| scituate_basketball_powerpoint.ppt |
| growth_mindset_in-class_presentation.pptx |
"Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Ralph, I love the quote, but enthusiasm without a plan for purposeful action is just another word." - Matt Poirier
"Ralph, I love the quote, but enthusiasm without a plan for purposeful action is just another word." - Matt Poirier
Chess
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Clarinet
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Tennis
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YOU ARE WHAT YOU DO DAILY.
Basketball players play basketball daily. Not when it is convenient.
I like chess. I once picked up a clarinet. Believe it or not, I used to play tennis.
However, I am not a chess, tennis or a clarinet player. Why not?
I do not partake in chess, the clarinet or tennis on a daily basis.
Maybe one day I will, but until then, I am not a chess, tennis or clarinet player.
Basketball players seek basketball battles* and basketball challenges daily.
Bystanders and people who sit in the stands do not.
Those who are uncommitted to the game avoid challenges.
Unsuccessful players avoid competition & find other activities when it is available.
Successful players SEEK Competition and find where it is available.
Are you a seeker or are you an avoider?
SEEK POSITIVE ACTIVITIES & DO THEM DAILY.
COMPETITIVE BASKETBALL requires that you play it.
Basketball players play basketball daily. Not when it is convenient.
I like chess. I once picked up a clarinet. Believe it or not, I used to play tennis.
However, I am not a chess, tennis or a clarinet player. Why not?
I do not partake in chess, the clarinet or tennis on a daily basis.
Maybe one day I will, but until then, I am not a chess, tennis or clarinet player.
Basketball players seek basketball battles* and basketball challenges daily.
Bystanders and people who sit in the stands do not.
Those who are uncommitted to the game avoid challenges.
Unsuccessful players avoid competition & find other activities when it is available.
Successful players SEEK Competition and find where it is available.
Are you a seeker or are you an avoider?
SEEK POSITIVE ACTIVITIES & DO THEM DAILY.
COMPETITIVE BASKETBALL requires that you play it.
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BATTLE DEFINITIONS: Both a NOUN and a VERB
*Please note, my definition of the word battle is a verb not a noun. Again, my definition is a verb. The noun battle means the following: A sustained fight between two opposing military forces. The verb definition, the one that I use in terms of academics and athletic pursuits is this: Fighting or struggling to accomplish a challenge, achieve victory or resist defeat. When I use the word, here are the two aspects of the verb I want to explain: First, the verb definition can be applied to both academic and athletic pursuits and secondly the noun and verb contrast is significant. Yes, I know I must look and sound crazy to people when I teach and when I coach, but I am not that crazy to suggest that any academic or athletic endeavor involving what I call a "battle" is the equivalent of actual combat or a military battle. I had coaches who used the word WAR and the word BATTLE as a noun and I always just scratched my head when they did. I understood what they were saying, but in my mind and in my experience they mixed up the noun and verb definition. I was never in the military and I have never thankfully been in combat. I have had family who were involved in the military and have been in combat. Nothing they taught or related to me about the noun definition compared for a second with the verb. Maybe you or maybe someone in your family have served our country in the military and have also been in combat. Thank you if you have and please be sure to thank your family member for their sacrifice for me. Everyone goes home after after a practice or a game, not everyone goes home in matters of actual combat. The difference between the verb and the noun are obvious and I always tell my students and athletes, at the end of the day IF you did all that you could to make it a significant and great day then lay-down and close your eyes to sleep and sleep well. That peace of mind is deserved. Not having regrets is such an important aspect of being happy. You are what you do daily. So set your sights on a goal and pursue it with passion provided that is healthy and positive and then sleep well at night. Let the A's, GPA's, championship trophies and the All-Star awards take care of themselves. Make a winning effort in all that you do DAILY and like I just wrote, all the other stuff will take care of itself. I am spot-on here.
The Best Coach You Probably Never Heard About and...
Have You Ever Met the Bogeyman?
The attachment shown about maybe twenty inches below is a photo of our 2013 team being introduced at the Boston Garden in 2013. If you are not too much out of shape, scroll down and open it up. The attachment below it is an excerpt from a heated conversation I had with an opposing coach prior to the start of our game during the early 2000's in one of my first years coaching at Scituate High School. I have not really ever shared with too many people this conversation and I remember it almost verbatim. To the best of my ability I have written down what he said as faithfully and as accurately as possibly I can. I have thought about it ever since, it has haunted, challenged and inspired me over the years and please remember it was almost 20 years ago.
If you take the time to read it which only some of you will, what this coach is referring to was a number of newspaper articles that were printed in local papers and from some radio interviews I was involved in starting directly after I was hired as the varsity coach in the spring of 2000. I was not shy as a player and I was not shy as a coach. I stated clearly, loudly and proudly and said repeatedly that my staff and I were not just setting out to prepare for the following season, we were not going to be "rebuilding" or going to "do our best each and every night" type of nonsense stuff. I made clear that we were setting out to WIN and make what I said was the "winning effort" in every thing we did, each day on and off the court, never mind at each practice and each game. Yes, I said it: WIN. Win is an awesome word. Scituate was no longer going to be a "push over" or an easy "W." With no disrespect meant to our opponents I made crystal clear, we were coming after them and we were not going to wait a year or two to do it. I said we were not going to "wait in line for our turn" or be what I called "polite." Polite means to wait your turn and be patient while in that line. Not being polite did not mean we were going to be "dirty" or "cheap." What I explained was Scituate from this point forward would be the aggressor, Scituate would be "tempo setter" and no one would ever use the word "SOFT" or "POLITE" when describing our basketball program ever again.
