"My Motivation"- Jaque (Howard) Gohlinghorst

#2 in the series "My Motivation" is our varsity assistant coach, Jaque Gohlinghorst. Jaque lettered on the varsity all four years. She was starting point guard on the soph team as a freshmen, and then the starting point guard on the varsity her soph, junior, and senior years. While Jaque was on the varsity, we finished 4th in State, Elite 8, 2nd in State, and 4th in State. So you think about it- for Jaque her worst season in high school was losing in the Elite- pretty good career. During the four year career, the varsity record was 127-13- not bad. Jaque is our all-time assists leader at GHS with 592 assists. And she was our career leader in three point shooting until the other Howard girl broke that.

When Jaque was a freshmen or sophomore, I dropped her off at her house. I saw in her driveway they had the whole court painted and had the three point arc. I had seen ads for kits to paint the court on the driveway but had never seen one on a drive up to that point. I had a feeling at that point that Jaque was going to be a special player. She definitely was someone who kept working and working. The greatest compliment about Jaque is that every June when we started camp, she was one of the most improved players- she had worked on her own in the spring. And then every November, she was again one of the most improved- she had worked in the fall. Jaque did not just put in time- she had a plan to get better.

You had always been a good player coming up in junior high and frosh-soph level.  At some point things took off until by your junior and senior years you were at a different level. In my opinion you went from pretty good to great. You became a great three point shooter. How did this happen?

When I was a freshman, Molly Fordyce (Watson) was a senior.  I was extremely fortunate to be asked by her to be her workout partner during my first year of high school.  To be honest with you, I did not know what to expect going in to high school as a basketball player but Molly guided me and showed me the things I needed to do in order to be successful.  I remember doing a variety of things from going to the YMCA, Costa, and Molly's backyard to do a basketball workout.  If you know Molly at all, you will know that her work ethic is unbelievable so we worked out several times a week or almost daily.  If you are serious about being a great basketball player, you must put in the time and do the work.  You cannot expect to show up in November and think things are going to click for you.  I was very weak in terms of strength as a freshman so a big emphasis for me was to get in the weight room three times a week.  If you dedicate yourself to a weight program, it is amazing how it will pay off.  On the other hand, if you go through the motions in the weight room, it is also amazing how your strength does not stay with you or how you will get tossed around on the court.  Molly and I were both point guards so we focused a lot on our ball handling and shooting.  We did different types of ball handling routines with some being stationery and others being full court dribbling.  As for our shooting, we did not have the “Gun” when I played so we did a lot of partner shooting.

A lot of times, players talk about how things just "clicked" all of sudden, something happens and their motivation and goals change. Was there something that sparked your increased motivation?

When I was in junior high, I thought it would be awesome to be a Silver Streak someday.  I think two things fired me up…

·         Getting to dress varsity when I was a freshman on a team that just finished 3^rd in state the year before.

·         Being Molly Fordyce (Watson) workout partner

Could you describe your work out plan or program that you used in the off-season?

Shooting work out plan

·         Alford shooting routine

·         Partner shooting – 5 spots shooting

Dribbling work out plan – I did a variety of stationery and full court drills

            Examples for stationery

·         Figure Eight (front and reverse)

·         Crossover (front and side)

·         Between the legs

·         Behind the back (act as if you are sitting in a chair but crossing over behind your back)

·         Weak hand dribble – this was a major focus point

o    Pounding the ball to the floor but keeping control of the ball - 50 times

o    Start dribbling the ball very low to the ground and work your way up.  Once the ball is up by your shoulders, you want to slam the ball to the ground so you have to control the basketball back down to a low dribble.

Examples for full court dribbling (baseline to baseline)

·         Right hand speed dribble

·         Left hand speed dribble

·         Cross over

·         Between the legs

·         Behind the back

·         Spin

·         Trap dribble

I also did some non–dribbling things with the ball to get more familiar with having the ball in my hands.

·         Ball slaps

·         Figure eight  (front and reverse)

·         Took the ball around my head, waist, and legs as fast as I could without looking at the ball

·         Threw the ball back and forth between my hands using only my fingertips

If freshmen or soph who wanted to become a successful varsity player came to you, what kind of program would you give them to reach their goals?

It would depend on what position they played but I would say everyone can always improve on their ball handling and shooting.  A great way to get a lot of shots in is by shooting on the “Gun.”  I think it is a good idea to work on foot speed too so having jump roping in your routine is a good idea as well.

What advice would you give to a player for the off-season?

·         GET IN THE WEIGHT ROOM – it will make you a better player and trust me, you will not come out looking like a body builder!!

·         Develop a workout routine and stick to it

o    Keep a record of what you have done for the week.  I have noticed that if you write things down, you will stick with it more. 

o    Make your workout routine something that is reasonable for you.

·         Work, work, work

o    This is your opportunity to make yourself better, take advantage of it!

o    Great players are made in the off-season!