no longer have their cells phones in their rooms at night and that we would wake them up. As you can imagine tired, underfed, overemotional teenage girls reacted about as I had expected and we went from the edge of breaking to over the edge.
Kids left crying, kids went to their rooms cursing and hating me, some kids even called their parents and started packing because they wanted to quit. We let them blow up for about an hour before calling in some of our leaders to discuss what we had to do to get past this. All the kids parents came to take them off site for an evening bbq and too cool down, and our leaders started talking to the them about the things we had reccommended. By 10 pm they wanted to come back to Residence and talk again. So we did debriefing their reactions, and sharing stories about college or other nationals where first time player hit an emotional wall. They seemed relieved that we didn't think it was a big deal and refocused quite quickly on the task at hand.
As the prepared for bed coaches talked to the two players individually who had handled it the worst to make sure that there was no lingering effects or ongoing issues. Both those conversations went well and tomorrow is a huge day vs. Ontario to get to the medal round.
Friday, August 10, 2012
Overall Nats - Notes 1
I know I'm behind on blogs about this week, but nationals is busy and we've had a lot of prep work to do while making sure kids nutrition, hydration and focus stays where it is supposed to. I'll get you back up to date with us later, right now some notes before the important seeding games begin.
- Top teams u15 here this week are: Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec. Early on Quebec has been the front runner, but I wouldn't count any of these teams out.
- I'll let other scouts and news sources talk about individuals and just focus on what makes these teams 20+ points better then everyone else in the field. With the exception of us every other team offensively and defensively is half court dependant. The other teams run situationally but mostly put priority on their half court ball control/sets and defensively keeping you in front. The top three teams play at pace all the time. They push and attack on offense every trip and if they don't get early offense can flow into their stuff without needing to pull back. Defensively they pressure, rotate, and make you get out of what the ball carrier wants to do. To be fair this is being done by the longest and most athetlic kids here too, but I find it interesting that most other provinces conceed this point and won't ask their kids to play the way the best teams play.
- Ball protection is huge. With the exception of Ontario just about every other team here is more dependant on paint points then any other. Whether its post touches, dribble drives or fast breaks the majority of the points being scored are being scored inside the paint. Ontario appears like the only team here that can score inside or out as the situation requires. As a result the ability to get easy stuff off turnovers makes even the most conservative teams here pick up full court to deny inbounds hoping to get something easy. It is also the reason you see most of the teams with a dominant PG who they clear for to handle pressure and sets/continuity offenses. Players know where to go and what to do without making reads or by making simpler reads and therefore less mistakes get made.
- Sets. I'm not saying sets are bad, coming out of dead ball situations we've got some quick hitter entries we use to cause the same breakdowns we want transition to cause in order for us to get into our offense. We are using a lot of basketball Canada principles to move and cut/screen to get attack chances. Every other team when they get nothing out of transition has sets or continuity offenses. Defensively its helped us be really successful because we've been able to disrupt most of what teams want to do. I just can't believe that with the LTAD focus on player development and rules for modification players and provinces still get so many of their looks out of stuff.
- Defense. You see three types of defense here this week at the u15:
*Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia play you straight pressure m2m all over the floor with some stunt calls. They rely on their individual defenders ability to pressure and prevent getting beat to win 1 on 1 matchups all over the floor. Any break down is help and recover. Bigs protect key and weakside drops but as soon as possible everyone goes back.
*Manitoba and NB (to some extent PEI depending on their matchups) pressure m2m with rotation/ run and jump principles. We both force the offense to attack of the bounce and use our rotations to defend. The priority is on team defense, pressure and communication to disrupt and accelerate the game. We get offense at a pace where they must turn it over. Both teams do it in very different ways but both are very aggressive and team oriented.
* BC, Alberta, Sask., and NFLD all play pack line m2m. They are aggressive on the ball but everyone else is as far into help as they are allowed. They are pressuring the ball but allowing passes to the perimeters with the focus being on not allowing dribble penetration without built in help or cuts because they chew up the space and passing lanes with bodies and defenders. This is personally my least favorite type of defense here since, to my mind its about believing teams won't make enough shots/ just winning games vs trying to make kids high level defenders. To be fair lots of high level teams defend this way very well and its a legitimate tactic. I simply feel that like zone defesne, while good defense can be taught this way by very welll by good coaches - it allows coaches/kids to get away with not working hard every possession or teachign less defense which at a developmental level should be a priority IMO.
