A favor from an old coach

All,

I know you are all deep in your daughter's basketball season sand I wish you all the best. I am writing to ask a favor, I've debated on taking this step for a while but have run out of options:

I have not been paid by Dana for coaching this summer. I have been patient and have made repeated attempts to discuss this with Dana, but have not been given a reason or even a response from Dana. I did not decide to help out you daughter's team because I needed the money, but because I wanted to coach. I am dissapointed to say that at this time I have no interest in ever being involved with the Swing in the future because of Dana's inability to communicate with me. I have tried to contact him to return your jerseys but I cannot get a response. As a final email I will forward this to Dana as well.

What I am asking as a favor is for you to let Dana know what you thought of me as a coach and what if any impact I had on your daughter this summer and how you felt I represented the Swing. I am not asking you to ask or demand he pay me, simply let him know what you thought I brought to the Swing. If you'd like to copy Lora in your correspondence, both of their emails are below.

I wish you all the best, and look forward to seeing your daughter's playing yet this winter.

Kelly

coachmackenzie@wisconsinswing.com
stavlor@hotmail.com or coachstav@wisconsinswing.com

Uniform returns

All,

From the responses I've gotten back it appears that an end of the year get together will probably not work into your busy end of the summer schedules. I have already made arrangements with some of you to get the uniforms. If we haven't made an arrangement yet, please email me (kfgriego@hotmail.com) or call me 608 469-3317 to do so. Also, my home address is 3739 Maple Grove Drive Madison, WI 53719. I'm on the south-west side of Madison near Verona. Thanks for your help.

If any of you would like contact information for other parents or players from the team, let me know and I can forward that information to you.

Kelly

Probably forgot all about me. . .

All,

I hope everyone's summer is finishing well. I received an email from Dana regarding uniforms. I wasn't aware of this previously, but apparently the uniforms you are all in posession of are not part of the gear that was purchased as a part of your daughter's registration fees. Dana has asked all of us coaches to hand in the jerseys and shorts. So here are my questions:

Would you prefer to get together as sort of a season wrap up party/cookout/or other, and hand in the uniforms then?
or
Would you prefer to arrange individually getting the uniforms to me?

Let me know your thoughts, I am sure you are all very busy wrapping up vacations and summer plans before school comes around, so I am open to what works best.

Kelly (coach g)

Accessing schedule and location of games

All,

I was having issues accessing the schedule and I know some of you were too. Here's what I did:

Here's what I did: Go to the Swing Site. Do a 'right mouse click' on the link for the 10th grade girls'. Some options should pop up, click 'save target as'. This will open up a box to save the file onto your computer. Save the pdf wherever you'll find it, then you can open it from your computer, not on the web.

Our game locations for Friday are the same: 12:00 Noon and 5:00 pm at Spring Hill Middle School. Which is a block away from the High School located at 300 Vine St. Wisc. Dells, 53965.

Our Saturday game at 4:00 pm is located at Baraboo High School at 1201 Draper St. Baraboo, 53913.

I will make arrangements to pick up the Waunakee girls as well as possibly Brooke tonight at practice.

I am going to try and 'pre-register' so I don't have to go to Just a Game Fieldhouse prior to our games, I should know that by tonight.

~coach g

Rides to the Dells

All,

I have been asked by Michelle Johnson to see if someone could provide a ride for the Waunakee ladies. Michelle has offered to transport the girls to a near by town if that helps. I know that Brooke's parents are also working on something for her since her sister is playing Friday at the same time as us.

I would be able to help out with the Bri's as well as Brook if need be because I am taking the day off Friday. Keep me posted.

Michelle's email address is : mjohnson5@tds.net

~coach g

IMPORTANT TOURNAMENT NEWS!!

All,

I spoke with Brad (who is making the schedule) since we are running out of time. We are now RR1 on the 10th Grade Girls Schedule which is where the Rising Force was. This means that our game times are as follows:

Friday: 12:00 noon and 5:00 pm
Saturday: 4:00 PM

Please let me know immediately if this is still a conflict since I do not have the Edgewood Tournament Schedule for this weekend. I will send out another email tonight or tomorrow with locations, but they will be what's currently posted on the schedule for RR1.

~coach g

Tournament New

All,

I've spoke with Lora a few times this week and she keeps reassuring me that our schedule will be changed with the Rising Force. I just emailed Dana to try and get his reassurance of that schedule change. I've already begun to try and recruit a couple players if we are unable to get our schedule changed. It's the only option I've been left with given our time constraints. I apologize if that's what it comes to, but I'm in a bind here with limited options. I'm open to suggestions if you have any.

See you at practice tomorrow 5:30 - 7.

