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Basketball Update

Veteran’s basketball lasted all of one week. I woke up the following day with a sore left knee, and a trip to By Design Holistic Health to get the news that I had damaged my medial collateral ligament (MCL) and my posterior cruciate ligament (PCL)! It’s been a bit of a struggle to get my strength back, but mostly because it’s been so busy that I haven’t taken the time to do my exercises!

The U10 Girls have also had a fairly rough time of it since moving up to B Grade. There has been some great work, but it’s hard not to get demoralised when the opposition is a fair bit better and more experienced.

2015 will be a better year!

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Veteran’s Basketball

My mum aged several years when I broke it to her that her baby son was playing in a veterans basketball team!

The team was running short of players, I need something to help me stayget fit, and it will help me with my coaching and credibility if I’m in the trenches playing the game as well as coaching.

It’s a fun match, the guys don’t train but we get out there and have some fun. There was plenty of tips for me which was great as it’s been 15 or so years since I’ve played.

Interestingly the jersey I was thrown was number 7, which was my number when I played back in primary school (Winter 1980 Premiers!!!)

The results were about 32-20 down, but some of the guys reckon we should have beaten them, and there are plenty of better and taller teams in the competition. Yikes.

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Basketball – Round 5 – B Grade!

A few good wins at the the end of grading has seen the team pushed in to B grade, which is going to be a huge stretch for all of us. We started the game by scoring in the first minute, but by half way through the 1st half we were 10-2 down. It was quickly apparent these girls were seasoned players, and the final score of 63-6 was plainly visible on all our girls faces at the end. 🙁

We were simply far too slow, not getting back to defend and not passing well at all.

A great learning experience, hopefully we can turn it around next week.

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Basketball rounds 3&4

Rounds 3 & 4 of the grading rounds saw us have a couple of great wins, 29-10 in round 3 and 34-12 in round 4. We played really well as a team in round 3, maybe not so much in round 4, even though the score line was better.

We still need to work on our defense, and running back to be in position.

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Basketball results round 2

What a difference a week can make! Unfortunately we were unable to train this week so I have had no time with the girls at all since the last game.

On the up side, we scored another new player this week, bringing the total to 8, which is a really good number.

We headed into round 2 with 2 players I’d never met before, 1 new one who had played last week, and the five that had trained the week before. Lizzie had sprained her ankle at school, and even though I strapped it up, she didn’t think she would be up to playing.

I made the mistake of benching the 2 new girls right at the start so I could have a quick chat with them, find out skill levels etc. only to find neither have played competition before at all, just a bit at school.

Not wanting both new players on the court together (initially) had to do a bit of careful subbing, but we made it through.

The score line accurately reflected our skills compared to the other girls, finishing 9-6 down.

I’m really hoping we can train this week, though it will have to be on some outside courts, but we all just need some time together, and to go over some basics.

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Basketball results round 1

Round 1 with my girls started with a bunch of paperwork and getting ready, then the game finally started. I was head half down, half watching the game while I sorted out what my new player, who I had just met, knew about the game, and 2 mins later we were 6-0 up on the scoreboard!

The game went well, the girls played well and the opposition had 2 or 3 players who had never played before, so the 32-8 (I think) final score was probably not indicative of the rest of the season (and not necessarily a great thing in a grading game) but it was a great start to the season and a good chance for the girls to play together.

We also have another new player who we haven’t even met yet.

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Basketball tip #1

I was speaking to a basketball coach I admire a lot, and his biggest tip for teaching the age group I’m coaching was to teach then not to all swarm around the ball.

Be if offence or defence, there is no point having 5 players around the ball, If you have the ball, there’s no one to pass to and if you are defending then you are likely leaving leaving loose players, or in the event that you get a turnover, you still have no-one to pass to.

I’m not sure how I’ll install that in to U10’s but we will give it a go once I’m happy that everyone is moving in the right direction with basics.

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Basketball Coaching

A new project I’ve picked up for at least the Summer 14/15 season is coaching Lizzie’s MLBC Lakers U10 Girls Basketball team! My nephew Andrew was coaching but had to give it up due to other commitments.

It’s going to be an interesting challenge but the club has been a great support with a coaching evening and handbook and lots of affirmation and offers of help.

Beccy has also offered to be my Assistant Coach, but not sure how she will go, as it might be that her training is the same time.

I’ll keep you updated with the team’s progress.

MLBC Lakers, Live it, Love it, Lakers