WNBA Finals

  The WNBA finals was a blast to watch. What a treat for the offseason. The Storm and the Dream each fought a tough battle. After any pass every player went into triple threat unless they had an open shot. The series was a showcase of fundamentals performed by the best ballers in the world.

Ball Tough Drill.wmv By University of Windsor Head Coach Chris Oliver

Encouragement

Our youth need encouragement to gain confidence to play to the next level.It motiveates them to compete beyond the comfort zone they may develope during off season or summer vacation. I like to see players up against tougher opponents and playing their hearts out to perform against and with the challenge presented to them.
The season for tryouts are not far away,just a couple months. As the old saying goes. If your not practicing now, someone somewhere is. I mostly motivate kids to play more. Off season should be more than NBA 2K11. Motor skills and basic fundamentals, agility drills and general fitness training should be performed at a regular basis. It only makes sense.
This advice is mainly for the one sport athlete. Others are performing fall ball, football, volleyball and they have performance training to go along with their programs.
Ten, twelve years ago there were basketball hoops poping out all over in neighborhoods across the country. It seems to have diminished somewhat. I would like to see a comeback of that. STREETBALL doesn't have to just be for the tour folk.
Put a basketball a basball and a football on your curb and see which one a kid will pick up. Mostly it will be the basketball since it's the only game you can play by yourself.

Ankle Injury Prevention

Recently the Detroit Pistons banned a shoe from being worn by team members. They had numerous ankle injuries in players wearing the Nike Hyperize shoe. It's advertised as a super light weight basketball shoe. I looked at the shoe and it's stylish and see how many would like to wear it. Light weight design may attract players to wear it. The strength training coach at the Pistons suggested the ban because it has no ankle support on the sides of ankle or no padding as some shoes offer.  
I decided to investigate by reading forums and discussions on ankle injury prevention in shoes. The strength training coaches had some great ideas on how to pick a proper shoe for playing basketball. Playing the game involves side motion and cutting. Landing sometimes involves injury especially when on top of another players foot. That injury may be unavoidable in what any shoe has to offer. But the cutting effect requires not only good shoes but good healthy ankles aswell.
The best discussion about the shoe came from a strength and conditioning coach who said to put on the shoe your interested in and bear weight on the heel. Move your heel outward and if your heel goes outward and the bottom of the shoe stays or bends inward toward the other leg it will be cause for injury. That made sense to me.
Others discussed the training efforts by teams. One in particular noted to train the ankle without shoes for a short period after practice. The basketball shoe hinders the full movement while training to avoid injury. Take off shoes and perform forward lunges, reverse lunges and side lunges. Most players put their ballin shoes away after practice anyway and makes for a perfect time to build strength in that area.
I know at Humboldt State University they demand every player on the floor wear ankle braces during all games and practice. This has cut down on ankle injuries since they implemented that idea.
One should always lace up properly. Buy a pair that fits well. The foot should not float around. It will also avoid blisters on the forward and reverse motion during landing and performing jump-stops.

Youth Basketball

Hi, I'm Carlo Dorigoni an AAU coach. There have been many arguments about AAU basketball not properly training the player. Some are right with the argument because many teams don't cover fundamentals in their program. Some teams only focus on offense with no real concern for defense. Truly, I've only witnessed just a few teams in AAU that do this. Today, more and more school generated teams have gone towards a solid teamwork ethic. They develop the players that may contribute to the program. My AAU teams won't begin for a few more weeks so I've been catching a ton of games at many levels. I see some pretty good coaching overall with the exception of a few school coaches only concerned about their offense. At practice the concern is only for the starters. Run the offense with the bench players only playing defense. No fundamentals are covered with these teams and are easily displayed when the team hits the court for a game. Conditioning is only done as a punishment instead of explained as the true benefit of preparation. Do you notice this at times? Hopefully your child isn't on such a team. His or her only hope is the following season they get a different coach. In AAU, my teams focus most of the practice with fundamentals, then going into skills. We follow with a little offensive sets, blobs and slobs. The rest of practice is focused on defense. We play 2 0n 2, 3 on 3 and 4 on 4. Kids love to scrimmage. If it's a good practice I like to reward them with a short scrimmage. At end of practice I'd like to take the final 5to 10 minutes for strength and conditioning. Stretching is included as part of the program. This is proven to reduce injuries.

A New Look & Thanks

This year we gave thanks to our players and sponsors by putting our new logo on sweatshirts and tee-shirts. Our sponsors were printed on the back with "The D is on the Court". We use that saying to answer why we spell Humboldts wrong. We use Humbolts to incorporate the lightning bolt. All of our players parents pay their way for our costs to have a team. Our sponsors help us make the program successful with donations which helps the needs of the team. Gym time, balls, uniforms, tournaments can be costly. We could not continue without their help.
Thanks to all for yor support:
RAO Construction, Humboldt Bay Packers, Shaw Peterson Insurance, Steve Wills Trucking & Logging, Hensell Materials, Solo Sports, Sport & Cycle and Design Engraving.
Through the years we have built many relationships with coaches, players and fans traveling to other communities displaying good sportsmanship.

