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	<title>The Screaming Viking</title>
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	<description>Lasciate ogni speranza voi ch&#039;entrate</description>
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		<title>vs. Westhope</title>
		<link>http://www.technohillbilly.net/index.php/2012/02/05/vs-westhope</link>
		<comments>http://www.technohillbilly.net/index.php/2012/02/05/vs-westhope#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 05 Feb 2012 23:37:39 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Grand Poobah</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Coaching]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[coaching]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[high school]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.technohillbilly.net/index.php/2012/02/05/vs-westhope</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[We have finally gotten a couple of games under our belts.  Unfortunately, we still have a couple more games before we get 2 practices in a row.  One game isn’t really enough, at this age, to see what areas need more focus…2 is though.  I would like to see the season structured in such a [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>We have finally gotten a couple of games under our belts.  Unfortunately, we still have a couple more games before we get 2 practices in a row.  One game isn’t really enough, at this age, to see what areas need more focus…2 is though.  I would like to see the season structured in such a way that we got a couple of games…then at least 1 practice…then maybe a couple even 3 games in a row if necessary.  That early practice is vital though.</p>
<p>One of the struggles the team is having is that I’ve completely changed the way they think about offense.  I’m trying to train them to react to what they have and not live is so much of a structured world.  I believe that for their long term development this is best… unfortunately it is not conducive to them winning in the now.  The initial concepts of the offense are simple…but it’s so different and allows them just enough freedom that they are having a hard time with it.  It involves them playing together more so they can recognize situations at the same time.  Maybe one player sees a back cut open, the guy with the ball also needs to recognize that opening and feed the ball.  On the surface “pass and cut” seems to be so simple…but the actual execution of it effectively is not appearing to be so simple.</p>
<p>One of the main issues with executing the ideals of this offense is that almost every player who has ever played the game in the history of basketball is inherently selfish.  Everyone wants to score there is nothing wrong with that…but it’s the process I’m having them go through to score that is difficult to get across.  I want them to give up the ball to score…I want them to pass to get open.  In their minds, at this age, the way to score is to get the ball…no matter where you get the ball.  With what I’m trying to train, that is not the case.  They need to pass the ball so they can make the movement to be open.  Our warm up drills focus on spot up shooting drills, pass and catch drills…all of which you shoot as soon as you catch.  Pass and cut, a guy fills in..pass.  If you aren’t open, back cut…it seems simple.  If someone is covering you to the point you can’t receive the pass, you will inherently have a step on them in the back cut to the hole.  Jab step out to get them further out of place and then break to the hole.  In the 2nd half of game 2 they were starting to get it, and we got a couple of chip shots…so it’s coming along.</p>
<p>The first game wasn’t a really good test of where we are as a team this early in the year.  We played westhope, which I was informed before the game plays some of their younger guys in the JV team.  I don’t have a problem with us playing age appropriate guys that play JV…the problem I had was they would have had several weeks worth of a head start on practice.  In the 7th grade game we played a mix of 7th and 6th grade boys.  I play a mix of 7th and 8th grade boys.  I have four 7th graders…so I play five or so 8th grade.  At the beginning of the year I was toying with bringing up about three to four 6th grade kids to play, but I wasn’t completely clear on the rules governing their participation.  Also, I have 12 or so 8th grade boys and mixing them in the 7th grade game is a good way to give guys more time per night.  This game I was short 3 players.  1 was in hawaii, another was sick a day and started the season late so he didn’t have sufficient practices to play and another is out with an unbasketball related back injury.  All of these players would have played in the 7th grade game…1 would have played in the 8th grade game.</p>
<p>The game started pretty rough, our guys were standing around and just unenthusiastic about playing.  They made some horrible passes and just didn’t execute well.  Size wise we matched up well with westhope and execution wise we were both about even.  Still it doesn’t mean I was happy with the effort.  Given that we were playing a few 6th grade kids I expect a much better performance from our team.  They boys did alright though and we ended regulation in a tie.  The OT didn’t go our way for the most part.  They were up by 2 with a few seconds left on the clock.  I told my boys to go hard for the ball and see what happens.  We fouled and put them on the line for a bonus with 2.7 left on the clock.  Now pay attention…we’re down by two, 2.7 on the clock they are at the line for a bonus and their coach decides to pull his guys back off the lane.  Seeing this, I told the near ref that I want a time out as soon as we are able to call it.  If my guys get the rebound instantly I want a time out.  I’m not “pre calling” a time out…what I’m doing is making him aware of when I will call a time out so as soon as I signal I can get it.  This is very common at all levels of sports where the coach can call a time out.  I’d done this a couple of times during the game…I would say something like “as soon as we cross the 1/2 line, gimme a time plx” he’d watch play and as soon as they cross the line I’d signal and he was prepared to look at it.  Nothing wrong with this type of conversation.  I did this in our 2nd game as well.  