Wynne's- Positive Sports Family

I have posted blogs with negative stories about parents being out of control. Stories about parents thinking the purpose of high school sports is to get scholarships, obsessed with stats, or out of control about winning. I thought it was time to do a positive story about athletic parents. 

I first knew John and Michelle Wynne from when Michelle was the 8^th grade coach at Churchill. I can still run into her former players and they ask me how Coach Wynne is doing. No coach did a better job of getting JH girls excited to play basketball. She cared about the players, she was enthusiastic about basketball, and she convinced them how great it would be for them to play at Galesburg HS.

 

John was instrumental in our success, particularly in 1996. When we went to State, in our walk thru at State, he played the role of Taija Catchings. I would like to say when we played Stevenson that Catchings was not as good as John had been, but that would not be true- we lost. Catchings was better than John, not as enthusiastic as John.

Toby Vallas- Strength Program- "One Team, Farmington"

In my first "interview" with Toby Vallas, I was interested in what he was doing at Farmington that was creating such a high level of participation in football. In answer after answer, Toby came back to explaining their approach to strength and speed was at the center of the Farmington student-athlete enthusiasm for sports. So I had to go back to Toby and ask him to spell out the details of their strength and speed program.

Massey- In the earlier blog, you described when a player comes into your weight room, they are not coming in as a football players, or a basketball player, or baseball player- they are coming in as an "athlete." And you emphasized your goal is to make each student a better athlete- stronger and quicker. If your strength program is a “one-team” approach, what is the basic model you use? I believe Noonan said you initially decided to train them all like you would train a 200 runner? What do you train them as today, why did you choose that, and what is the benefit of training them that way?

Vallas- I think Noonan is getting old.  We try to achieve the athleticism of a college triple jumper.  I love the speed, explosiveness, and coordination of the event.  I also think that there is a lot to be said about the strength and durability of putting so much pressure on one leg. What we realized was we didn’t have the big heavy kids that couldn’t get off the ball and if we did it was usually an attendance issue or a kid who was hesitant because they were new to the sport and overthinking, not a coordination of explosiveness problem.  Plus, all the other sports (and us) wanted kids that were faster and could jump higher and even in football at least at our level speed and toughness tend to win out.

Marc Hart- Resources of Online Basketball Clinics

Many of you have just finished your busy June summer basketball seasons with your HS teams. As you head into July and then the Fall, it is a great time to explore new ideas for the coming season. 

In the Spring of 2020, I had planned to attend a basketball clinic in Chicago. I always have found clinics as a way for me to refresh and reenergize myself. It is a great way to begin to look at ideas for the coming season- from drills to schemes to culture. As we know, all plans for the Spring of 2020 came crashing down. 

I don’t know how I got connected, by I found online clinics run by a high school coach out of California. His topics varied, and he had presenters all over coaching landscape. They might be famous like Paul Westhead or they might be D2 college coach or a State Champion HS coach from California. During Covid, my son or I would watch 3-4 clinics a week it seemed. 

Sports Promotions- Best High School Promotional Idea

In 2009-10, we started running the “Grinnell System.” The basic concept of the “System” was to get the game going up and down as fast as possible. The “System” involved-

- Pressing all the time all over

- Fastbreaking and taking quick shots

- Subbing five for five in 35 seconds

- Shooting lots of threes

Hunter Rhodes- Taking Basketball Skill Work To Another Level

I am writing about a great basketball skill development opportunity. Players in West Central Illinois can go to Hunter Rhodes for a workout. Players and coaches anywhere in America can use his app to improve their game or to improve their coaching.I hope you will read this. 

Great teachers have a passion for their subject. Great teachers pass their passion onto the student. This Spring, several players went to Canton to work a couple times with Hunter Rhodes. It was noticeable they showed stronger ball skills and higher confidence with just a couple sessions. That was impressive to me. When I got to see them do drill work with their high school team, they went thru drills with a higher intensity and greater passion than they had before. 

