Practice OK'ed for Wednesday!!!

Hi Girls,

Practice will be at 3:00pm until 4:30pm Wednesday Dec 29th. Please try to be there if possible.


Coach May

Practice Canceled!!!

Hi Girls,

Teresa Long just informed me that Mr. Wiggs has canceled all practices for Monday and Tuesday even on a voluntary basis. Wednesday will be decided on later in the week.

Call your friends and spread the word. We will most likely try to practice on Sunday Jan 2, 2011 due to the lack of practice time before our first conference game.

I have requested the Sunday Jan 2, 2011 time slot of 5:00pm to 6:30pm for practice.

****I was told, Definitely no practice Monday or Tuesday of this week.****

We need to work on some ideas that could give us some advantages if we can do them for the conference season plus tighten up some of our other offensive and defensive packages we use. It is hard to get better without practice time.

Hope you girls saw your team picture in the Daily Herald, Friday edition(back page) accepting the Christmas Tournament Trophy. Nice!


Coach May

Monday Dec. 27, 2010 Practice.

Hi Girls,

I understand the roads are not great. I will be at the Gym today for Practice at 3:00pm to 4:30pm. If your parents are worried about the roads you can not come. Most of the main roads are passable since I just got in from town.

Because of Exams and Christmas we have only practiced a few times since Dec 9th. We need to have this week to get back into touch with our skills. Since Dec. 9th we have only practiced 3 times and played two games. That is not enough practice time to be at the top of our game.

We return to school on Jan 3rd, 2011 and go to watch UNC practice. You have make up exams on the 4th so we will not practice, exams on the 5th and we play NEA that night. We then have one day of practice on Thursday to get ready for our first conference game vs. Kerr Vance.

Needless to say if we want to give ourselves our best chance in the conference we need some practice time.

Thought: Failing to Prepare is Preparing to Fail. John Wooden UCLA

I will be at practice today, if you can get there please try to be there with me. The other practices are on the blog under holiday practice schedule.


Coach May

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas Girls,

Hope you all have a Great Christmas. Remember the reason for gifts is from the gifts that the Three Wise Men brought to the Baby Jesus. We give gifts to the one's we love in honor of Christ our Lord.


Coach May

PS- Enjoy the Snow, I will post tomorrow about Monday practice after we see what the roads are like at that point in time.

Championship #1.

Hi Girls,

***No practice on Wednesday, Next Practice Thursday Dec 23rd at 3:00 to 4:30pm.***

It was a tough job but we managed to defend our title as JV Christmas Tournament Champions for the 4th year running. I know you girls that have played with me the last 3 years now have won 3 in a row.

To me, I think this was the most gratifying Christmas Tournament win because we faced so much adversity in this tournament. With no practice time basically coming into the tournament because of exams and snow etc. We had to play a really tough team in the first round in Brunswick and it took alot of energy. Then to come back after being down at halftime in the championship game and in deep foul trouble to win and to do it with Lindsey and Mer fouled out for the entire 4th quarter and Jamie and Emily playing with 4 fouls each was really something. It took heart and knowing how to win.

The reason I titled this blog Championship #1 is simply we want to add two more to it. Regular season EPIC Champions and then EPIC Tournament Champions. This was a good start.

Final Score: Halifax Academy JV Viking Girls 31- Faith Christian 25 BTW: They scored the last 5 points of the game when we were not really guarding them since we did not want to foul and there was only seconds on the clock.

Scoring by Qtrs: 1st: 7-2 2nd: 2-11 3rd: 11-2 4th: 11-10

HA Scoring: Em 8, Alex 7, Lindsey 6, Kelly 6, Jamie 4.

FCA Scoring: #11 Mary Peyton Fisher 15, #4 Stephanie Stallings 4 pts, #12 Carrie Lewis 4, #30 Bailey Parks 2.

FG%: Team 12/51 23.5%; Em 3/11, Lindsey 3/12, Kelly 3/13, Alex 3/13, MeganK 0/1, Mer 0/1, Jamie 0/8. 33.3% is the minimum winning %. Just by shear will and toughness were we able to win shooting this poorly.

3Pt%: Lindsey 0/1, Alex 0/1.

FT %: Team 7/14 50%; Jamie 4/6***, Alex 1/2**, Em 2/6 50% is the minimum winning %.

FCA FT%: 9/19-47.4%; #11- 4/8, #4- 2/4, #12 -2/5, #5-0/2

Rebounds: Team 7off/14Def; Em 2/6****, Alex 1/5**, Jamie 4/1**, Kelly 3/2**, Mer 0/4**, Lindsey 2/2**
Jordan 0/1*.

Assists: Team 9; Lindsey 5****, Jamie 2**, Alex 2**.

Steals: Team 15; Mer 5****, Jamie 4****, Lindsey 2**, Kelly 2**, Em 1* Jordan 1*.

Blocks: Kelly 1**.

Layups: 9/38-23.7%. Outside shots: 3/13-23.1%. 3pt shots: 0/2-0%. Foul Shots 7/14-50%. We can do alot better especially on the lay ups.

