Happy New Year!

As the new year dawns, may it bring for you,
Promises of…
New dreams to fulfill, new goals to reach and new joys to discover!

“2010 – the year of the World Championships.” We are now less than 9 months away from the tip-off of the 2010 Women’s World Championships! GO CANADA!!

It has been a busy time since we arrived back from the World Qualifying Tournament. We arrived back in Canada on September 30th and it seems that we never stopped running! There were athletes that had to fly directly to Europe or Australia to start playing with their professional teams; we had others who had to go directly to school and practice and still others who had to be right back at work and training. Several of our athletes had to take time off to heal injuries or to have a surgery. It is amazing how quickly 3 months flies by! I am the head coach of the BC-CP this year and we had our first CP session 3 days after we returned from Brazil… thank goodness I work with amazing assistant coaches and athletes!

Don’t forget you can follow our team on our Blog
http://canadaball.blogspot.com/
And, though not nearly as exciting as our team’s blog you can follow me on twitter: allisonmcneill

Below is something I have handed out to our National Team over the years. I wish I could remember where I found it so that I could give credit – unfortunately I have had it for a long time and I don’t remember where I found it. I think coaches may find it interesting. I firmly believe that at the highest levels you need to have a team of interdependent people to be successful - whether in sport or business. The most mature and successful people are interdependent… a great example are the Boston Celtics.


Canada Basketball

“Together we can”


DEPENDENCE is the paradigm of you – you take care of me; you come through for me; you didn’t come through for me; I blame you for the results.


INDEPENDENCE is the paradigm of I – I can do it; I am responsible; I am self-reliant; I can choose.


INTERDEPENDENCE is the paradigm of we – we can do it; we can cooperate; we can combine our talents and abilities and create something together.



DEPENDENT people need others to get what they want.
INDEPENDENT people can get what they want through their own effort.
INTERDEPENDENT people combine their own efforts with the efforts of others to achieve their greatest success.

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Beyond the Court with Allison McNeill - Keep Chipping Away!

I have had a very busy last couple of weeks. I did a coaches clinic last Thursday, then had CP on Saturday and Sunday, I gave the closing plenary at the Petro-Canada Sport Leadership conference (along with Pricilla-Lopes-schelpe) and I am giving the keynote address at the West Vancouver School District¡¦s Coaches appreciation luncheon. I am off to Prince George and Vanderhoof this weekend to do coaches and kids clinics! Sure enough by the end of this week I will have lost my voice.

Canada Basketball had an incredible summer in case you are not aware:

• Senior Women 3rd in the FIBA Americas, qualified for the 2010 Worlds
• Senior Men 4th in the FIBA Americas, qualified for the 2010 Worlds
• Junior Women 4th at the Worlds
• Junior Men 7th at the Worlds
• Cadette Girls 2nd in the FIBA Americas, qualified for 2010 Worlds
• Cadet Boys 3rd in the FIBA Americas, qualified for 2010 Worlds

As I sit back and reflect on the summer I am reminded of a great quote by George Bernard Shaw:

"The real moment of success is not the moment apparent to the crowd."

This certainly applies to this summer the real moments of success are the long hours that the athletes, coaches, support staff and administrators have put in over many years! It is the work of the parents, high school coaches, club coaches, CP and RTC coaches, the Provincial coaches.

I have used this old African quote before but I really think it applies to producing a world class athlete:

"It takes an entire village to raise a child"

I have many days where I am totally frustrated. I know everyone has those days. My frustration is usually related to basketball. But of course basketball is also the source of many joyous moments in my life too. My frustration usually revolves around things not happening nearly as fast as I would like them too, not getting the funding for our athletes that I believe they deserve, not getting the training time and competitive opportunities that we need, not to mention the lack of support for coaches and coaching in our country.

But like the stonecutter I know I am making a difference. I know that there are so many great coaches out there making a difference so we all need to keep chipping away.

"When nothing seems to help I go and look at the stonecutter hammering away at his rock, perhaps a hundred times without so much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not that blow that did it but all that had gone before" Milo Schultz

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Beyond the Court with Allison McNeill - When Everything is "Fine" is Anything Being Accomplished?

It is difficult for organizations, teams, and individuals to look at themselves critically. Speaking honestly can hurt, and most of us would all rather feel good than hurt. But if every analysis of what we are doing turns into a love fest, and people do not really say what is on their minds, then can progress really occur? Can we get better? Can we be excellent? So I think a good question to ask is, “When everything is ‘fine’ is anything being accomplished?”

Here is something that I picked up when I was an Assistant Coach at the University of Oregon. Ernie Kent, the University of Oregon Men’s Coach, had this posted in their team room. I loved it then and I still love it. I hope you might find something in this that you can use for your team, yourself or your organization.

Where is our team?

When adversity strikes?

• Do we always have to make ourselves look good?
• Do we always have to be right and others wrong?
• Do we always have to justify our actions while invalidating others?
• Do we always have to feel in control?
• Do we build relationships or do we just worry about ourselves?

Where is our team when everything is just fine?

• Do you always feel like you must agree with the group?
• Are we all "nice" to each other?
• Have we separated into small groups within the team?
• Are we always "willing," but only when asked?
• Is our team motto - "don't make waves?"

When everything is "fine," is anything being accomplished?

• Are we willing to straight talk each other?
• Are we commitment driven?
• Do we resolve our complaints quickly?
• Do we lend support to each other?
• Do we listen to our teammates and coaches with open minds?
• Are our relationships open and honest?
• Are you a coachable player?
• Does our leadership hold us accountable to achieving our goals?

Are we prepared to do what is necessary to be able to win everyday, every practice, every possession?

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Beyond the Court by Allison McNeill - World Championships 2010 - We Will Be There!

What an incredible summer! Our Senior Women¡¦s National Team won the bronze medal at the FIBA Americas Tournament...and they did it in storybook fashion! We beat CUBA in overtime 59-49 to earn a berth to the 2010 World Championships. It was the first time that Canada had beaten Cuba in a qualifying tournament since 1995 - yup that is 14 years! We are so proud of our team - they were an amazing group of athletes to be around and to work with; they were a "TEAM" in every sense of the word.

You can follow the team throughout the year on their Blog:

http://canadaball.blogspot.com/

I will also update my Blog and my Twitter but I think the Players Blog will be much more interesting. They will be updating from various places around the world as they prepare for the 2010 World Championships in Prague,Czech Republic.

It has been an incredible summer for Canada Basketball. Our Senior Men's team finished 4th at the Tournament of the Americas to earn a berth to the Men's 2010 World Championships in Turkey.
OK Basketball fans, how great will it be to be able to follow both our Women's and Men's teams next summer! AWESOME BABY!

Other age group National Team results from this summer:

Cadette National Teams
Women finished 2nd in the Americas and qualified for the World Championships in France next summer.
Men finished 3rd in the Americas and qualified for the World Championships in Germany next summer.

Junior National Teams
Women finished 4th at the Junior World Championships in Thailand.
Men finished 7th at the Junior World Championships in New Zealand.

No team can qualify without the support of many dedicated and caring people. As I told the team "there are no small roles when you are trying to qualify for the World Championships." There are so many incredible people that helped us this summer with our various phases of training and I would like to acknowledge them for their incredible work on our behalf. If I have missed anyone it was certainly not on purpose and I apologize ahead of time!

Assistant coaches:
Lisa Thomaidis - Head Coach University of Saskatchewan Huskies
Mike McNeill - Director of Coaching Development- Basketball BC
Ken and Kathy Shields
Former UVIC and National Team coaches
Sport Psychologist:
Roger Friesen - University of the Fraser Valley
Canada Basketball Director of elite performance:
Denise Dignard
Canada Basketball CEO:
Wayne Parrish
Everyone in the Canada Basketball office!
Physiotherapists:
Steve King - Bishops University
Nathan King - Bishops University
Joanie M - Toronto, Ontario
Shannon Morrison - Brockville, Ontario
Managers:
Anne Marie Thuss - McMaser University
Livia Munroe - Trinity Western University
Julie Rodrique - CP Ontario
Doctors:
Dr. Mark Leung
Dr. Sarah Kim
Video Tech:
Choyal Brown - Basketball BC
Boys Teams:
W.J Mouat Senior Boys - Coaches Rich Ralston and Sean Beasley
Abbotsford Collegiate Senior Boys - Coach Prentice Lenz
Waterloo Wildhawks Club - Coach Dave McNeill
Silverthorn Senior Boys - Coach Jonathan Smith
Anonymous donor:
Last year I received a call and someone donated $100,000 to the women's National Team program. Without this generous donation we would not have been able to have the training time to get this team ready for the World qualifying tournament. All I can say is THANK-YOU... We did it!

Where are our athletes now?

Chelsea Aubry flew to Australia the day we returned from Brazil where she joined her new pro team - Bendigo (near Melbourne). She may have a chance to visit with National Team alumnus Claudia Brassard who now lives in Townsville, Australia.

Janelle Bekkering is back in Spokane, Washington attending Gonzaga University for her Junior season. She is back in class and preseason training and will start full practice on October 15. Go Zags!

Jordan Adams is back to work!! She is back to work at the University of New Mexico where she is the Director of Basketball Operations for the women's team. She trains on her own and plays in several men's leagues during the winter.

Kadie Riverin is back home in Ottawa. She had to turn down a professional contract in Italy as she needs time off to heal some injuries. She will be seeing a "hip specialist" and the results of her visit will determine what she does this year. She may be rehabbing, training and working on her skills or she may be heading overseas in January.

Kaela Chapdelaine flew back to Vancouver, spent a few days with her family in Abbotsford and then back to Slovakia. This is Kaela's second season in Slovakia and she will be playing with the same professional team again this season.

Kelsey Adrian flew directly from Toronto to Denver to Santa Barbara, California. She will miss 2 days of school and a couple of team practices¡K but by last Wednesday she was hard at practice and back at the books. Kelsey will red-shirt this season, due to transfer rules, at the University of California-Santa Barbara.

Kim Smith stayed in Toronto for a few days to visit with her sister, get some dental work done and see Dr. Richards about her ailing ankle. Kim is looking at offers to play overseas, but has not made any decisions at this time.

Laurelle Weigl flew back to Vancouver and headed right back up to SFU - back to school and back to training. Laurelle joined us in Brazil after Leanne Evans sprained her ankle. We called Laurelle and she flew out a day later! She was a great addition to the team and we are grateful to her for being "ready" when we called!

Leanne Evans is back in Port Moody, BC where she is rehabbing the ankle she hurt in Brazil. It was a very bad injury and she will not be back playing full out until mid to late December. Unfortunately she had to turn down a professional contract in Poland because of the injury. She will rehab and train in Vancouver to get ready for next summer.

Megan Pinske went straight back to school at Western Washington University, in Bellingham, Washington. She will only miss 2 days of school, but will be back for training camp. We are very grateful to Megan who also joined the team after Alisha Tatham tore her ACL in Cuba during our exhibition series in July.

Natalie Achonwa landed in Toronto and went home to Guelph for 1 day and then back to Hamilton, Ontario and back to high school. Natalie has been in NEDA for 2 years and attended St. Mary's High School. She will go back to St. Mary's for her senior year and then off to University of Notre Dame next year. She has had a long, but amazing summer as she helped the Junior National Team to a 4th place finish at the U-19 World Championships - then traveled with our senior team to China and Cuba - and last, but not least helped the senior team qualify for the 2010 World Championships! That is a pretty good summer for a 16 year old!

Tamara Tatham will be heading back to Brampton, Ontario and then flying to Germany where she plays professionally. This will be Tamara's 3rd year playing in Europe - the first year she played in Finland and this will be her second year in Germany.

Teresa Gabriele is back in BC - back at work - but not yet back at training. Teresa is getting surgery on her ankle this Thursday. She is getting a scope to take out some bone spurs and chips. The recovery time is about 2 months. In the meantime she works in her family's bread business and also works at the greater Vancouver Regional Training Center for Basketball BC.

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Beyond the Court by Allison McNeill - The Road to the World Championships

We had a great training camp at The University of the Fraser Valley in Abbotsford, BC. What a fabulous place to train! We played Clemson University twice (won both games) and we also played three games against High School boy’s teams (won 1 and lost 2).

Then we headed off to Cuba for three exhibition games and some training. It was very hot and very humid in Cuba. The gym had a roof, but was open air and did not have any air-conditioning. Really hot! One nice thing about playing and training in the heat and humidity is that you do not need long to warm up and you definitely stay loose. Our incredible medical team kept the athletes cool with ice rolled up in towels, which they then put around the athletes necks and heads. Ingenious!

It was a good trip and the three games we played against Cuba were just what we needed. You can only train for so long before you need to play someone else! Nothing can really simulate playing another National Team and the intensity of International basketball. The passion that players play with when representing their country is something special. We played all three games in Havana at the same gym. The crowds, or lack there of, were disappointing. Too bad, they missed some great basketball.

We lost the first game by 8 points, won the second game by 11 and lost the third game by 9. All of the games were very competitive. The first game was close all of the way through and then Cuba hit a couple of key shots at the end of the game. We played outstanding in the 2nd game. Our defense was really tough – the players were extremely focused and “In the moment”. We had great offensive balance with scoring coming both inside and outside. In the 3rd game we got down early as we struggled to score, but we showed tremendous character and toughness to compete under very adverse conditions. The entire experience was excellent preparation for the World Qualifying Tournament in Brazil.

The players are now on a 10-day break (of course they are still training!) We will get together again on September 5th in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario. We will be training out of RIM Park for about 9 days and then we travel down to Brazil. We will play two exhibition games against the Brazilian National Team. Our Qualifying Tournament starts on September 23rd.

Our next phase will be back in the familiar confines of RIM Park in Waterloo, Ontario. It is an amazing facility that includes ice rinks; weight room; indoor soccer fields and two great gyms.

We also love training in Waterloo because we have a great group of guys who we train against – the Waterloo Wildhawks. They are a club team in Waterloo coached by Dave MacNeill. They did a great job of helping us prepare the last time we qualified for the World Championships in 2005 and I know they will do the same this September.

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Beyond the Court by Allison McNeill - Second Phase of Training - First Week!

Well our first week of training culminated with two games against Clemson University Women¡¦s Basketball Team. Clemson is up in Vancouver, Victoria and Whistler for their foreign tour. Clemson plays in the ACC (Atlantic Coast Conference). It was great to play at home in front of Canadian fans. There were people commenting to me that they had never seen the Canadian National Team play. It really is sad that we do not get to play more domestic games. It was especially wonderful to see Teresa Gabriele, a ten-year veteran of the National Team, have a chance to play in front of family and friends. It was also fun to showcase some of our talented players from other parts of the country that the BC fans never get see!

We won both games, but more importantly at this point in our training, we got better! The goal is to peak at the World Qualifying tournament in late September.

I would like to give a special thanks to Trinity Western University, and University of the Fraser Valley, for hosting the games for us. UFV has been hosting a Club Tournament all weekend so lots of players and parents from the tournament stayed to watch us play ¡V it was a great crowd! UFV has been a wonderful place to train. The facilities are excellent, the dorms are great (only a 2 minute walk from dorm to gym!) and the food has been really good! This is a great place to train!

This week we had seven full practices, one scrimmage against a local high school boys group and two game day shooting practices. Former National Team men¡¦s coach, Ken Shields came to work with us for three days. It was awesome to get his input and I know it will help our team to be better. After the initial shock of Ken¡¦s demeanor the players really enjoyed working with him ƒº

Today, Sunday, August 9th is our only full day off. Some of the local athletes went home, some went out for lunch and to do a little shopping, and most will go out for dinner and a movie tonight. Janelle Bekkering is finishing an assignment for her summer school class and hoping to be done in time to go to the movie with the rest of her teammates.

We have six more practices and two scrimmages against boys¡¦ teams before we leave for Cuba. While in Cuba we will play the Cuban National Team in three exhibition games. These games will be a great chance for us to see the things we need to improve on before our next training phase. We will be training in Waterloo, Ontario at RIM Park from September 5-13. If you are in the area come and see us practice.

Our athletes are keeping a Blog this summer. There are pictures, interviews, notes etc. I think you will really enjoy it ¡V check it out at:

http://www.canadaball.blogspot.com/

Well, I have tape to watch, practices to plan and dinner to eat¡K

PS: Congratulations to all of the U-15 Provincial Teams and coaches on their performances at the National Championships at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, BC. Once again Basketball BC, TRU and Canada Basketball put on an amazing event! Great job everyone. Here are the final placings:

U-15 Girls National Championships:

Gold: Ontario
Silver: British Columbia
Bronze: Alberta
Fourth Place: Manitoba
Fifth Place: Nova Scotia
Sixth Place: British Columbia Red
Seventh Place: Saskatchewan
Eight Place: Newfoundland

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Beyond the Court by Allison McNeill - Reunion Time

Today is the start of our second training camp for the summer of 2009. It is August 1st. It has been over six long weeks since we arrived back from our trip to China. When I first saw the schedule I was not too excited about the long break between the first second training camps. I just thought it was way too long to be apart; I was worried about our athletes being able to find places to train and play. And of course I had some concerns that we would lose some of the on-court chemistry and execution that we built on our first phase.

It is definitely not ideal to have 6+ weeks between camps… but one must always look at the positive side of things, and I try to do that! First of all we had many athletes coming off long seasons in Europe and they did not get much time off before our first camp. Several of them were tired and had nagging injuries. This 6+ weeks off actually gave them time to heal and strengthen.

So many of our National Team athletes do not get much time at home with their family and friends. They go away for four or five years of University, then they go overseas to play and then they spend the summer with the National Team. This 6+ weeks off allowed many of our athletes to spend an extended period of time with their families.

So what did some of our athletes do on their break? Well they all trained hard that is for sure, but they can’t train 24 hours a day…

Natalie Achonwa took almost 3 weeks off at home in Guelph, Ontario. She then joined the Junior National Women’s Team for training and then off to Thailand for the Junior Women’s World Championships. The Junior team placed the highest that any Canadian Junior Team has ever placed – they finished 4th.

Jordan Adams returned to New Mexico to work. She is the DBO (Director of Basketball Operations) at her alma mater University of New Mexico. She also managed to get to Las Vegas to a friends wedding and visit with family and do some camping.

Kelsey Adrian returned back to her home in Langley, BC where she got back to training. She then went down to Santa Barbara to take a summer school course and meet some of her new teammates. She moved into her new place, took a class and trained.

Chelsea Aubry spent most of the time in Kitchener, but did manage to travel to Dallas, Texas for a long weekend with some of her University friends from the University of Nebraska. Chelsea also worked basketball camp for Dave MacNeill who runs the Waterloo Wildhawks – who just happen to be our training boys when we train in Waterloo.

Janelle Bekkering split her time off between Taber and Calgary, Alberta and Spokane, Washington (she attends Gonzaga University). She managed to get to a Bekkering Family reunion with over 100 family members… and not all of them were able to make it!! She was also at the surprise barbeque where her brother got engaged. Janelle has one more week of an on-line course she is taking at Gonzaga.

Kaela Chapdelaine started doing the hot yoga and she loves it! She also worked two weeks of AIA camps. She took trips to Seattle and went to Disneyland with her two younger brothers – both of whom will be playing football for Queens University in the fall.

Leanne Evans came home went back to training and work. She works in the housing department at UBC. Immediately upon her return Leanne wrote her last final exam at UBC – she has now graduated!

Teresa Gabriele came home and went back to work and training. Her husband, Marchi, was an assistant coach with the BC U-16 Girls team so he was traveling and coaching most of the time Teresa was home.

Kadie Riverin went home to Ottawa. She spent a good portion of her time seeing doctors and physiotherapists dealing with a very sore Achilles tendon. She also did some spinning classes and pool workouts to stay in shape. Kadie has a sister who lives in Vancouver so she came out a few days early to visit with her sis. They had a barbeque and just hung out and enjoyed the incredibly hot weather we have been having out here.

Kim Smith spent time in Connecticut where her boyfriend lives and also in Mission where her family. Kim also worked basketball camp for AIA in Abbotsford. She loved working the camp… but she was exhausted at the end of it all.

Chanelle St. Amour had a couple of weeks off in Quebec City and then flew over to Serbia where she represented Canada at the World University Games. She had a wonderful learning experience, and though the team only won one game she felt very positive about the experience and learned a great deal. After the Serbia trip she spent 5 days in Paris where her Aunt has an apartment.

Tamara and Alisha Tatham, along with their brother Patrick ran a basketball camp for kids in Mississauga. All of the Tatham’s played overseas last year and this was their way of giving back. I am sure the kids had a great time. They also had a holiday to Florida and Tamara visited National Team member (injured) Lizanne Murphy in Montreal.

Laurelle Weigl also represented Canada at the World University Games in Serbia. Laurelle was one of the leading scorers for Canada. She then returned home and headed up to Kelowna, BC to spend time in the sunny Okanagan with SFU and FISU Games teammate Robyn Buna.

So we are back at it after 6+ weeks off… we have had two practices and we have done some good things, but we have to get much better. “Confidence is not given, it is earned… and we are earning ours day by day in our training."

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Beyond the Court by Allison McNeill - Summer Camp

I must pass on my congratulations to our Junior Men’s National Team coaching staff, support staff and athletes.  They finished 7th at the FIBA Junior World Championships.  Great job guys!

Our Junior Women are currently in Barrie, Ontario training before they go to the FIBA Junior World Championships.  Their schedule is below:

JUNIOR WOMEN'S NATIONAL TEAM SCHEDULE

DATE OPPONENT LOCATION
July 10-17 Training Georgian College – Barrie, ON
July 20 Exhibition vs. Thailand Bangkok, Thailand
July 21-22 Training Bangkok, Thailand
July 23 - Aug. 2 World Championships Bangkok, Thailand
July 23 Russia Bangkok, Thailand
July 24 Tunisia Bangkok, Thailand
July 25 Japan Bangkok, Thailand

You can follow them at fiba.com or on the Canada Basketball website.  Here is a list of the athletes trying to make the final 12 to represent Canada.

Canadian Junior Women's National Team - Training Camp Roster

Name Position Height Hometown

Achonwa, Natalie * Forward 6'3" Guelph, ON
Alexander, Kayla * Forward 6'4" Milton, ON
Clarke, Nicole Guard 5'10" Calgary, AB
Colley, Justine * Guard 5'9" E. Preston, NS
Dally, Laura Guard 5'11" Sarnia, ON
Jobin, Elyse * Guard 5'11" Moncton, NB
Kerfoot, Elle Guard 5'7" White Rock, BC
Lennox, Jennifer Forward 6'2" Kitchener, ON
MacDonald, Steph * Guard 5'10" Ottawa, ON
Mullins, Melissa Guard 6'0" Burlington, ON
Plouffe, Michelle Guard 6'2" Edmonton, AB
Seabrook, Julie * Centre 6'3" N. Vancouver,BC
Vaughan, Jenny * Guard 5'9" Dundas, ON
Wicijowski, Taryn * Centre 6'2" Regina, SK

* Indicates members of the 2008 JWNT


I coached at a camp last week, with about 25 young athletes.  I know there are many coaches that really dread doing basketball camps… I am not one of them!   I still really enjoy coaching at camps.  I like the energy, I like being able to focus on skill and concept development, I like that they athletes do not have to worry about “winning” – they can just focus on having fun and getting better. 


Working at basketball camps is how I got my start in coaching.  When I was an athlete at the University of Oregon I worked camps in the summer.  It was a good way to pay the rent, develop my coaching skills and hang out in the gym!  One summer I worked 8 straight weeks of camp.  The kids would arrive Sunday night and the camp started on Monday morning.  The camp ran until Friday afternoon, I had Saturday off and then it started all over again on Sunday night. 

I enjoyed working camps for a number of reasons:

1. It was great to be in the gym all day having fun working with the campers and the other counselors and coaches.
2. I learned so much from the amazing coaches who did the major teaching at the camps.
3. I always jumped up when a coach asked for players to demonstrate, so I was able to receive personal instruction J
4. At night, after we got all of the campers back to the dorms, the coaches and counselors played for about 2 hours.  The games were amazing and I was able to play with and against great players.  I even had a chance to play in games with former University of Oregon and NBA players Ronnie Lee and Greg Ballard – yeah they actually let a 5’3” female play!  They were super nice guys. 
5. During our lunch break I would run to the cafeteria, quickly eat my lunch, and then hustle back to the gym to play one on one or two on two with some of the other counselors.  If no one else wanted to play then I did a skill workout.
6. I always volunteered to do the early bird sessions at camp – the early bird sessions ran from about 6:30 – 7:30 am (before breakfast) and if, as a coach/counselor, you were willing to get up that early, you were paid a little extra.  I was willing to get up early… not so much for the extra money, but more so that I could get in the gym to help some young campers.  It was fun to take some of the young campers through a skill workout.


Working at camp was just plain fun!  I am not sure I could do the 8:00 am – 9:00 pm camps any more… but I still enjoy being in the gym working with kids at camp.

I had the pleasure of working with Sergey Shchepotkin at the camp. Sergey is currently an assistant Coach of the Moscow Dynamo women’s team and a former member of the USSR National team. He also played professionally in Europe and Lebanon.

Sergey was great to work with, he is very knowledgeable, excellent with kids and he had some new and different ways of doing things.  I learned a lot from him and I know the campers did too! 

Here is a picture of Sergey and I with the “Junior Cascades” who attended the camp.  Thanks for the pictures girls and thanks for coming to the camp.  All the best for the rest of the summer, we enjoyed working with you.



Our Senior Women’s National Team is currently on a break for 6 weeks.  Everyone is training on her own at various locations around the country.  We will be getting together for our second training camp on August 2.  We will be training at The University of the Fraser Valley (UFV), in Abbotsford, BC.  We will train from August 2nd to August 14th and then will go to Cuba for three exhibition games.  If you are in the area come by and show your support for these amazing women who represent us on the Women’s National Team. 

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Beyond the Court by Allison McNeill - Back from China!

Here is the team photo we took just before we left for China. This is your Senior Women’s National Team that will represent Canada at the World Qualifying Tournament in Brazil, September 23-29. I would also like to mention our two alternates (who are currently in Serbia playing with the Development Team at the FISU Games) Chanelle St. Amour (Laval University) and Laurelle Weigl (Simon Fraser University).




# Name Ht Position Province University
4 Kadie Riverin 5’9” Guard Ottawa, ON Rice
5 Teresa Gabriele 5’6” Guard Mission, BC Simon Fraser
6 Kaela Chapdelaine 5’10” Guard Okotoks, AB Oregon
7 Kelsey Adrian 6’1” Gd/Fwd Langley, BC CSUSB
8 Kim Smith 6’1” Gd/Fwd Mission, BC Utah
9 Janelle Bekkering 6’1” Gd/Fwd Taber, AB Gonzaga
10 Alisha Tatham 5’11” Guard Brampton, ON UMass
11 Natalie Achonwa 6’3” Forward Guelph, ON NEDA
12 Leanne Evans 6’3” Forward Port Moody, BC UBC
13 Tamara Tatham 6’2” Forward Brampton, ON UMass
14 Chelsea Aubry 6’2” Forward Kitchener, ON Nebraksa
15 Jordan Adams 6'4” Forward Overton, Nevada New Mexico
Chanelle St. Amour 5’6” Guard Quebec, QC Laval
Laurelle Weigl 6’4” Forward Stony Plain, AB Simon Fraser


We have been back from China for a little over a week. I have seen and emailed with many of the athletes and the China trip is a tough one to recover from… many of us still do not have our “systems” back to normal. It was an excellent trip all the way around. We got exactly what we needed out of the trip – 3 tough games, tough travel, team bonding time, and some good tape to analyze!

Though we lost all three games we showed significant improvement in each game. Lost by 27 in the first game, 14 in the second game and we lost the last game in OT – arrgh! But we are more interested in playing our best basketball, and winning games, in September at the World Qualifying Tournament in Brazil then we are winning games in China in June!

It always seems that the thing that takes the most adjusting to at the Senior National Team level is the speed and the physicality of play. Even for players who are playing overseas or have been with the National Team for sometime, it still takes time to get back into the flow. We play boys teams to prepare, but it just is not the same.

By the third game our defense had adjusted to the physical play and we were starting to trust each other. The ball pressure, fronting of the posts, help D, communication and rotations were all there – it was fun to watch! We are on our way to being an outstanding defensive team. Offensively we were starting to feel more comfortable with each other and execute better. We have more “ways” to score with this team than any team we have had for a while. We are big at the wings and quick in the post – we can open it up and spread the court to use our quickness.

The Chinese team is very big and very physical and it definitely took us a game to adjust… not to mention the long travel, change of food, heat and humidity etc. But that is what I love – having the opportunity to test yourself against the best in the world – anyone can play well when the conditions are ideal, but what kind of toughness and resiliency do you have when the conditions are not so ideal – can you still bring your game when things are tough.

I think one of the best things about playing for your Country (obviously there are so many great things) is that you get to test yourself against the very best players in the world in some of the toughest conditions… and when you finish at the end of the day you know what you are made of – you know that you have something special within you. International basketball is not for everyone – it takes special people who love to compete and want to be tested.

The last Hotel we stayed in was in the city Ningbo. We stayed in “The Sports Hotel”. It was nothing short of AMAZING! Definitely the nicest hotel we have ever stayed in on a Canada Basketball trip. The Hotel is where the Chinese National Volleyball teams and other National Teams train (the Chinese Men’s National Team was coming in to train the week after us). The showers were tall and had big rain showers – I think even Yao Ming may have been able to stand under the rain showers they were so high. All of the rooms had flat screen TV’s, the food was pretty good (even a few raw carrots and cucumbers and whole wheat bread), there was a gym as well as cardio and strength training areas. There were even bathrobes and slippers to wear – and yes I had to try them both out… there will not be a picture of that in this or any other blog! It was an amazing facility. We need something just like it in Canada for our National Teams to train.

People always ask me if we get to see the sights in the countries and cities we travel to with the National Team. Yes and No – we try to see things when they do not interfere with our preparation, but we are there to play basketball not to sightsee. We always talk to our athletes, “We are on a business trip”. When we were in Prague we spent part of two days exploring the city, when we were in Brazil we went up Sugarloaf Mountain and saw the beaches of Rio. It is not always possible to see things… I have been to China twice and have not seen the Great Wall, but If I ever want to see the Great Wall I will go back to China as a tourist. The experiences the athletes and the staff of a National Team get are ones that no one else can experience. Like playing in front of 17,000 fans when we played Brazil in the Pan Am Games; like playing in front of a packed house of about 8,000 people in China when Teresa Gabriele made back to back spectacular plays and the Chinese fans gave her a standing ovation, like seeing Kim Smith unstoppable (25.5 points per game in a 2 game series) against Brazil in Brazil and then seeing all of the youngsters wanting her autograph, seeing the face of a first year Senior National Team athlete when they realize they can play with anyone in the world… the Great Wall – I can always go back to China to see that!

Speaking of experiences – I received this email from Kathy Shields our former National Team Head Coach and long-time UVIC coach. This is an amazing story. Thanks for sharing Kathy.

“Yes, that trip to China is a killer. My first trip there was in the
early 70's when Mao was in power and we were the first Western group
invited in after Nixon. We went with a Business exchange where all of
the top CEO's in Canadian industry went to meet the Chinese
counterparts. China had asked for the men's and women's teams to
accompany them for a "cultural sport exchange". Our first practice was
before 6000 fans all in their Mao suits and our first game was in front
of 20,000 people. Unbelievable experience. Plus we had more welcome
banquets in the 2 weeks than games by far. Our first game ended in a tie
and they wanted to leave it like that rather than play overtime so that
our two countries would have "Friendship first competition second". It
was bizarre but amazing trip.”

Our athletes are now on a 6-week break and we will come together to train again out in BC at the University of the Fraser Valley. We will train early August for about 10 days.

Here are a few “things” from our trip to China:

On the players down time they like to play cards. Chelsea Aubry is the veteran card player and she has been teaching the others how to play. They usually play “Euchre”.
The other down time favorite activity is movie watching and of course Skyping.

When we travel we always bring a team “food bag” and the players also bring their own comfort foods. Some of our favorites:

Peanut butter (this is a must have)
Nutella
Kashi Granola Bars
Nature Valley Granola Bars
Rice Krispee squares
Nuts/Seeds/Trail mix
Dried Fruit
Applesauce
Vector cereal
Granola
Bran Buds
Instant oatmeal
Crackers
Gatorade Powder

The Chinese team was very tall overall. Their tallest player is 2.07 meter (about 6’8”), 20 years old. Her name is Wei Wei and she is sometimes referred to as a “female Yao Ming”. She really seemed to love the game and to be enjoying playing. If she keeps working and gains some strength she is going to be an outstanding player.

Here is some information on Wei Wei from the China Daily:

Wei has basketball in her blood. She was born in Taiyuan in Shanxi Province to a father who stood 196cm and used to play center for the local police team and a 182cm-tall mother, who was once a top player for the Shanxi team. The first gift she ever received from her parents, in fact, was a basketball.

"I've loved basketball ever since I was a child, and I have a lot of basketballs at home," Wei said.

"Although my parents are basketball players, they didn't teach me to play basketball on purpose," she said. "I just played it with my classmates in primary school. Only until they realized that I had a deep love for the sport did they begin to teach me."

When Wei was in fourth grade she was already 185cm tall. A coach from Guangzhou Weilun Sports School noticed her and brought her to the school to receive systematic training.

