"December practice schedule..."

I have still not been given a gym schedule from Mr. Azar for December so I cannot tell you what time we practice on Friday. What I can tell you is that we play Honey Creek on Thursday and we will be wearing white again...I will post a schedule for the upcoming week as soon as I get a schedule.

Game 6: W.V. 39 Chauncey Rose 15

As I mentioned to you early on, I am not much on "wins and losses", especially when they don't mean that much in the midst of a regular season. I would trade tonight' win against Chauncey for a "quality game" (4 full quarters of "high level" competitive play) against the likes of a Sarah Scott; Honey Creek; Woodrow Wilson or even Otter Creek...

We can sometimes get too wrapped up in the winning and losing and forget what really matters in the "big picture" of things. What really matters to me is "how we execute"...(eliminating our unforced turn-overs") "how we are learning our plays"..."how we are defending our opponent"...These are the things that we can control. These are the things we MUST control so that we can move forward to compete with the above mentioned teams.

We had tonight to enjoy this game, but as you well know, we have Honey Creek on Thursday and we have a chance to not only redeem ourselves for that 2nd half meltdown we had against them the first time, but also to prove to ourselves that we CAN put together 4 good quarters against a good basketball team.

Come to practice tomorrow with a mind-set of just that...

Player Profile...."Logan Benefiel"

Logan continues to demonstrate a willingness to "work to improve". He is showing a little more aggressiveness in practice and in his game situations. Logan is a "work in progress" and I know he will continue to improve as he continues to gain more confidence. I see Logan' future as a bright one if he chooses to continue putting in the time to bring "his game" along.

Logan has been dubbed, "Big Country"...His size can be a "big" advantage for him in his upcoming years if wants to utilize it on the court. Logan continues to be a pleasure to work with...  :)

"Practice/Game schedule...." (11/28 - 11/30)

The following is a partial practice/game schedule to finish out the month. I will post the remainder of the week as soon as I get a December gym schedule from Mr. Azar....

MONDAY:         Practice 3:25 - 5:00 (New gym)
TUESDAY:         Pictures after school...
                            Game at home against Chauncey Rose  (Wear WHITE socks...)
WEDNESDAY:  Practice 5:00 - 6:30 (Old gym)

Game 5: Honey Creek 48 W.V. 16

Another game of "What happened, and where did we go..."  This is a theme that is fairly common when trying to adapt to a new concept..."Enthusiasm and adrenaline" will carry you for only so long...and then you have to have an "understanding of what is needed" to sustain any type of previous success...In the last couple of games we have learned we are not there yet...(but we ARE making steps in the right direction...)

"Learning to compete" is a necessary step to advance towards the goal of "winning"...You don't just show up with a game plan and say, "now we can win"...If it was that easy, there would be no such thing as a "lop-sided" win/loss"...As I thought about last nights game, it didn't take long to figure out what the "obvious" issues were/are for our team...In the first half alone, we missed at least 6 (a generous figure btw...) open lay-ups, not to mention the countless turnovers...(additionally, we were a pathetic, 0 - 8 from the foul line! This does not bode well for a positive outcome...and yet we were down only 4 at half.)

There are two schools of thought that we can take....1st, we can say, "well at least we stayed with them for a half..." OR we can have the mindset, "I don't want to let this be the height of our success...to play only 1 good half of basketball every game....I WANT MORE...I AM CAPABLE OF MORE!"

If your answer is the latter, the desired results come about in practice, not in the game...As I told you guys in the locker room, we have to work harder to simulate "game situations" in practice so we don't get surprised by the speed of the actual game...This transition takes discipline, self motivation and a willingness to not accept failure as an option...(I am not speaking to "winning vs losing", but rather "competing at the highest level your capable of"  versus "rolling over when the heat gets turned up because that' what we have always done"...

There is a great story in the bible that I always think about when I am in situations that I recognize I am at the cross-roads of these two choices....In the Book of Judges, a man by the name of Gideon was called to lead his people into battle against a great army. Gideon had 32,000 men to do battle. God told Gideon,  "that is too many for this battle"...He went on to tell him to tell the people, "whoever is afraid, whoever is fearful of this battle....you should leave now" After Gideon gave this instruction, he only had "10,000 men left"!!

