Over the weekend we had our first tournament. Hopefully I’m not the only one in attendance who found our performance bittersweet, but I guess that’s a part of coaching. I think that coaches should try to remain positive, especially in youth sports, and I was definitely tested this weekend. One thing I know I’m going to have to quickly adjust to is the difference in officiating between seasons. It wasn’t as noticeable going from the Fall AAU season to the Winter Travel season; I was so ‘green’ at that time that I was focused on other things that are now routine and require minimal thought. Problem is that after almost sixty games of fairly tight officiating you get frustrated seeing the “ticky-tack” fouls go uncalled. Shouldn’t be too much of an adjustment for me, but even I can improve from this weekend. Here’s what we did over the weekend:
Game 1 – Wolfpack vs. NJ Shoreshots (4/16/11)
Our first contest as a team, and every one looks excited and ready to go. We hit the court, feel it out, and we'll see where the season takes us.
We are playing pretty good defense and the energy is pretty good, which is a good sign for any coach to start the season. We moved the ball around well and got plenty of great looks at the basket; we just couldn’t find the bottom of the net. 8:30 am games will do that to you. We finish the half down 25-7. No panic, we've only had four practices and so far we're doing the things we need to, the shots just aren't falling, but they will. Sure enough, we keep playing hard and the shots start falling and we make it a game. Unfortunately the hole was just too deep and we lost 47-36. But considering our lack of practice, I'm happy with what took place.
Game 2 - Wolfpack vs. Raritan Roundballers (4/16/11)
Hoping to build off of our second half success, we head into the second game even more energized and awake. It showed, as we jumped out to a 16-6 lead in about 3 minutes. We're holding off their run, and the opposing coach calls in the full-court press. Of course, to add to our limited number of practices, school closures in Wayne forced us to share courts during practice and we've only been working on half a court. The press does its job and we go into half time down by 6. We managed to keep it close, but we couldn't seem to get a stop in the closing minutes and they hit some clutch free throws. We lost that game by a score of 45-39. Again, we're playing hard so I'm still happy and excited about what's taken place.
Game 3 - Wolfpack vs. Brooklyn Panthers (4/17/11)
Excited that the kids were pumped about the first two games, I figured this game would bring more of the same. Oh, what a difference a day makes. After two games Saturday, and knowing we had a game Sunday I had figured any one with a time conflict would have let me know at the games, called, or e-mailed me. So I was shocked when two players failed to show up. Oh well, I took a roster of twelve expecting people to miss so its more of an annoyance than a problem. About 3 minutes in, my center goes down with an ankle sprain. Seems he wasn't the only thing that went down. Energy dropped, defensive intensity dropped, and it was just a nightmarish display. No matter what I said to try to get the energy up from my stronger players, I just couldn't get through. At half time, we were down 25-6, and I was done talking to a wall. Some of the subs had shown they were going to fight, so I turned to the bench and just said first five people who are actually going to play basketball on offense and defense go check in. They went out, fought hard, and we ended up losing 47-30. There is nothing that enrages me more than losing because we didn't show up to play. Let's face it, losing is a part of basketball. The best players lose, so it's not something you can avoid. But you can avoid losing because you didn't play. It's a matter of pride. You don't just roll over and die, you have to go out swinging. We'll address that at practice for sure, and those kids in the second half are going to get tons of kudos.
All in all the weekend gave me a lot to look forward to, but a lot to work on. Time to hit the strategy books and figure out where we go from here. Hopefully this is the last weekend where we don't show up to play, and it was good to see that I've got a few kids who will play their hearts out no matter what the odds. It's going to be a great season.
Game 2 - Wolfpack vs. Raritan Roundballers (4/16/11)
Hoping to build off of our second half success, we head into the second game even more energized and awake. It showed, as we jumped out to a 16-6 lead in about 3 minutes. We're holding off their run, and the opposing coach calls in the full-court press. Of course, to add to our limited number of practices, school closures in Wayne forced us to share courts during practice and we've only been working on half a court. The press does its job and we go into half time down by 6. We managed to keep it close, but we couldn't seem to get a stop in the closing minutes and they hit some clutch free throws. We lost that game by a score of 45-39. Again, we're playing hard so I'm still happy and excited about what's taken place.
Game 3 - Wolfpack vs. Brooklyn Panthers (4/17/11)
Excited that the kids were pumped about the first two games, I figured this game would bring more of the same. Oh, what a difference a day makes. After two games Saturday, and knowing we had a game Sunday I had figured any one with a time conflict would have let me know at the games, called, or e-mailed me. So I was shocked when two players failed to show up. Oh well, I took a roster of twelve expecting people to miss so its more of an annoyance than a problem. About 3 minutes in, my center goes down with an ankle sprain. Seems he wasn't the only thing that went down. Energy dropped, defensive intensity dropped, and it was just a nightmarish display. No matter what I said to try to get the energy up from my stronger players, I just couldn't get through. At half time, we were down 25-6, and I was done talking to a wall. Some of the subs had shown they were going to fight, so I turned to the bench and just said first five people who are actually going to play basketball on offense and defense go check in. They went out, fought hard, and we ended up losing 47-30. There is nothing that enrages me more than losing because we didn't show up to play. Let's face it, losing is a part of basketball. The best players lose, so it's not something you can avoid. But you can avoid losing because you didn't play. It's a matter of pride. You don't just roll over and die, you have to go out swinging. We'll address that at practice for sure, and those kids in the second half are going to get tons of kudos.
All in all the weekend gave me a lot to look forward to, but a lot to work on. Time to hit the strategy books and figure out where we go from here. Hopefully this is the last weekend where we don't show up to play, and it was good to see that I've got a few kids who will play their hearts out no matter what the odds. It's going to be a great season.
