Last Week Report/Blogs

Monday - This weeks objective was to show and teach the players Trumbull Highs offensive and defensive schemes and plays. This week was most like an actual team practice compared to the other weeks. Coach Manuel gave me a list of plays that he wanted me to teach to the kids so that they knew them and understood the reasoning for them. He gave me a DVD on the Flex Offense and told me to watch it. I watched it in the morning before camp to really understand the ins and outs of the Flex Offense. I knew how to run the play, but I was a little foggy on why each move is the executed as it is. So watching this DVD was like studying for me. I brought my knew learned knowledge to the kids that day and we broke down each cut, fake and pass of the flex offense. We went over different reads and different scenarios. When the kids knew the play, I had them play defense against it because when you see how hard it is to guard certain things, your understanding becomes much more clear.
Tuesday - Tuesday was a rainy day in which we went to the weight room again. I took this time with the kids to explain to them that we were amongst a very important week in the matter of next years team. I reminded them that I report back to Coach Manuel and that the players who try and understand these plays and schemes the most are definitely going to be highly considered for the team based on their motivation and desire. At the end of the lifting session I put the kids through a 10 minutes jump rope work out, so that they can do it on their own in the summer. This work out was to enhance the quickness of their feet.
Wednesday - This day was a long and strenuous day for everyone. I tought the kids Trumbull High's basic offensive set including almost all of the different plays that were possible out of it. The kids had to remember the names and the corresponding play. Of course they weren't going to be perfect after just one day of this, but they got most of it. The plays consisted of ball screens, down screens, V-cuts, zipper cuts, all of which we had went over in the previous weeks so I am glad that it paid of because the kids understood the cuts. The most difficult part for the kids was executing the plays on not only the right side, but the left side of the floor as well. The most difficult part for me was rotating the kids in and out, to positions where I thought they would best fit. I wanted a couple of the kids to learn a couple different positions. This is what made the day strenuous, but I know how tough it is.
Thursday - To start the day off, we reviewed the plays from Wednesday just to refresh the kids minds. I figured we would do it that everyday and this could only help. However, the focus of today was zone defense. Trumbull High plays 3 different zone defenses, all complete with different slides and responsibilities. The first zone was a 2-3, half court zone. This zone is mainly used by Trumbull High if some players get into foul trouble or if they need help rebounding. This is a good zone to play if you need to rebound because no matter what, when the shot goes up, you have atleast 3 players underneath the basket at all times playing their zones. The next zone was a 1-3-1 zone. This zone is used to force turnovers and trap the ball in corners and on the sidelines. The key to this zone is the one man up top. He should be tall and athletic in order for this zone to be most affective. His job is to push the ball to one side and try to deny a ball reversal. After pushing the ball to one side, this is where the trap comes and hopefull forces a turnover. The last zone they play is a 1-2-2. This zone helps to slow down the pace of the game and force the opponent to take a bad shot most of the time. This is because the 1-2-2 covers a lot of ground and unless the other team knows how to beat it, it is good if your looking for a low scoring game. Most teams play this when they know that the opponent has 1 really good player that leads the team. Playing this zone forces the team to pass the ball and most of the time, someone else will shoot the ball on each trip simply because of the way it is played.
Friday - Again, I started by reviewing the offense and decided to review the 1-3-1 zone a little bit. After this, the focus was full court press and out of bounds plays. The full court press that Trumbull High plays is not to force turnovers like most presses. Its design is to slow the tempo of the game down when the opponent wants to run the ball up the floor. The press that they play is a 3/4 court 2-2-1. The focus of this press is to deny the ball from the middle of the floor. If you let the ball get to the middle, the press is useless. You want to keep it along the sidelines and you do this by timing the slides and getting to the right spots on the floor. The kids seemed to understand this the most so I reported that back to Coach Manuel and suggested that they definitely practice that a lot more next year because they have the personel to execute this press.
Saturday - This was the last day of camp and was by far the most fun of all the days. The day consisted of many scrimmages and drills. The kids shot for teams and I made the rule. They played 8 minute quarters and each quarter, one of the kids was the coach and they had to use all of the defenses that were taught during the week. It had to be a different kid each time for each team. My plan was that by doing this, it would give the kids some leadership ability. They ended up playing 6 quarters before everyone on each team got a chance to coach. Then I chose one kid from each team to teach a 4 quarter game using the offense, defense and press that they learned. This was a great challenge and the kids really had fun with it. After the scrimmages were done, we had some individual challenges involving shooting, passing, dribbling, jumping, ect. After all of this, I thanked the kids for being part of this camp and told all of them that if they want individual work outs through the summer, feel more than free to call me.