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.
Saturday, August 11, 2012
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.
Thursday, June 7, 2012
NB and Me x 3
Need to rant be warned. (Seriously a lot of ranting!)
Lets make a short list. The rule with my team is that if we are talking about more then 3 things we aren't talking about anything.
Let's short list the 3 things that coaches in NB (myself included) need to do a better job of coaching explicitly and getting our kids good at perfoming. This may not even be overly constructive on how or what we are currently doing wrong I may get into that down the road. All I really want to do is the first step, point out what I see and then what I would rather see.
1) Close Outs:
As a province we don't close out to lock down and compete. 99% of the kids that I see close out to show they are defending but really hope you take a somewhat contested shot or hope that their spacing and stance stop you from wanting to drive (at in hard straight lines). Luckily for them kids in NB don't shoot well and have been engrained that contact is foul so avoid it at all costs. Kids need to close out to compete. They need to arrive with the ball, in stance trying to dictate to the offense. Now I don't want to argue contain to pressure vs pressure to contain, I want to talk basketball. Here is the only place that me and most women can agree. We want the person responsible to show up on time, ready and willing to do whatever it takes to make this work.
Here is how to recognize an NB "I hope" close out. The "I hope" close out is square chest to chest at the same height as the offense, though they had to go from high to low to get there. The defender is at least an arm length off with arms down (or up at 45 degree angles as if the offense is going to do anything at a 45 degree angle outside their body and off their shoulders). They are flat footed with knees bent doing their best to look like they are in a stance and a good defender. Now, the hope is that the offense will see the defense there and not shoot it (or a path around the edges of the defender so they have a chane to slide and give ground to keep them from going straight to the rim).
What I would love to see regularly, is a close out that says "Here we go b!&@#, boy did you pick the wrong neighbourhood." Arrive coming from low to high into the reciever at the moment of the catch throwing hands and chin up and at the player to force them to worry about cleanly catching on balance, not playing basketbal or running offense. Be loaded with legs athletic and explosive. Down low with your face on the ball or the waist arms wide ready to dig or deflect. Little foot movements to stay wide but locked in on their tower to be able to react to movement. Square to force east west action but weight loaded to hip turn or bounce if they attack your body. On their shooting hand to prevent a quick release then in and off to compete on the dribble drive. Loud and active demanding they do what you want. Take away the shot, take away the blow buy, take away all but one possible action then work like crazy to take that away too. You know compete and play basketball.
2) Pass and Catch
Forget the gamer kids, the lazy kids, the fat kids, the kids dropped out of sport, the kids who've got too many other interests or opportunities, forget the kids who's situations are wacka doodle. Look at the kids you've got. The ones who are showing up and want to play. They've been so structured in their activity as kids and athletes that they'd have been better off, if instead of playing small ball they'd had an egg toss for 15 minutes a day at recess. They can't pass and catch. Sure they can make the ball come off their hand the way we want and it ends up close enough for the offensive player to end up with the ball, but I'm starting to think quality passing and catching is an art form. If I didn't believe the research says any skill was teachable I'ld be inclined to believe that good passing and catching was genetic and we've some how bred it out of kids.
Here's what I see. Passes that are to a general area or space. Its the equivalent of teaching a kid archery and saying just hit the target somewhere. I mean for me (who's never shot a bow) thats going to be a big deal for a couple of lessons but eventually just hitting the target is a little sad. Bio-mechanics? There is footwork and body movement involved in passing?!? Crazy talk! Kids see passing as throwing to a person. They are not the same thing. I also see recievers catching unathletically and then once they have the ball trying to obtain an athletic position. I see almost zero kids who can move at game speed, in stance, with their hands shot ready and then strongly catch a ball with good footwork. Most seem to be able to get you 1 out of 4. I can catch with good footwork but only if I'm standing pretty straight up and I'm going to have to play with the ball to shoot it. Or I can move around at game speed but can't get myself balanced to catch and use footwork so I'll use a momentum dribble or two before I start playing again.