When we were bringing the ball up, I’d make eye contact with the ref, point to the other side of the 1/2 line and mouth time out…everyone knows what’s up, the ball crosses, he looks at me, I signal.  So…2.7 left on the clock.  Their guy misses, my guy rebounds I say “time out”…nothing..my guy looks around confused (I’m sure he hadn’t been in a position where the opposing team wasn’t lined up on the lane with him before) he looks around..not sure if it’s 2 shots or what…takes a couple of steps towards one of the refs and tosses him the ball.  The ref calls a foul, the clock had started as soon as he touched it…horn sounded.  I immediately talk to the other ref “whoa, I called time…you knew it was coming..what’s up”  He agrees, talks to the other ref and I get 2.4 back on the clock.  It seems reasonable that something comes off.  The other ref wasn’t happy…even when the first ref explained it to him and told him of the mistake…he wasn’t happy.  The thing is I said it to the other ref at a distance of about 15-20 feet, loud infront of the crowd.  No one from the opposing team’s crowd said anything in objection to this…they heard me talk to the ref.  I was talking across the opposing coach…he didn’t object, he had heard the conversation and knew what was coming.</p>
<p>So, 2.4 on the clock.  I tell my boys “we are going to toss it {kid’s name} at 1/2 court, your going to take a couple of dribbles…and just stroke it”.  We break the huddle…and the wrong kid starts going forward to catch the ball (didn’t we just talk about this…man) I yell from the bench, “no {name} is shooting”.  The correct kid comes forward, catches the ball…turns…dribbles a few times and lets it go about 5 feet behind the 3 point line, the horn sounds in the air and the ball hits nothing but the bottom of the net…game over, us by 1.  The kid is a good spot up shooter and of the guys on the floor he had the best chance of hitting the shot.  Still, there is a certain amount of luck involved in something like that.  Their guys were too concerned about fouling to play any defense on him at all.  If I was in a similar situation, he had 2 (I believe) fouls before we were in the bonus…I’d have fouled him on the ground…twice…and seen what happens.  A game that close could go either way.  Even if we had lost, our performance was close enough to theirs that if we met them in a tournament we might have beat them.</p>
<p>The 8th grade game was next.  When the game started they quickly overwhelmed us.  They executed the fast break very well.  Knocked on our heels like that, the boys didn’t really know how to respond.  I should have probably called an early time out and chatted with them a bit, but this early in the season I wanted them to try to play through it some.  The first quarter ended 2 – 14…I was not happy.  In the 2nd the boys came out of their shock and played quite a bit better…we put up 10 to their 2 going in to the half 12 to 16.  This gave us a bit of a confidence boost and a chance going in to the 2nd half.</p>
<p>The 3rd quarter we came out of the gates slow again…we only put up 2 points for the quarter to their 6.  We got to the rim alright, but we missed too many layups (the same problem the girls had).  Also, one of the main reasons we didn’t score many this half was due to a decision I made at the beginning of the quarter.</p>
<p>Westhope had 1 player that put up 1/2 of their points in the first half.  Going in to the 3rd he had 4 fouls.  I decided we needed to work on him which would yield us 1 of two results.  Either we would get him on the bench with 4 fouls or we would tire him out on defense and he wouldn’t be able to work as well on offense.  I cleared out the side and put the guy he was guarding into the post.  He had explicite instructions to foul him out.  I didn’t care about points…I wanted him out of the game.  The guy that was posting him up had no fouls…so things were in my favor.  The refs let quite a bit go in the post for both players.  My guy was rougher than he needed to be getting to his position, their guy was pushing him quite a bit.  After a couple of trips down the floor one ref finally called a double foul (one on each player).  This worked in my favor, putting one on my guy and 3 on him.  We get the ball back and go right at him again…this time we got a quick whistle and his fourth foul.  I stand by the decision to go after their leading scorer like that, putting a guy in foul trouble is a part of the game.  In retrospect, if I had known it would take that much time and our offense would be stale for that long I might have gone with a different approach.  I have a 7th grader that is a really nice post player, if I had to do it again I would have put him in and hopefully their guy would have matched up on him…and we would get the fouls quicker.  He didn’t score the 3rd quarter and put 4 up in the 4th.  1/2 his point total from the first half.</p>
<p>We enter the 3rd quarter 14 – 22.  8 points wasn’t huge, and we might be able to make it up but we had to play better in the 4th than we had the entire game.  Starting the 4th the boys seemed to play a little harder.  I had them run a couple of high picks to setup one of our outside shooters for the 3 ball, and he hit a couple.  they converted a couple of layups, so we were slowly chipping away at their lead.  Now that we made a couple behind the arc they brought their defense out some and the inside was suddenly opening up.  Seeing this, he slashed to the basket…and disaster struck.  He got fouled and came down hard…twisting his ankle…bad.  He waved me off and managed to struggle to the line for the 2 shots…missing them both.  He took 2 steps down the floor and dropped.  He couldn’t put any weight on it.</p>
<p>I got him off the floor, his parents came to the bench and my wife went to get him some ice.  Since there were people tending to him, I focused back on the game.  Him coming out was a big blow to our offense and we never fully recovered.  We ended up dropping the game by 12 points.  He went down with about 3min left, he’s a solid free throw shooter so without the injury I expect he would have made at least one of 2 with a good chance at making both.  That puts us at a 4 point deficit with lots of time left.  Who knows, maybe we would have been able to fight back.  But, injuries happen and the team has to move through it.</p>
