Life's Lessons

We talk about as a team not focusing on what just happened, but moving forward and making the next moment better. We say as a team that if the score is 30-30 and you commit a turnover, its ok, because if we defend and get it back its still 30-30. This is an attitude I hope you all take into life as well as basketball. Its not about the mistakes you make its how you react to them. Each decision or action in your life should become a learning experience. What this means is that whether it be a grade, game or action in your personal life you should reflect upon it. If you get a good or bad grade you should look back and say "how did this happen." If it was good, think about making your preperation for that subjects tests a routine. If a grade is bad, you should reflect upon what you can do differently to prevent this from happening again. The moral here is dont be afraid to make mistakes. Mistakes are a part of learning, however DONT REPEAT MISTAKES!

“The difference between school and life? In school, you're taught a lesson and then given a test. In life, you're given a test that teaches you a lesson.”

Your homework for the weekend is to respond to this blog. I want to reflect upon something you want to change and post what it is, as well as, how you may try to change it. There is no practice this Saturday. I ask that you spend sometime with your family if you can. If you have other plans your job is to do something nice for your family. This can be something as little as doing a chore your parents usually do without being asked. So when your home get out the vaccuum, and vaccuum the living room. You can do all the dishes after dinner. If you really want to treat your family, get up early and make them breakfast! Remember an act done without being asked is always more appreciated.

Nutrition

After Saturdays practice and observing you guys in the cafeteria it has come to my attention that you need information on the proper diet for an athlete. Now when you hear the word diet what do you think that means? Most people associate the word diet with losing weight. This association isnt necessarily true. The diet for a young athlete contains higher levels of calorie intake. Since you are young your body needs nutrients for it to grow. Being athletes we are breaking down these nutrients when we compete, which means we need to be taking in even more nutrients than kids not participating in sports. You may often hear your parents talk about cutting fat out of their diet but this doesnt apply to the young athlete. YOU NEED FAT IN YOUR DIET! This may sound crazy but its true, because active muscles quickly burn through carbs and need fats for long-lasting energy. Like carbs, not all fats are created equal. Now this is not an invitation to run home and buy a bag of Doritos and chow the whole thing down!!! I repeat, This is not an invitation to run home and buy a bag of Doritos and chow the whole thing down !!! (haha) This article talks about all the nutrients your body needs and how much. It tells you what types of fats you should consume and it also talks about what we should eat on a game day. I would really like us all to read this article and take it seriously. We have an issue as a whole team of improper diet. Some of us may not eat enough some of us may be just eating the wrong things at the wrong times. We will discuss this article. Read through all the pages please.

http://kidshealth.org/teen/food_fitness/nutrition/eatnrun.html?tracking=T_RelatedArticle#

Remember teen athletes should consume 2,000-5,000 calories a day. I would encourage for this team 3,000-4,500 depending on the individual.

FIRST GAME!!!!!

Guys today is the first game and I just want to stress one of the points we have talked about all year. We are a program and a team. We support eachother and work together toward a common goal. I offer you this quote to remember as we enter this game.

"Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success. ”

Lets stay focused on our goals and stay true to what we have preached all season Progress Togetherness and Pride.

I have looked through our goals and am setting out three for this season.

1.) Lets hold 5 teams under 35 points this year.
2.) Every student off restricted list (ineligible isnt even a thought).
3.) Ability to make 7 out of 10 left handed lay ups.

friday's practice

Once again I am sorry I cant be there these two days. You all need to understand that the effort you put in practice will directly correspond to your performance in the games. We play Friday and we need to be prepared. There isn't always a coach or someone telling you guys what to do. You need to look within yourself and decide if you want to do well. If so you will act like young adults these 2 days and go even harder to show me improvement in the time I am gone. Leave a comment on how practice went or a response to this quote. Remember attitude is a direct relationship to how we perform.

"Character is doing the right thing when nobody is looking. There are too many people who think that the only thing that's right is to get by, and the only thing that's wrong is to get caught." ~J.C. Watts

1st offense

You guys have the directions on how to find the play. This is the website http://www.coachesclipboard.net/ . Make sure you follow along and see your responsibilities. This is a continuity offense, which means there is constant movement and it is important that we you know the respobsibilites of every position.

----- is a pass

____ is a cut

----I (straight not dotted) is a screen

Goals

What are some goals for this year? This could be personal as well as team oriented. This can cover several areas (basketball, school, home, friends etc...).

Attitude reflects leadership

OK boys lets start the year on this note. I firmly believe and stand by this quote and we need to make it a point to have the right attitude everyday. Leave a response to this on either how attitude effects the different areas in your life, or how you can apply this to improve upon an area you feel you can improve on...

“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, the education, the money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home a team. The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our Attitudes.”

MVP?

Alright its that time of year. NBA playoffs are under way, 40 games in 40 nights. The question of the week is Who deserves to be this years MVP? I'm not giving my answer until the end of the week. I need to know who deserves it and why you think they deserve it. You are your players attorney argue for him!

what are we putting in our bodies?

I think one of the main reasons we life in an obese society (besides lack of motivation and activity) is we are unaware of what we are putting in our bodies. It’s not always what we eat its how its prepared and its not where we eat its what we get. Now we all need nutrients from the food we eat so its good to eat as growing boys but we need to eliminate the excess fat. I’m leaving some links for you to have fun with and see how what you’re eating is affecting your body. For example Subway is known for helping Jared lose weight. Before we talk about food lets acknowledge the weight loss can’t occur without steady workouts. Jared had to be eating certain subs because some of them are awful for us.

Subway:

Italian BMT: 42g of fat, 46 grams of protein
Roast Beef: 10g of fat, 38g of protein
Double meat turkey breast: 10g of fat, 56 g of protein

You can get just as much protein and nutrients from roast beef and a double meat turkey with 32 less grams of fat. If you love to eat food like I do the turkey makes it so you get double the sandwich.

Check out these sites and play with them to see what you’re taking in when you eat out! The first site is a chart on what you should be taking in, but remember athletes need more because we expend more.
http://www.bcm.edu/cnrc/consumer/archives/percentDV.htm
http://www.wendys.com/food/Nutrition.jsp

http://www.fatcalories.com/

Why do we play the game?

This site is going to be dedicated to discussions on basketball and life. I want to be able to connect all the kids I have worked with from various areas. There will be a range of D1 prospects to players who play the game just for recreation. I want everyone to be able to discuss and be open to each others opinions and possibly everyone can learn from each other. I wil throw out discussion pieces once or twice a week for us to talk and comment on. I will be posting sites and drills I find successful to help developing basketball players as well. My first blog to help generate conversation as I get people to join is a simple yet complex question

Why do you play the game? I'm interested to see what motivates today's youth. There are many reasons on a broad spectrum as to why people are motivated to play the game. Is it for fun, to keep out of trouble, excellence etc... I will start off. I started playing the game because I enjoyed it. I never played seriously. Once I buckled down I played because I loved being good. I would always say “I don’t love basketball. I love bringing the ball up looking at you and saying to myself there is nothing you can do right now.” That was the fire in me. That was the aspiration to be the best at something and maybe just be successful at something. I always said I was using the game as a vehicle to get to college then I would be done with it when college was done. Now I love the game to see the growth in the kids I work with. The way I felt for the game didn’t turn to love until I began coaching and saw from this perspective the effect it can have on lives.