Some Thoughts: It was an ugly win but we played with a great amount of heart and effort and that is the most important thing. An ugly win is always better than a pretty loss. I personally thought we got almost zero of a fair break on the officiating, maybe I am biased but if we had not tried to run some clock we might have fouled all the starters out.

Bottom line if we make half of our missed layups we win this thing by 20. We will continue to address that in practice and I think once we get back into shape and having consistent practice time we will take a large step forward in that respect.

There is almost too many to mention for their efforts but I will give it a try. Mer with 5 steals, tough D and 4 Rebs in very limited playing time due to foul trouble. Emily 8 points, making them when her team needed them the most, 2 clutch foul shots and a huge 8 rebounds. Jamie great team leadership, great Defense on #4, 4 steals, Great play down the stretch in a new position making plays and foul shots to seal the win. Alex clutch outside shooting, her shooting is really coming on, a hard fought 6 rebounds and when the chips were on the table a very respectable job of dribbling when we needed her the most. Lindsey, maybe her best game of the year, she played hard on Defense gave us great leadership at the PG and had 5 assists. Kelly, playing super tough when the game was on the line. Defended the basket, making clutch shots out of the 4 corners with the chips on the table and being strong under the goal and on the boards, way to step up. Jordan, stepping in and playing tough to buy us some time and hustling and fighting to make a steal. Megan, Playing in a tremendous pressure situation in a new spot and holding your own. To all of you I give you a Giant Star and my upmost respect.

If there was an Tournament MVP for the two nights I would pick Jamie hands down. If we got to choose up the starting 5 and top reserve I would take my starters and Kelly. Be proud of yourselves, your coach is proud of you. It is time to take it to another level. Next Practice Thursday 3:00pm to 4:30pm. Try to be there since it is the last practice before Christmas. I have your T-Shirts and Hoodies and I will bring them Thursday.

Play Hard A+, Play Smart A-, Play Together A+. Team Record: 7 and 1.


***Remember No practice on Wednesday, get some shopping done. Next Practice Thursday 3:00 to 4:30pm.


T/O's: Team 12; Jamie 3, Mer 2, Lindsey 2, Em 1, Alex 1, Kelly 1. We should always expect the girls that handle the ball the most to most likely make the most turnovers. If we have big girls making lots of turnovers when handling the ball very little we would have a serious problem.

Coach May

JV Girls Championship Game 6:30 PM Tuesday

Hi Girls,

A nice win tonight against a tough Brunswick Academy team. They were certainly about as physical as any team I can remember in awhile and very challenging. Final Score: Halifax 38 Brunswick 25.

I will post more in a little while. Be at the Gym and ready to play by 6:00pm. We will wear white.

Scoring by Qtrs: 1st- 11 to 6 2nd- 7 to 3 3rd- 4 to 8 4th- 16 to 9

Scoring Totals: Halifax; Jamie 22, Mer 9, Em 4, Alex 2, Kelly 1

Scoring Totals Brunswick: #12 Jessica Rivas 13, #20 Elise Walton 7, #34 Dani Wright 4,
#21 Amanda Roberts 1.

FG%: Team 15/43 34.9%, Jamie 8/16***, Mer 4/8***, Em 2/5*, Alex 1/5, Kelly 0/5, Lindsey 0/4.

FT%: Team 8/38 21%; Jamie 6/17, Mer 1/7, Kelly 1/10, Lindsey 0/3.

Rebounds: Team 6off/13Def.; Mer 3/3, Alex 0/6, Kelly 2/3, Jamie 1/1.

Assists: Team 8; Mer 3, Lindsey 2, Jamie 2, Alex 1.

Turnovers: 4; Em 1, Jamie 1, Lindsey 1, Kelly 1.

Steals: Team 13; Jamie 5, Lindsey 3, Alex 2, Mer 2, Em 1.

3Pt shots: Kim 0/1.


Some thoughts: It was a great game by the starters. They ran a very difficult press that I had never seen. It was amazing we only made 4 turnovers. I thought Jamie and Mer both had very good games and Alex getting 6 rebounds really helped. It was as always a team effort and our defense is basically what won this game for us with a big assist from our 4 corners game and alot of effort by the five starters and the top subs.

Some other interesting stat facts were we made all our field goals on lay ups (15), we also missed 22 lay ups. So that was 15/37 in layups. We missed 30 fouls shots out of 38 attempts. Obviously some of the foul shots were the front ends of one and one's so between the lay ups and the foul shots we left 74+ points out there for the taking.

I know it would not have worked out that way and 100% would have been an unreal percentage but 74 points we missed + 38 we made, would have been 112 points. Probably some kind of a JV National Record if we had done it. Being a little out of shape due to the long lay off due to exams and snow no doubt hurt us plus the aggressive nature of the game and lack of practice time. I was proud of how my team refused to fold to their pressure and the physical play. We have the makings of a really special team, we just need to close the gap on a few problem areas and continue to do the things we do well even better.