If anyone out there sees a young Canadian girl that is 185 cm tall in grade 4 give me a call – anytime day or night!

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Beyond the Court by Allison McNeill - We Finally Played a Game!

Well the adventures of the Women’s National Team continue… we arrived in China on Sunday night and we were supposed to play a game on Wednesday. But, as is quite often the way when playing internationally, things did not go as planned. We trained on Tuesday and went to bed thinking we would be playing China on Wednesday, June 10.

Wednesday morning at breakfast, Matt (who is our contact from Infront Sports, the European company that organizes these events for the Chinese Federation) met with our coaches to tell us that some things had changed. We found out that there were some problems with the local organizing committee. This meant that we had to move out of our Hotel and the game was being postponed until the next day. So we will now play 3 games in 4 days and then flying back to Toronto.

It was 9:30 am and we had to be in the lobby with all of our gear packed, by 10:30 am, to move to the new hotel. Not such a big deal, except that our Hotel was amazing – great rooms, great food, HBO and an exercise area to boot! Might be the nicest hotel we have every stayed in with a Canada Basketball Team! Parting is such sweet sorrow.

The athletes handled it so well. They took it in stride, packed up and arrived at our new Hotel at about 11:30 am. Just in time to drop our gear in our rooms and take the bus to the gym for our practice. We practiced from 12:00 – 1:00 pm. After practice we had lunch at the new hotel. The food is OK, but nothing like the other hotel. After lunch we had a short meeting, everyone then went back to her room to get settled and rest. At 5:30 we were back on the bus to the gym for our second practice of the day from 6:00-7:30 pm. Practice went well, but the athletes were geared up for a game so you could tell it was a bit of a let down. We have enough veteran athletes that have been through these kinds of things before and they have learned to control the things they can, and let go of the things they cannot control.

The gym is only a year old and is a wonderful facility. It has the competition gym where we are practicing and playing, and then has six practice courts off to the side. It is a big facility and we were told that facilities like that one were popping up all over China. Basketball is the fastest growing, and most popular sport in China. It is exploding over here. In fact they are hosting the Nike China boys camp this week in Beijing I believe.

Matt told us that there are about 450 million people in the world that play basketball, and 300 million of them are in China!! The Chinese love their hoops.

Of course this is international basketball, so you know there has to be more chaos. Well the gym is new and beautiful, but apparently the air-conditioning does not work. So on Monday when we practiced it was about 27 degrees with 55% humidity… yeah a little bit uncomfortable. The athletes were soaked, literally having streams of water dripping off their shorts and shirts. There was not one dry place to wipe their hands.
Needless to say hydration is the key in weather like this. We were all hoping that they would have the air-conditioning going for our game on Wednesday

But no, we played the game today, Wednesday, June 10, 2009… no air-conditioning. It was very hot and very humid – not sure of the exact temperature. Our Doctor and therapist had a bucket of ice water with strips of towels and when the athletes came off the floor they put them on their necks and heads to help cool them down.

We got off to a very poor start in the game (our first game of the summer) and were down by 17 in the first quarter. At half time we were down by 24. For only having 10 days of training together we executed OK, but just did not make shots. After half time we came back with a lot more toughness, and we were much more aggressive. We outscored China from half time on until the last 3 minutes of the game when we gave up 10 points. The final score was 79-52.
Though the score is not very flattering to our team, we need to keep in perspective that this is our first game and that we want to be playing our best basketball in September (23-29) at our World Qualifying Tournament in Brazil. We were very happy with some of the things we emphasized at training camp and we will continue to improve on the things that we were not so happy with.

The Chinese team has been together for 2 and a half-months going 2-a-days. They have also been playing games against other National teams. The Chinese team has their Asian World qualifying Tournament in November. They will be together for about 7 months before they go to their qualifier. We will have 3 training camps – totally approximately 30 days and we will play 8 international games against 3 teams before we go to our qualifier.

Unfortunately the stats computer at the game was not working so we did not get any stats. We will have to get them off the tape at a later date.

As soon as the game was over we did a cool down and stretch, had our post-game meeting and then got back to the hotel for dinner. It was 9:45 pm by the time we got back to the hotel.

After eating our coaching staff went back to the room to watch the film. We finished the film at about 12:15 am. One of our assistants, Mike, is editing film so that the players can watch it tomorrow. Film is such a great way to learn and we use it a lot. We use it to show what our opponents are doing (scouting), and we use it to see what we are doing and how we can improve. We also use it to film individual skills and show the athletes – but this is done during training camp and not during competition.

I just finished our post game notes and our practice planning for tomorrow. The 3 coaches all get together to debrief the practice and plan the next practice. Then I take all of the information and put in on paper.

We get a one-hour practice tomorrow and they moved the game time up to 4:00 pm. It will be a quick turn-around… but I know we will play better tomorrow.

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Beyond the Court by Allison McNeill - Phase One Training - June 8, 2009

Well we have our last two practices today of our 10-day training camp. The first 3 days of the camp were tryout days and then we cut down to a training group of 15. Thursday we cut to our 12 that are representing Canada and will be traveling to China tomorrow for a series of 3 exhibition games with the Chinese National Team.

Thanks to all of the coaches who stopped by the gym to watch and support the team – it is much appreciated. Thanks also to the staff at the recreation facility at the University of Toronto-Mississauga who have been so great to us this week. I would also like to thank Jonathan Smith and his boy’s team from Silverthorn High School – thanks for playing us and helping us to get better!

The camp has gone very well and the athletes have competed at a very high level. We are looking forward to getting to China and playing some games. Below is the roster for our trip to China.

Our China Trip Roster is as follows:

Natalie Achonwa 6’3” Ontario St. Mary’s High School (NEDA)
Jordan Adams 6’4” BC University of New Mexico
Kelsey Adrian 6’1” BC University of California – Berkeley
Chelsea Aubry 6’2” Ontario University of Nebraska
Janelle Bekkering 6’ Alberta Gonzaga University
Kaela Chapdelaine 5’10” Alberta University of Oregon
Leanne Evans 6’3” BC University of British Columbia
Teresa Gabriele 5’5” BC Simon Fraser University
Kadie Riverin 5’9” Ontario Rice University
Kim Smith 6’1” BC University of Utah
Alisha Tatham 5’11” Ontario University of Massachusetts
Tamara Tatham 6’1” Ontario University of Massachusetts

This is a small, but very athletic team. We have very good quickness, which we are using to pressure the ball, attack penetration and RUN! They are a great group of young woman. Seven of these athletes have professional playing experience. That experience alone has helped us at this training camp. Everyone is picking things up more quickly and we have been able to get more systems in than at some camps with less experienced players. I know those of you that follow the National Team program will be wondering about a few names that you have seen over the years on our Junior and Development Teams. Our World Qualifying Tournament is in late September (23-29) in Brazil. Many of our Junior and Development age athletes are not available to play at the qualifier in September, due to NCAA commitments, therefore they did not tryout for the team. You will see some of our up and coming players on our FISU Games team this summer.

We are currently in Shanghai waiting for a domestic flight to Quanzhou. So here is a look at our day…

7:15 am - Wake-up and walk to UTM Athletic Facility
7:30 am - Non-weight bearing aerobic activity (bike, stepper, etc.) Stretch.
8:00 am - Breakfast
8:30 am - Back to dorms – shower up and finish packing
9:30 am - Taxi’s take us to the airport
10:00 am - Check in at Air Canada desk
1:00 pm - Flight leaves Toronto for Shanghai
3:10 pm (China Time)- Arrive in Shanghai (14 hours of flying)
3:30 pm - Collect Luggage – get on a bus and transfer to Domestic Airport
9:45 pm - Flight leaves for Quanzhou
11:15 pm - Arrive Quanzhou
11:30 pm - Load luggage on to bus and drive to Hotel
12:00 midnight - Arrive Hotel – check in
1:00 am - Head is finally on a pillow

From the time we woke-up until the time we got in a real bed was about 29 hours!! LONG DAY
Our athletes never whine – they are the most amazing group to travel with. It is a tribute to the athletes themselves, but also to our Development and Junior coaches who do a fantastic job of educating the athletes on “how to travel” and “how to carry themselves as a National Team athlete”. By the time they get to the Senior National team they really know how to handle themselves on long trips and in foreign countries.

Monday, June 8th, 2009

We let the athletes sleep in until 10:00 am today. We are staying at a very nice hotel – thanks to the Chinese Basketball Federation! The rooms were great and everyone had a very good sleep. Most of the players said they were out as soon as their head hit the pillow.

The breakfast buffet is amazing with a full array of foods to choose from – you can order eggs anyway you want, yogurt, fruit, toast, cheese, cereal and of course a few other Chinese foods I can’t quite describe. We had a good breakfast, a short meeting and then went for a team walk… just to get the legs moving after being on the airplane for so long.

It is very hot and very humid, our rooms are air-conditioned and I hope the gym is too. We have practice from 5:00 – 7:00 pm tonight and then we play tomorrow. Practice after a tough trip, in the heat and humidity, really shows which players can bring energy ALL THE TIME!! It shows mental toughness and the ability to bring your best no matter what the conditions are. Handling adversity, being able to traveling, loving to play against the best… these are all traits that a National Team Athlete must have!

One of the guys, Matt, who met us at the airport and is organizing our trip, is from Australia and has worked in China for the past two years. He said that the Chinese Women’s National Team has been training together since April and will stay together until November when they have their Asian Qualifiers. They will be training together between 7 and 8 months. They do not go home in between, but stay with the team the entire time. Leading up to the Beijing Olympics China put a great deal of money into their Women’s Basketball team. Obviously that support paid off as the Chinese Women finished 4th at the Olympics.

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Beyond the Court with Allison McNeill - Maccabiah Games - May 19, 2009

Last week I had the pleasure of being one of the Key Note speakers at the BC Maccabiah Games fundraising banquet. The banquet was held at the Richmond Golf and Country Club in Richmond, BC. It was an amazing event and I felt very honored to be part of it.

You may be asking yourself, “What are the Maccabiah Games?” Well they are games that are held every fours years in Israel, and they are for Jewish athletes. The first games were held in 1932 and the games being held this July 2009 will be the 18th games. Some of the notable athletes that have competed in the games include: Swimmer Mark Spitz and Gymnasts Mitch Gaylord and Kerrie Shrugg. This summer they are expecting over 7000 athletes from about 52 different countries to attend the games. The slogan for the Maccabiah Games is: “Two weeks to compete, and a lifetime to remember”.

The highlight of the evening for me was seeing the athletes called up to the front of the banquet hall. They looked very proud and their parents, family and friends in the crowd looked even more proud! What an awesome opportunity for these young athletes. As I said in my speech it will be a life-altering experience for these athletes.

The second highlight of the evening was hearing Canadian Olympian, and Maccabiah Games, alumnus Karen James speak. You could have heard a pin drop in the room when she spoke about her experiences at the 1972 Munich Olympics. She also spoke of attending the Maccabiah Games as a 12 year old in 1965. As most people know it was at the Munich Olympics where 9 Israeli athletes were kidnapped and eventually murdered by Palestinian terrorists, a tragedy that changed the face of the Olympics forever.

Below is an excerpt from an article written on June 30, 2006 by Kyle Berger on the web site jewishindependent.ca This is the story that Karen James told at the banquet.

For most Canadians, September 1972 was all about hockey's Summit Series that saw Canada facing Russia – and the Olympic Games in Munich, Germany. For Karen James, who was representing her country at the Olympics at the time, it wasn't much different. That was until devastation overshadowed the spirit of the Olympics in a way that permanently scarred her.

It was two in the morning, several days after competing in the 200 individual medley swim event, when James and some friends returned from the Canadian press building where they had watched one of the legendary hockey games. Instead of entering the athletes' village through the front gates, they took a short cut, climbing a tall chain link fence. At the same time, James noticed a few other dark figures doing the same thing, but thought very little of it.

The next morning, she discovered that those dark figures were the Palestinian kidnappers who took 11 Israeli athletes and coaches hostage and eventually murdered them all.

"I remember seeing a fairly tall man, covered in black, and it was September, so he was certainly over-dressed," she said of the visions that still haunt her today. "It kind of registered and we knew they weren't athletes, but the realm of possibility was not there. The thought that they were there to do harm just did not occur to us."

James went to sleep and woke early that morning to the sound of helicopters flying overhead. She went to the Canadian medical building to get a better view of what was happening. There, she witnessed one of the most infamous terror events in history.

"We could see where they were being held hostage and we could see the Palestinian with his gun," she explained. "We witnessed the drama of the German authorities and the PLO guy going back and forth negotiating. And we saw later in the day when the Israeli athletes were led out to a bus."

A few hours later, rumors began to spread that the hostages had been freed, but joy turned to shock soon after, when the announcement was made through the media, "They're all gone."

"I think I was in shock and a bit numb," James said of her reaction to the news of her Israeli peers. "It had a huge emotional impact on me and it still does."

Although a memorial service was held in the Olympic stadium, James couldn't handle the idea of the Games continuing and decided to leave. "They made the announcement that they were continuing with the games and I couldn't live with that," she said. "It was like the end of innocence at that point."

Although she understands why it never crossed her mind at the time, James said she still struggles with the idea of what might have happened if she had reported seeing the tall, dark strangers that night.

"I still live with wondering, should I have said something?" she said. "And if I had, what difference would it have made?"

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Beyond the Court by Allison McNeill - Celebrating Success - May 4,2009

On Saturday, April 25 I attended the Basketball BC Hall of Fame banquet. There were over 350 people in attendance and it was a superb night. So much fun to see everyone and to be there to honour the inductees and celebrate their successes. It is such a wonderful gathering of the local basketball community... and some not so local. Among the banquet attendees were current men's National Team coach, Leo Rautins as well as former National Team Coaches Ken Shields and Jay Triano. There were many former National Team athletes in attendance and it was great to see everyone reminiscing about the "old days,". It reminded me of the saying, "The older we get, the better we were"!!

It was a special night for me personally because one of my former athletes from SFU was inducted. Michelle Hendry played for me at Simon Fraser University from 1989-1992 and played in the National Team program for about 14 years. She was a 2000 Olympian and had a long professional career in Germany and more recently Spain. She currently resides in Spain with her husband Nick and their daughter Laia. (Nick played for Don Horwood at the U of Alberta). Michelle is about 6'2" and Nick is 6'8", so I am hoping to still be coaching when Laia is old enough to play!

I actually coached Michelle on the BC U-17 team when she was in grade 11, then again for four years up at Simon Fraser University and on the National Team. I am surprised that she still talks to me!

At Simon Fraser University she was part of a group of athletes that changed the face of the Women's Basketball program forever. During her four years at Simon Fraser University the team went 110-23 with 3 trips to the NAIA National Championships. She helped lead SFU to their first ever conference championship, and first ever trip to a National Championship.

Michelle finished up her four-year career as the all-time leading scorer in Simon Fraser University Basketball history - 3152 points. At the time of this record there were only 4 female players in the history (NCAA, NAIA and CIAU) of women's basketball that had scored more points than Michelle. For her career Michelle averaged 24.6 points per game - AVERAGED! On top of her incredible individual success her teams were always very successful.

Michelle played in the Canadian National Team program for 4 different coaches over 15 years. She played 110 games with the Maple Leaf on her chest. She represented Canada at the University Games, Pan Am Games, Goodwill Games, World Championships and the Olympics.

Michelle is one of only 2 BC women that I know of, Bev Smith being the other, that played at such a high level of professional basketball for so long. She played first division in Germany and Spain for 15 years.

During her induction speech Michelle, as she always does, thanked and gave credit to the people that helped her along the way - her family, her teammates and her coaches.

During the day, before the banquet on Saturday, about 18 of my former players (as well as some of their kids, husbands and partners) from SFU had a reunion. It was the first time that many of us had gotten together for quite a few years. Michelle flew in from Spain, but we also had players fly up from San Diego, fly down from Prince George and drive in from Penticton and Castlegar. I know that every coach feels that they coached the most amazing people and I am no different. I had the pleasure of coaching some of the most incredible women! I coached at Simon Fraser University for 13 years and was honored to coach these special women. I consider them all to be great friends and I was so lucky to be part of their lives.

Collectively this group has 27 children... like I said I hope I am still coaching as their children start playing sports. Amongst these special women we have artists, several teachers, a postal worker, a lawyer, a police officer, a firefighter, a surgeon, a physiotherapist, a sales rep, a professional athlete, several activists and some incredible Moms!

Two women who have dedicated an incredible amount of time and energy to building women's basketball in this country are retiring. They have been role models for athletes and coaches alike and they will be missed. Carolyn and Chris, thanks for all you have done and will continue to do for the women's game in this country.

Dr. Carolyn Savoy is retiring after a 32-year career of outstanding service to Dalhousie University and its women's basketball program. Carolyn went to Dalhousie in 1977 as head coach of the women's basketball team, following seven years in the same capacity at St. FX and has been leading the Tiger squad ever since, with the exception of two years of sabbatical leave. In over three decades of coaching Coach Savoy has posted very impressive results, including an 858-292 Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) win-loss record (including 738-240 at Dalhousie) for a 74.6 winning percentage. A four-time Atlantic University Sport (AUS) Coach of the Year (1982, 2001, 2005, 2007), she led the Tigers to the national final in 1980, the semifinals in 1982, to a fourth place CIS finish in 2007 and placed sixth at nationals in 1986, 1996 and 2001. Coach Savoy's teams have won nine regular season AUS titles and five AUS Championships. Academically, her teams have a 100% graduation record for those playing 3-5 years in the program.

On a personal note, I have gotten to know Carolyn over the last 10 years and she always has been, and will continue to be, a class act! Not only has Carolyn been a pioneer and leader for women's basketball in Canada, but she has also been a great role model and teacher for up and coming coaches in Atlantic Canada. The game will miss her, but I know she will never be too far away.

Here is a quote from Carolyn when she was asked about her legacy: "My players. It is their combined successes that they have had and continue to have in their lives on and off of the basketball court. I am very proud of all of my players' many accomplishments over my coaching career. Many of them are still my dear friends."

Another CIS coach is retiring and that is Brock University women's basketball head coach Chris Critelli. Chris has been with the Brock program for 27 years. She will take over as the Assistant Athletic Director on a full-time basis.

I had the pleasure of playing with Chris on the 1978 Laurentian Vees women's basketball team that won the CIAU Championship. Not only was Chris an incredible player, she was, and is, a wonderful person.

"Chris has provided outstanding leadership as a coach for more than 25 years," said Director of Athletics Dr. Lorne Adams. "She has been a role model and mentor for the young women who have played for her. Her passion and commitment to women's basketball is unparalleled. Her optimism, positive outlook and upbeat approach were the hallmarks of her career. Brock basketball will miss her, as will the OUA and CIS community of coaches. However she will be an excellent Assistant Athletic Director and I am looking forward to working with her in her new position on a full time basis."

For the past 35 years Chris has played a big part in the overall growth and development of women's basketball in Canada both as a player and a coach.

"What I will miss the most is the players, as they have always kept me young and taught me something new everyday," said Critelli. "It has been a privilege to coach so many fine student athletes. I coached and loved every minute of it because of my team. I want to ensure I leave coaching with that taste in my mouth. I will also miss the competition, as I believe that through competition we better ourselves in order to offer what we can of ourselves."

In 2005-06 the women's basketball team, under Critelli's direction, set a new Brock single season OUA record with 19 conference wins, capturing first place in the OUA West Division. She also led the Badgers to 25 victories overall in 2005-06, a new single season high in her 25 seasons, five shy of the school record set in 1982-83 (30-3).

Critelli led her squad to the league playoffs 22 out of 25 seasons. She ends her coaching career as the all-time winningest coach in Brock women's basketball history with 393 career victories.

In 2000 she was inducted into the Ontario Basketball Hall of Fame. In 1998 Critelli was also inducted into the Canadian Basketball Hall of Fame and in November of 1999 she was inducted into the St. Catharines Hall of Fame.

The native of St. Catharines made the Canadian National Team at the age of 17 and was a member for seven years including the 1976 and 1980 Olympic Teams. As a member of Team Canada she won three bronze medals in 1979 at the Pan-Am Games, the World Championships and FISU games.

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Beyond the Court by Allison McNeill - Greetings from Smithers!

I am at the Smithers airport heading back to Vancouver. I spent the weekend up here working with the newly formed Steve Nash Youth Basketball League. Friday night I did a four-hour coaches clinic with coaches from the local SNYB league; Saturday morning I did a two-hour session with the U14 Regional Team, then I Spent the rest of the day working with the various groups of kids from the SNYB league from ages 10-16. The kids and coaches were awesome to work with and I think everyone had a fun-filled weekend of Basketball.

Smithers is a town of approximately 5400 people situated in the Bulkley Valley of northern British Columbia. It is situated along the Yellowhead Highway 16 approximately half way between the cities of Prince Rupert and Prince George. It was a beautiful sunny day when I few in and the views of the valley were stunning. Smithers is a very good “Sports” town having great recreation as well as competitive sport for their residents. It is wonderful to see that they have started up a SNYB league. Congratulations to Recreation Director Andrew Hillaby for the work he is doing in Smithers and for starting the Steve Nash league.

One of my high school teammates, Shelley lives in Smithers, so I was able to connect with her and her family, which was awesome. I met her husband and 2 of her 4 amazing children. She comes from an Italian family of 5 girls (who all played basketball) and a Dad who coached. Her Dad was an outstanding coach who was inducted into the Basketball BC Hall of Fame. (He coached the Salmon Arm Jewels)

I often get questions from Parents and Coaches asking me about summer camps and summer programs. Usually they want to know what the good programs are, and if they should enroll their children.

I have come up with a few questions that I think parents and coaches should ask before they enroll their children in any sports program.

You don't have to ask all of these questions, and of course you will likely have others that you feel are important. But do not be afraid to ask questions, it is your right as a parent. As your questions are answered you will develop a feel for the organization. If you are uncomfortable with what you have heard, look for another place for your child to play. All children deserve a fun, well-organized, well-coached and rewarding basketball experience. It is a parent's job to see that they receive it.

1. Who are the coaches? (The character of the people working with your child should be the most important thing – you have spent years raising you children and now you are not even going to check out the person coaching them – that does not make sense.)

2. Are all coaches in the organization required to have a criminal record check?

3. Are the coaches nationally certified? Do they have their NCCP (National Coaching Certification Program) coaching levels? In our country it is unfortunate but anyone can hang out a “coach” sign and work with children – but that should not be good enough to work with our children. If I were a parent I would definitely want my child to be coached by a competent, certified coach.

4. Do the coaches have an educational background? Are they trained teachers? Do they have any training in child development? Are they a parent themselves?

5. Do the coaches continue to professionally develop in the areas of youth development and basketball?

6. Do the coaches have your child’s best interest at heart or is this just “business” to them

7. Is the organization purely for profit or is it a not-for-profit organization? (All Provincial associations, such as Basketball BC; Alberta Basketball etc. are not-for-profit as is the YMCA, Steve Nash Youth League)

8. Who sponsors the league/team/club? (Provincial Organization; YMCA; School etc)

9. Do they have a written set of goals; guidelines and values? What is their mission statement?

10. Does the organization have insurance? should my child get injured?

11. Is the organization strategy developmental, competitive or both?

12. How much are the registration fees and where does the money go?

13. Is emphasis placed on enjoyment, skill development, and the overall development of the child?

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Beyond The Court by Allison McNeill - Empowering Your Athletes

I spent a little time at the BC U-17 Provincial team tryouts this weekend. I only watched about 5 hours of the camp, but really enjoyed the time I watched. There were over 40 girls from all over BC. It was great to see some athletes coming in to learn and compete from all parts of the province – Kitimat, Princeton, Penticton, Victoria, Nanaimo, Vernon, Salmon Arm, Kamloops and other cities and small towns.

The BC Provincial team program has traditionally had representation from many of the rural areas of BC and it is good to see those kids out competing for the opportunity to represent BC. It was a great camp and the kids got incredible instruction by outstanding coaches. Not to mention the competition was outstanding with all of the best kids in the province in the same gym!

The athletes that make their U-17 provincial teams this summer will get a chance to play in the Canada Summer Games. It is our athlete’s first exposure to an “Olympic” style games – a multi-sport games. It will be held in PEI and I am sure it will be a spectacular event. Our Canadian athlete’s representing every province will be competing for a National Championship.

There are many opportunities for kids to play basketball, many more opportunities than when I was going through high school. That is a good thing… but – you knew there was going to be a but… there is nothing like representing your Province or your Country – NOTHING! Don’t let anyone tell there is – because there is NOT!

Talk to the people who have actually represented their Province and/or their Country and they will tell you what an honor it is. Not to mention having the opportunity to play against the best players in your own country and in the world.

Now on to another topic that is near and dear to my heart. Empowering your athletes. I believe it is of vital importance to empower your athletes.

Here are 10 things a coach can do to empower his or her athletes:

1. Create a safe/inclusive environment where every athlete is valued for what they do on the court, but more importantly for who they are and what they bring to the group. Appreciate each of your athletes for their uniqueness and the special things they bring to your team. Value the differences in your athletes and see the good in every young person you coach.

2. Allow your athletes some decision making power – on the court and off the court. There are “team” decisions and your athletes should be part of that process. On the court, at practice, use questions to engage your athletes and make them part of the decision making in game situations.

“Tell me and I will forget, show me and I may not remember, involve me and I will understand.”
Native American Proverb

3. Do not do everything for them – give them access to information and resources that they can use to help themselves now and when you are not there for them. We need to support our athletes, but we do not need to hover over them and do everything for them.

4. Encourage and reward assertiveness. Don’t shoot down your female athlete’s when the show some assertiveness, it is not about controlling them it is about empowering them.
Here is a great definition of assertiveness: Asking for what one wants or acting to get what one wants in a way that respects the rights and feelings of other people.

5. Teach and encourage your athletes to think critically – to ask questions, to see things differently.

6. Teach and encourage your athletes to have a voice – to make a difference in their own lives, their community, and the world. Encourage your athletes to stand up for the things they believe in. One great way to do this is to have your team adopt an elementary school; to help at a homeless shelter; to visit a children’s hospital. You can also have your team adopt an orphanage, run for Breast Cancer, or raise money for a cause they believe in.

7. Develop independent athletes. When you do this you are increasing their self-esteem and therefore helping them to be more resilient and increasing their chances of success in basketball and in the “real world”. Your goal as a coach should be that they DO NOT depend on you!

8. Allow your athletes to express frustration and anger in an appropriate way, not bottle it up and pretend that everything is “fine” if it is not “fine”. Communication is key. Your athletes need to feel that they can express their concerns without retribution.

9. Listen to your athletes. Encourage open and honest communication – this is a skill that will help them for a lifetime of healthy relationships. There is no chance for successful relationships in life if you cannot communicate.

10. Create a safe learning environment for your athletes to take risks and Learn new things. Compliment them when they try something new, they will have more fun and improve more quickly.

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Beyond The Court by Allison McNeill - Vision - April 2, 2009

Vision is an interesting word. It is used a great deal in the sports world in many different contexts.

Basketball coaches talk about the vision a player has when they have the ball on the court. We talk about some players’ “lack” of vision. And we spend a great deal of time as coaches discussing how to improve our players’ vision and decision-making. We can’t seem to understand why a player throws the ball right into defender’s hands – did they not see them? Where was their vision?

What about our own vision? If you are a coach or leader in basketball in this country then you need a vision and you need to share that vision with your team/organization.

What about our vision on a National, Provincial, City, School, University, College or Club level in Canada?
Do we see ourselves in the big picture of basketball in this country?

If an organization, or team, does not have a vision, they will struggle to move forward, will have difficulty rallying their “people” and will likely not achieve their goals. In short, they have little chance of being successful. Vision is essential to the success of any organization.

“The very essence of leadership is that you have a vision.”
Theodore Hesburgh


“A person who aims at nothing is sure to hit it!”
Anonymous

All leaders have a responsibility to the people they lead. The leader must make the vision clear to their followers. When you coach a team or lead an organization is it enough to state: “we are going to win”? Or to say “we are going to a World, National, or Provincial Power”? That is not a vision, it is a hollow statement. A vision paints a picture, it shows a path, and excites people to be part of something special.

Every sports psychologist will tell you that to be successful you must focus on the “process” and not the “outcome”. Is that any different when you are the leader of a team or organization?

When a leader, coach, or CEO says, “I am going to develop a winning program”, my first question would be “HOW” are you going to do it? Some other questions I might ask are: Do you have a clear sense of purpose? Do you speak with commitment and enthusiasm to the vision? Can your “people” describe the vision? What are the “core values” of your organization/team? What are the “non-negotiable”? How important is character? Are the “people” you work with going to be important in developing that “winning program”? Are you going to celebrate your successes and give credit to the people who have done the work? Are you going to reward loyalty, hard work and success? Are you going to be the hardest working person on your team? Are you going to lead by example?

When all is said and done a vision is the starting point, which some people never get to. It is essential, but it is not enough!

"Vision is not enough, it must be combined with venture. It is not enough to stare up the steps, we must step up the stairs."
Vaclav Havel
Czech playwright, writer and politician


It takes courage to stay the course, to believe in your vision. It also takes courage and fortitude to take the steps necessary to achieve the vision.

I spent thirteen years coaching at Simon Fraser University. During my first year as the coach at SFU we were picked to finish 7th in our conference. When I started coaching at Simon Fraser the women’s team had never been to the conference finals or the National Tournament. (They were however, 20-10 the year before I took over. They had an excellent coach – former Canadian National Team player Bev Bland).

We did not immediately start talking about “winning” or being a “National Power”. What we did, was talk about who we wanted to be as a team. How did we want to represent our team, our families, our hometowns, the University and ourselves? We talked about doing things with class and becoming the best players and the best team we could be. We talked about being fitter and tougher than our opponents, being a great defensive team and we talked about controlling the things we could control – like how hard we trained and competed. We established some “core values” and we got down to WORK!!

I did not know anything about the league or the players that first year, but I did know that our team would be fit, we would play D, we would work hard/train hard and we would be mentally and physically tough! That was how the “vision” was going to become a reality.

We finished 2nd in the conference that first year and went on to win 363 games over 13 years. We did all of that without focusing on the outcome, but more on the process. (Not to mention we had really great players and assistant coaches!!)

I saw Dave Smart, Carleton University Men’s coach, interviewed after they won their 6th CIS Championship in 7 years. I will paraphrase here, but he said something like this: “It is a fine line between winning and losing. But we will always work hard, compete and be mentally tough. So we will always have a chance to win. Dave Smart has developed a “Culture” at Carleton. He and his staff have developed a culture of training, of competing and of handling adversity. He has created an environment that challenges athletes and makes then find the best within them… and they win.

I do not know Dave well, but I think I am safe in saying that he had a vision and then just got down to work on the day-to-day things that made that vision become a reality. He had the courage to stay the course and “create” the vision.

"Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties that arise which tempt you to believe that your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires...courage."
Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Beyond the Court by Allison McNeill - March Madness – Bring it on - March 19, 2009

I know I say this every year, but I must say it again… This is my favorite time of the year.

MARCH MADNESS!

My March Madness started in Regina at the CIS women’s Championships last week. Then this week I watched the BC AAA Girls and Boys High School Championships which is always fun! The Handsworth Royals won the girls’ championship and St. George’s won the boys’. I really enjoy the seeing the kids play, but I also really enjoy connecting with all of the passionate parents and coaches that I know.

Then I watched the CIS Men’s Championships on TV. Carleton University won their sixth championship in seven years – that is rather impressive!! Dave Smart and his staff do a fantastic job of player development – their kids are strong, skilled and tough.

Now for the next few weeks all basketball fans, including me, will be glued to the TV watching the NCAA men’s and women’s tournaments. I will fill out both brackets, but I usually don’t go into a pool. I just like to do it for fun, and if I can beat my husband then that is better than winning money!

I was excited to see the University of Louisville men receive the number 1 seed in the tournament. While my husband and I were in Louisville a few weeks ago we were able to see them practice and I must say I am not surprised they are the number 1 seed. They are tough, quick, well coached (Rick Pitino) and they really competed hard at the practices we watched. They have many good players, but I really like the way one of their seniors plays. His name is Terrance Williams and he is from Seattle, Washington. He has a great understanding of the game and he loves to pass the ball – a bit of a rarity these days! He is a 6’6” point/forward. He averaged 13.2 points, 8.4 rebounds and 5.1 assists per game on the season. He sees the game so well and is such a great passer. When we saw Louisville play Providence on February 18 his stat line was rather impressive:

17 points; 6 rebounds; 8 assists; 2 steals.

Check him out during the NCAA Tournament – I think you will enjoy watching him play. I am looking forward to seeing how Louisville plays in the Tournament – I am taking them in my pool all the way to Championship.

In the NCAA Women’s Tournament the suspense is not really there because the University of Connecticut has an outstanding team – they are currently 33-0 and expected to win it all. But the great thing about Tournament time is that your record no longer matters and anyone can win! There should be some great games and I am hoping to find ESPN somewhere and watch some games.

