We just got back from a weekend in Minocqua at my parents' church where we officially kicked off our season with a two day mini-camp. We left school Friday shortly after our typical early dismissal and got to the church by dinner. The ride up there (4 hours) was everything every other long ride I have even been on with middle school boys has ever been. Too many silly, goofy things to remember but enough to know that 75% of what is said is hilarious and makes me glad I work with this age group. When we got to Minocqua and were two blocks from the church (which sits off the main street of down town) we had to wait when a flock of wild turkeys crossed the street. The boys in my car thought we were waiting for ducks, but when I told them it was turkeys they all immediately pressed their faces on the windows to see the wild fowl.
We started the night with a spaghetti dinner and 45 minutes later hit the gym for an evening practice. We did not do a whole lot other than conditioning drills, defensive drills and offense introductions. After practice we showered and got ready to watch a movie on the church's big screen projection. Except, the projector would not start. So we went back to the youth room we were staying in and watched the movie on the big screen TV- until the DVD player quit. So we finished the movie on the other TV in the room. (We watched Glory Road which was fun for two reasons: First- only a couple of my players know the history behind Texas Western and Second- the coach in the movie had two little boys the same age as my boys.) The night went pretty well after that with everyone settling down after only 30 minutes of threats. I slept very poorly for two reasons- 1. I always have a bad night of sleep the first time I change my sleeping environment and 2. I could not turn of my "Dean of Students" mind and was convinced someone was going to try something or try to leave the room.
Saturday morning we got up, ate some granola bars, cereal bars and donuts and then headed back to the gym for morning practice. Morning practice was a little less intense than the night before but was still productive in getting the boys moving and reviewing our offense. After the practice I had the guys work through a team building exercise that I had done before with a couple other groups. It was classic in how our guys responded. They did not get it so they fought with each other and then quit. We had a sit down discussion of what we were trying to do that took close to 15 minutes and then they gave it another try and were eventually successful.
We headed to my parents' house for lunch, Pickleball and the Badger-Iowa debacle, then back to the gym for afternoon practice. The first half hour was slow, but we really did some good work the rest of the way. We ended practice with another team building exercise. This one went much quicker than the first and helped the guys work through some teammate issues.
The evening session was a scrimmage we set up with the pastor's son's traveling team. They were missing a couple of their post players but brought a couple 9th graders to fill in. We were much quicker than they were and were able to run a lot on them when we got defensive stops, rebounds and steals. The scrimmage showed me that my top 5 or 6 players (minus our 6'2" center who is still healing from a broken foot) are in pretty good shape and really understand what we are trying to do offensively and defensively. The roster after that still needs some work. We ended up winning by 12 points and got some good compliments from the officials as well.
We had pizza afterwards with our opponents and then finished the evening with an hour and a half of just playing ball in the gym. Needless to say, bedtime was a lot easier Saturday night with a bunch of tired boys than it was the previous night. I, however, still did not sleep well.
Sunday morning we got up, cleaned up, ate breakfast and went to the church's Sunday School class for junior high (and tripled their attendance for the class) as well as the worship service before heading home. I was ready for bed when we got back to Milwaukee at 5:30pm.
Here's what I know after mini-camp...
Our chance to be a really good team this year hinges on whether or not our center's foot gets cleared by his doctor. He broke his foot this summer in a 3-on-3 tournament. When he was given crutches he never used them. When he went back to the doctor he had a cast put on and given new crutches. He never used the crutches. 6 weeks later his cast was off but then when he went to the doctor it was discovered that his foot had an ulcer because of all the walking he did with out his crutches. Longer story- short... there is a possibility that he may not be allowed to play this entire season. Yikes. He can walk just fine, but apparently the damage that could be done long term if it does not heal right is significant.
If he plays, we have a legitimate center, a legitimate shooting guard, and a legitimate all-around player that will win us a lot of games if 3 or 4 more guys learn their roles. Minus the center, we will still win a good amount of games, but we will not challenge to win the big tournaments.
In the 7th grade I have 3 guards that will probably be a part of the regular rotation. One has a very high basketball IQ (for a 13yr old) but he is physically at that awkward age where his body will not totally cooperate with his mind. Another is a great listener who understands basketball pretty well for his age. The third started at point in our scrimmage and turned out better than I had expected, if he can keep his grades and behavior in check he probably can start this season and (if he stays down with the program) could be a pretty good 8th grade point guard next year.
The rest of the squad is filled up by 8th graders new to my system. If they work hard and stay eligible they could see some minutes but only one or two look likely to get into the rotation.
If everyone stays eligible (a big if), we can be a very good middle school basketball team. If we lose a couple key players, we will still win a lot of our conference games but we will not challenge to win our tournaments. If we end up with only seven guys who want to learn the game, behave in school and do their school work, we may not win a lot of games- but we will still have a good season.
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