Enjoy this Victory until you wake up and then focus on Faith Christian. They are good enough to take our Trophy away from us. We need to make sure we are ready to play our best and play hard. Get some rest, drink some fluids and eat well. Be at the gym and ready to play by 6:00pm.

Grades: Play Hard A+, Play Smart A-, Play Together A. Good game! Let's finish what we started!

Thought: To the Victor's go the spoils.


Coach May

Practice Sunday 5:00 to 7:00pm

Hi Girls,

We have practice for the JV Christmas Tournament tonight starting at 5:00pm until 7:00pm. Most of you have not practiced since we last played on the 10th at Village Christian. We had 7 girls at practice on Friday.

You all need to try to attend practice tonight.


Coach May

Friday Dec. 17th Practice as scheduled

Hi Girls,

The roads SHOULD be clear this afternoon. We will practice from 4:00 to 5:30 as set by Coach Herman. We do have the JV Christmas Tournament starting Monday and have not practiced in a week due to exams. If your parents have concerns about driving I will excuse you from practice if necessary. I will be at the gym a little before 4:00pm.


Bland

Shooting Form, Passing and dribbling.

Hi Girls,

***You need to read this and take it to heart but wait until after you do well in all your exams. School is still more important than basktball.***

The Old Saying: God, Family, Education and Basketball in that order.

Since you are all right handed this season I will not have to talk in terms of how to reverse this for a left handed player.

Shooting Form and Thoughts:

The basic thought used at the Carolina Basketball Camps for shooting is BEEF.

B= Balance. You should always be in good balance, shoulders over the balls of your feet, butt stuck out slightly to create an athletic and balanced stance. Your right foot closer to the goal than your left. (This is for right Handed shooters, left reverse it)

E= Eyes. Your eyes should focus on the front of the rim. Some teachers are now saying look at the back middle of the rim. You can take which one works the best for you. I personally look at the front and try to visualize the flight of the ball swishing thru the net in my mind. I never stop looking at the rim, and do not follow the ball with my eyes. Also, do make the effort to hold your head steady. If it is swaying it is going to make the shot go off line.

E= Elbow. Your right elbow should be underneath the ball. If the elbow is not inline with the shoulder and the ball it will cause a sidespin release, an untrue rotation and the possibility of applying a side force to the ball on the extension thru the shot that could push it off line.

F= Follow Thru. The full extension of the arm underneath the ball and the full release of the wrists. Called the Fish Hook look. Concentrate of holding the follow thru at the top for an instance once the ball has left your hand to reinforce the focus on finishing the shot. Do not forget it is truly a one handed shot, the left hand is just there to balance the ball and when the ball leaves your hands the only thing still touching the ball is your shooting hand.

Other Thoughts:

Up and over: The best thought I can think of on the feeling of shooting the ball properly with the proper motion is up and over. The proper shooting motion is more of an up and over motion than a push at the goal with your right forearm. Think in terms of extending your arm upwards instead of out pushing the ball. The up and over motion would be similar to having a board in the way that you had to extend your arm upwards to reach far enough to get your hand over it so you could release the ball with your wrist. This motion creates what is called the Fish hook look. I see lots of girls that are trying to throw the ball at the basket with their forearm and no real release of the hands. This is not a good way to shoot. The proper release is a flip not a push.

Shoulders square: Always try to keep your shoulders square to the basket. When shooting a foul shot, imagine your shoulders square to the foul line.

Knees: To be a great shooter you have to use your knees. Have a little bounce in your knees to give you rythmn and fluidness and power.

On Foul Shooting: All of the above, plus make sure you line up exactly on the same spot everytime. I mean to really focus on being exact! Focus on exactly where you place your right big toe. Your left foot should be back off the line a little at a spot you are comfortable with and balanced. Bend forward from the waist with your backend poked out slightly for balance and B.E.E.F. it with an up and over and through the nets. I like to think in terms of my right big toe being dead on line with the absolute center of the basket and as close to the line as possible but absolutely not touching the line.

Routine: The Carolina Coaches all insist that players have a consistent foul shooting routine. If you like to bounce the ball 3 times then shoot, make sure you do it the same way everytime. The routine is your comfort zone, it signals your body to relax and do it just like you do in practice over and over. Using it gives you the chance to put yourself in the zone. If ever interrupted while in your routine by the official or a violation, start your routine over from the beginning. Take a step back then start over from scratch. Players are allowed 10 seconds to shoot once they are handed the ball. However if it is an official interuption such as the buzzer accidentally went off while on the line, a violation etc. you will get another 10 second count. You also will hear me hollering to reset, thats short for starting over. Decide what your routine is going to be and stick with it. Having a consistent routine will make you a better foul shooter. BTW, the reason I hate the game Knock Out is there is no routine like you would use in a real game. If you are going to practice, lets do it the right way and lets do it in a way that will make you a better player. Remember Perfect Practice vs. just practice.