<p>After this game, I was not happy with the results.  When a few days passed, thinking back and looking over the score book (as I do when I write these posts) it wasn’t near as bad as I thought.  The boys need to move more, box out better and work on the defensive rotation…but overall we played decently against a team that had more practice than us.</p>
<p>Article source: <a href="http://www.hillbillycoach.com/2012/02/05/vs-westhope/">http://www.hillbillycoach.com/2012/02/05/vs-westhope/</a></p><p><a class="a2a_dd a2a_target addtoany_share_save" href="http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.technohillbilly.net%2Findex.php%2F2012%2F02%2F05%2Fvs-westhope&amp;title=vs.%20Westhope" id="wpa2a_2">Share/Save</a></p>]]></content:encoded>
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		<item>
		<title>Death Row letter</title>
		<link>http://www.technohillbilly.net/index.php/2012/01/27/death-row-letter</link>
		<comments>http://www.technohillbilly.net/index.php/2012/01/27/death-row-letter#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 27 Jan 2012 16:38:22 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Grand Poobah</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Quickies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[quickies]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.technohillbilly.net/?p=9585</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Attached is a letter from a death row inmate.  This guy killed a 17 year old girl to whom which he offered crack for sex.  From the article I read, the father of the girl was pretty distraught about the letter. &#160; deathrowletter]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Attached is a letter from a death row inmate.  This guy killed a 17 year old girl to whom which he offered crack for sex.  From the article I read, the father of the girl was pretty distraught about the letter.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><a href="http://www.technohillbilly.net/index.php/2012/01/27/death-row-letter/ly9wv4-dannyhembreeletterweb" rel="attachment wp-att-9586">deathrowletter</a></p>
<p><a class="a2a_dd a2a_target addtoany_share_save" href="http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.technohillbilly.net%2Findex.php%2F2012%2F01%2F27%2Fdeath-row-letter&amp;title=Death%20Row%20letter" id="wpa2a_4">Share/Save</a></p>]]></content:encoded>
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		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Teaching</title>
		<link>http://www.technohillbilly.net/index.php/2012/01/22/teaching</link>
		<comments>http://www.technohillbilly.net/index.php/2012/01/22/teaching#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 23 Jan 2012 02:04:51 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Grand Poobah</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Coaching]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[coaching]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[high school]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.technohillbilly.net/index.php/2012/01/22/teaching</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[This past weekend both highschool basketball teams (boys and girls) were in action against the Minot Ryan Lions. There are a couple of schools in Minot that when we play against they bring both their teams. From an economic stand point it kinda makes sense I suppose. It gets to be a lot of basketball…but [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>This past weekend both highschool basketball teams (boys and girls) were in action against the Minot Ryan Lions.  There are a couple of schools in Minot that when we play against they bring both their teams.  From an economic stand point it kinda makes sense I suppose.  It gets to be a lot of basketball…but right now I’m in to watching it.  I had planned on being there for the early afternoon game to watch how my girls play with the freshman team, the wife was also going to come with.  I wasn’t sure if I was going to stay for the varsity games, but I found out the day before that I would need to be there for the beginning of the girls varsity game to run a video for the 2nd graders to sing to.  Not a huge deal, but it gets to be quite a long day.  I wasn’t sure of the logistics of the video, so I showed up at 11am to work out the video and sound.  The varsity game ended around 9, for a weekend day that gets to be quite a while in ye old school house.</p>
<p>I am glad we stayed for the entire boys game.  It was a close game…but more interesting than that Ryan had a guy on the team that looked just like me when I used to play.  He was a wide body, belly over his belt, got winded fairly quick…but he was agile and could score around the rim…just like me when I played.  One of the things that he, me and every other decent wide body I’ve seen play the game, does well is shield their shot with their body.  I’ve tried to explain how to do this to some of the players I’ve coached, but I can’t come up with a good way to show them how to do it.  I know several of the boys were at this game, and I’m hoping when monday comes they will be able to recall how this guy played as I’m talking to them and they can make the connection.</p>
<p>Basketball is a physical game…and the boys are going to be getting a lot of contact down low.  One thing I’m trying to teach them is to not avoid the contact, seek it out, initiate it and control the contact with your body.  If you embrace the fact that shots under the hoop are going to be body to body shots, if you control that contact with your body and learn how to keep the opponent off your shooting hand they will become far more effective post players.</p>
<p>Something else that I am going to try to explain to them and reference this game is the difference between a good player and a great player.  Our varsity team has a very good player who is the star of the team.  He can score, is good defensively…all that.  In my mind though, the difference between a good player and a great player is a good player gets his points, can control the tempo of the game and keeps his team in the game till the end.  A great player will bring out the best of his teammates.  Sometimes it’s necessary to forgo your own shot at the beginning of the game just to get your teammates involved.  What a lot of good players don’t realize is that once you get every one involved it makes scoring opportunities easier to come by for the “star”.  </p>