- Final thoughts is on skill level. Ontario has the greatest depth of skilled kids. After that every province has a couple of skilled kids you look at and see their skill matches their physical abilities. The very best players on all the other teams are just making athletic plays. They are athletically superior or using their tools within an offense strutured for their skill set. I have seen almost no players that are using footwork, basketball IQ and fundamental skills to break teams down. I've seen very little screening, cutting or moving based on indivual reads. I also haven't seen anyone here that I would consider a shooter. There are kids who can shoot but no one who is working and moving and trying to get to spots where they loose defenders put them in a tough spot. Still I long way to go in shooting and individual footwork and skills in this country.
- Top teams u15 here this week are: Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec. Early on Quebec has been the front runner, but I wouldn't count any of these teams out.
- I'll let other scouts and news sources talk about individuals and just focus on what makes these teams 20+ points better then everyone else in the field. With the exception of us every other team offensively and defensively is half court dependant. The other teams run situationally but mostly put priority on their half court ball control/sets and defensively keeping you in front. The top three teams play at pace all the time. They push and attack on offense every trip and if they don't get early offense can flow into their stuff without needing to pull back. Defensively they pressure, rotate, and make you get out of what the ball carrier wants to do. To be fair this is being done by the longest and most athetlic kids here too, but I find it interesting that most other provinces conceed this point and won't ask their kids to play the way the best teams play.
- Ball protection is huge. With the exception of Ontario just about every other team here is more dependant on paint points then any other. Whether its post touches, dribble drives or fast breaks the majority of the points being scored are being scored inside the paint. Ontario appears like the only team here that can score inside or out as the situation requires. As a result the ability to get easy stuff off turnovers makes even the most conservative teams here pick up full court to deny inbounds hoping to get something easy. It is also the reason you see most of the teams with a dominant PG who they clear for to handle pressure and sets/continuity offenses. Players know where to go and what to do without making reads or by making simpler reads and therefore less mistakes get made.
- Sets. I'm not saying sets are bad, coming out of dead ball situations we've got some quick hitter entries we use to cause the same breakdowns we want transition to cause in order for us to get into our offense. We are using a lot of basketball Canada principles to move and cut/screen to get attack chances. Every other team when they get nothing out of transition has sets or continuity offenses. Defensively its helped us be really successful because we've been able to disrupt most of what teams want to do. I just can't believe that with the LTAD focus on player development and rules for modification players and provinces still get so many of their looks out of stuff.
- Defense. You see three types of defense here this week at the u15:
*Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia play you straight pressure m2m all over the floor with some stunt calls. They rely on their individual defenders ability to pressure and prevent getting beat to win 1 on 1 matchups all over the floor. Any break down is help and recover. Bigs protect key and weakside drops but as soon as possible everyone goes back.
*Manitoba and NB (to some extent PEI depending on their matchups) pressure m2m with rotation/ run and jump principles. We both force the offense to attack of the bounce and use our rotations to defend. The priority is on team defense, pressure and communication to disrupt and accelerate the game. We get offense at a pace where they must turn it over. Both teams do it in very different ways but both are very aggressive and team oriented.
* BC, Alberta, Sask., and NFLD all play pack line m2m. They are aggressive on the ball but everyone else is as far into help as they are allowed. They are pressuring the ball but allowing passes to the perimeters with the focus being on not allowing dribble penetration without built in help or cuts because they chew up the space and passing lanes with bodies and defenders. This is personally my least favorite type of defense here since, to my mind its about believing teams won't make enough shots/ just winning games vs trying to make kids high level defenders. To be fair lots of high level teams defend this way very well and its a legitimate tactic. I simply feel that like zone defesne, while good defense can be taught this way by very welll by good coaches - it allows coaches/kids to get away with not working hard every possession or teachign less defense which at a developmental level should be a priority IMO.
