Winter Practice Plans

Winter 2013

Week 1 

Tuesday, November 5
Baseline Testing: Top of Key 3s, Foul Shots, Elbow Jumpers, Sit Ups in a minute, Push Ups in a minute, Burpees in a minute and dribbling down a back.
Teach a Group warm up
On the line: Dribbling Down and Backs, hesitation dribble, Change of speed, whirl, between legs, behind back
4 on 4 scrimmage make it take it, no dribble, change and switch
Shooting Group jumpers using Hoover form.
Fake Sandwich lines from each wing
Close outs to give and go layups
Shell defense


Thursday, November 7
Baseline Testing: Top of Key 3s, Foul Shots, Elbow Jumpers, Sit Ups in a minute, Push Ups in a minute, Burpees in a minute and dribbling down a back.
Form shooting at arrival
2 Dribbling shuffle runs
Foul shots
On the line dribbling
Scrimmage
Two ball dribbling on the move
Two ball passing from two ball dribbling stationary pounds
Self Shooting - Shoot to self
Line Shooting - Shoot to teammate down a line
Star passing to elbow jumper
2 continuous Cell phone suicides
Group jumpers: 3 at a time jumpers
Wing to elbow catch and shoot

Week 2

Next week
On the line
~1. Reverse (back up) dribble
~2. Step through with a both high low sweeps (Footwork)
~3. Lay up leap (Footwork) holding ball over head

Chicken dribble drill
~A. Crossover dribble with speed right hand / left hand
~B. whirl right hand / left hand
~C. Hesitation with a step-back cross over right hand / left hand

Under the basket
~1. Quick feet up back up back spin lay up
~2. close out, slide, back pedal, slide
~3. Star passing to a layup (Three basic passes – chest, bounce and overhead
~~◦Step to meet the pass and shorten the pass
~~◦Show a target)

Paired drills
~1. Two ball dribble passing
~2. Leaning two ball dribble
~3. Step thru rips high and low
~4. 10 second pivots and drive
~5. 10 second dribble and drive
~6. Leaning crab dribble

Offense building
~1. give and go with close outs
~2. Crab hand off
~3. Fake hand off pass to roller

Circle Trapping
Pass, cut, pick
Set Plays
◦Inbound "Stack"
◦Inbound Press Break "Flat-line"

WINTER UPDATE

Hi Parents,

1. TRAVEL practice starts TOMORROW at 7 PM to 8:30 pm at  St.
Stephens. We will go Tuesday and Thursday this week and next at St.
Stephen's. Those dates are Nov 5, 7, 12, and 14. Uniform payments are
due at the first practice. Checks are to be made out to Framingham Jr.
Flyers Basketball. Payment to the YMCA is due before the first
practice at the YMCA.

2. Have your daughters bring an empty binder and a pencil to their
first practice. I was told that most of last year's team can not find
their play books so we will start over. They'll need to bring their
binder to every practice. Email me if you daughter still has her play
book so I don't over print.

3. After two weeks  (this and next) at St Stephens, we become nomads
for two weeks since the Y will not have a place for us to practice
until the week after Thanksgiving. Our week 3 practice will be
Wednesday Nov 20 at 6 pm at Ashland Middle School with the Ashland 7th
grade team. We will have one other practice or scrimmage that week at
a time and place to be determined. We WILL NOT practice during
Thanksgiving week. With the race and two tournaments, we have enough
going on.

4. We will play in two pre season tournaments on the bookend weekends
to Turkey Day. We will play in two games on Sunday, Nov 24 at Mass
Premier in Foxboro. We will play a total of 3 games in the Natick
tournament during the weekend after Thanksgiving. Those games could be
Friday, Saturday or Sunday and will be over two days. We will play in
the tournaments as DESTROYERS not FLYERS since the entry fees are
coming out of the FADS funds.

5. The race Thanksgiving Day morning is full. If you did not get your
daughter registered, no worries. They can run with the unofficially.
Building team unity is the goal. I will have Destroyer tshirts for
every travel team member and practice player to wear on race day.

