Big wins are happening in the program...more to come!

By the way...JV STOMPED AP last night. Hootieeeeee hooooooot!

The end is coming fast!

The end of the season is rapidly approaching. Today is the JV's last practice!! Whoa! It has been a whirlwind.

We have a varsity game tonight, Fresh and Varsity game Sat., Fr and Varsity on Monday, Varsity Tues. and Thurs which is parents night. Then a week off to get ready for districts.

Reminders:
Tues. 10th possibly we will be having the 6th grade team, maybe others come in and run a little mini camp with the Varsity. It should be lots of fun.

Feb. 15th we are signed up to do concessions at the 8 team vball tment at Dike.
Feb. 21st the same thing but it is a 24 team tment

Girls be asking people to donate and make things!!!!!! I will send home a sign up sheet with each of you. If anyone has questions please email or call me.

Camps and development

Another heads up.

We will hold a summer league for the girls again this summer.  In addition, we will hold a camp.

I would love to utilize the UNI team camp and also take the older girls to a  weekend tournament for a little bball and fun this summer.  I also would like to do some agility and mechanics type work with the girls this summer that will help in all their sports.  I don't think I would even limit that to just bball girls.  As far as skill development any camps you would like to go to to really refine skills, I would happy to recommend!

3 on 3 Tment volunteers

Hey you super Wolverines fans!!  

April 5th which is a Sunday (not much gym availability) we are going to have a 3 on 3 tournament in Dike for a fundraiser.  It will be open to junior high and senior high boys and girls and we will use both gyms.  We need you to keep your datebook open and extend a volunteer hand to raise some bucks for the athletic department!!

I will be sending a brochure out here, hopefully this week to schools and also Coach Harms will spread the word at her tments.  Of course you can spread the word, we will get info. at the office for people who want to sign up that way also.  I think it will be $10 per player.  We will have concessions and T-shirts and whatever other crazy stuff I may come up with!  

Thanks in advance for any help and your continued support of Wolverines Athletics!

Concession Stand Fundraiser

Monday I am emailing Julie the date availability for the girls to work the concessions for Coach Harms AAU volleyball t'ments.  I would really love to get the 15th, because it is right after our first district game, I believe, we will see.  Just keep your eyes open.  I will have a sign up for the girls at prac.  or actually they could email or comment on this post about their availability for weekends in FEB.   THANKS.

Win, win, win, wiiiinnnnn! Doesn't it feel good to say!

Congrats girls on a great win, to get our momentum rolling for the last pieces of the season!  I appreciate all the time and work you are putting into this team to make it the best it can be.  I am very proud.  The best is yet to come!  

Make sure if you haven't checked out the post on mental imagery, that you do.  Before the games we will still try and do it for longer, because it takes your mind a minute to two minutes sometimes more to quiet down and focus.  However, if you do it at home or on the bus to, then getting your mind focused before the game won't take as long.

Remember your perception is your reality.  What your mind sees and says to itself, is what it believes.  Positive thoughts, imagine yourself shooting the perfect free throw, the perfect shot, getting and receiving the perfect pass, running the plays and solid defense and it will much easier become what actually happens.  It's amazing stuff, and you don't even sweat.

Thanks fans/parent(s) for the poem you put up in the hallway by their locker room that was awesome!  That is a keeper.  TEAMness is a great describer.

1st District Game

We have many games to go, but tonight I learned we are playing Grundy Center first in districts!  Very exciting.  I sense the tides turning in our direction and I hope that it will show on the game floor!  Keep supporting Wolverines, we will give you some fun bball to watch.

Girls keep working so hard, it has been such a joy to get this opportunity with you and I absolutely cherish it.  Let's finish up strong and exciting!

Parents...for what it is worth, of all the groups of people I have worked with this group has been the most well rounded, kind, supportive, generous, FUN, and determined.  So without sounding ridiculous thanks for being great parents and giving them all the opportunities they have to grow and become strong women!  I think the world of them and I have only just begun getting to know them. :)  yee hawwwwwww

Little girls t'ment

This Sunday the 25th the young girls have a t'ment in CF.  I think it would be cool if any of you would stop by with your DNH gear top on.  It is not required.  If you wanted we could go to 11 o'clock church at Prairie Lakes and then go to lunch and then the games.  Just an idea...no obligation necessary.

First Aide Kit!

Tonight, was a first.  Indeed...it was... our First Aide Kit was used for the first time.  As Ashtyn's elbow and Jenny's eyebrow said hello to each other a nice little slice happened inside of Jenny's eyebrow.  She is good to go...she had some stitches, hopefully by a cutie doctor like McSteamy on Greys Anatomy!  Don't worry we took a picture on her phone to mark the occasion.

Congrats on taking care of yourselves and being relatively injury free, besides the tight muslces and quadruplet bruises (Cassie) we are doing very well!! And the girls are bangin around being tough!  Yee hawwwwwwwwwww!

Girls not playing Thurs. need to go to the game in NH.  

A lil FYI

Yesterday I lost my phone, I think at the school somewhere. So if you text or called me since then I apologize for not getting back to you, it's just that I don't have my phone. Tonight I got my old phone reactivated until I can get to a store to buy a new phone.  It is junky, so I apologize for the inconvenience for now.

TEAMness!

Last night after the Wapsie stomping...the girls where to have a team meeting and talk over a plan to address the lack of teamwork and confidence etc. They came up with some very good ideas and one is the word TEAMness so we are going to roll with that!

For those of you that aren't a player, please continue to encourage! These girls have a lot of potential. Also, we are having so much fun!

Mental Toughness Techniques

1. Remember that the rim is big enough for two basketballs to fit through at the same time...this will allow for a margin of error when you shoot.