<p>We still have two weeks before our first game, so there is a lot of training left to do.  I’m really curious to see how these boys come together as a unit.  There is a lot of potential there, but since I wasn’t involved with them last year…I have no idea what their competition will look like.</p>
<p>Oh, and since I watched my girls play ryan’s freshman team…I was able to see that when we went to Ryan and got beat up on…we were playing their freshman team.  One of the girls, the main one that shut us down in the lane, saw significant time on Ryan’s JV team.  Utterly ridiculous…but that is getting to be a more common story.  As I watch the teams that either gave us a significant challenge or that beat us down…their main players are starters on the freshman teams and seem to see time on JV.  I don’t get it…</p>
<p>Article source: <a href="http://www.hillbillycoach.com/2012/01/22/teaching/">http://www.hillbillycoach.com/2012/01/22/teaching/</a></p><p><a class="a2a_dd a2a_target addtoany_share_save" href="http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.technohillbilly.net%2Findex.php%2F2012%2F01%2F22%2Fteaching&amp;title=Teaching" id="wpa2a_6">Share/Save</a></p>]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>Read &amp; React Day 2</title>
		<link>http://www.technohillbilly.net/index.php/2012/01/18/read-react-day-2</link>
		<comments>http://www.technohillbilly.net/index.php/2012/01/18/read-react-day-2#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 19 Jan 2012 00:37:39 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Grand Poobah</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Coaching]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[coaching]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[high school]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.technohillbilly.net/index.php/2012/01/18/read-react-day-2</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I introduced the boys to the first level of the read and react on day one.  For about 15min at the end of practice we ran through 5 out pass and cut.  It was pretty rough.  I expected them to get it right away.  What I didn’t take in to account is this is most [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I introduced the boys to the first level of the read and react on day one.  For about 15min at the end of practice we ran through 5 out pass and cut.  It was pretty rough.  I expected them to get it right away.  What I didn’t take in to account is this is most likely the first time they have been exposed to something like this.  We ran it for around 15min on the 2nd day and they ran through it much better.  Even the guys that were struggling the most with it started to click.  I was just as surprised by their sudden understanding as I was about their lack of understanding the first day.  I am, by nature, an impatient person.  Ideally I’d like to be able to explain something and have them grasp it right away…obviously that doesn’t happen.  On the up side, I did originally plan on spending these first 3 conditioning days working 15min each day on the 5 out first layer of RR…so by the end of these 3 days the boys will understand the pass and cut layer.  Given that I’d planned on taking 3 days for them to get it…why am I surprised that it looks like they will understand it after 3 days?  Clearly while I was planning things out I had a very realistic goal, but when I got on the floor and my natural coaching desire to push them kicked in I expected more.  I think that’s fairly normal.</p>
<p>As I’m evaluating how fast they are digesting the system and how many practices we have I’m starting to see that it’s not worth the money to buy the “complete dvd set” for the read and react system.  At one point I had contemplated it.  I’m interested in all the various drills you can run to enhance the player’s understanding of the system.  Given the relative shortness of the 7th and 8th grade season, I’m not going to be able to go deeper than about 4 layers.  I can find out information and technique for those layers on youtube.  Beyond that, I can create a few different drills on my own for them.  The only way I could see the dvd set being worth the price is if you are the varsity coach and you want to start implementing this over the course of years.  Where I would have to start over every year..the varsity coach could bring guys into the system and not have to start from the beginning each time.  Also, if he pushed it down to the Jr. High level he would be able to get deeper and deeper with it at the high school level.</p>
<p>I’ve been trying to make the connections for them in their heads between the drills we are doing.  One warm up drill we pass, cut to the hole, catch the ball and hit a layup.  In the 5 out drill we pass, cut to the hole, don’t get a pass, fill the empty spot.  We did a post up shooting drill yesterday, pass in to the post, relocate, post kicks it back out..take a shot, after the post player passes out, they work to the other side of the lane, catch a pass and make a move to score.  It re-enforces the pass and move concept and adds in some shooting and post work.</p>
<p>I think the levels I’m going to implement are the pass and cut, feed the post with a laker cut, drive and bounce off, dribble at, and the back pin.  It doesn’t sound like much…but when you think about how these athletes have been trained to this point, it gets a little difficult.  Most athletes at this age are trained like robots, they go to this spot…set this screen, move here…blah blah blah.  There are obvious problems with this, there is no creativity, there is no taking advantage of the defense sleeping, guys are not always looking for the ball and they are not always looking to pass the ball.  The players need to be aware of proper spacing…they need to not just know to do something, but why they are doing it.  Once they start to make those connections the game comes alive and so many other areas open up to them.  Doing the natural progression some athletes will come to this on their own…but I think using the read and react techniques they will gain a deeper understanding of the game.</p>
<p>Time will tell.</p>
<p>Article source: <a href="http://www.hillbillycoach.com/2012/01/18/read-react-day-2/">http://www.hillbillycoach.com/2012/01/18/read-react-day-2/</a></p><p><a class="a2a_dd a2a_target addtoany_share_save" href="http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.technohillbilly.net%2Findex.php%2F2012%2F01%2F18%2Fread-react-day-2&amp;title=Read%20%26amp%3B%20React%20Day%202" id="wpa2a_8">Share/Save</a></p>]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>Boys Jr. High first day</title>
