I heard this story this morning on the news and couldn't believe what I heard, so I had to look it up on line further.

 http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/highschoolsports/2004422051_bball18.html

 Being a father of 3 girls around this young lady's age, I am very proud to see a female athlete excel at such a high level.  All of us who continued to promote Title IX, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Title_IX ,  have to look at this as a great day for woman's athletics.  It will always be a debate whether boys and girls should play on the same court/field, but I would think this shows not only it can be done, but they can dominate!

 As a coach, the only objection I had to this story was the score of one of her games, 90-7!  There is no reason in events at this level, and probably any other, for a score to get that far out of hand and no reason for the coach to seem proud of that.  If there is any problem, it rests in a coach not managing the game properly.  I have written about this problem before, http://playsportstvblogs.com/billsniffen/2007/12/question_for_coach_bill_1.html

But, since we like to focus on the positive, congratulations to Twelve-year-old Jaime Nared on her accomplishments and we look forward to hearing more about her in the future!

Posted by Bill Sniffen at 03:23 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

As my first grade son begins what we hope is an athletic career filled with fun and successes, I want to announce that he is being recruited to play baseball with the Oakland A's!  Sounds impossible?  Well he does play for the A's in his little town league, so I figure the big club will be calling any time soon to secure him for the future!  No? Oh well, I am sure the University of Kentucky will want him then, since from what I read today, they are even recruiting 8th graders!

http://www.kentucky.com/276/story/393152.html

 

 

Posted by Bill Sniffen at 05:20 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

This weekend I happened to come across a good basketball documentary on ESPN Classic that was part of ESPN's Sports Tribeca Film Festival http://proxy.espn.go.com/espn/page2/features/tribeca

This movie, "Through the Fire", http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0457502/, chronicles Sebastian Telfair's high school career and recruiting of the high school and playground legend from Brooklyn.  It is a great look into what happens in big time recruiting wars. 

My favorite basketball documentary is "Hoop Dreams". http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110057/  This follows 2 potential players as they grow up in Chicago and all the way through high school and into college.  

Add to that list "Coach Carter", "Glory Road", and "The Heart of the Game".  Check out this complete list.  http://www.sandlotshrink.com/moviebkb.htm 

Of course, the classic, based on a true story, is "Hoosiers", but you knew that from my favorite line, "Don't get caught watching the paint dry!"

 

Posted by Bill Sniffen at 04:37 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Check out this article about Coach Thom and his family!  Congrats!

 http://www.lohud.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008803280401

 

Posted by Bill Sniffen at 02:05 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

As the season wraps up and playoffs and tournaments begin for everyone, lets please keep in mind that this is recreation level basketball.  The outcome of these games, in the long run means nothing to our children's future, if they are clouded by us as parents not setting the proper example on and off the court.  These past few weekends, I have witnessed a bunch of game, involving multiple teams, and have gotten numerous phone calls about coaches complaining about each other, the referrees, etc.  And as the competition heats up, sometimes we loose focus on what is at stake here, which for us as parents is little, outside of seeing our children have fun, learn about fair play and sportsmanship, teamwork and overcoming adversity.  As a coach for over 20 years now, I know it is easy to loose focus, but we have to step back and remember we have to do what is best for our children and their teammates.  Sportsmanship is our priority for the rest of the season.  The wins and losses will take care of themselves.

Posted by Bill Sniffen at 01:38 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Does anyone know who these three guys are?  I think we probably heard our parents say those names when telling a story when we were kids, when they didn't remember the persons name involved in the story. I had a coach in high school who use to come up with creative names for drills, plays and defenses, so that it was easy for us to remember.  Every drill had a name and a meaning for the name.  It was fun to hear the history of the origin of the play, whether is was a basketball story or from life or maybe even a movie.  So that way, when he said we were doing the South Carolina drills, we knew it came from Dick McGuire in the 50's and you wanted to know more about Coach McGuire.  Now that I coach girls, we have incorporated plenty of princess references!  So make it easy for you and them, and come up with creative names for all parts of the game.  One coach use to use red, white and blue for 3 forms of our pressing defense.  Another, would have a number series, so that you knew where the defense started (half or full) and weather it was man or zone.  Here is the best way I know this works long term.  Last week I went to watch 2 former assistants of mine play a game versus each other for the first time.  When it came time to run an out of bounds play, the coach yelled out, "Harry!", and the other teams coach started to laugh and I could here a kid on defense say, "Hey, they are running our play!"  By the way, Tom, Dick and Harry actually come from a very famous movie about World War II, do you know it?