6. Our YMCA practice times and days are yet to be determined. I do
know that they are trying to get us into Walsh on Mon, Wednesday or
Thursday or Friday at YMCA. We will be given two practice times a
week.

7. I ask that during the winter basketball season that BASKETBALL come
before every other sport. The rest of the year it is okay to put the
Destroyers on the back burner as long as your player is doing a little
basketball year round. From mid November to mid March attendance at
two basketball practices a week is expected. One a week is required.
The required practice will be where new concepts will be introduced
and or challenges from the previous game will be ironed out. It will
be the most important practice of the week and will be clearly flagged
on TeamSnap. It is the practice that I would like every member of the
team to attend so that everyone is prepared for that week's game. That
is also the practice to which I will peg your daughter's playing time
for that week.

8. Make sure that your daughter information is entered in to TeamSnap.
Please use TeamSnap to mark your child's availability for games and
practices.

9. Figuring playing time: *Players who miss the mandatory practice
before a game will play but not equally. They will be worked into the
game in such a way and in such times that they will not disrupt the
progress of the players who were at that practice to learn that week's
new concepts. They may play only 5 or 6 minutes in that weeks game. I
will do as equal as I can playing time for each regular season game
for the girls who attend practices.

With 13 girls each player will play about 12 minutes per regular
season game. I will also change the groups from game to game so every
player gets a chance to play with each other, gets to start some games
and everyone also gets a chance to close out some games.

When our team is entered in a tournament where we need to win a
specific game in order to advance and keep playing, I will rotate
players fairly equally in the first three quarters. Everyone who met
the practice requirements for that week will play a minimum of 8
minutes split over the first 3 quarters, most likely in 4 minute
shifts.

I will play our current best players in the fourth quarter in the
"life or death" games. The demarcation line for "current best" for me
is when preparation, talent and athleticism meets an indomitable work
ethic demonstrated by showing up for and working hard in most of the
offered basketball activities in the week leading up to the
tournament.

My 2013 - 2014 Travel Season Goals

My goal is to develop all of our players and to give everyone the experience needed to improve their game. You all know that I am looking long term. I plan to take THIS travel team and bring them up to compete on the national AAU level by the time our 7th graders are in high school.   

To that end I will play everyone who comes to practice as equally as I can. With youth players who do competitive cheerleading, play travel or club soccer and lacrosse, have Sunday religious or cultural activities and preform in the honors bands and orchestras, I decided to add 5 players to my original 8 players. This way I will have enough bodies every game. 

Note: While my original 8 have a spot on my team for the rest of their basketball lives, they, like everyone else, have to earn their playing time by meeting practice requirements. 

Not every player on our travel team has the desire to play at the highest levels of the basketball. The commitment and sacrifice that is required to reach the top is large. I get that. 

At this age it is in the best interest of the girls' athletic and social development to do multiple sports. I require multiple sports, music, Girl Scouts and various other activities of my own child, some of which will cause her to miss games and practices. 

My AAU coach friends around the country think I am crazy. They recruit top athletes and above average travel players from a large area to build a team. They rarely have two players from the same town. They pick players who do nothing but BASKETBALL. 

I just ask that during the winter basketball season that BASKETBALL come before every other sport. The rest of the year it is okay to put the Destroyers on the back burner as long as your player is doing a little basketball year round. 

From mid November to mid March attendance at two basketball practices a week is expected. One a week is required. 

The required practice will be where new concepts will be introduced and or challenges from the previous game will be ironed out. It will be the most important practice of the week and will be clearly flagged on TeamSnap. 

It is the practice that I would like every member of the team to attend so that everyone is prepared for that week's game. That is also the practice to which I will peg your daughter's playing time for that week. 

Like last year I will offer 3 and sometimes 4 basketball opportunities a week including scrimmages and practices with other programs and workouts with and against boys. The more that your player can attend each week, the better your daughter will play on Sunday. 

I will do what is required for each individual player to have the best possible opportunity to succeed in the long term. I can put the opportunities in the path of your daughters but I can't force the girls to take advantage nor can I force you to get your kid to the practices. 