We will have several National Team program athletes playing in the women’s NCAA Tournament this year. I hope they all play well and enjoy the experience.
Kelsey Adrian (BC) – University of California Berkeley (#4 Seed)
Kalisha Kean (Ontario) – Michigan State University (#9 Seed)
Jaleesa Rhoden (Ontario) – University of Georgia (#11 Seed)
Janelle Bekkering (Alberta) – Gonzaga University (#12 Seed)
Courtnay Pilypaitis (Ontario) – University of Vermont (#16 Seed)

So many basketball games – so little time :- )

It is spring break in many places around the country. Spring break means basketball camp. I am doing several camps over the break with young children. Today I worked with grade 4-6 athletes for two and a half hours. It was, as it always is with young athletes, fun and challenging. I am amazed at how much they can learn. I think we tend to underestimate their ability to learn the skills and concepts of basketball. They love a challenge, but you have to keep them having fun or you will lose them!

Generally I follow the same format and then change up the content depending on the kids and how they pick things up. It is about developing physical literacy and of course making it fun and challenging for the kids.

“To be physically literate includes the ability to move with poise and confidence across a wide range of activities. It also includes competencies that are linked to the development of the whole person (e.g., physical, affective, cognitive).

The development of fundamental skills is age related, not age dependent. Hence, when teaching children to develop fundamental skills, it must be done in a manner that is developmentally appropriate and sensitive to individual needs and abilities.

Individuals who are physically literate are able to move with proficiency across a wide variety of fundamental skills that serve as the foundation for future participation in sport specific activities.”

Physical Literacy Concept Paper – Brock University
Prepared by: J. Mandingo Ph.D.
N. Francis Ed.D.
K. Lodewyk Ph.D.

I start with an ABC’S warm-up. The skills/drills may vary, but each one will work to develop the child’s Agility, Balance, Co-ordination and Speed. I try to find “games” or “drills” that will develop the ABC’S in a fun way. Whenever possible I use a basketball as part of the warm-up.

From there I go to some warm-up games. These games usually include some form of tag. Kids love to chase each other!

After the warm-up games I go to some broad-based skill development games. These games may include throwing, catching, cutting, getting open, evading, etc. I usually finish with some developmental sport specific (basketball) games. This does not mean we “play” or “scrimmage” all of the time. This may include some dribbling or shooting games; small-sided games (1 on 1; 2 on 2) and advantage games (3 vs. 1; 3 vs. 2; 4 vs. 3 etc).

I really try to have a ball in each of the kid’s hands as much as possible during a practice session. We do lots of dribbling and lots of shooting… I mean who doesn’t like to shoot and dribble

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Beyond the Court by Allison McNeill - CIS National Championships - March 12, 2009

I have spent the last 5 days in Regina, Saskatchewan at the women’s CIS National Championships. Regina this year, and Saskatoon last year, were incredible host cities.

The city of Regina got behind this Championship like no other in recent memory. They love their basketball in Regina! It was a basketball filled weekend that included coach’s clinic, kids clinics and CP packed in between some very exciting women’s basketball.

I did a two-hour session with the CP athletes and also with a clinic with a group of 80 grades 6-8 female basketball players. I really enjoyed working with the athletes and there was some very good young talent!

With the CP athletes I focused on teaching the athletes some individual skills/drills that they can work on in the off-season. I tried to stress that the off-season is the time to work on your weaknesses and add to your game. I talked to them about “deliberate practice” and what that means. I focused on shooting the basketball, as this seems to be a skill we are very weak at in Canada. I also did some instruction on dribbling, making decisions one on one and two on one as well handling pressure (pivoting, using your dribble, spacing, forming triangles, taking a double team low etc.).

For all of the wonderful events going on this weekend, the most impressive event was the sell-out crowds for the games. The atmosphere for the Championship final was electric – and who doesn’t want to play in front of a great crowd. The gym was sold-out as the Regina fans were out in full-force to support their University of Regina Cougars.

The final game saw the #1 seed Simon Fraser University playing the #2 seed, and hometown favorite, University of Regina. Simon Fraser lived up to their seeding and won their fourth CIS banner in eight years. Regina picked up the silver medal and Alberta the bronze, for a Canada West sweep. Congratulations to Simon Fraser for a great Championship Tournament and a great year!
The Simon Fraser win extended the Canada West conference's domination of CIS women's basketball to 18 years (including Great Plains conference - Canada West and Great Plains merged in 2001-02). The Bronze Baby also remains in British Columbia and the Pacific Division for the eighth consecutive season following triumphs by Simon Fraser (4), UBC (3) and Victoria (1) since 2000-01.

Kudos must go out to the University of Regina, the local organizing committee, Basketball Saskatchewan, Canada Basketball and the CIS. It is amazing what can be accomplished when people work together!


Here are a few interesting moments from the weekend:

-Coach Chantal Vallee (4th season) and her team from the University of Windsor made history by qualifying for Nationals for the first time in the history of their school – they won their first ever OUA Provincial Championship. The Lancers finish the 2008-09 season as the program's most successful team in history, with an overall record of 33-4 and a fourth place finish in Canada.
-Linda Marquis (Laval) and Fabian McKenzie (Cape Breton) played each other in the 5th – 6th place game. Last summer they combined their enormous coaching talents to lead Canada’s National Development team in a series of games in China.
-The third member of the coaching staff for the Development National Team last summer was Jacquie Lavallee. Jacquie is the Saskatchewan CP Head Coach, a former University of Saskatchewan Huskie and former National Team athlete. Assisting Jacquie at CP was another former Huskie Charlene Cooper, former Regina Cougars Phoebe De Ciman and Lara Schmidt. It was great to see some former players giving back to our young athletes. I cannot think of any better role models for the young women in Saskatchewan. Those CP athletes are very fortunate indeed to have such incredible coaches helping them to improve and become the best they can be.
-Dani Langford was on the bench helping her Dad, Bruce Langford, coach SFU to their fourth CIS Championship. Dani played five years at SFU and was the MVP of the 2004-2005 CIS National Tournament.
-I was able to connect with two of my former athletes Tracy Faith (Nazarchuk) and Jessica (Kazowka) – it is always fun to reminisce about the good old days. It is wonderful to connect with all of these amazing women that you spent so much time with and had so much fun with!
-There were lots of young girls at all of the games. The local organizing committee paired a local girls club team with each University team. The girls’ team met the university teams at the airport to welcome them to Regina, and then cheered them on at all of the games. What a great way to get some role-modeling going on!

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Beyond the Court by Allison McNeill - Knowledge has limitations - February 26, 2009

"Use whatever knowledge you have but see its limitations. Knowledge alone does not suffice; it has no heart. No amount of knowledge will nourish or sustain your spirit; it can never bring you ultimate happiness or peace. Life requires more than knowledge; it requires intense feeling and constant energy. Life demands right action if knowledge is to come alive."
From Way of the Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman

I am currently taking NCCP Level 4 classes and the above quote was given to us by one of our professors. I love the quote!

I love to watch passionate coaches coach, and passionate athletes play. When I was an assistant coach at Oregon one of our other assistants coined a term we used when we were recruiting potential Student-Athletes, the term was "Vanilla". What she meant was, just another good player, but nothing special. It could be the 5'10' - 6'0" wing, nice shot, decent handle, hard worker, good defender, goes to the boards ... "Vanilla"! They have the game, they have the knowledge, but they do not have the burning intensity, the incredible passion for playing, they don't bring great energy to the floor, ... they are, in a term, "Vanilla".

Why did we all love watching Magic Johnson play? I loved the joy and passion he played with, his unbridled love of playing basketball. Remember that smile, how he grabbed Kareem and huggged him when they won their first NBA title together - I can still visualize "Magic" moments from many years ago. I also loved to watch Pete Sampras play tennis. He was not outwardly emotional, but his intensity and passion were undeniable. Do you think these two athletes had more "knowledge" than their peers? I don't think so!

I cannot count the number of times in my coaching career that I have been asked to "produce" a document for coaches or athletes to use to improve. Maybe it is an individual skill workout for an athlete - it is knowledge, it is valuable, but it has limitations. Give two athletes the same workout and you can get vastly different results - it is not the workout, it is the athlete themselves that makes the workout come to life. Why is it that one athlete can take a strength and conditioning program and get super strong and fit, and the exact same workout can be given to another athlete and that athlete does not get fit and strong. It is the energy, intensity and commitment that the first athlete brings to the workout.

I have been asked to "produce" practice plans or skill progressions for coaches... If it was that easy anyone could be a great coach. It is not the knowledge, it is the person, the coach, that brings the practice plan or the skill progression to life. Good coaches are most certainly knowledgeable, but then again so are some of the bad ones!

"No written word, no spoken plea, can teach our youth what they should be;
Nor all the books on all the shelves, it's what the teachers are themselves."
John Wooden

In this day and age it is easy to acquire coaching knowledge. There are all kinds of books, DVD's, websites, blogs, certification programs, coaches clinics, etc. I recognize how important it is to constantly be growing as a coach... but we have all seen coaches that have great knowledge and can't coach a lick! They have no intensity, no energy, no passion. Life, and coaching, demand intense feelings. The "art" of coaching cannot be found in a book.

I admit to being emotional and I used to feel like it was a weakness, but I now know it is a huge strength for a coach. I believe that many coaches are afraid of their emotions and they never get the joy of sharing those intense feelings with their athletes. I believe It is much more fun when you really feel all the emotions of your life - instead of just going through it numb! The other night I was watching Duke play Wake Forest on TV. Duke won the game, but what I remember most from the game is the huge hug between Coach K and Gerald Henderson at the end of the game. They are both so full of intense joy and passion. I have had many moments like that in coaching (and playing) and there is nothing quite like it.



I talked to a young coach today and she was telling me how she has replayed a last second loss from last season over and over and over. She is looking for what she could have done so that her team could have won the game. She talked about how she thinks about her players all the time, she thinks about how she can help them to be the best they can be, she talked about the joy of developing relationships with her players. She thought that maybe she was too demanding of her athletes. She said that coaching is so intense and all-consuming and she was wondering if maybe she was not cut out to be a coach. WHOA... you are exactly the type of person who should coach - YOU CARE - YOU ARE PASSIONATE , YOU ARE A GREAT ROLE MODEL AND YOU HAVE GREAT INTEGRITY!

Sport, like life, demands energy, passion and intense emotions! It does not matter what level you coach, it matters how much you put into it and how important it is to you. Lead with your heart and enjoy the moments... because that is what it is all about.

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Beyond the Court by Allison McNeill - Hoops in the bluegrass state - February 19, 2009

Greetings from Louisville, Kentucky. Home of the Muhammad Ali Center, the Louisville Slugger baseball bat factory,l Churchill Downs, The Kentucky Derby and the University of Louisville. Mike and I were coming to Louisville for a conference (IYCA - International Youth Conditioning Association) and thought we would combine some basketball watching with the conference. As most of you already know, Basketball is a bit of a big deal in the state of Kentucky. They truly love their Basketball. The University of Louisville women are ranked #8 in the NCAA and the men are ranked #5. We are excited to watch games and practices of two top ten ranked programs! I would like to say thanks to Stephanie Norman - assistant coach with the women's team for helping us out!

So... we arrived late last Sunday night and here is what we have been done so far:

Monday: Watched the Louisville women practice from 1:00 - 3:15 pm
Tuesday: Watched the Louisville men practice from 2:45 - 4:45 pm
Watched the Louisville women beat St. John's University
Wednesday: Went to the Muhammad Ali Center
Watched the Louisville men beat Providence University
Thursday: Went to the Louisville Slugger Museum (saw how bats are made!)
Watched the Louisville women practice from 1:00 - 3:00 pm
Drove to Lexington, Kentucky and watched the University of Kentucky
women beat University of Tennessee women (Big upset!)
Friday: Day 1 - IYCA Summit
Saturday: Day 2 - IYCA Summit
Sunday: Speed Camp - Brian Grasso - IYCA Summit
Watched Louisville men practice 12:00 - 1:30 pm
Monday: Trip to Churchill Downs and the Kentucky Derby Museum
Flight home!

This has been a great trip... who knew you could have so much fun in Louisville, Kentucky!

The Louisville men are coached by Rick Pitino - former Providence, Kentucky, Boston Celtics, New York Knicks coach. They have a very athletic team and they like to press and run. They have players from all over the country, but one of their best guys is Terrence Williams from Seattle, Washington. The practice we watched was the day before they played Providence, so the majority of the practice was 5 on 5 going over Providence. They practice VERY hard and they really compete - and this was the day before a game! Pitino is demanding and he gets after his athlete, but he seems to have a good repore with them. Pitino's son is one of his assistants and he obviously had the scout on Providence so he organized most of the on-court scout. They watched tape for 15 minutes before practice and 15 minutes after practice. They also do individual work in the morning.

One of the women's practices was before they played St. Johns and the second one was before they played Villanova. Their practices were very similar to the men's practice in that they did a fair bit of scouting report preparation and most of the practice was 5 on 5. The women also did some defensive breakdowns at the beginning of practice. They have a young, but very athletic team. They have six freshman... but they also have two very good seniors. One of their players was the Big East player of the year last season and we coached against her as she played for the USA in the Pan American games. They also press and look to create turnovers and score in transition. They work extremely hard and are really tough kids. They were lots of fun to watch train and to play. The women's coaching staff is in their second year at Louisville. Their head coach is Jeff Walz, and after being a long time assistant Louisville is his first head coaching job. He is originally from Kentucky so is happy to be home and coaching at Louisville. He and his staff do a very good job - they really push the kids. He is tough on them, but again it appears that he and his staff have a very good report with their athletes.

The University of Louisville has amazing athletic facilities. Both the men and women have their own gymnasium, weight room, cardio area, offices, lockers, team rooms, film room etc. We did not get to tour the men's new facility, but we did tour the women's and it is outstanding. What a great advantage to have your own gym - the athletes can get in at any time to work out on their own and the coaches can schedule practice around the athletes classes and not intramurals etc. There are no other teams that practices in their facility - the same is true of the men's team. They are also building a new arena in downtown Louisville that will be finished in 2010 and should seat about 22,000 screaming cardinal fans. The city of Louisville advertises itself as "The Greatest College Sports Town in America"... at this point I am not going to doubt that claim!!

We had a tour of the Louisville Slugger baseball bat factory. It was very interesting to see how
they make the wooden bats. We also were able to swing a few of the bats the Pros use. The bats have really changed over the years - the handle of the bats is much thinner than it used to be and the weight is much less. Apparently it is all about bat speed these days!

We visited the Muhammad Ali Center and the Louisville Slugger Factory. The Muhammad Ali center was amazing and if you ever find yourself in Louisville, Kentucky you must make it a priority to see it. It is truly inspiring and very moving. Before Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods there was Muhammad Ali... we all know who he is, but I would challenge that most people do not "know" him. I learned so much about Muhammad Ali, the person, from going through the center.

One thing that really hit me was a video of a young woman saying that as a black child growing up in the south she was taught to be silent, don't do anything to get yourself noticed, don't step out of line, don't wear flashy clothes, try to be invisible. She said that what that does to a person's confidence can never be repaired. Then along came Ali and he was outspoken, "pretty", confident, opinionated and outstanding at what he did - he was "the greatest". He helped to change everything for the better. He was not going to be considered a second class citizen by anyone. I had no idea that he was such a humanitarian, that he did so much work for others around the world. It was an amazing three hours.

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Beyond the Court by Allison McNeill - Making a difference, Night Hoops- February 12, 2009

If children and young people are not Canada's most important resource then I do not know what is. Basketball is an amazing way to connect with, and to make a difference in, the lives of young people.

I was very fortunate as a young person, to have coaches and teammates that made a huge difference in my life. There is no doubt that basketball, and being part of a team, has been a big part of shaping my life. I guess because of my own experiences I think that everyone should have the same opportunities that I had. I believe that being part of a team, wearing a jersey, receiving quality coaching, competing, learning to win and learning to lose should be an opportunity that is available to all young people. There are so many life lessons to be learned through the sport of basketball.

Sport demands that we give it our best - and giving your best is not easy, it is hard. There are setbacks and there is adversity to overcome when you are part of a team. But in the end when you finish a tough game or a tough practice you know you have given your best and you learn that you "can do it"! Sport helps young people to grow, to find the best they have within them and to do it in a challenging, safe and positive environment. All young people deserve this opportunity.

This past weekend I met some amazing young coaches who are sharing their time, expertise, life experiences and love of basketball to give at-risk kids the opportunity to be part of a team.

Last Saturday Mike and I conducted a clinic with the "Night Hoops" Coaches and five young coaches from the Urban Native Youth Association (UNYA) in Vancouver. Amazing Day! Thanks to all of the coaches who took part - you were awesome! Thanks also for your passion for basketball and your commitment to youth and your community...you are definitely an inspiration to me!

Night Hoops is a late night basketball program for youth 13-18 years of age. The goal is to use basketball as a vehicle to promote asset development in a supported environment. Night Hoops offers youth the opportunity to experience the thrill of playing on an organized basketball team. The Nigh Hoops Program is currently active in Vancouver and Burnaby.
-Night Hoops is FREE for all players.
-The Night Hoops Society governs the league. MCFD, Vancouver Park Board,Vancouver School Board, Vancouver Police Department, The Justice Institute, MoreSports, Basketball BC and the Greater Van represent the Board of Directors. Basketball Officials Association.
-Preferred placement goes to youth who are referred to the program by a social service agency. The Night Hoops League Coordinator sets teams.
-Players are to commit to Friday night practices and games each Saturday night for the duration of the season.

The Night Hoops Mission Statement is:
"To encourage healthy life choices for at-risk youth through the context of a pro-social, late-night basketball program. We also value 'connecting youth and community' and 'acting locally, thinking globally'.

Night Hoops currently has 22 teams, 31 coaches (male and female), 20 referees and over 300 players. Generally the teams practice on Friday night and all games are played on Saturday night. If you would like more information you can go to www.nighthoops.ca

Here are a couple of pictures from the day. Thanks to Steve Anderson and Chad Cowles from Night Hoops for organizing the day and for sending me the pictures.


Coaches from "Night Hoops" and the Urban Native Youth Association


Kakada Pen (Night Hoops "Coach Of The Year") and me!

I also did a kids/coaches clinic in Cranbrook on Monday. Thanks to Patt Dolan for organizing and to all of the kids and coaches - I had a great time working with all of you. They have a very good group of grade 6/7 girls up there...keep your eye on them in the future.

National Team Alumni update:

Joby McKenzie, 6'2",Forward
Hometown: Pitt Meadows, BC
University: Simon Fraser University

Played for the Senior National Team: 1998-2001
Played for the 1997 FISU Games Team

I had the pleasure of coaching Joby for her four years at Simon Fraser University. She had an outstanding university career and also played professionally in Europe. Unfortunately a back injury cut short Joby's National team career.

"Since finishing playing basketball in 2001, I have been busy with school. I graduated in 2007 with my PhD in Medical Genetics from the University of Toronto and then just recently (December 2008) finished my MBA from the University of Western Ontario (Richard Ivey School of Business). In January 2009, I will be starting my first 'real' job as a consultant for The Boston Consulting Group in the Toronto office. I am very lucky to have an amazing husband, Michael Szego and daughter, Quincie (born April 2008); they help to balance my busy work life."

"I have many fond memories of my years (1998-2001) on the Canadian Women's National team - both on and off the court. I thrived on the intense competition and thrill of team victories and have yet to find another activity that recapitulates these feelings. However, it was the incredibly intelligent, passionate, talented and dedicated women that left the most lasting impression on my life; many of these amazing women are life-long friends."

Here are two more National Team athlete updates from overseas:

Sarah Crooks is playing 2nd Division in Spain
Her team is 3rd in the league - out of 15 teams. They are 13-4 and just knocked off the #1 and #2 teams.
Sarah's Statistics:
14.4 ppg; 8.6 rpg; 48% FG; 93% FT

Kaela Chapdelaine is playing 1st Division in Slovakia
She just joined the team and they have won 3 straight games. Last game she had a "double-double" - 11 points and 10 assists.

It is that time of the year¡­PLAYOFFS! Show your spirit and get out to a gym to support your local High School, CCAA or CIS team. We need people's butt's in seats to support our athletes!

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Beyond the Court by Allison McNeill -National team updates- February 5, 2009

I was out watching High School girls basketball this past weekend. We saw some really good games and we really enjoyed watching the young women play. I was able to see my old high school team - the Salmon Arm Jewels play - so that was great! Have to support the Alma mater. But I have to admit I am getting worried about High School girls basketball in BC... and this may be the case in the rest of the country too. I am seeing more and more teams with 8 or 9 players. What are we doing wrong as coaches and parents that our talented young girls are quitting basketball. I know times have changed and I hate to always refer to the past, but when I went to high school in Salmon Arm, BC we had TWO senior girls teams! The Jewels and the Gems. Now I see big High Schools that can only get 8-10 kids out to play and that may include grades 9-12!
I wish I had the answer to the problem, but I don't. I know I have written about girls and women in sport before... but it is a topic near and dear to my heart.

Here are a couple of things coaches and parents of young female athletes need to remember:

Research indicates that girls and women become involved in physical activity and sport for many reasons. Most commonly, females are attracted to sport for the elements of affiliation, skill development, personal improvement, a nurturing environment and a social network (Sturrock, 1999).

Common barriers to female involvement in physical activity and sport are lack of encouragement, lack of opportunity or conflict with other interests, a girl's own belief that they do not have enough skill to participate and parents who perpetuate stereotypes of femininity by associating sport with masculinity (Feltes, 1998).

Speaking of female athletes... Here are some National Team Statistical updates - thanks to the players for sending them to me so that I could share them on my blog.

Tamara Tatham plays first Division in Germany:
19.7 ppg 9.7 rpg 2.7 spg 57% FG 70% FT

Chelsea Aubry plays first Division in Slovakia:
15.4 ppg 5.0 rpg 2.0 spg

Alisha Tatham play first Division in Switzerland:
17.0 ppg 5.4 rpg 43% FG 71% FT

Lizanne Murphy plays first Division in Lithuania and her team also plays in the Baltic League:
Lithuanian league stats:
11.5 ppg 7.2 rpg 2.5 spg 59% FG 80% FT
Baltic League stats:
12.0 ppg 7.1 rpg 1.6 spg 67% FG 95% FT

Mike and I went to a wonderful fundraising event at WJ Mouat Secondary School in Abbotsford, BC. It was organized by Kim Chapdelaine (Mom of National Team guard Kaela Chapdelaine). It was a game between local players from Yale Secondary, MEI, and W.J Mouat Secondary and the BC Lions and National Team point guard Teresa Gabriele.

The fundraiser was for one of the WJ Mouat senior boys basketball players who has Leukemia. His name is Geoffery Reyes. It was a very moving evening to see the basketball community come together to help this young man and his family.

The game was fun to watch with the BC Lions and Teresa winning the game. There were over 700 people that attended the game and it raised $6,500 dollars to help the Reyes family.

Teresa and the BC Lions (Paris Jackson, Geroy Simon, Jerome Dennis, B.J. Tucker, Baron Miles, Mark Washington, Ryan Phillips, and Haji Rasouli) won the game 76-68. It was fun to watch and I think everyone had a great night for a great cause.

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Beyond the Court by Allison McNeill - Respecting the Game - January 29, 2009

Another weekend of basketball for me... not watching it this time, but instead working with coaches and kids. Mike and I were in Victoria doing a "Community Sport Initiation" coaches clinic with about 33 University of Victoria students. They are all elementary school teacher education students. It was a GREAT day! So many fresh young faces eager to learn and to get into a school and start coaching kids. They were so much fun to work with.

Thanks must go to Luanne Hebb (former UVIC women's basketball player and UVIC Hall of Fame member) and Ken Shields (former UVIC men's coach and Former National Team Head Coach) who initiated the idea and then contacted Mike McNeill (Director of coaching development for Basketball BC) to do the clinic. Ken and Luanne, along with Skip Cronk and Dave Petrie are working with new coaches in Victoria. It is a great example of coaches mentoring and giving back to their community. (I must note here that they all grew up in Prince Rupert and played for the Rainmakers. Ken, Skip and Dave all played on the same High School team that won the AAA Boys High School Basketball Championships in 1964).

Sunday night Mike and I did two 1.5-hour clinics in West Vancouver for the Steve Nash Youth League grade 4/5 and grade 6/7 kids and coaches. We had about 50 kids and in each session (100 total) and they were great fun to work with. We focused on shooting and dribbling.

Monday's and Wednesday's I am doing a pilot project with a North Delta Elementary after school program. It is with girls and boys K - grade 3. It is a fundamental movement class - early sport development. It is based on the LTAD (Long Term Athlete Development model. ltad.ca) I have four young coaches helping me and we are working with 25 kids. It is very challenging, but very rewarding working with this age group. I must say I have always admired elementary school teachers, but after doing their job for one hour twice a week I have an even deeper respect!

We are focusing on building fundamental movement skills, such as running, skipping, hopping, jumping, landing, twisting, turning etc. So far it has been really fun and I can already see the improvement in the kids physical literacy – their ABC’S – Agility, Balance, Co-ordination and Speed.

One of my favorite sayings is “Give the game the best you have and the best will come back to you”. I saw a great post on Eric Musselman’s blog (emuss.blogspot.com) last Monday. He talked about playing without passion being disrespectful to the game. I agree!

Eric Musselman quotes Tennessee women’s coach Pat Summitt from a New York Times article. According to the article, 45 of Pat Summitt’s former players, about a third of the players who have passed through her program, have become coaches.

Carla McGhee, who played for Coach Summitt and is now a member of the coaching staff at South Carolina, sees things now that she didn't see when she was a player:
"As a player, I couldn’t see why Pat would get so upset about a lack of effort, why she would say it was disrespecting the game. Now when I see a lack of effort, something about it just grates my nerves, and before I know it, I blow my top."

Coach Summitt talks about the need to play with passion:
"I think every time you play the game, you should play the game with great passion if you're competitive, if you love the game,'' Summitt said. "You don't disrespect the game. If you don't play hard, what are you bringing, what are you saying?"

Here are two quotes from the great former Princeton University Men’s Basketball coach, Pete Carril. They are taken from his book “The smart take from the strong”. I also found these on Eric Musselman’s Blog.
“I tell my guys that if they work hard every day, then they don't have to worry about game plans, or where they play, or whom they play, or about rankings and so on. The quality of their work habits can overcome anything: praise, criticism, good or bad coaching. They have their daily behavior to fall back on.”

“I can check the level of your honesty and commitment by the quality of your effort on the court. You cannot separate sports from your life, no matter how hard you try. Your personality shows up on the court: greed, indifference, whatever, it all shows up. You cannot hide it.”

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Beyond the Court by Allison McNeill - Positive Thinking - January 22, 2009

I had a great weekend... Thursday night Mike and I went out to a high school boy's tournament to watch South Kamloops play Prince Rupert. Both teams are extremely well coached and it was fun to watch. South Kamloops is currently the #1 ranked team in BC High School AAA Boys basketball. I think they may be the biggest team in the country - bigger than any of the CIS teams! They are huge. Their front line is 6'10, 6'8" and 6'7" (and they have a 6'9" guy who comes in off the bench!) - and they aren't just big, they are skilled. In fact Kelly Olynyk (Junior National Team/NEDA) is 6'10" and he handles the ball as much as anyone on the team. They are fun to watch.

Saturday morning we worked out National Team athletes Kaela Chapdelaine and Teresa Gabriele - that is always fun because they enjoy working hard, enjoy getting better and love to push themselves.

Then Saturday afternoon we went out to watch the #1 (Elgin Park) and #2 (Handsworth) ranked teams in BC AAA Girls Basketball play. Elgin Park ended up winning a tough 3 point game 68-65. It was a good game for the fans to watch... there were some great individual plays, and some great teamwork.

As soon as the Elgin-Handsworth game was over we drove out to Abbotsford and watched the final of the Snowball Tournament. The final was Yale (the defending BC AAA Boys Champions) against a team from Milwaukee, Wisconsin - Rufus King. The gym was sold out and the atmosphere was electric... it helped that Yale High School is located in Abbotsford so there was a good "home" crowd; and of course the fact that they were playing an American team is always a draw. The crowd got what they came for; a good game and a win by the Canadian boys!! Yale plays very hard, they play well together and they have an outstanding grade 11 point guard, Marek Klassen. Rufus King was quicker and bigger overall, but I would have to give the edge in toughness, skill and understanding of the game to the Yale guys.

Now that is my idea of a good weekend!! Get out to a high school game and support your local athletes!

I found this posted by SportMed BC. I could not find the author of the article. There are so many talented athletes, coaches and people that beat themselves up. Like any skill positive thinking needs to be practiced. Here are some great suggestions to think more positively.

Positive Thinking

The ability to control emotions and to concentrate on the task at hand is critical to top performance. One of the biggest distracters for athletes can often be themselves. Sometimes when athletes strive for excellence, they can be extremely hard on themselves. In many cases this can be beneficial as it can enhance motivation and the drive and pursuit of goals. However, negative thoughts and images can also interfere with athletes' ideal focus, and in turn, adversely affect their performance. This is useful for all of us - not just coaches and athletes!

Did you know that you can think more positively by:
•Living in the present. Do not dwell on what you should have done or agonize about what you must do tomorrow. Do your best at what you are doing at every moment of the day. Yesterday is over; learn from it so you are better today and when tomorrow comes put into practice what you learned from today.
•Being objective and non-judgmental about yourself. When evaluating something you have done in your life, look at what actually happened. People at times tend to be their worst critic. Do not focus on calling yourself a jerk or a loser; you are not one. When something happens that was unfortunate or not what you intended the effort you put forth is always admirable. Even the world's best performers make mistakes, the difference is that they use their mistakes to their advantage and learn from them. You too have the power to learn from your least ideal performance and get right back up and try again.
•Using positive self-talk. Be positive in your thoughts about yourself. Build your self up, be kind to yourself and give yourself credit. Everyone would naturally like to do things ideally all the time but realistically you have done the best you can at that time.
•Knowing yourself. Distinguish between who you are - your real self - and
who you are striving to be - your ideal self. No one is perfect and no one will ever be, but striving to be your best is essential.
•Building a supportive environment. Surround yourself with people who are interested in you, who are supportive, who care about you, and who are honest with you at all times.
•Finding a highlight for each day. Take a moment each day and write down the highlights for that day. It could be anything from a fun interaction with a teammate or coach, a skill you performed well or just the fact that it was a beautiful sunny day. We spend a large portion of our time thinking about our mistakes or the things we could do better. We need to balance these thoughts out with positive thoughts or images. If we are not seeing a highlight in each day, in each practice or competition, then we are failing to acknowledge the good things within ourselves.


National Team Athlete update:

Lizanne Murphy - Montreal, Quebec. Dawson College. Hofstra University.
Liz has been with the Senior National Team for two summers. She also played one summer with the Development Team.
Here is Liz's update: "We played Spartak St-Petersburg (Russia) and we won by 2 points last week. It was a huge game since it means we will probably be the regular season winners for the Baltic league (and thus have very important home court advantage against one of the two euroleague teams - TEO (Lithuanian) or TTT Riga (Latvia)). Spartak was supposed to win the game since they have 4 Russian national team players and they were way bigger than us, but we still came out and won. And it was a really big game since we only play every team once in the Baltic league. We are still undefeated in the Baltic league.
Liz had 23 points 8 rebounds in her team's win over Spartak - St. Petersburg (Russia)

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Beyond the Court by Allison McNeill - Find Your Purpose, Find Your Joy! - January 15, 2009

I had a great conversation with Bev Smith (former National Team athlete and coach and current University of Oregon Women's Basketball coach) and good friend, on the phone the other day. We were talking about how a passion (for us it was basketball) and a person (for us it was our high school coach, Joe Kupkee) can help to set the path of your life. I often wonder what my life would have been like if I had not moved to Salmon Arm to go to school and play basketball. I had a passion for basketball before I ever moved to Salmon Arm, but Coach Kupkee and my dedicated teammates helped me to develop that passion into a purpose. Bev and I have both followed our passions for basketball, for learning and for trying to make a difference in people's lives. I do a great deal of work with young people and I am often stunned by the lack of passion, lack of purpose and the lack of commitment to anything. It is very sad because these are good kids. They are just kids without a purpose. I consider myself lucky to have had such wonderful parents, great coaches, supportive friends, and an incredible husband who encouraged me to pursue my passion.

Bev told me about a book she had read called "The Path to Purpose" - Helping our children find their calling in life. It is written by William Damon. Damon is one of the world’s leading scholars in human development. He is Professor and Director of the Center on Adolescence at Stanford University and editor of the definitive Handbook of Child Psychology. In the "The Path to Purpose", Damon takes readers inside the minds of disengaged and drifting kids and exposes the depth of their confusion and anxiety about what they should do with their lives. Damon then tells the stories of some inspired young people who are thriving--and identifies nine key factors that have made the difference for them.

I just picked the book up yesterday and started reading it last night. So far so great! I really am not that far into the book (2 chapters), but I went on the website to read about the book and found some very interesting things that prompted me to buy the book. I would like to share those with you:

On creating forward momentum in our lives...
Many Americans have become expert at finding short-term solutions to get through their lives—and they are instilling the same sort of shortsighted thinking in their kids. While short-term goals (e.g., homework, grades, making the team) may be necessary for adapting to a present situation and young people can learn from them, they don’t allow anyone to ask the important questions (What kind of person do I wish to become? What do I want to accomplish with my life? Why should I strive?) that create forward momentum in our lives and lead to lasting satisfaction.

On deriving personal satisfaction...
The advice we’re giving kids is increasingly cynical and makes them cynical: they hear dire warnings that things are unachievable and won’t net enough attention or profit, along with crafty advice about beating the competition. Kids need to hear how they can derive personal satisfaction from doing something that makes a difference in the world—even if they don’t get public recognition and huge financial rewards.