Posted by Bill Sniffen at 02:13 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

 My son doesn't use the glass when shooting layups? Is this something he should be doing?

 "Going Glass" as we like to call it, is essential when we talk about shooting from any distance in basketball at an angle.  What you have to teach your son is that the box on the backboard is there for a reason.  Basketball is a sport that geometry people love because it is always about angles, weather you are talking about passing, shooting or dribbling.  When shooting, on the side of the basket, I always have taught my players that if they aim for the corner of the box on that side of the backboard, the ball will usually go in.  So your job is to prove it!  Stand near the basket and show them and keep moving back and you will see that it is true!  The best angle for using the back board is usually 45 degrees, but around the hoop, you should always try to use the board.  You will see most good shooters all the way up to the pro level use the board as far out as 15 feet.  Tim Duncan of the Spurs throws it off the window with a great deal of confidence and he has done well for himself!   

Posted by Bill Sniffen at 03:25 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Coach,

We just moved to Brooklyn and I am looking for a place for my 11 yr. old son to play basketball, any suggestions?

 Maria

 Maria,

Thanks for checking out PlaysportsTV.com and submitting your question.  Generally in most large urban areas like Brooklyn, NY, you can find local recreation level sports at your local YMCA or church.  Being from the NY Metro area myself, I am very familiar with the Catholic Youth Organization, or CYO, which at your local Catholic church, will have teams for all ages and skill levels.  They play a competitive schedule against other teams in NYC and is a great feeder route for playing in high school and beyond.  They accept a certain a number of non-catholics as well.  Check out this site and see if they can help in your local community as well.  Good luck and please check back to PlaysportsTV.com for updates, and click on the basketball tab for videos and a link to my blog as well!

http://www.bcba.com/

http://www.aauboysbasketball.org/blue/index.asp

Posted by Bill Sniffen at 03:17 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Coach,

This past weekend we were playing a game and the we were on the short end of a very lopsided score, which is ok, since I know our team is inexperienced and still learning.  The problem is that our opponent didn't let up in pressing until the game was way out of hand.  I was so busy coaching my team and I didn't want to bother the other coach, but this could have been avoided I am sure. I coach a 6th grade team.  Any suggestions?

 Coach,

Most leagues now have a pressing rule based on points ahead.  I would think up until the 6th grade, that once a team is ahead by 15 points, they should be made to back up theire defense to inside the 3 point line atleast.  This would allow a team to get the ball across half court and get into an offense before feeling pressure.  Any league below 5th grade, might not want to allow pressing at all, since most players are still learning the game and its rules.  If your league does not have a rule, then you may want to speak to the other coach before the game, and ask their feelings on pressing and if your team is weak, then ask the coach to keep an eye on the score and the pressing so that it does not become a negative situation.  Some coaches might say this is the only time my 2nd team can practice pressing in a game situation, since at that level, practice time is limited.  If that is the case, then as long as you know in advance then that is ok as well.  One time, when we knew one team was that much better then the other, we didn't keep a running score on the scoreboard, and since noone knew what was the real score, the game was still productive for both teams since we knew the outcome was already a given.  Communication and common sense is the key!

Posted by Bill Sniffen at 03:56 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Coach,

A few games into the season, and already I can tell that our team is going to be on the "short" side for our league, and we are going to have trouble getting our share of the rebounds.  Any suggestions?

Having coach a high school team with no players over 6'1, we battled that for the entire season, but with some creativity, we worked around it.  First, in practice, we started to emphasize team rebounding, with everyone playing a role.  The person who is closest to the shooter is responsible for them and everyone else should then be inside the 3 second lane, with a body on someone on the other team, especially those near the basket.  We would then try to gain position between the basket and the opponent.  We would first practice this in the form of 1 on 1, then 2 one 2, 3 on 3, etc., drills in the form of mini games, with the defense getting one point for the rebound and successful outlet pass and the offense getting 2 points for scoring on the defense.  We would play these mini games to 7 and I found them to be very spirited.  Also, while working 5 on 5, we would stop the play and tell the players to freeze right after the rebound was recovered, so they could see themselves in or out of the position we wanted.  We would spend an entire practice on just rebounding emphasis and see how it applied to the rest of the week's games and practices and bring it back when needed.  I noticed it eventually caught on as a team goal and helped us a great deal to rebound as a team.  It came in helpful against a 7 ft player, Mark Blount.  Yes he dominated play at times, but we held our own when we rebounded against him as a team and he is now playing along side Shaquille O'Neill in the NBA!

Posted by Bill Sniffen at 08:34 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)