Practice has begun

Our 6 weeks of training camp have ended and we are now hitting practices at full speed.  It is great to get the kids in the gym with their teams so we can work more on individual team stuff.  Games are only a few days away. 
This training camp was the most productive and participated in of any since the Stunners program began.  We had more than 600 participants over the 5 week period.  The kids worked extremely hard.  Many kids participated multiple times each week.  This is a tribute to the kids desire to get better and the commitment the parents have for their kids.  It is a reminder of the important responsibility our program has to make every minute of practice worthwhile so we continue to provide a great service.
One of our goals we helped our kids set was to have them each shoot 10,000 shots over the summer. It has been promoted that they do much of the shooting outside of dedicated practices and events.  We already have one player that has achieved that in 7 weeks time with several others getting close.  What an incredible accomplishment.  It is so much fun seeing focus and enthusiasm in their eyes.  It is certainly the groundwork for greatness to be achieved. 
As we now work hard in our team practices we are able to build on the foundation that has been laid in skills camps.  Keep in mind the work performed in the skills camps never ends.  This skill work is so important for our kids to perform on a regular basis that much of each team practice is dedicated to it.  Yet, as we get closer to games being played it is important to prepare each of the teams for competition.  We now have increased intensity on team half court offense and defense, as well as full court pressing and press break. It will take some time for everyone to be on board. 
Although the games are fun for the kids to play and hopefully entertaining for the parents hopefully everyone will be patient.  We will just be getting our first taste of competition after only two weeks of team practice.  Our expectations will be big as far as the effort we are looking for but low with how they play together and in their execution.  Any success we have will be a nice surprise while any difficulties will be expected.  It doesn't change the great enthusiasm and pride we want to bring to the games with the goal of winning each of them. 
Finally having just watched a Memorial Day special on the 9-11 tragedy it is a great reminder of how unimportant basketball can be sometimes.  At our shooting practices on Saturday and practice on Monday we encouraged the kids to be thankful for the sacrifices our troops make as well as for how hard their parents are working for them.  We are very lucky to live in this great country.

Cannot wait to see the kids at our next practice.