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Friday, June 29, 2012

Entitlement vs. Investment

As I travel around the country and work out with the best of the best from the High School, College, and NBA levels, I am continually reminded of what these players have in common that makes them  great:
               they want to get better
               they want to know everything they can that will help them become a better basketball player
               they are committed to improvement of their bodies and their game
               they are very serious about the game every time they hit the floor
               they want to be coached
The best example I can give you is Kobe Bryant.  He once told me that he does not work out any more…he now blacks out.  He said that a workout just isn't enough anymore if he's going to stay on top of his game and take on all the players he knows are going to challenge him.  He said he has to go beyond what all other players are doing.  He took his to a higher level.  He took his to black out status!

Sunday, June 24, 2012

Pictures from ND

Coach Rux coached vs. former NFL QB, Gary Hogeboom.
More recently Hogeboom was on Survivors, which
Coach Rux and he talked about. 

"Sense of Urgency"

In the opening camp meeting with players, Coach McGraw told campers- "You must have a sense of urgency."

She expressed too many players are waiting until "tomorrow" to get working. Champions feel like their is an "urgency to get better."

She said for ND "next year starts the day after our last game of last season."

Building Varsity Team in Summer

The summer is an exciting time for basketball coaches, you get to work with a "new" team preparing for the coming season. For us, we have been playing for 3 weeks but have gotten to play a lot of basketball. We started the summer with-

8 girls who played regularly last year
2 girls who dressed but did not play for the varsity
1 new junior
1 new soph
1 new freshmen player

Since the beginning of the summer, we have added one more freshmen to the mix so we have 14 players playing with the varsity.

Notre Dame Day 3

We finished off a good weekend at Notre Dame. Our Galesburg #2 finished with 4-3 record.

The varsity team "lost" their first game to Minooka in OT. I say "lost" because with us up by 6 in first half, the scorekeeper switched us from being red to being green on the board. So we immediately went from 6 up to 6 down, a 12 point swing. We fought back and tied the game, got a last shot but did not convert. We then lost in OT.

In the last game we won by 12 vs somebody- they switched games I don't know who we played.

We got on the road by 11:15 central time and made it back to Galesburg a little before 4pm.

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Norte Dame Day 2

Dorm life is not what it was 40 years ago. Coach Rux and I share the world's smallest dorm room. It is in an older building. We have window above our door into the hall. Inconveniently an all night hall light is right outside the window, so we could read all night long.

This morning the Galesburg #2 team started out w a tough 2-3 point loss to Andrew. At 9am the varsity played Buffalo Grove. After the intense game last night we came out flat defensively and could not buy a shot. We were about 4 for 35 for threes. We battled and came back. We had the with the score tied, with 11 seconds left I took a time out just as Sharron made a basket. After the time out we failed to get a shot off. We went on to win in overtime.

Friday, June 22, 2012

Norte Dame Weekend

We left at 6:15 and arrived at South Bend at midnight (eastern). We ran into heavy semi truck traffic going around Chicago. That made for an unrelaxing drive. The Liebers had the joy of having a barking dog in room next to them.

 After about 3 tries and 45 minutes, we made the ten minute drive to registration. I had been forewarned it was chaotic. I would agree. We did not have to wait really long but it did not have organized steps one would expect. Getting into the dorms was complicated. The ND campus evidently normally does not allow traffic. So they ushered us on campus then right off.

Saturday, June 16, 2012

Weekend in Wisconsin

In the Kohl Center. 
We left for Wisconsin on Saturday morning. There four vans, driven by myself, Coach Allison, the Liebers, and the Bryants. After some bad gps directions in Dubuque, we stopped at Culver's in Platteville. This was a pleasant surprise for the girls as they believe I own stock in McDonald's.

We got to Madison so we had time to go to State Street before registration. Steve Bryant used the time to make sure to hit his favorite, State Street Brat House for a brat before the game. Coach Allison and I took in the Union patty and enjoyed the view of the lake.

We had a challenging but good first day at Wisconsin Camp. We lost to Palatine Fremd by 1 but had ball with chance to win. We beat Grayslake by 20, then lost to Adams-Friendship by 7. It was actually surprising we were as close in our losses as we were. We did not shoot well in either game. In the last game we missed 12 three pointers in a row.