~coach g

Practice is Thursday

All,

Practice is from 5:30 - 7:00 at Keva Thursday the 17th. As always, let me know if you will be in attendence.

I have not heard the final word back from Lora if we will be able to flip schedules with Hayes' team. I am trying to pull up the schedules right now on the swing site, but they aren't working. I will continue to check and update all of you as soon as I know something.

Again, great job yesterday. Our defense and toughness was the difference for us. We need to build off of yesterday and step up the intensity even more for this weekend.

~coach g

Schedule Change for Sunday!!

All,

There were revisions to our game times: Following is the updated information as well as the web address to view them yourself:

Sunday:
11:00 am
1:00 pm
3:00 pm

http://www.pcappleton.com/leagues/schedules/basketball/documents/14Ugirls7-13-08.pdf

Please be at the gym ready to go by 10:30, we never know if the games are ahead of schedule or behind, so that way we should be good to go. See you Sunday.

~coach g

Tournament Schedule

All,

We are in the 14-15U bracket in the PC Players tournament this Sunday the 13th. Our game times are:

10:00AM
1:00PM
3:00PM

The schedule can be found here: http://www.pcappleton.com/leagues/schedules/basketball/documents/14U15UGirlsBK7-13-08.pdf

Please let me know if you will be able to make practice tomorrow as well as availability for the tournament.

~coach g

Practice July 9th at 6-7:30 Keva

All,

We have practice scheduled for tomorrow night at Keva from 6-7:30. I know Bri Johnson is on vacation, and for those of you who don't know Alex broke a bone in her foot and is questionable for the rest of our season. I haven't heard back from her since Sunday and that was before she had seen her doctor to get more details on the injury. On another injury note, Brooke is back and playing, with some pain I may add, but she's back.

Please let me know if you can or cannot be in attendance tomorrow night. Hayes' team will be practicing at the same time, we may or may not scrimmage since its been so long since we've practiced together. Hopefully we'll have enough people show.

I look forward to seeing you tomorrow.

~coach g

Upcoming practice schedule

All,

Sunday, July 6 = 6:00 – 7:30 at Keva *****(same time as Hayes' Team)

Wednesday, July 9 = 6:00-7:30 at Keva *****(same time as Hayes' Team)

Thursday, July 15 = 5:30 – 7:00 Keva

I already know some of you cannot make it this Sunday or next Wednesday because of vacation. Please let me know if you CAN make it on these days and times so I can plan accordingly.

Thanks for your efforts to make practice, I knew this stretch of the summer was going to be tough with vacations and other commitments.

~coach g

Practice Schedule

All,

Lora has alerted me that there is an updated practice schedule on the "News" section of the Swing page, ALERT that is not the one we should follow!! There will be a schedule for us listed under the "Team" section under 15U - Griego. It is not up as of right now, but should be soon. She also said our next practice will be Sunday, I don't know time or location, but will send out an email as soon as I do. I already know some of you will not be able to make that practice: Bri Johnson is out, Brooke is probably still out due to injury, are there any others who cannot make this Sunday's practice?

~coach g

Appleton Tournament

All,

I've gotten some emails about a block of rooms for the Appleton PC Players tournament. That may not be necessary because the tournament looks to be a one day event, that guarantees 3 games. http://www.pcappleton.com/sports/basketball/documents/GirlsBattleintheValleyTournament.pdf

If this posting on the tournament is correct, we would be playing on Sunday July 13th ONLY. I am moving forward under that assumption unless I hear otherwise. Also, at the bottom of the tournament pdf is a release waiver that all players must have signed by a parent.

Does an all day event July 13th present any problems for any of you? If so let me know.

Lora hasn't given me a heads up on our July practice schedule, so I will bug her about it and hopefully let you all know something soon.

Any questions shoot me an email.

~coach g

Practice This Sunday

All,

We have practice 6-7:30 at Keva this Sunday. Hope to see many of you there. I know we're going to continue to have conflicts in schedules, we'll make the best of it so we can be prepared for July 12th in Appleton, and July 19th in Wisconsin Dells.

~coach g

Practice Thursday

All,

Thursday's practice is 8-9:30 at the Krantz Center at Edgewood Highschool. Hope to see you all there. If you can't make it, let me know.

~coach g

Practice Tomorrow

All,

I've started to get some emails about Varsity practices on Wednesday nights. Please let me know if this applies to you. But keep in mind that this week is the only practice remaining in June that is on Wednesday night: June 11 4:30 - 6 Keva, Thursday June 19 8-9:30 Edgewood, Sunday June 22 6-7:30 Keva, Sunday June 29 6-7:30.

If this Wednesday does not work, please let me know. Regardless, I will be at Keva, I hope to see you there.

