tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73784424522743614692011-06-07T23:32:11.240-07:00Details the successes and failures of one coach of youth teams in basketball and baseball. Feedback is always welcome.kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.comBlogger1741100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-20938348895135219602009-01-10T12:16:00.000-08:002009-01-10T12:17:33.129-08:00

Another long break between updates, though that has been a function of schedule as much as anything.We had a very disappointing loss to DF on Dec 7th, 31-18. They jumped out to an early lead and were up after the first quarter by 5. We then closed to with-in 3 at half and 1 at the start of the 4th quarter. Unfortunately we fell apart in the 4th quarter as they scored 14 points, nearly as much

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-82598258988982620342008-12-06T14:59:00.001-08:002008-12-06T14:59:37.453-08:00

It’s been a while since I’ve updated simply because with Thanksgiving we’ve not had a game in a while. We have a game tomorrow, but I thought that it would be a good chance to go kind of give a state of the team a third of the way through the season, especially because I’ve been briefer in my write-ups to date.In alphabetical order:Alex: The kid still hasn’t figure out how to make a shot in a

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-72478418231559892292008-11-23T15:49:00.000-08:002008-11-23T15:50:16.307-08:00

It was a successful weekend.Saturday saw us dismantle GV just as we had last week. I had challenged the team to allow fewer points scored and they did. Mason had a particularly good game scoring 6 points. Mason’s taken only 5 shots this season and has made 4 of them. Guess he has gotten the “take smart shots” message. The game was actually pretty close at half, 14-9. I told the team they

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-79562701438310228262008-11-17T14:23:00.001-08:002008-11-17T14:24:26.013-08:00

The signs did not portend for a good game yesterday. It wasn’t because of Friday’s practice. Friday’s practice was a good practice. We had 7 players suited up, Alex was out of town, Grant was injured (more about this shortly), and Michael was not going to be there. We did our shooting continuous motion and frankly there shooting? Not so hot. We also did a concentration drill, where they had

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-71033603522619261972008-11-11T06:37:00.000-08:002008-11-11T06:41:21.164-08:00

Well another game and another practice are in the books. Fortunately, Sunday saw us win 28-21 bringing our record to 1-1. We played well, with Alex leading us towards victory with 10 points, including 4 of 7 shooting from the line. We were up the whole game, by as much as 10. The real key of the game was transition points. On a fast break we made our shots, they didn’t. Our rebounding still

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-35977147690347424172008-11-08T10:17:00.001-08:002008-11-08T10:17:54.772-08:00

We had a lackluster Friday practice. Unlike our previous lackluster practice, I brought the energy and enthusiasm (making a conscience effort to make sure I did so). I did a quick recount of some things I had noticed while watching film and we then went into our continuous motion. Unfortunately for us the girls who practiced before us ended 5 minutes late, which definitely cuts into a 60

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-17332837235879448072008-11-06T18:08:00.000-08:002008-11-06T18:09:15.426-08:00

Well the long and the short of it is that we lost. And contrary to what I felt like at the time, we lost because we couldn’t make close shots, something revealed when I watched the tape. In particular Alex couldn’t make a close shot to save his life, going 1-16 on the night, none taken more than 10 feet away from the basket. Others faced similar difficulties in making a shot. The good news is

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-38355018597134367222008-11-04T11:02:00.000-08:002008-11-04T11:03:12.130-08:00

Sunday should have been our first game. Because of a work commitment I was getting to the game exactly at the time I had asked the team to be there by (I generally try and be the first person there). I find out that there is no one at the school to lower the baskets or turn on the lights. The coach of the team we were playing at attempted to find another place to play or a way to get someone

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-5760995902604288432008-10-30T18:56:00.000-07:002008-10-30T18:58:03.060-07:00

Week two of practices is in the books. Overall, I was pleased with my coaching this week, compared to last week’s so-so job. That said, I really hope that the team we play isn’t with the same coach (so they’re starting from scratch like I am) and not have a year’s worth of common experiences up on us. While the group understands our offense in theory, in practice, not nearly as much. And

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-75430502779612028242008-10-25T14:39:00.001-07:002008-10-25T14:39:38.865-07:00

Well we are two practices into our season. Sort of. Yesterday, we had only four kids. More on that soon.As I did last year with GL, before our first practice I sent out an information packet. This year I changed it up a bit. I shortened the defensive section, eliminated the offensive section, because of a new system I’m trying there, and added a goal setting page. I think this mailing

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-7299466047004139092008-09-18T11:08:00.000-07:002008-09-18T11:09:30.836-07:00

Well day 3 of tryouts is in the books and my decision has gotten harder. 7 o’clock rolls around and we have 8 players. Players were not exactly early to arrive so at first I was hoping for six, so we could do 3 on 3. Just what I was expecting and just fine with me. At 7:03, after they’ve shot around for a couple minutes, Sammy comes strolling in. 9 is even better than 8 with me, as we then

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-77189000673277857872008-09-17T08:59:00.001-07:002008-09-17T08:59:59.895-07:00

Day 2 of tryouts is in the books. Sammy and Brandon, the two likely cuts from yesterday, weren’t there, leaving us with 11 players. We started off with dribble suicides, which didn’t tell me anything I didn’t know. I have a pretty good feel for who can dribble, Josh foremost among them, and who can’t, pretty much everyone else. After this we did Animal Rebounding, my absolute favorite drill.

