Practicing, Vacationing

Public school vacation week in Massachusetts is coming to a close. A wonderful break, though the team was able to convene for three quality practices. Seizing the rare opportunity to have more than an hour in the gym, we worked out for two hours on three occasions, primarily focusing on fun and skills, though we used some time yesterday to prep for Health Careers.
Below are some pictures taken at our final workout on Friday.
Bayoan working on some long range bombing before practice starts.
The team, minus a few, prepping for the shot...
Serious...
Embracing the opportunity to goof off...
And finally, Daniel, whose sisters left him the Bigger Gulp before they left for the day. Notice his size relative to the beverage. The future of our program, for sure...
Games this Wednesday against HCA and then our first time facing against Academy of the Pacific Rim, who sits atop the league, or close. More to come...

Two Losses and a Pre-Vacation Deserved Win

Since I last checked in, we lost two games and won one (last night). A quick attempt at getting all of the faithful readers caught up...
Two Fridays ago, on the 9th of February, we lost to our rivals, Prospect Hill Academy. We played a stellar first half and were tied heading into the second sixteen minutes. We were under control, fighting for rebounds, working the offense through impressively until we got good shots and playing smart basketball. Against their press, our adjustments were effective and the turnovers were kept under control. However, the team regressed during the second half in front of a large home crowd. Many turnovers, missed shots and bad decisions later, we found ourselves defeated, 46-34. I was very frustrated by the loss. PHA is solid and well-coached, but we had worked in practice on all of the right things -- our press break, our zone offense, our own 3/4 court press. During the second half, though, we didn't take care of the ball and resorted to the type of basketball that is, for many of the kids, familiar. And in an up and down game, PHA beats us. They're deep, playing 9 or 10 kids consistently without a huge drop off in quality. Our 6 had a hard time keeping up. And yes, again, the officiating was dreadful, though that is now the norm, makes me less upset and is expected. The refs were not in control of a very physical game. Our kids did, however, carried themselves well -- an emerging theme, of which the CCSC community must be proud (evidence of a strong culture emerging and the efficacy of some of our daily systems), especially when pitted against a group that was perpetually talking, dancing, banging unnecessarily and without class. Regardless, the loss stung.
With only a short weekend off, we traveled on Monday the 12th to Brighton High School to play MATCH, to whom we had lost by two earlier in the year. Brighton High School is enormous, a fortress. We were supposed to play previously, but a leak in the cooling system and puddles on the court prevented it. The building is old, the tunnels are long and winding and the gym seems set up to prevent rioting. There are no stands save for a balcony behind one of the hoops that can accommodate a hundred or so spectators. I coached the girls game before we played because their coach had to deal with a family emergency. We lost, but it was fun and serious. The girls were, I think, appreciative. Some of them would commit to 7am practices while others moan at the thought of one a week. The level of commitment and passion is variable, unlike the boys team and I am thankful it is not something with which I am forced to contend. They played hard, but MATCH has a girl who did not play the first time around. She dominated the game and we had no answer. The boys were up next.
The MATCH game, which we lost, was one of the toughest Ls to swallow. After falling behind early, we completely dominated the middle portion of the game. We pressed effectively. They had an outstanding point guard who was, for the chunk of the game, frustrated by our trapping press and we caused turnover after turnover, stealing the ball and racing in for lay-ups. The offense was clicking and, with 8 minutes left, we were up by 10 or so. Then it began to unravel, albeit slowly.
Playing with a lead is a skill. We have very little experience with it. We went from a ferocious pressing and attacking team to a completely tentative one. We showed that we were unable to have good, long possessions without totally relinquishing our aggressiveness. MATCH slowly crawled back into the game, scoring basket after basket. We passed the ball well, but did not attack openings and gave it to them a few times. With a few minutes left in the game, MATCH regained the lead and hit foul shots down the stretch. It was, to put it mildly, a devastating loss; one that highlighted yet another area on which we must work, learn and grow as a team in order to ultimately be more successful. The kids were crushed. We spoke for a while and boarded the cold bus for the ride home from Brighton.