~coach g

This Weekend's tourny and next practice

All,

From my drive home Saturday from Whitewater until right now sitting here typing, I've been wondering what to say in this email. I think of myself as an employee of you, the parents, for the benefit of you daughters. I am responsible for the growth and progression of the girls through this summer session, which is now 3/5 over. Personally, I feel that I can do more to help the girls. I understand most of us are frustrated. Frustrated in losing games we should have won, and frustrated in getting blown out when we should have been competitive. As the coach, your employee, I have to take a stand and do what's right for the team. I think I've been too nice; I haven't challenged your daughters enough as individuals or as teammates. Moving forward here is what you can expect from me: I will push your daughter to be the basketball player I think she can be, I will challenge your daughter to do what's right for the team as well as their individual growth as a player. I will be more direct with my constructive criticism. All of your daughters bring things to this team that the team needs, all of your daughters have a place on this team, this team needs to learn how to work as a team. My yelling and screaming from the sideline hasn't helped us to play better team basketball, so my direct approach will.

My coaching will only get harder starting this week as most of your girls' basketball time will be spent with their regular season school teams. Maybe your daughter will be on varsity, maybe JV. I can't control what offense they run there, I can't control what plays they will run. What I ultimately have to be reponsible for is how your girls do when they are on the court in a Swing jersey and in my practice. I won't enable a good team to not play as a team, but for letting that happen in the past, I apologize and now I'm stepping it up as a coach because I am responsible for our 2-10 record. I can handle losing, kind of, but I can't handle getting blown out and seeing the look on your daughters' faces like I saw at half-time of our last game.

~coach g

Changes to tournament schedule

All,

There has been a change in format to the Pride Tournament this weekend. Now we have 4 games on Saturday (times have changed) but all Sunday games will be either a consolation game or the tournament bracket for the top 2 teams in each pool. You can see the updates here:
http://www.wipridebasketball.com/adobefiles/pride_shootout_08_15u.pdf

Our games are now: Saturday : 10AM, 1 PM, 3 PM, and 5PM

Sunday time are decided by how we do Saturday. See you all Saturday.

~coach g

Thursday night practice

All,

We had a great unexpected turnout last night, 6 girls made it so I was very pleased with that. I know that Amy will not be able to make practice tonight, so Bri May and Mackenzie Christensen would be the only two coming for tonight that I know of, unless anyone else wants to double up, but I know Bri Johnson is going to watch state soccer, last night worked best for Brook, I'm not sure about Syd and Alex, but everyone is welcome to come. I will be there in Stoughton at 7 so if there are only a few, then we can work on some individual things. If I don't see you tonight, I will see you Saturday.

Here is the website to get directions to the Stoughton Wellness and Activity Center also known as the Impact Sports Enhancement Academy: http://www.seastoughton.com/contact-us.php

~coach g

Practice as well as this weekend's tournament

All,

It seems that the team is split about 50/50 with being available Wednesday or Thursday. Here's my suggestion; those that can make Wednesday at Keva at 7:30, I'll be there, and those that can make Thursday at Stoughton at 7, I'll be there as well. This will give us the opportunity to work on some things individually. Those of you who had no preference as to which night to come to practice are welcome to come to both.

The tournament information is up: http://www.wipridebasketball.com/adobefiles/pride_shootout_08_15u.pdf

Our tournament is a round robin style, where we play the other 5 teams once, and then the two teams with the best record play for the championship. Our current Saturday schedule is 10 AM, 3 PM, and 5 PM. Sunday is 9 AM and Noon PM. Then the championship game will be at 3:00 PM. Here are a list of suggestions from the Pride Team Website, which can be found here: http://www.wipridebasketball.com/pride_shootout.htm


The 2008 Pride Shootout will be held at UW-Whitewater, Williams Fieldhouse, on June 7-8, 2008.
Keep in mind:
1) You may want to bring a chair as seating is limited in the downstairs area. Chairs will not be allowed on Courts 5 & 6 due to a limited space.
2) There will be an admission charge of $2.00 (each day) per person for ages 8 and up. You will gain access to all courts with paid admission.
3) We will have a Shootout store throughout the weekend, where athletes from all teams can purchase t-shirts, hoodies, & sweatpants, shorts, and tons of different pajama pants of various styles, colors, and designs. Cash and checks are welcome.
4) A concession stand will be available throughout the weekend. Please help support the UW-Whitewater women's basketball team.

Please let me know if you will not be available for any games this weekend. I look forward to seeing you tomorrow, or Thursday.