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-2695954409146862412008-09-16T14:39:00.001-07:002008-09-16T14:39:32.338-07:00

Yesterday were the first day of tryouts. Going in, I decided that I pretty much liked my plan from last year and would be following something similar this year for Day 1. It was a little nerve racking since 2 minutes before tryouts were to begin we didn’t even have 10 players. Fortunately, 4th grade tryouts ran a little long and so we got a late start with 13 players. I will be taking 10 of

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-71263036366124976222008-09-11T07:18:00.001-07:002008-09-11T07:18:38.261-07:00

So unlike in past years where there was a break between baseball and basketball seasons, this year indoor baseball practices had already begun before basketball ended. This was the difference between doing travel and house league. So after the disappointment of basketball, I’m not exactly firing on all cylinders as we get ready for baseball. And the weather makes things worse. We played our

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-44726090924971984082008-09-07T14:24:00.000-07:002008-09-07T14:25:25.419-07:00

My last post was a rather despondent post about losing Glencoe. It’s been a rocky coaching road I’ve had since then.Long story short, that post proved not to be an overreaction. Later on in the month they played in the HP tournament, where they were knocked out in pool play (recalling that they were the defending champions). I had hoped that was going to be a wakeup call, but instead just

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-38534336661004168472008-09-04T19:25:00.000-07:002008-09-04T19:26:00.405-07:00

An update is long overdue. And perhaps this short update will cause me to write the full explanation of what has happened with my coaching since February. I hate the idea of losing that history, and hate the fact that I can’t go back and reread things in the future to see where I was at then as a coach.This year I will be coaching the 5th grade team for GL. This is the rubber year. I expect,

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-32494568128151930722008-02-11T13:15:00.000-08:002008-02-11T13:22:52.583-08:00

It’s been a while since I’ve written an update on GL except for my short update. Basically Brian had gotten out of control at practice this had a negative effect overall on the team and their concentration. I had not been terribly happy with the team’s performance since winter break except for the MP2 game. We beat LV the following day 34-32, in a game we almost blew. That Tuesday we played

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-12234761216259519062008-01-30T19:25:00.000-08:002008-01-30T19:27:15.937-08:00

If I haven't already I'm pretty damn close to losing GL and I am fairly despondent about that fact.

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-18303642999727474012008-01-27T15:14:00.000-08:002008-01-27T15:15:37.176-08:00

GL had a couple games last weekend that I have not gotten around to writing up. I hope to find time this week to do that.This weekend HP participated in a tournament sponsored by AH. The fourth grade bracket was the largest of the tournament with 12 teams participating. It was structured such that we would play 3 games in pool, with the winner of each pool plus a wild card advancing.Our pool

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-5687590819993008762008-01-21T11:44:00.000-08:002008-01-21T11:45:35.888-08:00

The next day is a new chance as we play MP, a team which I got to see Saturday against NF. I learned that they basically run variations on the pick and roll over and over again and who their 3 best players were. It was good information to have.I had decided that night that after our running out of steam that hockey subs would be the way to go and so that’s what I do. I prepare a group of 4 and

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-66765276334788575782008-01-21T07:50:00.000-08:002008-01-21T07:51:54.283-08:00

After the very satisfying win against MP2, I was excited for HP’s game against WG. I know that they, based on their record, weren’t a great team. We would only have 7 players for the game, with Jack A at a soccer tournament, and family obligations for the twins and Gavin. The good news was that WG wasn’t a big team, except for one player who was just an absolute monster. I knew he’d be a

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-31677735081114568302008-01-19T14:30:00.001-08:002008-01-19T14:30:47.718-08:00

Well I just got home from GL’s game against MP2. The good news was that before our game, NF was playing MP in 4A. MP is HP’s 4A opponent tomorrow so I got some scouting time in.Before the game I decided to go with “hockey subs” for the first half. I figured that MP2 shouldn’t be as good as us and so I wanted to make sure that all of my players got some quality playing time. I decided I was

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-72922318605537400532008-01-18T15:22:00.000-08:002008-01-18T15:24:21.400-08:00

Sorry for the lateness of this update. I’ve been very busy lately and just haven’t had time to write this up. However, with an unexpected stomach bug keeping home from work today I’ve finally got the time.After the behemoths of last night I was a little worried about what we’d face today. Fortunately looking at the team they weren’t nearly as intimidating as their 5th grade counterparts. HP

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-60293344954834485502008-01-15T19:51:00.000-08:002008-01-15T19:53:10.927-08:00

Half way through the season seems like a good time to take stock of where the teams are at. First up is GL. I am doing this from work, so I have no stats in front of me, and am instead doing this based on my recollection, except for what I can get from the league website. Team Overall We stand at 5-3. A record of 10-6 would likely give us the somewhere between the 4th and 6th seeds in the

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-48490370577495728002008-01-15T10:33:00.000-08:002008-01-15T10:36:02.819-08:00

Well it’s been too long since I’ve last updated. I talked in my last post about the need for a break. I made the very consciencous decision to basically ignore basketball for my 3 weeks off. It was wonderful and exactly what I needed.Today I’m going to focus on GL. I hope to get an HP update (which will have less to cover) later this week. We reached about the midway point in terms of league