Proper hand positions on the ball: Place the ball in the right hand not in the finger tips and not in the palm but on the pads of the right hand with a little air space underneath the ball. Fingers wide but not super stretched. Ball balanced. The left hand should be under the halfway circumference of the ball and should work only to balance the ball for the right hand to shoot it. If you shoot and push with both hands the left hand is going to push the ball off line on most shots. Rick Pitino Coach at Louisville and known as a great shooting coach teaches his players to have their thumbs form a T. Put your right hand on the ball and balance the ball in one hand then put your left hand on the ball so that your right thumb and your left thumb form a T on the back of the ball. On my hand the T slightly touches but for girls with smaller hands if could be some separation but not so much that it allows the left hand to not be underneath the midway point on the ball. Remember, the left hand is there for support and to balance the ball, not to apply any force. I have a shooters ball with the finger marks on and I will try to bring to to practice over Christmas for you to look at.

Perfect Rotation: You can usually tell if a player has good form by the rotation of the ball. If it leaves the shooting hand and rotates in a true reverse spin rotation(no side spin) It has been released properly as far as a one handed shot goes. How fast it spins is not a real factor, just make sure it spins true.

The Old Days: Back in the 60's girls all shot set shots (similar to foul shots with no hop or jump) they also shot with two hands pushing the ball very similar to making a two handed chest pass at the basket. Today girls and boys all shoot alike as the game has become more athletic and the old set shot took a second longer to get the ball away and was more prone to being blocked since it was released from a lower point. I will say one positive thing for the girls back then is most of them could really shoot. I think it was easier to do and required less technique and strenght. Unfortunately I have not run across a great many coaches that are really good shooting coaches in the lower school levels when shooting should be taught. That is why I keep telling you girls to take the time to learn to do it right and do so now. Bad habits are extremely hard to overcome.

Jump Shot vs. Push Shot: A true jump shot involves taking one step and jumping straight up in the air ideally to the top your jumping ability and releasing the ball at or just before the top of your jump to make it more difficult to block. Most players cannot shoot as well jumping to their top vertical leap as they can not jumping quite as high. You have to determine the spot you are most comfortable with on your jump and can make the most shots. Most players do not shoot a true jump shot. If you do not take the step and just hop without the step to shoot it is technically called a push shot but all the other things about proper shooting form still apply.

Mental Approach: Always, absolutely always, tell yourself you are a good shooter and you can make it. If you miss a foul shot don't degrade your self. Tell yourself , OK lets get set up just perfect just like I practice and shoot it pretty, I know I am a good shooter and this one is going in. Make yourself visulize the ball going into the basket before you shoot in your minds eye. Never take the approach of I just can't shoot. Even if you are in a little slump remain positive and work harder on the fundamentals. Having good fundamentals is your comfort zone when shots are not falling. If you think you won't make it chances are you won't.

Team Mental Approach: Never, even if joking tell your teammate they are bad shooters. In competition you can tell them You are a good shooter but I am a better shooter. But shooting is such a mental game, lets not ever talk ourselves or our teammates into missing shots. Be supportive, tell them you know they can make it.
If they need a confidence boast just say B.E.E.F., you got it.

Practice, Practice, Practice!!!! But never forget: Practice does not make Perfect, Perfect Practice makes Perfect. Make sure you do it right over and over until it becomes second nature. Great Shooters are for the most part made not born. It is a learned skill. Only by consistently doing it with the correct form and doing enough repetitions can you become a truly consistently good shooter.

On Practice: What would be good practice? Perimeter players: Try to shoot ten shots from the left corner one big step inside the 3 point line, ten from halfway up on left, ten from behind the foul line, ten from halfway down on the right and ten from the right corner. Keep up with how many you make. Then go to the foul line and shoot 10. Do it over and over. Low post players should do a similar pattern like we do sometimes in practice starting with a lay up, short bank, half way up the paint,left elbow, foul line, right elbow, halfway down, short bank and lay up. I suggest you do 5 shots from these spots and keep count. Make it your own personal competition to set a new record for yourself.

Shooting form practice: Short shots ONLY. Start at the left block, next peg up, bottom of foul circle, right peg, right block. Shoot the ball with one hand only. Try to make 10 in a row from each spot. Keep score. Track improvement. Try to make swishes. Up and over with a full release of your shooting hand. In the learning stages it is suggested to do about 300 or these shots over the course of one week. When you go to shooting longer shots remember your non shooting hand is the assist hand, it is there to balance the ball for the shooting hand, not to exert any force on the ball.

On lay ups: Make certain you focus on the top corner of the box behind the rim. Make certain you do not rush the shot. Remember the famous saying "Be Quick but don't Hurry" I think this should apply here. Most of the missed layups/put backs are caused by not focusing on the box long enough. If you turn your head toward the goal to see it go in while you are releasing the ball you will most likely shoot the ball over the basket and that easy two points will be missed. Focus on the box until the ball is gone and hits the glass, you will be able to tell if it went in because our fans will cheer, the bench will cheer and I will be yelling pick up your man on defense.

On passing: I am sure you all know how to make the different passes(Chest,Bounce, Overhead, Baseball, Hook bounce) since we have covered them all in pre-season practice. We will review them again over Christmas Break just in case. The one thought you need to take home with you and make a mental commitment to do is try to make EVERY pass you make either in practice, in a game or even just goofing around in warm ups before practice, as close to a perfect pass as you can make it. Get in the habit of having proper form, and putting the ball in exactly the right place for your teammate to catch it. Get into the habit of making perfect passes, everytime. Make it part of your focus.