~coach g

This week's practice

All,

Here's what I have so far in responses to when to have practice this week:

Middleton hoops has something going on this Wednesday ( minus Alex and Sydney for Wednesday)
The Bri's have 3 finals on Thursday (minus Bri's for Wednesday)
Brook's family would prefer Wednesday

And that's all I've gotten reponses for. If everyone could let me know if Wednesday or Thursday works best that would be great. Otherwise if those that can make Wednesday want to come to Keva at our practice time, I can be there, and then those that can make Thursday at Stoughton, then I can be there too. Please let me know which night works best.

~coach g

Minnesota and Practice

All,

Thanks again players and parents for making the drive all the way to Minnesota for our one packed day of three games.

Most of you were there and probably spoke with me at one time or another after our playing was done, so I won't go into too much detail, but in general, I was happy and I was frustrated. I always have high expectations for our team because I see how good the players are and I know they're better then what we showed the last two games. It is very difficult to play against more experienced and mature players, and my hope is that the last two games help us realize, as a team and individuals, how far we have to go in the next couple years as our players develop into varsity players.

In a nutshell here is a list of things that we have to develop on our own that I or Stav can't teach:

1. Mental toughness; when you get knocked down, you gotta get up and fight back

2. Hustle; there is no substitute for true hustling, whether its for a loose ball or a rebound

3. Will to win; just because an opponent is bigger, stronger, and/or older doesn't mean that you can't beat them, you have to will yourself to want it more than they do and work to get it

4. Practice on your own; you know what are the weaker points of your game, own up to your weaknesses and dedicate yourself to spending the time to make those your strengths

I'm proud of the team for not giving up despite being in two very frustrating games against very good opponents, don't forget we did win the first game and dominated an older team by being aggressive on defense and making our defense our best offense.

Our next practice is Wednesday at Keva from 7:30 - 9. I understand many of you have finals the next day or practices and/or games, let me know if you won't be able to make it. Our only other options for practice this week would be to try and do it with Hayes 15U team, and that would either be on Monday from 7:30 - 9 in Stoughton, which would be a hall for many of you, or Thursday from 7 - 8:30 also in Stoughton. I'm going to go ahead and assume that making tomorrow night work is probably not an option on such short notice, and it sounded like girls were just as unlikely to be able to make a Thursday practice as they were for Wednesday. If you could let me know your feelings on Wednesday or Thursday let me know right away, I'm going to write off Monday since most of you are probably reading this and its Monday already.

Have a good week

~coach g

A final thought before Saturday

All,

Last night was a pretty emotion filled practice. For those parents that were there, you saw it. Our team had some great streaks, and we had some not so great. This is a common theme when we scrimmage the other 15U team. Here's why: We start out doing things well, we're patient, we make the extra pass, we make some shots. Our press does what its suppose to do, we create some turn-overs and make some easy baskets.

Then Hayes' 15U turns it up a notch. They step up the pressure, look to trap, and force us to make turn-overs. And they do a good job of that. That's when the wheels fall off for us. We get frustrated, we get mad, we even get a little beat up.

Here's what I'm proud of, we didn't give up, we kept fighting. What we need to do is respond to this adversity by stepping up our game, put the pressure back on them. Do the easy things like call out the double team, help out our teammates when the trap is coming so we can make the defense work hard, instead of making it so hard to run the offense. I'm confident we can do this, we just need to execute.

See you Saturday.

~coach g

Directions

All,

Getting to Woodbury looks to be pretty easy, right off I 94. Here are some links to get to the High School as well as the Hotel:

To get directions to the High School gym so you can be there by 12:15 PM Saturday: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=2665+woodlane+dr+woodbury,+mn&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=31.701751,59.414063&ie=UTF8&ll=44.913596,-92.963734&spn=0.006914,0.014505&z=16&layer=c&cbll=44.913596,-92.963734&panoid=bo_0-C81Y2SOcDLkVg0HVA

To get to the hotel, assuming you're staying there, from the gym:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=en&geocode=&saddr=2665+woodlane+dr+woodbury,+mn&daddr=6003+hudson+rd+woodbury,+mn&sll=44.911605,-92.964442&sspn=0.006914,0.014505&ie=UTF8&z=13

As a reminder, I will be going up to Minnesota Friday, I'm going to watch the teams in our pool play eachother at 10:45 am Saturday. If anything comes up and you need to reach me, I'll have my cell phone on me: 608 469-3317, please call.

See you Saturday.

~coach g

Hardwood Tourny

All,

It seems like its been quite a while since I last got in touch with everyone as a group. I've gotten questions about the Hardwood Tourny this coming weekend so I'd like to address them. I received an email from Lora this morning, as some of you may have gotten also, the moral of the story is that we are in as a 16U team. I don't know the reason for this, but I'm sure its something we can't change. So here is our schedule of games:

First game is 1:00 PM Saturday. As in Lora's email if you reserved a room for Friday night and don't plan on staying there Friday since our first game isn't until Saturday, you can call and change your reservation.