On helping your child sort through choice...
A parent cannot accomplish the task of identifying a purpose for a child, nor can a parent choose the child's personality or write a script for the child’s life. But a parent can introduce options and help a child sort through choices.

On having meaningful talks...
Parents and teachers seldom talk to kids about the things that they find meaningful in their own lives and careers-and how setbacks and activities that seemed discouraging at the time actually led to something satisfying in their lives.


I realize that the majority of child rearing falls on the parents, but I think as coaches, as a part of a greater community, we can also have an effect on kids "purpose" in life. The old saying "It is more important to be a good person than it is to be a good basketball player" rings true to me over and over and over. Engage your athletes, get to know them, get to know what is important to them, ask questions about their friends and family, ask them what they are looking forward to in their future, what do they want to grow up to be .... My high school coach was a teacher and he wanted us to do well academically as well as athletically. He did not expect everyone to be a straight A student, but he did expect each of us to achieve to the best of our ability - to do our best. In short, he had high expectations for all of us, ON and OFF the court, as athletes and as people. We were not just basketball players, we were young women with futures ahead of us that required much more than a good handle and a jump shot!

Here is a section early in the book that is worth sharing:

"I also do not think that that we are in general pushing youngsters too hard, as some have argued. Madeline Levine puts the blame for the aimlessness of young people on too-high expectations, parental pressure and family affluence. My own view is that young people thrive on high expectations and that parents do well to engage attentively with their children. As for affluence, our research has found similar patterns among groups of affluent and nonaffluent youngsters; A small portion of young people in both affluent and nonaffluent groups are strongly directed and deeply engaged; most in both groups are searching for something positive to give their lives meaning; and a significant minority in each group show little sign of trying to find something worthwhile. So I believe that we must look further than these explanations.
This is where the role of purpose comes in, and we must be concerned because the demoralizing effects of failing to discover a clear and authentic sense of purpose in life can last a long time, even a lifetime."

As William Damon says in this book referring to "something" that is missing in the lives of many of today's young people: "In the past, some educators have called this missing element "motivation", and I agree that sufficient motivation is indeed lacking. But I would argue that the core of the problem is the lack of a SOURCE of motivation, the lack of a sense of purpose. In the long run, that lack of purpose can destroy the foundation of a happy and fulfilled life."

I think we all have a responsibility to help kids find their "Path to Purpose". My husband and I do not have any children... but I feel like many parents have "loaned" us their children over the years and with that comes a great responsibility. When you coach you commit to helping young people to become the best they can be - as people and as players... you do not commit to "just winning games".

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Beyond the Court by Allison McNeill - What will your legacy be? - January 8, 2009

Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Year. Mine was spent spending time with family, watching basketball, doing a shooting clinic and trying to navigate all of the snow that we have had out here in BC. That was a challenge.

The Japanese U-16 National Team is currently in BC this week to play a series of 4 games against local teams. On Tuesday night they played an All-Star team of local BC athletes selected from our CP Program. It was a good game with the Japanese Team getting up 20 points only to see the BC-CP Athletes come back to finally lose by 2. After the game there was a social where the players and coaches had a chance to interact with each other. I talked to a few of the BC athletes and they said it was a great experience. The thing that most of them mentioned was the "Speed" of the game

Then last night the Japanese Team played the defending BC - AAA Champion Elgin Park Orcas. The Japanese team won a really well-played, competitive game by 16 points - 99-83. The Elgin Park players and the Japanese players shared some pizza, conversation and pictures after the game. Basketball BC is hosting the team while they are visiting Canada. This is not only a great basketball experience for these young athletes, but also a great cultural experience.

The Japanese team had 3 days of training prior to coming over to Canada and this is their first trip out of the country. They will go to Australia later in the year for exhibition games and then next October they will try to qualify for the Cadette World Championships.

"A guy who tried to work hard and do what's right."
—Trevor Linden at his retirement press conference on June 11, 2008, when asked what he wanted his legacy to be.

Before Christmas the Vancouver Canucks retired Trevor Linden's #16 Jersey. There was a wonderful ceremony before one of the Canucks' games. I saw the ceremony replayed on TV several times... and cried each time. (I know all of my current and former players will not be surprised!) I started my University coaching career at Simon Fraser University in 1988 and Trevor Linden came to the Canucks in 1988. Most of my team had a huge crush on him and were Vancouver Canuck fans. I am not a huge hockey fan, but like so many people I really respect Trevor Linden. I don't think I have ever seen an athlete captivate an entire community like Trevor Linden did. Not just the sporting community, the entire community. He is beloved in Vancouver and throughtout BC like no other athlete I have seen. Even those of us who are not huge hockey fans love the guy. I think some if it had to do with the fact that Trevor came to the Canucks when he was only 18 years of age and we all got to watch him grow up as a player and person. Or maybe it is the fact that he was born and raised in Medicine Hat, Alberta and has retained those small town values through all of his successes. Maybe it is the incredible work ethic and values his parents instilled in him. It could be that he always gave back to the community. His charitable work has been primarily with children, he has made frequent appearances at the BC Children's Hospital and Canuck Place, a hospice for terminally ill children. In 1995, he started the Trevor Linden Foundation to raise money for local charities, and he hosts an annual golf event as a fundraiser for BC Children's Hospital. When he was awarded the Order of British Columbia in 2003, the citation referred to him as a "hockey player and humanitarian". He represented Canada on several occasions and did so with pride and loyalty. Or maybe it was just because he was a great player AND a great person.

We definitely need more athletes like Trevor Linden. He is an inspiration to all - even if you are not a Vancouver Canucks fan.

Here is the end of Trevor's speech on the night his jersey was retired. This says it all:

"I have a favor to ask of all of you. When the #16 is raised to the rafters I want you to think of all of the incredible people that were a part of my life and were such a big part of me being able to receive such a special honor."
"And when you come back to GM place and you bring your son, daughter or your friend, and they are looking in the rafters at #16 Please tell them that I loved the game and I worked hard. But more importantly tell them that I had the most incredible, supportive family behind me, and I had the opportunity to play with great players, play for fantastic coaches, managers and owners. Please tell them that he had the time of his life playing a game he loved for the most incredible fans. Thank you very much, thank you."

I am off to Tumbler Ridge this weekend to do a coaches and kids clinic. Tumbler Ridge is a community of 2,700 people located in Northern BC. It is approximately 700 km northeast of Vancouver.
Should be fun. Have a great week wherever you are and whatever you are doing. Get out to a game and support some of our young athletes.

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Beyond the Court by Allison McNeill - Christmas Memories - December 19, 2008

I love Christmas! I know there are many people who also love Christmas. What is it that we all love... well there are the obvious things - visits with friends and family, good food (and lots of it), time away from school or work routines, Christmas lights, Christmas trees, shortbread, Christmas tree ornaments, chocolate, Teresa's Mom's cookies, candles, the smell of all of the good food cooking...OK I really like food! I also love all of the Christmas movies on TV.

So today Mike (my husband) and I were talking about what were some of our best childhood Christmas memories. As you might expect with two basketball coaches many of the memories we have are related to basketball.

Mike loved Christmas time because his high school basketball team always played in a tournament before Christmas and then played in another tournament right after Christmas. So not only did they get a holiday, presents, visits with family and lots of good food... they also got to play in two great basketball tournaments. Mike's Mom was great at making all sweets, but her specialty was her amazing shortbread and Mike loved it. He also remembers getting his first leather basketball for Christmas - that was a big day! He enjoyed time spent with family and singing Christmas carols while his Mom played the piano. We both enjoyed having friends and family visit us when we lived in Oregon. He loves taking time to read and watch NBA basketball over the holidays.

My Mom made Christmas a very special time of the year. She was an incredible cook - her pies, bread, cookies... well really everything and anything she cooked was great. We have a tradition in our family that we have a huge spaghetti feed on Christmas Eve. No we are not Italian... but a friend of my Mom's, who was Italian, taught her how to make the best spaghetti sauce and it became a family tradition. My Mom spent all year finding just the right gift for everyone. If you mentioned something during the year that you wanted, and it wasn't too expensive, she would find it, and you would get it! Opening our stockings on Christmas morning was also a big event at our home. My Mom seemed to find just the right "little" gifts to go into my sister's and my stockings. She wrapped each gift in red or green tissue paper and the joy on her face as we opened each one was hard to miss.

There are soo many great memories of family and friends during Christmas. I also remember getting my first leather basketball and my first pair of Chuck Taylor’s - not in the same year! Of course I had to have the floppy grey socks to fold over my Chuck Taylor’s so that I looked just like Pete Maravich - with every hope that I could play like him. Other memorable gifts: A book on Pete Maravich; a Bobby Orr poster, tickets to go to an NBA game to see Walt Frazier and the New York Knicks play the Sonics, I loved Walt Frazier too. The 5th Dimension - "Age of Aquarius" - my first record album. And like Mike, I loved the Christmas Tournaments that my High School team played in. We always did the "Secret Santa" thing with our University teams and that was great fun. I still love the time with family and friends, watching basketball games on TV, eating (some things never change!) and Christmas movies.

What is not to love about Christmas!

Here are some of my favorite Christmas movies. Most of your have probably seen them but if you have not you need to rent them this year - put the fireplace on, get a hot chocolate with marshmallows, get a warm blanket and enjoy! In no particular order:

1. The Polar Express (2004)
2. The Santa Clause (1994)
3. Love Actually (2003)
4. White Christmas (1954)
5. Miracle on 34th Street (Both versions)
6. How the Grinch Stole Christmas (Dr. Suess and Jim Carey)
7. A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)
8. The Muppet Christmas (1992)
9. Scrooged (1988)
10. Home Alone (1990)

Here are a few suggestions if you are still looking for a gift for your basketball loving daughter, niece, friend, sister:
1. A basketball (leather if she is old enough to be responsible for it)
2. Canada Basketball T-shirt, Sweat shirt etc. (We are CANADIAN)
3. You can never go wrong with NIKE basketball gear of any kind!
4. Tickets to a University Women's game. (The athletes are great role models)
5. Books or videos on Basketball
6. A women's basketball poster for her room
7. Tuition to a summer basketball camp
8. A coupon that says you will take her out into the drive way or to the local Y where she can shoot and you will rebound for her!
9. Sign her up for the Steve Nash Youth League
10. Here are a couple of websites that you can get almost anything for a girl/women who loves basketball: Sports For Her and Just for Girls Sports

I hope you and your loved ones have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

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Beyond the Court by Allison McNeill - How do I know if this is the place for me? - December 11, 2008

Many high school athletes around the country have committed to play basketball for a University for the 2009-2010 season. Some are still looking for the “perfect fit” for them. It is a tough time for athletes and their parents to navigate. It can be very confusing and, as so many athletes tell me, stressful!
Well what kinds of questions do you ask? Well every athlete looks for different things, but I believe there are some basic questions that every athlete should be asking. Before you start narrowing down the schools you are interested in you need to know what you want out of your University-Basketball experience and you need to honestly evaluate your abilities.

So here is a list that can, at the very least, get you started!

1. Do you have my preferred academic course of study?
When everything is said and done you want to come out of those 4 or 5 years of school with a degree that can lead you to a career.

2. Find out the graduation rate for your sport at that school!
This is THE reason why you are going to college. Yes, everyone has dreams of playing professionally. Dreams are very important to have, but make sure you get that degree, just in case.

It's important to find programs and coaches that value the importance of getting a degree. The graduation rates will tell you how committed the coaches, athletes and program really is!

3. What's the head coach's overall recruiting philosophy?
Every good coach out there is going to tell you that they are always looking to recruit talented players with great character. What you want to try to find out is just what does that mean for this coach? You will have to be around your teammates for the next 4 or 5 years… so isn’t it important to be around people with similar values, character and attitudes? Does the coaching staff spend time developing players or are they of the philosophy that “we recruit talent, we don’t develop it.”
You probably can't ask the coach this question directly, but see if you can talk to a current player about it or even a former player that's now graduated. Also on your visit to the school work to take the excitement and emotion out of the visit and really try to “see” If you feel you can fit in with the team – on and off the court!

4. What are my chances, realistically, that I will play in my first year
You want to know, honestly, if you will be able to play right away and how playing time is decided. Does the coaching staff have you slated in as an immediate contributor, or are you a back up that they are grooming for the future. You must decide if you want to play right away or if you are happy to have to work and grow to earn a spot. Here are a couple of good questions to ask: “What does the depth chart at my future position look like? Are you looking to bring in other scholarship recruits at my position?”

5. What is the head coach's preferred style of play?
You are choosing a school for academic and basketball. Don’t get caught up in all of the “other” things. It is important to choose a basketball program that plays a style that you can be successful in. If you are not super quick, but very skilled then you should not be choosing a school that traps, presses, and shoots within 7 seconds of securing the ball – that is not a good fit. You need to know and understand your strengths and weakness.
If you have a desire to play for Canada then getting to a program where you can be a go to play in a style of play that will translate to the international game will be important.

6. What is a typical practice like?
Players practice more than they play; it is crucial to improve everyday at practice. You MUST see a practice, just asking what practice is like will not be enough. See a “real” practice – not just a game day shoot. Can you see yourself practicing like this for the next 4 or 5 years? Do the players enjoy practice? Can you see yourself improving in this environment? Is it competitive enough for you? Is it too competitive for you? You also may want to ask the coach: “How would you describe your coaching style?”

7. What are the in-season and out-of-season training sessions like?
University athletics requires a huge time commitment if you are to be successful. How long are practices? Is there time for you to work on your game individually – with and without a coach? Are individual workouts based on developing the individual player or developing the “system” – do the coaches help you to improve your game during individuals or do they put the offense and defense in during these sessions.
Are there an in-season and out-of-season strength and conditioning program. Ask to see the programs. You may also ask to watch an individual workout with an athlete or a small group of athletes. A good question to ask is: “How will you help me become the best player I can be?” If you are serious about becoming the best player you can be then you need to make sure you are in a program that supports that, and has athletes that love to train. It is no fun to be around people who are not interested in training and getting better.

8. How approachable is the coaching staff? Do you feel they would support you on and off the court?
It is important to know how committed the coaches are to their athlete’s success on and OFF the court. Good coaches want to help you succeed as an athlete, student and person. They will do anything they can to help you to achieve your goals within the team goals.
Those coaches that can't be bothered with non-athletic stuff are the ones that have THEIR best interest at heart, not their athletes!

9. What's the team chemistry like?
It is important to find out if the team gets along and enjoys being on this “Team” and being together. Quite often coaches will give you a “host” player while you are visiting their campus. “Hosts” are selected because the coach believes they will but the best “spin” on the school and the program. You need to be sure to talk to other players and ask the tough questions concerning team chemistry. Spend a night with the team if possible, watch, evaluate and see if you feel that you fit in with the team. Can you see being part of this group of people for the next 4 or 5 years? There are no “perfect” teams, but make sure you don’t get in to a situation where you are in an unhealthy environment.

10. What will be covered by the athletic scholarship you are offering me?
It is very important to know what the scholarship covers. NO NCAA scholarships are guaranteed for 4 years. At the end of each season the Head Coach “renews” each athlete’s scholarship. Many CIS schools give out tuition scholarships and some of these can be tied to your academic achievement as well as your athletic achievement. What happens if I get hurt?


11. What kind of support staff do you have to help the athletes at your school be the best they can be – academically and athletically?
Is there academic help for me if I am struggling in a class? Will I be able to get the classes I need to progress towards my degree? Are there tutors available? Do you have a full-time strength and conditioning coach that is willing to help me become a better athlete? How many teams does he/she work with? How is the medical staff (physiotherapists/doctors) at your school?

12. What kind of support do you get from the community and student body at your games?
This may not matter to some athletes. If having people come to the games and cheer you on are part of what you want in a University-Basketball experience then ask the question. If you go to a game you will certainly see what kind of support the program receives.

13. Will I have to attend summer school?
There are some schools that require you to attend summer school. You need to ask them If you MUST attend. If you have a desire to play for the National Team Program then you need to be available in the summer and that means you will not be able to attend summer school.

14. Does the coach support your desire to play for Canada?
Not every athlete can represent CANADA – but should you have the ability and desire to do so then you have to make sure that your coaches support you in the pursuit of that goal. Some programs do not seem to care one bit about supporting Canada’s National Team program.

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Beyond the Court by Allison McNeill - The core of athletic character - December 4, 2008

The age-old question of "what do coaches look for in an athlete?" seems to come up all the time. I was out watching a high school game and got into a conversation with a friend of mine about this exact topic. It always seems that when coaches get together this topic inevitably comes up. There is a reason that there are not many athletes like Steve Nash in the world – it is tough to be great...it is much easier not to be.

So this got me thinking, and I remembered a great article by Anson Dorrance. "Brave New Worlds - The Changing Climate of Training and Developing the 21st Century Athlete". This was a speech he gave at the 2007 NSCAA Convention. It includes part of a speech that he gave to the incoming freshman at the University of North Carolina. Anson Dorrance is the North Carolina Women’s Soccer coach. His accolades are many and some of his coaching practices have raised a few eyebrows over the years… but there is no arguing with his success. Under Dorrance's leadership, the Tar Heels have won 18 of the 25 NCAA Women's Soccer Championships. The Tar Heels record under Dorrance is 625-28-20 (.943 winning percentage) over 29 seasons. He has led his team to a 101 game unbeaten streak and coached 13 different women to a total of 20 National Player of the Year awards.

I think you will really enjoy this. I will not give you the entire speech – just the high lights with some comments from me!

First I love this quote for the athletes from the "Carolina Creed"

"I will excel athletically by committing myself to performance excellence, team success, and continual improvement."

How good is that? This should be the creed for every athlete regardless of the sport they compete in. I love it – says it all in a simple way.


Anson Dorrance talks about a guy named Herb Greenberg. Herb Greenberg started a company called Caliper. Through his company he sells his services to the NHL, NFL, NBA and major league baseball.
Are you wondering what he is paid a lot of money to do? Well his job is to analyze athletic potential and advise different professional teams who to draft. We have all seen the huge contracts that athletes are getting, so you can imagine how important it is to get your draft selection right.
Mr. Greenberg’s methodology is to have the athletes he is asked to analyze take a battery of psychological tests to see if the three most critical qualities for athletic success are a part of their make up. If one or more of these qualities is not there he advises his clients not to draft the athletes being considered, not to take the risk.
There is nothing horribly profound or surprising about what he is searching for in his tests. He is looking for the core of athletic character. He is looking for:
-Self-discipline
-Competitive fire
-Self-belief

"All the talent in the world can be torpedoed by any one or all three of these critical qualities if you are missing them. All of you have choices to make that will sort out how good you are going to be . . . how you chase these three areas will be the final measure in your athletic greatness. Some of you are going to make it because you have the self-discipline to separate yourself from your peers even though self-discipline is an extraordinarily uncomfortable state. . . it is not easy for ordinary people. Most of us are rather ordinary so most of us will not really attain their potential. It is just too hard to invest in being the best. Most of us would rather be comfortable. But please understand being ordinary is not an indictment it is a choice."

The Vision of a Champion: "The vision of a champion is someone who is bent over, drenched in sweat at the point of exhaustion when no one else is watching”. Some of you will make a name for yourself and your university because your competitive fire lights up an arena or a stadium. Do you remember the day or the moment you decided you were always going to do your best? Some of you will make a name for yourself because your self-belief will not be shaken, regardless of what happens to you. I am here to tell you, you control all of these qualities. These are not genetic traits you inherited, these are all decisions you all have made or can make now to make a difference"

"So let me ask you, what are all of you going to choose to be? This core of athletic character is not what you have been given; it is what you choose to have. So will you choose to have: Self-discipline, Competitive fire and Self-belief? And if you don’t choose it, don’t worry, very few people do . . . these kinds of people are exceptionally rare, they are sometimes called champions. 'Champion' is another word for individuals willing to do difficult and uncomfortable things on a daily basis that no one else is willing to do."

"This speech is about choice and accountability. I think this aspect of athletics is where the greatest value of athletics lies. It is an area that is being undermined by “parents going to ludicrous lengths to take the lumps and bumps out of life for their children”. If athletics has any real value then it is here, where you get to choose not to have any discipline and watch a lesser athlete that works harder play in front of you and decide if this lack of commitment is the way you are going to live your life. Or you get to compete against some one 1vs.1 and quit in the middle of it and realize that either you are just not mentally tough enough or accept that this doesn’t mean that much to you . . . you would rather not try (not compete) because you would rather remain more comfortable."

"And then of course you have to decide how you are going to navigate the real character issues: do you take responsibility for where you are and not recruit your parents to defend you from this 'grave injustice' of not starting or playing as much as you would like OR after seeing your “failure”, do your parents have the character to recognize your lack of accountability and commitment and hold you to the higher standard of performance and behavior that the coach is hoping you will obtain? And if one of these last two scenarios is played out the right way, then athletics, this wonderful laboratory of the human spirit, has helped you grow up to be a stronger and more honorable human being."

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Beyond the Court by Allison McNeill - Changes in the game at the International level- November 27, 2008

So my travels continue¡K I am heading up to northern British Columbia, to Hazelton, BC. Hazelton went from a small, relatively unknown town, to a nationally known town when Canadian wrestler Carol Huynh won Canada¡¦s first gold medal at the 2008 Olympic Games. Carol grew up in Hazelton, BC. So that is where I will be this weekend for Steve Nash Coaches and Kids clinics. Should be fun as Hazelton is a very sports minded city and they love their basketball¡K and obviously their wrestling too :- )

Ontario Basketball hosted a forum a while back that brought people together to discuss International Basketball and Canada's place internationally. It was a great day with lots of sharing of information. I know I learned a great deal. I thought I would share some of the things I spoke about at the forum.

Here are some of the changes I have seen in the last 30 years in International Women's Basketball.

1. The women at the top level are staying in the game much longer than they used to ¡V the average age of the top players in the world is much older than it used to be ¡V around 28 or 29 years of age. Bev Smith (former National Team athlete and coach) played until she was 36 years old ¡V she was a rarity ¡V but this is very common now. Janeth Arcain from Brazil was a top international player for over 20 years. She played until she was 38 years old¡K and she was still the leading scorer for Brazil at the Pan Am games, which was her last international competition. Why are the women staying in the game longer? Because they can make an amazing living as a professional athlete and because they see that they have not yet tapped their potential. Our Canadian athletes generally stop playing after 4 or 5 years of University. We are starting to get more of our athletes going overseas to play.

2. Women are much stronger and fitter than they used to be. Obviously the improved training techniques and opportunities for women have really helped here. But the biggest thing is that they are professional athletes ¡V this is all they do ¡V they know their bodies are how they make their living and they take amazing care of themselves. They understand training, nutrition and recovery. They live the lifestyle of a World Class athlete. They are driven to be the best they can be.

3. All the players have all the skills ¡V this is very true of the top teams and players. There are still post players, still point guard, but the lines are blurred by the incredible skills of these amazing female athletes. This is not a new concept by any means. Talk of 'universal players' or 'complete players' has been going on for over 30 years. But now you are seeing more and more players with the complete skill package, regardless of size. Bev Smith was really our first true 'Complete' player - she graduated high school in 1978!!

4. The game is much faster and less predictable. There are more teams that get out in transition and run conceptual offenses. This is not to say that teams do not run set plays ¡V of course they do ¡V but the players read the game much better and coaches are allowing more 'freedom' of play. With the influx of video/DVD you can scout anyone. You can be super prepared and you can take teams out of what they want to run. If they can¡¦t 'play' and they don¡¦t run, then it becomes very difficult to score in the half-court against a well-prepared team.

5. There has NOT been an influx of the ¡§tall point guards¡¨. Teams still have relatively small point guards ¡V the USA won for many years with 5'6" Dawn Staley leading the team. The Aussies won the last World Championships with a 5'5" point guard and a 5'6" back-up point guard. Speed, skill, toughness and leadership are much more important than size at the point guard position.

6. The defenses are more physical and more simplistic. More physical because the athletes are bigger, stronger and faster than they used to be. More simplistic because the coaches do not have extensive training time with the players ¡V they are all playing professionally so National Teams do not get much training time together. How are you going to guard in the post, how are you going to guard ball screens and how are you going to defend penetration ¡V what are your rotations. These are the key questions and the top teams in the world are not super complicated, but they do these things well. Most teams are very well prepared in terms of scouting. And because the athletes are extremely experienced and knowledgeable they execute their defensive plans well.

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Beyond the Court by Allison McNeill - 'What sport can do' - The True Sport Report - November 20, 2008

So I had a fabulous weekend of basketball in northern British Columbia - specifically in the cities of Vanderhoof and Prince George. I would like to thank all of the coaches and athletes that I had the honour of working with. A special mention must go out to Warren Cullum in Vanderhoof and the dynamic husband/wife team of Dave and Louise Holmes in Prince George – “Amazing” is all I can say! I also had a chance to see the UNBC Women's and Men's teams play league games against Langara College on Friday night. It was UNBC's home opener. What a great atmosphere - there were over 3000 people at the game... and they were not sitting on their hands, they were into it! Lots of cheering, Steve Nash League kids playing at half time, a dance team, some crazy business students getting the crowd whipped up and some good basketball on the court! Here are a few pictures from the weekend.





I just finished reading "What sport can do" - The True Sport Report. It is outstanding - long, but worth the read. I will highlight a few things that you might find interesting. These are things that jumped off the pages as I was reading. It is written by Elizabeth Mullholland and supported by the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport.

-92% of Canadians believe that community-based sport can have a positive influence in the lives of youth, and rank it second only to families as a highly positive influence in the lives of young Canadians.
-The primary determinants of whether youth will have a positive or negative experience are the adults involved – parents, coaches, officials and administrators – and the quality of coaching and mentoring.
-Physical inactivity is one cause of obesity and 91% of Canadian children and youth are not meeting recommended physical activity levels.
-People who are active on a regular basis significantly reduce their risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer, type 2 diabetes and bone lose and pain later in life due to osteoporosis.
-Physical inactivity costs Canadians 1.6 billion and 3.7 billion annually in direct and indirect costs. Increasing physical activity by just 10% would save Canadians over $150 million annually in direct health care costs alone.
-Young athletes are more likely than non-athletes to eat healthily and weigh less, and less likely to smoke cigarettes, use drugs, engage in sexual activity or be bored or hopeless.
-Among children aged 4-9, those who participated in activities, particularly sports, tended to have fewer difficulties in reading or math than those who rarely or never participated.
-55% or boys and 44% of girls 15 years of age or younger are active in sport.

Issues related directly to girls and women in sport:

-The traditional association of sport with masculinity and the ongoing dominance of some aspects of sport by men, to the exclusion of women, reinforce the view that sport not only reflects, but also contributes to, gender-based inequity in society as a whole. While there is evidence that this is true in some instances, there is also evidence that positive sport experiences can contribute to the full inclusion of girls and women by:
o Enhancing their health and well-being
o Fostering their self-esteem and empowerment
o Facilitating their social inclusion and integration
o Changing gender norms
o Providing opportunities for female leadership and achievement
-Girls who participate in sports are more likely to achieve academic success than those who do not play sports.
-Female high school athletes express a greater interest in graduating from both high school and college.
-Female athletes from ethnic minority groups report better school grades and greater involvement in extra-curricular activities than non-athletes and in some cases are considerably less likely to drop out of school.
-Girls benefit particularly from sport’s potential protective effects against osteoporosis, anxiety, depression, suicide and adolescent pregnancy. As well, girl’s participation is strongly linked to pro-education values, a greater sense of control over their own bodies, and more generalized feelings of empowerment, identity and self-direction that can help them to overcome restrictive gender norms and participate more fully in society.
-Sport participation can also help to undermine traditional gender stereotypes concerning academic aptitude, as studies have shown that girl’s engagement in sport is linked to improved performance in science and mathematics.
-Young people who participate in sport score significantly higher on self-concept than those who do not, with girls benefiting even more than boys.
-Negative sport and physical activity experiences can also damage self-esteem. In some cases, particularly for girls, sport participation can also be linked to distorted body image, unrealistic efforts to lose weight, and unhealthy lifestyle. Good sports programs, however, are attentive to and minimize these risks.

Every child in our country should have an opportunity to be active in sport – the benefits are well documented. Why then did many of our provincial education systems cut elementary physical education specialist? Have they read this document? Maybe the health care system and the education system in each of our provinces could talk to each other… every child goes to school, wouldn’t it be a great idea to have physical education specialists that worked with our kids in the schools? Why don’t we pay coaches in the school system? If children are not our most important resource… then what is? What about the health of our nation? What about the financial strain on our medical system?

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Beyond the Court by Allison McNeill - Words of Wisdom - November 13, 2008

So my travels continue... I was in Calgary for the Petro-Canada Sport Leadership conference last weekend. I really enjoyed it and am still pouring over my notes. There was a ton of information for coaches and administrators. One of my non-coach favorite speakers, was Kathy Sendall, Petro-Canada Senior Vice-President, North American Natural Gas. She was one of the speakers at the Women in Coaching luncheon. She said many great things... As a young person still in High School she had health issues that required her to be in the hospital, have surgeries and physically not attend school. She said it would have been easy to not get back to school and her life, but there was a powerful force that would not let her give in - HER MOTHER! "She would not let me give in. She instilled in me a dogged determination to overcome. She taught me to 'Suck it up!' She taught me to take control of my life" Now that is some good advice to give your kids!

Another speaker I really enjoyed was Colleen Sostorics who is a two-time Olympian (hoping to be a three-time!) for the National Women's Hockey team. She is from a very small town - Kennedy, Saskatchewan. Colleen is from Saskatchewan She and her teammates are very excited about the prospect of competing at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver. Our Canadian women's hockey team lost eight straight games to the USA and then beat them in the Gold medal final at the last Olympics - so the team had a little saying -
“1 and 8 - Let’s Celebrate”

She shared some great things with the audience. It is nice to see and hear an athlete that has accepted the responsibility of being excellent.
"Excellence is not the gold medal – Excellence is the process. You are excellent every day. Winning is a process."
"Excellence is a routine and a lifestyle - you have to live excellence."
o Nutrition
o Weight room
o Conditioning
o Skill work
o Rest and recover
o Physiotherapy
o ICE
o Mental Training

I am in the Vancouver airport flying to Prince George, BC. I will be doing Steve Nash Youth Basketball coaches and kids clinics in Vanderhoof and Prince George. I have been to Prince George many times, but this will be my first time to Vanderhoof. It is a small, basketball crazy town one hour north of Prince George. I am excited to finally get up here and see what it is all about. Prince George is a great city and home to UNBC (University of Northern British Columbia). It is one of the most beautiful campuses I have ever been on. The setting totally breathtaking and the buildings are gorgeous. UNBC has a medical school, and one of my former players from SFU, Dr. Nadine Caron, teaches in the school of medicine. She is a surgeon and a most amazing woman! I will get to have a visit with her, her husband Pat and their daughter Aliah. The perks of coaching and being involved in basketball are all of the amazing relationships that you develop over the years... and then having opportunities to reconnect.

UNBC also has some of the best athletic facilities in the country. Their athletic complex is incredible. It is the Charles Jago Northern Sport Centre and is a 145,150 square foot facility that sits at the entrance of the UNBC campus. They have great strength and conditioning rooms as well as an elevated 280 metre indoor track, squash courts, locker rooms and meeting rooms. The gym is 22,000 square feet and has three side-by-side full basketball courts.
The NSC field house features two 190 x 90’ fields on FIFA sanctioned Polytan artificial turf under a 40-foot ceiling. Yeah - it really is incredible!

Last season, Loralyn Murdoch, and her women's basketball team won their first BC College Championship and earned themselves at trip to the CCAA Nationals. I will take in a game tomorrow night - should be fun.

Here are a couple updates for you:

I heard from National Team Alumnus Nikki Johnson (who I coached for four years at SFU). She was an Olympian in 2000 and a member of the 2006 National Team that finished 10th at the World Championships. She is currently living in Germany with her husband Rudi Kramer. Nikki had a long and distinguished professional career in Germany. Rudi is a teacher and Nikki is coaching a couple of younger basketball teams. She has also been asked to help this summer with the German U18 National team.

Alisha Tatham who played with the Senior National Team, and Kadie Riverin who played on the Development National Team last summer have been touring with the "Peach State Elite" team that is playing a series of NCAA games. The games are over, but if you are curious here is a list of the Universities they played against. You can go to the University websites and see how our Canadian Women did!

Nov 3 - Clemson
Nov 5 - Georgia
Nov 6 - South Carolina
Nov 9 - Georgia Tech
Nov 10 - Virginia Tech
Nov 13 - Mississippi State

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Beyond the Court by Allison McNeill - Lou Holtz Philosophy - November 6, 2008

So my travels continue... I was in Kamloops, BC last weekend and really enjoyed hanging out at Thompson Rivers University. The setting (overlooking the city) of the University is fabulous (of course I LOVE Kamloops so I may be a little biased), the athletic facilities at the Tournament Capitol Center are incredible and there seems to be a real sense of excitement in the city as "their" University grows. It is a very exciting time in Kamloops right now for TRU and for Basketball. There are lots of people contributing to the growth of the game in Kamloops. There is now a RTC (Regional Training Center), the KBA (Kamloops Basketball Academy) and the “Young Guns” which are all coached by Scott Reeves (TRU Women’s Head Coach) and other community coaches. They have a Steve Nash league that is run through the local Y and the numbers of kids playing has really increased. They also had several players on both the girls and the boys side that represented BC on various provincial teams. The game is booming in Kamloops!