Also, we need to learn not to telegraph the pass. If you look where you are passing it long enough before actually passing the ball the defense will catch on and try to steal it. Look one way and see the players with your perifial vision. Turn and pass quickly and accurately if they are open. You can also fake one way and pass another if you think that defensive player is anticipating the pass.

On Dribbling: We are woefully pitiful at dribbling the ball. Not without potential to dribble well but certainly hesitant to ever use our left hand at all in a game. We will be adding more left handed dribbling drills and dribbling drills in general immediately after the Christmas Tournament.

Girls: How well you learn these skills sets your ceiling for how good you can be not only on our JV Team but also when you get to the Varsity. Most of the time getting good at something does not happen over night. It is like osmosis it seeps into your game. Only by working on these skills consistently do you have a chance to become very good at them. We only have the court for 70 minute of practice time a day, that is not much time. You have to be willing to try and do it right everytime and to also work on it on your own. As I always say in practice if the only time you touch a ball is during basketball season for our 70 minutes per practice you are going to really limit how good you could become.

Thought: Never forget this one: The Best way to improve your Team is to improve Yourself. John Wooden, UCLA the winner of 11 National Championships.

Make a commitment to yourself to never stop striving to learn and Never stop trying to get better. If you can make 100 foul shots in a row, try to make 101.

I am on the court basically everyday before practice. If you need help with your shot or other skills or if you just have a question or want me to take a look at something just ask. The same always goes for anything that has to do with our basketball team and how we play. I am not a mind reader so if you need to know something ask. There are no bad questions, if you don't know something just find the time to ask. I prefer that you see me before practice or after practice since we run all our practices on a fairly tight planned time schedule and it is not fair to the other 13 girls to stop the group unless it is directly related to what we are working on in that time frame.

***If you are working on you shooting form, take this information and re-read it often. It will help to keep you focused. I tried to included every aspect I could think of on shooting form and I am looking for ways to add some video instruction to this page in the future. It will also add additional information on shooting when I think of other good thoughts. If you would really like to become a great shooter this information and lots of practice is your ticket. I will try to follow this with a teaching post on some other aspects of play at some point such as defense***

Coach May

Holiday Basketball Practice

Hi Girls,

As it stands now, I have requested the gym for these time slots and it is set:

Friday 17th: 4:oo to 5:30
Sunday 19th 5:00 to 7:00pm
Monday we play JV Tournament
Tuesday we play JV Tournament
Wednesday 22th: 3:00 to 4:30 Practice Canceled on Wednesday for a Great Tournament Win.
Thursday 23rd: 3:00 to 4:30
Friday Christmas Eve off
Merry Christmas!!
Monday 27th: 3:00 to 4:30
Tuesday 28th: 3:00 to 4:30
Wednesday 29th: 3:00 to 4:30
Thursday 30th: 3:00 to 4:30
Friday 31st: 9:00am to 11:00am

***Jan 3rd, 2011, We will leave school at 10:32 to attend Basketball Practice at UNC. Every player will have to to sign a release form and turn it into Mr. Wiggs at the office to be able to go. If you do not have a form you cannot go. If you would rather stay at school and not go that is your option. We will eat lunch and those that would like we can stop at the Red Lobster on the way home(optional) can do so. Just bring enough money to eat.

The release form should read:(Make your Own and don't forget it)

I give ____***Full name***_____________________ my permission to go on a school field trip with the JV Girls Basketball Team on Jan 3, 2011 to Chapel Hill, NC to attend a UNC Varsity Mens Practice.

Signed by Parent*****

If there are changes I will make the corrections on this blogspot. We will try to go back and address some team weaknesses and individual skills over the Christmas break and after the JV Tournament. The conference season starts soon after Christmas Break.

Coach May

Jan 4, 2011 Practice as usual 3:15 pm to 4:30 pm.
Jan 5,2011 NEA at Halifax

Mr. Chambliss

Hi Girls,

Mr. Chambliss passed away Sunday morning at 10:20. Keep him and his family in your prayers. He was a very special man and I am going to miss him. Thanks for dedicating the Game vs. NEA to him.

Coach May

A Bad Day at Village Christian

Hi Ladies;

Not a good night for us. V.C. ran exactly what we prepared for. It is called the run and jump #32, it was invented by accident at the University of Kansas when Dean Smith was a Senior player and his team used it to win the National Championship in 1953. Coach Smith brought it to Chapel Hill as a coach and popularized it. We have tried to put it in use I know for the last two years maybe even before that but we have not been very good at running it. It requires a lot of practice time and quickness. So due to lack of practice time to spend on getting good at it we don't run it. It is a great defense and very hard to play against since you have to be very disciplined and have everyone do their jobs consistently and precisely to beat it. You absolutely cannot pass the ball sideways once you get near the half court line since they overplay the passing lanes once the dribbler is trapped and a turnover at midcourt leads to a lay up for them. That is why we had those other 3 downcourt options since they did not always send the same girls to run the double team. That is why we were supposed to stop before half court and before dribbling into the double team. They only double you if you got near the half court line and they wanted to make the trap just across the half court line.