- Final thoughts is on skill level. Ontario has the greatest depth of skilled kids. After that every province has a couple of skilled kids you look at and see their skill matches their physical abilities. The very best players on all the other teams are just making athletic plays. They are athletically superior or using their tools within an offense strutured for their skill set. I have seen almost no players that are using footwork, basketball IQ and fundamental skills to break teams down. I've seen very little screening, cutting or moving based on indivual reads. I also haven't seen anyone here that I would consider a shooter. There are kids who can shoot but no one who is working and moving and trying to get to spots where they loose defenders put them in a tough spot. Still I long way to go in shooting and individual footwork and skills in this country.
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
Nats Comp. Day 2 - Off Day
So our second day of competition didn't actually have all that much competition for us to deal with. As the 9th seed soming in both our preliminary games were on day 1 ,so day 2 was a wait and see sort of day which let us get some much needed rest and prep.
Our second game on Monday vs Sask went more then two hours and was the last game of the day, so our arrival back at dorms wasn't until afer 11pm. Monday had been a long day in general with 2 games, 2 pre games, 2 post games, scheduling meetings and 2 game prep meetings. The girls had only had 2 hours all day not of team time or as they would call it (when we get our cell phones). All those factors considered we allowed players the individual option to get up and go breakfast or to sleep until 10:00. We did make sure those that slept until 10 had a food plan but most players took advantage of the rest and relaxation time to get some sleep.
At 10:15 we had a brief team meeting and reviewed key points and issues arising from Sask. game. We then went to watch BC vs. Alberta as both have very deliberate and half court focused styles of play. We wanted out girls to see what it was they wanted to do to each other so that they could make some ideas and adjustments mentally to how we would want them to look vs us if we saw them. It was a great game and a chance for the girls to get in some Nationals experiences without being emotionally invested in the outcome.
The girls used this as a team time session in the stands, they also got to deal with media as CTV came by to do some interviewing. As a coaches we helped them through the interview process and since we had scouted both these teams the previous day used this time to connect with some other coaches who had seen us play yesterday. A big thanks needs to go out to the STU womens coaches Peter Douthwright and Fred Connors who've been a huge asset all summer but again yesterday gave us more than an hour of their time over a couple of sessions.to talk shop, and give us some ideas and suggestions based on what they were seeing.
We then went to Lunch and released the girls for 1.5 hours to have some R & R time as most wanted to go grab a nap but a few went to shop for neccessities or with family. We went back to gym and continued to connect with coaches and NB personelle who had seen us play trying to get perspective and we mapped out a plan for practice.
Other then a bizzare incident to open practice it went well. As only teenage girls can a minor issue prior to warm up became a 20 minute discussion that made our warmup a little rushed so we coudl get our full hour on court. We had one of our local parents take the gear and uniforms we wore yesterday to their house to get washed and when they got them back at practice suddenly the girls couldn't seem to match up who had had which sized shorts all summer in an ammenable way. To be fair this had been a sticking point early in the summer as we have provided gear from BNB but the shorts are 5 smalls, 5 mediums, 1 large and 1 xl and we've only got two girls who would normally prefer to wear smalls in practice gear. So to end the discussion we made it a coach control issue and re-assigned people shorts after practice.
Once that was dealt with practice went smoothly. We addressed some minor focus points on free throw shooting after an abysmal day one. Putting the girls in some light consequence based scenarios based on performance, and addressing between each round finding focus points on the line after your routine to make sure you are ready to shoot. Wanting to be balanced and under the ball with a clear head rather then trusting your routine to relax you but catching and firing once your routine was done. (Perhaps a blog later on Free Throw routines as I am not a huge fan). Saw some improvement over a short window.
Rest of practice was addressing spacing and reads. Putting our kids into our breakout and half court spacing, with a focus on going to catch a ball and knowing where their looks should be. We also made them order in importance and timing what we wanted as options to make sure they still looked to attack but gave us the space and time to create vs panic and breakdown under strain. Started slowly but by the end of the session were doing a much better job moving the ball with purpose and creating good looks for our teammates, without forcing shots.
