Summer Parent Letter

We are doing the summer league with ZeroGravity in the lower middle school division. We will play 5th, 6th and 7th grade AAU teams and 7th and 8th grade travel teams like we did last year. We were competitive last year. I expect to be more so this year.

All games are in Sudbury or Ashland so less than a 15 minute drive for all of us. Foxboro is a HAUL for us. ZeroGravity costs almost $300 more per team but it is worth it not to drive. I am sick of driving to Foxboro. Thank you wonderful parents for putting up with my spring folly.

If you have not yet paid for summer, please do so asap. If your child is NOT playing summer also please let me know. I have everyone except Gianna listed as playing and we will have her for practices.

Spring has been quite good for us:

We had the shooting coach come in early April.
We have had a weekly 2 hour shooting practice since
We have had a weekly 2 hour individual skills session since mid March.
We have had a weekly 2 hour team practice since the first week in April.

That is 6 hours a week of court time times 8 weeks for a total of 48 hours which most of our core made an average of twice a week. That is more time than we get during the travel season! Couple that with a game a week with everyone playing up at least one year, and most playing up two years, we have made amazing progress. The games were worth the drive even.

We will go lighter in the summer but summer this year will be totally about basketball and team building.

June 1 to August 31 all our girls will work towards making 10,000 buckets during our team challenge. Last year three players managed it. I get the impression that most of the girls have gotten started.
http://fadsgirlsbasketball.blogspot.com/p/there-is-saying-in-coaching-circle-that.html

Once school is out, we will start our summer reading project. This summer we will read (and do the exercises as a group) in Top 20 Teens: Discovering the Best-Kept Thinking, Learning & Communicating Secrets of Successful Teenagers. At the end of the summer each girl will write a two-page book summary to go in their playbook. Everyone will need their own copy of Top 20 Teens and I am working on a bulk book rate. I have a copy of the book in my orange basketball bag if any parent would like to preview the book.  http://www.top20training.com/

I will be doing the Mon/Wed/Fri early morning workouts again this summer. I don't have the details worked out yet. Last year we were outside in all weather at Bowditch Park or Butterworth Park. We got started anywhere from 7 am to 10 am - to beat the heat - and went for about 2 hours.  Sessions ended with time on the playground and / or ice cream most days. Last year Hannah, Tayja, Brooke, Celine and Nilijah were my morning crew and earn the first start of the travel season with their summer work.

June 28 & 29, the shooting coach, Paul Hoover, comes back for a weekend and will also do private lessons. All our girls who are not out of town on vacation will do the clinic and four of our girls will do a private lesson while I take notes on how to help them. Booked for privates on Saturday are Selina, Vienna, Tayja, Katie and Jordan P. Listed as attending the shooting clinic are: Chloe, Celine, Jazlyn (Sunday only), Katie, Nilijah, Paige, Seline, Sofia B, Tayja, Vienna, and Zaria. If your child is NOT attending please let me know so I can release their spot to one of the kids on the waiting list.

June and July we will have a combined team practice and skill session once a week for at least 90 minutes (Thursday in June and either Tuesday or Thursday once games start at St. Stephens)  and a shooting practice on Friday nights at Marian High School. Summer games will start the last week in June and end the first week in August. We will play on either a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday night.

We are NOT doing the Bay State Games this year. I will be gone. July 18, 19, and 20 I am taking Tayja and Hannah to work with a pro trainer, Don Kelbick, on foot work in Rochester, NY.  I am going for the coach's education. The girls are going to put in serious work.

http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/camps/rochestercamp.html

On Sunday, July 27 most of the team will attend a WNBA game in CT. The Sun plays the Lynx at 3 pm. Our girls NEED to see Maya Moore in action. She is simply the best. We have a few tickets left if your family would like to join us. It is $35 a ticket.

Attending are Hannah's entire family, Paige and Jason, Glenda and Jomi and Me, Roxana and Tayja. Singles are Katie, Brooke, and Nilijah.


Eight girls, Jason and I will be attending Point Guard College August 4th to 8th in Norton. We are doing the over night camp. Attending are Hannah, Tayja, Brooke, Vienna, Jazlynn, Paige, Katie and Gianna. There are still spaces open however the early bird deadline for a $100 discount has long passed. The week is open to girls going in to 7th to 10th grade.

http://www.pgcbasketball.com/

August 11 to 14 so far four of our girls and I are attending Hoop Mountain Player Development Academy in Newton. This a day camp. Attending are Hannah, Tayja, Paige and Katie. The cost is $225 for 9 to 1 pm which is $30 off because we are going as a team. The last hour is 5 on 5 games. The week is open to girls going in to 7th to 12th grade.
http://hoopmountain.com/negirls/camps/p

The girls will get the last two weeks in Aug and the first two of September off from me. They HATE when I take a break. Even you parents have withdrawals. I will need the break by then. AND I want the girls to enter the fall missing basketball. That last week of August the girls will still be shooting as they try to finish their 10,000 shot challenge.


--
Robin Sallie
Framingham, MA
 
Written on a small keyboard. Please forgive bizarre typos.