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