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-47571011561474116252007-12-19T07:48:00.000-08:002007-12-19T07:49:19.203-08:00

GL went into our game against WM with confidence. We had played them last year in the HP tourney and beaten them with some ease. WM was also was 0-2 entering into the game. Before the game there was a problem with Cameron, who had never received his away jersey, an issue I’d completely forgotten about. Fortunately, in the end it all worked out as Cameron wore Lucas’s jersey from last year,

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-84976315284652076262007-12-16T10:29:00.000-08:002007-12-16T10:30:03.875-08:00

Yesterday was an HP basketball doubleheader: a practice and a game. We started off with practice in the morning. I got an email Friday telling me that Gavin wouldn’t be there that weekend. No explanation, no nothing. Basically I’ve decided that I should view Gavin as a bonus. Hockey is clearly his #1 sport and he makes it to basketball when he can. Frankly I’d rather not have him at all

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-51572264960720635382007-12-13T10:12:00.000-08:002007-12-13T10:14:19.100-08:00

I had a few simple goals with GL this week. We needed to work on a play to break the press, we needed to make some progress on our zone offense, and we needed continued work on man to man defense. Unfortunately with these as our goals it meant that we’d have slightly more drudgery than normal.Monday we did our conditioning and I then taught the press break. Fairly good work was done on it and

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-21788752259415801012007-12-10T15:41:00.000-08:002007-12-10T15:43:53.001-08:00

Today Steve and I interviewed for a position as travel coaches for a U9 HP tournament baseball team. I frankly am NOT excited about the prospect at all. Practices start end of January/beginning of February. We then play our first tournament at the end of April, then on Memorial Day, and then have 3 more in June (so basically every weekend), one on July 4th weekend and then we’re done. I am

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-11550997457763455302007-12-09T14:09:00.001-08:002007-12-09T14:10:41.512-08:00

Yesterday was GL’s big match up against the defending league champions, WK. We played a valiant game, but in the end came up short. The problem with the game has less to do with any players playing and more to do with my coaching.I had written down my planned subs for the first 3 quarters in advance. With my having placed a lot of self pressure to be more competitive than we were when we

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-64984857227400397902007-12-03T15:37:00.001-08:002007-12-03T15:37:44.794-08:00

Yesterday saw a rematch against WM. Saturday at practice we worked on our man defense, both positioning, and avoiding fouling (we did the whole drill with them holding shirts behind their backs so they had to move their feet and couldn’t reach in) via the shell drill and a 1 on 1 dribbling drill. We also worked on our press break. We did that and our passing continuous motion (which we won’t

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-70322455224171530932007-11-29T14:37:00.000-08:002007-11-29T14:38:26.940-08:00

A week of practices has gone by with GL and I’m pretty pleased overall with both practices.Monday saw the start of our one hour practices. The sixth grade team practices before us. I would like to scrimmage them at some point, though admittedly I have a lot less to lose than does Jon (coach of the 6th grade team). With only an hour on Mondays we’re not going to waste anytime and I tried to

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-47919210000803291422007-11-21T08:46:00.000-08:002007-11-21T08:47:20.940-08:00

Sorry that I’m a day late on this. I simply didn’t have time yesterday to write this up.The notable event from warm-up is a warm-up drill that WM did. They had their players stand in an arc around the basket. Two players would have the ball. One would shoot. If he missed whoever the ball bounced to kept it. If he made it the coach passed it to another person. The other person would then

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-79047183777840485222007-11-19T11:47:00.000-08:002007-11-19T11:49:23.465-08:00

Yet another double header day of games for me, and once again GL has the first game. We will be facing PL, the first team of the season who we’re unfamiliar with. In an unusual move for me I ask for the team to be there a half hour in advance. Unfortunately the team isn’t all prompt so we do a bit of a shoot around. Finally, I have the team go into our meeting space and play for them the Zone

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-6259160231245932022007-11-16T11:39:00.000-08:002007-11-16T11:40:37.514-08:00

Well Wednesday’s practice was not a good one. Some of this was my fault, as while I had a list of things that I wanted to accomplish at the practice, I didn’t have a detailed practice plan laid out to give structure. And I definitely didn’t bring my A-Game in terms of handling them. However, some of it was definitely them. Scott, for instance, was absolutely off the wall. And the fact that

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-38915185226386456542007-11-14T09:07:00.000-08:002007-11-14T09:08:16.306-08:00

After a brief respite at home, just long enough to enter the stats for the GL/LS game, it was time to head off to NF. I get to the game a good 45 minutes before the game and find Henry already there. He had thought he could see the B team play, not realizing that we don’t have parallel schedules. By the time the previous game ends the whole team is there. We have time for an abbreviated

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-35007462598819837682007-11-12T16:07:00.001-08:002007-11-12T16:07:28.678-08:00

Long story short, GL won in our game against LS. But it was not pretty at all. We jumped off to a nice 4 point lead at the end of the first. I was pleased. We even extended our lead to six at one point in the second. But then LS started pressing and the wheels came off. The team was just totally unprepared for their suffocating man press and that has to be chalked up as my fault. I said as

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-86123745689021053092007-11-10T14:16:00.000-08:002007-11-10T14:17:12.833-08:00