In our next practive session we must review on getting to two feet on penetration but it can wait until after the PEI game who don't really have the sort of bodies to cause havoc on help at the rim it was important to deal with the ball control issues as we know they will be aggressive and scrappy to stay in the game.
The rest of the night was really about the the girls Nationals experience. We went to a Banquet with a number of quality speakers and some good food. After the Banquet they got some time to relax and enjoy themselves and the the other teams. A nation wide game of Stella Ella Olla broke out on the front lawn at 9pm involving u15 and u17 teams from 6/7 provinces. For all our fans, NB u15's Barrie Leggat made it to the final 5 much to the pride and enjoyment of her teammates, as a hundred kids piled in around the circle taking photos and cheering for their remaining teammates in a great experience for the girls.
We hit the hay at 11pm and are up for team breakfast at 8am.
Our second game on Monday vs Sask went more then two hours and was the last game of the day, so our arrival back at dorms wasn't until afer 11pm. Monday had been a long day in general with 2 games, 2 pre games, 2 post games, scheduling meetings and 2 game prep meetings. The girls had only had 2 hours all day not of team time or as they would call it (when we get our cell phones). All those factors considered we allowed players the individual option to get up and go breakfast or to sleep until 10:00. We did make sure those that slept until 10 had a food plan but most players took advantage of the rest and relaxation time to get some sleep.
At 10:15 we had a brief team meeting and reviewed key points and issues arising from Sask. game. We then went to watch BC vs. Alberta as both have very deliberate and half court focused styles of play. We wanted out girls to see what it was they wanted to do to each other so that they could make some ideas and adjustments mentally to how we would want them to look vs us if we saw them. It was a great game and a chance for the girls to get in some Nationals experiences without being emotionally invested in the outcome.
The girls used this as a team time session in the stands, they also got to deal with media as CTV came by to do some interviewing. As a coaches we helped them through the interview process and since we had scouted both these teams the previous day used this time to connect with some other coaches who had seen us play yesterday. A big thanks needs to go out to the STU womens coaches Peter Douthwright and Fred Connors who've been a huge asset all summer but again yesterday gave us more than an hour of their time over a couple of sessions.to talk shop, and give us some ideas and suggestions based on what they were seeing.
We then went to Lunch and released the girls for 1.5 hours to have some R & R time as most wanted to go grab a nap but a few went to shop for neccessities or with family. We went back to gym and continued to connect with coaches and NB personelle who had seen us play trying to get perspective and we mapped out a plan for practice.
Other then a bizzare incident to open practice it went well. As only teenage girls can a minor issue prior to warm up became a 20 minute discussion that made our warmup a little rushed so we coudl get our full hour on court. We had one of our local parents take the gear and uniforms we wore yesterday to their house to get washed and when they got them back at practice suddenly the girls couldn't seem to match up who had had which sized shorts all summer in an ammenable way. To be fair this had been a sticking point early in the summer as we have provided gear from BNB but the shorts are 5 smalls, 5 mediums, 1 large and 1 xl and we've only got two girls who would normally prefer to wear smalls in practice gear. So to end the discussion we made it a coach control issue and re-assigned people shorts after practice.
Once that was dealt with practice went smoothly. We addressed some minor focus points on free throw shooting after an abysmal day one. Putting the girls in some light consequence based scenarios based on performance, and addressing between each round finding focus points on the line after your routine to make sure you are ready to shoot. Wanting to be balanced and under the ball with a clear head rather then trusting your routine to relax you but catching and firing once your routine was done. (Perhaps a blog later on Free Throw routines as I am not a huge fan). Saw some improvement over a short window.
Rest of practice was addressing spacing and reads. Putting our kids into our breakout and half court spacing, with a focus on going to catch a ball and knowing where their looks should be. We also made them order in importance and timing what we wanted as options to make sure they still looked to attack but gave us the space and time to create vs panic and breakdown under strain. Started slowly but by the end of the session were doing a much better job moving the ball with purpose and creating good looks for our teammates, without forcing shots.