I will do as equal as I can playing time for each regular season game for the girls who attend practices.  In the best case plan I would have limited the roster to 10 players and then rotated them in and out of the game every four minutes and everyone would play 16 minutes per regular season game.  With 13 girls each player will play about 12 minutes per regular season game.

I will also change the groups from game to game so every player gets a chance to play with each other, gets to start some games and everyone also gets a chance to close out some games. 

*Players who miss the mandatory practice before a game will play but not equally. They will be worked into the game in such a way and in such times that they will not disrupt the progress of the players who were at that practice to learn that week's new concepts. They may play only 5 or 6 minutes in that weeks game. 

When our team is entered in a tournament where we need to win a specific game in order to advance and keep playing, I will rotate players fairly equally in the first three quarters. Everyone who met the practice requirements for that week will play a minimum of 8 minutes split over the first 3 quarters, most likely in 4 minute shifts. 

I will play our current best players in the fourth quarter in the "life or death" games. The demarcation line for "current best" for me is when preparation, talent and athleticism meets an indomitable work ethic demonstrated by showing up for and working hard in most of the offered basketball activities in the week leading up to the tournament. 

I am not planning an easy season. I don't expect us to win much by doing equal playing time. It is easier to coach a team that wins more games than it loses. You parents are happy (or at least quiet) and your daughters are thrilled to train and play.

But it's a little different matter when we are on a losing streak such as we were during the summer league. Being beaten (stomped even) every week knocks down player confidence a bit. After we did so well in travel last winter, the girls and admit it, most of you parents, thought we were a good team. That is not the case. 

We will be a good team in time. This summer showed the truth because, for the most part, we were playing AAU teams and Division 1 travel teams. Humbling, wasn't it?

At practice this summer, we just focused on the basics. We practiced man to man defense, dribbling under pressure, passing, lay ups, catch and shoot. During the massacres, I gave the players simple objectives they could achieve in each shift during the games. When we achieved them, we called it good. I congratulated them and we partied, no matter what the final score was. 

Expect this winter season to be more of the same. I want to finish in the middle of the regular season standings and peak at the end of the season to make a run deep into the season end tournament.

Practice Plan Fall 2013

 I did not do a good job keeping up with posting my practice plans. I will do better this winter.

Fall 2013

Week 1 

Tuesday, August 20
Baseline Testing: Top of Key 3s, Foul Shots, Elbow Jumpers, Sit Ups in a minute, Push Ups in a minute, Burpees in a minute and dribbling down a back.
On the line: Dribbling Down and Backs
Full court lays with an firstl move and a move at elbow before the shot
5 on 5 on 5 scrimmage make it take it.
Shooting Group jumpers using Hoover form.
Fake Sandwich lines from each wing

Thursday, August 22
Baseline Testing: Top of Key 3s, Foul Shots, Elbow Jumpers, Sit Ups in a minute, Push Ups in a minute, Burpees in a minute and dribbling down a back.
Form shooting at arrival
2 Dribbling shuffle runs
Foul shots
On the line dribbling
Scrimmage
Two ball dribbling on the move
Two ball passing from two ball dribbling stationary pounds
Self Shooting - Shoot to self
Line Shooting - Shoot to teammate down a line
Star passing to elbow jumper
2 continuous Cell phone suicides
Group jumpers: 3 at a time jumpers
Wing to elbow catch and shoot

Week 2

Next week
On the line
~1. Reverse (back up) dribble
~2. Step through with a both high low sweeps (Footwork)
~3. Lay up leap (Footwork) holding ball over head

Chicken dribble drill
~A. Crossover dribble with speed right hand / left hand
~B. whirl right hand / left hand
~C. Hesitation with a step-back cross over right hand / left hand

Under the basket
~1. Quick feet up back up back spin lay up
~2. close out, slide, back pedal, slide
~3. Star passing to a layup (Three basic passes – chest, bounce and overhead
~~◦Step to meet the pass and shorten the pass
~~◦Show a target)

