Black Team Summer Game 1 June 25, 2014 vs Arlington 5

First Game Jitters

If you already know your vactaion schedule please forward it to me so that I can plan ahead to make sure that we have enough players. Last night I had 3 players from the Silver Team fill in to make sure that we had enough subs.

Basketball games are fun. No matter our age, we enjoy testing our skills against others. Even the youngest basketball players want to see how they compare to other players or teams their age. Learning to compete to the best of our ability at whatever we pursue and how to win and lose with grace and dignity are important life lessons. But to maximize player’s enjoyment of the game and to provide players with the best opportunity to improve, attending practice is a must. Attending practice is more important, in my opinion, even than attending games.

Every week that we do NOT have a Tuesday game, we will have a Tuesday practice from 7 to 9 at St Stephens.

Games do not offer an atmosphere that is conducive to teaching. A lot of excitement, energy, tension, interference, and distractions surround games, making it extremely difficult to communicate any type of teachings or lessons to a player. We have not had even one practice with the entire team present and with summer vacations cranking up, we will not. Please make every effort to get your girls to practice this summer. Starters will be picked from the players who attend the practice before the game.

Great players are skilled as a result of PRACTICE. There isn’t a magic trick or formula, just good ‘ole hard work. Encourage your girls to get outside working on their dribbling and shooting everyday. The girls on the Sliver team are REQUIRED to make 10,000 baskets - on their own time - over the course of the summer. That is MAKES not attempts. Destroyers do not count misses.

I do not expect the Black Team to win a game this summer on the score board. Last summer we were pleasantly surprised by winning a couple. Our wins will be measured on effort and improvement.

The team that we played last night is one of the top 5th grade (raising to 6th grade) teams in the state. All the teams that we play will be top middle school teams (both town travel and AAU teams) who have played together longer than that 4 weeks that we have. (And keep in mind that is 4 weeks without a single practice with every player present.)

Please tell your child after every game: "I love to watch you play."

Robin