In our next practive session we must review on getting to two feet on penetration but it can wait until after the PEI game who don't really have the sort of bodies to cause havoc on help at the rim it was important to deal with the ball control issues as we know they will be aggressive and scrappy to stay in the game.
The rest of the night was really about the the girls Nationals experience. We went to a Banquet with a number of quality speakers and some good food. After the Banquet they got some time to relax and enjoy themselves and the the other teams. A nation wide game of Stella Ella Olla broke out on the front lawn at 9pm involving u15 and u17 teams from 6/7 provinces. For all our fans, NB u15's Barrie Leggat made it to the final 5 much to the pride and enjoyment of her teammates, as a hundred kids piled in around the circle taking photos and cheering for their remaining teammates in a great experience for the girls.
We hit the hay at 11pm and are up for team breakfast at 8am.
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
Nats Competition Day 1
SOOOO much went on our our first day of competition.
AM game we played a Manitoba team that will very easily be playing in a medal game. They've got four interior players over 6'2 that eat space and rebound very well. Their strength is their back court with 3 wings and one sub at the wing who are the fastest at Nationals without a doubt. IF you haven't heard of Kyanna and Kyia Giles, you will: they are the real deal. The combined for 40 pts in less then 28 minutes of playing time each , and with more floor time each would have had a double if not, triple doubles in stats.
That being said, back to us and the game. We came out with lots of nerves and knowing that ,played everyone early: all 12 kids in the first 3.5 minutes. Down 9-0 to start as we struggled with their pressure and speed. Out of a time out won the rest of the quarter, didn't let them rest and played all out defensively to be down 11-9 at the end of the 1st. Poor shooting and fresh legs for the Giles girls meant an awful start to the quarter giving them a 12 point lead before we got our first hoop. Now with the cushion to sub and give their speedsters a break and our inability to get hoops it got ugly quickly. They kept attacking and running while we got more and more frustrated. They finished the quarter on an 18-1 run and we went into the locker room down 40-12.
Coming out we made a little better adjustments offensively but now didn't have the will to defend as hard as we needed knowing with our struggles to score we were not going to come all the way back. Cushion let them sub frequently and asnwer any run we made with fresh legged starters physically beating us up and down the floor. Final was 84 - 40. Key stats were 30 turnovers that became 27 points for them, and 9 -25 from the foul line for us.
Devasted by the turn of events you can imagine that most of the afternoon was spent in meetings and indivdual conversations with kids focused on not letting the morning determine our afternoon. We also got the girls to watch the teams ranked 1through 4 coming in (Manitoba had been ranked 6) and they quickly realized that Manitoba was cleary a top 3 team. We re-focused and got ready to play Sask. the 7th ranked team coming in. (FYI last year at nats we finished last of 9 provinces who attended so we came in ranked 9).
No idea how to describe the Sask game. Words like intense, passionate, ugly, chaotic and bizzarre all come to mind. A coaching friend recently tweeted "everyone loves a rockfight" and that might be the best way. We played a Sask team dramatically bigger then us with very confident shooters and went to war. For 40 mintues we played the best defense we've played all summer frustrating, stiffling, suffocating Sask. We held them to 22 points at half. The problem was in that first half we went 6 - 16 from the foul line and our top 3 scorers all summer long were 1 - 15 from the floor. So we only mustered 20 points.
We went into half excited to be competing but needing to make adjustments to get points. 1 of those things happened. We competed even harder defending out of our minds holding Sask to 19% shooting and close to 40 turnovers in a game we accelerated to give close to 90 possessions to each team. Unforunately our offensive adjustments didn't kick in, but luckily our scorers made enough shots to keep us around late and in the dieing moments we forced a steal that led to a layup we could put in to take the final lead. We sealed it with a freethrow late to win 51-48 for a huge win. Defensively a fantastic team effort, offesnively again too many missed opportunities including 14-34 from the foul line.
Great first day for us. Tomorrow I'll put together some thoughts on what our off day today was like and some of the things I'm noticing at nationals.
