Whoever coined the phrase "off-season" apparently never coached high school basketball - at least not in the last decade! Once Spring hits and the sting of your final game from the previous season has faded, all focus turns towards preparation for NEXT season, still 8 months away. Typically, while everyone else is re-charging their batteries in early March, the head coach is already figuring out how to maximize what he has left and turn it into a successful run at a championship. The myriad of other responsibilities - from post-season evaluations, to banquet pep, to workout schedules and more - is mind-numbing but necessary if one expects to get the most out of the remaining time left before that first tip-off happens to kick off the new season.
Last season, I was fortunate enough to have Luke Cable as my "off-season" captain and he did a fantastic job. All it took was one phone call or text to Luke and whatever news I needed to get out to the masses was instantly delivered. Luke was also a "first in, last out" kind of player, so his work ethic was a perfect example to hold up to the rest of the players. Finding my next "Luke Cable" however, is a tall task, but I believe this year's co-captains for the off-season, Roque Lopez and Kevin Rice, will do well in their roles.
Roque (pronounced Row-kay), a senior, came to us last year from William Penn and his work ethic instantly won me over. Although still a bit raw when it comes to on-court decision-making, and he throws too many 1 handed passes for my liking, Roque has the potential to be a special player for us in the 2012-13 campaign.  Roque will play point and 2 guard for us and his quickness and excellent on-ball defense will compliment a jump shot that is beginning to shape into a legitimate weapon if his improvement continues as it has been. Roque is what we look for in a Bulldog: good grades, extremely coachable, great work ethic, and a hard-nosed competitor. Roque is also a workout fiend - he is typically in the gym at least twice a week by 6a, along with spending nearly everyday in the weightroom and gym after school. He reminds me a lot of another former point guard: Mark Gerhart. Although he is nowhere near Mark's level yet, his effort and passion for improving makes me believe that he could approach it before all is said and done...
The other co-captain is junior Kevin Rice. As far as toughness is concerned, no one can question this kid's stones. He broke his nose his freshman year diving for a loose ball in a "toughness" drill (and he finished his turn, by the way, blood and all...); he nearly broke his wrist taking a charge in a game versus YS in early January (he was back within 1 week); and then he essentially lost his front 4 teeth at YS 1 month later during the District playoffs after slamming head-first into the wall while trying to stop a driving player from scoring. The term "reckless abandon" fits this kid to a T. He also happens to be perhaps our most dangerous and skilled offensive player. Kevin (KC) will play mostly 2 guard, but his versatility allows us to move him to either the 3 or even point depending on our roster needs at any one moment in a game. He has also developed a knack for getting his hands on a lot of basketballs defensively, and as you know, deflections have always been a major part of our defensive strategy. Together, KC and Roque form a dangerous pair in our backcourt; off the court I am hoping they lead their teammates the way past Bulldogs have led.
Our off-season calendar is packed: a typical week in April and May looks like this for our players:
strength training 3x per week
individual skill training on Mon and Tues after school
team workout (Read and React offensive work) on Wednesday morning from 6a-7a
shooting workouts Tues and Thurs mornings from 6a-7a
Open gym on thursday from 6p-8p
As you can see, there is little room for those not willing to do the work necessary to improve.

Everyone loves Christmas morning and opening gifts. For whatever reason, I have always been a "stocking stuffer" kind of guy - I don't know if it's the randomness of the gifts inside the stocking, or the feeling of getting an "added bonus", but I have always loved finding out what Santa put in my stocking - luckily for me, at least so far, I haven't been greeted with a bunch of coal!
In honor of the "stocking stuffer", I thought I would pass along something sent to me early this week from 5 Star Basketball Camp director, Leigh Kline. Just a couple interesting tidbits - "stocking stuffers", if you will:

1) Talent is the desire to practice (Malcolm Gladwell)
2) As a coach I can live with 1 of these 3 negative traits but no coach can live with 2: Soft, Stupid and Selfish .
3)Three qualities I want out of a player are self motivated, proud and tough. (Jeff Van Gundy)
4) To master anything (basketball, golf, violin) it takes 10,000 hours of deliberate practice/sustained focus in a field.  That is 4 hours a day for 10 years on something and you must have a psychological/intellectual love for it. (Malcom Gladwell)
5) Regarding Social Media/Media: If you don't tell the story - someone will tell it for you.   People are looking for depth and authenticity. (Nick Grudin)
6) 90% of your actions comes from your subconscious.  
7)Studies show that students who exercise an hour before class perform better in the classroom.