Paired drills
~1. Two ball dribble passing
~2. Leaning two ball dribble
~3. Step thru rips high and low
~4. 10 second pivots and drive
~5. 10 second dribble and drive
~6. Leaning crab dribble

Offense building
~1. give and go with close outs
~2. Crab hand off
~3. Fake hand off pass to roller

Circle Trapping
Pass, cut, pick
Set Plays
◦Inbound "Stack"
◦Inbound Press Break "Flat-line"

 

Fall Kick Off Party

Fall Update

Training for basketball with the Destroyers is a year long commitment. The point of the Destroyers program is to build an elite team of basketball players by the time our current 6th graders reach high school. One elite well trained nationally competing team in four more years is my goal. That is it. To that end FADS is doing skills and drills YEAR round.

Our players need to make the same commitment anything less is not fair to the team. We will focus on organized individual skill development for each girl, not on playing a ton of games.

FADS will charge just enough to cover insurance, equipment, gym rentals as needed and such. League and tournament fees will always be split evenly between whomever is playing.

The fall is pre-season, which will encompass approximately 10 weeks of training now until the start of formal Travel practices. Our pre-season training this year starts next week on August 20 and will continue twice a week (most Tuesdays and Thursdays) until the middle of November.

I understand that most of our players do multiple sports. That is a good thing. Please make at least one session of basketball per week. You are my core group.

Your daughters will be with me until they quit the Destroyers or graduate high school. I can only consider girls who are willing to work on basketball year round.

The objectives for the pre season program are:
• Prepare the team for full court player to player defense with help and trapping
• Improve everyone's understanding of the Read and React Offense.
• Improve everyone's shooting percentage.
• Improve sport specific conditioning.
• Improve sport specific speed, agility and strength.
• Improve core body strength.
• Improve team chemistry.

Defense will be stressed, taught, drilled and practiced while I am expanding and sharpening our understanding of the offense.

We will teach and or refresh everyone's understand of the Hoover Pro Shot System. Shooting game shots from game spots at game speed will be part of every workout. I am working on getting a Hoover shooting coach back on Thursday 9/5 to do more advance stuff with the girls. Before then all our girls will be introduced to The System and should be ready for the next level from Hoover.

We will add jumping rope and homework to our conditioning using the Tabata principle. A Tabata workout consists of 20 seconds of maximum intensity exercise, followed by 10 seconds of rest, repeated without pause 8 times for a total of four minutes.

Every one can find 4 minutes a day to condition. The Tabata workouts, designed by Dr. Izumi Tabata and a team of researchers from the National Institute of Fitness and Sports in Tokyo, are specific to basketball. Basketball is an interval based sport with quick bursts of sprints and stops.

When I am doing equal playing time, the game is broken down into approximately 8 4-minute segments. The conditioning goal is for the players to be able to go all out for their entire 4 minute shift.

A third of every workout will include sport specific speed, agility, core strength and total body strength using the girls body weight to build functional basketball power. Our girls have to get stronger. We spent much time getting pushed around this summer. The girls will have daily strength homework along with the conditioning home work.

To build team chemistry we will do things together away from the basketball court. I am looking for ideas for fun outings, fund raising and community service. I would like to do more things such as the Summer Bash where the girls ran wild on the Tot Lot, played pick up soccer and got to know each other. The 3 on 3 tournament was also a useful team builder for the kids as well as the parents.

It does not look like the Boston Warriors will let us into their boys league. We will do a tournament or two in late October or early November. I will also set up scrimmages with boys and other teams.

Robin

Summer Winds Down

It was a great ride. All the girls gave the championship game their best shot. We played to win. One watching coach from one of the boys teams told me that if I'd stuck to my top 6 or 7 players like everyone else does, we would have won. I don't know about that. Everyone as always plays.

Last time that we played the Sting Angels, July 30, they beat us by 43 points and they lead us by 25 at half time.  Tonight we took them tied 13 - 13 into half time. The end score was 21 for the Destroyers to 40 for the Angels. 

