Five Ways to Improve

This is from Mano Watsa from PGC Basketball...

Like most people, a lot of basketball players are looking for that one thing that will create an immediate impact for themselves and their team. Let’s take a look at five things any player can do to gain immediate improvement:

1. Take Higher Percentage Shots
All basketball coaches love having a good shooter on their team. The way to instantly improve your shooting percentage is to eliminate shots that are difficult to make. If that seems simple, it is. It’s amazing how an athlete can appear to be a good (or better) shooter when they stop taking shots they don’t make very often.
To evaluate your shot, ask yourself these three key questions:
1. Was your shot on balance?
2. Was your shot within range?
3. Was your shot in rhythm?
If the answer is ‘no’ to any of these questions, you have attempted a shot that will make you a less efficient shooter. In addition, the shots you are taking will cause your teammates and coach to lose confidence in you. Earn your coach and teammate’s trust through your shot selection.
It’s been said that it doesn’t matter how beautiful a swing a baseball player has. If he always swing at bad pitches, his batting average will be embarrassingly low. The same applies in basketball. It doesn’t matter how sweet your stroke looks if you constantly shoot poor shots. Eliminating poor shots during a game can increase your shooting percentage significantly. Good coaches love that.

Recovery Shakes

Science is showing the importance of getting protein into the athlete after they work out. This helps not only with muscle recovery but in helping to build strength. Here are some recipes that sound interesting.

http://www.stack.com/2014/04/13/protein-recovery-shakes/

Shooting School & Academy

Our Shooting School and our Spring Academy are off to a great start. We have over 80 girls involved in the two programs. It is exciting to see young players working to develop their skills.

Where Championships Are Won

"The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses - behind the lines, in the gym, and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights."
Muhammad Ali

Teammates

"You'll forget wins and losses.  You'll forget stats and half-time talks. But you'll NEVER forget your teammates." (Zach Bohannon)

Shooting Math

Luke Yaklich started out as a girls varsity basketball coach at LaSalle-Peru. Today he is an assistant men's basketball coach at Illinois State. 

Luke Yaklich, posted the following tweet--

Shooter's Math...
200 makes x 5 days per week x 4 weeks in month x next 7 months = 28,000 makes by November! 

Small improvements over time...


The good news for us is that we have 12 players coming back from last year's team. The great news is that many of them are very committed to working and improving. Coach Yaklich-- (1) challenges us to work even harder, (2) shows consistent work adds up to something impressive!

There Are Still STUDENT-Athletes

This is a great story on how the Badgers spent the day between games in California. It is entitled- "Celebrate? Sorry, We're Studying." It is from the New York Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/30/sports/ncaabasketball/for-wisconsin-student-athlete-is-not-an-oxymoron-in-ncaa-tournament.html?hpw&rref=sports&_r=0

Bo Ryan- You Think You Have Problems

Story from USA Today on Bo Ryan methods....

When Sam Dekker tried — and failed — to catch a pass with one hand the other night, Saul Phillips knew what would come next. The buzzer sounded. Another Badger entered the game. Dekker went to the bench. Bo Ryan followed him to his seat.

"Anybody who ever played for Bo knew what Bo was gonna tell him," said Phillips, who played for Ryan at Wisconsin-Platteville and now is the head coach at North Dakota State. " 'Catch the ball with two hands!' There are a lot of people out there who've experienced the exact same message."

John Wooden's Awards

John Wooden gave the following awards at the end of the season....

1- Service to team and university.

2- Bench Award

3- Most Unselfish Player

4- Scholastic Attainment

5- Competitive Spirit

His philosophy simple-- reward the qualities that count. What you want more of- reward.

Just Keep Working

What do you do when it appears you are not going to reach your goals? Just keep working!!

Frank Kaminsky is the star of Wisconsin's Final Four team. It would be easy to look at him, and think he is good because he is 7'0".  But he is a great story about the value of perseverance

Frank entered Lisle Benet closer to six foot than seven foot. He started out playing some point guard. According to Bo Ryan, Frank had trouble even getting on the court for his AAU team between his sophomore and junior year. 

In this day of McDonald's All-Americans, ESPN Top 100 recruits, and Rivals,com evaluations. Frank did not show up on their lists after his junior year. He received offers from Bradley, Illinois State, Southern Illinois, Northern Illinois, DePaul, Northwestern, and Wisconsin. He chose to sign with Wisconsin. (Note he was not offered by Illinois.)

Paul Konerko- Team Leader

How does a player earn the respect of his teammates as a leader? Simple- he puts the team first!!

Paul Konerko will not start for the White Sox on Monday. It will break a string of 15 straight opening day starts for Konerko, who is headed into his last season.

It seems pretty harsh-- but it is Konerko's idea.

"I just think it's the way it should be," Konerko said. "It's just not part of the blueprint of what we're going to do here. So, no emotion. Just what's right is right, and that's the way I see it. I mean, if there was a lefty throwing (Monday), I would probably play."

Just Compete

This is a great story about Josh Gasser, who plays for the Badgers. He is not normal when it comes to his desire to win. In this article from JIM POLZIN | Wisconsin State Journal, his parents and high school teammates describe his drive. Some things are more important than talent when it comes to winning!!

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Pat Gasser would pile up the pillows at one end of the room before dropping to his knees and acting as a human roadblock in front of them.
He knew he had to brace for contact when his 4-year-old son came running at him, football in hand, because the boy rarely tried to go around him. To get to that imaginary end zone line in front of the pillows, little Joshua Patrick Gasser was either going to attempt to dive over his father or, more likely, lower his head and try to ram through him.
“This might embarrass Josh, but he’d end up in tears sometimes because my husband wouldn’t just automatically let him win,” Joan Gasser said. “He’d just be slamming into Pat and grunting and groaning the whole way to get the necessary yards. It was a ridiculous game.