"You could call me or my team a lot of stuff, but soft and polite were no longer going to be two of those words."
The two words that I wanted people and especially coaches to say about us was FAST and FURIOUS. "They play hard" was not going to suffice. By the way, "they play hard" is a common phrase used by coaches when they don't have anything good to say about a team, are in mixed company that they may not trust and need to say something that is again, POLITE. In "coaches-speak", "they play hard" means in reality "they stink", "they ain't good."
Fast and furious had to be how we played and just saying it was not going to make it happen. Actions mattered and so did execution. After being hired and allowed only one meeting with the returning varsity players, I explained that there was going to be a new mindset and attitude. This new mindset and attitude were going to be summed up by one simple phrase, a phrase we would all adopt as our own and one we that would be only understood by us, the team. For one reason or the other, the phrase we all agreed on was "The Return of the Old School"
I loved the phrase and so did the players on the team. I don't know why, it just made sense to us all. It meant a return to the age old honored acceptance of making a dogged, persistent, put your head down everyday genuine effort. The slogan, that phrase mattered and spoke to everyone from managers, score-keepers, players and coaches. To me the slogan meant that we would outwork you, exhaust you and force you into basketball "chaos." Basketball chaos is to simply go faster than you opponent can. We wanted to make our opponent forced to face what we called the "bogeyman." Oh yes, the bogeyman, the bogeyman is the moment you have been forced to play so hard you cannot breath, you cannot catch your breath, but are forced to continue to play. For those people who have played the game before, I mean really played the game, the bogeyman better become your friend because if it is not, you look stupid. How fast and how well you recover from the encounter with boogeyman is only a matter of experiencing the encounter, having athletic courage and the sheer will to not succumb to him.
Facing the bogeyman ourselves in practice and then making our opponents face the bogeyman in games was our goal and this goal was summed up by our "Return of the Old School" slogan. I don't know why, but it did and it mattered. This phrase for whatever reason resonated and created an unspoken bond and a genuine team unity. To introduce and to make our opponents meet and great the bogeyman, we had to play full court fast and furious fast-break basketball at every opportunity and after every score press the oxygen out of our opponent. I made no bones about it, this is what we were going to do.
It was at this time too I started to research the game of basketball and when I first started to read about and hear about one of the least known but most important coaches ever, Coach John McLendon. It was an amazing and fun time because everyone was dialed in, everyone was on the same page. Everyone also put team first and themselves second. For the first time also, as a new coach, I made very clear everyone's roles, not just mine and not to just players, but parents and guardians too. Everyone has a roll on a team and parents / guardians are not on the team. Their job is to support the team and their son on the team. This has never changed and it won't. If everyone knows their role and carries it out to the best of their abilities, everyone succeeds and the wins and losses take care of themselves. This is what I call the "winning effort." So simple to say, but hard to do. Again words don't mean much in this game do they? If one person does not do their job regardless of its magnitude or significance, everyone fails. Basketball is basketball and teaches such amazing life skills. What is true about the game, is true about life. Well, to put it simply what I said in these newspaper interviews and on the radio did not make this opposing coach too happy. So before we played that night, he needed to get it off his chest I guess. His words were directed to me first and to my community second. They were not complimentary to either.
Who was Coach John McLendon? He is the coach who invented the style of play I was trying to inject into our program. It was his interpretation of how the game should be played that our coaching staff in 2000 brought to Scituate High School. Basketball was invented by Doctor Naismith (1861 - 1939) in 1891 and if you read the rules and how the game slowly developed, the game it is not a polite, quiet or slow sport. One of Doctor Naismith's students at the University of Kansas was Coach John McClendon (1915 - 1999). There are a number of books written about him, the most famous is the Secret Game and an ESPN documentary called Black Magic which clearly documented his influence on the development of the modern game of basketball. He has been recently inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame a number of times for a number of accomplishments. Coach McClendon transferred to the University of Kansas from a nearby junior college and because he was Black was not allowed to play basketball at Kansas University during the early 1930's. Naismith as many of you know moved from the YMCA in Springfield, Massachusetts to the University of Kansas to become the school's long time athletic director and first basketball coach in 1898. John McClendon became one of Dr. Naismith's students and it was after leaving Kansas U. were Coach McLendon invented the "fast break" up-tempo offense and fast and furious full court defensive pressure style of play.
The modern game owes a lot to Coach McLendon and what we try to do at Scituate High School is to play the game as he taught it. After leaving Kansas University Coach McLendon taught and coached the game for the nearly forty years at Black Colleges, Universities and in Black communities all over our country. His teaching style and the players he developed spread his style of play and fast-break basketball to Black communities all over our country. Dr. Naismith's White students did not teach the game as Coach McLendon did. White communities were taught to play slow and deliberate basketball while Black communities played as taught and coached by Coach McLendon's interpretation of the game. This difference was not what Dr. Naismith intended. He worked very hard to keep the game uniform particularly as it spread to other parts of the world with departing American soldiers in World War I in Europe. After the war, the basketball in America was played and taught very differently. Due to how segregated our country was at the time, the two different basketball cultures not only did not mix, they did not influence each other and certainly did not get the chance to compete with each other.