We lost by 16 points, 39 to 23. As you can tell from the other scores against our schools teams they are a very powerful basketball school. I doubt we will play a better team this season. We lost by 16, the JV Boys lost by around 40 and the Varsity Girls lost by around 50. Our shooting in the end killed us. We only made 6 shots out of 32. By my best guess 25 of the shot we took were lay ups or short shots within 4 feet of the basket. If you do the math,that means we missed around 19 short shots, if we made half of them we would have won the game even with a terrible 18 turnovers.

Stats:

Scoring by Quarters: 1st; 10 to 15, 2nd; 8 to 10, 3rd; 3 to 10, 4th; 2 to 4.

Scoring: Mer 7 pts, Jamie 7 pts, Emily 5 pts, Alex 2 pts, Lindsey 2pts.

VCA Scoring: #35 Lauren Goldner 16 pts, #20 Hannah Morrison 7 pts, #32 Brittany Tschida 5 pts, #5 Brett Hinkamp 4 points. No other higher than 2 points.

FG%: Team 6/32 18.75%; Individuals: Jamie 2/6*,Alex 1/4, Emily 2/9, Mer 1/6, Lindsey 0/1, M&M 0/1,
Jordan 0/1, Kaela 0/1, Kim 0/1. 33.3% is the minimum winning % against a decent team. This team was a very good team so we would have had to make around 44% to have won. That would have been 8 more lay ups or shots to tie.

3pts shots: M&M 0/1. Jordan 0/1.

FT %: Team 11/23 48.8%: Individual Lindsey 2/2****, Jamie 3/4***, Mer 5/11, Emily 1/4, Megan K 0/1, Jorday 0/1.


Rebounds: Team 6off/17Defensive; Mer 3/11****, Jamie 2/0, Alex 0/2, Kelly 1/1, Jordan 0/1, Leslie 0/1,
Emily 0/1.

Assists: Team 5; Alex 2*, Lindsey 2*, Jamie 1*.

Steals: Team 8; Alex 4****, Mer 1*, Jamie 1*, Lindsey 1*, M&M 1*.

Blocks: Lindsey 1*, Kim 1*.

Turnovers: Team 18; Lindsey 7, Jamie 4, Mer 1,Emily 1, Kelly 1, Megan K 1, M&M 1, Kim 1, Brooke 1.

Bottom Line: Too many turnovers and too many missed lay ups. Make our lay ups and we win. Make half our missed lay ups and we win a close game. Make lay ups and take away the turnovers that led to lay ups for them and we win big. Chances are we will not see that defense again this year(I hope not), unless Brunswick runs it no other team on our schedule used that defense last season or in any other year I have coached. That is one of the things that makes the run and jump work good for them, teams hardly ever play against that defense so it is hard to get used to it. Even with 7 defensive players on the court yesterday at practice all at once we really could not simulate the pressure VCA was able to create and the speed they were able to do it with.

As you know, we are not allowed to practice during exam week. As it stands right now I plan to practice Friday after exams at our usual time if the gym is available after the Octagon Club Christmas meeting scheduled there for Friday after exams. Keep Sunday night open also 5:00 to 7:00 approximately if I can get the gym for those times. We play the annual JV Christmas Tournament on Monday 12/20 and Tuesday 12/21. We have never lost this tournament since I have been coaching and I do not plan to start this year if we can help it. We will need Friday and Sunday to get the kinks from exams out in order to play close to our best.

Study hard, Basketball is fun but grades are what will get you where you want to go in life. Take studying seriously and do your best on the exams.

BTW, if you did not know it, Village Christian has an enrollment of 791 students. They are one of the largest 2A schools in the NCISAA. I for one would rather find another school of similar enrollment of us to play. Having such a numerical advantage gives sports teams huge advantages in finding 6 or 7 real good players in sports like Basketball.

***As I have told you in practice a number of times I am on the court almost always by 3:00pm, If you need help with your skill development or understanding anything we do in practice all you have to do is ask. I also am usually available after practice everyday. We only practice about 75 to 70 minutes per day depending on how fast all you girls get on the court from class so if you want to really improve you have got to take ownership in your improvement and understanding your job on the court. For most of you this will mean putting in some extra time.

Thought: The best way to improve the team is to improve your own play. John Wooden UCLA
***If every player would do this think how much we could improve.***

Coach May

Victory @ NEA

Hi Girls,

A nice win against Northeast Academy. You always want to be the kingpin in your own neighborhood. The closer to home the better it is to keep the bragging rights. It also was especially nice that we won this game for Mr. Chambliss. The Final Score was 32 to 6 and we were able to give every girl some quality playing time that is very difficult to do with only 6 minute quarters and 14 girls on the roster .