But God said, "that is still too many"...So he gave the instructions to have them go down to a nearby brook and of the men that dipped their hand into the water to drink rather than to "lap it up" like a dog...would be the chosen ones for the battle....After they had gone to the brook, only "300" reached to drink of the water with their hand!!

These were the "chosen" ones to do battle...The story goes on to say that these 300 men went into battle against a massive Midian and Amalekite army....(Btw, they went into battle armed with  "a trumpet and a pitcher with a candle inside it...") They were divided into 3 companies of 100 men...At the sounding of Gideon' trumpet, the men began blowing their trumpets and making noise and breaking the pitchers as they advanced...The startled Midianites and Amalikites thought they were surrounded by a "great army" so rather than fight, they fled....

The point I am wanting to make with you is not about the battle...The point is about the "faith" that it takes to "go into battle"...It doesn't take a huge number...it doesn't take the greatest armed soldiers(aka "most talented athletes) It doesn't even take the best equipment (facilities...$200.00 shoes...etc..) It only takes a belief that "you are behind the cause" (you truly believe in...) what you are going into battle for...

I have always told my players, "you don't have to be the best, as long as you compete at your best"...(Winning and losing will take care of itself...) The question is simply, "do you want to participate...Are you willing to sacrifice "self" for the better of the whole just to be included in the final count. (Or do you want to retreat because of fear...fear of pushing yourself beyond the same obstacles...)

You have come a long way from where you were when we first began this journey. But now is the time to decide if you want to go farther....I know you guys are capable of much more...The obstacle we face right now is "ourselves"....It is manifested in the form of "inconsistancy"....I want us to "go through it", not around it...I hope you guys are ready to get beyond "1 half" of basketball, I know I am...

Let' complete this journey and see what happens....   :)

Player Profile...."David Fiddler"

David has shown time and time again that he isn't afraid of "hard work". David continues to demonstrate a "desire to improve" by his work ethic...He is constantly pushing himself to be a better player. This team will succeed because of what David brings, and more importantly, this team will not fail for the same reason.

As  a coach, you just love those kind of players...I believe because of his willingness to work hard, stay aggressive and listen and do what is asked of him, he has not only a bright future in store this year, but also at the next level as well...

On the lighter side of things, I know for a fact that David is a caring young man. Just a few weeks ago when I had told the boys to stretch in the hallway before a practice, I came out into the hallway only to find David coming "to the aide" of a young lady that I am sure he thought to be distressed....(Why else would he not be stretching...) Like I said, he is always trying to "do his best"....   ;)

"Reminder....."

Picture Day is Tuesday, November 29th after school...Make sure to tell your parents.

"Practice / Game schedule...11/21-26"

MONDAY: 3:25 - 5:00  (New gym)
TUESDAY: Game @ Honey Creek
WEDNESDAY: THANKSGIVING BREAK
THURSDAY: THANKSGIVING
FRIDAY: 8:00 - 10:00
SATURDAY: 8:00 - 10:00

"Blog access...."

Please let your family members as well as any of your friends who have been following the blog and would like to continue that they will have to "join this site" to follow the blog...I didn't realize when I clicked to an "updated version" of the blog that it changed the access requirement...At this time I haven't figured out how to change it back...Let them know I am sorry for any inconvenience this is causing.

Game 4: Sarah Scott 49 W.V. 26

Making progress is seldom ever "quick or easy". Having said that, as I was telling you after the game last night, we are making progress. We were able to play a pretty competitive first half (down 24-17) and that meant that we actually put 2 quarters together "back to back". That is what I call "making progress"... I am not sure if you are familiar with the term, "walk before you can run", but that is the situation for us right now...I have been asking quite a bit of you guys and it' with this understanding...We have to create a "solid" foundation based on fundamental principals that most of you are either not familiar with or are not "rooted" with...This takes time to adapt to and then more time to instill into a "anticipation of expectation" , (a fancy way to say, "created instinct") rather than "see...process...react...execute"...This takes time and will only come as we continue to not just "see and react" but when we are able to retain what we have been through and "see" the situation the next time in advance of it actually happening...

Once again there were some areas worth recognizing from last nights game...Once again we continue to make strides at the foul line...(8 of 11) with 5 different guys going to the line. Also, the level of our "start of the game" aggressiveness was much better than it has been for the first 3 games...These are all "positives" we can continue to build upon....

