Feed The Positive Dog

"The Energy Bus" by JON GORDON has me incorporating new positive techniques into my coaching. In the past I revolved my coaching on constructive criticism, even though I have NOT totally let that go, I am learning to "FEED THE POSITIVE DOG". Everyone has positive and negative energy in them, in order to bring out the positive we need to keep feeding it with positive things, positive energy, words of encouragement. If we don't keep feeding the positive dog, the negative one is going to take over. I try to start things positive, then discuss the not so positive things and finish with more positive. When one of my kids is on the foul line shooting free throws I tell the rest of the team to "feed the positive dog". My kids answer with "Come on Chase, you got it", "Alright Griffin get one here", they respond with positive statements to boost the shooters confidence and it works! Every morning we have a choice, are we going to be a positive thinker or a negative thinker. I am learning that positive thinking gives me more energy.

Leading at a "Higher Level", what ever level that is for each one of us personally means you need to be open to new ideas and willing to learn as much as you can. "Everything is Learnable". No one creates success alone. This is very true for me at EMERSON HS. Last season we won our State Sectional and NJIC League Title, and all the support that came with the program made all the difference. We are all teachers and students no matter what our title is. It is important to learn that positive people, positive communication, positive interactions, and positive team cultures produce positive results.

I asked my Emerson kids in this pre-season on a scale from 1-5 how much do they enjoy being on the team. I ask them to take into consideration everything that goes on: the lifting, the scouting reports, the film sessions, the running, the yelling, playing all year long etc. I walked away not too pleased with the numbers I received. I want these kids to enjoy this team, my coaching staff and MYSELF more. My goal is to have them enjoy being on the team by being more positive towards each of them.

Injuries.....

In my two "complete" seasons coaching at Emerson I have had four serious injuries: 3 ACLs (two of them on the same players) and a foot fracture. People began to say that I was working the girls too hard, they were simply playing TOO MUCH! I just could not get myself to believe it. They are high school girls, we would practice 6 days a week and they would practically never run. I am not a coach to throw kids on the line unless I am really mad.

May 2010 I went to a Nike Championship Basketball Clinic (which I recommend for every coach, once a year to attend) in Verona NY. One of the several speakers that weekend was ALAN STEIN. In my own words, Alan Stein is a strength and conditioning trainer with basketball tailored work outs to prevent injury and get athletes to perform better. He started his exercises with no shoes, working the bottom of the feet. He showed coaches several stretches with out having the players sitting down. Before he even picked up a weight, we were shown how to improve quickness and reaction with tennis balls working hand eye coordination all at the same time. I WAS SOLD!

Alan informed us on the common injuries for basketball players: feet, hamis, quads, lower back, and ACL. This information lit up brain cells in my head, in other words it hit close to home. My first year coaching my best player had a stress fracture in her foot and one of my starters had torn her ACL in a preseason game. My second year I had another ACL injury and a lower back injury. For the hour of his lecture my eyes were glued to his demonstrations and my pen never left the note pad. Since the lecture I have tried several of his work outs on myself and this fall I have designed a program for my squad. I have purchased one of his DVD's and download a PDF in season strength training program. I follow ALAN on twitter and facebook. YOUTUBE has a lot of his exercises and his website www.strongerteam.com has been a great reference.

The 14U GameTime team went 4-0 this weekend in the Schultz Shoot Out. Catherine Rodgers had 56 points in (4) games.

They beat the Rockland Rockets 46-19, then went on to beat the Westchester Titans 49-39 on Saturday. They had (3) starters in double figures to give them a ten point spread over the TITANS; Kim Douglas (15 points), Catherine Rodgers (13 points), Jill Marino (15 points).

Sunday they slipped away with a (1) point Victory over the Future Stars, the final 40-39. Their last game of the tournament was against the Hornets. Jill Marino led the Cougars in scoring with 18 points to give them a 53-39 victory.

The 14U GameTime Cougars are coached by TARYN SCINTO (IHA) and Melissa BONTE (EMERSON).

12U going on 13U....

The 2008 Gametime Cougars are returning with 70% of their roster to compete in the 13U division. THEY ARE ALL GROWN and playing with the big dogs now. The 13U team has taken the month off to focus on the Division II state tournament. This is the first time GAMETIME has ever competed in the tournament. GOOD LUCK!!