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