Stats:

Scoring by quarters: 1st 12-0, 2nd 10-2, 3rd 10-0 4th 0-4

Scoring: Mer 6pts, Alex 6pts, Lindsey 6, Kelly 6, Jamie 2, Kim 2, M&M 2, Kaela 2.

NEA Scoring: #35 Robyne Barnes 4pts, #21 Anna Liverman 2pts.

FG%: Team 15/45 33.3%*; Individual; Kelly 3/3****, Alex 3/5**, Lindsey 3/6**, Mer 2/4**,M&M 2/6*,
Kaela 1/3*,Kim 1/5, Jordan 0/1, Catherine 0/1, Jamie 0/2, Brooke 0/2 Leslie 0/3, Emily 0/4. 33.3% is the minimum winning %.

FT%: Team 4/6- 66.6%**; Jamie 2/2****, Mer 2/2****, Lindsey 0/2.

3pts shooting: Team 0/3; Lindsey 0/1, Alex 0/1, Catherine 0/1.

Rebounds: Team 8off/12def: Kaela 2/1**, Leslie 0/3**, Mer 2/0*, Emily 2/0*, Jordan 0/2*, MeganK 1/1*,
M&M 1/1*, Kim 0/2*, Jamie 0/1, Brooke 0/1.

Assists: Team 8; Mer 2**, Jordan 2**, Emily 1*, Jamie 1*, Lindsey 1*, MeganK 1*.

Steals: Team 18****; Lindsey 4****, Alex 3***, Mer 2**, M&M 2**, Catherine 2**, Jamie 1*, Kelly 1*,
MeganK 1*, Kaela 1*, Brooke 1*.

Blocks: Lindsey 1**, Kaela 1**.

Turnovers: Team 7; MeganK 2, M&M 1, Jordan 1, Kim 1, Catherine 1, Brooke 1.

Play Hard, Play Smart, Play Together.

Coach May

Faith Christian @ Home.

O.K. Girls,

An ugly win is always better than a pretty loss. We defeated Faith 33 to 20 but it was not a game that we can be very proud of anything about it except the outcome and that we played hard. Missing layups and not being able to execute plays is going to get better or we are going to fall far short of the potential we have with this team. To date this is the first team I have coached that could not execute plays with some degree of skill. That includes my very first team when it was brand new to every player on the court.

Getting better will start with practice on Tuesday. We cannot keep trying to wish the ball where we need it to go instead of making good passes, we cannot play sound basketball and not value the ball. In case you have not noticed the ball is important, you would never score if you don't have the ball. If you take care of the ball and get a lot more good shots at the basket than your opponent you have a great advantage in a basketball game.

We absolutely cannot keep missing point blank layups. There is a lot to said for having the necessary focus to improve and we need to get with it. We need to make our #one focus become making lay ups and being more careful with the basketball or as it is called in coaching jargon "value the basketball".


Stats: By quarters; 1st- 3-7, 2nd-8-0, 3rd 11-6, 4th 11-7

Scoring: Emily-8pts, Jamie 7pts, Meredith 6pts, Alex 4pts, Kelly 4pts, Lindsey 2pts.

Faith Scoring: #4 Stephanie Stallings 7pts, #12 Carrie Lewis 6pts, #30 Bailey Parks 5pts, #11 Mary B Fisher 2pts.

FG%: Team 13/47( 27.6%); M&M 1/1***, Alex 2/4**, Kelly 2/6*, Lindsey 1/4*, Emily 3/11, Mer 3/12,
Jamie 1/8.

FT%: Team 7/21(33.3%) Jamie 5/12 , Emily 2/7, Kelly 0/2.

Rebounds: Team 14off/17def; Kelly 5/6, Mer 4/5, Emily 3/1, Lindsey 0/3, Alex 1/1, Jamie 1/0, Kaela 0/1.

Assists: Team 6; Mer 2, Lindsey 2, Kelly 1, Alex 1.

Turnovers: Team 11; Lindsey 3, Jamie 3, Mer 2, Emily 2, Leslie 1.

Steals: Team 11; Jamie 3, Lindsey 3, Mer 2, Emily 2, M&M 1.

Blocks: Team 3; Mer 1, Em 1, Kelly 1.


I might post some additional thoughts later but the one thing that comes to mind is we have to work harder and with more focus to get better in the areas we are not doing well. Lay ups, Value the Basketball, FT's and Assists, which will go up by executing the plays we run better.

Grades: Play Hard-A , Play Smart-D, Play Together-B, Execution-Offense F, Defense B.

Thought: You never get back more than you are willing to put into something. We have got to be willing to invest our focus and our effort towards improving both our team skills and our individual skills. Time's wasting for this team, we just had practice #20 so we are about 25% thru this season. Those that have a passion to be really good need to step up. Opportunity only knocks so many times.

Coach May

Jan 3rd Trip to Carolina Practice.

Hi Girls,

As I told you at practice last week I have gotten permission from Coach Roy Williams for us to attend a Carolina Men's Practice on Jan 3, 2011. We will leave school around 10:32, stop and eat lunch probably at Wendy's in Chapel Hill and be at the Dean E Smith Center by 1:30. Practice officially starts at 2:00pm and will last around 2 hours or a little less. This should be a very good learning experience since we have copied much from the UNC learning system as passed on from Dean Smith to Roy Williams. I think you will be impressed with how hard they practice and how there is no wasted time. BTW, we will have to be quite while watching practice. No exceptions!