What I would love to see. Kids who treat passing with as much importance as bouncing the silly thing into the ground. Passers and recievers who act as if the movements, decisions and actions they make are important to their relationships and team success. Use the footwork, pass types and body movements that your coaches expect and accept situationally to hit at speed, in a timely manner, a reciever who's moving low and explosively ready to catch and shoot or catch and stop, or catch to explode in a change of direction. Put every pass into someone's shot pocket so they have a chance to shoot it or at least make a basketball play from the proper position to start. Make sure the reciever is choosing to dribble not that they have to because of the pass or their own footwork/balance.
3) Shot Making:
I wanted to say shooting but thats not true. I haven't been at many basketball games or practices where getting kids or coaches to get shots at the basket was a real problem. The issue is I don't see a lot of quality shots that go in. I see tons of kids taking bad shots or shots from tactically determined positions to increase their chances of making enough to win. I do not see a lot of quality getting the ball in a stance and in a high shot pocket, to a vertical explosion of energy with a consistent extension of shoulders, elbows and wrists into a snap that has teardrops raining through the macrame.
This is tough. I know because shooting is probably the easiest thing to under and overcoach in athletes. Not enough coaching and habits form that become deterimental long term, too much and it becomes mechanical and unnatural so that they never develop confidence and comfort shooting the ball. This is about quality reps. I do about as good a job as most coaches I've seen at getting kids reps in practice time to shoot, and giving them the freedom and confidence to make and take shots. For me like most people though its quality. Volume of poor isn't much better than nothing.
What we need to see is more attention to detail as kids develop. Make every kid a jump shooter not a shot taker. Teach kids footwork and balance. Don't accept poor mechanics early because it works for them since their build won't let proper mechanics work as well. Finally, don't just encourage kids to shoot on their own. Make them shoot when their with you, talk to them about shooting when their not, make them believe that they can and should be great shooters. I would love to see more mini games lost because kids missed jumpshots that looked good, then won because they took a bunch of bad layups but forced enough in. We need all (more?) kids to be able to catch and knockdown. It will make offense better (and easier) it will also force our closeouts to be better and the reciever to be more focused on making a good catch and desirous of a good passer.
Lets make a short list. The rule with my team is that if we are talking about more then 3 things we aren't talking about anything.
Let's short list the 3 things that coaches in NB (myself included) need to do a better job of coaching explicitly and getting our kids good at perfoming. This may not even be overly constructive on how or what we are currently doing wrong I may get into that down the road. All I really want to do is the first step, point out what I see and then what I would rather see.
1) Close Outs:
As a province we don't close out to lock down and compete. 99% of the kids that I see close out to show they are defending but really hope you take a somewhat contested shot or hope that their spacing and stance stop you from wanting to drive (at in hard straight lines). Luckily for them kids in NB don't shoot well and have been engrained that contact is foul so avoid it at all costs. Kids need to close out to compete. They need to arrive with the ball, in stance trying to dictate to the offense. Now I don't want to argue contain to pressure vs pressure to contain, I want to talk basketball. Here is the only place that me and most women can agree. We want the person responsible to show up on time, ready and willing to do whatever it takes to make this work.
Here is how to recognize an NB "I hope" close out. The "I hope" close out is square chest to chest at the same height as the offense, though they had to go from high to low to get there. The defender is at least an arm length off with arms down (or up at 45 degree angles as if the offense is going to do anything at a 45 degree angle outside their body and off their shoulders). They are flat footed with knees bent doing their best to look like they are in a stance and a good defender. Now, the hope is that the offense will see the defense there and not shoot it (or a path around the edges of the defender so they have a chane to slide and give ground to keep them from going straight to the rim).
What I would love to see regularly, is a close out that says "Here we go b!&@#, boy did you pick the wrong neighbourhood." Arrive coming from low to high into the reciever at the moment of the catch throwing hands and chin up and at the player to force them to worry about cleanly catching on balance, not playing basketbal or running offense. Be loaded with legs athletic and explosive. Down low with your face on the ball or the waist arms wide ready to dig or deflect. Little foot movements to stay wide but locked in on their tower to be able to react to movement. Square to force east west action but weight loaded to hip turn or bounce if they attack your body. On their shooting hand to prevent a quick release then in and off to compete on the dribble drive. Loud and active demanding they do what you want. Take away the shot, take away the blow buy, take away all but one possible action then work like crazy to take that away too. You know compete and play basketball.