Like I mentioned to you before, I like to break the season into "4 game quarters"....Last night we concluded our 1st quarter of games. Albeit we are winless, we are not the same team we were when the season started...We have made those steps I have been talking about and that is what I call "progress"...If we continue to work hard in practice, the results will take care of itself...Just stay focused to what I am asking you to do...Keep asking yourself, "what is it that I need to improve on to help make this "TEAM" better and "what can I do to make my "TEAMMATES" better...  :)

"Final reminder...."

Just wanted to give you guys a final reminder about the "2nd season" registration...I need to know by the end of practice tomorrow if you want to participate...(Send me a text; email or message on my f/b wall...)

Player Profile...."Clayton O'Neal"

Clayton is the 3rd of my "vertically challenged" 3 munchkins....Clayton gives us another guard that "can be" quick, (that is when he goes at it...) and create some turnovers for us...(The nice thing about all of them is that all 3 are capable of being a threat at both ends of the court if they set their minds to it...) I think that Clayton, (like most of his teammates) with continued hard work and desire, can be someone who can really play an important role for us through the rest of this year...I would love to see Clayton take advantage of his quickness and his shooting touch from the outside and become a bigger threat at both ends like I know he is capable of...Time will tell. :)

On the lighter side, I first need to try to figure out how to mark which "goal" we are actually shooting at for him as well...I don't believe further explaination is necessary....(I know you didn't think THAT would just go by un-noticed now did you young man!) ;)

Game 3: No. Clay "B" 61 W.V. "B" 24

This game was more about missed opportunities...As I mentioned more than once tonight we had our "ball handling" weaknesses exposed tonight in both games, but especially in this one. We have to work harder in practice on the drills we run so we can better compete when we face aggressive opponents that put pressure on the ball.

We did have a few nice plays turned in tonight and I want to see you guys continue to work hard and keep pushing yourself to improve.

I want to note the effort put forth on the defensive end by Clayton Baugh. Clayton played hard tonight and a couple times it lead directly to nice steals and points for us...Now we need to get everyone to fight through the temptation to "take it easy" and really work hard and push oneself to make some good things happen ....

Game 2: No. Clay "A" 50 W.V. "A" 35

I am starting to think the answer may be "suicides, 17' and push-ups"....We will see if that is needed to motivate in the future...I was pleased with the effort that we started the game out with..We showed some signs of improvement and that' what we need to continue to do...

We reached a couple "milestones" of sorts that are worth mentioning tonight. It was nice to see us win a quarter. We out-scored No. Clay in the first, 11-10 and nearly got them in the 4th, falling 14-13...Those are nice steps for us as we move onward.

Another area I want to note is in regards to Nick' performance at the foul line. Nick converted 6 of 7 free throws. Those are numbers I can live with for sure...

Let' make sure we don't look back at this game, but rather forward to tonights game with Sarah Scott. They will probably be more at the tempo of Woodrow Wilson than No. Clay, so we need to show up ready to match the intensity and continue to improve... :)

"Picture Day..."

Team and individual pictures will be taken on November 29th after school.
MAKE SURE TO TELL YOUR PARENTS!

Player Profile...."Jordan Schaffer"

Jordan is probably best suited for the point guard position, but sometimes you have to shift players around to hopefully develop a better combination for "the team" as a whole...Jordan has shown that when he gets a rhythem going he can be a very tough perimeter shooter for us. I think as he continues to see the importance of "solid defense" and just working hard while he' on the court, he can have a lot to look forward to at the high school level.

Jordan is the other half of the "ying and yang" brothers (C. Baugh)....I am not sure if they were ever once joined at the hip, but they do seem to show some very similar characteristics...(The one noticeable difference is in their choice of baseball teams...Jordan is a poor disgruntled "cubbie" fan...I guess with that, Clayton will always be "1 up" on him...) ;)

GAME 1: W.W. 57 W.V. 15 (A lesson to be learned....)

Sometimes you have to look long and hard to find answers that don't seem very likely in certain situations...Tonight would be one of those times. To simply look at a score would make it very easy to say, "wow, this team is terrible...." I like to look at things in an optimistic way. We have 2 choices...We can just say, "this is who we are" or we can say, "this is NOT what I want my effort to continue to reflect..." in other words, "this is NOT who we are"!