There is an interesting story during World War I that Dr. Naismith visited Black American troops from Harlem, New York fighting in France. Dr. Naismith was ahead of his time in many ways too and he served as a chaplain during the First World War. Based on what I researched, he saw the Harlem Hellfighters. The Harlem Hellfighters were a Black regiment from Harlem, NY. To honor his visit, the soldiers made a basketball court and played an exhibition basketball game. Dr. Naismith commented from what I researched that what he saw that day from the Black American soldiers was how he intended the game to be played and was upset how some of his students had made the game too slow and too deliberate.
Something also worth researching is not only Coach McLendon's contribution to basketball, but to our country as well. In what is now known as the "Secret Game" played on March 12, 1944, between Coach McLendon's North Carolina College University of Negros team verse a group of White Duke University medical students. Can you imagine this is the first recorded game played between American Black and White players? How insane is that? The score NCCU 88, Duke University 44. The reason for the difference in the score was the pace of the game played by the NCCU players. They played "fast break" basketball. The style of basketball taught and coached by Coach McLendon. Coach McLendon teams played fast and furious and the Duke University team played slow and deliberate, polite basketball. Despite the difference in their first game, the teams had so much "fun" as they later explained they decided to mix teams between the Black and White players. After playing for a number of hours against and with each other, both teams went to another part of the NCCU campus and talked for a number of hours about the game and how much they enjoyed their shared experience. We can get along folks, we really can can't we? One of the comments that I have found funny was by one of the White Duke players who said that in their first game when it was a Black vs. White game, they did not need to go "shirts and skins." Another comment from one of the Black players was when he was later asked about this first "Secret Game" and what transpired between the teams on that day he said simply, "Just God's children, horsing around with a basketball." How simple, how sweet and how true. What is interesting also about this secret game was how many of the White players born in the deep South during the time of Jim Crow were forever changed by the experience. Both teams, everyone benefited from this "Secret Game." Coach McLendon put this game together and he understood its significance. Basketball is an incredible game folks. It really is now isn't it? The life skills it teaches are poignant.
Getting back to my point, we play a style of game at Scituate High School invented and pioneered by Coach McLendon and thankfully he is being recognized for his lifelong passion, work and contribution not to just the game, but to our country. My first two teams that were introduced to this uptempo style, had to learn to prepare to win, execute to win and accept the process necessary to win, but being patient was absolutely not part of the make-up of these two teams. I am not patient and neither where they. Man did my varsity kids react positively to this mindset. We all came up with a slogan, the only one that I have ever embraced and one that the school at this time did not allow me to use. I won't get into it here, but they did not allow to officially use it. Not being allowed to use it openly in print, on t-shirts, warm-ups , etc. the slogan's importance and significance only increased. "THE RETURN OF THE OLD SCHOOL." They prepared to accept that challenge and we worked so hard that year and they knew what they were doing was setting a tone for not just their years at Scituate High School, but for the next generations of Scituate High School players as well. We came up with a definition of the word LEGACY and they, not me defined it as "winning habits passed down from generation to generation and improved upon." Those first two years we broke huddles with a unified collective and loud "LEGACY."
My team had not heard this type of bold direct and declarative type of statement that I had talked about on the radio and in the newspaper before and they responded. To be honest I was only rephrasing what my college coach, Coach Paul Phillips said at our first meeting together when he became my head coach at Anna Maria College in 1985. Coach Phillips has over 400 NCAA wins and is now the head coach at Clark University. My interviews and my radio talk was nothing but plagiarism. Plagiarizing although not acceptable in the world of academics and in your English class, is a fact of life in the world of coaching basketball. As the legendary and Massachusetts Basketball Hall of Fame and current Marshfield High School coach, Coach Bob Fisher told me years ago, "coaching basketball is only a matter of putting your signature on what you plagiarize." He was so right and have always counted myself so lucky to have had Coach Fisher to speak and learn about the game from over the years. He has been more than just an excellent resource, but a good friend as well. Although winning right away was important we were also more importantly going to lay the foundation of a basketball program. A program that as far as basketball was concerned was going to play hard not just in every game, but every practice, every drill and not only when it was convenient, but all the time.
I promised those first teams, as I promise every team since that I would do everything in my power, to never let a Scituate team not compete. The opposing coach really helped me and still find our conversation "battery" charging. I should have thanked him. Our teams did not like each other based on our previous match-up and he was confused how Scituate, yes Scituate would even think to say that they were going to play hard always and not back down from any opponent ever.
If you take the time to read it which only some of you will, what this coach is referring to was a number of newspaper articles that were printed in local papers and from some radio interviews I was involved in starting directly after I was hired as the varsity coach in the spring of 2000. I was not shy as a player and I was not shy as a coach. I stated clearly, loudly and proudly and said repeatedly that my staff and I were not just setting out to prepare for the following season, we were not going to be "rebuilding" or going to "do our best each and every night" type of nonsense stuff. I made clear that we were setting out to WIN and make what I said was the "winning effort" in every thing we did, each day on and off the court, never mind at each practice and each game. Yes, I said it: WIN. Win is an awesome word. Scituate was no longer going to be a "push over" or an easy "W." With no disrespect meant to our opponents I made crystal clear, we were coming after them and we were not going to wait a year or two to do it. I said we were not going to "wait in line for our turn" or be what I called "polite." Polite means to wait your turn and be patient while in that line. Not being polite did not mean we were going to be "dirty" or "cheap." What I explained was Scituate from this point forward would be the aggressor, Scituate would be "tempo setter" and no one would ever use the word "SOFT" or "POLITE" when describing our basketball program ever again.
"You could call me or my team a lot of stuff, but soft and polite were no longer going to be two of those words."