2. Your mind is very powerful. Mental Rehearsal: This is almost as important as practicing the action itself. The brain patterns, during mental rehearsal of an action, are the same as those when actually preparing to do the action. So the more you mentally rehearse a shot, for instance,  the quicker and easier it will be to prepare to carry out the shot.

   This is a big statement, so think through it...What your mind perceives becomes your reality.  An example is, going to a haunted house.  We both go to a haunted house.  You think it is very exciting, the unknown, when will the people jump out etc. your reality is that it is fun. My reality is that I am scared and I don't like haunted houses, I perceive it as dangerous and I don't like surprises etc. (not actually true for me:)  )  So if your perception is you always get beat on defense and that is what you picture, or you always air ball it when you shoot, that becomes your reality and it actually happens.  When you watch a sprinter in the Olympics, the camera always shows them looking straight ahead very focused, they are running through their race from start to finish exactly how they need to run to win and they haven't even started running yet!  In the same way a stressed out person gets some meditation CDs and the CDs lead their mind to an imaginary beach and talks them through this really enjoyable positive experience.  The stressed out person's mind becomes more relaxed and so then does their body.  They weren't even actually on the beach!

Visualize how things need to happen!  Be positive!  Leave no room for negative or damaging thoughts...replace them with good stuff.  I promise (a promise is very big deal)  if you do this that you will see the fruits of it in your game or in anything you are trying to accomplish.

Here is the coaches perspective on where we are at this season.

In-spite of setbacks with the weather, crazy schedules, and lack of practices the girls have been coming along and are making good headway.  The thing that is most exciting to us, as coaches, is the fact that girls are stepping up and making things happen.  We have had a little bit of cherry basket upset with playing time because of players stepping up and getting after it.  The last two games we had major personnel changes in the fourth quarter and those girls doubled the whole teams score in one quarter!!  That is so awesome.  There is no doubt there is a competitive nature developing on the basketball floor and I have a good time watching the girls hoot and holler a bit when good things happen. That is the joy of playing coming out!

Freshman and JV teams are doing fabulously!  Very solid, coachable, and confidence is growing all the time.  

Thanks to everyone who has been such a big support for the team.  We hope you enjoy watching the growth happen.  We will no doubt continue to develop and become more and more competitive.  Hopefully, our having fun as a team will come across to the crowd so you can enjoy your basketball watching even more!  Wins are on the horizon for sure!

Girls, thank you for the time you are putting into basketball, and the care you are putting in the team.  Remember the bottom line is to be as strong of a team as we can be.  Being a strong team means effort, discipline, selflessness, and sacrifice.  It's hard sometimes.  It's frustrating sometimes, but in the end when you are looking back, hopefully you will see the whole picture and know that you were a part of something special and unique, the journey will mean that much more. 

Updates

Tomorrow which is Friday varsity will play Union @ Union so please come in early to shoot around run through plays..even watch some game film. Get some sort of activity in tonight so you don't have dead legs tomorrow.

Also, take some time to look at the shooting links and if you have a bball at home you can do some ball handling and shot form stuff.

I AM EXCITED TO SEE YOU ALL!!

Mother Nature!!!

Raise your hands if you want to fight mother nature with me...maybe not...I think she would win, she has kicked are butt so far!!  Hang in there it's about our turn to catch a break!

Just wanted to say...

Girls, I just want to tell you how proud of you I am, and the other coaches are too!  Also, that you have come so far!  We are starting to put this puzzle together and it is very exciting.  There is no doubt it has been a battle, but that makes the success so much sweeter.  You work hard, you do what we ask (mostly :) ), you improve every single day and you are so fun!

Even if I don't show it or tell you enough, I think it all the time.

 Thank you.

Here are some You Tube videos for shooting. Take the time to watch them if you can I think they would be a big help.

 1 Basketball Shooting 1 (The Setup) stannecyo           

  2 Basketball Shooting 2 (Mechanics) stannecyo         

   3 Basketball Shooting 3 (Mechanics... stannecyo     

   4 Basketball Shooting 4 (Psychology) stannecyo    

   5 Basketball Shooting 5 (Applicati... stannecyo                  

 Quick Release Basketball Shooting

Ray Allen - NBA Fundamentals of Shooting

GIRLS!  These are some links to some video to break down shooting so you can visualize it.  For those of you who don't know Pistol Pete Maravoich he was an unbelievable bball player, he was  a shooter like none other.  But what makes him good is that he was so disciplined and focused.  One thing I want to disclaimer is he talks about finger pads and not finger tips...I've told you finger tips but my intention was the same as his...that was that you would use the pads of your fingers...so don't misunderstand that, we are on the same page for that.  The other thing is that his follow through sometimes looks as though it is going straight to the rim.   And that is ok, but I want you to focus on the natural flick of your wrist do you don't cut yourself short.  So maybe your fingers won't be down to the ground but I do want you to have a normal flick of your wrist.  We kind of wanted to exaggerate things with you so that you would get the proper positioning and movements down.

Thanks all, for being troopers!

So as of tonight at 9:44 this is what the update is straight from the email of Pete!  These should all be the updates, all the games are rescheduled.

Bus times, etc. will be given to you as we go, because those change frequently.

Look over your plays!! Think through them.  Most of all...be ready for a lot of competition in a short amount of time.  It's going to be quite a ride!

Enough with the weather!

Again, in what I thought was a poor joke, our game got cancelled!! Safety is first! I realize the frustration that mounts as we find ourselves in a situation of about 27 games in 30 days or something crazy like this between JV and V, but please try and take it as a positive. Your team is resilient and ready to win some games. I know you guys don't go half speed very well, like in practice, so this crazy schedule could be a very positive for us!!

Keep alive girls...we will have a game one day...otherwise we will have ourselves a documentary on how we were the first teams to go to state without having played a game the second half of the season!! Let's hope not though.