The amazing is that we had the worst record in the division, winning just our last two games in the regular season. That we went on to win our first play off game decisively on will, guts and defense was unexpected.  Being competitive against the over aged and over sized Angels was a bonus. 

Summer League was hard. I am glad we did it. One of the toughest situations I face as a coach is preparing children to play in a game where they are considered the underdog and many fans – and maybe the athletes themselves – believe they will lose. That was my reality every game this summer. 

At our level there are winners and learners. You are never a loser no matter what the score. The scoreboard doesn’t define our girls as athletes or me as a coach. 

I think our players are now able to see the bigger picture, know that losing made us better, and recognize the value of strong opponents to push us to be even better. We don’t allow ourselves to be defined by a single performance. 

Learning, improving, going hard and having fun were my top priorities this summer. I believe I have met my goals. I am pleased that we learned a little offense (spacing, movement and attacking the basket) and defense along the way. 

My daily goal was / is to recognize and reward effort. Effort means giving 100% effort, 100% of the time, regardless of what the score was. I believe that we, as a team, got there, too.

Mistakes are the result of learning and effort. We made a lot of mistakes. I asked the girls to "Bush it off" and keep going when they make them. Mistakes are teaching tools. I have not removed a child from a game because she made a mistake. We learn more from mistakes than we do from successes. I have removed players for lacking effort. 

I love to teach the game and try to teach the girls every position. They will a develop in to better athletes and develop a better understanding and appreciation of the various roles on court. Over time, I hope to grow players who can play multiple positions well. I realize that at first it all seems like just a lot of chaos. 

The main thing that I hope all you parents will take away from the summer is that being able to fully maximize the potential of a player has very little to do with the child's initial level of raw talent. Every one got better. The players who came to practice and took advantage of the special offerings on Friday nights improved the most. 

The key is getting the player to work on her skills. The Talent Code Author Daniel Coyle sums it up perfectly, “Talent is determined far less by our genes and far more by our actions.”

Every practiced we worked on individual skills. Everyone got a little better at everything which made us a little better as a team every week. If you are serious about your daughter being a high school player, develop her basketball skills year round along with soccer, lacrosse, etc. 

We improved this summer because game in and game out as a team we outworked the competition. Hustling, hitting the floor after loose balls and sprinting in transition became our culture. 

We improved because we cared about each other as players and as people. We shared the ball. We taught each other the offense and defense. We encouraged each other. We created new friendships and strengthened old friendships which will endure off the basketball court. 

Coach Doc Rivers once said, “If you want to go fast go alone, if you want to go far go together.” We improved together. Teamwork can be one of the most difficult things to teach in the game of basketball, especially for a team that mixes players who have limited to no experience with experienced players. We also had a mix of ages and still everyone came together. 

The principles of being an athlete – dedication, teamwork, goal-setting, and sportsmanship (to name a few) – are ideals that I hope our kids demonstrate 24-hours a day, not just on the basketball court. 

Rather than focusing on winning the championship (an outcome goal we can’t control), I worked with our girls to focus on effort goals that can ultimately lead to better outcomes. We looked at things like 

1. cutting all the way to the basket after every pass

2. meeting every pass with your eyes, hands and feet

3. peeking at the rim after every catch before making any move with the ball

to name just 3 of the many. 

And we improved practice by practice, game by game. 

Maybe being the underdog was actually a great position for us to be in. It provided an important rallying point for our Destroyers. When no one believes you can, but you and your teammates believe you can, you share an emotional bond that brings you closer together, helps to inspire you and adds a focus.  

You seek to prove “them” wrong – together.  And so win or lose, the underdog team actually takes away a potent life lesson:  when we trust and believe in ourselves, in our teammates, and in our preparation, great things can – and sometimes do – happen.

Sure, Tayja cried tonight. She HATES to lose what she considers the "big" games. When she came home from eating ice cream with her team mates she said the she has to become a better shot to keep from letting her team mates down again. She is as right as much as she is wrong. All of our girls have to get better so as to not let each other down. And I have to become a better coach. We all must add to our skill sets.

Thank you for playing this summer. 

Robin