		<link>http://www.technohillbilly.net/index.php/2012/01/17/boys-jr-high-first-day</link>
		<comments>http://www.technohillbilly.net/index.php/2012/01/17/boys-jr-high-first-day#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 18 Jan 2012 00:27:11 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Grand Poobah</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Coaching]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[coaching]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[high school]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.technohillbilly.net/index.php/2012/01/17/boys-jr-high-first-day</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Not a whole lot to report after the first day.  The boys showed up and overall worked hard.  I did expect them to be a little more rowdy than they were…they were pretty well behaved.  I did end up with more on the team than came to the preseason meeting or than the boys that were there thought [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Not a whole lot to report after the first day.  The boys showed up and overall worked hard.  I did expect them to be a little more rowdy than they were…they were pretty well behaved.  I did end up with more on the team than came to the preseason meeting or than the boys that were there thought would play.  There is about 16 boys.  I wouldn’t be surprised if I lost 1 or 2 in the next couple of days though.  I’d hope they wouldn’t quit, I told them several times that the first little bit is going to be rough but it will get easier and easier every day.  I’m going to see how many in each grade I have today.</p>
<p>We started out with the very basics of the read and react.  It was a little rough for them, but by the end of the quick drill about 2/3 of the team seemed to have a good idea how the first level is done.  I’m expecting the ones that seem like they are having the most difficulty are the 7th graders, but we’ll see today.</p>
<p>So far, their attitudes are good and the skill level is around what I expected.  Lots of them need to work on shooting though…they are still doing the grade school shoot from the face or neck technique.  they need to realize they are older and stronger so that ball needs to move over their head.  That will take some time and dedication on their part.  It’s always tough to change something that someone perceves as “working”.</p>
<p>Article source: <a href="http://www.hillbillycoach.com/2012/01/17/boys-jr-high-first-day/">http://www.hillbillycoach.com/2012/01/17/boys-jr-high-first-day/</a></p><p><a class="a2a_dd a2a_target addtoany_share_save" href="http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.technohillbilly.net%2Findex.php%2F2012%2F01%2F17%2Fboys-jr-high-first-day&amp;title=Boys%20Jr.%20High%20first%20day" id="wpa2a_10">Share/Save</a></p>]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>Changing Education</title>
		<link>http://www.technohillbilly.net/index.php/2012/01/17/changing-education</link>
		<comments>http://www.technohillbilly.net/index.php/2012/01/17/changing-education#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 17 Jan 2012 20:06:31 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Grand Poobah</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Quickies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gadgets]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[high school]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[quickies]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.technohillbilly.net/?p=9579</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[For several years there has been a change coming down the road for education.  In the past few years, with the introduction of the smart phones really, that change has been accelerated.  A lot of knowledge that people insisted kids memorize has changed to knowledge that can be found on the internet.  We need to change [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>For several years there has been a change coming down the road for education.  In the past few years, with the introduction of the smart phones really, that change has been accelerated.  A lot of knowledge that people insisted kids memorize has changed to knowledge that can be found on the internet.  We need to change some of our focus from recalled knowledge to retrieving knowledge.  I don&#8217;t think this should be a whole sale shift across the board&#8230;there is some knowledge that is important&#8230;but that knowledge is changing from &#8220;facts&#8221; to &#8220;concepts&#8221;.  Is it important that I know the capital of Mississippi?  What that ever important?  Is it important that I know how to spell?  To some extent yeah, it probably is&#8230;but once a kid has passed the 5th grade it&#8217;s time to switch that focus from memorizing how to spell words over to knowing where to find the data.  Do we need to extensively teach geography?  or should we focus on the the knowledge to use the tools to find out about the current geography in an area?  Writing and penmanship is getting less and less important, but composition and effectively communicating is becoming more important (IMO).  So many people have a personal blog, lots of people us facebook/twitter/txts to communicate&#8230;maybe we should offer some course work involving communicating effectively in 140 characters or less?</p>
<p>We have such a limited school day, limited dollars, limited resources in general, it&#8217;s unfortunate that educational institutions are not keeping up with the knowledge and skills that are relevant in society.  I could go on about this, expand on my ideas&#8230;but I&#8217;ve burnt up way more than 140 characters.</p>
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		<title>@Langdon</title>
		<link>http://www.technohillbilly.net/index.php/2012/01/11/langdon</link>
