Being a Great Player

Lewis Carroll, the author of "Alice in Wonderland", said, "If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there."  I will adjust the quote slightly to address the countless young basketball players who claim to be striving to earn Division I scholarships and other lofty goals:  If you don't have a plan that will take you where you want to go, how do you expect to get there?

The first step is to be honest with yourself.  Do you want to be a truly great player, or does saying that you want to be great just sound neat?  If you really want to be great, it will take an extraordinary investment of time and effort.  The process is also a lonely one.  If it were easy to be great, there wouldn't be so few Division I college and professional basketball players.  But it is not easy, so few players dedicate the necessary time.  You will have to sacrifice to get where you want to go.  There is no shame in deciding that becoming a big time college or professional basketball player is not worth the time and effort involved.  You can still learn a lot and have a great time participating on a team and doing your best to make that team successful.

If you do decide to take the less travelled path of becoming great, you will need to work harder, longer, and smarter than those around you.  A player who simply plays on a high school basketball team and an AAU basketball team is not doing what is necessary to improve dramatically.  Countless players play on teams all year.  The players that will separate themselves from their peers are spending time working on their skills and their physical development in addition to playing on competitive teams and in competitive pickup games.  The players who work the most and who have the most productive workouts will be the players who distinguish themselves.

The summer is ending and high school basketball players have two or three months before official basketball practice begins.  Whether the goal is to "reach the next level" or to help the team be as good as possible, the best way to reach the goal is to take advantage of the time available in the next couple months.  I work with players that want to improve their basketball skills.  I have left my contact information at the bottom of this website.  Don't hesitate to call or write if you want to take advantage of my offer to help you execute your plan to be a better basketball player.

The Bright Side of "Knowing Nothing"

Coach John Carrier, the author of the "Coaching Basketball - My Dream!" blog, writes in the "About Me" section of his site:  "...I know enough to know that I don't know anything."  I know what he means and recent experiences have strengthened my conviction that a key to being a better coach is understanding how little I know, or expressed more optimistically, how much knowledge I have the opportunity to gain, about building a strong basketball program and helping players become better.

Skill Development with Coach Chad

Starting Monday, July 11, I will be conducting workouts at Patriot's Park from 7AM to 9AM on weekdays.  Players can work from 7AM to 8AM, from 8AM to 9AM, or from 7AM to 9AM.

I will emphasize shooting, dribbling, and passing skills.  The players will learn the proper methods to perform these fundamental skills.  They will also learn to use these skills in game situations, playing in one on one, two on two, three on three, and possibly five on five games, depending on the level of participation.

Deliberate practice of the fundamental skills is the key to player improvement.  It is also fun!

Currently, 12 players intend to attend the first week of Skill Development sessions.  Please contact me at cookchad08@gmail.com if you want to be added to the list.

Lessons Learned

Time flies and it seems there is little time for reflection.  I happen to be in the same location, on vacation with my family, this Fourth of July holiday weekend as last year at this time.  With a moment to reflect, I recall from last year's trip the image of an internet site visited while killing time during a brief interruption in family activities.  Hslive365.com, a new (to me) site covering high school home school basketball, was a reminder that great home school basketball teams existed and that ours, the Augusta Eagles, was not thought to be one of them.

2011 Summer League

The Augusta Eagles boys varsity team plays the first games of the 2011 Summer League tonight at Grovetown High School.  The Eagles will face Grovetown High School at 5 PM and Evans High School at 7 PM.

The Summer League begins tonight and ends June 25th.  During the next twenty-three days, the Eagles boys teams are scheduled to play 27 varsity games and 7 junior varsity games.  Opponents mostly include public schools of various sizes from Georgia and South Carolina.  Games will be played on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays.

Wednesday Nights
Games on June 8th, June 15th, and June 22nd will be played at Aiken High School.  Opponents include Fox Creek, Hunter Kinard Tyler, Strom Thurmond, and Aiken High School's A and B teams.

Thursday Nights
Games on June 2nd, June 9th, June 16th, and June 23rd will be played at various Columbia County schools including Grovetown High School, Evans High School, and possibly Greenbrier High School and Harlem High School.  This forum will provide the opportunity for the Eagles to test themselves against the best teams in Columbia County, teams that the Eagles are not able to play during the regular season.

Eagles Day Team Camps (Specific Saturdays)
On June 4th, June 18th, and June 25th, the Eagles will host "Day Team Camps."  Various teams, including public school teams, private school teams, and homeschool teams, will attend and play 2-3 games.  Participating teams will vary each Saturday.  These days will give not only varsity teams, but junior varsity teams and possibly girls teams, the opportunity to play games and improve.  The first of these "Day Team Camps" will be hosted at Episcopal Day School this Saturday, June 4th.  The Eagles will play 2 varstiy and 3 junior varsity games against Cross Creek High School, Grovetown High School, and Glenn Hills High School.

Other Team Camps
The Eagles will also participate in the Lander University Team Camp (June 17) and the Riverview Park Team Camp (June 10-11).  Opponents are not yet determined but it is likely that in the eight games played during these three days, the Eagles will play teams that aren't otherwise scheduled.

Benefits of Summer League
The summer is the first time for the next season's team to come together as a unit.  For decades, high school teams have been using the summer league as a way for players to get familiar playing together, for players to get familiar with the coaches, and for everyone to have fun and improve.

This summer will mark the third summer season for the Augusta Eagles.  Our summer schedule has evolved as our team has improved, and our team has improved as we have challenged ourselves against better competition and with more games during the summer season.

2009 Summer League Results and Benefits
During the 2009 summer season, the Eagles won two games and lost five competing in the Richmond County High School Junior Varsity League.  The tough competition we faced that June prepared the Eagles, at that time a new team with few players with basketball experience, to eventually win the South Carolina State Homeschool Championships in the 2009-2010 regular season.

2010 Summer League Results and Benefits
During the 2010 summer season, versus various public school and private schools from Georgia and South Carolina, the Eagles varsity team won seven games and lost twelve and the junior varsity team won two games and lost three.  That summer, the Eagles learned a lot about playing against bigger and more athletic teams, playing as a team, and not giving up, and they used that experience and knowledge to eventually have a great 2010-2011 regular season, including a championship in the East Coast Homeschool Basketball Championships.

The 2011 Summer League schedule is the most ambitious schedule the Eagles have confronted.  The plan is to have fun, learn a lot about ourselves and each other, and use the experience to eventually have a successful and enjoyable 2011-2012 regular season.  I hope to update the blog with the results of the games in June.