So how do I interpret all of this? Here's my interpretation:
1) I LOVE practice, I really do. I actually enjoy the practices more than the games only because I get nervous for our kids. I want them to succeed and it tears me up when they don't achieve this success - I end up feeling bad for them, mostly because it's out there, for everyone in the gym to see. Practice is different - it's more personal... just me and the team. I love that. Plus, in practice, we almost encourage failure - just so we can show the players how to "make it right". And when the lightbulb goes on, when you can see that they "get it" - there is no better feeling for a teacher or a coach, trust me.
So I would say my desire for practice is tremendous - I didn't realize how "talented" I was!

2) Boy, truer words have never been spoken. And by "stupid" I think it means not necessarily someone incapable of learning, but someone unWILLING to learn. Soft to me represents mental AND physical weakness. Selfish comes in many forms, and all are not welcome on our team. Team Before Me.

3) These are 3 things any coach would die for in one particular athlete, but rarely do you find all three in the same person. Give me an athlete who is self-motivated enough to work just as hard when he is all alone as he works when coaches are present; give me an athlete who takes pride in his work - both in the classroom and on the court; give me an athlete who is mentally and physically tough enough to withstand adversity and thrive when others wilt; give me an athlete with all these qualities and you have given me a WINNER.

4) This "10,000 hour" theory comes from Gladwell's book "The Outliers" - GREAT book - fascinating stuff!

5) If you haven't figured it out by now, this is the Age of Transparency - the more you try to hide, the more will end up being exposed. It is behind this thought that I decided to begin this blog - I want others to get a glimpse into the Bulldog Basketball Program - I am proud of what we have built here and I'm not afraid to pull back the curtain to show at least some of what goes through a coach's mind!

6) This speaks of person's character - you can put on all kinds of masks and act like something you are not but ultimately, your actions will expose your true character.

7) Hmmm, this last one interests me, since I HAVE found that I am more alert during the school day when I come in the morning for one of our early morning workouts with Coach Miller, Coach Shultz, Coach Fry and Coach Ruhland... maybe I should start switching practice times to 5a-7a?  (my players would LOVE that I'm sure...)

Happy Holidays everyone - hope you enjoyed the stocking stuffers!