Last summer TRU, Basketball BC, Canada Basketball and the city of Kamloops joined forces to host the U-15 National Championships. It was an overwhelming success. U-15 Nationals will be held in Kamloops again in the summer of 2009.

Last Friday night I watched the TRU Women play the University of Lethbridge. It was a very competitive game and went right down to the wire with TRU winning the game. Just as entertaining as the game were the members of the TRU baseball team who attended the in full costume, no I did not say uniform, I said costume! It was Halloween and the guys had some pretty creative costumes! They cheered loudly for the TRU Women's team and ended up being a good part of the overall entertainment for the evening. It is so awesome to see such school spirit. Reminds me of my youth... ahhh the old college days!

I want to share a great story that I have relayed to people over the years. It is a Lou Holtz Story. He is the former Head Football Coach from Notre Dame University. The reason I share this story is the message… Enjoy! (I made a few changes in the story – replaced King with Queen!
The Lou Holtz Philosophy

A wise Queen, over a thousand years ago called together the most knowledgeable people in her Queendom and said, “We have built a great society, but we need to put all this knowledge we have gained in writing in order to pass it on to future generations.” It took four years and required 26 volumes to accomplish what the Queen desired. After reading all the information, the wise Queen said, “Great, this is what we need, but it is too long. Condense all this information into one book.” The wise men and women worked on it for two more years and managed to condense it into one volume which had over 100 pages. After reading the book, the Queen was pleased but still felt it was too wordy an asked them to confine their findings to one page, A year later they returned once again and had followed the Queen’s instructions explicitly, reducing their findings to a single page. After reading it, the Queen approved of their findings but asked them to narrow it down even further, to a single sentence. After five years, they returned with their vast knowledge narrowed down to a single sentence. The Queen looked at it and became ecstatic. This she proclaimed is the information that all future generations need to understand in order to be successful. The sentence simply read, “There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch.”

This little story illustrates very simply that which I believe so strongly – there is a price tag on everything. You can do anything you want to do in this world but you must be prepared to pay the price. I have traveled all over this country and read newspapers where mothers have given birth to sons and mothers have given birth to daughters, but never once did I read where a mother gave birth to a winner or a loser, a doctor or a lawyer. In other words, you are exactly what you think you are but you must be willing to play the price.

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Beyond the Court by Allison McNeill - Travel Tips - October 30, 2008

This past weekend Basketball BC held their annual coaches clinic - "SuperConference". There were some really great speakers who shared their knowledge and passion for the game. The two "headliners" were Rick Torbett of Better Basketball fame, and Gannon Baker - Nike skills trainer extraordinaire . Both of these coaches are very well known from their outstanding videos. They are both excellent clinicians and have such an incredible passion for the game of basketball. Most importantly they are willing to share that passion with athletes and coaches. I just don't think anyone can be a good coach, teacher or leader if they are not passionate. You have to love what you do!

The other coaches that spoke at the clinic were Del Komarniski - South Kamloops High Secondary boys coach, Greg Francis - NEDA, Neil Brown - Brookswood Secondary Girls coach and myself. I managed to see each of the speakers at least once. I thoroughly enjoyed them all and learned something from each coach.

I always find clinics to be very motivating. They really get you thinking and talking with other coaches. I love them! They are always great to go to just before the season starts to get you excited.

I must also recommend a great blog that Eric Musselman writes. He is a former NBA Head Coach. I heard him speak at a coaches clinic in Palm Springs... he was good - but his blog is great! There are some excellent things for both coaches and athletes. Check it out, I think you will really enjoy it! http://emuss.blogspot.com/

Well, last week I gave you "Rhonda's Tips on Recovery". Rhonda Shiskin is our National Team Physiotherapist and works at the University of Saskatchewan. She is outstanding and we are very lucky to have her working with us! She did up a list of travel tips for us. I think you will find these interesting and useful.


"Rhonda’s Travel Trips"

1. HYDRATE! You can NOT drink too much water! If your row mate on the airplane is not
annoyed with you (“excuse me”, “pardon me”, “I have to go”) then you have not had enough to drink.
2. Go for a walk in the airport – do a few lunges, stretch out those hip flexors.
3. Give up the aisle/exit row seating for the really tall people – no guards!
4. If you are not sleeping you should be moving. Every time you think of it do the following while sitting in your seat:
a. 10 calf raises
b. 10 ankle flexes
c. Write the alphabet with your right ankle and then your left ankle
d. 10 marches in your seat
e. 10 butt clenches
f. Rotate right, rotate left, bend right, bend left
g. Stretch arms over your head
h. Wiggle your toes
5. Walk the aisles – a little lunge here, a side lunge there, and a back stretch too! This should be done at least once every two hours.
6. Have a little snack every four hours.
7. Bring your travel pillow, sleep mask, ear plugs – they well help you get some rest.
8. Bring wet ones or Purell – or some kind of hand sanitizer. Keep your hands clean – wash them once every hour.
9. Bring lip balm for your soon to be dry lips.
10.Take any blankets, pillows etc that they offer you. You may not want it right then, but you may want it later. Take anything that will help you feel move comfortable.
11. Avoid caffeinated and alcoholic beverages – they dehydrate you. If you get a coffee ask for decaf.
12. If you think your knee, ankle or Achilles may swell on the flight take a tensor bandage with you.
13. If you have compression socks/tights – wear them. They stop the kankles!
14. Eat cultured yogurt or other probiotic food regularly in the week before travel, as this can provide some sustained protection against gastrointestinal problems.
15. Be organized before you leave so that you can relax and stay stress free.

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Beyond the Court by Allison McNeill - Recovery... what is it and how do we do it with our athletes? - October 23, 2008

Here is what I have done during my last 7 days...Tuesday I caught a flight to Toronto - slept 4 hours, went to the Canada Basketball office for High Performance meetings all day Wednesday. Slept another 5 hours and then caught a flight back to Vancouver on Thursday. Friday I made the 4 hour drive up to Kamloops for a 3 hour SNYB (Steve Nash Youth Basketball) Coaches Clinic from 6:30 - 9:30 pm. Got a really good nights sleep and then did 5 hours of SNYB kids clinics in Kamloops. Drove back to Vancouver on Saturday night, arrive about 9:00 pm. Visited with my husband, did some emailing and went to bed. Sunday, I was up really early as my internal clock was a complete mess - did laundry, banking, shopping, worked out, had a coffee with my husband and friends, crashed early. Monday caught an early flight to Castlegar, BC. That night I did a 1.5 hour SNYB kids clinic and a 3 hour coaches clinic in Castlegar. Tuesday woke up in beautiful Castlegar, worked out, ate breakfast, went for a short walk, worked, did a 2 hour SNYB kids clinic in Grand Forks and a 3 hour coaches clinic. Wednesday morning woke up at 6:30 am and headed to the airport for my flight back to Vancouver!

Where am I now you ask.... fogged in at the Castlegar airport - Flight cancelled :( So now I am waiting 4 hours to catch a flight to Calgary (yes that is east of my desired destination Vancouver, which is west of Castlegar!). I will fly to Calgary and then to Vancouver.

Actually, despite my travel woes I have had a wonderful week working with the SNYB coaches and kids in Kamloops, Castlegar and Grand Forks. Thanks to everyone up in Kamloops. A special shout out to Homer, it was nice to catch you with you and talk some hoop! Special Thanks also to Cheryl and Jack Closkey who always look after me when I am in Castlegar, and Brian Thate and family for a great dinner in Grand Forks.

Recovery is getting much more airtime than it used to get. Heck when I played (way back when!) you finished practice, showered and went home... there was no concern with recovery.

"Recovery is increasingly recognized as a significant component of athletic training and performance – particularly for elite performers, who may be expected to engage in very demanding training two or even three times a day. An adequate recovery is known to decrease fatigue, accelerate physiological regeneration, enhance adaptation and (possibly) decrease the risk of injury. Research overwhelmingly supports the superiority of active recovery (light exercise) over passive (resting) recovery for the removal of lactate – a by-product of strenuous exercise – from the circulation."
J Sci Med Sport 2004;7;1: 1-10

Our physiotherapist with the National Team, Rhonda Shiskin (University of Saskatchewan) came up with an excellent hand-out for our team. I hope you might find the information useful for your team.

CANADA BASKETBALL
Rhonda’s Tips on Hydration, Nutrition, Sleep and Recovery

WATER:
1. Hydrate. 5-6 full water bottles per day. Carry your water bottle with you at all times – refill often.

FUEL/NUTRITION:
2. Eat enough!
3. Post practice:
a. You need 250 Kcal in the first 15 – 30 minutes after practice/competition. One bar = 80-150 Kcal
b. You need a bar plus apple/banana/orange/bun
4. Carbs = Energy. East pasta, bread, rice etc. You need to eat enough to fuel your next training session or game.
5. Protein = Muscle. Protein will help muscle to repair. Eat meat, chicken, eggs, lentils, peanut butter, beans etc. You need to eat enough to repair your muscles for the next training session or game.

SLEEP:
6. Sleep. If you need a nap during the day – take a short one. Get a good night’s sleep. Sleep is a big part of recovery.

RECOVERY: Recovery actually starts before you train.

Proper warm up will limit the damage by increasing blood flow to the working muscle, increasing muscle temperature and by that, allowing the muscle to operate more efficiently. During the workout drink consciously water and carbohydrate-energy drinks. After the training session, remember to cool down. After training the most important thing you could do to speed up recovery is to replace the carbohydrates and protein you have just used. The first 30 minutes after the workout your body is much more apt to absorb and replenish those fuels than at any other time.

7. What you do at the end of one session/game is the start of tomorrow’s session or game.
8. Do not skip on your cool down. Do a light jog or skip. It should last at least 5 minutes. Stretch. Get in a cold tub or take a cold shower.
9. Get a “flush” massage. This will increase circulation, remove metabolic wastes, aid in recovery and prevent stiffness/soreness. 15 minutes for both legs will be enough. Use the foam rollers to work out tight spots.
10. Get on a bike for a light peddle if your legs are feeling heavy – 10 – 15 minutes with your pulse rate under 120 beats/min. Then eat something and hit the cold tubs.

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Beyond the Court by Allison McNeill - Kids Just Wanna Have Fun - October 16, 2008

"Childhood used to be preparation - now it is performance. What kind of childhood is that?"
Hyper-Parenting: Are you hurting your child by trying too hard. (1999) Dr. Alvin Rosenfield

I have started my work with the Steve Nash Youth Basketball Leagues (SNYB). I will travel around the province of BC working with coaches and kids involved in SNYB. I have already done clinics in Victoria, Langley, Coquitlam, Burnaby, North Vancouver, and Surrey and I am looking forward to getting to many other communities around BC. The SNYB Program is such a great Program and I am honored to be part of it. I do many coaches clinics, and though I have been doing it for five years, I am stilled amazed at how many incredibly dedicated and hardworking people there are around the country involved in Basketball.

The message I deliver to the coaches has not changed over the past five years. It is about FUN and FUNDAMENTALS at the youth ages.

I found a great article on the Indiana University Newsroom website and here are some excerpts from that article - October 7th, 2000.

"Children should not be treated like miniature adults...Kids join youth sports programs in droves and then they drop out in droves. Approximately 80 percent opt out by the age of 12/13."

Coaching and the "fun factor" contribute to this attrition rate, say Indiana University coaching experts. Kids join such programs largely to have fun -- and they drop out when it's no longer fun. Pressure and competition need to take a back seat to the development of fundamental skills and enjoyment.

Coaches and parents should take as much pressure off of the kids as possible, because undue pressure can drive young athletes away from the sport prematurely. "Parents and coaches should not attempt to live out their own fantasies and shortcomings through their children," said track and field expert Phillip Henson, who helps coordinate the coaching minor degree program in HPER's Department of Kinesiology. "The primary purpose of youth sports is to have fun."

The primary focus in youth sports should be on developing skills, not just on competition. Children do not automatically acquire basic skills such as skipping, throwing, jumping, bouncing and balancing -- skills that can lead to more specific sport skills, such as throwing a baseball or dribbling a basketball, Gallahue said. They need the time and space to practice, as well as quality instruction and positive encouragement.

Helping children find success is key to making youth sports fun. Parents and coaches should help kids set realistic goals -- such as achieving a personal best -- that do not hinge on winning or losing a match.

Attempt to take as much pressure off of the children as possible. This includes pressure to win, or to "be the best." Value needs to be placed on the needs of the children not the performance.

What can coaches do to make sure that every athlete has a quality youth sport experience?

1. Increase knowledge of reinforcement, effective communication and positive feedback
thereby decreasing the stress response and creating a mastery motivational climate.
2. Increase knowledge and use of methods to develop the FUNdamentals amongst 6-12 year
olds.
3. Increase knowledge of sports specific technical skills and conditioned games.
4. De-emphasize winning.
5. Make training fun.
6. Treat all players fairly and equally.
7. Where possible try to make parents part of the team.
8. Provision of fun and social events for players.

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Beyond the Court by Allison McNeill - Where are they now? The legacy of the Canadian Women’s National Team - October 9, 2008

It takes a very special woman to play for Canada and I would like to introduce you to some of our former National Team athletes. We are proud of the legacy they have left and we are honored to call them “National Team alumni”. I hope to do this every so often as I collect information from our former athletes. I have listed the athlete’s home province and the University they played at. I hope you enjoy reading about these amazing women. Role models? You bet!

Stacey Dales, Ontario, University of Oklahoma
“I'm currently living in Chicago. After serving as a reporter at the Little League World Series in August with ESPN, I resumed my work on the College Football scene in early September. I'm currently covering College Football on ABC every Saturday at 3:30 pm. As the season pushes forward, I'll be moving into College Hoops (Men's and Women's) as both an analyst and reporter. Additionally, I'll add NBA reporting to my duties as the pro season picks up.

Outside of work and travel, I continue to love Chicago and all of the fun that goes along with it.

Playing for team Canada was truly an honor. Looking back at my career, I can genuinely say that it was in fact the highest honor, as we Canadian Women were representing an entire body of people as one. I'm grateful for the opportunity and I'm also appreciative that I had a chance to meet, play alongside, and be coached by, so many strong women. Many lasting memories and funny moments still cross my mind as they pertain to my experience with team Canada, and I truly hope that the young women coming up in the sport will enjoy their own unique and fulfilling experiences.”

Joyce Slipp, New Brunswick, UNB
I played on the National team from 1969-1976 capping it off at the
Montreal Olympics. Playing on the National team was such a big deal for a girl from a tiny village of about 500 people. The mayor of the village even gave me an engraved bracelet saying how proud the citizens were of me:) I really wanted to prove that someone outside of the big provinces could make a National team and that it wasn't just a fluke so I really worked hard (by myself mostly) to remain on the team. My parents were "out of this world" proud of me although they only saw me play once during those 7 years. I don't think my 2 brothers ever saw me play! Traveling to all those countries and getting all that free gear with Canada written all over it was incredible. It was an experience of a lifetime and something that changed my life forever. It gave me a new found confidence and the ability to try new things. I grew so much by the experience.

I graduated from UNB with 2 degrees - a Phys Ed degree and an Arts degree. I taught high school in Quebec for a year and then came back to NB to work as a TD for NB Basketball for 1.5 years. Then I was hired on at UNB just after the Olympics. The Olympics were over in August, I got married in September, and started at UNB in October. 1976 was a great year!

I coached field hockey and basketball the first 4 years as well as taught in the faculty of PE. Then children started coming along. I took a year off with my daughter and then went back part time after that. Our son was born 2 years after her. During my part time years I just coached field hockey and taught. Then when the children went to school I wanted full time work so I became a sport consultant with the provincial government for 5 years. It was a great 5 years but I missed coaching so when the UNB basketball job opened up; I went back and stayed for 11 years. I coached the NB team at the World Francophone Games, a Canada Games provincial team, several senior and age class provincial teams and assisted with the World Student Games team.

I retired in 2006 and since then have been crossing off things on my "Bucket List". (I highly recommend retrement:)

Claudia Brassard, Quebec, Southern Methodist University
Living in Townsville, Australia with husband Mike, daughter Maya (7) and bub to be … due in November. Working as an Engineer for the Townsville City Council…. still keeping involved by coaching the State Under 16 girls and next year I'll be coaching the Under 18 Townsville Rep side.

As for my time with the Canadian team, from 97 to 06, I loved every minute of it. To have the honor to represent your country abroad and play at the highest level a sport has to offer is extremely rewarding. My highlights would have to be a silver medal on home soil at the Pan Am Games and being a Captain for a World Championship team. But I do miss hanging around for months at a time, experiencing different cultures and working through highs and lows with an exceptional group of women, they are all amazing to me!

Dawn Cressman, Ontario, University of Vermont
I'm living and working in Hamilton, Ontario. I work for the Ministry of Labor, as a healthy workplace project assistant. It's a very exciting and challenging job; looking at ways to make people's work environments better. I still love basketball and continue to remain active with the sport; playing pickup at the Y or in Women's basketball leagues and doing various clinics for young players.

The part of my basketball career that I am most proud of was the years that I played in the Canadian Women's program (2003 - 2005). Playing for one's country is an indescribable feeling; I get chills just writing this - thinking back to all of the great memories and people I met over the three years. I am truly grateful to have been given the opportunity to play basketball for Canada. Good luck to all the young women coming up through the Basketball Canada ranks!

Sue Stewart, Ontario, Laurentian University

Laurentian University, B.A
Malone College, M.A.C.M
2004-05 NAIA assistant Coach, Malone College, Women's Basketball
2003-05 AUU Head Coach, Swiss Selects Girls Basketball Bantam
Athletes in Action (AIA) Women's Basketball Tour in the United States, Involvement Since 1997
The Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Area Representative for N.E. Ohio 2002-04
On June 4, 2008 Inducted in The Mississauga Sports Hall of Fame – Basketball

Presently Rehabbing/Recovering from a Brain Injury suffered in April 2005.

What it meant to me to play for Canada:
I was very honored to wear the Team Canada Uniform and enjoyed competing and traveling with female Basketball players who were their Countries finest.
The other thing that I wanted to say is that I thoroughly enjoyed my Team Canada teammates and coaches, the time shared and the wonderful memories and relationships that were built.

Carrie Watson, British Columbia,UBC

Played on the senior team from 2005-2007. Had the opportunity to compete in the World Championships in Brazil, as well as the Pan-American Games in Brazil. Those summers were incredible, with the opportunities to play against the best in the world, and getting to practice and compete every day against the best players in our own country.
It was so great to get to be on a team with players who had such a variety of age (not to call out Nikki and Clo!), experience and backgrounds. You don't often get to play with the best players from other universities... you're normally only preparing to play against them. I learned so much in the years that I played. The veteran players were great about sharing some ways to get used the more physical, international style of play that I had never experienced. And our coaching staff showed so much passion and knowledge for the game, and I learned so much in those summers.
The traveling was something I really enjoyed... not the 30-hour travel days so much, but the places we got to see and things we got to do. Even with the focus on training and playing, we were always given some time to explore the countries we were in, which was very much appreciated.
I will never forget the first international game I got to play in a Canada jersey... we were at a tournament in France, and I can still picture the gym, and I remember thinking how lucky I was as they played the Canadian anthem to be representing my country.
And now, I'm 'retired' and playing recreationally. I am the full-time assistant coach with UBC women's basketball, and getting a chance to coach in the same program I went through as a player, which is great. I am back at school getting my Master's Degree in Coaching Science. I coached an Under-15 provincial team in my first summer off from playing, and had a ton of fun.... you forget how funny teenagers are! I am living in Richmond with my husband of nine months, and enjoying our summers together for the first time in years!

As I receive more emails back from our National Team Alumni I will post them. Stay tuned.

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Beyond the Court by Allison McNeill - Small things that make a big difference for girls and women- October 2, 2008

"To squander any measure of our daughters' athletic abilities might be to squander their academic, social, and emotional capacities in ways we are only just beginning to understand"

J. Zimmerman and G. Reavill
Raising Our Athletic Daughters (1998)


According to the British Columbia organization Promotion Plus (Girls and Women in Physical Activity and Sport) involvement of girls declines steadily until only 11% are involved in physical activity by grade 11. Why? Well, again according to a publication from Promotion Plus, girls report that they have had inadequate opportunities and skill development, more constraints to participation than do boys, including lack of time, money and resources, as well as attitudinal constraints. Girls also undervalue and underestimate their capacity and potential for competency.

There was an interview on the website www.familyeducation.com by Kyanna Sutton. The interview was with Jean Zimmerman and Gil Reavill, authors of Raising Our Athletic Daughters. Here are some excerpts from that interview.

What are the benefits of girls participating in sport?

"Girls who participate in sports are less likely to drop out of school, more likely to go on to college, and more likely to graduate from college. They tend to avoid a whole host of risk-taking and self-destructive behaviors. Girl athletes have one of the lowest rates of tobacco use among any sector of the high-school population; they are less likely to abuse drugs; they are less likely to get pregnant, more likely to delay their first sexual experience, and have, on average, fewer sexual partners than girls who do not participate in sports."

“In addition, girls derive benefits from athletics that are difficult to measure objectively, such as confidence and self-esteem; they score higher on tests designed to gauge positive body image. We spoke with girls all over the country in the course of doing research for this book. The athletes we met were, on the whole, ‘achievers’ who cited sports as an important strengthening factor in their lives. One characteristic we noticed over and over was a sense of focus and of being centered -- these were, by and large, young women who knew where they were going with their lives.”

At what age should parents get their daughters involved in sport?

“We encourage parents to see sports, movement, and physical activity as an inherent part of their daughters' lives from day one. Go into a nursery of a local hospital, and you'll see baseball gloves in boys' bassinets and stuffed toys in girls'. Social conditioning -- seeing athletics as natural for boys -- starts that early.”

"By the time boys are three years old, their dads are taking them out to the backyard and teaching them how to throw. We tend not to take the same time and trouble to instruct girls. We encourage them in other pursuits, from playing fairy princess to dressing up their dolls.”

“By kindergarten, boys tend to be further along the athletic skill-level spectrum than their girl peers. With skill comes confidence, and if you don't have confidence, playing organized sports can be a lot less fun. We tend not to give girls the basic tools they need to have a successful sports experience, thus they may not enjoy sports and drop out, and the old attitude that "sports are not for girls" gets reinforced."

“The most important thing that parents can do is give their daughters basic athletic skills and the ‘permission’ to express themselves physically. Specifically, teach a girl how to throw overhand. The overhand throw is the basis for so many sports activities -- baseball, of course, but also the tennis serve, the volleyball serve and spike, the forward pass in football, even the javelin throw. It should be ‘equipment’ for all little girls growing up.”

To what extent should parents be involved in the athletic lives of their daughters?

"It means so much to girls when parents are involved that we feel parents should make as much an effort as possible on many different levels. First of all, get active as a family. Setting a good example and being involved in sports yourself is very important -- statistics show that girls who have parents involved in sports are more likely to get involved in sports themselves. If that's not possible, be a fan of women's sports wherever you might find them: watch the Final Four basketball championships on television, the women's events in the Olympics, or the high-school games in your community.”

“Another approach is to buy sports equipment for your daughter -- either as gifts, or as a matter of course -- the way you would buy her books or items for her wardrobe. Attending your daughter's games is an invaluable way to show you support her athletic involvement. Girls told us that they always noticed their mothers' and fathers' voices cheering them on in the crowd at their games.”

What's going on at the cusp of adolescence that makes girls more likely than their male counterparts to drop out of sports?

“A host of factors may come into play at this crucial time. Messages conveyed by the media that our daughters begin receiving at a very early age – ‘sports are for boys’ and ‘girls should be dainty’ -- might finally take hold during this period of high insecurity and sensitivity to gender roles.”

“Girls are sorting out who they are, what it means to be a woman, and what activities are acceptable and proper in order to be seen as feminine. Concurrently, there is an explosion of possibility, in the sense that what they are allowed to do suddenly widens considerably in scope. Middle-school and high-school girls tend to get very busy, with homework, jobs, and dating. Sports -- especially if they are seen as somehow socially suspect -- can get lost in the shuffle. There might also be a narrowing of athletic opportunity at this time. If the programs and support are not there, if the groundwork has not been laid earlier in life, girls might put other things first.”

Alright then.... What can each of us do to help change the future for girls and women in sport. And please do not say it doesn't affect you, or that it doesn't matter to you! This is not a "female" problem this is a societal problem, men need to get involved too!

Here are 10 things you can do that make a big difference:

1. The next time you buy a gift for a young girl, buy her sports equipment (let's stay away from all of the pink sparkly stuff!)
2. Take a young girl, or boy, to a women's sporting event and show them female role models.
3. Attend a girl’s high school sporting event to show your support. Stay around after the game to congratulate the players after the game.
4. Challenge myths! Stereotypes unchallenged are stereotypes accepted. Speak out and educate others. If anyone makes a negative comment about girls
playing sports, make it clear that you don't agree with, nor do you appreciate, the comment.
5. Take your daughter, sister, niece, cousin or neighbour out to throw a ball, shoot some hoops, kick a ball or play a sport in the backyard. Tell her she is good! Encourage her!
6. Mentor a young female athlete or a young female coach.
7. Expect from our daughters what we would expect from our sons. In sports, as in life, we should never expect less from our daughters than we do from our sons.
8. Be positive and encourage young women to play!
9. Talk to young women about their unique abilities as athletes and as people.
10. Speak out against gender inequity. It is not easy and at times you may be ridiculed - but the silence must be broken.

"We must not, in trying to think about how we can make a big difference, ignore the small daily differences we can make which, over time, add up to big differences that we often cannot foresee."

Marian Wright Edelman,
Lobbyist on Behalf of Children

National Team Updates:

Amanda Brown, Montreal, Quebec, Penn State University. Amanda is playing in the Italian first division for Virtus Basket Viterbo. She said the first week was a bit rough - new language, new culture etc. But Amanda is really enjoying her teammates, who she says are really nice and have welcomed her. She says her coach is "Super intense, and he is all about working hard. Every drill is full court non-stop and we have been running a lot." She is excited about the season and about seeing some of Italy and Europe.

Tamara Tatham, Brampton, Ontario, University of Massachusetts. Tamara started the season in Luxembourg but is now in Germany. Though Tamara thought her teammates were great the level of competition is very low in Luxembourg and "T" wanted more of a challenge to help her to improve. So she is now in Germany playing first division for Halles.

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Beyond the Court by Allison McNeill - What's in a Quote? - September 25, 2008

A good quote, poem or story can really move, inspire, teach, and motivate. Here are a few of my favorites.... enjoy.

Four years ago in June my Mom passed away. It was a very tough time for our family. She was an amazing woman and we all loved and admired her.

The very last day that I saw my Mom was in the Hospital in Hope, BC. As I left my Mom's hospital room and headed down the hall by the nurses station I was immediately drawn to a framed poem on the wall at the end of the hall. Hope has a very small hospital and I had been in it many times - but I had never seen this poem. I was drawn, almost pushed, to go read it. After reading the poem I immediately went to the nurses station and asked if they had just recently put it up as I had not seen it before. She told me no, it had been there for as long as she could remember. I don't know why I had never noticed it before, but that day, the last day I spent with my Mom, I felt like she had pushed me to see it and she wanted to give me one more life lesson. It is a great poem with a wonderful message. I love this poem as it always reminds me of my Mom - she was a woman of great integrity and a great Mom!

The Courage of Integrity

The highest courage is to dare to
Be yourself in the face of adversity.
Choosing right over wrong,
Ethics over convenience,
And truth over popularity.
These are the choices
That measure your life.
Travel the path of integrity
Without looking back,
For there is never a wrong time
To do the right thing.


I have written about my high school coach, Joe Kupkee several times. His influence on me was second only to my parents. He was a great coach, leader and mentor. This next "quote" comes from him. One of our high school basketball themes was P.I.G. We were all about PIG. To this day I can not see a pig (real, glass, ceramic, a picture of...) without thinking of my high school basketball team! We used these 3 letters all the time - it was what we were all about. What did they stand for?
P - Pride
I - Integrity
G - Guts

I don't actually remember where I got these next two poems, but I have used them with almost every team I have ever coached. They especially remind me of my 13 years at Simon Fraser University and the amazing women I was lucky enough to coach there. They remind me of what a joy it is to be part of a team - part of a group of women working hard, striving for the same goals, pushing each other to be the best they can be... and just having fun with your "sisters"! There is nothing like being part of a great "Team".

11 COMMANDMENTS FOR AN ENTHUSIASTIC TEAM

1. Help each other be right - rather than wrong.
2. Look for ways to make new ideas work - rather than for reasons they won't
3. If in doubt, check it out - rather than making negative assumptions.
4. Help each other win and take pride in each others victories.
5. Speak positively about each other; your team and your University at every
opportunity.
6. Maintain a positive mental attitude no matter what the circumstances.
7. Act with initiative and courage as if all depends on you.
8. Do everything with enthusiasm - it's contagious.
9. Believe in what you are doing - be passionate about your team and your
task!
10. Whatever you want - give it away.
11. HAVE FUN!

COACHES AND PLAYERS WITH GREAT TEAM ATTITUDES

1. Listen to each other.
2. Are courteous to each other.
3. Show concern for each other.
4. Help each other out - share the load.
5. Say what they feel, but watch how they say it.
6. Don't put each other down.
7. Praise each other.
8. Don't talk behind each other's back.
9. Celebrate success.
10. Treat everyone's opinion as important.
11. Treat mistakes as a learning experience.


Here is another quote I love - not sure where this one came from. How you look at things in life, how you approach the world is what makes the difference in your life.

"The difference between stumbling blocks and stepping stones is how you use them!"


This quote says it all when it comes to coaching/teaching/working with kids... maybe working with anyone. You can substitute the word people for the word kids! Theodore Roosevelt said it first!

"Kids don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care"


I always think of this quote when I see athletes or coaches putting a colleague down. It is not necessary - there is room for all of us to do great things. We need to work together, to encourage each other and to help each other to succeed.

"You don't need to blow out someone else's candle to let your own shine"


This is a great quote from Gloria Steinem in her book: Revolution from within: A Book of Self-esteem. When I coached at the University level we kept a "self-esteem" journal. It was filled with thoughts, poems, sayings, writings from teammates, etc. I still have all of my journals.

"Self-esteem isn't everything; it's just there's nothing without it."


This is a great quote from Eleanor Roosevelt.

"Nobody can make you feel inferior without your consent"


My Mom gave me my first copy of this poem and I love it! I know I had it up on another Blog, but it is good enough to put up twice!

PRESS ON

Nothing in the world
can take the
place of persistence.
Talent will not;
nothing is more common
than unsuccessful men
with talent.
Genius will not;
unrewarded genius is
almost a proverb.
Education will not;
the world is full
of educated derelicts.
Persistence and
Determination alone
are omnipotent.


This is something I have been handing out to my teams for years. I am not 100% sure where this came from... but my best memory is that my husband, Mike McNeill, wrote a paper while he was at school and this was part of the research and paper he wrote.

REASONS PLAYERS REACH THEIR POTENTIAL

1. High Tolerance for Hard Work and Pain.
2. High Basketball IQ. Students of the game.
3. Unselfish. Think TEAM before self.
4. Intangibles in your game. Make hustle plays.
5. Good training habits and physical conditioning.
6. Self-Confidence that comes from repetition and knowing you deserve to win because you have worked harder than anyone.


This is a great story that was sent to me by Dave MacNeill, Head Coach of the Waterloo Wildhawks. Attitude is everything!

There once was a woman who woke up one morning,
looked in the mirror and noticed she had only three hairs on her head.
Well," she said, "I think I'll braid my hair today?"
So she did and she had a wonderful day.

The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and saw that she had only two hairs on her head.
"H-M-M," she said, "I think I'll part my hair down the middle today?"
So she did and she had a grand day.

The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and noticed that she had only one hair on her head.
"Well," she said, "today I'm going to wear my hair in a pony tail."
So she did and she had a fun, fun day.

The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and noticed that there wasn't a single hair on her head.
"YEA!" she exclaimed, "I don't have to fix my hair today!"
Attitude is everything.

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Beyond the Court by Allison McNeill - September 18, 2008

"It's what you learn after you know it all that counts."
John Wooden
Legendary UCLA Men's Basketball Coach

Greetings from Palm Springs, California.

So I thought I would give you a few tidbits from some of the coaches at the clinic we attended this week. I love listening to passionate people speak about basketball. Like any clinic you can always learn some new things. Here are a few things that grabbed me. Enjoy!

Bob Burke - Director of College Scouting for the Portland Trailblazers - He actually had a heart attack at this clinic last year and 3 coaches from the audience saved his life! They introduced those coaches and brought them up and it was very emotional for Bob Burke - and with good reason. He had heart surgery and spent about 3 months in a Palm Springs hospital last year.

When he talks to college coaches about players (in his capacity as a scout for the Portland Trail Blazers) he does not want to know if the player is a talent, he wants to know if they work hard.
"Lack of work ethic and lack of fundamentals is rampant in the NBA."
"I'm about work ethic - I'm not too much about pizazz!"

"Be happy where you are and make the most of it."
"Coach with passion and intensity. Coach 'em hard!"

He taught the UCLA high post offense and Flex.

