Bigger and Better

We have created a new website called "Melrose Girls' Basketball" at Melrosegirlsbasketball.com to spread the wealth. The site will provide details on the Melrose program, including schedules, rosters, game results, and so forth.

The site will emphasize what's out there for Melrose girls basketball, and is specifically not designed to promote individuals.

I've put up a new article on the blog contained within.

Only One Way to Get Better

Not a lot to say. Form leads to function.

Jeff Mate' has created a new website...Melrosegirlsbasketball.com. Easy. I'll be contributing and that'll start soon....

Cross-Sport Characteristics

Athletes benefit from playing multiple sports. Playing helps develop two of our key tenets, FITNESS and TEAM SPIRIT. Sport-specific skills require separate training.

In this month's Lacrosse Magazine, the author enumerates some important qualities for superior athletes.

• Leadership
• Consistency
• Mental Toughness
• Big-Game Presence
• Poise

As our players gain more experience and develop, we will be looking for 'court leadership'. A leader can help inspire the players around her, and transmit high energy play. Consistent players will be able to bring reproducible skills (e.g. rebounding, blocking out, defense, passing), even when some parts of their game (e.g. shooting) might be off. Mental toughness is partly innate, but players who know they have prepared can lean on that preparation in the critical moments. 

We look forward to a terrific year with both teams. 

Hat tip: Jeff Mate'

We Hold These Truths...

Great notes from Butler coach Brad Stevens...the intersection between basketball and life

Highlights...

In 11 years, never had a player in the program that worked his tail off on the defensive end that wasn’t a great teammate/student

Your team is never too far away from being great, and never too far away from being bad

Goals for transition defense
Stay in front of the basketball
Protect the basket
Pick up the basketball
Find good shooters

Tony Dungy example from his new book: Concept of “regenerative leadership”  Older players spreading the culture to the younger players, and the younger players continue the cycle when they become older players

Awareness can allow a marginal athlete to become a very good defender—more so than a great athlete with marginal awareness

Rated PG

Steve Nash has words of wisdom for point guards. Understand that point guard is the hardest position to learn and the hardest position to teach. I had my daughter play point guard as a middle schooler because I wanted her to learn to think 'pass' first.

Worth a look... remember, we will always emphasize that what makes a complete player is what they can do for those around them, not just themselves.

Giving Back

We want our players to recognize that they succeed with the help of players that have gone before them and that we will ask them to help contribute to younger players' development over time.  They should expect to be leaders on the court and in the classroom, to have high character and high competitiveness.

We recently held tryouts for the Winter season and have created two teams, including a second team of combined 5th and 6th grade players. The latter will also play a River Valley schedule and selected Middlesex League games. Both teams are practicing hard outside working to become better players.


The 6th Grade 'A' Roster for 2010-2011

Post Players (3s, 4s, and 5s)

• Victoria Crovo
• Katie Donovan
• Bella Federico
• Leonora Ivers
• Lauren Joyce
• Kat Torpey

Perimeter Players

• Colleen Denning 
• Shannon Jones
• Kaitlyn MacInnes
• Anne Morrison
• Caroline Nolan
• Rachel Pfeiffer

Spacing: a video example

Pay the Price

There are no shortcuts to improvement. Sad to say. If basketball becomes important to you, you will need to spend time practicing just as you would to play an instrument, dance, or become a great chess player. Malcolm Gladwell talked about "10,000 hours" in one of his books, as the time needed to become expert at something.


Here's a video that discusses improving at ball handling.

Remember the five offensive skills:

• Ballhandling
• Passing
• Shooting
• Pivoting
• Rebounding

We want to emphasize the importance of a good process (practice), using good physical technique, and an improving UNDERSTANDING of the game itself. 

For the new players, here's a little video from the 2004-2005 Melrose High season. You will see the physical play and toughness that these girls demonstrate. 

Building Your Skills

We emphasize three areas within the Pyramid of Success.

• Skill development
• Conditioning/athleticism
• Team Spirit

Players have to learn five general skills in basketball.

1. Dribbling
2. Passing
3. Shooting
4. Pivoting
5. Rebounding

The two most key parts of rebounding are 1) positioning and 2) desire. And a big part of "positioning" means blocking out, also known as boxing out or screening out.

Great Thoughts for Basketball Coaches

From Coaching Toolbox

Excerpts:

Young players desperately need to hear this: “YOU’RE ENTITLED TO ABSOLUTELY NOTHING IN THIS GAME.”

No excuses

Are you in your players’ top 3?  If your players were to name their 3 most impactful people in their lives, how many lists would you be on?

New Season to Come

First, I realize that we are no longer the 5th grade travel team, and I'm not sure if I can change the title. Second, congratulations to the players selected for this year's team. We are confident that you will have fun, learn a lot about basketball, and have success.

General rules:

• One, two, three. Family, school, basketball. We expect you to concentrate while you are on the court, but family and school take primacy.
• Communications. If you have other obligations, please let us know. 
• Expectations: Play hard, play smart, play together, have fun. 
• Bring red and white shirts to practice for scrimmage purposes.

Goals:

• We're here to help you develop as basketball players and individuals. You are role models and many of you will be leaders as you move forward in your lives. We expect you to learn to take responsibility for your actions. 
• We want you to enjoy and to learn the ins and outs of basketball, to have a comprehensive understanding of what we do and why. You won't have to learn overnight. The inventor of basketball remarked, "Basketball is an easy game to learn, and a difficult one to master."
• I would like you all to have the ability to coach players by the time you've finished high school. 
• We expect you to reflect our coaching philosophy: team play, aggressiveness, and toughness. Success breeds confidence, and confidence breeds success.
• Great players are great because of what they do for the team. They make the players and the people around them better; they know how to win and stop up in the big moments. No bad teammate is ever a great player. 

Coaches don't make great players. Great players make coaches successful. Every player who becomes highly skilled does so because they develop the individual skills, athleticism, conditioning, and team spirit that great players show. We can help you but we can't help you as much as you can help yourselves by practicing. 

They're Called Coach

http://www.coachingtoolbox.net/filingcabinet/theyre-called-coach.html