We had a practice on Wednesday with GL. It was uneventful; hence I have not posted about it. As I will be trying to keep up on both teams as the season moves forward, I will likely just not posting about certain practices in order to keep things reasonable. Especially come January I would guess I would only post about each team’s practice once a week. Information from practice will also find

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-72924817263304985082007-11-06T06:48:00.001-08:002007-11-06T06:48:50.560-08:00

When I arrive at the HP Rec Center I find that Henry and the twins are already there and that Ben has his boot on. I had called his house in the morning and talked to his mom. She says the doctor has said he should wear the boot as much as possible and while he could participate in playing basketball, practicing wasn’t a good idea for the moment. Ben assures me is just wearing his boot for now

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-7191365553410396502007-11-05T12:12:00.000-08:002007-11-05T12:13:56.571-08:00

Well yesterday started off the basketball season. I first had a game with GL and then a couple hours later one with HP. I will be writing them up in separate posts. Let’s start with GL because that was first chronologically.A little background on how the games work. We play four 7 minute quarters. Each team gets 5 time outs (3 full and 2 30 second) per game. There is no press allowed in the

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-57566795120141183022007-11-03T15:46:00.000-07:002007-11-03T15:47:02.897-07:00

Good news was that, for once, I wasn’t exhausted going into practice with HP. However, the practice wasn’t great, wasn’t bad, but not great either. The fun started before practice. Ben shows up in a foot boot. He had previously been under the “don’t do something if you were in pain” order. Ben decided to hear “you can do whatever you want”. He’s a maybe for tomorrow. Josh had been sick but showed

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-71829026278888913252007-11-02T11:06:00.000-07:002007-11-02T11:07:07.151-07:00

I got to practice 15 minutes early and there wasn’t a kid in sight. In fact the first kid, Jack M, showed up about 6 minutes before practice began. Then, all of a sudden, the whole team was there, except Andrew (who was late again). When it looked like the team was all going to be late, I was awfully tempted to name everyone who as at practice on time starters for Sunday’s game.After the

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-50897576371039044642007-11-02T11:02:00.000-07:002007-11-02T11:05:34.990-07:00

Well yesterday was a night full of basketball. It was the night of the first games for house league basketball in HP so I went out to cheer for my players. Unfortunately, due to GL’s practice I could only see about 1 and a half games. Being a house league they basically do mass substitutions every 5 minutes (with two 15 minute halves) which of course limited not only the time I got to see the

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-2446537720485908832007-10-27T14:51:00.000-07:002007-10-27T14:53:11.357-07:00

So these Saturday practices? Seriously bad for my sleep schedule. 9 o’clock rolls around and we’ve got 5 people there on time. I decide we’ll play a game of golf. By the time I give the explanation of golf the 10 who are coming today are there (Jack B was unexpectedly absent). We play a game of golf and it is wildly successful. I just don’t understand what it is about the game that makes it

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-28926682633177671282007-10-26T09:11:00.000-07:002007-10-26T09:12:39.986-07:00

After the tumultuous nature of the practice on Wednesday I was pleased to have a practice run without a hitch last night. I get to practice super early as I wanted to have a chance to just shoot around myself. And to my amazement, waiting in the gym 25 minutes early is Tom. We both just shoot around for a bit and I ask him who he thinks will be next person to come. He takes Cameron. I take

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-71985422692295021412007-10-25T09:14:00.000-07:002007-10-25T09:16:35.954-07:00

Well last night most definitely did not go as planned. As I pull up to the school I see a lot of cars parked and two buses waiting outside. I figure there is a volleyball game going on. This isn’t unusual and I just figure we’ll likely be starting practice a few minutes late. No big deal. Except I go into the gym and find out that it’s the middle school conference tournament. And that they

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-43189733528640788922007-10-20T18:27:00.000-07:002007-10-20T18:29:36.710-07:00

We did not get off to an auspicious start with our HP practice today. At 9:00 we had half a team. Now granted at 9:02 4 players came in, but not the promptness I would have liked. I did start on time though so all those players were marked as late. Gavin came in just as I was finishing my practice introduction. Jack A? A complete no show. We started off with doing our defensive continuous

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-43695350905271589572007-10-18T22:14:00.001-07:002007-10-25T09:18:59.846-07:00

Well we had practice #2 tonight for GL and it was a good practice, the first for me out of the four between the two teams. I’m so excited I was having trouble falling asleep despite being pretty tired today. Part of the reason for this success? I ran them ragged at the start. With the team running its suicides people were tired to begin with. I then did a little talk about our upcoming

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-36119562777122530932007-10-18T13:13:00.000-07:002007-10-18T13:14:42.511-07:00

First GL PracticeDespite Wednesday not being a particularly busy day for me at school, I was surprisingly focused on work and not waiting with anticipating for the practice. I had become seriously distracted by basketball around GL’s tryouts and I was a little worried that with the start of practices that this distraction would return. Fortunately it didn’t.As I get to practice I hear Scott and

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-68998408435975612782007-10-13T14:11:00.000-07:002007-10-13T14:36:06.439-07:00

HP Practice 2Practice 2 is now in the books for HP. The practice was OK and it wasn’t because of the players, it was because of me. The players were attentive, listened well, were eager to learn and have fun. And I came to practice prepared with a full practice plan and a clear idea of what I wanted to accomplish. The fun part was mostly accomplished as we played two dribbling games that most

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-20869945445224649392007-10-12T07:37:00.000-07:002007-10-12T07:38:46.971-07:00

Reader Radii writes:Ugh, 9am practices are going to be hard to deal with. Good luck with that. Also, you moved up a level basically to be coaching this year, correct? Why only one practice a week?Yes I'm coaching in the A level with both my teams. HP players are required to be part of their house league so until January, while house league goes on, HP only has practices once a week.