Jim Woolridge - UC Riverside - he was introduced by former Chicago Bulls coach, current USC coach, and his University teammate, Tim Floyd. He did not know Tim Floyd was going to introduce him so it was quite a reunion.

You must have a defensive system of play just like you have an offensive system of play.
Ball line Defense - protect the lane and cover the basket! Pressure the ball and deny penetrating passes. Get in Pack and support the ball. COMMUNICATE!

Goals:
1) No lay-ups - get back and protect the basket
2) Contain and control penetration
3) Contest every shot
4) No second shots - Block out and get on the glass!
5) Limit opponents free throw attempts

Transition Defense:
3,4,5 go to the offensive boards
2 is the deep safety
1 is the short safety

Steve Alford - University of New Mexico - he was really good! He is funny, smart and you can tell he knows his stuff. His topic was motion offense.

Spacing is key - 12 - 15 feet between players.
7 spots must be filled at all times. Point, 2 wing, 2 baseline, 2 low post.
We want to create closeouts from our screening action.

Some key rules of his motion offense:
1) No block to block cuts
2) Automatic back screen out of the low post if the ball goes away from you.
3) Elbow flare screen or other action when the ball does go in the post.
4) "Screen and React" - be a quick second cutter
5) Ball does not get passed to the corners (baseline) unless there is a shot
6) Never cut into an occupied post

Everyone plays too upright - when you catch on the perimeter be ready to play - triple threat position. Be a threat to score.

Michael Butler - Kinetix Health and Performance Center - he and his wife were there - they are in business together. His topic was improving speed and explosion. There was a ton of information.... but here are a few things.

"During my 20 years of conditioning athletes I have learned that you have to train each individual different from the next. This is because we are all engineered differently."

1) Always prepare with an active warm-up (Dynamic Movements)
2) No distance running! It reduces explosiveness and compromises speed. There are many ways to condition, but doing slow aerobic work will kill your speed development.
3) Work on speed when you are fresh - doing it a the end of practice when you are tired is a recipe for disaster.
4) 6-8 reps is the optimum number for speed development work.
5) Between the ages of 8-10 the drills should be more game like.
6) Hip mobility is a key aspect of improving stride length and the ability to move laterally.
7) Always stress correct mechanics

Beth Burns - San Diego State University - She was very enthusiastic and vocal. She coached on the fly and kept things moving. She is high energy.

Success never rests.
On your worst days, be good;
On your best days, be great;
And on every other day, get better.

POST PLAY:
1) Get open where you can score
2) Stay open
3) Catch the ball
4) Score simply - get a go to move and a counter to that move

A good post player shoots above 60% in games. Be a Finisher - Be tough!
We like our bigs to be comfortable away from the basket as well as in the paint.

She has her athletes take a minimum of 2500 shots a week and in addition 100 free throws each day. They keep a training journal.

Bob Burton - Cal State Fullerton - He likes his teams to play fast - emphasizes transition.

To play fast you MUST get kids to understand shot selection.
Do you want to run? Do you want to pay the price to run? If the answer is Yes, then you must be in tremendous shape.

Spacing is the most important thing.
He assigns lanes - ball outlets to the point guard. 2 runs the right wing, 3 runs the left wing, first big to the front of the rim, second big trails outside the 3 point line in the middle of the floor.
2 and 3 get to the baseline and flatten out. He allows 2,3 and 4 to break out dribble. He will set a high ball screen for the point guard in transition. He prefers a controlled break with secondary offense.

Dave Bollwinkle - Scout for the Chicago Bulls - He spoke on leadership/teamwork. He does a lot of work in this area with teams and with companies. He is a very good speaker and was highly organized.

What gets you excited about what you do?
How many of you have too much leadership in your program? (No hands went up!)
How many of you would like more leadership in your program? (Pretty much every hand went up)

To have a successful team/program you have to get the right people. Do they bring the right attitude. Everyone must take ownership of the team.

If someone is born square they are not going to die round. If they do not fit with where you are going - get them off the bus!

The qualities of good leaders and the qualities of good followers are almost exactly the same. They are the qualities of good people and you can win with good people! These qualities are an attitude - not a skill set!
A GOOD TEAMMATE HELPS EVERYONE TO BE SUCCESSFUL.

Bob Hurley - St. Anthony's High School - he is a hard-nosed guy. He was a New Jersey Police Officer... need I say more. You can tell he is tough and demanding with kids - but really cares about them too. He coaches at a private school in a very tough area of New Jersey. He spoke on Defense. He saw Dick Bennett tapes in 1985 and it influenced his defensive philosophy greatly.

They BUILD their program from the ground up. He calls the Freshman and JV Coaches Assistant Varsity coaches. Why? So that they don't get hassled about losing games. The goal is to have success at the Varsity level - the lower levels are about development of players.

Freshman team - they play 100% man to man - NO ZONE!
JV Team - Mostly man to man. They are developed for the Varsity team.
Varsity team mostly man to man - some trapping, zone, guarding the post different ways.

Don't deviate from your rules. If you say you are going to do it then do it! There has to be follow-through with discipline.

Transition Defense: 3,4,5 to the boards; 1 deep safety (basket protector); 2 short safety
1) Get back - no lay-ups
2) Contest/Contain the Dribble
3) Contest all shots
4) Contest penetrating passes

We want to get deflections. We put great pressure on the ball - we want the player with the ball to know we are there! Keep a hand up on the shooter. On ball stance - your head as the defender must be below the shoulders of the offensive player. Low man wins. We force weak hand - make them prove they can use it!

All 5 players have 2 seconds to get to a body when they hear "shot". 5 players get on the defensive boards.

Has a drill called "NBA" Rebounding. The NBA stands for "NO babies Allowed". Basically a 2 on 2 block out and rebound drill - with no rules! They keep score. He said the drill is not about technique - it is about creating an attitude.

Vance Walberg - UMASS - very passionate about the game. He is the architect of the drive drive motion which he prefers to call the Dribble Drive Attack! He knows his system and believes strongly in his system. He is the coach that was made famous this past year by an article in Sports Illustrated about his offensive and defensive system and by John Calapari and the Memphis Tigers. He coached high school for 24 years and then years at Fresno City Junior College. There is way too much for me to cover - but he does have DVDs out :)

Defensive Philosophy:
1) Dictate Tempo
2) Wear down effect
3) Another way to win the game

Offensive Philosophy:
1) Get to the "Rack" (hoop)
2) Attack, attack, attack
3) 3 or Key mentality
4) Get to the foul line
5) Spacing - create double/triple gaps

- penetrate
Points per possession:
Inside shots 60% .6 X 2 = 1.2 ppp
3 point shots 35% .35 X 3 = 1.05 ppp
Free throws 70% .7 X 2 = 1.4 ppp
Mid-range 28% .28 X 2 = .50 ppp
Turnover 0 ppp

Ken Cole - Former Aussie National Team player. Now lives in California. You can tell he loves the game. He had some good stories and taught the shuffle offense.

We must teach as coaches, You teach the habits you want to see. Can you make your players better? Teach and teach constantly.
Find your personality and coach to it. Do not try to be someone else - be yourself.
"Basketball is a simple game that too many coaches try to make complicate"

A player will never be successful if he doesn't have mental toughness.
You can break offense and offensive sets down.... but you can not break down a mentally tough individual.

National Team updates:

Lizanne Murphy - Montreal, Quebec - Hofstra University. Lizanne spent some time in Montreal with friends and family after the summer with the National Team. She has settled in well with her Division I pro team in Lithuania. She likes the style of play and likes her teammates. Her team will play in the European Cup and the Lithuanian domestic league. The coach does not speak a word of English, but her teammates help with translation and she is already starting to pick up some of the language. Lizanne's boyfriend is from Lithuania and is also a professional basketball player. They met at Hofstra. He has been helping her to get to know the city because Liz is playing in his hometown. The bad news is that he will soon be leaving to join a pro team in another country. Well at least they will be on the same continent!

Sarah Crooks - Fife Lake, Saskatchewan - University of Saskatchewan. Sarah spent the entire month of August on the family farm and has just arrived back in Spain. She was in Spain last season too, but has a new team this year. She said the city is beautiful, her apartment is newly renovated and she is excited for the season to start. She will play Div. II in Spain. Sarah worked really hard this summer on her Spanish. She had a workbook and every time we had a break she was studying Spanish. She should be getting pretty good by the end of this year.

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Beyond the Court by Allison McNeill - Beauty Queens and sport.... what? - September 5, 2008

So here is an area I hear coaches lamenting all of the time - why do many "talented" athletes not have work ethic? Why do we see athletes dominating at the younger ages and then disappearing?

I recently read a section in Ed Smith's book, "What Sport Tells Us About Life".
The chapter I am referring to is titled: "The Curse of Talent: or, What Can Beauty Queens Teach Us About Sport". This is the chapter that made me buy the book. Are you kidding me - beauty queens and sport in the same paragraph, now I just had to find out how these two things could be connected!

There is a great quote in the book:

"Whom the gods wish to destroy, they first call promising"
Cyril Connolly

Smith talks about a study that followed the lives of a generation of beauty queens across the USA. "How had the beautiful people done in the game of real life?" Good question. I'd like to know the answer to that one. Not very well according to the study. Fifteen years later the high school beauty queens were typically doing worse - in terms of wealth, careers and happiness. They had peaked too early!

When I talk to kids in my coaching capacity I tell them that becoming a good basketball player is not a sprint, it is a marathon - greatness takes time. Smith speculates in his book about why the beauty queens were not doing so well - maybe they found adolescence so easy and wonderful that the rest of life was a disappointment, or maybe because they received so much adulation in their childhood they crumbled at the first sign of adult rejection.

The author then goes on to ask the question "what can we learn from this as it applies to the word of sports?." Smith tells the story of baseball player (now manager) Billy Beane who was the subject of Michael Lewis' book "Moneyball". I will skip over this part - but the premise is that Billy Beane was an unbelievable baseball "talent", a "can't miss" prospect. But guess what, he did miss - he went on to have a miserable 6-year major league career averaging just .219 with only 3 home runs. The good news for Billy Beane is that after those 6 miserable years he quit as a player and asked to be a scout. He became a brilliant scout and judge of players, and in 1977 became the youngest GM in the major leagues.

Smith talks about how Billy Beane had learned a great deal from his own experiences as an athlete. In his brief career he had learned to respect performance (what is actually produced by an athlete!). He had learned to respect it because it was never DEMANDED of him as an emerging player. Everyone assumed TALENT would get him through. So as a manager he did not make the same mistakes - where he was indulged as a young athlete he was careful not to make that mistake with others. Talent, he discovered, is rated too highly. There is a quote in the book that is always bantered about by coaches, parents, scouts etc. "She's got talent, so she is bound to get better". Do we, as coaches and parents, subconsciously, or in some cases consciously, not demand of our most talented? Do we just let things slide with them because they are so talented and they are our best player? They are "can't miss" players and we end up helping them to miss!

Ed Smith says something in his book that I think most coaches know... but many do not want to hear or believe:

"In fact, talent only matures when harnessed within a personality that is capable of self-improvement. And talent, ironically, has a nasty knack of protecting the talented from the urge to self-improve. Super-talented young sportsmen, never having needed resilience thus far, often lack the psychological capacity to develop it when life gets tough in the big leagues"

So what can we learn from all of this? Well, what I have learned is that if we see athletes with talent we need to "coach" them just like we do ALL of our athletes. We need to hold them accountable for improving - we need to praise them for their work ethic and their improvement and not just for their talent. (I recall going into this in detail in one of my past blogs - "Do you have the right mind set?") We need to teach all of our athletes - including the super "talented" ones - the appropriate skills to handle adversity and setbacks. Help then to develop the tools to handle tough times.... even the "beauty queens" and talented athletes have rough times! We also need to look at production - not just talent. It is not about looking good - it is about getting it done, producing on the floor.

Coaches at all levels get seduced by talent, potential and the "possibility" of a great player. Then at times we look right past the athletes that are working hard and producing results. At what point does a talented athlete with potential become a player who is actually playing to her potential? I really do not have the answer to that one.... I wish I did! But I do know you can't want it more for someone than they want it for themselves - if an athlete doesn't love to work on her game, if she doesn't love the challenge of our sport, the challenge of getting better..... then she will never reach her potential.

I guess the most amazing and wonderful thing is when "talent" partners up with a personality that is capable of self-improvement - that is when we get to see Steven Nash, Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretzkey, Michael Phelps, Lisa Leslie or Teresa Gabriele (Kleindienst) (our National Team point guard!)

National Team updates:

Chelsea Aubry - Kitchener, Ontario and University of Nebraska. Is over in Kosice, Slovakia playing first division. She emailed to say she is at her training camp in the mountains about a 3 hour drive from Kosice. She also said she was experiencing her first ever 3-a-days!
Coaches note: We do 3-a-days with the National Team... but they include 2 "basketball" training sessions and usually a "recovery" session or core workout..... I think Chelsea is talking about 3 training sessions a day.

Kaela Chapdelaine - Abbotsford, B.C. and University of Oregon. Is in Nantes, France playing first division. It is tough training, they are doing lots of on court work (2 on 2, 3 on 3 and 4 on 4) and, of course, core and track workouts. Kaela is bilingual so the French is not a problem. She is doing some interpreting for her American teammate who does not speak any French. She is loving her teammates and enjoy the "professional" life thus far.

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Beyond the Court by Allison McNeill - Gary Reed and Manu Ginobili - Olympians and amazing people! - August 29, 2008

The Olympics are over for another four years. There will always be the obvious memories from these Olympics like Michael Phelps - amazing - and Usain Bolt - incredible!. But there were two athletes that really grabbed my attention.

The first is Gary Reed - our 27 year old Canadian 800 meter runner who finished 4th in Beijing. I liked him before the Olympics and I like him even more now! I had read some articles about him, but this Olympics just solidified how wonderful I think he is. Gary Reed grew up in poverty in small towns around BC - with his mom and sister. His mom worked to support two kids as a single parent and though not able to provide a luxurious lifestyle she instilled a great set of values. Let me give you a few quotes from an article written in the Toronto Star by Randy Starkman. This article will tell you a great deal about Gary Reed.

Reed doesn't have to look far to see what his mother's influence has meant. He sees it when he watches other athletes who train at an incredible level and have all the talent in the world, yet fall apart when it comes time to race because they're so worried about the outcome. His self-belief is his guide.

"I think I get that from my mother, where I feel the world doesn't owe me anything," says Reed. "I don't feel entitled to anything. I don't have any sense of entitlement, like `I'm working really hard so I should get this or I should get that.' Doesn't exist for me."

People constantly ask him: Aren't things so much better now?
"And I say to them, `You know what, I'm not going to lie, it's better to be able to pay my bills and do all those kinds of things,'" says Reed. "But I was just as happy when I moved here as I am right now. I was doing what I wanted to do.

"My childhood was interesting, but I wouldn't change it for the world. We had nothing growing up. We were broke. Broke. Broke. Broke. Broke. Broke. Broke. Zero. Food bank all the time. The whole deal. But you live like that, you grow up, and you kind of go, "What are the things that really matter, right?"

In this day and age of people, never mind athletes, having a sense of entitlement Gary Reed is a breath of fresh air. It is also nice to see an athlete at his level knowing "What really matters". Now that is amazing and incredible. Makes you proud to be a Canadian! Maybe because I am only 5'3" I can relate to the little guy - he is 5'9" 135 pounds..... 100 of those pounds must be his heart!

The second athlete for me was Manu Ginobili - the great basketball player from Argentina. Manu is 31 years old and plays in the NBA for the San Antonio Spurs. Is there anyone tougher than that guy... well maybe his teammate Andres Noccioni! Playing for his country is so important to Manu and it is so inspiring to see his loyalty to his country, his teammates and his coaches.

Here is a quote taken from the Express News written by Mike Monroe:

“I'm so proud, so happy to represent our country the way we did it, in accomplishing the big goal, which was to get to the podium,” Ginobili said. “They said that for us, it would be once in a lifetime. For us, it was two times in a lifetime, so we are very happy.”

I have taken some portions of an article written on fiba.com about Manu.

Ginobili suffered a recurrence of the ankle injury that knocked him out of the Olympics in the first quarter of his team’s semi-final defeat to the United States.

Argentina coach Sergio Hernandez revealed after his team’s 87-75 victory over Lithuania that Ginobili became emotional after the pre-game warm-ups.

"We came in this morning knowing Manu would not play but then we saw him putting on the uniform in the locker room, silently as Manu is,” Hernandez said.

“He put his bandages on his foot and no-one said anything. He joined his teammates in the warm-up and he tried out his foot for 10 minutes but he felt pain and he went back to the locker room, got changed and started crying.

When a player as tough as Manu Ginobili is crying, you know how much playing for his country means. I love that guy!

There are always the obvious "stars" from the Olympic games, those who have amazing performances on that day..... but sometimes when you look a little deeper you see some incredible athletes who show you what sport is all about and why people train so hard just to have the opportunity to represent their country and challenge themselves at the highest level.

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Beyond the Court by Allison McNeill - Olympic Finals - August 23, 2008

The final four for the Women's Olympic Gold medal are set. The 2006 FIBA World Champion Australia will play China in one semi-final and Russia will play the USA in the other semi-final. There are lots of interesting story lines in these two semi-finals.... China is coached by former Australian National Team coach Tom Maher; Penny Taylor, from Australia - MVP of the 2006 World Championships sprained her ankle in the quarter final and it is not known if she will be able to play against China, Russia beat the USA in the 2006 World Championships relegating the Americans to a third place finish, American Becky Hammond is playing for Russia... even though she has absolutely no Russian heritage, 5 of the American athletes play professionally in Russia during the winter......... and the games should be good too! In the last two years we have had a chance to play all of the final four teams..... so I am going to go out on a limb and say that Australia will beat China and the USA will beat Russia. So I am calling a Australia-USA Olympic final. The final is a tough pick as the Aussie's lost to the USA by 3 or 4 in a pre-olympic tournament... and they are tough competitors.... but if Penny Taylor is not 100% that will hurt Australia.... I know I am waffling.... OK , I will pick the USA as the Olympics Champions - this is a totally selfish pick as if the USA wins then this will be good for us as we want a team from our zone winning.

In one of my earlier Blogs (March 4, 2008) I wrote about how much the game has changed over the years and how women can make a great living playing professional basketball. I referred to the ages of the top four teams at the 2006 World Championships. I have done that again for the 2008 Olympic Games. I found it interesting and thought that you might too. I have also included our Canadian Team for comparison. The exciting news is that though this team was young, but we will have at least 6 Senior Athletes and 1 Development team athlete playing overseas next summer. We are gaining valuable experience through our Junior and Development programs for our athletes and more and more of them are heading overseas to play professional basketball. Needless to say having our players gain valuable international experience and have them keep playing is crucial to our success as a National Team. With that said.... for Canada to have consistent and long term success at the international level we need to keep working on our youth development.


Thought you might enjoy some stats on the Final Four teams at the Olympics. I have listed the top 3/4 scorers for each team at the Olympics; with their height, age, points and rebounds per game after the first 6 games in Beijing and where they play professionally.

CANADA Average height: 5'10"

2 tallest - 6'4"/6'3 2 shortest - 5'5"/5'6"

Average age: 23

2 eldest - 28/27 2 youngest - 19/21

10 athletes under 25 years of age

FINAL FOUR TEAMS AT THE 2008 OLYMPIC GAMES:

Australia Average height: 6'0"

2 tallest - 6'5" 2 shortest - 5'4"/5'5"

Average age: 27

2 eldest - 36/33 2 youngest - 23

2 athletes under 25 years of age
Key players:

Lauren Jackson 6'5" Forward 27 years old

17.8 ppg 8.1 rpg

Seattle - WNBA/Spartak Moscow (Russia)

Suzy Batkovic 6'5" Center 28 years old

12.8 ppg 8.1 rpg

Ekaterinburg (Russia)

Penny Taylor 6'1" Forward 27 years old

12.0 ppg 7.1 rpg (MVP of 2006 Worlds)

Ekaterinburg (Russia)

Belinda Snell 6'0" Guard 27 years old

10.0 ppg 6 rpg

Bourges Basket (France)


China Average height: 6'0"

2 tallest - 6'6"/6'4" 2 shortest - 5'9"

Average age: 25

2 eldest - 29 2 youngest - 22/21

5 athletes under 25 years of age
Key Players:

Lijie Maio 5'11" Guard 27 years old

19.5 ppg 4 rpg

CBA Beijing

Nan Chen 6'6" Center 25 years old

14.5 ppg 8.5 ppg

CBA Beijing

Lan Bian 6'1" Forward 23 years old

10.0 ppg 6 rpg

CBA Beijing

Russia Average height: 6'2"

2 tallest - 6'9"/6'8" 2 shortest - 5'6"/5'9"

Average age: 27

2 eldest - 32/31 2 youngest - 21/24

3 athletes under 25 years of age
Key Players:

Becky Hammon 5'6" Guard 32 years old

13.1 ppg 2 rpg

San Antonio - WNBA/CSKA Moscow (Russia)
Tatiana Shchegoleva 6'4" forward 26 years old

11.8ppg 6.3 ppg

Spartak Moscow (Russia)
Ilona Korstin 6'0 Guard 28 years old

10.3 ppg 7 rpg

CSKA Moscow (Russia)

Maria Stepanova 6'8" Center 29 years old

7.6 ppg 6.6 rpg

CSKA Moscow (Russia)

USA Average height: 6'1"

2 tallest - 6'5" 2 shortest - 5'9"

Average age: 28

2 eldest - 36/34 2 youngest - 22/23

3 athletes under 25 years of age
Key Players:

Sylvia Fowles 6'5" Center 23 years old

14.3 ppg 8.6 rpg

Detroit - WNBA

Tina Thompson 6'2" Forward 33 years old

13.1 ppg 3.6 ppg

Houston - WNBA/Spartak Moscow (Russia)
Lisa Leslie 6'4" Forward 36 years old

10.3 ppg 7.6 ppg

Los Angeles - WNBA

Diana Turasi 6'0" Guard 26 years old

10.3 ppg 3.3 rpg

Phoenix - WNBA/Spartak Moscow (Russia)

PS We have some of our future Olympians playing at the U-17 National Championships in PEI this week. Check it out on line.

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Beyond the Court by Allison McNeill - Future Olympians? - August 15, 2008

We arrived home from Europe about midnight on the 5th - did our laundry, had dinner out with friends and then drove up to Kamloops on the 7th for the Midget National Championships. We watched all of the games from the 7th - 10th. There were some great games and some very good young players.

The Ontario teams were the cream of the crop - both the girls and and the boys defeated the teams from British Columbia in the final.... while Quebec picked up the bronze medal in both the boys and the girls. The Ontario girls really dominated the tournament - their closest game was 18 points. They played hard, they played together and they were tough. They were fun to watch!

I would like to congratulate all of the athletes and coaches at the U-15 Nationals. It is always an honour to represent your Province - great job!

The final standings for the girls tournament were as follows:

Gold Medal Ontario
Silver Medal British Columbia
Bronze Medal Quebec

4th Place Nova Scotia
5th Place New Brunswick
6th Place Alberta
7th Place Manitoba
8th Place Newfoundland
9th Place Saskatchewan
10th Place Yukon

Next summer Canada Basketball will being selecting a Cadet National Team - this is a new category for FIBA. Athletes eligible for this team must be born in 1993 or later. This is the age group that we were identifying at this U-15 National Tournament. The athletes selected to this team will represent Canada at the World Qualifying Tournament in the summer of 2009 and then, hopefully, at the World Championships in 2010. Sefu Bernard, Canada Basketball's CP Head Coach, and I were both identifying athletes. We have also, and will continue to, identify athletes through our CP program in each of the provinces.

From what I saw in Kamloops there are some very good players in this age group - it will be very competitive to make this team. The athletes that decide they want to represent Canada and then get in the gym to improve themselves over the next year will be the first athletes in Canada to make a Cadet National Basketball Team! How exciting - I wish I was 15 again! There are so many amazing opportunities for young women playing basketball in our country.

As I watch the Olympics I confirm my beliefs that there is no greater honour for an athlete than to represent her country. This year at our National Team training camp we handed out T-shirts with a saying on the back....

"It is not every four years....
It is every day for four years"


It takes years of dedication, commitment and hard work to get the kind of performances that we are seeing in Beijing.... yes, to people watching the Olympics it is every four years.... but for the athletes it has been every day for four (or many more) years! There are many athletes that dream of going to the Olympics and winning a medal - but there are very few that do the training and work to go to actually achieve their dream. Or put another way.... Everyone wants to win the game, but few are willing to win the practice.

I was lucky enough to hear Canadian Sports Psychologist Doug Swanson speak at a leadership/basketball clinic at Red Deer College last year. He was outstanding; if you ever have the opportunity to hear Doug speak, take advantage. In his presentation he said something that I have always believed: "If you can conceive it and believe it, you can achieve it" is principally a lie. The Real Secret - The Law of Action: "You get what you think of most of the time.... if you do the work!"

When we see these Olympians we only see their performance. We do not see the hours, days and years of work that it has taken to achieve that performance. Doug Swanson also said that 20% of the people win 80% of the medals.... why? Because 80% are comfortable and 20% work harder.

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Beyond the Court by Allison McNeill - Another National Team season over, August 8, 2008

I am sitting in the Toronto Airport waiting for my flight to Vancouver.... all of our athletes have gone their separate ways. This is always a sad time as we have just spent 5 straight weeks together and then everyone is gone! The athletes at this level are such amazing women and they are incredible to be around.... so you miss them!

It has been a very long day. Up at 4:15 am Slovakia time, a 2.5 hour bus ride from Poprad to Kosice, a 1.5 hour flight to Prague, and then a 9 hour flight to Toronto and a 5 hour flight to Vancouver.... and add a 1.5 hour delay to our flight from Toronto to Vancouver. But Mike, Uzo and I just had a good meal and a Starbucks cup of tea.... so we are feeling better. I am quite amazed at the way we can travel these days - in Poprad, Slovakia this morning and home in Vancouver this evening. Amazing! Mind you after 28 or 29 hours of traveling I may not think it is so amazing :)

We have had a great 5 weeks! We all wish it was longer.... it seems like we just start playing well together and we are done. The competition was outstanding and we got better with each game. Our training camp in Barrie went very well and I know that these 5 weeks will help us to qualify for the World Championships next summer. We had 2 wins over Mali, lost to Belarus, Poland and France, then we beat Germany and Italy. We also played and lost to Slovakia in 2 tough, close games. I am very proud of our team this summer. We were outstanding defensively and when you are outstanding defensively you always have a chance to win. We were down 15 in the first half to Italy and we came back to win by 2 - we held Italy to 7 points in the fourth quarter. We were also down 9 in the third quarter to Slovakia and came back to tie it in the fourth quarter and we had a shot to win the game. This team can make defensive stops, they are physically tough and they compete! With that said we have to get better offensively - both as individuals and as a team. I know each of the athletes will be working hard to improve her individual offensive skills and with more time together as a team we will help us with offensive execution.

As of today we have the following Senior National Team athletes going overseas to play:

Amanda Brown - Italy
Lizanne Murphy - Lithuania
Tamara Tatham - Luxumberg
Sarah Crooks - Spain
Kaela Chapdelaine – France

Development National Team athletes going overseas to play:

Natalie Doma - France

Hopefully by the beginning of the professional season we will have a few more going - they are just waiting on contracts.

We also had our Junior and Development teams playing this summer. Congratulations must go out to our Junior National Team coaches and athletes as they finished second at the qualifier in Argentina (beating Brazil, Argentina, Puerto Rico and Venezuela and losing to the USA). Our Juniors picked up one of the four berths to next summers Junior World Championships July 23 - August 2 in Thailand.

Our Development team went to China and played three games against China. Though we lost all three games to China in the last game we played very well and lost by only 6 points. For all of these Development team athletes it was their first chance to play against Senior National Team competition.

Next summer we will have the Senior National Team going to the World Championship qualifier September 23 - 27 - we are not sure where that will be hosted at this point. We will send a Development team to the FISU games July 1-12 in Belgrade, Serbia, and of course our Junior Team will be going to the World Championships in Thailand. Stay tuned!

Mike and I are off to Kamloops tomorrow for the U-15 National Championships at Thompson Rivers University. We will do some identification for next summers Cadette National Team - this is a new age group for FIBA and for Canada. The Cadette National Team will represent Canada next summer at the World qualifying Tournament and then at the World Championships in 2010. Athletes eligible for this team must be born in 1993 or later. This is the group currently representing their provinces and competing up in Kamloops at Nationals. I always enjoy watching our young up and coming athletes and Kamloops is one of my favourite cities.

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Beyond the Court by Allison McNeill - European skills - July 29, 2008

Well we played Mali again and we were up 19 at the half and won by 8!! It was a great game for us as Mali got extremely physical in the second half and the officials put their whistles away. It was a great test for us in some adverse conditions. We really struggled to score in the second half as we were physically bumped on every screen, every cut.... basically every time we moved. Though we struggled offensively our defense held tough for the win. Our athletes in Canada never see this type of physical play and we have always had a tough time adjusting to it - we were proud of how we handled ourselves and happy to come away with a victory. This game was exactly the kind of preparation for the way the game is played, and officiated, in South America. The only thing missing was the rowdy crowd.

The morning after the Mali game we did a team lift/core and stretch. Then we walked our bags down to the tram station and caught the tram to the train station, caught the train to Strasbourg where a bus organized by the French Basketball Federation picked us up. Straight back to the hotel, get checked into our rooms and then lunch. Our hotel is very nice and the food so far has been fabulous - healthy and plenty! After lunch everyone took a short nap, then we had a team meeting and went to the gym for practice. The gym is quite new and very nice. The city we are in, Geispolsheim, is very close to the German border. There is lots of farm land - corn fields and fields of hay. It reminds me of the Fraser Valley of BC - specifically the Abbotsford area. It is a small town just outside of Strasbourg and it is right in the middle of wine country near the Rhine river.

Practice was from 5:30 - 7:30 pm. We took about 25 minutes to do a really good warm-up and some balance work after sitting on the tram, train and bus for several hours! We did lots of shooting and we cleaned up some offensive things we notice from the tape of the second Mali game. We also worked on defending ball screens. We generally guard them 3 ways - Over-Under, 2 under (squeeze) and trap. Today we worked on a fourth way - switching them. So many ball screens are moving screens, and tough to get through, that we are often forced to switch.

This is by far the best defensive team we have had in some time. This team is tough, aggressive and we have some quickness at several positions. We continue to be smaller than all of the teams we play and less skilled overall - but we are tougher, quicker and better defensively. We focused a great deal on our defense during our two weeks of tryout and training and it is showing! But with only two weeks of practice our lack of cohesive offense is also showing. We lost 69-49 to France last night. It was really a 10 or 12 point game and then they scored a few hoops at the end while we were pressing them. We were very good defensively, but really struggled to score. We had some great shots but did not finish. Our athletes in the CIS and the NCAA simply do not play at this speed and against this size and athleticism. It takes time to adjust. France had 4 players 6'4" or bigger. They are big and really strong. They had a small quick point guard and they also had a 5'11" point guard as a back up. Their 3 player was about 6'1 and could really shoot it. All of their perimeter players could handle the ball, shoot the three and hit the pull-up jumper. The European players start playing professionally at a very young age - they are playing against experienced women when they are 15 years old. Sarah Crooks, who played at the University of Saskatchewan and was the 2-time CIS player of the year, played professionally in Spain this past year. Sarah was telling me that they had a 14 year old on their team..... can you imagine how much better a 14 year old, training with women in their late 20s and early 30s, is going to get. This summer our senior National Team has three players who spent this season playing professionally - Sarah Crooks in Spain and Lizanne Murphy and Tamara Tatham in Finland. The teams we will play on this trip will have 100% of their players playing professional basketball. The exciting thing is that we will have more National Team program athletes overseas playing next season than ever before. The more experience they get playing at a high level the better our team will be.

Whenever we come to Europe we always say the same thing - the athletes are so skilled. All of the athletes, regardless of size can dribble the ball, pass the ball and shoot the ball. We lost all three games at the tournament in France. We lost to France, Belarus and Poland. The biggest difference (besides the fact that we have had only 2 weeks of training together and they have all had much more) is the size of these teams, overall skill set and understanding of how to move without the ball (understanding of the game). Their ability to shoot the ball is amazing - the majority of their athletes shoots the ball properly.... and this did not happen when they made the Senior National Team! Shooting is a skill that needs to be taught properly when the athletes are young.... and then it takes hours and hours of work to become a great shooter.

The size of the European teams is really quite unbelievable - not so much how tall they are (we expect that), but more how big they are and how well they move, and how skilled. Last night when we were playing Poland, their post player, who is 6'5" 230 pounds, was being pressured on the perimeter and she put the ball behind her back, between her legs and then behind her back again then hit the wing and cut...... we had also seen her hit several 3's in the games we had scouted earlier in the tournament. The 6'5" players and above at the National Team level are "Athletes"!

Travel Day today. Let me tell you about our day....

4:15 am Wake-up call
4:45 am Load the bus
5:00 am Bus leaves to take us to the train station
6:11 am Train leaves Strasbourg for Paris
8:45 am Arrive at Charles De Gaulle Airport
3:45 pm Flight leaves for Prague
5:35 pm Arrive at Prague airport
9:45 pm Flight leaves for Kosice
11:15 pm Flight arrives in Kosice
11:45 pm Pick up bags and load the bus
12:00 am Bus leaves for Poprad, Slovakia
2:10 am Arrive in Poprad - completely exhausted!
2:30 am Finally get our heads on a pillow!