Amazingly, almost every kid showed up the next day at practice, at 7am on a cold, dark Tuesday morning, and we got back to work. Our Wednesday practice was canceled because of the storm here, unfortunately, and we headed into last night's game without much prep.
We entered halftime of last night's game with a lead, but not a big one. We were playing decently, but not sharply, against a team that was not good, that has not yet won in our league. It was an opportunity to practice in a live situation and, at halftime, I was not happy with the extent to which we were doing just that.
We made some adjustments, however, and played a wonderful second half. We pressed the entire game, forcing turnovers, but did the small things during the second half to make it more effective. With 10 minutes to go, we began subbing in kids who don't normally get to play, students who have shown incredible patience and dedication, sticking with a team that is committed to winning at the expense of some sort of universal, equally distribution of playing time mandate. Some of them, like Ehsan, mentioned previously, I think, have turned themselves into viable options. For some of the kids, most perhaps, this is year one of organized hoops, or coaching. The growth curve is miraculous. Ehsan, for example, now moves his feet, boxes out, uses body. He takes practice seriously, now has a left hand and is inspiring to the coaching staff.
The Garcia twins, particularly Jeffrey, who does not play much, got some quality time. Obence got in there and did well and, of course, Daniel, the future of our program, was on the court for his longest stretch, the final five minutes.
With the starters seated, enjoying themselves, cheering on their peers, the kids did wonderfully against SSA starters. We called off the press, but continued to play a tough half-court man defense, get some steals and fast break points and run the offense. With 8 minutes remaining, the crowd, our crowd, which was smaller than usual as we dismissed for vacation earlier in the day, starting asking, pleading, for Daniel.
Daniel is in 7th grade, definitely prepubescent, tiny. He wears a size large uniform that he swims in. The crowd, particularly the girls, particularly his two all-everything sisters, went nuts. He ran the point, setting a screen away after passing for the first time, making Chris, one of the assistant coaches, beam.
With a couple of minutes left, he went hard baseline and was fouled.
At the line, with the ball swallowing his chest, he missed the first and then calmly sank the second. The fans went crazy, screaming, cheering. The kids on the bench cheers and smiled proudly.
Throughout the whole ordeal, Daniel remained straight-faced, in business-mode. As we exited the gym last night, Daniel was on the ground, screaming. His older sister Rachel had him pinned on the ground, was holding him there and demanding something or other. He definitely is, after all, in 7th grade and barely 5 feet tall.
Aaron and Olivia made the trip up from NYC to scout HBS life and attended the game, arriving for the second half and the Daniel Jean-Louis show. I think they enjoyed themselves immensely. We huddled after the game and I found little difficulty in shouting out each kid for something they did, something they showed throughout the course of the night. Regardless of SSA's record, it was a good win, one that we needed, especially heading into vacation.
We now get to practice more than ever, working out three times in the coming weeks for two hours each. It will be good for us, fun for the kids. Needless to say, and this is, of course, indicative of the student population, no one is going anywhere. Having some structured time over the vacation will be good for all involved, including the coaches.
As usual, thanks for checking in staying up to date. Wish you could have been there. Enjoy the pictures, courtesy of Rosha's camera being in the hands of Sarah, president of the student body and girls team bruiser.
After this vacation week, we have four games against very tough teams -- at Health Careers, home and away with Pacific Rim Academy (sitting atop, or near the top, of the league) and a home game against Codman Academy. Then, if we make it, the MCSAO tournament, exposure to which will be so good for our kids at a young age. And who knows, maybe we'll peak at the right time and a run is in the cards...