Nobody gets to where they want to go without running over a few potholes along the way...You just have to try to avoid the "major" ones...We ran into a team tonight that had all the elements working together...
a) They were quick.
b) They were determined.
c) They were aggressive.
d) They were fundamentally sound.
e) They shot the ball well.
f) They played together....etc...etc...I'm sure you get the picture...

There is no reason why we can't learn from tonight and eventually find the identity of this team as well....I know you guys are capable of much more...
We don't make excuses...
We don't look for the easy solution...
We need to come back tomorrow with a more determined resolve to "work hard" and get over the hump on both ends of the court...

I hope all of you come tomorrow, "focused" and "committed" to do more to make that happen! :)

Player Profile...."Clayton Baugh"

Clayton, or "Mighty Mite" as I like to think of him, has continued to make strides in his game...He shows a better understanding of what we are trying to do out on the floor and I am looking forward to his continued progress. "When" Clayton' ball-handling and confidence reach the same level as that of his "understanding", Clayton is going to be even more valuable to us....Clayton' biggest attribute right now is when he shows up to play defense...He canbe a real pain to our opponents...(Kinda like a gnat that you just can't get!) Hope to see wonderful things this year from him....

Clayton' "other" interests include being a "Cardinal" fan...(that in and of itself endears him to me and speaks volumes about his intellect....) :)

"Notification for "After-season" sign-up..."

The final day for letting me know if you want to participate in our "second" season will be on Friday, Nov. 18th. If I do not have a response via text message, email or a message on f/b, I will mark that you are not wanting to participate.

At this time, I am looking for "who wants to participate only"....
Additional information (practice; uniforms; tournaments, etc...) will follow once I find out how many are wanting to participate.

"Practice/Game Schedule" (11/12 - 11/18)

Saturday: 8:00 - 10:00 (New gym)
NOTE: We will practice EVERY Saturday @ 8:00 unless I post otherwise.
Monday: 3:25 - 5:00 (Old gym)
Tuesday: Game @ Woodrow Wilson (Black uniforms...Black socks)
Wednesday: Game @ North Clay (Black uniforms...Black socks)
Thursday: Game @ Sarah Scott (Black uniforms...Black socks)
Friday: 5:00 - 6:30 (Old gym)

"Reminder:...Dress Code for games..."
- Button-down shirt with tie.
- Dress pants or khaki' (NO JEANS)
- Dress shoes or loafers (NO GYM SHOES)
NOTE: If you do not meet the dress code, you WILL NOT dress for the game.

I expect you to stay at school on "game day". If you are having food brought in, (WE WILL SIT TOGETHER IN THE CAFETERIA...) DO NOT have a big meal. Try to avoid eating "fast food" such as hamburgers, fries and soft drinks. They digest very slowly and make you "lethargic" and "heavy footed"...(Subway meals are good...)

"Practice schedule revision..."

Make a note...."NO Practice on Wednesday"

"Practice schedule for this week...."

Mon.: 5:00 - 6:30 Old Gym
Tue. : 3:25 - 5:00 New Gym
Wed.: 5:00 - 6:30 New Gym (we will be practicing w/ the 7th grade...)
Thu. : 2:30 - 5:00 New Gym (early dismissal...we will go lil longer...)
Fri. : 8:00 - 10:00 New gym (No school on Friday....)

Make sure you let your parents know of the extended practice time on Thur. after early dismissal and also the early practice time on Friday....

"Practice on Monday...."

We will practice at 5:00 in the "old gym"....Once again, don't forget, that' "Lombardi Time"...

"Practice on Saturday...."

Just a reminder, we will practice tomorrow from 8:00 - 10:00...."Lombardi time"....
(DON'T BE LATE...)

"A Good Start....."

The key to anything new is to make sure you get off to a good start. Today was our first day with our final squad and I think we got off to a good start. The key for this season is going to be, "how much can learn..." "How well can we execute what we learn" and "How do we handle adversity along the way..." All of these things we will be exposed to in the next few weeks. I think we can have some success this season, but once again, it' up to each one of you to keep one another "accountable" as well as "encouraged".

As I told you guys earlier today, I will ask a lot of you...I will push you and I will do what I can to keep you motivated. The only thing I ask in return is that you give me "the best" you have. Everything else will take care of itself....So let' keep working hard and reach our potential and move forward with no regrets! :)