Subject: topics from thursday practice and review of friday team session
Guys, just as a recap on some of the things we discussed at Thursdays practice and then of course for those that attended our Friday team practice.

Probably, most important is the fact that we must quit using so much of our time on our normal schedule sessions of Sunday, Tues and Thurs on team or game issues. the three days a week are to develop all of you as basketball players through all the drills we do and then to improve you athletically. We lose our focus on what is really important and that is developing each and every one of you. The games are extra and a reward for those that really work so hard. We tried twice to have voluntary sessions and the turnout was poor at best. we will be using Friday as our day to work on team issues to help prepare us for league play and future tournaments. As mentioned in earlier communication, we just ran the basic motion set and it allowed us to survive as most of you cannot execute some of our 6 options. then of course we could only play one defense, because so many of you lack competency. Just by having a few options of our motion and more importantly being able to change up our defense, it would have given us an even better chance at winning our first game. This of course takes more of my time, time I really don't have. But, if we are to compete with all those varsity teams, we must do what's necessary. This day will remain voluntary, but of course if you don't know plays or can't play our defensive packages properly, you reduce your playing time dramatically. I think everyone at yesterday’s session realizes the benefit of having a practice and just focusing on team concepts, even Ivan has a better understanding. I did find out, he could play in the league as the team we played had 2 seniors. it would help us tremendously at point guard, but we will not be adding Ivan, we will use him as an assistant coach. It does not help any of you underclassmen by having Ivan take away your minutes, and we can try other options as communicated earlier.
FRIDAY: we discussed, walked through and timed what warms up should look like. One reminder, it is not a show, it is time to prepare your mind and bodies to do battle, be disciplined, be fundamental and move. we went over our motion in depth, and stopped every time there was a chance for a read. We then worked on running three of our cuts, Maryland/Banana and Calif. it took numerous reps to run them correctly as the ball position/ player position and timing were all out of sync. It required 52 minutes for both sides to implement one successful cut with all options in synch. so we still need more work, plus we are only doing all options from the right side of the floor until everyone is comfortable.
Those in attendance (50 bonus points for all who have made team sessions). Casey(although injured), Luke, Devon, Brandon, Illouise, Davin, Anthony, Omar, Anil, Kevin.
Those who elected not to attend: Cameron, Kolby, Ej, and Evan. needless to say, none of you 4 can remotely run the cuts in motion, none of you four can do the rotations in CB and we couldn't play 22 defense in our game because Cameron and Ej still don't understand it. enough said. I think everyone that attended would have to agree there is a tremendous upside.

MINUTES PLAYED IN GAME 1 AND MY COMMENTS:
Casey: 30, about right and good job, letting me know you needed some rest.
Luke: 38, far too much. you were doing a lot of the small stuff, but we must do better at getting you a rest even if you are playing well. you are not in great condition as it is and it leads to old habits like not filling the lane, or cutting through on breaks, or talking on defense as that requires energy also. Your minutes were primarily out of necessity.
Kevin: dnp/coaches decision. did not participate in full practice due to injury.
Anil: dnp/coaches decision. worst practice attendance on team. Even though we could have used you and Kevin it was not the right thing to do.
Omar: no show. and injured last 2 practices.
Illouise: 34, way, way too much, not by design. firmly believe fatigue affected your effectiveness down the stretch. asked Cameron and Anthony if they thought they could run point, but both said no. with Omar and Anil not deserving playing time, it was only fair to give it to you.
Anthony: 18, a little more than I was expecting to play you. was hoping you could give us some offensive firepower as we lacked scoring.
Kolby: 13, a few more than I planned, but you were playing solid defense not only man but team, and you crashed the boards, something that we were lacking as a team. you were giving us something, so your minutes were up.
Devon: 23, plan for this game was to split time with Brandon, so it's about right. Once we do productivity grid we will have a better understanding of value. Just remember big's should lead by quite a bit in productivity, as its easier to rebound, you should have very few turnovers and you take easier shots.
Brandon:17, should have been a minute or two more. see comments for Devon. the one that becomes most consistent in productivity will get more minutes, pretty simple. And if neither of you are productive enough, we will look at other options if we must go small. it's up to you two big's.
Cameron: 13, more than I planned by far, but in man you did decent. but you did not handle ball very well and did take that awful floater! not sure if your productivity will be a positive number.
Ej: 13, more than I planned. of course if Kevin and Anil were options it would have impacted you, Cameron, Illouise etc. it would have impacted everyone.

UNIFORMS: rental agreements due back Sunday. Illouise collect them all for me. I have decided the first game that I feel the team, plays an entire game with the effort I expect we will then be assigned our uniforms. I thought we played really well first 15 minutes and about 12 minutes in the second half. so that leaves 13 minutes where many of you settled into old habits and we paid for it. 38-40 minutes of effort and team basketball and we will distribute the uniforms. Just remember, I don't even care if we win the game, I don't care if we miss shots, if we are taking good shots for you and good shots for the team. I only care about the parts you can control. That is effort, defense, team defense, offensive execution, playing with fundamentals, learning from mistakes, being a great team mate and executing as directed by me. Those are all things you can control.

I will try to get a look at game film, and also do our first productivity grid, no promises on when as it takes more of my time. I do know if I allow myself to get behind it is very difficult to get caught up. Casey, again thank your dad for the stats, if he can add deflections and 50/50 balls that would be great.

Lastly, please copy your parents on all communication and soon enough all of my emails will be on the web site.

ltr, Coach Charlie