Travel day is over - just over 22 hours of travelling.... you've gotta love it!

We got up this morning (Tuesday) at 9:30 am for Breakfast, then we went for a 45 minute walk. Poprad is small but a very beautiful city. It is 2200 feet above sea level. Gorgeous mountains in the back ground of the city. After our walk we came back and lots of people got on the internet, some did some hand washing of laundry, some napped and some just showered up and relaxed. We had lunch at 1:00 pm. Right after lunch we had a 1.5 hour tape session. We have never watched tape that long before.... but when you are only together for a month you need to make the best use of your time. The tape session went well - we focused on our offence - specifically playing without the ball and playing smart. So many players do not move with a purpose. The players were very engaged and the session went by quickly.

At 4:00 pm we headed to our bus and then to the gym for practice. The arena is very nice - it is only about 2 years old. It looks like it seats about 3000 - a very nice, new facility. We practiced from 4:30 - 6:30 pm. Practice went well - lots of shooting and 5 on 5 focusing on our offensive execution, and the "reading" of the game. It was a very productive practice.

We have 3 practices over the the next 2 days and the 4 games in 4 days. We play Germany, Italy and Slovakia twice.

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Beyond the Court by Allison McNeill - European Trip - July 23, 2008

We left Georgian college at noon on Friday without a hitch. We have the loading of vans down to a science. It took about 15 minutes to load the bags of 12 athletes, 3 coaches, 1 physiotherapist, 1 manager as well as 10 extra team bags.
We arrived at the Toronto Airport and were checked in with Czech Airlines in about 30 minutes. Then we were able to relax as we had about 3 hours until our flight left. A last trip to Starbucks or Tim Hortons, buying a book or magazine to read, checking the email and calling family.
The flight was good - a little bumpy in a few spots, but overall smooth. Our travel agent has arranged for pre-assigned seats so our taller athletes all had exit rows - they were very happy. Our first flight took us to Prague, Czech Republic. We arrived in Prague at about 5:45 in the morning - 11:45 pm Toronto time. We have everyone set there watches to the local time to help us get focused on our new time. From Prague we took a flight back to Paris and then another flight to Mulhouse and finally a bus to the sports school where we are staying and training for the first four days of our trip. By the time everything was done we had travelled for about 20 hours. Like I have stated before, the National Team is not for everyone, it is not as glamorous as one might like to think. But if you love basketball and love to compete against the best in the world - then it is an amazing experience.
The only bad thing on the entire travel day was that Amanda Brown's and our Physiotherapist, Shannon's, bags were not with the rest of our bags. Hopefully they get them back by tomorrow.
We unloaded our bags at the sports school and then went straight to the cafeteria where they had a meal prepared for us. It was very good. Lisa Thomaidis, one of our assistant coaches, had read on line that this area of France is known for their generous portions when it came to meal time. They were not kidding - they are giving us lots of food. Our first lunch was a salad made up of cold green beans, 2 slices of cold turkey, sliced cucumber, corn, and cabbage. There was also yogurt and fruit. And if would not be France if there was not some great cheese and bread!
After our lunch everyone headed back to their rooms for a nap. We limited their nap to 1.5 hours so that everyone would sleep through the night. The rooms are small but very comfortable..... but we can only get internet in the lobby with our wireless. Once again the bigs were very happy as the beds are about 7 feet long.... no feet hanging over the edge! After their naps we had practice from 6:00 - 7:30 pm. The gym is in the same building as our rooms and the cafeteria - it is nice to have everything so close and easy to access. There is also a small weight room so we are able to get our core work and lifts done. Practice went well and the athletes surprised us at how focused they were - not always an easy task after 20 hours of travel and very little uninterrupted sleep. We started practice with a very good warm-up and balance exercises. From there we did some full-court running, passing, catching drills - just trying to get our legs back from the long day of travel. We did some skill work including shooting, ball screens, shooting off screening action. We also spent some time reviewing our offense 5 on 0 - both our motion and sets. From there we went to some 5 on 5 competing for about 30 minutes. They went hard and competed hard. We finished up with one of the teams favourite drills "Storm Shooting". Lisa Thomaidis (Head coach at University of Saskatchewan and National Team assistant) brought this drill to us. You split the group into 2 teams. Each team has 3 basketballs, they shoot from the 3 point line until as a group they make 7 (you can choose any number of makes) then someone must go to the line and make 2 free throws in a row. This is done until everyone on the team has made 2 consecutive free throws following the team making 7 three point shots. It is a great way to get some 3s up and then to practice pressure free throw shooting..... and it is FUN! After practice Mike McNeill (our other assistant coach) took them through a long cool down and stretch. All of the athletes said they felt much better after having trained.
After training we went back to the cafeteria for dinner, had another very good meal, had a team meeting and then hit the hay. After the meeting most of the athletes spent time figuring out how to get the internet and then people were emailing and skyping with family and friends. It is wonderful to be able to keep in touch with the important people in our lives. Everyone was asleep by 10:00 - 10:30 pm.
National Team athletes have to be low to non-maintenance athletes. Things are not always going to go the way you expect them to when you travel so you need to be a person who can adapt and go with the flow. We have a group of athletes that are like that.
This morning we had breakfast at 9:00 am and then we all went out for a walk. We went for about 40 minutes. We had a few people stop and ask us what we were doing in Mulhouse and who we were. There is ALWAYS a great sense of pride when the athletes tell people that they are the Women's National Basketball Team from CANADA! After our walk the athletes went into the gym and spent 30 - 45 minutes shooting and doing skill work.
We had a full training session from 4-6 pm tonight. Though we have only had two weeks training together we are starting to look like a team! Our communication at both ends of the floor is improving quickly and we are learning to trust each other defensively. We are still a very young team with 6 of our 12 athletes in their first or second year with the National Team. But we are tough and we do compete.
Good news - Amanda's bag has arrived. Bad news - Shannon's has not!
This morning we had breakfast at 9:00 am and then practice at 11:00 am. We were able to practice in the facility that we will play Mali in tonight. We do not know much about Mali other than they are the African Champions and they are going to the Olympics. This is the first time in their women's basketball history that they have qualified for the Olympics. They beat Senegal in the African Championships to get the bid to the Olympics. They have several players who play in first division in France, and one who plays in the WNBA - she plays for the Houston Comets.
When Mali arrived we were in the cafeteria eating dinner. They walked in and all of the sudden Teresa Gabriele (10 year National Team veteran) stood up and walked toward one of the Mali players. They gave each other a hug and then talked for a few minutes. Later I asked Teresa how they knew each other and they were teammates while playing in Austria several years ago. It is amazing how small the world becomes when you are traveling the world playing basketball. The Mali team is coached by a French first division women's coach - last night he told us he used to coach one of our former National Team athletes, Corey Blakeborough on his professional team in France. Small, small world.
Mali game went well - we won 72-49. We did some very good things and we did some not so good things..... all in all a good effort for our first game after only 2 weeks of training. They are longer and quicker than us and they hurt us on the offensive glass - we will have to do a better job rebounding and blocking out in the next game.
Breakfast was at 9:00 am today. Then some players went to lift, others to shoot and others to treatment or rest. We watched the tape/edit of the Mali game right before lunch. Because this is a sport school we were able to get a classroom with a projector, white board, tables and chairs. It is a great set up here.... it sure would be nice if we had something like this in Canada. The film session went well and we will have another session tomorrow morning and then a walk-through/shooting practice after film. Our second game against Mali is tomorrow at 6:00 pm. I know that they will be fired up to play us in this second game.
This afternoon the whole team and staff are taking the tram downtown. We are going to the city center that is supposed to be quite beautiful. There are shops, cafes, churches and a carousel. It will be nice to get out of the dorms at the sports school and see some of the city - it is also good to get the players minds off basketball for a few hours.
On Thursday we will take the train to Strassbourg, France for a 4 team tournament. We will play Poland, France and Belarus - all very good teams. We are looking forward to playing.

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Beyond the Court by Allison McNeill - Experiences of a Lifetime - July 16, 2008

Greetings from Barrie. We are now in day 13 of our training camp at Georgian College. Our Development National Team left for China today and our Junior National Team athletes just arrived on Friday. There were 25 Junior age athletes trying out for our Junior World Qualifying team that is going to Argentina. The team went through a rigorous two day tryout and we have selected 14 athletes - 12 will travel and 2 are alternates.

We currently have 12 Senior, 11 Development and 14 Junior athletes all training in Barrie. It is wonderful to have all of the athletes in the same place at the same time training. There is great energy amongst both the coaches and athletes. We are all working hard and you can feel the pride and honor that everyone has in representing CANADA.

Our Senior athletes have had 18 in the gym training sessions thus far, as well as core/stretch or lifting/stretch sessions every other day. We also do recovery sessions everyday. We even had a "Piloga" session.... Pilates and Yoga combined. Our instructor, Niki, did lots of core work, as well as stretching and even a little relaxation and meditation at the end - I know the coaches liked that!

As I stated above our development team left for China today and they all seemed very excited about the trip. There were lots of hugs and good wishes for the coaches and athletes before they left. Though the athletes are competing against each other, there are always many friendships forged over the years. This group of athletes are competitive, but they also realize they are part of the Canadian Women's National Team Program and the only way we can be successful is for us to be in this together!

The development team will be playing the Chinese Olympic Team. They are playing in three different cities and will likely see incredible crowds. We played China with the Senior Team last summer and they sold out every game. This summer the crowd will be especially geared up as the Olympics are only a month away. For all of our athletes on the Development Team this will be the first time they will have played against a Senior National Team. Many of them have represented Canada at the Junior and Young Women's World Championships - but this will be a huge step up in competition level for them. Playing the Chinese National Team in China, in an Olympic year, will be the experience of a lifetime! Our development team is made up of some very good young players and I know they will battle China every inch of the way.

Our Senior Team has 3 more days of training and then we leave for Europe. Our schedule is very challenging and will give us a great test for this summer and help prepare us for next summer's World Qualifying Tournament. We will play 9 games in 14 days!!

July 21 Game vs. Mali (African Champions - going to Olympics)
July 23 Game vs. Mali
July 25 Game vs. Poland
July 26 Game vs. France
July 27 Game vs. Belarus (Going to Olympics)
July 31 Game vs. Germany
August 1 Game vs. Italy
August 2 Game vs. Slovakia
August 3 Game vs. Slovakia

People always ask us if we get to sight-see or be a "tourist" for a day or two. Well not much, as you may have gathered from the schedule above. On each game day we will also have a "shoot/walk-through" practice. We will also videotape all of the games and then we watch the tape after each game, or the next morning. We also do core workouts every other day and recovery workouts every day. With that full schedule we always manage to find some time to see the country or city that we are in. We had time in Prague two summers ago - which was amazing. Prague is a very beautiful city and we were able to find a day and a half to tour. While in Rio, Brazil we went up the gondola at Sugar Loaf mountain and spent most of one day at Ipanema beach. Last summer while we were in Abbotsford, BC training we were able to take a visit to White Rock, BC. We went out for dinner (thanks to Basketball BC for buying us dinner!) and then walked around the beach. While we were in China last summer we were able to visit a buddhist temple and do a little shopping. This trip we may get a visit from former National Team athlete Nikki Johnson and her husband Rudi who live in Germany. I coached Nikki for four years at SFU, and also on the National Team, so it will be great to see her. So we do manage to see a few things.... but when you play for your country your first job is to train and play your best.

Well, we have a game tonight against some local guys so I will sign off for now. I will try to send an update from France and Slovakia.

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Beyond the Court by Allison McNeill - National Team Training Camp 2008 - July 9, 2008

Well we have been training for 6 days. We had our open tryout on July 2 at York University. There were approximately 30 athletes at the open tryout and we brought six athletes through to the main camp.

It was an extremely competitive 2 day tryout and in the end we selected 23 athletes to represent Canada on our Senior National Team and our Development National Team. The teams will be named tonight.

So far we have had 10 training sessions in the gym. We have also had three core training sessions, two weight room sessions and some foam roller/stretch recovery sessions. It has been a busy 6 days!!

We are training at Georgian College in Barrie, Ontario. It is a great place to train - the gym and dorms are excellent facilities. It is very quiet in the area and we have full access to all of the amazing facilities, including the gym, fitness area, weight room and core studio. The staff has been extremely helpful, accommodating and friendly. We have not had any time off to see the city or the area at all, but hopefully on our day off we may be able to get to Centennial Beach and the downtown core - everyone tells us it is beautiful, so we may have to take a few hours away from training to check it out.

This summer is all about development and evaluation. The Senior Team selected this summer is not necessarily the team that will go to the World Qualifying Tournament next summer. Right now we have a pool of about 35 athletes that are in the running for that team. We need to get better this summer and we need to work harder over the next 4 years. We are not one of the 12 teams going to the Olympics – so we must work harder.

We will continue to have athletes around the country developing in our CP and Provincial Team programs as well as our NEDA and Junior National Team programs. I also think some of these athletes will be knocking on the door - if not for the 2012 Olympics, then for sure for the 2016 Olympics!

The players are working extremely hard and the energy has been fabulous at camp. This is the best group I have worked with in my 10 years with the National Team program. They are the most athletic group we have had in a very long time. They are incredible young women. They work very hard, they are physically tough, they are open and honest communicators, they support each other and they are driven competitors who are committed to working on their games to become the best they can be. The best thing is they really seem to love the game, love to train and want to play for their country.

There are always people asking me about this player or that player and why they are not at a tryout. I will not be discussing anyone by name in this blog..... but I will say this - sometimes we want it more for athletes than they want it for themselves. Players have to really want to represent their country, to play at this level, and as hard as it is to believe, not everyone does. It is tough to train and play at a world class level - it appeals to those who love to compete, those who want to challenge themselves against the best players in the world..... and guess what?? Not everyone has the courage, drive and toughness to do that. There are players over the years that have turned down an opportunity to play on the National Team, to go to the Olympics.

I know for some of us (like me!) that is really hard to believe, but it is true. There are also athletes that have "talent", but no work ethic, a bad attitude or are selfish players. Those types of athletes have no place playing for a National Team and representing Canada.

It is also our job as coaches to put together the best "Team" to represent Canada. This is not always the best 12 players.... but the 12 players that play the best together and will play for "Canada" and not just for themselves. It is so important to have good team chemistry and to have athletes who put winning ahead of anything else. We have a group like that and we are excited to see how they develop over the next few years.

Here are the athletes that will be representing Canada on either the Senior National Team or the Development National Team this summer.

Name | Province | Height | Position

Alisha Tatham | Ontario | 5’11 | G
Amanda Brown | Quebec | 6’4 | F
Amy Ogiden | Manitoba | 5’10 | G
Chanelle St. Amour | Quebec | 5’7 | G
Chelsea Aubry | Ontario | 6’2 | F
Jordan Adams | Nevada | 6’4 | F
Kadie Riverin | Ontario | 5’9 | G
Kaela Chapdelaine | Alberta | 5’10 | G
Kaitlyn Burke | British Columbia | 5’7 | G
Kelsey Adrian | British Columbia | 6’1 | G/F
Kendell Ross | Ontario | 6’0 | F
Krysten Boogaard | Saskatchewan | 6’4 | F
Lizanne Murphy | Quebec | 6’1 | F
Marie-Michelle Genois | Quebec | 6’2 | F
Melissa Dalembert | Quebec | 6’2 | F
Miranda Ayim | Ontario | 6’3 | F
Natalie Doma | British Columbia | 6’3 | F
Sarah Crooks | Saskatchewan | 6’2 | F
Tamara Tatham | Ontario | 6’1 | F
Tara Watts | British Columbia | 5’9 | G
Teresa Gabriele | British Columbia | 5’5 | G
Uzoma Asagawara | Manitoba | 5’9 | G
Vanessa Kabonga | Ontario | 5’10 | G

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Beyond the Court by Allison McNeill - Happy Canada Day! I AM CANADIAN.... - July 1, 2008

Happy Canada Day everyone! We live in an amazing country and I hope you all enjoy celebrating our countries birthday. I also hope you are PROUD to be CANADIAN. I am reminded of the amazing Molson Beer commercials from a few years ago. These two commercials are worth a second look! Enjoy.

http://www.coolcanuckaward.ca/joe_canadian.htm

http://www.coolcanuckaward.ca/i_am_canadian.htm

Well the summer is finally here and our National Teams are getting together this month. It is not the Olympics which is very disappointing.... but it is the start of the quest for the 2010 World Championships and the 2012 Olympic games and we are not looking back.

We will be having an open tryout for the Senior Women's, and Development Women's, National Teams at York University on July 2 from 5:00 pm - 8:00 pm. Then on July 3/4 we will be up at Georgian College in Barrie, Ontario for the two day tryout for both teams.

Our Senior National Team will then be training for two weeks and traveling to France and Spain for exhibition games. The Development National Team will be traveling to China where they will play three exhibition games against the Chinese Olympic Team.

The Junior Women's National Team has an open tryout on July 10 and then a two day tryout on July 11/12 at Georgian College in Barrie. They will then travel to Argentina for the World Qualifying Tournament.

The team's summer schedules are below:

2008 Women's National Team Program:
July 2: WNTP Open Tryouts 5-8pm York University
July 3-4: WNTP Tryout by invitation, Georgian College (Barrie)

2008 Senior Women's National Team:
SWNT Mega Camp Training July 5-18 Georgian College (Barrie)
SWNT Competition July 18-August 5 France and Slovakia

2008 Development Women's National Team:
DWNT Mega Camp Training July 5-14 Georgian College (Barrie)
DWNT Competition July 15-23 (Shanghai, China)

2008 Junior Women's National Team:
July 10 JWNT Open tryouts time and location TBD (just waiting to hear back from U of T)
July 11-12 JWNT tryouts by invitation Georgian College (Barrie)
July 13-19 JWNT training
July 20-29 JWNT World Qualifying Tournament, Buenos Aries, Argentina

It is going to be a great summer for everyone involved. Stay tuned. I will send some updates through my Blog while we are at training camp and when we are playing in Europe. If you are in the Barrie area stop by Georgian College and watch us train.

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Beyond the Court by Allison McNeill - Amazing Women… and they represent us! - June 24, 2008

June always makes me think of graduation. Graduation is such an interesting ceremony... it is both sad and joyous. Graduation celebrates academic achievement, but it also marks the end to a stage in one's life. It closes one chapter of your life and opens another.

Our National Team program has several athletes who have graduated from University this year and are moving on in their lives. I would like to tell you a little bit about these amazing women. We are very proud of them!!
Looking for a role model for your young daughter or son – well look no further!

Our first student-athlete is Chelsea Aubry. Chelsea attended high school at Grand River Collegiate Institute in Kitchener, Ontario. Chelsea has been with the National Team program for 6 years, 4 of those with the Senior National Team. Chelsea has played in 72 international games for Canada - 58 with the Senior National Team. Chelsea has also been involved in the Canada Basketball CP program and the Ontario Provincial Team program.
This year she graduated from the University of Nebraska with a Bachelor of International Business, Minor in Ethnic Studies, with Honors.

Here are a few highlights from Chelsea’s four-year career at The University of Nebraska:
2007 - NCAA Tournament
2004-06 - National Invitational Tournament (NIT)
2005-07 - Team Captain, 3-year starter
Honorable Mention All Big 12
2007 - #2 in single season 3-point percentage (43.4)
2007 - #9 in all time 3-point shots made (89)
2005-07 - Second Team Academic All Big 12
2003-05, 2008 - Big 12 Commissioner’s Academic Honor Roll
2005 - NCAA Leadership Conference (selected to represent University of Nebraska)
2007 - Nebraska Student/Athlete Advisory Committee



Our next athlete is Amanda Brown. Amanda was born in Montreal, Quebec and grew up (from 10 years of age) in Kennett Square, PA. She attended Unionville High School where she played both volleyball and basketball. Amanda has been on the National Team for 4 years and has played in 59 international games for Canada.

This year Amanda graduated from Penn State University with a Bachelor of Science degree (pre-medicine) with a double minor in both Psychology and Human Development and Family Studies.

Here are a few highlights from Amanda’s four-year career at Penn State University:

• All-Big Ten first team selection in her senior year
• Averaged 14.2 points per game, which was eighth in the Big Ten Conference
• Third in the Big Ten Conference in field goal percentage (.593) and fifth in blocked shots (1.55)
• Big Ten Academic Honors all four years at Penn State.
• Won the Lady Lion academic award in 2004, 2006, and 2007
• Team captain



Next up is Kaela Chapdelaine. Kaela graduated from Foothills Composite High School in Okotoks, Alberta. Kaela played on the Alberta U-17 Provincial Team. She has been involved in the National Team program for years. She has been a member of both the Junior National Team and the Development National Team. Kaela has played international game, for the Senior Team.

Kaela has signed a professional contract and will be playing first division basketball with Nantes-Reze in Nantes, France.

This year Kaela graduated from the University of Oregon with a Bachelor of Science in Human Physiology.

Here are a few highlights from Kaela’s four-year career at the University of Oregon:

• As a senior, Kaela was second on the team averaging 7.5 points per game, while leading the team in rebounds (170) and assists (127).
• 2008 - Lead the Pac-10 in Assist-Turnover ratio
• 2008 - Set a new Oregon single-game record when she was a perfect 6-for-6 from three-point range during the Ducks’ 66-55 victory over UCLA on Feb. 23.
• Her career at Oregon ended with 362 assists (seventh all-time), 111 three-pointers (seventh all-time) and 122 games played (third all-time)
• 2005-2008 All Pac-10 Academic Honorable Mention
• 2008 Pac-10 Conference Team Honorable Mention
• Defensive Player of the Year 2007 and 2008
• Team Captain



Our next athlete is Uzoma Asagwara. Uzo grew up in Winnipeg, Manitoba where she attended St. Norbert Collegiate High School. She then went on and had a stellar career at the University of Winnipeg. She played for the Manitoba Provincial Team during her high school years. Uzo made the National Team for the first time last summer and she has played 15 international games with the Maple Leaf on her chest.

Uzo graduated from the University of Winnipeg with a degree in Psychiatric Nursing.

Here are a few highlights from Uzo’s five-year career at the University of Winnipeg:

• 2006 averaged 24 points a game – lead the CIS
• 2007 averaged 28 points a game in her senior season to lead the CIS for the second straight year.
• 2006 second team All-Canadian
• 2007 second team All-Canadian
• 2006 Canada West first team all-star
• 2007 Canada West first team all-star
• 2-time CIS National Championship silver medalist
• 2-time Academic All-Canadian
• 2-time University of Winnipeg Athlete of the Year
• Team captain
• Bachelor of Science in Psychiatric Nursing
• 5 time academic All-Canadian,
• Psychiatric Nurses of Manitoba Medal Winner (for highest academic improvement)
• Team captain

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Beyond the Court by Allison McNeill - Do you have the right mindset? - June 17, 2008

I wanted to follow-up on my last blog. I made mention of Joanne Sargent who played on our National Women's Team from 1970 - 1976. Here is a great quote from Joanne that was in the Salmon Arm Observer Newspaper after her Salmon Arm Secondary School Wall of Fame Induction. The story was written by Richard MacKenzie.

Asked about her success as a player, Sargent said if there was one thing that set her apart from her teammates it was that she was “so driven.”

“A lot of my teammates were better basketball players than me,” she said, “but I was just so crazed to become better... I had such a passion.”

Joanne's quote reminded me of a saying I have had on my wall since I was in high school. My Mom gave me my first copy of this poem and I love it!

Professor Carol Dweck of Stanford University wrote a book titled: Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. I have not yet read the entire book.... but what I have read so far is really good. I won't spend a lot of time on this; if you are interested you can buy the book or “google” it to learn more. But I do have a few things to share with you. I found this information in the book and also from the www.mindsetonline.com.

Professor Dweck talks about having a "fixed" mindset or a "growth" mindset. In a fixed mindset, people believe their basic qualities, like their intelligence or talent, are simply fixed traits. They spend their time trying to show their intelligence or talent instead of developing them. They believe that their talent alone creates their success - without effort.

People for whom performance is paramount want to look good even if it means not learning a thing in the process.

In a growth mindset, people believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work—brains and talent are just the starting point. This view creates a love of learning and a resilience that is essential for great accomplishment. Virtually all successful people have had these qualities.

Teaching a growth mindset creates motivation and productivity every walk of life.

Here is a great graphic by Nigel Holmes that brings it all together.



This next bit of information was taken from an article in Stanford Magazine. The article is titled "Effort Effect" by Marina Krakovsky.

One day last November, psychology professor Carol Dweck welcomed a pair of visitors from the Blackburn Rovers, a soccer team in the United Kingdom’s Premier League. The Rovers’ training academy is ranked in England’s top three, yet performance director Tony Faulkner had long suspected that many promising players weren’t reaching their potential. Ignoring the team’s century-old motto—arte et labore, or “skill and hard work”—the most talented individuals disdained serious training.

On some level, Faulkner knew the source of the trouble: British soccer culture held that star players are born, not made. If you buy into that view, and are told you’ve got immense talent, what’s the point of practice? If anything, training hard would tell you and others that you’re merely good, not great.

A 60-year-old academic psychologist might seem an unlikely sports motivation guru. But Dweck’s expertise—and her recent book, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success—bear directly on the sort of problem facing the Rovers. Through more than three decades of systematic research, she has been figuring out answers to why some people achieve their potential while equally talented others don’t—why some become Muhammad Ali and others Mike Tyson.

The key, she found, isn’t ability; it’s whether you look at ability as something inherent that needs to be demonstrated or as something that can be developed. Dweck has shown that people can learn to adopt the latter belief and make dramatic strides in performance.

So what does this mean for coaches, parents and teachers? We need to quit telling athletes how talented and great they are! We need to start praising how hard they are working; how committed to getting better they are, how they keep persisting when things get tough, etc. We also need to focus on "learning goals" as opposed to "performance goals". If it is only about the winning then why work hard, why train if I can "win" without working hard and training hard.

Carol Dweck has confirmed so much of what I have seen and believed at the university and National Team levels over the past 30 years. I have been lucky enough to play with and coach many great players – to a player they all demonstrated a “growth” mindset. Steve Nash might be the greatest example of a “growth” mindset player we have ever seen in our sport.

Olympics Around the Corner

The Olympics start on August 8, 2008. The final Olympic qualifying tournament for women just finished this weekend. These are the teams that will be at the Olympics in Beijing. Women's Basketball at the Olympic Games runs from August 9th - August 23rd.


World Ranking Country How they qualified

1 USA America's Champions
2 Australia World Champions – automatic bid
3 Russia European Champions
4 Brazil FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament
5 Spain FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament
6 Korea Asian Championships
9 Czech Republic FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament
10 China Host Nation
16 New Zealand Second in Oceania Zone
26 Latvia FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament
30 Belarus FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament
31 Mali African Champions


The World Rankings are very deceiving. Points are accumulated over an eight-year period. In case you are wondering Canada is ranked #11. Here is how the rankings work:


1. Event selection Weight

FIBA World Championships for Women 5
Olympic Basketball Tournaments for Women 5
FIBA U19 World Championships for Women 1
FIBA U21 World Championships for Women 1
FIBA Africa Championships for Women 0.2
FIBA Americas Championships for Women 0.8
FIBA Asia Championships for Women 0.3
Eurobasket Championships for Women 1
FIBA Oceania Championships for Women 0.1


2. Competition Ranking Scoring System Points

Gold - 50
Silver - 40
Bronze - 30
Fourth - 15
Fifth - 14
Sixth - 13
Seventh - 12
Eighth - 11
Ninth - 10
Tenth - 9

etc....

3. Cycle

The ranking is calculated within the scope of a 2 Olympic Games cycle. Here are the competitions that are taken into account:

2 FIBA World Championships for Women
2 Olympic Basketball Tournaments for Women
2 FIBA U19 World Championships for Women
2 FIBA U21 World Championships for Women
5 FIBA Africa Championships for Women
5 FIBA Americas Championships for Women
5 FIBA Asia Championships for Women
5 Eurobasket Championships for Women
5 FIBA Oceania Championships for Women

Whenever a new championship is played the oldest championship of that category drops out. The FIBA Ranking is then recalculated.

The world is much more competitive in Women's Basketball than it used to be 15 or 20 years ago. Just look at the teams going to the 2008 Beijing Olympics - Belarus only became a country in 1990 and Latvia in 1991. Prior to that they were states in the USSR. Now they have become top women's basketball nations. There are more domestic leagues for women, women are making big money playing professional basketball, and they are now playing well into their 30s. All of these factors have contributed to improving the strength and depth of field in the world in women's basketball. It's a whole new ball game!

Here is something quite interesting that might get you thinking...

Russian coach Igor Grudin has named Americans Becky Hammon, Kelly Miller and Deanna Nolan in his 24 member preliminary squad for the Beijing Games. Hammon of CSKA Moscow, Miller of Spartak Moscow and Nolan of UMMC Ekaterinburg are guards who acquired Russian citizenship after playing in the country. If these American athletes do end up playing for Russia it will be very interesting if and when they play Team USA. Remember when Tim Duncan was playing for the USA team and they played the Virgin Islands (where he was born and raised).... Duncan did not play in the game.

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Beyond the Court by Allison McNeill - Role models, Level 3 coaches clinic and some words for parents and coaches - June 10, 2008

I had a fabulous week.

On Thursday I went up to Salmon Arm, BC to my old High School for the Awards night. The night included a "Wall of Fame" induction. It was a great honor for me to be inducted. I loved my two years at Salmon Arm Secondary School. They truly were life-altering years for me. I had an amazing coach, wonderful teachers and a very special group of teammates and friends. My experiences in Salmon Arm helped to confirm my feelings and thoughts about excellence, commitment and hard work.

As I drove into town a rush of memories and emotions came over me. It is really quite amazing how vivid the past can come back to you when you see familiar places. But nothing hit me quite like going into my old high school gym. I was reminded of all the times I shot around, played one on one with friends, trained with my teammates, ran the bleachers, lifted weights and played so many exciting games. I love that old gym!

Joanne Sargent, a former National Team member, was also inducted into the "Wall of Fame". Joanne grew up in Salmon Arm and led the "Jewels” to three straight provincial titles from 1964-67. She then went on to UBC from 1968-1973 leading the T-Birds to three Canada West Championships and two CIAU National Championships. She still holds the UBC "unofficial" record for career assists. Jo played on the National Team from 1970-1976. In 1976 she had the honor of representing Canada at the first Olympics for women's basketball. She held an Olympic record for 20 years - 14 assists in a game. It was broken in 1996 by 4-time US Olympian Teresa Edwards. Joanne was a great player that I had the pleasure of playing with on a BC Team that traveled to Czechoslovakia for games in the late 70's. She was small - but the toughest guard I have ever seen! She was an amazing competitor and a great point guard. She played with such passion and toughness. There were two athletes in Salmon Arm that were an inspiration to me, one was Joanne Sargent, and the other was Sandra Gibbons (Yup, that is 2008 CIS Player of the Year Lani Gibbons' Mom) - both were phenomenal players. I was very lucky to have two such amazing female role models. They are both great people and incredible athletes that I could aspire to be like. Not many young girls in the late 1970's had female athletes to look up to, I consider myself extremely lucky.

Then on Saturday and Sunday I spoke at, and attended a NCCP Level 3 coach’s clinic. There were 22 coaches at the clinic that got a chance to learn from Scott Clark - SFU men's coach, Scott Allen - Trinity Western University men's coach, Rich Chambers - Terry Fox senior boy's coach and Junior National Women's team head coach, Mike McNeill - director of coaching development for Basketball BC/National Women's team assistant coach and myself. There was lots of interaction between the coaches and I know everyone left with new ideas, knowledge and tools to be a better coach. It is so great to see so many coaches working to be better - thanks to all of you!

Here is some food for thought if you are a parent/coach involved in youth sport......

Twenty million kids register each year for youth hockey, football, baseball, soccer, and other competitive sports. The National Alliance for Sports reports that 70 percent of these kids quit playing these league sports by age 13 -- and never play them again.

According to Michael Pfahl, executive director of the National Youth Sports Coaches Association, "The number-one reason (why they quit) is that it stopped being fun." With figures like these, it's time we rethink how we present youth sports to kids.

These are American statistics - but I am sure they are relative to Canadian youth sport also.

With this in mind here are a few things for parents and coaches to remember.....

With really young children we must remember to focus on the element of play in any sporting activity that we introduce to them.

Always remember that this is the child's experience - not yours. Make it fun. Get the kids running, throwing, catching, kicking....... smiling and laughing.

Do not burden the kids with rules, score keeping and competition. Help the kids develop a passion for sport. Do not make unrealistic expectations of your child's sport performance. Many kids lose their passion for youth sports because they feel they can't live up to their parents' and coaches' expectations.

Never let fun take a back seat to winning in youth sport.

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Beyond the Court by Allison McNeill - So you want to be an assistant coach? - June 3, 2008

So I had the weekend off and what did I do? I watched the BC U-15 team tryouts as well as the BC U-16 and U-17 team practices. I think balance is your life is highly over-rated! I really enjoy watching all of the young developing athletes in BC and around the country. This summer the U-17 Boys and Girls National Championships are at University of Prince Edward Island, Charlottetown, PEI. The U-15 National Championships will be in Kamloops, BC at Thompson Rivers University. These are the best young athletes from across the country, if you get a chance, go see them play.