		<comments>http://www.technohillbilly.net/index.php/2012/01/11/langdon#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 11 Jan 2012 20:34:19 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Grand Poobah</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Coaching]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[coaching]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[high school]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.technohillbilly.net/index.php/2012/01/11/langdon</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The game at Langdon was the last Jr. High girls game for this season. The games were originally scheduled to be JH, JV, and V. They called a week before and said they didn’t have enough kids to play the JV game…so the JH game was set to be against 7th 8th with some of [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The game at Langdon was the last Jr. High girls game for this season.  The games were originally scheduled to be JH, JV, and V.  They called a week before and said they didn’t have enough kids to play the JV game…so the JH game was set to be against 7th  8th with some of their lesser skilled freshmen.  That sounded fine to me, as I have 6 8th grade that will be/have been playing with the freshmen team.  </p>
<p>We get there and I’m watching them warm up…they seem like a very sharp team.  If this is their lower skill players their upper end must be pretty good.  Whatever, it is what it is.  The girls will go out and play hard.  I spoke with their coach briefly before the game…he told me this was their JV team and he would be playing a couple of their varsity starters.  He confirmed with me that we brought our 8th grade team.  After talking to him, he said they do in fact have a Jr. High team.  I was a bit confused as to why we were not playing that team.  </p>
<p>I let the girls know out of the gate what they were up against.  I told them about mid season that I expect some of them to be challenging for starting jobs on the c squad and a couple of them to have a really good shot at some time on the JV team.  I told them this would be a good test for them, and to come out gunning.  </p>
<p>For this game we had 3 refs, 8min quarters and a shot clock.  I didn’t expect the shot clock to come in to play at all really…even on our slow days we don’t slack that much on offense.  I saw the 3 refs as being beneficial to us…a lot of our game is based on free throws.  It seemed like more refs would mean a better chance for accurate calls.  The 8min quarters I was a bit concerned about.  My rotation is based on 6min quarters…so I’d have to make an adjustment.  It’s not really as simple as a rotation adjustment though.  The girls have been conditioned for that type of game…their speed and endurance relies on getting rest at specific times.  I had hoped using time outs and subbing could make up for that…during a normal 6min game it’s got to be pretty bad before I’ll take a time out.</p>
<p>The girls started off very well.  They were running the floor, moving the ball…getting easy layups, defensive stops…I was quite impressed.  At the end of 1 quarter we were up 13 – 11.  That is probably the biggest point total the girls have put up in a first quarter all season.  It was clear after this quarter though they were more winded than usual.  I did burn a 30 sec time out to set up a press breaker…they executed well, but it didn’t give them the rest I had hoped for.</p>
<p>I lay the blame for their being winded on myself.  I didn’t have a practice after xmas break started. The starters were practicing with the high school, and at some point one of the other girls started working with them as well.  So that left me 6 girls that were not getting practice.  Also, the freshmen practice doesn’t focus on conditioning as much as I do.  Just different coaching philosophies, I’m not going to say ones better than another.  Couple those things together and we have a team that was a bit different than the one we had before the break.  Clearly this is what college football coaches feel like during bowl season!  Working with/against the freshmen has helped these girls a bit.  They are seeing different and higher level competition every practice and clearly that’s paying off.  I wasn’t sure how they would respond.  Two of them I figured would work very hard, then there were a few that started out kind of in a “shell” with me.  They seemed timid on the court and really didn’t like physical contact.  With the freshmen team they are building on what they have been trained to do…and are working out well (IMO).</p>
<p>Starting the 2nd quarter of this game, we started to let up a bit.  A lot of the mistakes we’ve been making all season at times started happening all at once.  We were not rebounding, our defensive rotation was slow and our passing got very sloppy.  Any one of these mistakes would have made for a difficult game for us…all of them at once opened the door wide for them, and boy did they take advantage of it.  We started to fall behind and seemed all out of sorts.  At this point, I started subbing in the other girls that would be done after this game.  I wasn’t sure how we would open up in the 2nd half, so incase the starters came out and played inspired basketball I wanted to make sure that everyone made at least an appearance.</p>
<p>Given this was being treated like a JV game, there are certain expectations of team behavior.  Generally at half time with my teams I do not go in the locker room.  I huddle them up, give them a quick break down of what needs to keep going right and what we need to work on…then it’s water and shooting around.  During the JV and Varsity games they expect you to go into the locker rooms.  I wasn’t going to until I saw they had half time entertainment lined up…little kids (3-4th grade) playing some ball for the crowd.</p>
<p>We went into the locker room, and it was the longest half time I’ve been a part of.  I believe you do your coaching in practice, and come game time you just make minor corrections.  While we made several mistakes over and over again…they are all common and really don’t need that much conversation.  Instead of lecturing or drawing many plays on the white board, I gave the girls the opportunity to talk with each other.  Several of them had things to say, and all the information was topics I would have covered.  They talked about technique, expectations and things of that nature. What that didn’t do, which I was most pleased with, was rip on each other and yell about the negative things that were going on.  We were down 30-15 and they were trying to work together to correct things and not just blaming each other for problems.  After the entertainment finished, we took the floor…instead of warming up, the girls huddled up with each other at the bench and again tried to encourage each other to work hard and do all they could in this game.  I think they even prayed.  I’m not a religious guy…but I’m not going to discourage them from making choices to do that stuff.  As long as they are not pressuring other teammates and making them uncomfortable, it’s fine.</p>