If you like we can make plans to eat dinner at the Red Lobster or some other nice spot on the way home or we can just come on back or fast food it. I will check with you all on that .

I will need a few parents to volunteer to drive but they are very particular about letting many people into practice so we will need to limit the number of drivers as best we can to maybe 5 including myself. This is considered a field trip and parents will have to sign a consent form for their children to go.

We will miss practice that Monday, first day back from Christmas Break, then practice on Tuesday and play on Wednesday at home vs. NEA.

I will post additional information if any comes available. If you wish to go please make certain your parents read this post.


Coach May

Jan 3rd Trip to Carolina Practice.

Nice win @ Fayetteville Academy

Hi Girls,

The first quarter we actually played well but we missed so many layups. The second quarter we played our worse quarter of the year, it was the first time this year I have been disappointed with our effort and focus. The second half we went back to Playing like a Team and playing hard and smart and pulled away. Remember Play Hard, Play Smart and Play Together? When we drift away from that bad things happen.

Jamie had a great game and really held us in there in the first half when we were struggling. Kelly gave our offense and defense a big lift with a dominant second half. Mer did a great job working hard on the defensive glass in the second half. The domination of the defensive boards and concentrating on staying in front of our man defensively when they had the ball were the keys of the second half along with the fact our relentless pressure began to take its toll on their team.

Here are the Stats:

Scoring by Quarters: 1st: 8-2; 2nd 3-6; 3rd 15-7; 4th 8-2 Final Score 34 to 17

Individual Scoring: Jamie 15pts, Kelly 10pts, Emily 4pts, Lindsey 3pts, Mer 2 pts.

Fay Academy: #25 Sarah Reavis 4pts, #30 Kendal Williams 4pts, #21 Kenan Stiehl 4pts,
#12 Rebecca Gainey 2 pts, #11 Jan Schafer 2pts.

FG%: Team; Team 12/36 33.3%*; Ind: Kelly 5/8**, Jamie 4/12*, Mer 1/3*, Emily 2/7, Kim 0/1, Lindsey 0/5. 33% is the minimum winning percentage

3Pt%: 100%; Lindsey 1/1****

FT %: Team 7/14 50%: Jamie 7/12***, Emily 0/2. Fifty percent is the minimum winning percentage.

Rebounds: Team 5off/14def; Individual: Mer 0/6***, Kelly 2/2**, Jamie 0/2*, Lindsey 0/2*, Megan K 2/0*, M&M 0/1*, Brooke 0/1*.

Assists: Team 8; Lindsey 3***, Mer 2**, Jamie 1*, Emily 1* , Alex 1*(Sideout Play). We had more turnovers than assist. It should be reversed.

T/0's: Team 10: Jamie 3, Mer-Emily-Lindsey-Kelly-Megan K, M&M,Catherine all had 1.

Steals: Team 18** Individual; Jamie 5***, Kelly 3**, Mer 3**, Alex 2*, Lindsey 2*, Megan K 1*, Leslie 1*, Kim 1*.

Blocks: Team 4; Kelly 3***, Alex 1*.

Some closing thoughts: It is always nice to win. We can play so much better than we did in the first half. Even in the second half our execution of plays was terrible except for crisscross. We even ran 4J wrong for the first time ever. Our execution of inbounds plays was exceptional, I think we scored at least 8 points just on good execution of line and sideout. We need to bring some of that same execution to these other plays. They are layups waiting to happen when executed properly. Some day the game is going to be on the line and poor execution is going to cost us if we do not refocus our efforts. We did a better job of pushing the secondary break up the court and letting Jamie penetrate to the basket before the Fay. Ac. defense was set, however we still have plenty of room to improve on that by pushing it harder and running the court harder.

Remember we need to be able score in these ways and we are capable with a little effort:
1- From our Defense, steals.
2- Inbound plays
3- Primary Break from steals and rebounds with good outlets.
4- Secondary Break(discussed above)
5- Set plays (We should score at least 10 points per game here maybe more)
6- Foul Shots (70% is a good goal, 50% is the minimum)
7- Free Lance Passing Game offense(Read Option vs Zone is the same thing). Basically at this point with most of you girls having played for me for 3 years the good stuff in our passing game offense always resembles a play of some type we run, it is just more spontaneous, but it is also more dependent on the passers and the scorers being on the same page mentally to make it work)

Thought for the Day: The biggest enemy of being Great is being good because to many players let being pretty good trick them into not working hard enough on their game to be Great. Dean Smith UNC.

Don't let being simply pretty good make you as an individual not become as good as you can be and for heaven sakes don't let it keep our team from becoming the Great Team it could be just because of not having the commitment to be Great.

Have a passion for being the best you can be and a passion to be the best team we can be.

Our attitude will determine our altitude. Roy Williams UNC

Coach May