Well it’s been a while since I last updated. My job situation is simply far more demanding now than it was for baseball and so finding the time and energy to write, as I’ve said a couple of times, is simply harder than it was before. I assure you I am very committed to this dynasty, however.

Last week I learned that the H’s would not be able to attend our Friday practice. No explanation given, just that they would not be there. Annoying, but what are you going to do? If it happens again I will say something but everyone is entitled to miss here and there, I feel.

I get to the gym and fortunately everything is ready to go. It seems like, finally, our kinks have been worked out in terms of the building. I arrive to the gym 10 minutes early and we have only 3 people there: Gordie, Jack P, and Noah. Dante arrives a couple minutes after I do. I don’t think much of it. But then others don’t show up. Basically I get them going into an extended game of lightening, using continuous rules to make it go longer. At 7:15 Tom shows up. When I call him on being late he cries and shuts down. It’s very strange. I eventually stop trying to figure out what is happening (after a couple minutes).

So I decide to start practice, such as it is, at 7:20. Basically everything I wanted to do? Out the window. Simply doesn’t make sense with only half the team there. I am careful not to be frustrated with the people who do show up. But frustrated I am.

Given the small group I scrap my initial plans. We do some practicing of screens. Since, with the exception of Dante, most of the players are small we work on some overhead passes. Several times we do drills designed to tire them out and then I have them shoot two free throws. The idea being that this is more game like than having them This is something I haven’t done enough of and also not something I did enough of on Monday. I really need to be incorporating free throws into every practice at this point. Shame on me for not doing so.

The big winner of the practice? A game I was going to call “Seven”, but was quickly rechristened “Golf” as you don’t want points. Basically it is a pressure shooting/follow your shot drill. Players shoot from the elbow. If the shot misses and hits the floor the team gets a point. If the player makes a shot and it hits the floor nothing happens. If a team makes three in a row they lose a point from their total. Players must pass the ball as soon as they rebound and only have two seconds to shoot (though in reality most take less time than this). Players are effectively at their outer limits of where they can shoot in this drill as well, which contrasts to what I’d been doing in most drills.

Anyhow this was wildly popular with the team. I’m not sure why as I found it one of the more boring games we’d done. But there you have it. We played a couple of games. Did some free throws took a water break and played a couple more games. I was pleased with how they were shooting, liked the pressure, thought why shouldn’t they have fun with so few of them, and so we ended up playing four games. We then did a 2 on 2 drill where after someone allowed a point they were replaced. This way they were forced to deal with mismatches on defense and to learn how to take advantage of them on offense. I have to say I wasn’t too happy with what I saw. The shot selection was good, for the most part. And there were passes. But, well, it was depressing. It just didn’t look like good basketball. Perhaps my expectations were simply out of whack. But it was kind of a depressing end to a depressing practice.

It turns out I knew way back that Lucas would not be there. But Jack M was an unexcused no show. With most others I’d have been far harsher about it at practice on Monday but with Jack I’m treading such a fine line I decided not to push the point too much.

Monday’s practice will be detailed either later tonight or tomorrow.