    Every year, one of my challenges is to come up with a suitable slogan for the upcoming season. Sometimes I "borrow" the phrase from others ("Go hard or Go home"), or else I tweak a familiar saying to fit our team ("Bulldog Tough, West York Proud"), while other times I am struck by a simple inspiration, usually sparked by something I see or hear ("There are no wasted moments" - inspired by the movie "Peaceful Warrior" and book by the same name). Once I get it - however I get it - it goes on the back of that season's team t-shirt and becomes my battlecry to the troops as we navigate each season's challenges. This year, however, I found myself approaching the deadline with nary an idea of what our slogan might be for the 2011-12 season. I began scouring the internet, coaching sites, basketball blogs, even books that had been collecting dust on my shelves in my office at home, trying desperately to find that "spark", that one moment that would lead me to our next team slogan. I found it, ironically, on the basketball court. 
    The current group of of players I have at the JV and varsity level have been very committed to our cause since early March of last year. It is probably not coincidence that this also happens to be my least experienced team at the varsity level since I began coaching here at West York in 1998. I think this has worked in our favor, since I seem to have a group of athletes who are genuinely eager to learn, improve their games, and bring no preconceived notions of "inherited" success to the table. Bottom line: this group seems to understand implicitly that they will not win a single game just by simply putting on the Bulldog uniform - it is up to them to create their own success. Early on, I found myself setting relatively conservative goals for this group and after some time, they would meet those goals and be looking for the next challenge. When we talked about short term goals like getting everyone to lift all three scheduled days during the week, or winning the next summer league game on our schedule, they seemed to respond with enthusiasm and effort. But when I would start talking long term goals - most of which were based on PAST long term goals - Division, League, and District titles - I felt their focus slip and our performance seemed to falter. It wasn't too noticeable at first, but it all seemed to  come to a head in the Fall, when we struggled mightily in the Vonnie Grimes Fall League. As a staff, we were baffled at the negative transformation we were seeing happen right before our eyes and try as we might, just could not put a finger on any one particular reason for the downward spiral. 
    About mid-October, I read an article on-line (peaksportsnetwork.com) about the psychology behind goal-setting. In essence, the article talked about the importance of an athlete being able to focus on the PROCESS rather than the resulting PRODUCT. It talked about giving the athletes process goals ("here's how I want you to do it and here's why I want you to do it that way") as opposed to goals focused on the final product ("here's what I want you to accomplish"). This struck a chord with me. I have always considered myself goal-oriented, but I never thought about what kind of goals I was focusing on. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that nearly all of the goals I set for my athletes - and had them set for themselves as well - were focused on the "finished product". What's more, upon further inspection, all the goals were based on past performance; the past performance of those who came before them. "How fair is that?" I wondered to myself. "Because OTHER athletes on PAST teams accomplished certain things, was it fair - or even necessary - to demand the same from these athletes?" A typical initial answer would be YES - how else can you measure an athlete or a team unless comparing them to a past performance? But my epiphany was this: the truest form of comparison should be based on comparing them to THEMSELVES and their OWN past performance. Following this logic then, I found you can compare, and thus, evaluate an individual and a team on a daily basis by simply focusing on the "doing". To go even further, this self-comparison could actually happen on a drill-to-drill or even play-to-play basis. What we are really talking about then is the constant work the athlete does, the ongoing effort, the step-by-step of every singular act they perform. It is the PROCESS we are focusing on, not the PRODUCT.
    Thus was born the slogan for the 2011-12 season: Success is a Process. Immediately after adopting this "new" outlook with the players during an open gym, I saw a noticeable change in the "results". The players' efforts seemed more focused and all I did was tell them, before a particular drill, here is how it should be done and why it needs to be done that way. We didn't talk about final outcomes, because I was determined to not focus on that until it had happened. I was seeing success in the WAY they were doing things - in the process. The by-product of their success within the process: IMPROVEMENT. At the end of the day, what more can anyone ask for, other than constant improvement?
    Now, is that to say that we should be satisfied with an outcome that is not of our liking (ie. losing)? Actually, it is the exact opposite - we should never be satisfied with the outcome, regardless of whether it is perceived to be "positive" (winning) or "negative" (losing) because there should always be room for improvement and thus, we must then focus back on the process of getting there. This then makes it possible for us to be displeased after a win when we know we did not "win the right way", through exceptional teamwork, extreme effort, and good sportsmanship. Conversely, although we could be successful in our process and still lose the game, we also know that if we continue being successful in the process, our improvement will continue also and that loss of today may be a win down the road. Thus, although we are not pleased with the outcome, we aren't disheartened either
    For the past two weeks, we have been reminding the players of the importance of improving themselves every day, not just as a basketball player, but as a young man. Nearly every situation represents an opportunity for a person to improve and everytime a person improves in something, it is a success. By focusing on the task directly in front of him, a person can enjoy success on a constant, never-ending basis. Confucius once said, "the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step". I do believe he was on to something!
Let the journey begin...

This Friday, November 25, we are bringing in Paul Hoover, developer of the "Pro Shot Shooting" system to run a 3 hour clinic with our entire program, 7/8th grade, Freshman, JV, and Varsity teams. Paul's "system" is more like a philosophy on shooting, 70% of which focuses on the mental aspect of the art of shooting. I am excited to have Coach Hoover and his staff come in and think it will serve as a "tune-up" for our players as we head into the season. The purpose of the clinic is not to "re-build" or re-construct our players' shooting forms, although in some cases, that may very well be just what the doctor ordered! The true purpose is to provide our players with several "teachable moments" in the area of shooting and give them some perspective from someone who has worked with several NCAA and NBA level players. This particular clinic is limited only to current players on one of our 4 schoolwide teams; however, if all goes well, we may bring Coach Hoover back for a more extensive 1 or 2 day clinic in the Spring when we would open it up to the entire surrounding community. Stay tuned!

As November 18th approaches, several varsity and junior varsity candidates are hitting the streets to drum up sponsors for this year's game program. Usually, this is done for our annual golf tournament, but since we decided not to do a golf tournament this year, we are busy trying to secure businesses to place ads in the program. If anyone has a contact to a business who they think might be willing to support us, please contact me via email at coachack@comcast.net . There is also a link to the sponsorship information on the main page where you can download a sponsorship form. All sponsorships need to be in by November 14th!

