PeaceLoveBasketball Friday: AAU, Summer Camp or Sun Bath? What To Do This Summer?
Are you (or one of your kids) a high school basketball player or athlete? Then what you choose to do over the summer is a valid question and the answer is not always a simple one. The answer comes from a more important question, what do you want? Do you want to work on your game and become a better basketball player? Then you have some options. First, attending a few individual camps is a good way to get some specific work done. You get college level coaches and players working with you to become better, and nothing is more powerful. I had a blast when I went away to camp when I was young. We played a few games of course, but I got a lot of skill work in and I improved a ton. The drills helped my game and I had fun living away from home for a week, meeting other players and working with new coaches. I loved it.
Team camps are a little different, they are good team building but not as good for work on the fundamentals of the game, which is a big change since I was young. When I went to a team camp, we did skill work all day and a few games with our teammates at night. Now Team camps are mostly games, games and more games. Good yes, but practicing is how you become a better player, so it was a little disappointing when I took one of my teams a few years ago and there was no individual work. Still the girls got to know one another better on the court and had fun, so it was worth it.
Playing AAU gives you a ton of game time but is often more […]
PeaceLoveBasketball Friday: Knowledge is Power
My tennis lesson this week was a reminder in coaching. A reminder on how important it is to understand what level you are coaching, and to coach to that level. Don’t assume that all your players know what you are talking about, especially if they are new to your program, or camp, or training. Be sure to ask questions and explain the little things.
Make sure that everyone is on the same page.
When using sport specific vocabulary take extra care. Yes, kids and adults can usually figure out what you’re talking about on their own. I figured out that the service line was not the line that you serve behind this week at tennis and when I was a kid I eventually learned what sideout meant when I joined volleyball in high school (though this one took me a while), but help your players out, build their knowledge. When coaching, try to read your players, if you notice a questioning look, address it. There may be others who learn from that teaching moment.
Take care not to bore player with long explanations. There is nothing worse. Eyes will glaze over and players will tune out. I know what I am asking is not an easy task, and I was not perfect at it (you can ask some of my players). Just do your best to keep explanations short and to the point, but get them in there, and then keep your practice moving.
Remember knowledge is power.
Monday’s Pen to Paper: Try Something New
I had my first tennis lesson today. This is new for me, because although I volley with my husband for exercise on occasion during the summer, I’ve never officially played the game. And though I’ve managed to get by with athleticism and my junior high school PE class knowledge, I thought it would be nice to step up my game (and get a good workout in the process).
Originally I was thinking about signing up for road races, but I’ve been fighting false sciatica for almost a year and have a hard time running. So I landed on tennis as a good option. It would be competitive (which I like) and since I’ve got a lot to learn, I have room to grow, to get better. Do I remember how to score? Kind of. Love,15, 30, 40, Duce, add in/add out, game? Something like that. Do I know how to correctly hold the racket? Not exactly. Did I know what my instructor was talking about during the lesson? Some of the time. But when she asked me to go to the service line, I went to the baseline thinking that’s were you serve the ball. Right? Wrong. But even though I looked a little lost and more like a basketball player, not a tennis player, I held my own.
My racquet is another story. It was given to me by my boyfriend over twenty-five years ago. The instructor checked it out and then loaned me a different one, but the new racquet was so light I kept missing the ball. I went back to my weighted Pro Kennex and, with relief, was able to hit. Although now I’m typing with ice on my shoulder (maybe the lighter racquet would have been better).
The good news […]
PeaceLoveBasketball Friday: Bring on The Luck!
The team that I took to the State Tournament last year got a terrible draw for their Regional game this year. After going undefeated in league and placing in Districts they are one of the top teams in the state, and for their Regional (looser out) game, they drew last years State Champion, which is still ranked number one. This means that after this regional matchup, one of the best teams in the state will not be at the State Tournament.
This sucks.
Going to the State Tournament is a big thing. It is an experience of a lifetime. An opportunity for teams who have worked hard all season, (and during the off-season) to play competitive high level games and spend a final weekend together as a team. (Not to mention have a few bragging rights.)
Last season we drew this very same team going into the state tournament, which meant, if we didn’t get that first round win, there was a good chance we would place behind other teams who we’d beaten during the season. This is exactly what happened. We placed 6th in State, a great accomplishment of course, however two teams (who we’d beaten every time we’d played them during the season) placed above us. I was proud of the girls and thankful that they could compete at the State Tournament. Still, it had been a bad draw.
This, as we all know, is life. Life is not always fair.
Do I think there should be a better way to match teams up in the future? For sure. Does that help the situation today? No. That’s one great thing about playing sports, you learn life lessons. Both good and bad. You learn how to go on and do […]
Meet Sonya
Meet Sonya
Sonya Elliott’s memoir, Back on the Court: A Young Woman’s Triumphant Return to Life, Love & Basketball, is her story of finding hope in the wake of tragedy after she and her fiancé were hit by a train. She blogs about writing, basketball, and life and is currently working on a Young Adult Novel and a Non-Fiction Coaching book. Stories of her career as a fashion model are woven through her memoir, as both the Soloflex and Easy Spirit Shoes commercials were filmed during that time period, and this unique and intriguing business continues to be a part of her life.
Sonya played basketball at Eastern Washington University and was a starter for the Big Sky Champion team that went to the 1987 NCAA tournament. She coached for almost 25 years and was voted Seattle Times Coach of the Year, Seattle Officials Women’s Basketball Association Coach of the Year, and twice voted Metro League Coach of the Year. She loves the game of basketball and is thankful, not only for her husband and kids but for her ability to continue to get back on the court.
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Monday’s Pen to Paper: Sun or Moon?
Do you wake early with arms stretched open wide to the sun, or are you like a barn owl, a bat, a bush rat, or a possum perhaps, who prefers the light of the moon?
Before I was married I used to binge clean and work on projects into the early morning hours. Rearrange my living room, organize a closet, work on a photo album, read a book, paint the kitchen. When I first started writing my book I had young kids so I would carve out minutes throughout the day to write, but when my husband would go play basketball at night with his men’s team, as much as it would bug me that I couldn’t play with them I relished the night alone to stay up late and write. His team would go for drinks after the game so he would be out […]
PeaceLoveBasketball Friday: Because You Can
I drained my first three ten foot jumpers in my first game back on the court last week. Sometimes I have beginner’s luck when I’ve been away from the game for a while, but it had been months since I last played, so I was anxious, not to mention a bit out of shape. I ended the game (a last second comeback win) with ten points, a sore left arch, a tender Achilles tendon, an achy back and a smile.
I went to bed nervous that when I woke up my shoulder might be frozen again, back to what had become an ongoing cycle of pain over the last nine months. Night being the worst with both a bad shoulder and bad wrist, rolling over had been nearly impossible and sleep was always in question. But when I woke the next morning, my shoulder […]
Monday’s Pen to Paper: Quiet
When I was six months pregnant with my son, I drove 2000 miles to southern California and back in my 1989 Volkswagon Vanagon with my two year-old daughter and my boxer dog in tow. I did this all with no stereo, no phone, and no electronics and I loved every minute of it.
Recently I read the book Quiet by Susan Cain. The book hit home for me. Quiet, The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, reminded me that I’m just fine the way I am. Introverted. Of course I know that I’m okay, but in a world full of extroverts, a world that praises extroverted qualities and living with two extroverts (now that my daughter and fellow introvert is away at college), life can be trying and often I feel awkward and guilty about wanting […]
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