AM game we played a Manitoba team that will very easily be playing in a medal game. They've got four interior players over 6'2 that eat space and rebound very well. Their strength is their back court with 3 wings and one sub at the wing who are the fastest at Nationals without a doubt. IF you haven't heard of Kyanna and Kyia Giles, you will: they are the real deal. The combined for 40 pts in less then 28 minutes of playing time each , and with more floor time each would have had a double if not, triple doubles in stats.
That being said, back to us and the game. We came out with lots of nerves and knowing that ,played everyone early: all 12 kids in the first 3.5 minutes. Down 9-0 to start as we struggled with their pressure and speed. Out of a time out won the rest of the quarter, didn't let them rest and played all out defensively to be down 11-9 at the end of the 1st. Poor shooting and fresh legs for the Giles girls meant an awful start to the quarter giving them a 12 point lead before we got our first hoop. Now with the cushion to sub and give their speedsters a break and our inability to get hoops it got ugly quickly. They kept attacking and running while we got more and more frustrated. They finished the quarter on an 18-1 run and we went into the locker room down 40-12.
Coming out we made a little better adjustments offensively but now didn't have the will to defend as hard as we needed knowing with our struggles to score we were not going to come all the way back. Cushion let them sub frequently and asnwer any run we made with fresh legged starters physically beating us up and down the floor. Final was 84 - 40. Key stats were 30 turnovers that became 27 points for them, and 9 -25 from the foul line for us.
Devasted by the turn of events you can imagine that most of the afternoon was spent in meetings and indivdual conversations with kids focused on not letting the morning determine our afternoon. We also got the girls to watch the teams ranked 1through 4 coming in (Manitoba had been ranked 6) and they quickly realized that Manitoba was cleary a top 3 team. We re-focused and got ready to play Sask. the 7th ranked team coming in. (FYI last year at nats we finished last of 9 provinces who attended so we came in ranked 9).
No idea how to describe the Sask game. Words like intense, passionate, ugly, chaotic and bizzarre all come to mind. A coaching friend recently tweeted "everyone loves a rockfight" and that might be the best way. We played a Sask team dramatically bigger then us with very confident shooters and went to war. For 40 mintues we played the best defense we've played all summer frustrating, stiffling, suffocating Sask. We held them to 22 points at half. The problem was in that first half we went 6 - 16 from the foul line and our top 3 scorers all summer long were 1 - 15 from the floor. So we only mustered 20 points.
We went into half excited to be competing but needing to make adjustments to get points. 1 of those things happened. We competed even harder defending out of our minds holding Sask to 19% shooting and close to 40 turnovers in a game we accelerated to give close to 90 possessions to each team. Unforunately our offensive adjustments didn't kick in, but luckily our scorers made enough shots to keep us around late and in the dieing moments we forced a steal that led to a layup we could put in to take the final lead. We sealed it with a freethrow late to win 51-48 for a huge win. Defensively a fantastic team effort, offesnively again too many missed opportunities including 14-34 from the foul line.
Great first day for us. Tomorrow I'll put together some thoughts on what our off day today was like and some of the things I'm noticing at nationals.
Sunday, August 5, 2012
Nats Update Day 1
Well here we are. Nationals in Fredericton: what the last 90 days of training has been about. In a lot of ways this feels like a milestone, but in others just another step on a journey. I'm sure, like the girls, I'm processing a variety of emotions.
We tried to use today as a learning experience and make sure we can spend the week focused on us. We had practice at 11, then signed in and moved into rez and went to lunch. During most of this we let the girls process and respond however they instinctually would. There was good and bad, but being caught up in the moment they certainly didn't focus on decisions and reactions the positively helped performance. From being distracted by signage and venues at the practice facility to as a team running to fill up on ice cream at the caf while other teams watched, they (in their own way) tried to process this new experience.
Once we were settled in we had our first of 3 team meetings that day. This meeting primarily dealt with two issues: controlling controlables and dealing with what ifs. We talked about our expectations for being relentless (see 5 keys to Being Relentless) and what it meant to have a programmed response to all situations and controlling your environment. We pointed out the behaviours we saw and what needed to happen for our focus to be on performance. This went very well as girsl quickly recognized the behaviours we had seen that were instinctual responses vs. the calculated/engaged responses we need. The what if conversation was a little more complicated. We needed them to focus energy and thought process onto positive perspectives and areas they could control. The discussion was lenghty but important.
