Well enough of Johnny Cash. Can you tell I heard a song of his today????
Day 9 started with an early practice. 9:30 AM. It was a bit sluggish to start. I didn't say much to see if they would dig themselves out of the hole. They started to get out of it a bit but I did have to talk to them about how to manage their energy. The practice picked up and I was quite pleased with how it progressed. We got "up and down" a fair bit and it looked OK.
The things they are slowly starting to learn or have really improved upon:
1) We are a team and we need to play and behave like one. So far, so good. These young ladies are respectful and are working to become a tight group
2. When we slow down and read each other on the court, we can really be effective
3. When we pressure the ball and "get after it" , we are SMOTHERING. This is a Very Very good group of athletes. Hard part will be getting everyone on the court as much they may like.
Some things they haven't quite grasped yet or are struggling with
1. COMMUNICATION. They are a fairly quiet group on the court and we need to keep working on it. This is priority number one.
2. The concept of being "on the rope" on defense. In fairness to the girls, we haven't stressed defense as much as offense. It is still a work in progress.
3. Sometimes we get away from the offense, dribble too much and cut without a purpose. When we do that our offense looks like a train wreck.
So back to practice. We finished with some more 4 minute scrimmages where we get to work on time and score situations. Sometimes it is interesting to see that they don't know what they don't know. Better than average but at this level we need to be so much better.
After practice we had a cake to celebrate a birthday. The girls were excited because it was ice cream cake and it was a nice way to finish. After this we headed off to lunch. We had met as coaches and decided to shorten up some things so we gave them the night off tonight. We will also practice once tomorrow and then be off until we travel. Their bodies are sore and beaten up a little bit. They need some rest and with our travel and playing schedule we decided that they could get a break.
Some of the girls went to a mall, others went with parents and friends and some stayed here. I hung around for a bit and worked on a little presentation I am going to do for the girls before we leave. I then headed down the street to get some snacks for our trip to Europe. Most of the time the food has been good when I have traveled but you never know. It was so nice to be off campus and have time to myself. I walked every aisle of the store just to spend some more time away.
When I returned I worked on some video and then we headed off to supper. The meals have been good here at humber. No complaints. After supper I came back and worked on practice and some video stuff then Chantal stopped by and we talked about editing video and how to download things that will help her program. We had a great chat for about an hour. I just finished editing practice before I started writing this. So a full day but some relaxation in there as well.
I will do some more video before bed and then try to rest up for our last practice before leaving. We are having 1 practice in the AM and then a video session later in the evening. Time in the middle of the day for last minute laundry and packing. I will talk more about the trip tomorrow.
Until then......
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