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-3304212408742269042007-10-06T17:00:00.000-07:002007-10-06T17:01:02.047-07:00

So I had my first practice with HP 4A and it was thoroughly OK. 9 AM on a Saturday is a hard time to be having practice. Things are worse when it’s 80+ degrees outside so the unair-conditioned gym, which didn’t even feature a fan, was hot. The kids are still figuring me out (I only got 1 laugh which is unusual). Finally my teaching was fine, but not great. That’s all the negatives. The

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-68636664098910510582007-10-05T05:20:00.000-07:002007-10-05T05:23:53.792-07:00

Reader Coach R - NJ writes:When you get down to the last 2 or 3 kids who will make the team, its all subjective. You cant predict whether the kids you select there will turn out to be lifelong basketball junkies or if they will become disinterested and go on to play other sports. The players that you didnt select, including some of those who were definite no's could turn around and decide to

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-42971716846122443642007-10-04T11:54:00.000-07:002007-10-04T11:56:21.655-07:00

Last night there was a meeting with the coach of the HP varsity basketball team. It was a good meeting. I got a nice zone offense to try with my 4th graders who don’t have as much ability to make skip passes, the big problem with the zone offense I tried to use last year with GL. From tryouts I think that offense, which I like better, will work this year with GL 5A, but I have a backup now for

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-25518478098264405162007-09-30T06:25:00.000-07:002007-09-30T06:26:21.285-07:00

Well we had the last HP clinic yesterday. For the kids who came to a couple of them, Adam, Ben, Jon (and let me just note that I think I can already tell them apart which is good), Danny, Zack, Henry and Gavin, I have a fairly decent idea of what to expect. That just leaves the Jacks, Jacob, and Josh. Overall it was similar to the other ones in that a lot of time was spent on defensive

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-65922627413240795662007-09-24T18:23:00.000-07:002007-09-24T18:25:24.899-07:00

Izulde writesI'm really glad you went with Jack M. I liked him over Dante and Noah from your initial descriptions though after I saw someone post in the thread on FOFC that athleticism bursts can happen at that age, I was also reminded of one of the goalies on the U-14 team I coached. Very tall but very awkward and unsure of herself at the start of the season. By the end of the year, she was

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-34460633684205417572007-09-23T12:58:00.000-07:002007-09-23T12:59:12.117-07:00

Had another HP clinic today. Attendance was pretty poor overall. Clinics, by their very nature, are focused on fundamentals, which I think is great. However, fundamentals also happen to be the thing I need to work on the most before I coach it. I don’t know what is going to be taught at any given clinic which limits my ability to really do my best. Fortunately I was able to coach rebounding

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-21276052837313504332007-09-20T19:26:00.000-07:002007-09-20T19:31:51.653-07:00

Well it was the night to really see who had what. As I started tryouts, promptly at 8:15, all were there except Dante. We immediately kicked off into our 5 on 5 games. First with the fair teams. Andrew showed that he indeed deserved to make the team, as did Cameron. Jon also felt strongly positive about Dante. Tom, by virtue of his have shown up, made the team. Even better is that during

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-1186007608517995012007-09-19T12:43:00.001-07:002007-09-19T12:48:27.141-07:00

TryoutsBefore the tryouts began I called over each of my players individually from last year and sat down with them. I told them that I was talking to everyone from the teamlast year and this didn’t mean they were going to make, or not make the team. I told them how we were going to move up to A. Could they handle losing more than last year? I also said that we’ll be having some new kids on

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-31191610219198821052007-09-17T21:07:00.000-07:002007-09-19T12:48:09.422-07:00

This is long. Sorry for the length, but a big reason I do this is to help me get my thoughts down and tonight I have a lot of thoughts.Before the Tryouts BeginThe great thing about teaching is that when I’m doing it, I can’t think of anything else. I am completely absorbed in what I am doing. The bad thing is that I have a new position that has a lot more downtime. All day long was killing me

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-82904060626381113972007-09-16T15:53:00.000-07:002007-09-16T15:54:03.865-07:00

Well tomorrow is the day I’ve been anxiously anticipating for quite a while. Tomorrow I have the tryouts for GL. The way it’s working this year is that there are tryouts Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday for an hour each night. In order to be eligible for the team, a player must come to two of the three tryouts. We’ll have a full court and six total baskets to use for the tryouts. Last year’s

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-64396523581179269612007-09-15T19:08:00.000-07:002007-09-15T19:10:19.752-07:00

My post about my GL tryouts will be going up tomorrow, but today is a special bonus post since it was the first of 3 clinics for HP basketball. Today was my first chance to start to put together what my team was going to be like. These clinics are option so of the 11 players on my team I think 8 of my 11 players were there. The clinics were divided into 4th/5th and 6th grade clinics. Today’s