Our second game is at 3:30 PM Saturday.

Depending on how we do in those games, we may play again Saturday night, or Sunday morning.

Each team is pooled with 2 other teams, and the top 2 seeds move on into the pooled tournament with the #1 seeds getting first round bye's. Then there is a consolation bracket for the lowest seeded team.

If you will be driving up Saturday morning, let me know, I haven't gotten a coaches packet yet so I'm not sure how early they will require us to be there, but to be safe 45 minutes would be ideal. I will probably still be going up Friday so I will be there early in the morning to watch some of our competition.

I hope everyone can make it to practice tomorrow. Since we were a smaller team in the last tournament, and now that we're playing up an age group, I want to try and use our size and quickness to our advantage, so I want to implement 2 full court presses to try and slow the games down and create some turn-overs and get some easy buckets. Also, we need to work on breaking the press, we tried to do it as individuals too many times the other weekend by dribbling through the pressure instead of looking to pass the ball up the court.

Let me know if you won't be able to make practice tomorrow night 7:30 - 9:00 at Keva.

~coach g

Summer Practice

All,

I'm sure you got the email from Lora asking for Summer practice schedules, I wanted to reiiterate what I alread know from what your daughter's have said as well as find out more information from all of you to pass on to Lora.

1. I thought Wednesday was a good night, except Middleton girls play that night for league? Would it be possible to work around that, or is that league one where games could be just about any time between 5 pm and 8 pm or something like that?

2. I know Deforest has a Monday and Tuesday league, is this correct?

3. Does Thursday night work for anyone? or Sunday late afternoon?

4. I'm assuming no one wants a Saturday practice.

Let me know what your thoughts are.

A reminder I won't be at practice tonight, but one of Lora's former players will be there to help out to avoid issues with Reese and coaching her.

~coach g

Hotel

All,

I think most of you were on the email from Lora, but I thought I'd forward it around on the blog just to make sure. . .

Good afternoon everyone! Just to let people know Dana has set up a block for the Country Inn--St Paul E which has an address of 6003 Hudson Rd in Woodbury, MN for Friday night and Saturday night with a checkout on Sunday. It is 2.73 miles from the Woodbury High School gym (mapquest tells me!) If I am understanding correctly it is right off of 94! The phone number is 651-739-7300. He is going to put the information on the website either tonight or Tuesday but I am just letting you know.

Now specifics regarding the rooms: $89/ night and it includes a king bed and a rollaway...and I think the rooms have a couch but not a pull out couch....If you need something different than hopefully you can sweet-talk the desk person for some extras!!!

The hotel has great pools, a hot breakfast and a bar to socialize at while the kids kick back and recover from playing so hard in the pool! Hopefully this works for people...but if it doesn't then I guess you are on your own....He did look into a cheaper hotel...Red Roof Inn but in my experience they are not the greatest in cleanliness....Once again ....just ask if they what they can do for you if you need more than what I stated above.

ps ---Kelly ....I will verify that Dana has booked you a room.

Later Lora

Weekend Wrap-up

All,

Thanks parents for the back and forth (twice) trip to Mequon. I thought our first game was a bit faster pace then we were prepared for coming out of the gate. We did handle the pressure well in the second half and made a good run when we started to look to pass the ball up the floor instead of dribbling.

The second game we had our chance at winning. This tournament was the 5th or 6th for the team from New Berlin, they only play during the school year, so for being under-sized and a lot less tournament experienced, we did a great job.

The last game, we did what we needed to, stuck it to a team that was short on players and took care of business. We had some three pointers fall that we couldn't get in the earlier games, so that helped. A good note to end the tournament on.

Moving forward, I have an email out to Lora about the room block, I know some of you have expressed concern over this especially with having plans for Memorial Day weekend out of town and wanting to take care of this before you leave. I will send out an email as soon as I hear back from Lora. If I don't get an email during the day, I will call her later this afternoon because we need this taken care of.

Lastly, I will not be able to attend practice this Wednesday at Keva from 7:30 - 9. It is my anniversary and I will be spending the evening with the other lady in my life. We have a couple options for practice: 1. Have us join with Lora and her teams, or 2. have someone volunteer to lead the troups. If there are any volunteers let me know. Our practices are pretty scripted, the girls should know exactly what to do and are more than capable of having a productive practice without me. Let me know what you all think and I'll alert Lora of our plans. Thanks for helping out in advance, my wife appreciates it also.

~coach g

Directions

All,

I thought I'd post a way to get directions for Saturday's and Sunday's games :
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=5000+w.+mequon+rd+mequon+wi%5C&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=29.854268,59.414063&ie=UTF8&ll=43.223441,-87.971048&spn=0.006692,0.014505&z=16&iwloc=addr

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone. Thanks again to my "book" volunteer, I will have a wristband for you when you arrive at the tournament.