Caitlin Clark- Chi-Town Matchup June 23, 2024

St. Louis Cardinals- I wonder if the Fever are headed

to be the WNBA’s version of the St.Louis Baseball Cardinals. Until 1958 there were not teams west of the Mississippi in MLB. The story is that supposedly the Cardinals developed and spread their games to lots of radio stations west of the Mississippi and built their fan base. 

I have been a mild Seattle Storm fan for years since Sue Bird played there. Today I watched the first half of the Storm game on ESPN3 but then switched to the Fever. The Fever on so much, you learn their team and it is easier to watch them. 

Game TV Coverage- The main crew with Rebecca Lobo and Ryan Ruocco are pretty good, easy to listen to, insightful and knowledgeable. Both of them tend to have times where they fall into being WNBA promotional agents. Indiana Fever TV crew is easy to listen to. The in set crews of ESPN are raved about by many- but not by me. Andraya Carter and Carolyn Peck are both good, the rest no so much. I would like to see ESPN reach out to some former coaches as their insights are usually good- Muffet McGraw, Tara Vandeveer.

Toby Vallas- Creative Approaches to Coaching Today's Athlete

Toby Vallas is Director of Student Services and the Varsity Football Coach at Farmington High School. I first met Toby when he taught social studies in the room next to me at Galesburg High School, and coached at GHS. As a young teacher and coach, he had energy, and he related well to students and athletes. What stood out was that Toby "didn't know it all." Some young teachers/coaches have all the answers and seem to be done wanting to learning. Toby wanted to learn from other teachers and coaches- he asked questions. I am really happy he agreed to answer some questions- he has done impressive things at Farmington and his answers are a real coaching clinic. 

It seems like it gets harder and harder to get high school students to participate in athletics. There may be many reasons for the reduced numbers. There are lots of articles written on early specialization, travel teams, parental pressure, and over-emphasis on winning. There are actually schools with large enrollments who are making decisions to drop frosh-soph teams because their schools cannot field enough players. Other schools of 300-400 students are going from 11 man to 8 man football.

What happens if you have a coach who is constantly trying to learn, grow, and improve themselves?

What happens if you have a coach who gives players a voice in what they want the program to be like?

What happens if you sell an entire athletic program and all the coaches on buying into one weight program?

What happens if you make a someone who is into the sport of track and they have the entire school do speed training?

What happens if you address SEL through football?

Summer Reading Suggestions- From Prolific Readers (Except Me)

 Mark Massey, retired teacher/coach in Clinton, Iowa

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus   Frustrated chemist finds herself at the helm of cooking show in the 1960’s. She is hellbent to overturn the status quo.

Bear Town by Frederick Backman    Based on a conflict created by a junior hockey team in a small community, which impacts an entire community.

The Boys in the Boat by Daniel Brown    Nine Americans quest to get a gold medal in the 1936 Olympics.

Ordinary Grace by William Kruegor    Boy thrown into manhood as a teen after multiple tragedies.

Small World by Jonathon Evison    Historical fiction tracing multiple generations during settling of America.

Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King      Unsolved murder of a man driving a Mercedes. 

Hunter Rhodes- Working with the Streaks

Monday and Tuesday of this week Hunter Rhodes worked with the Streaks. Hunter is high energy instructor. His work focused on ball handling, footwork, first step driving, getting into your shot, dribble moves, and more. 

Hunter is based out of Canton, and does skill workouts year round for players who want to improve their games. You can go to Hunter Rhodes on Facebook to get information about individual and group workouts. 

Partner competing by completing a dribble move before their partner. 

Players working to get shot off the dribble 

Players read defense and try to make straight line drive to basket.

Players working first step off change of direction move. 