The two words that I wanted people and especially coaches to say about us was FAST and FURIOUS. "They play hard" was not going to suffice. By the way, "they play hard" is a common phrase used by coaches when they don't have anything good to say about a team, are in mixed company that they may not trust and need to say something that is again, POLITE. In "coaches-speak", "they play hard" means in reality "they stink", "they ain't good."
Fast and furious had to be how we played and just saying it was not going to make it happen. Actions mattered and so did execution. After being hired and allowed only one meeting with the returning varsity players, I explained that there was going to be a new mindset and attitude. This new mindset and attitude were going to be summed up by one simple phrase, a phrase we would all adopt as our own and one we that would be only understood by us, the team. For one reason or the other, the phrase we all agreed on was "The Return of the Old School"
I loved the phrase and so did the players on the team. I don't know why, it just made sense to us all. It meant a return to the age old honored acceptance of making a dogged, persistent, put your head down everyday genuine effort. The slogan, that phrase mattered and spoke to everyone from managers, score-keepers, players and coaches. To me the slogan meant that we would outwork you, exhaust you and force you into basketball "chaos." Basketball chaos is to simply go faster than you opponent can. We wanted to make our opponent forced to face what we called the "bogeyman." Oh yes, the bogeyman, the bogeyman is the moment you have been forced to play so hard you cannot breath, you cannot catch your breath, but are forced to continue to play. For those people who have played the game before, I mean really played the game, the bogeyman better become your friend because if it is not, you look stupid. How fast and how well you recover from the encounter with boogeyman is only a matter of experiencing the encounter, having athletic courage and the sheer will to not succumb to him.
Facing the bogeyman ourselves in practice and then making our opponents face the bogeyman in games was our goal and this goal was summed up by our "Return of the Old School" slogan. I don't know why, but it did and it mattered. This phrase for whatever reason resonated and created an unspoken bond and a genuine team unity. To introduce and to make our opponents meet and great the bogeyman, we had to play full court fast and furious fast-break basketball at every opportunity and after every score press the oxygen out of our opponent. I made no bones about it, this is what we were going to do.
It was at this time too I started to research the game of basketball and when I first started to read about and hear about one of the least known but most important coaches ever, Coach John McLendon. It was an amazing and fun time because everyone was dialed in, everyone was on the same page. Everyone also put team first and themselves second. For the first time also, as a new coach, I made very clear everyone's roles, not just mine and not to just players, but parents and guardians too. Everyone has a roll on a team and parents / guardians are not on the team. Their job is to support the team and their son on the team. This has never changed and it won't. If everyone knows their role and carries it out to the best of their abilities, everyone succeeds and the wins and losses take care of themselves. This is what I call the "winning effort." So simple to say, but hard to do. Again words don't mean much in this game do they? If one person does not do their job regardless of its magnitude or significance, everyone fails. Basketball is basketball and teaches such amazing life skills. What is true about the game, is true about life. Well, to put it simply what I said in these newspaper interviews and on the radio did not make this opposing coach too happy. So before we played that night, he needed to get it off his chest I guess. His words were directed to me first and to my community second. They were not complimentary to either.
Who was Coach John McLendon? He is the coach who invented the style of play I was trying to inject into our program. It was his interpretation of how the game should be played that our coaching staff in 2000 brought to Scituate High School. Basketball was invented by Doctor Naismith (1861 - 1939) in 1891 and if you read the rules and how the game slowly developed, the game it is not a polite, quiet or slow sport. One of Doctor Naismith's students at the University of Kansas was Coach John McClendon (1915 - 1999). There are a number of books written about him, the most famous is the Secret Game and an ESPN documentary called Black Magic which clearly documented his influence on the development of the modern game of basketball. He has been recently inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame a number of times for a number of accomplishments. Coach McClendon transferred to the University of Kansas from a nearby junior college and because he was Black was not allowed to play basketball at Kansas University during the early 1930's. Naismith as many of you know moved from the YMCA in Springfield, Massachusetts to the University of Kansas to become the school's long time athletic director and first basketball coach in 1898. John McClendon became one of Dr. Naismith's students and it was after leaving Kansas U. were Coach McLendon invented the "fast break" up-tempo offense and fast and furious full court defensive pressure style of play.
The modern game owes a lot to Coach McLendon and what we try to do at Scituate High School is to play the game as he taught it. After leaving Kansas University Coach McLendon taught and coached the game for the nearly forty years at Black Colleges, Universities and in Black communities all over our country. His teaching style and the players he developed spread his style of play and fast-break basketball to Black communities all over our country. Dr. Naismith's White students did not teach the game as Coach McLendon did. White communities were taught to play slow and deliberate basketball while Black communities played as taught and coached by Coach McLendon's interpretation of the game. This difference was not what Dr. Naismith intended. He worked very hard to keep the game uniform particularly as it spread to other parts of the world with departing American soldiers in World War I in Europe. After the war, the basketball in America was played and taught very differently. Due to how segregated our country was at the time, the two different basketball cultures not only did not mix, they did not influence each other and certainly did not get the chance to compete with each other.
There is an interesting story during World War I that Dr. Naismith visited Black American troops from Harlem, New York fighting in France. Dr. Naismith was ahead of his time in many ways too and he served as a chaplain during the First World War. Based on what I researched, he saw the Harlem Hellfighters. The Harlem Hellfighters were a Black regiment from Harlem, NY. To honor his visit, the soldiers made a basketball court and played an exhibition basketball game. Dr. Naismith commented from what I researched that what he saw that day from the Black American soldiers was how he intended the game to be played and was upset how some of his students had made the game too slow and too deliberate.
