With Christmas falling in the middle of the week, and our next game more than a week away, we practiced twice this week. We had 8 and 9 players show up for the two practices. Whereas I would have been disappointed with this turnout in California, I was surprised to get that many to a freshmen practice in Utah. Sports are not as all-consuming as they are in California, which I suppose in the big picture is a positive. […]
Knee tendonitis is a common ailment for basketball players due to the repetitive jumping and landing on a hard surface. Knee tendonitis, often called “jumper’s knee,” is most prevalent in sports characterized by high demands on speed and power for the leg extensors with the highest prevalence in volleyball and basketball [Lian, Engebretsen, & Bahr, 2005]. “In volleyball, a direct relationship exists between the number of training sessions (number of jumps) and the development of patellar tendinopathy” [Ferretti, 1986; Warden & Brunker, 2003]. This is one argument against year-round training for young children, and year-round competition for high-school players. With year-round play and training, the symptoms are likely to develop due to the repetitive stress to the tendon. […]
This was kind of a wasted week. Monday was the football banquet, so we had only seven players at practice, roughly half of the team. Then we played two games. We practiced once after the games, though we don’t play again until January 7th, and then we went into the moratorium where we are not allowed to do anything for five days.
Since writing about the system that I use, I have received a couple questions and decided to start a new post and thread here. The competitive cauldron is the name that Anson Dorrance, University of North Carolina women’s soccer coach, gave to his system of wins and losses. I believe he got the idea from Dean Smith. I started my system after reading one of the several books by or about Dorrance that I have read.
Nearly every day, on one message board or another, I read a forum posts complaining about parents or players. The general consensus from coaches is that they know who should be playing, and the parents and players do not. How do they know? […]
Two more games this week. We practiced on Monday and Tuesday. I tried to do some more skill work on Monday and focus more on free throws, shooting, and finishing. […]
One goal (duty) of a coach should be to increase the team’s motivation. In Sven-Goran Eriksson On Soccer, the authors suggest that motivation is a function of self-confidence – when a player loses confidence, his motivation wanes. […]
We started with a game on Monday. I don’t like Monday games since Sunday practice is prohibited. Never know how freshmen will react after a day off. From the opening tip, we were in control, but we never really put our opponent away. When I spoke to the team, I did not have too much to critique: our defense was solid, we were getting open shots, we were rebounding better. […]