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-39489066059093061642007-09-12T17:55:00.001-07:002007-09-12T19:03:14.880-07:00

Sunday’s tryouts were a little better in that I figured out some stuff to do, rather than sitting around doing nothing. I also wisely (I thought) wrote down the names and numbers of the players to start to get a grasp of who was who. It was funny, the guy who coached the 4th grade team last year that I knew named just about every player there and said “you won’t be having him”. I disagreed. I

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-14869080641781744152007-09-08T18:13:00.000-07:002007-09-08T18:15:58.762-07:00

Basketball season is officially upon us again. Since last season, I had an agonizing decision about what team to coach this year, as HP, came through with an offer for basketball. After a lot of contemplation, I decided that I would do both teams, which everyone agrees is insane. So today was Day 1 of tryouts for HP.Basically it sucked. Not because of the players (more on that shortly) but

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-17458580907436483732007-08-21T17:52:00.000-07:002007-08-21T17:58:17.735-07:00

Basketball starts in about 3 weeks for me. I have accepted a job, being a little mentally ill, at two different Park Districts. I will be returning to the Spartans, henceforth, GL, and will also be coaching the 6th grade B team for HP. I don't know what this will mean for my blog as blogging for one team was a lot, two would be insane. However, as I read back over last season (I am going a

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-11384653242277704242007-06-11T18:48:00.000-07:002007-06-11T18:49:30.483-07:00

Just learned from a player on the JCC team that the rumor is that David is going to play on their team next year. I know he and Jake became friends so that's entirely possible. If it's true, and his brothers follow, I'll be sick. Just sick.

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-47875596482657258492007-06-11T06:37:00.000-07:002007-06-11T06:38:32.844-07:00

Steve and I are at his house doing the lineups, and nearly done with them at that, when we get a phone call letting us know that Cameron will be at the game. We’re very excited by this. It does mean that we have to redo our batting order and lineup, but we make it work. We decide to go with the following batting order:Jeremy Ma, Nick, Cameron, Jeremy Me, Jared, Jeremy F, Austin, Alec, Justin,

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-6026087298655323842007-06-08T01:05:00.001-07:002007-06-08T01:05:47.228-07:00

Saturday begins our playoffs. We were fortunate to receive a bye, as the brackets are done randomly. There is a good news bad news aspect to that, however. If we lose our first game we’re out of the playoffs. Teams that had a first round game get a consolation game. The good news, of course, is that if we win the first game we either get to play in the championship game or in a 3rd/4th place

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-71994455269259488142007-06-06T07:49:00.000-07:002007-06-06T07:50:19.853-07:00

Our last game of the regular season was a good one and so I think we’ll go inning by inning for this one.Pre-GameOne of the schools had an event last night and of course we have three players from that school so we had just nine players, with Sean, Jeremy F, and Noff all missing. We decided that we were going to give Jared the chance to go two that he didn’t have on Saturday and also we wanted

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-34997685738833538812007-06-03T19:19:00.000-07:002007-06-03T19:21:47.240-07:00

As I’ve previously mentioned, I’m a pretty big fan of The Wages of Wins (WoW) which suggests that scoring is overrated in the NBA, and things like rebounding and shooting efficiency are underrated. Incorporating these findings is something I try and do with the stats I keep for basketball. I very much try to use objective measures tempered by qualitative judgments. So, for instance, Jack P

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-40830344109506019832007-06-03T08:53:00.000-07:002007-06-03T08:54:02.183-07:00

Well it seems fitting that after one of our best games of the season we come out and have trouble. The pitching was about what I expected. Well Nick in the first let up more than I’d have expected but that was due to Matt S catching him more than anything. Alec actually did better than I was expected and settled down after the first few batters. He was also helped out when Noff made a great

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-52552256747690037512007-05-30T22:13:00.001-07:002007-05-30T22:14:16.315-07:00

Another day another victory. The most remarkable thing about today’s game was the fact that it was a shut-out. A shut-out in little league around here is truly a rarity. Now really a lot of that was luck. In the second inning Alec could not get the ball across the plate to save his life. However, the other team ran on passed balls and we got two outs at the plate that way. Alec didn’t

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-73604971867922977802007-05-30T06:08:00.001-07:002007-05-30T06:09:11.144-07:00

Well we finally came together and did some hitting winning 8-4. We were never seriously in jeopardy after a big 5 run first inning. Now granted we left runners in scoring position in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th, all with less than 2 outs. That was frustrating. Still it was good coasting to a nice easy win. Steve and I did two things that I think helped contribute to our big day. First, we didn’t

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-70952624458314036202007-05-27T05:48:00.000-07:002007-05-27T05:49:28.426-07:00

Well Wednesday was another disappointment. We had to call the game after only 4 innings because we were blown out. The problem is that we scored only 1 run compared to the many we scored the last time we played the A's. Sure there were fielding miscues and mishaps. Sure our pitching could have been sharper, but that doesn’t get around the fact that we scored 1 run. Our bats have just died.

