Message to Seniors on Awards Night

“Time and Pressure”

Do you know how a diamond is made? Pure carbon (like you find in coal) is put under tremendous pressure below the earth’s surface. This immense pressure continues for millions of years. The pressure eventually hardens the carbon into diamond. The lesson: the difference between your regular lump of coal and a diamond is only time and pressure.

Time and Pressure is how the earth makes precious stones, how you succeed on the court, and it is how people become the legacy they will leave behind.

To my seniors:

6 years seems far too short a time for us to have worked, accomplished, failed, learned, and succeeded quite so much.

I have spent more time with you then my wife would like, at times more than you have wanted, and more time then is healthy on my concern for each of you. Some demanded more concern than others, but all in many different ways. This concern I possessed was always with an eye on end product. The end of our time together does not mean though that you are an end product.

I had finite time to apply finite pressure. The edges I’ve worn off and mold I’ve pressed you towards are not the goal. You had to simply learn that to improve yourself you must push yourself from where you were, through discomfort, to where and who you want to be. I’ve seen all of you change, whether I think that change is good, bad, or other is of no consequence. What matters is that under time and pressure you changed.

As young men journeying into the world you have inherited the gifts of finite time and control over how much pressure you place on yourself to increase your self worth. Every moment you have is time to change, to grow to become whoever the world will remember.

While touring a coal mine in Cape Breton I learned that there are many grades of coal. Each is unique and serves a unique purpose; men often argue their value or merit. The difference between the lowest grade of coal and the most perfect diamond is not whether one is better or worse. Their value is determined by how rare and valuable others find them. The difference was simply: time and pressure.

My Favorite Basketball Day

I have lots of favorite days for lots of reasons. You give me some parameters and I can come up with a great day that I had under those conditions. I could probably come up with a dozen days related to basketball in hearbeat. The day I want to write about is my most recent Favorite Basketball Day. Maybe I'll wax nostaglic another time.

A few weekends ago we had CP Atlantic in Moncton. What an amazing epxerience! Getting to work with the best young players in the maritimes and some of the youngest most innovative coaching minds in the Country. It was blow your mind ridiculously fun and educational.

Some highlights that made is wonderful:

- The players. From top to bottom a group a hardworking well intentioned kids. Between national level performers and future CIS stars this group really made it easy and fun to coach.
- The lodge. Staying at the lodge in Moncton is always fun. Close quarters, bunch beds you aren't sure are going to make it. Plus all the amazing people all under one roof.
- Canada Basketball the Canada basketball rep that was sent to the boys came over to see us (ours got sick and was MIA) and just wandered around picking coaches minds, offering suggestions and phrasing things in a way to me and the kids that made me want to write it all down.
- Sitting around talking to CIS coaches and seeing the game from their perspective, their issues, their successes. It was eye opening and really lit a fire under me.
- #1 Highlight is Carly Clarke. She is a rock star. The new head coach at UPEI on the women's side not only ran sessions but also was evaluating a potential recruit. Carly allowed me to assist her in the evaluation and even put the player through some drills. This was a experience I'll never forget and totally convinced me that I wouldn't leave my current situation with school and basketball for many, but to help Carly at UPEI I would go in a heartbeat if I could make it work.

What a tremendous weekend. Thanks everyone for reminding me again what is great about this game.

Ladder of Priorities

“You give up the right to do your own thing, when you make commitments to other.” -Holtz
The key to any successful endeavor is to have an understanding of priorities of all the participants and aligning them with the goals of group. A sport is no exception.
In school sports the most frequent conflict arises as the incoming priorities of coaches, parents, and players are in opposition. In order to become successful people must supplant their individual goals for the betterment of the group.

Examine the example below, where you have the incoming priority lists of the three key groups.

Parent's Priorities

1 - Athlete
2 - School

3 - Team

4 - Program

Player's Priorities

1 - Individual

2 - Team

3 - School

4 - Program

Coach's Priorities

1- Program

2 - School

3 - Team

4 - Individual

The chart clearly illustrates where conflict arises. While the overall importance of school can be seen throughout, the coaches’ focus must be on what is best for the largest number while the others are more concerned with the individual.

Most coaches are very considerate of the individual’s needs and wants when making decisions but their bottom line the priorities outlined by their job and position come first. In order to have a successful program the coach must manage and guide their players to subvert their instincts of self first. Team success is a product of having the individuals focused on a group end goal, not short term individual goals.

Convincing players and parents that the program must be your primary focus in perhaps the greatest challenge that facing school coaches.

Nutbrown

I've had very few original ideas lately related to basketball. It may have something to do with me trying to focus on Miss V (Verity  - my daughter). To round out my quota for this month here is list given to me by Coach Daye senior that he took from a meeting with Coach Nutbrown.

FYI: Coach Nutbrown is 3 parts coaching  legend, 1 part urban myth in Atlantic Canada.

Dave Nutbrown is one of the most successful Canadian university coaches to ever come out of NB. Not only did he successfully coach high school basketball in this province but he surveyed programs for many years at the university level. Before looking at the players to recruit, he would evaluate the program at a particular school to determine his willingness to associate with it.
The following criteria (in no specific order) are the issues that Coach Nutbrown looked at when determining program strength:

- The most talented kids possible.
- Desire and ability to play year round (at least part time)
- Won/Lost record vs. strength of schedule
- Championships
- Kids aspiring to play at a higher level
- What effect does it have on the school? Community?
- Immediate + Long Range effects on individuals
- Co-operation of administration
- Community and Parental interest
- Kids having to want to play and play often
- Coaches are a model of expectations at practice
- Practices mimic game intensity and expectations
- Coach willing and able to make the person a better player then he/she wants to be
- Strong feeder programs that mimic the attributes of the high school program.
- The prioritizing of long term goals, ahead of short term goals.