<p>The second half didn’t go well.  We continued to have the same problems, which was unfortunate. When it became clear we were not going to close the gap, I again put in the girls that were going to be done after this game.  This caused the score to be a little more lopsided that it would have other wise been, but these girls deserved some time.</p>
<p>The season went well for these ladies and they improved a great deal.  The parents and the girls themselves seem happy with their improvement and seem to want to improve themselves even more.  At the beginning of the year, they seemed like a group that was content to “just play”.  Once they discovered that they actually have the potential to be a very good team their drive kicked in to gear and they worked very hard.  I’m happy with the progress they have made, but I’m disappointed we won’t get another month or so to work on things.  If we could add a game or tournament and spread everything out over another month I think we’d have a pretty decent season for them.</p>
<p>This group of girls has a very solid core to build on.  They have 5 starters, none of them being forced into positions they are not natural for.  They have a few reserves that can easily fill in…they have a very nice grouping.  The major deficit of this team is their lack of another slashing point guard.  I tried giving a few different girls time handling the ball but we just didn’t have the practice time to develop someone as much as I’d like.  I would love to have had another slashing point, but even a “ball control” point guard would have been good.  There are a couple of girls that could fit this role, but they have not had the playing time with the ball in their hands to develop as much as they should have.  Next year, with the freshman team, these other girls will get more game time with the ball in their hands…that should help out their development quite a bit.</p>
<p>It will be interesting to see how these girls develop over their high school years.</p>
<p>Article source: <a href="http://www.hillbillycoach.com/2012/01/11/langdon/">http://www.hillbillycoach.com/2012/01/11/langdon/</a></p><p><a class="a2a_dd a2a_target addtoany_share_save" href="http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.technohillbilly.net%2Findex.php%2F2012%2F01%2F11%2Flangdon&amp;title=%40Langdon" id="wpa2a_14">Share/Save</a></p>]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>Video of the Day</title>
		<link>http://www.technohillbilly.net/index.php/2012/01/10/video-of-the-day-17</link>
		<comments>http://www.technohillbilly.net/index.php/2012/01/10/video-of-the-day-17#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 10 Jan 2012 14:56:49 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Grand Poobah</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Video of the Day]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.technohillbilly.net/?p=9576</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[This looks staged&#8230;but I guess it&#8217;s real..]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>This looks staged&#8230;but I guess it&#8217;s real..</p>
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		<title>Boys Jr. High</title>
		<link>http://www.technohillbilly.net/index.php/2012/01/06/boys-jr-high</link>
		<comments>http://www.technohillbilly.net/index.php/2012/01/06/boys-jr-high#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 06 Jan 2012 23:18:01 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Grand Poobah</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Coaching]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[coaching]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[high school]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.technohillbilly.net/index.php/2012/01/06/boys-jr-high</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The short season for the Girl’s Jr. High is almost over.  There is one game left and no practices.  6 of my 8th grade girls ended up getting moved up to play with the freshman team.  That leaves me 5 or 6 that I could have had practice with.  I elected not to for various [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The short season for the Girl’s Jr. High is almost over.  There is one game left and no practices.  6 of my 8th grade girls ended up getting moved up to play with the freshman team.  That leaves me 5 or 6 that I could have had practice with.  I elected not to for various reasons.  A week after the girls final game the boy’s Jr. High season will be starting.</p>
<p>I had a pre-season meeting with the boys to get a feel for who would be playing and what kind of numbers I’d be looking at.  For whatever reason…there are not many guys playing.  I expect hockey has quite a bit to do with this.  In the 7th and 8th grades it becomes highly difficult to be involved in both hockey and basketball, in high school it’s virtually impossible.  Between the two grades I have 12-13 guys.  4-5 7th grade and 8ish 8th grade.  One of the 7th grade guys plays hockey, so I’m not sure how that’s going to work out.  What I’m going to try to do is keep the top 5-6 8th graders off the 7th grade team.  Everyone else will dress and play in the 7th grade game.  I don’t like playing the upper level starters in the lower level game.  Maybe I’ll end up doing that anyway, I don’t know.  I’ll need to keep track of quarters played, the boys are only allowed 5 quarters a night…that is different from what I thought it was.  In high school they are allowed 6 quarters a night.  I looked up the NDHSAA rules and there is a subset for Jr. High (nothing for 5th and 6th from what I could see).  The boys are going to have to be in better condition than the other two teams I coached so far this year.  The pee wee’s and 8th grade had enough players to work in that we could cover up some conditioning issues.  The boys will not have this luxury and are going to have to learn to vary the pace of the game.</p>
