Nike Regional Skills-California Saturday PM update
Posted May 3rd, 2008 by scoutnwhoops
Layshia Clarendon works on her handle with
a tennis ball and a basketball.
The intensity has continued this afternoon as the drills have continued to progress into more one-on-one, two-on-two and three-on-three situations that let the kids "play" with the skills they've been working on. For most unfortunatley when they go five-on-five it constitutes reverting to what is confortable or habit instead of looking to apply the new skills in a game atmosphere. To me that's simply losing focus on what the objective of the camp is, but it is also human nature.
I don't know how many of the kids recognize myself or Mike Flynn as we are the two people here doing player evaluations for ranking purposes but personally I'm looking for the kids that are taking the risk of failure to use what is being taught. Chelsea Gray was one kid that I saw try and fail at the two-foot jumpstop and floater over a defender instead of powering by them or forcing something up lower percentage. The drills for some progress to near game speed but for new skills it is a progression so going game speed allows them to attempt the skill and get immediate feedback.
Layshia Clarendon works on her handle with
a tennis ball and a basketball.
Gennifer Brandon continues to impress and the girls have decided to call her the "New Nneka" with her leaping ability and shot blocking. She sure is fun to watch play.
Talia Caldwell and Monique Oliver mixed it up in the evening session as well, taking turns knocking each other to the ground. I told Mo it was good for her as the higher the level of play the more physical the game is. She got knocked to the ground, got up and my guess is she won't let it happen again. It forces her to elevate her game and all the kids are forced to elevate their games. One more session tomorrow will wrap things up from Orange County. I must say some of the "coaching" from some parents as the kids play is nerve-wracking. I wish some of the parents would take the lead from Talia Caldwell's mother, Teal; she encourages everyone and I haven't caught her coaching from the baseline either. It is great to see so many parents here supporting the kids I just hope they too can embrace the learning aspect of this as well as the level of competition. Your weaknesses are supposed to be exposed and you're supposed to make mistakes trying new things. The drills are competitive but this is not a competition, it's a chance to learn. I apologize if this update is a little soapbox-ish but this is a great opportunity and I hope the players all get the most out of it. I likely won't have time to blog after tomorrow morning's session but should have a report up Monday for everyone with photos and the like.
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1 problem
Great camp, great training but too much emphasis on 1 on 1, a lot of these kids already play too much 1 on 1 and when they get to college, the coaches want the kids who listen, run sets and are unselfish. I'm looking for those who support each other, set screens, play as a group. Maybe instead of praising those who go to the basket every time you should praise those who do all the work for their team as a lot of those going 1 on 1 don't hustle back on D or even play any D.
A lot of the trianing is also about positioning on court but that seems to be lost when you talk about some players. Are those players doing the other necessary stuff or are they just about showcasing themselves. Great backscreens for example are just as important if not more than scoring.
Theres a good example in your blog but I'm not going to mention a name but the kid shoots every time and her D is awful, fouls every time.
Ball hogs are created by coaches allowing them to be that way - too much emphasis on 1 on 1 and scoring will produce ball hogs.
RE: 1 Problem
By reading your comment I can say I doubt you were at the gym watching. The one-on-one work developed into two-on-two and more until the worked to a full game setting. The are teaching angles, spacing, setting proper screens, communicating with each other, reading the defense, making the right pass in different situations, watching game tape after sessions.
Being a one-on-one player and practicing skills in a one-on-one setting are completely different. How often do you see a kids practice a new skill, then go play in a game and there is no trace of the skill practiced? Breaking the game down into controlled game situations without ten players on the court, in my opinion, is a big part of skill development.
On the other hand many of these kids don't know how to make their teammates better and they need to be taught. But who is teaching?
This was just a brief blog, not meant to cover even a fraction of the action from this weekend.
Chris Hansen
National Director of Scouting
HoopGurlz.com
You misunderstand
It was not the teaching I was talking about - in fact how many times did you hear Baker state that the lessons were not being transferred to the game particularly from the point guards. Some of the kids you are hiliting were called out by Baker many times for not listening, yawning (which he said was disrespectful) and shooting every time down the court. So I ask you were you listening or are you just going on what you are hearing from the sideline.
Baker is a great teacher and he clearly got a sense of who the ballhogs were - it seems you did not.
I understand plenty
I talked to the man about it. If you know anything about this site we don't dog the kids out when they don't perform. We keep out criticism as contructive as possible and try to focus on the good things these kids are doing.
Chris Hansen
National Director of Scouting
HoopGurlz.com
To follow
It will be interesting for me to see who else you hilte as I watched a few girls who worked their butt off, in drills, setting screens, spacing as Baker wanted them too, following directions to a fault and they hardly touched the ball in games as they were doing all the needed work while some of the others you talk about were gunning and forcing shots. I respect Baker for going around and pulling these particular girls for not listening but that seems to have been overlooked.
At the end of the day though - those girls doing the needed work have probably learned more and will become better players and will be the ones that any college coach would want - the others who didn't listen and decided to showboat obviously will keep applying their bad habits. It's a shame as Bakers lessons were great.
Good job Chris
Good job Chris in your article for pointing out what happened at the skills camp. This was my 2nd year and I too was surprised at some of the attitudes and behavior. I think that 1 or 2 of the team coaches didn't help as it was clear they were yelling and screaming at the kids and using some choice language that I hadn't seen at previous camps. Particularly 1 was more interested in his team winning than putting into practice some of Gannons great tips. He seemed to forget that this was a viewing camp and I think this probably enabled some of those things you mentioned that happened with the girls and bringing out that kind of - I deserve this attitude.
It's great that you gave your honest opinions as it will probably help Nike and the girls for their next camps.