Friday, June 15, 2012

Big Night in Summer League

Thursday night was one of  our biggest nights ever in Summer League. We started at 3:10pm with games on 6 courts at Thiel, Wicall, Churchill, and Lombard. There were 7 sets of games, with the last tipping off at 8:10pm.

There were a total of 39 games played on the evening. There were a total of 43 different teams playing games ranging from junior high age up thru varsity teams. Teams from East Moline, Sterling, Geneseo, Morton, Peoria Central, and many area teams.

What does a night like that mean for Galesburg girls basketball?

Register-Mail- Summer Programs



At this point, no rosters are set in stone, but summer activities -— camp and league — for the possible members of the Galesburg High School freshmen, sophomore and varsity girls basketball teams began last week in preparation for the upcoming season.
Girls who will be in the second grade through the junior high level have also been participating in a summer camp with just the junior high level players also playing in a summer league.
The camps end today, but the leagues, which mostly take place on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, run through July 6.
On the varsity level, two freshmen, two sophomores, four juniors and six seniors have been taking part in the activities.

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Lou Henson & Sarah Main

Lou Henson was in Galesburg and ate at the Landmark. And guess who was working at the Landmark?

I actually had lunch in the same diner Lou was having lunch in the 1980's. We were in Mt. Carroll and Lou was at a table across the room. I believe he had some family connections or early career experiences in Milledgeville.

If I had been at the Landmark today, I would have just shouted out- "Bo Knows Basketball!!" And Sarah would have been embarrassed about me like always.

Jay Redfern's story on the visit----

http://www.galesburg.com/blogs/jay_talking/x465793075/Jay-Talking-Weekend-in-the-Burg-what-did-Lou-do

Buying Into Your Team

The following is Doc Rivers talking about what is needed for players to buy into the TEAM.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdCmpK_DCcM&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Wisconsin Weekend

The varsity level girls will be traveling to Madison next Saturday to play games at the University of Wisconsin. Tentative plans--

Saturday- 10:00am- Leave from GHS
                2:00pm- Arrive Madison with time to shop t-shirts & absorb UW
                5:00pm-  Register
                6:00pm- vs. Team Wisconsin (good AAU team) in Practice Facility- Ct 1
                8:00pm- vs. Adams-Friendship in Practice Facility- Ct 3

Sunday- 10:00am- vs. New Trier (preview of regular season game) in Practice Facility- Ct 3
               Noon-  vs. Maine South (preview of another regular season game vs. 6'4" all-stater)- Prac Ct 3
               1:00pm- vs. New Berlin West- Kohl Center (America's #1 college arena!)
               6:30pm- Arrive Galesburg

Bring sweatshirts- the Kohl Center is air conditioned and VERY cold.

Training Camp

This month I had the opportunity to read Jon Gordon's book- Training Camp. I was encouraged to read it after finding out it was required reading for the players and the coaches of the Philadelphia 76er's. The Boston Celtics required their players to read another Gordon book- The Energy Bus.

Gordon's books are interesting reads for athletes, leaders, and business people. He delivers his message through a fiction story. So you have the motivational messages unfold within the story lines. In Training Camp, Gordon talks about 11 traits of the "best of the best." 

Role Models

During the Celtics- Heat, personally I found some of the "stars" behavior disturbing.

1- Kevin Garnett- seeming to put in cheap shots on a regular basis.

2- Dwayne Wade- flopping whenever he could and chirping at the refs constantly.

3- Garnett and Wade leaving the floor after the last game.

4- LeBron James- riding teammates whenever a mistake was made and just his general "Hollywood" behavior.

What offended you the most?

Saturday, June 9, 2012

Why So Negative?

At our league on Thursday, we had our usual variety of t-shirts for sale. League shirts, old camp shirts, Savanna basketball shirts, and some "system" shirts.

It was interesting a star player from another school was looking at the "system" shirts, and then proceeded to make sarcastic, negative comments about the "system."

212 Degrees

The theme for our varsity camp has been from Simple Truths, 212 Degrees. They have a motivational book examining the huge difference between 211 degrees and 212 degrees. Water is very hot at 211, but it will boil at 212. Boiling water produces steam which can power an engine. It is a metaphor which applies to so much of our lives. We can be so close to greatness and not even realize. The difference between good and great may be less than we realize.