The rules state that we have to be at the court a half hour before game time, so I will see all of you at 5:30 pm.

One last thing, I'm sure I will need all the girls' numbers for registering the team, would it be possible to send me your daughter's number so I can have a quick easy list for registration and our book.

~coach g

Tournament Schedule!!

All,

Here's what we've been waiting for. . .

Our first game is at 6:00 PM Saturday night at Mequon Homestead High School, map to follow in a later blog.

Our second game is at 7:00 PM Saturday night at Mequon Homestead High School.

The third and possible fourth games will be on Sunday. If we win both games Saturday we play at 1:00 PM Sunday, and if we win that game, we play again at 4:00 PM Sunday for the championship.

If we don't win both Saturday night games we either play at 2:00 PM Sunday or 4:00PM Sunday.

In the coaches packet that Lora sent me it states that each team needs an official book keeper. Does anyone have experience doing this? If you can help do this, you will be given a bracelet and admission to the games will be free. I am assuming Lora is not providing one, but I haven't talked to her about it, so I figured I'd put it out here to see if anyone can/would volunteer.

Also, jerseys and shoes will be coming tomorrow, so if you cannot make practice tomorrow, let me know. I will have the jerseys and shoes for whomever does not come to practice tomorrow night so your daughter can have it for the tournament.

Thanks.

~coach g

Try to clear things up

All,

There has been some confusion with regards to this weekend, so here's the breakdown:

1. We are in a tournament this weekend at Milwaukee Pius High School.

2. Last Thursday morning Lora got us in the Waukesha Tournament, also for this coming weekend, which we wanted to be in, but that tournament folded for the 15U girls do to lack of entrants. Which lead to Lora contacting the director of the Milwaukee Pius Tournament.

There should be updated information for the Milwaukee Pius Tournament on their website by the time we have practice tomorrow. Here is that web address again: http://www.wiplaygroundwarriors.com/index2.html

I hope this clears up any confusion.

~coach g

One more thing

All,

Is or are there any parents interested in keeping some stats for the games? Lora hasn't said anything to me about needing someone to do our book at the scorers table, so I'm assuming we don't need that, but it would be nice to have some basic stats for the girls summer play. Let me know if you're interested for this weekend. Thanks.

~coach g

This weekend's tournament

All,

I haven't seen anything yet as far as schedule for the tournament but I wanted to send out a link to get directions from: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=135+north+76th+street+milwaukee+wi&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=65.183764,98.085938&ie=UTF8&ll=43.033529,-88.007333&spn=0.007497,0.011973&z=16&iwloc=addr

Also, a quick reminder about practice tomorrow: Wednesday at 7:30 - 9:00. Hopefully we'll get the rest of our gear so we're equipped and ready to go for Friday (if we get a Friday game).

Are there any concerns or problems getting your daughter to and/or from the tournament? Let me know and we'll figure something out.

I don't know if anyone is going to be staying the night(s) in Milwaukee, I know that I am up in the air, I have some friends in Milwaukee that I may try to stay with, or if there are parents/players/families that are interested in staying in Milwaukee, let me know and we can try to stay near or at the same place of eachother. I figure the cost of gas can't be much more than a hotel room.

I hope to see you all tomorrow at 7:30, I'll be there early if anyone needs to address anything ahead of time.

~coach g

Tournament Update

All,

A lot has happened since we got together last Wednesday. . . here's a run down:

We got into the tournament we wanted to get into in Waukesha. Then that tournament contacted Lora and told her they didn't have enough teams for the 15U girls.

Lora then immediately got in contact of the director of the tournament at Milwaukee Pius: The Milwaukee Spring Shoot-out. We get three guaranteed games. The schedule is suppose to be available Tuesday night. Here is the team's website, I haven't had time to look around it to find anything about the tournament, it may or may not be here: http://www.wiplaygroundwarriors.com/index2.html

Also, this tournament has 12 teams registered in our group, so there should be no worries of getting cancelled.

Sorry for the changes, I will be posting a map to the gym like I did for South Milwaukee, and any other details I can find when I have a chance to browse the wiplayground website.

~coach g

I guess things move fast on Thursday mornings

All,

As I checked my email after sending out the last blog posting I got this from Lora:

"Kelly -- I called the organization in charge of the Midwest Rumble for May 16-18 and said we wanted in. We took their last spot remaining for that age group I guess. So Dana will be going on line and doing the online portion of the process. So hopefully we are all set. Now your guys' job is to finish 1 or 2 and get the the LAST MAN STANDING tournament!"