2010 Boys and Girls Basketball

This year we will have the girls basketball team as usual and play at the JV or varsity level. We will play in the local spring league and travel to other communities.
Last year we put together a boys team for just the spring league. We had some boys from Winship Middle Middle School and 2 from Mckinleyville. We will be looking for a few boys from Zane 7th grade school this season. Last year we had 9 players and all worked around some wild schedules to make games and practices. While spring league basketball is going on, so is little league baseball and soccer. We mananged somehow.

Student Athlete's on the web

A picture of Jordan in his junior year.
Some market themselves by sending a short bio and some game film to different campuses to generate interest to play further in sports. Some join NCAA search groups to help them. Some charge a fee to get your name out.
A local high school player at Arcata High in northern California has produced a fine website to get his name out. This may be the way of the future to get recruited at the college level. I've watched Jordan Semple play and grow since he played middle school ball. I believe his work ethics on the court and in the classroom will help him move on to the next level. Here's his link:
www.jordansemple.net

A Work in WHAT !!!

This past few years the media has come up with some dandies to express themselves so the audience would respond with "Gotta listen to this " or Gotta read that". I try to leave the rants I have off my writings but can't get this off my mind.
In the late 90's they came up with everything being an event. I've attended many gatherings that would be considered an event. The media decided an event was anything that happened. A windy day, car wrecks, copy machine ran out of ink, stuff like that. But when they called a full moon an event, I about lost it. They not only made a big deal of having a full moon, they called it a LUNAR EVENT. Holy cow, shut er down, we gotta see this. From the ground looking up we see 12 to 13 full moons a year. Hardly a big deal when ya add them up thru life. They are beautiful though.
Another word that was abused this past decade was MENTOR. Growing up it came to me that someone really special only deserved that honor. All of a sudden, everyone's a mentor. Sure it's nice to donate time and teach, take a person under their wing but to call them all a mentor is out of line. It took the true meaning out of something very special.
This is a lead up to one phrase that creeped up the last couple years.
"A WORK IN PROGRESS"
I've noticed if a team losses by 7 runs, 30 points or 3 touchdowns, you recieve the title of being a work in progress. That's sad. What happened to the reasons why they may have lost. A coach may say this while being interviewed not wanting to ellaborate on the teams effort. Could be a nice way to tell the reporter get away from me. As often as it is used now, I don't continue reading the article or pay attention to the tube. Maybe I enjoy what future plans a coach might have to improve the team. Every team will lose sometime or another. Some play against tough competition or entered a league beyond skill level. I just like that everyone at the middle school or high school is trying their best to play to their full potential. That's all any coach or anyone should ask for.

The Season is Here

Most fans, players, parents and coaches can't wait for this time of year. Basketball Season is to live for. Right now it's raining with the wind blowing hard making indoors the place to be. Nothing like being inside a gym during these conditions. Excited to see happy people dressed warm cheering for their teams. Chili Dogs, nachos and real salty pop corn in the air. I can skip a hot dog at a game,but chili dogs get me every time. Gotta have one.
Here in Eureka, middle school girls basketball season is over. I attended over a dozen of those games. Looks to be a few stars in the making.
My son is in the 7th grade and his team has been practicing every day. Next week is a practice game and following week begins league. Can't wait.
Already, I've seen a couple Men's and Women's games at Humboldt State University and a game apiece at College of the Redwoods. Caught a few JV Girls games at local high schools, some boys Varsity Tournaments and a little bit of girls varsity games. It's been busy driving from gym to gym. Hectic but fun.
I devote most my time watching JV girls play at the moment, that's the level of basketball I'll be coaching in 2010. The Humbolts Team will resume the last week of February playing local and traveling as an AAU Club.
Yes, I admit, I've been scouting my own players. Liking what I see for the most part there are some areas needing to be addressed. New offenses are in place that can be confusing to some. That will come along. Basic fundamentals have been lacking a little and I'm hoping as the season can progress, they work out those kinks. Watching some of the other teams are the same. A little time everyone will begin to jell, I'm sure. Been some stars too, many recieving MVP and All Tourney Awards.
Last year I assisted with my son's 6th grade team and we put together an AAU club for 10 games locally. I'm considering doing it again for the local league only.
With the girls, I have one concern. This will be the year some of the players get drivers licences. I worry about that. In the past I lost players to the independance of driving. Some will want jobs.
Some will take on too much to make room for AAU basketball. It's at this point when a player makes the big decision. The first drivers licence brings along that false sense of maturity.
You know what I mean..."Bye Mom, I'm off to live my life...back at 11." As a teenager I abused my option to drive. Came home late. Any excuse is a lame one when operating something that gives you the sense of freedom. The car becomes worthless when your keys are grounded.
I've got a pretty level headed bunch. We'll have a team regardless.
SEE YA ALL AT THE GAMES.