Something also worth researching is not only Coach McLendon's contribution to basketball, but to our country as well. In what is now known as the "Secret Game" played on March 12, 1944, between Coach McLendon's North Carolina College University of Negros team verse a group of White Duke University medical students. Can you imagine this is the first recorded game played between American Black and White players? How insane is that? The score NCCU 88, Duke University 44. The reason for the difference in the score was the pace of the game played by the NCCU players. They played "fast break" basketball. The style of basketball taught and coached by Coach McLendon. Coach McLendon teams played fast and furious and the Duke University team played slow and deliberate, polite basketball. Despite the difference in their first game, the teams had so much "fun" as they later explained they decided to mix teams between the Black and White players. After playing for a number of hours against and with each other, both teams went to another part of the NCCU campus and talked for a number of hours about the game and how much they enjoyed their shared experience. We can get along folks, we really can can't we? One of the comments that I have found funny was by one of the White Duke players who said that in their first game when it was a Black vs. White game, they did not need to go "shirts and skins." Another comment from one of the Black players was when he was later asked about this first "Secret Game" and what transpired between the teams on that day he said simply, "Just God's children, horsing around with a basketball." How simple, how sweet and how true. What is interesting also about this secret game was how many of the White players born in the deep South during the time of Jim Crow were forever changed by the experience. Both teams, everyone benefited from this "Secret Game." Coach McLendon put this game together and he understood its significance. Basketball is an incredible game folks. It really is now isn't it? The life skills it teaches are poignant.
Getting back to my point, we play a style of game at Scituate High School invented and pioneered by Coach McLendon and thankfully he is being recognized for his lifelong passion, work and contribution not to just the game, but to our country. My first two teams that were introduced to this uptempo style, had to learn to prepare to win, execute to win and accept the process necessary to win, but being patient was absolutely not part of the make-up of these two teams. I am not patient and neither where they. Man did my varsity kids react positively to this mindset. We all came up with a slogan, the only one that I have ever embraced and one that the school at this time did not allow me to use. I won't get into it here, but they did not allow to officially use it. Not being allowed to use it openly in print, on t-shirts, warm-ups , etc. the slogan's importance and significance only increased. "THE RETURN OF THE OLD SCHOOL." They prepared to accept that challenge and we worked so hard that year and they knew what they were doing was setting a tone for not just their years at Scituate High School, but for the next generations of Scituate High School players as well. We came up with a definition of the word LEGACY and they, not me defined it as "winning habits passed down from generation to generation and improved upon." Those first two years we broke huddles with a unified collective and loud "LEGACY."
My team had not heard this type of bold direct and declarative type of statement that I had talked about on the radio and in the newspaper before and they responded. To be honest I was only rephrasing what my college coach, Coach Paul Phillips said at our first meeting together when he became my head coach at Anna Maria College in 1985. Coach Phillips has over 400 NCAA wins and is now the head coach at Clark University. My interviews and my radio talk was nothing but plagiarism. Plagiarizing although not acceptable in the world of academics and in your English class, is a fact of life in the world of coaching basketball. As the legendary and Massachusetts Basketball Hall of Fame and current Marshfield High School coach, Coach Bob Fisher told me years ago, "coaching basketball is only a matter of putting your signature on what you plagiarize." He was so right and have always counted myself so lucky to have had Coach Fisher to speak and learn about the game from over the years. He has been more than just an excellent resource, but a good friend as well. Although winning right away was important we were also more importantly going to lay the foundation of a basketball program. A program that as far as basketball was concerned was going to play hard not just in every game, but every practice, every drill and not only when it was convenient, but all the time.
I promised those first teams, as I promise every team since that I would do everything in my power, to never let a Scituate team not compete. The opposing coach really helped me and still find our conversation "battery" charging. I should have thanked him. Our teams did not like each other based on our previous match-up and he was confused how Scituate, yes Scituate would even think to say that they were going to play hard always and not back down from any opponent ever.
| are_you_under_the_impression.pdf |
Practice Itineraries Emailed Daily
Please check email daily prior to practice
Please check email daily prior to practice
Play Scituate Basketball today and everyday.
Is Scituate Basketball just a dumb coaching cliche or is it a real goal?
Is Scituate Basketball just a dumb coaching cliche or is it a real goal?
POINTS OF EMPHASIS
1. I CAN BOX-OUT CONSISTENTLY. We will work together to make this happen. I don't think you understand how significant this weakness is right now starting your season. Teams that do not box-out are also teams that do not crash. This has to be corrected. Practice and game success will require 5 people rebounding on the defensive glass and 4 people rebounding on the offensive glass. We are not there YET. This is not about what I want, it is what YOU collectively want. We cannot be successful until we make this a collective habit.
2. DEFENSE FIRST: I CAN DEFENSIVELY SPRINT BACK WHILE COMMUNICATING TO DEFEND OUR BASKET. Defensive Transitions: Getting everyone "facing the ball, with butt to basket and if necessary all 5 defenders in the paint to stop the ball collectively in our defensive transitions is step 1. Step 2: Someone must say, "I HAVE THE BALL." Defense does not start until the ball is controlled and someone has taken on the responsibility to stay with it and control it. "I have the ball !" Must be communicated LOUDLY & PROUDLY. All identifications / match-ups, help role responsibilities and later rotations can not be communicated and take place until the ball is controlled first. We cannot be successful until we make this a collective habit.