So there it is. . . we're in for next weekend in Waukesha, I know there was a conflict for Brooke because her sister is in Appleton, let me know what I can do to help, and also I know Mackenzie is out for just Saturday?? or is it all weekend? Let me know of any and all other conflicts that may be there.

See you Wednesday.

~a happy coach g

Here's what I know

All,

Thanks for the quick feedback on the blog and responses via email. Here's what I learned last night after practice:

1. The Dells tournament is a 16-18 girls tournament, we're welcome to try and join but for that reason its not on the top of my list.

2. I told Lora our order of preference for the tournaments are: #1 Waukesha- Midwest Rumble, its a qualifying tournament for the August 1-3 end of summer tourny. #2 Champaign IL- Mid American Challenge (the other 15U team is going to this one), #3 Dells-Hugh Roberts Classic.

3. The Appleton tournament next weekend was one we wanted to do originally, but its only 14U and younger.

4. No practice Sunday; Mother's Day and we were suppose to be at the tournament, so we'll gather up for next Wednesday 7:30 at Keva.

Also, last night's practice: I was happy with the turn out, thanks parents, I was happy we got to scrimmage a talented team, I was dissapointed in our rebounding, and I was happy with our defense, at times. I think we needed that scrimmage since we'd be doing so well against the younger teams.

As soon as I get a definite word from Lora, which she said I would today, with regards to next week's tournament, I'll pass it along.

~coach g

Bad News

All,

The tournament in Milwaukee this weekend did not get enough registrants for the 15U age group, so we are not included in this weekend's tournament. I saw the posting on the Gator Elite Website with the schedule and noticed that there was no schedule or bracket for 15U girls. I called Dana and asked him if he knew what was going on. Dana told me that the organizer of the tournament told him last night that there was not enough teams for 15U boys. But unfortunately it was for 15U girls. So we need to find another tournament. Originally we had discussed a tournament for next weekend, I can talk to Dana about trying to add us to one of next weekends tournaments: Hugh Roberts Classic in the Dells, Midwest Rumble in Waukesha, or Mid American Challenge in Champaign IL. Your thoughts are welcome as we need to make a decision quickly. I know there are a couple girls who either can't make one day that weekend or are out completely. We don't have to try and make this happen next weekend, but it was suggested by one parent so I'm putting it out to all of you. I emailed everyone the master tournament schedule earlier this afternoon.


~coach g

Tournament Information for Next Weekend

All,

Here is all the info that I could dig up on next weekend's tournament:

Where: South Milwaukee HS Field House 801 15th AveSouth Milwuakee, WI

If you'd like to get directions to the gym click here, you should be able to enter your starting address.

The cost of admission for adults is $4 a day, students are $2 a day, and free for children under 6. There may be a weekend admission but its not posted.

Here is the pdf that I found on the team's website that sponsors this tournament, it has the general information about the tournament : http://www.wibasketballgames.com/forms/hardwood_classic_2008.doc

On that pdf there is a web address for the larger Wisconsin USSA Basketball Association, but there isn't information about this tournament on their website, but you can check it out if you'd like: http://www.wisconsinusssabasketball.com/

Are there any players who need rides? I know most parents/players are coming from a variety of places, but if anyone wants to carpool or there isn't a day you can make the tournament, post it on here so we can figure something out.

After looking at my notes from when we picked the tournaments I have that Mackenzie and Amy will not be playing Saturday, is that still the case? Let me know please.

See you Sunday.

~coach g

Practice Schedule Update

All,

Thanks to Michelle Johnson, she pointed out to me our next couple practices have been posted on the Swing Web site. http://www.wisconsinswing.com/EventDetail.aspx?ID=561 . This coming Sunday the 27th at 1:00 - 2:30pm - Keva, and next Wednesday at 7:00 - 8:30 pm - Keva. I'll post this to the blog as well if anyone would like to weigh in on the practice scheduling times and days. When we collectively got together and picked our tournament schedule I was under the impression we were going to get 1 time and place and stick to it to make everyone's summer schedule easier. I'm hoping that that gets nailed down sooner than later, I'll keep you posted on what I can find out.

~coach g

Tournament update

All,

I received an email from Lora this morning saying that she and Dana needed a final decision on whether or not we're chaning from the May 9-11 to the 16-18. Via email and the blog there were 4 parents that responded, 2 for and 2 who leaned towards not switching. My decision was to tell Lora that we'll keep the schedule AS IS and stay with the May 9-11 tournament in Milwaukee since that was one of the dates the collective parents chose.

I know some parents expressed concern over a Friday - Sunday tournament and that is what the May 9-11 one appears to be also. I will get as much detail on the tournament and see if we have any control over when we may be able to play.

