Approaching Opening Night -- Lots on which to work, like, um, grades

To whom does one ask forgiveness when a blog entry has been thought about often, but not actually carried out? Why isn’t it possible to get credit for thinking about blogging? Anyway…

It’s December 1^st. Since the last entry, we had two weeks of practice and a scrimmage. Grades, keeping track of them, talking with kids about them urging kids to get them up, continues to be the part of this experience that makes it most difficult. I hesitate to say I hate it, because I don’t. I believe in hoops as a motivator and its power. I believe in the value of having three, four, five or six positive male presences at each practice, meeting, scrimmage, game for kids to relate to, connect to, understand, share with. It is powerful and good for them. Many don’t have enough role models in their lives, or male ones, and this I makes a difference. So why is the grades piece so frustrating?

CCSC has a problem. The lion’s share of those who make honor roll (all A’s and B’s), or high honor roll (all A’s), are female. Yes, there are some males who receive the honor, but not many. And if you count African-American males, or Haitian males, the numbers plumet and the percentage is revealed to be miniscule. Take a moment to look at any of the numbers, or read some of the literature on black males, graduation, prison, etc. and you see why this is such a pressing issue. No, they’re not out on the streets, or even failing out, but they’re not excelleing. It seems, like black males at CCSC are stuck in some paradigm where passing and failing exists without more subtle gradations in between. Whereas our female students seem more aware of the value of high grades and push for them, for many of the males, passing is the goal. It is enough.

Responses to queries about grades are met with comments about passing and failing, not doing well, getting an A, making honor roll. This is an issue. For all of us. How, as a school, can we change the paradigm for these young men. How can we alter the lens through which they view their academic record. I have said it before, but with a new school and a student population that is not constantly exposed to people who have gone to college, the conception of higher ed, of moving on, is almost foreign. Until some kids make it, and, sadly, until some kids do not, our kids will not learn. Until they see that for colleges, an A is different than a C, we will continue to have these issues. Graduating some classes, having some kids get in to, and rejected by, colleges will make a different. So we continue to struggled with five or six kids who are hovering, between passing and failing. Some have been suspended multiple times this year already and are poised for expulsion hearings. But wait, I find myself screaming, hoops has not been given a chance. Wait before we rush to judgment. Let’s see if the presence of some men in their lives, the possibility of playing in front of family and friends on Friday nights can turn things around. We shall see…

Practice continues to go well. As has become custom, there emerge ten things to work on for every one thing – skills, play, situation, scheme – we get to. Our “to teach” list is growing, not shrinking. Kids are working hard, though, and improving. Attendance at our Wednesday practices is always nearly perfect. And our numbers showing up for the 7AM workouts have been solid. Kids, incredibly, come from Malden, Roslindale, Dorchester. And some are there before I am. And I drive. And they don’t. It’s gotten dark and cold. Hopefully, they’ll continue to make it a priority.

Depending on grades, it still seems like we’ll have 8-10 guys pushing for time. There is a top six. Excitingly, though, we now have a second group – made up of juniors, sophomores and a freshman – who will also push for time. This serves to make practice more competitive and makes the starters less secure, which will hopefully keep their work ethic strong. We’re continuing to focus on skills, especially in the mornings, but will, starting tomorrow, work more on our offensive sets and defensive pressure. We learned a lot from the scrimmage against Boston University Academy this past Wednesday.

We took the T over. With the girls and boys, the managers, and some student fans coming along, we were a site. We rolled into the BUA building with about forty kids. Needless to say, they stick out at BUA, which is predominantly white, affluent, not dissimilar from the high school I attended. The girls lost by 2. They played well and Jeremy, the new coach (who is also teaching at the school) knows his stuff and cares. A bunk call, to which I advised him he should become accustomed, cost them down the stretch, but he had to have been impressed. Returning girls have improved, their attitude is positive and a 7^th grader should be starting at the point guard position by opening night. Needless to say, she is something to see.

In our locker-room before halftime, I again reiterated that not all students would suit up and fewer would play. I feel compelled to continue sending this message, though I’m not sure some kids get it. All of the middle schoolers stayed in street clothes, as did one of the 11^th graders, who has been missing practice and tardy a bunch. He was very angry.

With our starting five looking solid, we scored the first 12 points. We then subbed for all five, a pattern we would repeat throughout the scrimmage in an attempt to see a lot of kids and a lot of combinations, and the second group did well. We won by two in the end, but the score was not indicative of the extent to which we could have dominated. Regardless, we got to see some kids and saw what needs to be focused on moving forward. Defensively, after the smothering defense that held them almost shotless for the first four minutes, we let up. Later that night, it occurred to me that the intensity dropped because every group then entered thereafter with a sizable lead, until the end, when they made a little run. The intensity needs to be ratcheted up. Additionally, position was off and we’re not where we need to be in terms of helping out. We didn’t take a single charge, which we work on daily in practice.

Offensively, we’re miles ahead of where we started the previous two years and far from where we need to be. We seldom passed more than three or four times before jacking up shots. Against their zone, our Manhattan didn’t work. We need to focus on getting the ball to whoever is running baseline and then dumping to whomever is diving towards the hoop. We rely on slashing too much and jumpshots that aren’t yet polished. We were more athletic than them by far and did not kill them on the board. Going straight back up, finishing on the break, triple threat position and first steps without traveling are all components that need work. We will perpetually struggle this year to find the balance between running and slowing it down. I have to believe that we can get out and run, and finish, as well as any team in the league. But our advantage last year was our ability to slow it down, to work the ball against zones, to change the tempo and frustrate teams.

Oh, and we fouled a ton. No reaching, no slapping. That will also be a focus of tomorrow’s practice. Yesterday afternoon, after school, we watched film from last year’s championship game. We wanted to kids to see what we’re striving for, what we can do, how we can play. We’ll see what effect it has.

Season opens Friday night. No idea how many kids will be eligible. Going to be fun regardless, though… Enjoy the snaps.