3. I CAN CREATE FLOOR BALANCE. Point Guards: Creating Floor Balance. 1 guard penetrates, the 2 guard is back and vice versa. Half Back or Full Back depends on the opponent. KYO = "Know your opponent." Points Guards do your job. We cannot be successful until we make this a collective habit.
4. I CAN EXECUTE OUR OFFENSE. Executing Offense means knowing our TRANSITION, ACTIONS, Quick Hits, Continuities, Special Situations. Don't run plays, play basketball. We cannot be successful until we make this a collective habit.
PLEASE READ BOYS IN THE BOAT attachment below. Take care and have a GREAT day, Coach Poirier
2. DEFENSE FIRST: I CAN DEFENSIVELY SPRINT BACK WHILE COMMUNICATING TO DEFEND OUR BASKET. Defensive Transitions: Getting everyone "facing the ball, with butt to basket and if necessary all 5 defenders in the paint to stop the ball collectively in our defensive transitions is step 1. Step 2: Someone must say, "I HAVE THE BALL." Defense does not start until the ball is controlled and someone has taken on the responsibility to stay with it and control it. "I have the ball !" Must be communicated LOUDLY & PROUDLY. All identifications / match-ups, help role responsibilities and later rotations can not be communicated and take place until the ball is controlled first. We cannot be successful until we make this a collective habit.
3. I CAN CREATE FLOOR BALANCE. Point Guards: Creating Floor Balance. 1 guard penetrates, the 2 guard is back and vice versa. Half Back or Full Back depends on the opponent. KYO = "Know your opponent." Points Guards do your job. We cannot be successful until we make this a collective habit.
4. I CAN EXECUTE OUR OFFENSE. Executing Offense means knowing our TRANSITION, ACTIONS, Quick Hits, Continuities, Special Situations. Don't run plays, play basketball. We cannot be successful until we make this a collective habit.
PLEASE READ BOYS IN THE BOAT attachment below. Take care and have a GREAT day, Coach Poirier
| boys_in_the_boat.pdf |
Box Out or Get Out !
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Box Out or Get Out ! Jake Reynolds #10 always boxed out. Please read the article below about Jake written during the 2013-14 season.
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Please Read the great article written during the 2014 basketball season about #10 Jake Reynolds shown above boxing out. Jake is an inspiration to us ALL.
| jake_reynolds-layout_2.pdf |
Zero to Zero? The Scoreboard is wrong. Who says the score is tied at the tip? The team that has worked together the most to develop chemistry, the team that has the most players who have sacrificed to improve their individual skills and the team that practices with a complete sense of urgency every second, every drill, every day is who has the advantage. I have been very lucky to coach young men who have understood
this fact.
this fact.
OR
UNDERSTAND THE "GRIND"
The Grind is "the things you have to do so you can do what you want to do. Like play for the national championship. All the workouts. Spring & summer ball. All the practices, summer workouts, & things like that.” - Coach Lou Saban
SET INDIVIDUAL & TEAM GOALS THEN OUTWORK YOUR OPPONENT EVERYDAY:
The Grind is "the things you have to do so you can do what you want to do. Like play for the national championship. All the workouts. Spring & summer ball. All the practices, summer workouts, & things like that.” - Coach Lou Saban
SET INDIVIDUAL & TEAM GOALS THEN OUTWORK YOUR OPPONENT EVERYDAY:
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Weight Lifting
Whether you pay good hard earned money for a trainer, join a gym or whether you work-out in your basement the bottom line is: You have to get stronger. Getting on a safe, effective weight-lifting program is essential to maximize your athletic potential and remember: Weight lifting not only helps you prevent injuries, weight lifting helps you recover for them too. Scituate High School's Coby Cutler Fitness Center is available to all high school students - there is no excuses not to take advantage of this great gift given to Scituate by the Cutler family.
HOOP
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Coach Doo: Boston Celtics - Strength & Conditioning Coach
Scituate Basketball Team Workouts
Scituate Basketball Team Workouts
First Week:
2 Sets each session - 2 Sessions – Tuesday 11/29 and Saturday 12/3
1 Leg Airex Hop & Stick (outside foot, Inside foot x 5 each leg) 20 total sticks
- Bend the knee and keep your chest up tall!
1 knee drives w/holding on to band (1/2 split squat) x 15
- Work on keeping your knee over your laces and DO NOT let the knee go backwards
Ball Hip Lifts x 4 + alt legs lift off the ball x 4 (HIP STAY HIGH) + 4 Fast shoot outs
Push-Up walks x 5 + 5
- Keep hips level and TIGHTEN YOUR STOMACH
2 Arm BENT OVER Row x 15 (25lb db)
- Back flat and as you get closer to 25 reps, work on keeping your back flat
Medicine Ball slams on 1 leg x 10
- Slam over the leg that is up.
Next Two Weeks:
3 Sets each session
6 sessions – Mon 12/5, Wed 12/7, Fri 12/9, Sun 12/11, Wed 12/14, Sunday 12/18
Sumo Squats x 12 with 65lbs+
- Toes straight and your feet are wider than normal. Chest up tall and weight back
1 Arm Chest Press with 1 DB held at the top x 10 + 10 (25lbs)
- Keep the arm holding the db locked out. CONTROLLED MOVEMENT
1 Arm Double High Pull (use 2 cords) x 15
- 1 Knee on the ground and 1-foot up
2 leg SLDL (3 ways – toes straight, open and pointed toward each other)
- Push your hips back and pause at the bottom
Disc Abs – use small medball
- 10 over head reach backs, 10 alternating legs toward chest, 10 circles around head
-Do not let your hips drop
2 Sets each session - 2 Sessions – Tuesday 11/29 and Saturday 12/3
1 Leg Airex Hop & Stick (outside foot, Inside foot x 5 each leg) 20 total sticks
- Bend the knee and keep your chest up tall!