2) Pass and Catch
Forget the gamer kids, the lazy kids, the fat kids, the kids dropped out of sport, the kids who've got too many other interests or opportunities, forget the kids who's situations are wacka doodle. Look at the kids you've got. The ones who are showing up and want to play. They've been so structured in their activity as kids and athletes that they'd have been better off, if instead of playing small ball they'd had an egg toss for 15 minutes a day at recess. They can't pass and catch. Sure they can make the ball come off their hand the way we want and it ends up close enough for the offensive player to end up with the ball, but I'm starting to think quality passing and catching is an art form. If I didn't believe the research says any skill was teachable I'ld be inclined to believe that good passing and catching was genetic and we've some how bred it out of kids.
Here's what I see. Passes that are to a general area or space. Its the equivalent of teaching a kid archery and saying just hit the target somewhere. I mean for me (who's never shot a bow) thats going to be a big deal for a couple of lessons but eventually just hitting the target is a little sad. Bio-mechanics? There is footwork and body movement involved in passing?!? Crazy talk! Kids see passing as throwing to a person. They are not the same thing. I also see recievers catching unathletically and then once they have the ball trying to obtain an athletic position. I see almost zero kids who can move at game speed, in stance, with their hands shot ready and then strongly catch a ball with good footwork. Most seem to be able to get you 1 out of 4. I can catch with good footwork but only if I'm standing pretty straight up and I'm going to have to play with the ball to shoot it. Or I can move around at game speed but can't get myself balanced to catch and use footwork so I'll use a momentum dribble or two before I start playing again.
What I would love to see. Kids who treat passing with as much importance as bouncing the silly thing into the ground. Passers and recievers who act as if the movements, decisions and actions they make are important to their relationships and team success. Use the footwork, pass types and body movements that your coaches expect and accept situationally to hit at speed, in a timely manner, a reciever who's moving low and explosively ready to catch and shoot or catch and stop, or catch to explode in a change of direction. Put every pass into someone's shot pocket so they have a chance to shoot it or at least make a basketball play from the proper position to start. Make sure the reciever is choosing to dribble not that they have to because of the pass or their own footwork/balance.
3) Shot Making:
I wanted to say shooting but thats not true. I haven't been at many basketball games or practices where getting kids or coaches to get shots at the basket was a real problem. The issue is I don't see a lot of quality shots that go in. I see tons of kids taking bad shots or shots from tactically determined positions to increase their chances of making enough to win. I do not see a lot of quality getting the ball in a stance and in a high shot pocket, to a vertical explosion of energy with a consistent extension of shoulders, elbows and wrists into a snap that has teardrops raining through the macrame.
This is tough. I know because shooting is probably the easiest thing to under and overcoach in athletes. Not enough coaching and habits form that become deterimental long term, too much and it becomes mechanical and unnatural so that they never develop confidence and comfort shooting the ball. This is about quality reps. I do about as good a job as most coaches I've seen at getting kids reps in practice time to shoot, and giving them the freedom and confidence to make and take shots. For me like most people though its quality. Volume of poor isn't much better than nothing.
What we need to see is more attention to detail as kids develop. Make every kid a jump shooter not a shot taker. Teach kids footwork and balance. Don't accept poor mechanics early because it works for them since their build won't let proper mechanics work as well. Finally, don't just encourage kids to shoot on their own. Make them shoot when their with you, talk to them about shooting when their not, make them believe that they can and should be great shooters. I would love to see more mini games lost because kids missed jumpshots that looked good, then won because they took a bunch of bad layups but forced enough in. We need all (more?) kids to be able to catch and knockdown. It will make offense better (and easier) it will also force our closeouts to be better and the reciever to be more focused on making a good catch and desirous of a good passer.
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