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-87456737335127881972007-05-23T14:53:00.000-07:002007-05-23T14:54:19.359-07:00

Yesterday’s game was another disappointment. We had 3 hits in four innings of play. Now granted we had several more walks and did score some runs, and we had a double play on a flyball to the outfield with the bases loaded that ended the inning. However, we simply did not produce the kind of offense we needed to. Matt S did not look well in his pitching and had to be pulled in favor of Noff

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-58321182650937989402007-05-16T19:38:00.000-07:002007-05-16T19:40:54.299-07:00

We were rained out of our game yesterday and practice today. With no game on Saturday we're off until next Tuesday.

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-24022588295309692942007-05-13T17:36:00.000-07:002007-05-13T17:50:25.170-07:00

Travel Basketball ConvergenceAs we’re warming up before the game, who do I see but Dante, from my travel basketball team, there for his soccer team. We didn’t have much time to say more than hello. He did ask me if I was going to coach the team next year and I said “I don’t know” which is pretty much a lie because I absolutely plan on going back.Then during the game, Eric came up to me and we

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-39876675030980542402007-05-10T06:53:00.001-07:002007-05-10T06:53:55.700-07:00

Setting the LineupThis year’s lineup making is so much easier than last years. The fact that we have several kids who are somewhat competent catchers helps. As does the fact that we have several kids who can play well at pretty much any position we put them at. 11 players is also easier to schedule than 12 players, though we could soon be back to 12 as Justin’s finger is just about healed.

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-76907785515481726622007-05-09T08:18:00.001-07:002007-10-25T09:18:59.849-07:00

After our win on Wednesday at dinner Steve and I discussed a few areas we’d like to focus on for our next practice, which was held yesterday. We came up with four major areas: throwing, sliding, bunting, and game awareness. One good thing is that the practice field we were assigned to had another unused field and so rather than share the field with a team we went and used this unused field,

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-43873001271743780242007-05-03T07:34:00.001-07:002007-05-03T07:34:55.901-07:00

Pre-GameSteve and I had done the lineups for the game the night before. We went with, again, six pitchers. I made a crucial mistake. The twins told me that they would be at the game right on time or a little late. And we still scheduled them to pitch in the first inning. This would prove to be a mistake. We also scheduled Matt S to pitch in the 3rd, rather than 1st or 2nd, since his dad had

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-71457754627135589622007-05-01T19:31:00.000-07:002007-05-01T19:32:43.461-07:00

Steve and I had decided that we wanted to see 6 different pitchers for this game, after going with the typical 2-2-1-1 setup last game. It was time to see some new pitchers, so we decided to give Jared another chance, and also to give Nof and Matt S their first chances to pitch. We were careful to have a good pitcher ready to come in for relief if need be. When we get to the field we realize

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-9279621333854334592007-04-30T07:21:00.000-07:002007-04-30T07:23:22.805-07:00

We are facing the Cubs today. We had practiced with them on Tuesday and they were also 2-0 entering the game. However, they’d allowed almost no runs in their first few games, which was more impressive, to me, than their victories.We’re the away team so we’re up to bat first. We get a couple of base runners with two outs but Alec ends the inning with a strikeout. Jeremy Ma throws a great

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-87849127214492821662007-04-26T17:52:00.000-07:002007-04-26T17:53:03.813-07:00

Saturday AddendumOne thing I don’t think emphasized enough was how different I am as a coach this year compared to last year. I see how Steve is coaching this year, commenting nearly relentlessly and I know I did almost as much of that last year. When we started to unravel a bit, Steve was having a difficult time handling his frustration, and I know I felt similarly last year. I really think

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-58618055347305001702007-04-21T14:09:00.000-07:002007-04-21T14:10:20.294-07:00

Pre-GameSteve and I were hanging out the night before and so we ended up making the lineups Friday night. Jeremy Ma was going to be unable to attend since we was going to the Bulls/Heat playoff game, lucky guy. We decided that we wanted to continue trying lots of different kids in different spots. We also agreed to give Jared and Austin a chance to pitch. All of our kids would see three

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-68748888978545894462007-04-18T06:39:00.000-07:002007-04-18T06:42:00.436-07:00

Pre-game Practice Steve talks to Kevin around noon and learns that we will not be having a practice. Oh no. We’ll be having a game. Do we have any idea who our pitchers our catchers are? Nope. Steve and I decide we’ll have a mini-practice before the game. The game is scheduled for 5:45. Steve and I make some phone calls and ask the kids arrive between 5:10 and 5:15. Steve and I decide to

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-91480564791958709022007-04-11T09:43:00.000-07:002007-04-11T09:44:08.334-07:00

We’re back for another season. I am hopeful that this season will be better than last year. I have a lot more confidence about coaching this year. Since basketball has ended I’ve invested a bunch of time, just like I did last year, into improving my coaching and I really hope it’s going to payoff. Quick note: I need to still name this dynasty. Nothing as obvious as last year’s Little Little

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-38298024620979145212007-04-08T13:57:00.000-07:002007-04-08T13:59:36.906-07:00

Well yesterday should have been our first practice but it was canceled due to the cold. I expect Tuesday and Wednesday, based on the weather forecasts, to be canceled due to some combo of rain/cold/snow. It seems as though our season will just never begin.