1 knee drives w/holding on to band (1/2 split squat) x 15
- Work on keeping your knee over your laces and DO NOT let the knee go backwards
Ball Hip Lifts x 4 + alt legs lift off the ball x 4 (HIP STAY HIGH) + 4 Fast shoot outs
Push-Up walks x 5 + 5
- Keep hips level and TIGHTEN YOUR STOMACH
2 Arm BENT OVER Row x 15 (25lb db)
- Back flat and as you get closer to 25 reps, work on keeping your back flat
Medicine Ball slams on 1 leg x 10
- Slam over the leg that is up.
Next Two Weeks:
3 Sets each session
6 sessions – Mon 12/5, Wed 12/7, Fri 12/9, Sun 12/11, Wed 12/14, Sunday 12/18
Sumo Squats x 12 with 65lbs+
- Toes straight and your feet are wider than normal. Chest up tall and weight back
1 Arm Chest Press with 1 DB held at the top x 10 + 10 (25lbs)
- Keep the arm holding the db locked out. CONTROLLED MOVEMENT
1 Arm Double High Pull (use 2 cords) x 15
- 1 Knee on the ground and 1-foot up
2 leg SLDL (3 ways – toes straight, open and pointed toward each other)
- Push your hips back and pause at the bottom
Disc Abs – use small medball
- 10 over head reach backs, 10 alternating legs toward chest, 10 circles around head
-Do not let your hips drop
Team Goals: People will forget who were league all-stars, leading scorers or who had their name in the newspapers the most. That is all nice and all, but people will never forget Championship teams and their Championship seasons.
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To earn this, you must sacrifice, have success & have skills. Awards & individual success is secondary to the team's needs. Integrate your skills into the team game & make teammates better. If you work hard, these types of awards take care of themselves.
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TEAM GOALS: TAKE PRECEDENT - BUT YOU NEED BOTH
CHAMPIONSHIPS REQUIRE TEAMMATES WHO HAVE A COMMON DREAM
CHAMPIONSHIPS REQUIRE TEAMMATES WHO HAVE A COMMON DREAM
Defensive Team Goal Chart
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Offensive Team Goal Chart
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TEAM & INDIVIDUAL GOALS: NOT MEASURED BY HARDWARE & CERTIFICATES
IT'S THE JOURNEY THAT MATTERS
IT'S THE JOURNEY THAT MATTERS
2002 Basketball Fundraiser. Holding the 2002 Sectional Finalist MIAA Trophy.
Duke Blue Devil's "Down" offensive quick hit: Please click on Duke insignia. Click on Scituate insignia too to watch footage from one of the better games played in state history. Yes I am biased, but take a look.
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Fighting to keep in front of the Ball. Defense is simple: Control the Ball. Please read through carefully.
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Play through fatigue and fight to keep the ball in front of you. "DON'T REACH!" Reaching-in on the ball to make an on the ball steal should be part of an overall team defensive strategy and requires experience, discipline and knowledge when to reach-in and when not to. Inexperienced basketball players reach-in when they "feel like it." Experienced ball players are constantly calculating, thinking "ahead of the play" and making judgements if they can steal the ball from an opposing ball handler. The on the ball steal from a team's primary ball handler can be a huge part of team's game plan and whether it should be attempted or not is a matter of discussion. As a former point guard having the ball stolen from you simply is a "no-no" and can be a real confidence shaker. A majority of my individual workout was to never ever let this happen. Point guards are made, not born. Please open Point Guard Information link below. Over the years my best on the ball defenders during dead ball situations talked with the coaching staff about whether they thought they should go ahead and attempt to steal the ball. It is something that experienced basketball players will actually discuss with me during the course of the game. Film work and scouting reports are part of this decision making process. Tendencies can be identified through scouting particularly an opponent's point guard's habits. If the decision is made to go ahead and attempt to steal the ball, one foul per game can be sacrificed to make this steal, but no more after that. The rules allow a player to have 5 fouls, learn to use them strategically. In the photos above Dan Palmer in 2011 is busting his behind to get his head and shoulders in front of the ball and Terran O'Toole 2013 is working very hard to simply keep the ball handler out of the middle of the floor. We call this "turning the ball" and our goal is to turn the ball three times before half-court. Our "3-turn" drills in practice enforce this defensive goal to turn the ball as many times as possible during the course of the game. Sometimes I am asked why do your players "count" while playing defense? It is not to be disrespectful to the opponent, we are simply playing SCITUATE BASKETBALL. Believe it or not, the ball handler is paying a price for this pressure. Constant pressure, the constant turning of the ball during the course of the game leads to fatigue. Playing through fatigue takes experience and coaches have to set up practice itineraries that allow players the opportunity to become accustomed to it. Exhaustion must be your friend and not your enemy. Players must accept the fact that games are determined when everyone on the floor is exhausted. "I don't care what you do until you are made to do it when exhausted" is a constant practice theme. Playing through fatigue is what separates great players from good players. Having a team of players that can play through it is what separates great teams from good ones. Fatigue statistically shows itself in the 4th quarter. A season's success is determined by many factors: This is one of them. Fight to stay in front of the ball! Don't Reach! Open up photo below. Notice how help defender is sprinting to stop the ball. Everyone covers the ball.