The Catch Up

Unfortunately, the title of this entry does not denote some amazing comeback victory. Instead, it is my own attempt to catch all of my faithful readers -- yes, all four of them, not including family perhaps -- up on the latest in what's been going on...
If I'm not mistaken, I last wrote on a high note, after a truly inspiring game against Health Careers Academy, which remains, I believe, affixed atop the standings in our league. Since then, much has happened, but some of it has been less than memorable and my inconsistency of entries is also due to a brutal past few weeks made hectic because of report cards and comments, the closing of a semester, which is never a small feat.
We won a game against Champion Charter School of Brockton by forfeit on the 19th of January. A solid win for us, no doubt. We then, however, did some regressing, the type typical of a young team without much practice time. We lost to Foxborough at home in a tightly contested game. I urge the kids not to put losses on the refs, but ours for that game were truly horrible, despite it being a home game for us and the refs being folks that we pay, which I know should not matter in the least, but come on... Because of an assistant coach comment early in the second half, I was assessed a technical foul. I didn't see or hear it as I was up, trying to deal with a mini-brawl between some fans elsewhere in the gym. When the ref explained the tech and explained that it was technically on me, I politely told him I had bigger things to worry about at the moment. Needless to say, he didn't like the message. We got no calls the rest of the game. Down by a couple of points, a phantom charge call by the aforementioned ref waived off an incredible drive and finish by Jude. The kids went berserk. I could not as a Massachusetts high school rule apparently states that coaches, once T-ed up, must spend the rest of the game seated. Sweet. Then, with another opportunity to send the game into overtime and a few seconds left, Geo was called for a disputable traveling call under the basket. He reacted poorly, though I could hardly blame him, and kicked over some chairs. I then said some things to the ref I should not have, something about the extent to which he had robbed some hard working kids of a good experience, and he politely, and sarcastically, responded that I had coached a good game. No more comment on the whole thing, but I will say the entire mess left me with a foul, foul taste in the mouth and it was hard to stay positive and preach the right thing afterwards in our huddle. It is worth noting, though, that the game should not have been close, that we missed many a layup, which continues to be problematic, and that we had our chances.
We then played Boston Collegiate again, at their place, a gym in one of the medical centers downtown, and lost. Again, we did not play well. Again, the refs were not stellar. Again, frustrating. An interesting conversation with their head coach was had afterwards and he said that he used to ride refs, but had stopped. He tactfully said that our refs, being the League's refs, were "the bottom of the barrel" and that we all must adjust expectations accordingly. A good thing to hear and attempt to digest. Sad, though, especially given how hard the kids play, how much they give out there. Again, however, we could have, and should have, won. They have a fabulous eighth grader who carried them down the stretch, definitely one of the best players we've seen. Humbling for our kids to learn about as well, I suspect. Back to basics, we decided.
Our school schedule changes for the start of the second semester and the day, among other things, was made 10 minutes longer. We were already practicing minimally, but this was a final straw. Something, or some things, had to change. We have since moved to two morning practices a week. Brutal, rugged, cold, tough to get up for, but incredible. Kids show up. Orin shows up. We convene, sleepy-eyed, at MIT at 7am, sometimes earlier. We work on skills for an hour, run a little and dismiss kids to get to school by the time it starts, at 8:30. It has been truly inspiring to see kids motivate for these morning sessions. With few exceptions, we have our entire team. We have kids taking the commuter rail in from Lynn, riding the T from 45 minutes away to get there, kids walking for a half-hour in the dark. It has helped us, surely, and they will continue. It also permits kids to attend detention after school without missing practice, or see a teacher for help in a subject. I think it also gets some of our kids more involved in their am classes, after having sprinted and shot and dribbled and generally been expected to think so early on in the day. Today, for example, an already long day, was extended, but in a good way. At 8am, some of the kids go to shower, some do it European-style or not at all, and all hustle to school. I swing by Starbucks for some much-needed bean, sometimes with a student or two that finagled a ride, and we get there by 8:25am. Bananas, but working out thus far.
We played this past Friday in Brockton, at Champion Charter School. It was a trip. Old building. The gym did not have a three point line. CCS is for students who have been booted out of the Brockton public school system. If they can really hoop, I suspect the high school, the largest in the state -- over 3000 kids, with tremendous football and basketball teams -- figures out a way to retain them. They were athletic, but not disciplined. The gym was small. We pressed the entire game, a modified version of our staple press that was adapted to cover on 3/4 of the floor instead of the entire thing. This gives us more time to set up, to remember that "hey, we scored, yay. Oh, we're pressing. Where do I go?" It worked. The game assumes a different feel; one that is faster, sloppier, more chaotic. But it worked. They could not break it and the team recorded 27 steals. Bayoan paced us with 26 points, 8 boards and 5 take-aways. He was outstanding. Others played well, including Chuck, who had a breakout game, recording a double double with 10 points and 11 rebounds. And Wale controlled the tempo beautifully at the point, where he has been assuming more of a lead role. Highlighting the effort, kids who rarely get in got in and played the last 7 minutes or so. Daniel, the little guy, ran the point, immediately reverting back to playground mode and, in a good way, I think, realized that it would not work in a gym with organized hoops. Ehsan, yet to really play, grabbed boards, boxed out and scored. It was wonderful and these kids, who bust their asses and play little, deserved every minute of the limelight.
So what's coming up? We currently stand at 4 -7 (see the CCSC Athletics page for more info, or the Boys Hoops site) for more information. We're playing Prospect Hill Academy, our rivals, on Friday night. They will again be sharp, well-coached and disciplined. We will work more on the press this week, tomorrow in practice, and see if we think it will fit in our gym against a more methodical, smarter team. The semester ending elsewhere will also wreak interesting havoc on our league, where players lose academic eligibility easily because these charter schools are, after all, about school first and everything else second. It will have an interesting, though yet to be determined, effect on our team in the coming weeks when some failures are sure to surface. Jude is back from a suspension, which is good. Geo was just suspended. The trials and tribulations continue... Thanks for reading. More after Friday night... Go team!