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-82215910756977874662007-04-05T12:18:00.000-07:002007-04-05T12:25:11.633-07:00

I have now finished posting all of last season's entries from baseball, just in time for this season's start (hopefully on Saturday).Anyhow last night we had the coach's meeting for baseball and I ran into Luke's father. Turns out that Luke is having an awful AAU experience and when baseball starts Luke is going to be pulled from the team (amazing since Luke doesn't even play travel baseball,

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-18041673484445679082007-03-28T19:25:00.001-07:002007-06-03T19:23:43.329-07:00

General ReflectionsSo the season was a success by almost any measure one would use. We won the tournament championship. The evaluations by both players and parents were overwhelmingly positive. And I’m proud of what was accomplished. Now in fairness the coach always looks better when the team is winning, but I still think overall I did fairly well.The highlight of the season for me was,

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-28577042812800789212007-03-27T06:22:00.000-07:002007-03-27T06:23:42.812-07:00

Most of the team had gone out to lunch together, but I stuck around at the gym. Let me just say now that the gym was just beautiful. It had wonderful hardwood floors and the officiating was top notch. Our game was supposed to start at 12:15 and I foolishly told my team to back at the gym by 11:45. That was WAY too early and since the game on the championship court (which even had an announcer

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-41672086417743422662007-03-25T10:33:00.001-07:002007-03-25T10:33:49.187-07:00

We were feeling good. The team was supremely confident, already asking about the championship. I reminded them we had a very tough, but winnable, game in front of us. I had a brainstorm driving home the day before. We needed more action at point guard when Jack M wasn’t going to be in. I had decided not to start Jack because he had missed the day before (for understandable reasons but still

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-80048986128182273232007-03-24T12:54:00.000-07:002007-03-25T10:34:19.671-07:00

We have our first playoff game against NF1. This team finished in 7th place, despite, I learn, being made up of 3rd graders. I had told the team at our last practice that we would be doing hockey subs for the last time. After that game I told them that I would be making no promises about playing time. We would be having 8 players for the game as Jack M had to play for his AAU team. Brian,

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-167506040927899992007-03-24T12:00:00.000-07:002007-03-24T12:01:06.667-07:00

Whoops! I forgot all about our game against the other JCC team. This was the Monday after President’s day and would be the last full game David would play for our team. The team was looking forward to it since there were 4 or 5 kids on the JCC team that live in the same city as our team. One of the kids on the team was even a kid who tried out for our team and didn’t make it. We get to the

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-20957066598269998632007-03-23T08:35:00.001-07:002007-03-23T08:35:50.954-07:00

After our double header our next game is against MP2. We completely dismantle them and based on their poor showing of sportsmanship at the HP tourney, I let the team score 50 for a final score of 50-31. Not sure what got into me, but there you go. We then have a weekend off, because of President’s Day. That is when a bit of drama arises, though it could have been far more disastrous than it

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-57273290681846198882007-03-22T08:35:00.000-07:002007-03-23T08:36:42.553-07:00

Ok it’s time to bring this to some closure. My plan is to somewhat rapidly go through the regular season, do some more detailed description of the playoffs, and give some overall season reflections. I am not quite sure why I stopped writing, so I’m going to blame the month of February which is just a nasty month and often seems to sap the energy out of me. When we last left we were facing a

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-14971753901344027222007-01-29T06:41:00.000-08:002007-01-29T06:42:03.582-08:00

For some reason I jumped ahead an hour and instead of leaving at 12:40, I left at 11:40. I had spent the morning playing the Europa Universalis 3 demo through again, so it was a nice time to sit and do the tournament summary wrap-up that I had planned on doing. The HP team got there very early. I saw one of the players I knew as I was walking in and I asked how they’d done in the third game of

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-84286888529824635352007-01-28T14:56:00.000-08:002007-01-28T15:01:57.666-08:00

After the game and into Monday’s practice the big question was when did I know that they would be a good team and did I really think that we’d win the tournament the whole time. I said that except for the first few minutes of the JCC game, when it looked like we were just too tired to play any more, I really believed that we had an excellent shot at winning the tournament. I also told how I

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-83761038069869433392007-01-27T08:54:00.000-08:002007-01-27T08:55:59.528-08:00

We had just won a game now a few minutes later we had to be ready to play for the championship. The JCC team had come over and watched at one point. A couple of parents did the same and actively rooted for us. It was clear they wanted their re-match and they were going to have it. As the Karzen game wound down I asked Brian how much time we’d have to warm up. He replied 5 minutes. In

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-41842025091911392942007-01-26T15:50:00.000-08:002007-01-26T17:39:57.947-08:00

For Lunch we went to a well known hot dog/hamburger place in HP. Scott had suggested we go to Hooters (which considering there isn’t a Hooters anywhere near by was a particularly amusing suggestion), while Brian was pushing hard core for Wendy’s. However, my suggestion won out when I said that if we went there they’d be able to see what I looked like when I was 10 (I played on a basketball team

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378442452274361469.post-90638595035179967582007-01-25T17:43:00.000-08:002007-01-25T17:44:41.931-08:00

Following our dramatic last second victory over the JCC we looked at the following as our “road to the championship”:12 game versus WM – The team is in the A division and was winless when we played them.If we won that we’d have a 4 o’clock game against the winner of the other pool, which was a team called Karzen. Basically they were a group of players recruited by this guy named Karzen from a

kidscoachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12121376027479101972noreply@blogger.com0