As October approaches, I find myself desperately searching for people to fill the various vacancies that seem to pop all the time when you are in charge of a high school athletic program. It's the nature of the business - Life happens, and volunteers who were there in the past, have other priorities that they understandably must take care of and unfortunately, they can no longer help in their former capacities. I think it would shock most people if you knew just how many people were involved in helping a program chug along, especially one like West York Boys Basketball, that has experienced so much success over the past decade+! From parent volunteers, to former players, WY alumni, current students, and more, the list is overwhelming! Some years, I am begging for help when it comes to team managers; other years, like this year, we are inundated with REQUESTS to help out with the team! (I have no less than 7 names of students right now who want to be Varsity and JV team managers - there isn't enough room on the bus for that many managers!) Our coaching staff, for the most part, seems covered, although we are still looking for a volunteer assistant for both the 7th/8th grade and freshman teams, so if you know anyone...!
People say to me all the time "hey, if you ever need any help..." and I most often smile and just say "ok, thanks", knowing that, although their intentions are good, they most likely don't TRULY mean that! But I have been tempted on more than one occasion to answer back to one of those people "well, listen if you'r e not doing anything Tuesday, I could really use a videographer for our game!" So, if anyone knows of someone: good with a video camera, or is a "stats" person, or loves taking candid and/or action photos, tell them to drop me an email! Or maybe, YOU are one of those people - volunteerism is a GREAT service anyone can do for their community! The pay isn't great (okay, there is no pay), but the rewards truly are priceless!

For over a decade, our program, from top to bottom, has run two basic offensive systems: the flex offense ("Gator") and the Wheel offense, a hybrid of the Shuffle offensive system. The two systems worked well for our teams over the years, despite the fact that "everyone knew it was coming". But for the past 2-3 years, I have gotten antsy with our offense; the exact things that used to make those systems so attractive to me (sharing the wealth, interchangeable parts), were beginning to expose themselves as detriments. I found myself tinkering, re-working, shifting, and essentially trying to "re-invent" the Wheel to not only fit our personnel,but the results I wanted from them. Then late last season, I had a conversation that would prove to be influential.
I have always been a big fan of Rick Torbett and his Better Basketball series. The guy knows his stuff and yet doesn't come across as too rigid in his teaching of fundamentals and his attention to detail is impressive. Then someone told me about his "Read and React" offensive system. At first glance, it seemed like a hybrid of the Dribble Drive offense made popular by Memphis University, but upon further research, I found it was really unlike anything I had come across before - and in basketball, that is not just rare, it is unheard of!
But change an entire offensive system to something completely new? Yikes. I have to admit, it took me at least a month to finally take the plunge, Even then, after we had purchased the DVDs that teach the initial system, it took me another few weeks of indecision before I finally decided to jump in feet-first - and let me tell you, I am glad I did.
At first glance, the system seemed overwhelming - heck, it has over 20 layers! But after immersing myself into the system, it began to dawn on me - this is EXACTLY what I had been searching for. The "system" is really just a series of "reactions" that must be learned in order for the offense to run. It is shocking just how flexible the system is and how much creativity in not just allows, but encourages from our players. The real difficulty is just getting the players to "un-learn" some common, age-old offensive basketball habits (ie. elements of Motion)  and instead, begin to "Read and React".
I started introducing the system to our varsity guys this spring and for the most part, we were able to run the system in our summer league at about 60% efficiency, without even really touching upon the last 10 layers of the offense. Now, as our Fall preseason begins, we have begun incorporating elements of the offense into our open gym workouts through a series of breakdown warm-ups that touch upon nuances of the system. Although some of the players' heads are spinning right now, I really think it won't take too long before the light bulb goes on and they start to truly "get it"...  until formal practices begin in November and we are really able to "coach them up", though, we won't be able to see their learning curve. Until then, we will simply continue to spoon feed them some elements of the our new system and hope for the best!

The first week of September is a busy week for a basketball team. The guys resumed weight training this week, which we will do a minimum of 3 times per week from now until the end of November. They are coming in after school with Coach Shultz, the girls head coach and our resident "fitness guru", this week but starting next week, I will also bring some in for morning sessions with me. We also began open gym sessions this week, which will continue every Monday and Wed in Sept and Oct, 6-7:30p on Mondays and 6:30-8p on Wednesdays. All open gyms will be held at the Middle School. On Sundays, beginning Sept 18, the varsity guys will also be playing in the Vonnie Grimes Fall League. I will post schedules on this site...
Our main focus for this preseason is teaching our guys the TRUE meaning of competition and intensity. We need to learn how to compete at an ultra-high intensity level and be able to maintain our focus at the same time. This is not an easy task for a high school athlete, much less an entire team, but I believe it is paramount to our success for the upcoming season. It will be a "shock to the system" for the first few weeks of preseason, I am sure, but it  is necessary in order to squeeze every ounce of potential out of these young men. By teaching them to add intensity to everything they do - not just athletics, but academics also - we are teaching them a life lesson that will help them beyond the walls of West York. By teaching them how to compete, we are equipping them with the necessary skills to not just survive, but THRIVE in the hyper-competitive environment of the "real world". In a way, their high school basketball careers are simply practice for the REAL test when they leave these hallowed halls and set out on their own!