| keep_in_front_of_the_ball.pdf |
EVERY TEAM NEEDS ONE: The Ultimate Guide to Playing Point Guard
http://youth.usab.com/training-room/The-Ultimate-Guide-to-Playing-Point-Guard.htm
http://youth.usab.com/training-room/The-Ultimate-Guide-to-Playing-Point-Guard.htm
I LOVE THIS PICTURE
One of my favorite photos and moments from 2002. This was from a summer basketball camp write-up. Jeff # 3 is taking the charge while Jesse #42 erases the shot at the same time. Jesse rotated off his man for this block and throw the ball off the back wall of the gymnasium. I still remember the sound of the ball bouncing off the wall. Simultaneously, Jeff rotated to take the charge. Jeff #3 is really earning this charge. He is taking an elbow to the face if you look carefully. Competitive basketball is not for everyone and this photo says a lot. Jeff and Jesse did not just want to play basketball, they NEEDED to play basketball. There is a difference. Their practice and game efforts, preparation and dedication were one in the same. Help man to man defense takes time to learn, is a process and ultimately can only be played effectively IF and only IF everyone on the team regardless if they play all game or play only a minute is willing to sacrifice and play for each other. Successful teams play for each other. Teaching Point: Neither Jeff or Jesse were covering this opponent initially. They rotated off their man to stop the ball. Do you get my point? Everyone covers the ball and defense starts only when someone says, "I have the ball."
Find A Work-Out Site & Out Work Your Opponent: Photo of My Favorite Spot
This is my favorite work-out place. Where is yours?
Scituate Individual Work-Out
| individual_workout_pdf.pdf |
| scituate_individual_workout.pdf |
Offensive Position and Mental Disposition: Reading / Reacting and learning to make the winning effort.
| ssrb_offensive_skills.docx |
PLAY FAST FIRST: Great Article about Coach Stevens & 2014-15 Boston Celtics
Click on the photo of Coach Stevens to read article
Click on the photo of Coach Stevens to read article
Kareem Abdul Jabbar's Advice to aspiring basketball players. Copy of his email sent in 2003. Please read carefully.
| kareem_abdul_jabbars_advice_email.pdf |
Awards: What do I think? They are an honor, but please hover over the photos and read captions.
Program Award, not an individual coach's award. My wife Emily is deserving of this award too.
Incredible Shooting Information
| pro_shooting_secrets.pdf |
Triangle and 2 Defense Information
| triangle_and_2_defense.pdf |
Coach Jordan Could not handle this player in 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 2014, 2015...
| junior_year_vs._taunton_1983.pdf |
Why do WE stand up when a charge is taken and what is Scituate Basketball?
Photo taken during my days playing for Coach Paul Phillips for the Anna Maria College AMCATS. I am number #12. Yes, I did have a mullet and the hairstyle was not my fault. It was a requirement like registering for the selective service. The shorts were not my fault either. I was a junior, the year was 1987. I can't remember how many points I scored, my assist to turnover ratio or rebounds, but I do remember this game vividly because of the number of charges I took: 4. Stat sheets from that era no longer exist, but I remember that stat. I also clearly remember another thing: We won. I earned this one, the opponent came down on me as hard as he possibly could. NCAA D3 college basketball is dominated by the 3 point shot and this game a shot was being taken within 15 to 20 seconds of a possession. It was a fast, high scoring game resulting in numerous charge calls. The style of basketball we play at SHS is very much influenced by the style taught to me by Coach Phillips. Coach Phillips is now the head coach at Clark University, he won his 400th college game during the 2013-14 season. My SHS coach, Coach Paul Svensen without saying was another huge influence on the style we play here at Scituate High School. Secure possession of ball, sprint to your basket, spread, attack, let the skills take over, execute, score, press, sprint back defensively, collectively stop ball, identify out, stop splits, contest shots, box out and repeat. Communicate all the time and remember: Play basketball, not just run plays, fouls negate hustle and turnovers limit success. Without glamor, charges are the equivalent of a dunk on the offensive end, they are energizing and a statement, a barometer of a team's commitment to sacrifice for each other. Doing the "little stuff" which really is the "big stuff" never seems to mentioned in newspapers, but as all real players know the taking of charges is crucial for a successful season. This "little stuff" is what we refer to in our program as playing Scituate Basketball. It is part of making the "winning effort." Here at Scituate we truly honor the taking of charges. This is why we stand up when one of our teams takes one. If you ever took one, you would understand. Please join us and celebrate our Scituate teams' effort. WHAT MIKE VEGNANI DID YESTERDAY WAS A DISPLAY OF BASKETBALL COURAGE. PLEASE MAKE THAT TYPE OF EFFORT AND COMMITMENT CONTAGIOUS.
Interviews after tough games: The ugly stick hit me twice. Click on photos to see & hear interview.
GREAT DECISION: GAME SHIRT vs. SHIRT & TIE
GAME SHIRT WINS !
GAME SHIRT WINS !
Look how wet my shirt is: Not Good. I routinely had to cut off my tie after a game, it was like a hangman's rope. The invention of the coaching shirt was a great thing.
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AS ALWAYS - Cool & Calm. Thank you coaching shirts.
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DO YOU WANT TO KNOW IF YOU CAN PLAY ON THE COLLEGE LEVEL?
TRYOUT FOR REGIONAL BAY STATE GAME TEAM
Bay State Games Gold Medal Summer 2006. Served as an assistant coach on watched the South Region win the entire tournament. Bay State games are excellent barometer of your abilities.
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