<p>One of the major differences between the way I’ll run the first practices with the boys as opposed to the girls is I’ll start drilling the read and react system from day one.  They are going to start working on spacing concepts, and build on things little by little.  I think the 5 out work the rotation idea will meld decently with the first 3 days of conditioning.  It’s pretty fast paced and I’ll call out changes of direction once they get going so they start to fully understand what I’m looking for.  It’s too bad I didn’t get hipped to this system until the girls were done with their first 11 practices.  I tried to implement the principles but there just wasn’t enough time.</p>
<p>I’ve worked out two basic outlines for 90min practices.  One for conditioning and basic skills, the other for more offensive work.  I’ll paste them in here so anyone creeping the site can take a peek.  The first few days are going to be a little rough for the boys, but once their bodies get use to the physical activity they will handle things much better.  Every season I get such a kick out of how much the athletes complain about the running…then watch them towards the middle of the season when we do the same amount of running and they still have gas in the tank.</p>
<p>Conditioning:</p>
<blockquote><p>high knees</p>
<p>butt kicks</p>
<p>karaoke</p>
<p>backwards</p>
<p>dribble</p>
<p>dominate down forward back backwards</p>
<p>off hand down forward back backwards</p>
<p>2 balls down forward back backwards</p>
<p>(7min)</p>
<p>layup warm up drill (10min)</p>
<p>fast break drill (10min)</p>
<p>2 crushers</p>
<p>1 crusher</p>
<p>(5min)</p>
<p>water (5min)</p>
<p>Defense reaction drill (sprint to 1/2 court, shuffle back to the side line between baseline and 1/2 court, drop step and shuffle back to starting point. Sprint to free throw line, shuffle to side line, touch side line and shuffle back to mid free-throw line, sprint to the end line, jump x10 trying to touch the rim/backboard/net)</p>
<p>(10min)</p>
<p>partner dribble/shuffle drill (7min)</p>
<p>passing drills:</p>
<p>partner shuffle</p>
<p>sprint</p>
<p>3 man weave</p>
<p>(10min)</p>
<p>2 crushers (3min)</p>
<p>water (5min)</p>
<p>2 crushers (3min)</p>
<p>free throws/water, 2 shots, then 2 sprints with your arms in the air. 10 shots (15min <strong>too long</strong>)</p>
<p>5 out spacing drill (remainder of practice)</p>
<p>3 crushers</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Offensive:</p>
<blockquote><p>high knees</p>
<p>butt kicks</p>
<p>karaoke</p>
<p>backwards</p>
<p>dribble:</p>
<p>dominate down forward back backwards</p>
<p>off hand down forward back backwards</p>
<p>2 balls down forward back backwards</p>
<p>(7min)</p>
<p>layup warm up drill (5min)</p>
<p>fast break drill (5min)</p>
<p>2 crushers</p>
<p>1 crusher (5min)</p>
<p>water (2min)</p>
<p>shooting drills:</p>
<p>chair box shooting (10min)</p>
<p>catch and shoot (5min)</p>
<p>2 crushers (3min)</p>
<p>water (2min)</p>
<p>number box out (10min)</p>
<p>2 crushers (3min)</p>
<p>free throws sprints, 10 (15min)</p>
<p>read and react training (rest of practice)</p>
<p>3 crushers</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The first 15min or so of practice is the same every day “warm” warm ups, then the 2 quick drills.  I really liked the layup/jump shot drill when I started it with the girls…and the fast break drill works on a few different skills that are important.  These plans are not set in stone and will only take us through the first 8 practices.  During that practice week when we start games, we’ll work on more shooting drills and spend time developing a press breaker.  For the first 10 practices we are not going to work on defense at all.  It’s going to be totally focused on offense.  If they are willing to work hard and are in good shape I think the defense will take care of itself for the most part.  The last practice before the first game we’ll talk a little bit about defense and what we want to do.  Overall though, I think if they work hard and communicate defense will take care of itself.</p>
<p>We have 11 practices, then 4 games 2 practices and another game.  It would be nice to have just one game right off, then another practice or two before we start to have multiple games in a row.  I’d like to see how they perform in a game then look to make some adjustments.  Like the girl’s season though we’ll see what adjustments we can make on the fly.  I like how we have a tournament at the end of the season though, it gives us something to work for.  During the girls season we looked at it on a game to game basis, but it would have been really nice to have a tourney at the end to measure how far they have come and give that extra incentive to the competition.</p>
<p>I’ve looked forward to starting every different coaching season this year, and the boys are no different.  It is nice to watch them develop into a team and work out the different hitches and bad habits they have developed over the years.  It would be nice if the season was longer though.  With the girls, it felt like they are just getting on a roll and starting to understand what I’m preaching.  The different concepts are starting to come together…and then we stop.  I’m not sure these shorter seasons are the best for their overall development, but it’s what has been established by the schools in this area.  From what I understand, many of these kids play on offseason traveling teams…so they get more time in the gym.  Those are nice to get them playing together more and have the ball in their hands.  It would be nice if these leagues were all 3 on 3 so everyone touched the ball more.</p>
<p>Article source: <a href="http://www.hillbillycoach.com/2012/01/06/boys-jr-high/">http://www.hillbillycoach.com/2012/01/06/boys-jr-high/</a></p><p><a class="a2a_dd a2a_target addtoany_share_save" href="http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.technohillbilly.net%2Findex.php%2F2012%2F01%2F06%2Fboys-jr-high&amp;title=Boys%20Jr.%20High" id="wpa2a_18">Share/Save</a></p>]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>Video of the Day</title>
		<link>http://www.technohillbilly.net/index.php/2012/01/06/video-of-the-day-16</link>
		<comments>http://www.technohillbilly.net/index.php/2012/01/06/video-of-the-day-16#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 06 Jan 2012 21:15:39 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Grand Poobah</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Video of the Day]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.technohillbilly.net/?p=9573</guid>
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