Greg Bennett- Driving the Energy Bus in Lewistown

Greg Bennett was a long time coach, teacher, and AD at Lewistown High School. I first got to know Greg because every summer he would bring his girls basketball team up to our Galesburg Summer League. Most summers, they would take the one hour drive to Galesburg two nights a week. On the entry form, there was a spot for "special requests." Some coaches would list teams they didn't want to play and times they didn't want to play. Greg never had any requests. He would play Peoria High, Springfield, or Galesburg. I could schedule them to play at 3pm or at 9pm. And that attitude carried over to his teams- “we don’t care when we play or who we play- we’re going to get after it.”

No matter the schedule, you could count on Greg Bennett driving the Lewistown activity bus into Galesburg. As I got to know Greg better, every time I saw him pull in with that little bus, I thought of the Jon Gordon book, The Energy Bus. Watching his basketball team's play it was obvious if you were on his team, you were riding the "Bennett Energy Bus." 

If you follow Greg on social media (and all but 12 people in Central Illinois are friends with Greg on Facebook), you know the guy is non-stop:

He is in Illinois football and basketball coaching HOF's. 

He describes himself as the "greatest kindergarten sub-teacher."

At one time was an active rugby player. 

Born April 17 and a White Sox fan like most successful coaches. 

Has 4500 friends on Facebook. 

Streaks Records- State and National Records

National Records

Season- 3’s Made- 397-  2011-  #1 National Record

                            365-  2010-  #3

Season- FT’s Att.-  856-  2001-   #7

                            842-  1999-   #9

Season- FT’s Made- 600- 1999-   #3 Nationally

                             599- 2001-   #4

Season- 3’s Made-  139-  2011-  Jessica Howard- #14

Career- Wins-         1018-          Coach Massey- 15th

Father’s Day- My Dad

My father was one of five brothers born in outside of Hollandale, Wisconsin. The boys in order of oldest to youngest were- Glenn (farmer), Wendell (farmer), Wright Ford (teacher), Oswald (teacher, business), and Dwayne (farmer). My dad in Wisconsin went by Ford, and as a teacher/coach most often by “Mass.” 

All five boys went to a one room school in grade school at Adamsville, and then I believe to Hollendale High School. My dad and his brother Oswald went to the University of Wisconsin- Platteville. My dad played football and trained to be a teacher. Initially out of college, my dad tried banking in Hollendale, but that was short lived. He took a teaching job at New Lisbon, Wisconsin where he also was hired to be a basketball coach in the newly developing high school sport. 

Father’s Day- My Boy

One day when our son, Allen was about three years old, he was sick. It was one of the rare times that Dad stayed home and then took him to the doctor. Amy came home and tagged off, while I went to practice. Allen was not doing well. I came home from practice, and was worried about how Allen was doing. 

The medicine evidently had kicked in. Allen was nuts about Winnie the Pooh. Our house on Tamarind Dr. had a circle path where you could walk thru the living room into the kitchen, then out the other side and repeat the circuit. When I arrived, Allen had his drum out, his Pooh slippers on, and was marching around the circle, and demanding our dog, Lucy to follow. It had been a tough day, but Allen has always had the ability to make any of tough days turn into joy and happiness.

Camps- Making Them Fun, Getting Kids Excited

I had an opportunity to go watch Streaks Girls Basketball Camp one afternoon this week. The girls who will be in 2nd thru 6th grade next year were being given instructions on how to do a variety of basketball skills, and drills to practice those skills. They were doing contests at different baskets. And they excitedly filled out entries to be a ball girls at a Streaks game next winter- the plan to draw out one winner. 

The HS players were engaged in their work with the young players. The HS players gave players tips and lots of high fives. They were tremendous role models for the young players. 

Happy Anniversary- June 13, 1982

Today is Amy and my anniversary. We were married on June 13, 1982. I know that for sure because Amy made a beautiful needlepoint that hangs in our dining room with the date of our wedding. So this is year 42. 

So how did we meet? Amy started her sophomore year at Galesburg HS in 1973-4. I student-taught in the Fall of 1973. Then I was hired to teach in 1974-5. So we were both at GHS for three years together. But Galesburg was a three year HS at that time with 2500 students. We never met, she was never in my class, and we never even knew each other.