As the day went on we noted a dramatic improvement in focus and behaviours that put a priority on perforamnce. They did a great job meeting our hydration requirements, and at all other team events were early, prepared and giving each other reminders about the staying on the task at hand or helping make healthy choices. We bookended two meetings around dinner to give them the evening to relax with each other.
In the pre dinner meetings we laid out the schedule and expectations for the next day. We have a busy first day with two games, so we definitely laid out the schedule and let them know what we were doing to control that day. The girls were engaged and made sure they were clear on details. Once everyone had clear understanding we went to dinner, which was much more buisness like and team oriented then our first meal of the day had been.
Post dinner meeting was a prep for our game vs Manitoba in the morning. We started by letting the girls share what they knew or have learned in our prep work about Manitoba and how we plan on dealing with them. We then shared our 4 key focus points for the week, that will control all our discussions to simplify prep time. (Expect a blog later). Once those were shared we spent time connecting each point to the Manitoba team and what that meant for us. Our priority is making teams play our way and respond to us and our pace. We run concept based offense and defense so there wasn't much x and o's talk, but mostly about what we need to do to ensure the game gets played the way we want.
All in all a solid start to the week and lots done in preparation for our first competition day at Nats.
We tried to use today as a learning experience and make sure we can spend the week focused on us. We had practice at 11, then signed in and moved into rez and went to lunch. During most of this we let the girls process and respond however they instinctually would. There was good and bad, but being caught up in the moment they certainly didn't focus on decisions and reactions the positively helped performance. From being distracted by signage and venues at the practice facility to as a team running to fill up on ice cream at the caf while other teams watched, they (in their own way) tried to process this new experience.
Once we were settled in we had our first of 3 team meetings that day. This meeting primarily dealt with two issues: controlling controlables and dealing with what ifs. We talked about our expectations for being relentless (see 5 keys to Being Relentless) and what it meant to have a programmed response to all situations and controlling your environment. We pointed out the behaviours we saw and what needed to happen for our focus to be on performance. This went very well as girsl quickly recognized the behaviours we had seen that were instinctual responses vs. the calculated/engaged responses we need. The what if conversation was a little more complicated. We needed them to focus energy and thought process onto positive perspectives and areas they could control. The discussion was lenghty but important.
As the day went on we noted a dramatic improvement in focus and behaviours that put a priority on perforamnce. They did a great job meeting our hydration requirements, and at all other team events were early, prepared and giving each other reminders about the staying on the task at hand or helping make healthy choices. We bookended two meetings around dinner to give them the evening to relax with each other.
In the pre dinner meetings we laid out the schedule and expectations for the next day. We have a busy first day with two games, so we definitely laid out the schedule and let them know what we were doing to control that day. The girls were engaged and made sure they were clear on details. Once everyone had clear understanding we went to dinner, which was much more buisness like and team oriented then our first meal of the day had been.
Post dinner meeting was a prep for our game vs Manitoba in the morning. We started by letting the girls share what they knew or have learned in our prep work about Manitoba and how we plan on dealing with them. We then shared our 4 key focus points for the week, that will control all our discussions to simplify prep time. (Expect a blog later). Once those were shared we spent time connecting each point to the Manitoba team and what that meant for us. Our priority is making teams play our way and respond to us and our pace. We run concept based offense and defense so there wasn't much x and o's talk, but mostly about what we need to do to ensure the game gets played the way we want.
All in all a solid start to the week and lots done in preparation for our first competition day at Nats.
Nats blog explosion.
Its been a busy summer coaching two teams (30 games, and 70+ on court practice sessions), 2 camps, the dad thing and all the travel. Obviously I haven't blogged in a while, but this week I promise to make up for that with a fury of blogging. I am at nationals and our schedule gives me heavy on court time and then a day off so I'll blogging about it all. Our team, things I see, and basketball thoughts in general.
Keep posted. Its about to get crazy.
Keep posted. Its about to get crazy.
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