In my notes I have that Mackenzie and Amy will be out for Saturday. How does Friday work for everyone assuming the games are later? I'm posting this email on the blog also, so if you could respond to the Friday question I would appreciate it.

I hope to see you all tomorrow night at 7 at Keva.

~coach g

May 16th-18th Tournament

I may have noted in a past email but I wanted to make sure that everyone knew that the May 16th - 18th tournament that we are currently NOT registered for, but that serves as a qualifier for the August 1-3 tournament, does have Friday games. I am not sure if we have any say or control over what time the Friday game would be, but this was brought up as a point to consider in our decision.

~coach g

Next Practice

Our next practice will be Wednesday April 23rd at Keva from 7-8:30 PM. Lora will have both her teams there and there will be 2 courts for all of us. This means that we will have time to run through a number of things: keep working on the swing offense, especially since we only had 4 running it this week, look at a couple full-court-press/trap defenses, and hopefully start to work on playing offense against a zone, and hopefully the opportunity to run some more scrimmaging. I hope that many of you can make it, I know we wanted a later practice so we could involve as many of you who have other obligations earlier after school.

Let me know if you can't make it so I can get an idea of the numbers we will have. Please just put your responses in the comments for this post.

Tournament Schedule

On the email I mentioned how we are not in the May 17th tournament in Appleton because it is a U14 and younger tournament. Also, Lora told me that the May 9-11 Tournament we are currently registered for is NOT a qualifier for the end of the year Last Man Standing Tournament on August 1-3, but the May 16-18 tournament in Waukesha is a qualifier.

Please tell me how you feel about trying to switch from the May 9th weekend to the May 16. Also, the May 16th tournament is atleast 5 games. From my notes I have that Mackenzie can't make that Saturday and that Brook would be out the entire weekend.

I'd like to hear your feedback while we still have a chance to try and change something if you'd like.

~coach g

Last night's practice

It was too bad we only had 4 ladies make it last night because we had a good opportunity to run through our set offense. With the help of one girl from Lora's team, our four ladies did a good job running the swing offense; we easily got the motions down but we need to continue to buckle down on using the fundamentals along with those motions. We were anxious for a lot of the screens and ended up running past the oncoming screen instead of waiting, taking a few steps in the opposite direction to get the defender moving, and then exploding off the set screen. If we can use good fundamentals along with the movements of the swing offense, I think we'll be in good shape.

Also, yesterday we got the opportunity to run a 1-2-2 full court trap against the 14u team. It was our first time but we did well. I would like to implement a couple different traps in our games in order to help us control the flow of the game and try to force some turn-overs. With any full-court defense we have to be ready to sprint back on defense once the ball gets behind us, we don't want our full-court pressure to lead to their easy lay-ups.

Our next practice is not SUNDAY. Lora has 2 teams playing in a tournament this weekend and won't be available to get Edgewood High School for us, so our next practice will be WEDNESDAY APRIL 23RD. The time isn't finalized yet, but we're hoping around 7 pm or later, hopefully that way we can get a few more ladies there that have other sports, school or other responsibilities right after school lets out.

Finally, Lora is working through the details of getting us jersey's and shoes, she may resort to doing the order herself to make sure that we have everything we need in time for our tournament.

-Coach G

I forgot to mention

Parents: please add pictures you will be taking at our tournaments, game related or the girls enjoying the town we happen to be in that weekend.

Players: We only get one practice a week and I'd like your opinions on how you think things are going with our team. I know most of you have never played together before and I want to help as much as I can in the given time we have, so I want to hear what you have to say since we may not have a lot of time to address concerns or issues during our brief weekly practices. My email address is on this page if there is something you want to talk about directly instead of through a comment or post on the blog. Also, once we start having our games I will post blogs about my feelings on the games; what we did good, what we didn't do so good, and what we're going to do to address the problems we ran into.

Parents and player, I'm looking forward to this season, I think if we take our time on the offensive side of the ball, and play some stubborn defense, we'll be in good shape.

-Coach G

Blog intention

I started this blog as a place that I can quickly add news, schedules, and my opionions for the 15-16u Swing team. I will continue to link to the Wisconsin Swing web page whenever I'm making reference to schedules or any other information that can be found on their website. This page isn't meant to be an alternative to visiting the Swing site, but to be another tool for parents and players to communicate with me and be able to log onto quickly to see what is going on. Please feel free to leave and add comments to anything you're finding on this page. Like all blogs this is a work in progress and I'd be happy to take any of your suggestions on how I can improve this site to make your life easier when it comes to anything associated with your daughter's participation in the Wisconsin Swing.

Hopefully I'll see most of you tonight at practice, 4:30 at Keva.

-Coach G