ASU

Arizona State is freaking ridiculous. I'm sure that also means that most large division 1 schools facilities are also nuts, but having never been that up close and personal with a program like that before; I could only imagine. From lockers on computer codes, to whirlpools in  player lounges, to multiple weight and training facilities and all this carved into the side of hill in the beautiful Arizona scenery/weather - wow! It makes you wonder why anyone would play in the North East.

Now to the game itself.

To be fair (and totally biased) I have a huge crush on ASU as a whole right now including their coach Charli Thorne and the entire team. They are as long, athletic and skilled a group of university women I'ld ever seen in person. The atmosphere for even "just a women's game on wednesday night" was ridiculous. I sat in the student band section rocking some yellow threads and was entertained.

Now all that being said they were playing Stanford, and there is no way anyone is beating Stanford. I know they lost to UCONN and may lose again to UCONN but I genuinely have no idea how any women's team anywhere could beat Stanford. They are skilled in frames and muscle masses I didn't know women came in. Their point guard had more muscle then any player for Arizona State. Their posts were flat out scary.

ASU had quick cuts on offense and fancy footwork on defense. Stanford had staggered screens and post ups resembling tanks rolling over some unsuspecting village in a war zone, and on defense they got extra physical.

Coach Thorne was coaching her butt off to make adjustments. Coach Vanderveer sat there until her team would make a mistake on anything then she would get up sub them out, chew them out, and sit back down. The final was 60 something to 40 something, but Stanford decided that is what it would be.

Steve - WOW!!!

So I went to Phoenix which definitely meant that I was going to see the Suns play. Luckily enough they were in town during the week of the conference playing the 76'ers (two canadian NBA players in one building, who would have thought). What a game!

The suns were on fire and Philly isn't very good so it was 20 plus the whole way. Here are some memorable basketball things I took away from the game:

- When everyone is 200+ pounds I have no idea what is a foul inside of 14 feet other then a punch in the mouth.
- Steve had 24 points, 13 assists in 30 minutes of playing time on 8-10 shooting and with 1 turnover. He is always 3 steps ahead, he's reading the defensive and making eye contact with the guy he's going to find after the screen doubles to chase him and they rotate to pick up the slip.
- Communication at this level is art form. No one is calling plays around the court, you'd never get heard in time. Steve's coming down the floor with one hand or the other determining the action and movment by the side he attacks and wether he runs his hand through his hair or wipes it on the front of his jersey. After that it is read and react in hurry.
- When you can finish in the rim in two strides for a 6'10 frame, then allowing people to catch and play single coverage inside of 15 feet is impossible to defend post catch 1 on 1.
- Basketball still boils down to making the offense do something they don't want. Players in position to make shots/plays must make shots or plays.
- 3 Point shooting in transistion is back breaking particularly off a turnover.

Season Reflection #8 - Playoffs

We we certainly spent the last 3 weekends learning a lot about us as team, us individuals and the qaulity of our high school basketball scene province wide.

Regionals

We went to Ormocoto needing to the first game to qaulify and wanting to play well in the seeding the next day. We managed to do both though despite that being our goal the competitior in me is still unhappy with the opportunities we missed.

The first game we battled but I had made the mistake of making my kids think too much. We knew the team we were playing was built around one superstar so we made a point all week of instituting a "sniper" wrinkle which takes one player out of our rotation to full deny the star every where all the time, and creates an auto-double once he catches. We did an excellent job on him holding him to 7 points total, but our attention to him and going away from our regular rotation led us to doing a poor job team wise at stopping the role players on the other team. We won but it ended up being much closer then it should have been. In our other games our most talented players finnally started playing like our most talented and we other then running out of gas at the end of both games to lose by a basket in one and 6 in the other we did a good job. I understand the downside of playing with the pace we do without depth means multiple games in 24 hours are not our friend.

Provincials

Proud sure. Shell shocked definitely. So we did go and represent our school at this level for the first time since 1997 (that year I was a freshmen in university and knew nothing about this school). We also learned a lesson that we had coming all season. You can't play at a level you don't see everyday and practice/play/compete at regularly. We spent the first 1/2 learning what this level was about to the tune of 41-17 at halftime, then came out and brought our game to match it to end up losing 81 - 69. That sent us home so I didn't see anymore basketball that weekend.

Finals

What a great finals experience. I took up some local kids and saw the best the prvince had to offer. I was disappointed in the AA girls final as the individual and team skill became lost in the moment and the game degernated into lots of long shots and the winner was the team that could offensive and defensive rebound more often. The other games were great. In a province that often struggles to shoot the ball these teams all had clearly reached the top of their leagues by being able to shoot it the best of the teams out there. In each of the games that became apparent as the teams at this level were good enough to stop the intial action so secondary shooters or needed to make  shots. The teams that won found shots and made them.

Lessons:

- Keep It Simple Stupid. Don't make adjustments that effect the way you play or percieve yourself.
- If you are going to play is if you have depth, you really need to have good depth to succeed.
- You only play at the level you compete at regularly.
- Getting open shots its effective only if you can shoot it.
- Shooting fixes everything.
- If no one can shoot you better be able to rebound.