I talked to a good friend of mine on the phone today. He is a former NCAA Div. I Head Coach and is now taking a NCAA Div. I Assistant Coach position. We got into a discussion about the qualities that make a good Assistant Coach. Here are some of the things we came up with. By no means is this a complete list.... but it is a good start.

1. Loyalty. This is number one on every list I have ever seen. Head coaches want assistants who are loyal to them and the program. Head coaches are often under scrutiny from fans, media, administrators, and they need to have an inner circle of confidants who they can trust completely. Good assistants may disagree with the head coach in private but they must remain loyal to the Head Coach in public. Loyalty does not mean being a "YES" person. In fact "Yes" people do not make good assistants because they do not help to improve your program. If assistant coaches never challenge the Head Coach how can the program grow? "People who say yes to you all the time are, in my opinion, insulting you. They assume you are either too immature or unstable or egotistical to handle the truth," says Tennessee Women's Basketball Coach Pat Summit.

2. People/Communication skills. Head coaches want assistants who have great people skills. Assistants are often the link between the Head Coach and the athletes. It is crucial for assistants to have great listening and communication skills to handle this role effectively. At the university level good people skills are absolutely vital in the recruiting process as well as dealing with the media, fans and parents. Building good relationships is a key to being a good coach.

3. Relentless work ethic. Doesn't everyone want to be surrounded by hard working people? I would think every head coach would like an assistant who is willingly to put in the hard work and long hours necessary to build and maintain a successful program. Good assistants should be as committed and dedicated to the program as the head coach is.

4. Responsible and ethical. Assistant coaches need to have personal accountability. They need to be able to work without constant guidance and supervision. Head coaches need to be surrounded by assistant coaches that make moral, ethical and rational decisions and are therefore answerable for their own behavior. The Head Coach will have to discipline athletes; they certainly do not need to be disciplining their Assistant Coaches too.

5. Enthusiastic and Energized. Tom Crean, the new Indiana University Men's Head Coach says, "Only the Head Coach has the opportunity to bring negative energy. The rest of the staff must bring positive energy". Head coaches want assistants who bring passion, energy and excitement to the program. It is important for assistant coaches to be positive and optimistic. Head coaches can get discouraged when things are not going well, assistant coaches can help by staying positive.

6. Initiative. Assistant coaches need to take initiative to get things done and not wait for the Head Coach to tell them what needs to be done. Coming up with new ideas, looking at things differently and being a step ahead are important qualities for an assistant coach to have.

7. Knowledge of Game. Every assistant coach should be a student of the game. It is important to be a lifelong learner, whether you are a head coach or an assistant coach. A good assistant coach should be thirsty to learn, develop and grow. They need to have a solid knowledge of the game so that they can assist the head coach with game plans, scouting, skill development, video break down, practice planning etc.

8. On court teacher. Assistant coaches need to be able to get on the court and teach the game. It is one thing to know the game, or to have played the game; it is something completely different to be able to teach the game. Knowing how to teach is a very desirable quality in an assistant coach.

9. Compatible core values. If the head coach and the assistant coach have a completely different set of core values the relationship will never work.

10. Loves coaching for all the right reasons. What is the right reason for coaching? The athletes. Helping them to become the best they can be as people and as players.

As I look back and read over this list I realize the 10 qualities that make a good assistant coach are qualities that make a good assistant in any profession.

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Beyond the Court by Allison McNeill - Fathers, Daughters, Coaching, and the Capitol Theatre - May 27, 2008

This weekend I was out in Abbotsford, BC doing a NCCP Level I coaches clinic. As I have stated in some of my past Blogs, I really enjoying speaking at, and attending, coaches clinics. We had a very enthusiastic group in Abbotsford so it was especially enjoyable. The gym was very hot, but we toughed it out and had a good day. On Sunday I went out and watched Basketball BC's U-15 Jamboree. This is where all of the U-15 Regional Teams get together to play games. From this Jamboree approximately 40 athletes will go to a final development/selection camp and then 24 athletes will be chosen to represent BC on the two U-15 Provincial Teams. I saw some great potential and it will be fun to see how that potential develops over the next few years.

While out watching the U-15 Jamboree I noticed something very interesting about some of the coaching staffs. There were several Father-Daughter teams coaching. One of the BC U-15 teams is being coached by former National Team/UBC player and now UBC Assistant Coach Carrie Watson. Carrie was on our National Team that finished 10th at the 2006 World Championships. She is being assisted by her Dad, Bob Watson. He is a long time, and very successful, high school coach from Agassiz, BC. Coaching regional teams were Norm Roberts and his daughter Lisa Roberts. Norm has been coaching for years in Burnaby, BC and has coached his three daughters through the Basketball BC Elite program. Lisa represented BC on the Provincial team and then played her university basketball at Laurentian University. Kelly Devlin, who played her university basketball at UVIC was coaching another one of the regional teams, and her Dad, Alex Devlin (former National Team point guard and Basketball BC Hall of Fame inductee) was assisting her. Coaching the North Vancouver team was Vern Porter, a former Simon Fraser University player and his daughter Marissa was assisting him. Marissa played at Acadia and is now back in BC coaching and working. It was wonderful to see these fathers and daughters sharing a bond and love of the game through coaching. You can see why these young women are good coaches and good people.... the apple does not fall far from the tree.

5 Lessons I Learned from Working at the Movie Theatre

I was born and raised in Princeton, BC. A small town (1500 people when I lived there) between Hope and Penticton. When I lived in Princeton it was a sawmill, mining and small business town. My parents owned the movie theatre in town - The Capitol Theatre. It was a Mom and Pop (and two daughters) operation. So every night my Mom, Dad, sister and I would go downtown to work at the theatre. My sister sold the tickets at the box office, my mom sold the candy and popcorn and my dad ran the film upstairs. I was very young, but not too young to work - so I ripped the tickets as the customers came into the theatre. When the movie was over we would have to "sweep out". "Sweeping out" meant that we all got a broom and started in the back row of the theatre and swept all of the garbage forward to the very front. Once we had it all moved to the front we had to pick up all the garbage, put it in bags and take it outside. And of course if there was any spilled pop or icecream then the mops came out and we had to clean up the mess.

So why am I telling you this story... I am big on learning lessons from your life experiences and here is what I learned from working at the movie theatre with my family.

1. Hard work can be fun when there is a family atmosphere. I always really enjoyed going to work with my family. I loved my parents and I enjoyed being around them. Besides who wouldn't want to go to the movie theatre every night. My parents paid my sister and I for our work and we both had our own bank accounts. We learned the value of hard work and the value of a dollar at a very young age. We had pride in working hard for the family business.

Athletes will work hard when there is a family atmosphere - "all for one and one for all". I love the saying, "we are not here to see through each other, but to see each other through". We all want to be part of something special, where we are cared about, nurtured, pushed, disciplined and believed in.

Athletes need to be respected and rewarded for their hard work and contributions to your program. EVERYONE on your team needs to feel important - because they are! One of the best things my high school coach did at the end of each season was to give each of us a "coach's" award. Just a piece of paper really, and yet so much more than a piece of paper! It was special because he took the time to do it for each one of us. He cared!

2. Standing on your feet, dealing with the public and using a mop and a broom is tough work. I know that through my work at the theatre I learned to respect anyone who worked hard, regardless of their profession. To this day I have very little respect for those who do not work hard. Respect is not given, it is earned, and one of the ways you earn it is by working hard. There will always be things in your life that you will not be able to control, but you can always control how hard you work. I don't think there is anything more frustrating to coaches than seeing talent that won't work hard - it is just so sad, and such a waste. To quote one of my favorite athletes, former University of Oregon runner, Steve Prefontaine: "To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the Gift."

3. My parents would work all day at their full-time day jobs and then off to the theatre to work at night to sustain the family business. They both enjoyed working and enjoyed working hard. What a great example they were to my sister and I. They approached work with enthusiasm and pride. They wanted to do a great job of everything they did. My mom loved going to the theatre, she was very social, great with the public, had incredible patience and she loved kids. I remember Saturday matinees at the theatre when my mom would be working and would be surrounded by 10 - 12 young kids and she was just so great with them. She always took the time to look out for the kids at the theatre. When I am feeling a little sorry for myself, and think I have had a tough day, I remember my dad putting in a full day of work at the Hardware store or the sawmill, doing some yard work or repairs around the house, and then going to his second job at the theatre. Or I remember my mom working at the fabric store all day, coming home and cooking dinner for the family, getting everyone's laundry done and then going to work at the theatre for the rest of the evening - and loving doing it! Just one of those thoughts stops me from feeling sorry for myself and gives me a kick in the butt..... works every time.

I think the lesson here is obvious.... work hard, bring enthusiasm and pride to everything you do as a coach and you will set the example for your team. You need to be the hardest working member of your team. “The behavior of the leader shapes the actions of the followers” – what you do is far, far more important than what you say. If your behavior does not match what you say, players will see right through you. Coaches have to bring energy and enthusiasm to work, and if they don't why would they expect their players to?

“Setting an example is not the main means of influencing another, it is the only means.”

Albert Einstein


4. There is always time to break for a little fun at work! There were so many fun things to do in the movie theatre! While my dad was upstairs running the film I would go up and sit with him and just watch him work. In those days the movie was actually film and it needed to be cut and spliced and put on the reels to be shown to the customers. There were some down time when the film was running and so my dad would time me on "the stair run." I would stand by the door of the projection room where he was working, he would say "go!" and I would run down the stairs (2 small flights) and back up the stairs to my starting spot. My dad would time me and I would always try to beat my best time. Our theatre had about 250 seats. There was one big middle section and two small side sections. That made for 2 isles and a open area in the front where the stage was. It was like a small track... oh, yeah!! - another chance to run and be timed! So I would start at the top of one isle and Dad said "go!", I would run down one isle, by the front stage area, up the other isle and by the candy counter through the lobby and back to my starting spot. When I got to the finish line I yelled out "stop!" and my dad gave me my time. Later when basketball became my passion I would dribble the isles while my Dad timed me. There were days when Dad put an end to the running before I wanted because he had to finish a job, but he always took some time out to let me play.

Being part of a team and working hard to be the best you can be should be FUN! Fun is not the exclusive domain of youth sport. No matter the level you play, or coach at, take some time to smell the roses and have some fun - and when it is time to get back to work, then get back to work! Laugh and enjoy the ride, enjoy the experience!

5. The popcorn at our theatre came in these huge bags, already pre-popped, so that you just heated it up and put the butter on it. Four huge bags of popcorn came in a one gigantic box. My parents would bring some of the boxes home for my sister and I to build forts. We would use duct tape and tape several of the boxes together, cut out windows, decorate with crayons, bring in some accessories and make an amazing fort. We had hours and hours of fun in our cardboard forts. It is amazing what 5 or 6 big cardboard boxes can become it you use your imagination.

Be creative - try to see what things could be, and don't always get stuck looking at things the same old way. Be open to new ideas and always be ready to learn. Be a solution finder, not an excuse finder. Take responsibility for making things work - be a builder, a creator. Players need to be creative too. They need to try new things and get outside of their comfort zones. And coaches need to let athletes be creative - within the team context.

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Beyond the Court by Allison McNeill - Words of Wisdom from Ken Shields - May 20, 2008

Ken Shields, our former Men's National Team coach and Canada Basketball Hall of Fame member did a one-man clinic for Basketball BC last spring. It was, by the way, the best clinic I have ever been to - and I have seen most of the great coaches speak at one time or another. Ken was outstanding and his presentation on leadership was fantastic. It is no small wonder that he was at the last Olympics as an assistant coach with the Australian Men's National Team, that he coached the Georgian Men's National Team last summer, that he was asked to coach at the Chicago Bulls, Milwaukee Bucks and San Antonio Spurs camps, or that he consults in Japan and Greece with top pro teams. Yeah he's that good!

Anyway, he said some things during his leadership presentation that have really stayed with me and have stimulated my thoughts. I thought I would share some of them.

One of the first things he said was:

“The experience of an athlete cannot exceed the quality
of the leadership providing that experience.”

Leadership is essential in coaching. An athlete’s experience is important - but the leadership providing that experience is more important! If we want to give our athletes a great experience then we need to give them quality leadership.

I think we would all agree that leadership is important and yet it is not really addressed in our NCCP program until Level 4. It seems like everyone worries about the technical and tactical knowledge in their sport - but we do not address leadership. There are many coaches with great technical knowledge but cannot transmit the knowledge and cannot lead.

Now don't get me wrong, to be a great coach one must know the game technically and tactically. But my point is that as coaches we need to develop our leadership skills just as we would any of our other coaching skills.

Ken's comments on having a vision and pursuing goals:

"Coaches must be goal achievers. They must be driven to attain goals."

Great coach/leaders create a Dream, a Vision for their athletes and for their program. To me the very essence of leadership is that you have to have vision. How do you want your team to play, how do you want them to carry themselves on and off the court, you must have a vision for these things. You can never compromise your vision if you know it is the right thing. You as the head coach having a vision is key, but sharing that vision and getting everyone on the team to buy into the vision is paramount. A clear vision will engage your athletes and keep them training and focused.

Here is short article about vision from former Notre Dame football coach, Lou Holtz:

Every great accomplishment I’ve ever heard of started with someone’s dream. What is a visionary if not a dreamer? Dr. Martin Luther King was certainly a visionary. He didn’t see the world as it was, but dreamed of it as it could be. What would the reaction have been had he stood before that throng of 500,000 in Washington, D.C., and shouted, “I have a strategic plan!” Who would have noticed? However, when he declared, “I have a dream!” souls were stirred and our society began changing for the better.

Another thing that Ken said about leadership was:

“The passion shown by the athletes is a measure of your ability to lead.”

How true that statement is! Great leaders inspire the passion in their athletes - a passion for the game.

Ken's comments on individual work and training:

"Players used to come in the gym to train, now players come into the gym to be trained."

I firmly believe in individual workouts. Athletes need to spend some quality 1 on 1 time with their coach. Athletes need quality instruction, feedback, encouragement and a plan to get better. They need a coach that can analyze their game and help them to develop sound fundamental skills and a superior understanding of the game.

But I also still believe in the saying, "You don't get better on a coaches time, you get better on your own time". Players need to get into the gym and work on their own. Athletes must take responsibility for their development, but we need to lead them - we are the experts and we need to help them to be the best they can be. I coached at the University level for 20 years. During those years our staff always had a vision and a plan for the development of each of our athletes. Our coaches met with our athletes and we discussed their strengths and their weaknesses, and from this discussion we development an personal improvement plan. I talk to athletes all the time and am in constant amazement when I ask them what they are adding to their game this summer and they have no answer. "I am playing 3 times a week, lifting 3 times a week and shooting on my own." WOW - not a really focused development plan is it? I believe Ken's right - we need to get our athletes in the gym to train, not in the gym to BE trained by us!

Ken's comments on competing:

"Players must be taught how to push themselves – this is not automatic because they put on a uniform. This is what athletics are about - don't apologize for it - to do anything less is a disservice to your athletes."

This is one of my favorite Ken Shields statements. It is our job as coaches to teach our athletes how to compete and how to push themselves. If people could naturally push themselves and compete then we would have a country full of great athletes and high achievers! To me this is not even debatable - good coaches demand that their players compete and work hard everyday - and they do it because they want their athletes to be the best they can be. We need to define a good coach not by the number of games they win, but by the intensity with which their players compete, the passion that their athletes train and play with, and the coach's ability to develop each player to their full potential. I know that some people feel that competitiveness is innate.... but I believe competing is a skill, and just like any other skill, we can improve competitiveness in all of our players. If a coach accepts anything less than their athletes best then they are doing a disservice to their players. It is your job as a coach to prepare your athletes to compete - just as you prepare them to break pressure, to attack zone and to defend ball screens. If you teach your athletes to train hard and compete, the wins will take care of themselves.

Shields' definition of winning – “getting a little better today than I was yesterday, and doing that everyday”

If every coach, and every player, in Canada went into the gym with this thought in mind could you imagine where your players would be, and our country would be as a basketball nation?

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Beyond the Court by Allison McNeill - NSD Stars Basketball Weekend - May 13, 2008

I am sitting in the Calgary airport coming back from working with the NSD-Stars athletes and coaches for the weekend. I had a fabulous weekend! NSD stands for National Sports Development. NSD is a sport development and conditioning training company. They offer sport specific development programs and public fitness programs for all ages and skill levels. I worked specifically with their summer elite teams. I conducted the clinics at their wonderful facility in Calgary.

I flew to Calgary on Friday night, and thank goodness the snow was all gone. Friday night I had a great meal with the NSD Basketball Coaches - great food, great conversation and especially great company!

Then on Saturday I did 4 - 1.5 hour practices with NSD-Stars elite summer teams. The areas I covered on Saturday were:

1. Motion Offense with screening
2. Transition Offense and Transition Defense
3. Dribbling and live ball moves
4. Shooting and passing

Then on Sunday I did 2 - 1.5 hour practices. The topics on Sunday were:

1. Creating and playing off penetration
2. National Team Workout

The athletes were great - they were open to new ideas, they listened well, worked hard and had fun. Thanks to all of the athletes, you made my weekend! I really enjoyed working with you. I saw a great deal of potential, just remember potential is just a word and it is up to you to develop that potential! NSD is sending two teams to Cuba, one to Puerto Rico and one to Spain for international competition and cultural exchange. What a great experience for everyone involved. I was also able to connect with former National Team athlete Janice MacDonald (Paskevich) who, along with her husband Dave, coaches in the NSD Club program.

All of the coaches were great and it was fun to be on the floor working with them and their athletes.

My on-court time was amazing, but one of the highlights of my trip was the big NSD Basketball Banquet and silent auction. It was great to talk with some of the parents and supporters of the athletes that I had worked with during the day. The auction items were great and thank goodness I was flying home and did not have any room to bring items back! I did manage to get a great golf shirt and a long sleeve dri-fit ..... you can never have too many sports clothes! The entertainment for the evening was three of the girls teams performing a mock American Idol. The performances were hilarious and I must give a shout out to the winners (Erin and LeeAnn's U-15 team) who had all of the guests laughing out loud with their inspired performance. I saw their talents on the court but who knew they had such talents off the court!

I received a wonderful pencil drawing (by artist Bernie Brown) from the NSD Basketball Club. Written below the beautiful pencil drawing, (of a little girl getting help with her shooting at an outdoor hoop on the prairie), was a great poem:

A hundred years from now it will not matter
what my bank account was,
the sort of house I lived in,
or the kind of car I drove...
but the world may be different
because I was important in the life of a child.
- Author unknown

Well that about says it all doesn't it! All in all it was a great weekend and I would like to thank NSD Director of Basketball Mark Hogan and Erin Hogan for bringing me out to Calgary to work with everyone at NSD. I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did... though I am not sure that is possible. I would like to wish the NSD Athletes, Coaches, and Parents all the best for the summer. I will be following your progress.




National Team Athlete update:

Kim Smith is currently at the Sacramento Monarchs training camp. Kim played 26 minutes, scored 8 points and had 6 rebounds in their first exhibition game.

Lizanne Murphy and Tamara Tatham are back from Finland. Their team finished second in the Finnish League. Lizanne finished 7th in the league in scoring at 17 ppg, 9th in rebounding with 9.97 rpg. Tamara finished 15th in scoring with 14.1 ppg, 16th in rebounding at 7.56 rpg and 7th in steals with 2.51 spg. Here is a picture of them in their team uniforms in Finland.

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Beyond the Court by Allison McNeill - Great job NEDA athletes! - May, 6, 2008

I spent the weekend in Victoria doing a Level II Coaches Clinic at Pacific Christian School. I love conducting, and attending, coaching clinics - it is so great to interact with other dedicated and committed coaches. There is always something new to learn. Thanks to all of the coaches - I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. "When you are through learning you are through"!

Our NEDA girls are back from their 2008 International Trip. They travelled to Buenos Aires, Argentina where they stayed, trained and played at the Argentina High Performance Training Center. They played 4 games - they went 2 and 2. They won 3 of 4 against the Argentina U-18 Training Squad and then lost their final game against a group of Senior Athletes. For the majority of the athletes this was their first international Basketball experience. Argentina is traditionally small, scrappy and aggressive. Playing them was a great test for our athletes and they did a great job! Way to go girls, we are proud of how you represented Canada - on and off the court! Now these athletes are getting a little time off for rest and recovery. Then they will be back in the gym training and getting ready for the Junior National Team tryouts.

Here are the final two entries from my diary at the World Qualifying Tournament.

Day Seven - World Qualifying Tournament

We got up for Breakfast at 8:15 and then were ready to go to practice at 9:00 when they came and told us we could not leave until 9:00 because Puerto Rico had practice and they were late so everyone was going to move back 15 minutes. Puerto Rico left 15 minutes late for their practice so everyone's practice time was pushed back. The gym we have been practicing at is no longer available - there is a table tennis tournament going on..... I guess that has priority over the World Qualifying tournament! So we waited to go to practice and then they told me that we could not leave until 9:30 - so we went back up to our room and reviewed the film and scout on Puerto Rico. The new gym we went to was about 30 minutes from the Hotel. It was at a university - it was a cement floor in a huge dome. We did not shoot or run - just a walk through.

Beat Puerto Rico by 2! We played quite tentatively for the first half. Teresa was awesome. Tammy and Kim also played well. We could not get anything going offensively in the first half and Puerto Rico played very well. They shot the ball very, very well. We had to go with a smaller line-up as we were having trouble keeping them in front of us. Our offense was not moving so we asked Teresa to start penetrating and that got people going. Tammy and Teresa had 24 and Kim added 19. We had some trouble handling their penetration - they dribble, dribble, dribble! We did a better job with the smaller, quicker line-up. We will take the win - we are going to the World Championships - How sweet is that!

With 5 minutes left in the 2nd quarter there was a huge rain storm - wind and crazy rain. Rain came on to the floor and we had a 22 minute delay in the game. They had a couple of ladies with wet, dirty mops trying to clean up the floor - all that did was move the water around. So next thing you know Mike; Joanie, Anne Marie and Ira were using our towels to wipe up the water. We got back playing and the roof was leaking - so they had a guy run out on the floor and clean up the water while the teams were at the other end of the court. I think the rain delay really helped us to re-focus. With 6.7 seconds left in the game and the game tied, Teresa took the ball the length of the court and hit a little step through jumper at the buzzer. It was pandemonium. The players on the bench ran on the floor and everyone was hugging each other. I think Ira was as excited as any of the players - too cute. There were lots of hugs to go around.

The feeling in the locker room was one of pure joy! People were really excited - but they are ready to get home. We are tired; happy and ready to get back to our regular lives! It has been a long 3 months. But a wonderful 3 months.

Day Eight - World Qualifying Tournament

We let the athletes sleep in today and had breakfast at 10:00 am. No practice today. Film at 1:30 pm. The Dominicans looks weak on film and the scores indicate that. This will be a tough game to play - but hopefully the young kids will look at it as an opportunity to get some experience.
We did not edit film - not much to edit. The film session consisted of watching the 2nd quarter of the Dominican vs. Argentina. We also gave some tendencies of the players. Tough to hide how weak they are! I am sure we will start slow and they will hang with us for awhile.

As expected we had a slow start against the Dominican. Tough to get excited for this game when you know you have already qualified. As we settled down we played much better. Our young players came in off the bench and played well - it ended up a lopsided win for us.

Had the medal ceremony - it felt awesome to see our athletes on a podium - we will take the Bronze for this summer - but hopefully there will be a gold for us sometime in the future! Tammy was named to the All-Tournament team - and she earned it, but this truly was a team effort. Took some pictures and then got on the bus. By the time we got back to the Hotel it was 1:00 am. The team threw me in the pool and then everyone except, for a couple, also jumped in the pool and we had some fun jumping around. They went to shower and then we met at the dining hall and had some food. Then the athletes hung out with the other teams at the disco and celebrated the summer and our qualification for the World Championships. Brazil here we come!

We met in the lobby at 5:30 am. We piled the luggage into the bus and off we went to board our plane. The trip was fine - we had to fly around Hurricane Rita so that added another 30 - 40 minutes to the trip. We all got salads and Starbucks in the Miami airport - two things we had been craving. When we got to Toronto we all hugged and said our goodbyes - tough to leave each other after such a great summer. What an awesome group of people. We are so happy for them and proud of them! They deserve this. This is the first time we have sent a team to the World Championships in 12 years. It is quite an accomplishment. I am especially happy for Nikki, Tammy, Claudia and Teresa. They are all Olympians, and can now add a trip to the World Championships to their resumes.

Nikki and Kim were off to the Hotel in TO and then to do a spot on Raptors NBA TV. Everyone else headed to their flights. Mike, Teresa, Sheila and I all caught the same flight home to Vancouver. We went and had dinner together and then got on the flight.

Got home in Vancouver about 12:30 am. 22 hours of traveling... tough, but worth it!

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Beyond the Court by Allison McNeill - Hall of Fame - April 29, 2008

On Saturday night my High School coach, Joe Kupkee, was inducted into the Basketball BC Hall of Fame. It was an amazing night full of stories and memories. My high school team was the Salmon Arm Jewels. The Jewels are the most storied program in BC High School Basketball winning a total of 12 Provincial Championships. Coach Kupkee's record over 8 years was an astounding 308-42 -- a .880 winning percentage. This included an 89 game winning streak (which went into the 1979 season) and 3 Provincial Championships - 1976, 1977 and 1978.

It is hard to put into words my high school experience. But I will try.... first we had great tradition to follow. Coach Al Bianco had built an amazing program long before I ever got there. We knew all about the former players as our coach often talked about them, even though he did not coach all of them. We understood the tradition, and more importantly we understood the responsibility of upholding that tradition. It was not ONLY about winning games. It was about friendships, support, representing the community of Salmon Arm, it was about carrying yourself like a champion and it was always about pursuing excellence - on and off the court. The Salmon Arm Jewels were a "program". There have been only four coaches in the history of the program, Al Bianco, Joe Kupkee, Terry Michel and Brian Gibbons. They too all understand the tradition. One of the traditions in Salmon Arm is that if the team won the BC Championship they got to ride on the fire truck through town. The teams I was on won two BC Championships. It was so fun to ride through town on the fire truck with all of the towns people out lining the streets cheering for us. It is something I will never forget. But the things that I remember most are the wonderful people that I trained, traveled and played with - my Jewels teammates.



It was great to see so many of my teammates at the banquet, some of whom I have not seen in 31 years! The bond we shared on our team was still there, even after all these years. We all said the same thing, "Coach Kupkee made a difference in my life". Isn't that what it is all about, making a difference in the lives of others. Mr. Kupkee was tough on us, he worked us very hard and he demanded excellence in all that we did.... but he also cared immensely about each and every one of us - and we knew it. When Coach gave his acceptance speech one of the last things he said was, "What I am most proud of is what these women have done with their lives, careers and families." We are all proud of you too coach - Congratulations on your Hall of Fame induction.



Day Five - 2005 World Qualifying Tournament

Followed the same routine as yesterday - had a good shoot/walk-through - they seemed very focused. Watched tape on Argentina and that went well. Added some clips of #14 who was not in Brazil when we played them. She is tough, but I like our match-ups against her. The key will be hitting shots. The players know we played well against Cuba, but just did not make shots. I know they will be ready to play tonight.

Everyone had their naps, we will have a good pre-game meal and then we will be ready to go.

The game against Argentina was GREAT! We had a great team performance! We started the game making 3 - 3's and then Kim had a 3 point play - but missed the free throw. They made a little comeback - but we ended up winning the game by 20 - 77-57. We were very aggressive at both ends of the court. Defensively we took them out of their sets - I was really pleased with how prepared we were. We knew this was a big game - and we played great!

Teresa was outstanding defensively - especially with the ball screens that Argentina set. Our communication was outstanding - what a difference that makes. We went 2 under the ball screens and it was very effective. Our bigs were very physical and loud! Our guards did a good job of angling and cutting off the guard so that she could not turn the corner, and we got good hedges off the wings. "TEAM" defense! We also did a great job on the boards, they did not get many second shots. I am amazed at what a great rebounding team we are for being quite small.

We set really good flare screens and were ready to shoot the ball or attack the closeout. It was good to see it all come together. We made tough shots!

2 down and 3 to go! Brazil tomorrow. We can enjoy this tonight, well the players can.... we have to go watch the tape.

Day Six - 2005 World Qualifying Tournament

We played Brazil. Lost by 12 - 76-64 - lead by 2 at the half.... and then missed shots. I think our lack of depth and experience showed today. We just "missed" on some things - late to help on #8's penetration - Kim did a great job on her, but she got into the lane and the help was late. A miscue here and there on a screen.... and they make you pay. We executed well, but did not finish.

Today the gym was 30 degrees and 90% humidity. Ira had his little gauge checking it out for us. It was tough at times to hold on to the ball - the ball and all of the players were so sweaty. The cutting out of the lining of the uniforms was HUGE! The athletes were saying it was so much better than how it was before. It has also been great to warm-up in our practice gear and then the uniforms are not so heavy and wet. Ira and Joan had towel strips cut and had then in ice water and were putting them on the players necks to cool them down. We did the same thing at the Pan Ams 2 years ago. Ira and Joan have been amazing - they are both so good at what they do. We have world class medical staff for sure!

The team was pretty disappointed that we lost to Brazil - I think they knew that this was a night we could have knocked them off. They are very good - but so are we. I could really see the disappointment in the players faces. Hopefully they do not hang on too long to this feeling. We have a huge game tomorrow.

They drug tested Amanda after the game. That took some time to do the paper work etc. By the time we got back to the Hotel it was about 11:20 pm. There was no meal ready - but Anne Marie had bought some mangoes at a market near the gym so we started on those and some bars. Then about 11:50 food came out. So it was after mid-night before they got back to their rooms. I think they should tell the teams that they are going to be drug tested and then we could make arrangements to get the team back to the hotel. Also, they would be wise to test the teams that play the early game and then they can get back at a decent time. Why does it all seem so easy to us and yet it always seems to be so hard??

Brazil bought the TV rights to the games so they get every game at 7:00 pm - nice! The Dominicans are playing the 9:00 pm game because they are the hosts.

This morning we went to breakfast at 8:15 am and we saw the Cubans at Breakfast - so we knew something was up. Sure enough they thought they had practice at 9:00 am. Denise had booked our practice and had a confirmation in her hand - the Cubans showed up at the gym just after we started our practice. They did not have a confirmation. There bus dropped them off and then went back to get another team. We decided to be good people and we offered to share the court with them. So off we both went to practice - they took half the court and we took half the court. Can you believe that at the World Championship Qualifying Tournament you have to share the gym with an opponent - good thing we had already played each other.

The tournament is pretty disorganized as far as practice times are concerned, but we are making do. Of course we have Denise and Anne Marie so that REALLY helps! Hard to believe they did not have gyms ready; booked and organized for the World Qualifying Tournament. The Puerto Rican team came and one of the players asked me: "Did you just practice with Cuba?" Even she looked shocked. It worked out just fine. They are good people the Cubans! We continue to be flexible and resilient.

Puerto Rico tomorrow - we win we go to the World Championships. We knew it would get down to this game. We have beaten them 3 times this summer - up in Waterloo. But we know it will be a tough game. They play a very unorthodox style that takes some adjusting to. They have good penetrating guards and they can make some tough shots. I am glad we got them to come up to Waterloo to play us so we know what to expect.

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Beyond the Court by Allison McNeill - April 22, 2008

Complexity is a curse. It is a type of intellectual pollution that smothers clear thought” Gerry McGovern – “In praise of simplicity”

I often wonder how some coaches can make the game of basketball so darn complicated. I went to a basketball camp when I was a young athlete. To this day I still remember the coach who taught one on one play at the camp. I was sitting on the gym floor staring up at him with intense concentration. I figured I was really going to get some amazing information from this coach – and I did. He said, “one on one play is simple, if the defense is on you go by them, and if they are off you shoot it”. It doesn’t get much more simple than that

There are a couple of sayings that coaches need to be reminded of:

Remember this one: “KISS” – Keep It Simple Stupid

Or perhaps this one: “Paralysis by Analysis”

Maybe this one rings a bell: “Too much information makes the feet slow”

Or my personal favorite: “Complexity is not a sign of intelligence, simplicity is.”

Now don’t get me wrong, I realize that basketball is a tough game to learn, and to teach. It is challenging on so many levels. (That is one of the reasons why I love it – just when you think you know it all there is something new!) But it still seems to me that our job as a coach is to simplify the game for our players, not make it more complicated. It is not what you know that counts it is what your players know. Here are some suggestions on how to keep the game simple for your athletes:

1. Teach progressively.
2. Keep your teaching age-appropriate
3. Do not try to teach your athletes everything you know at every practice.
4. Keep explanations clear and concise. No one wants to listen to you pontificate.
5. Careful planning (short and long-term) is the key. Know where you are going and how you are going to get there.
6. Keep your systems age-appropriate. The triangle offense may work for the Los Angeles Lakers, but is not be the best thing for your grade 8 girls team.

Day Four

We had breakfast at 8:30 am and left for practice at 8:45 am. Shot for 30 minutes - Curly shots; Skips; shooters/rebounders and free throws. We shot it well. Soooo ready to play someone else. They are hungry and edgy and look ready to play.

When we got to the gym there was a fair bit of bird feces on the floor - we used one of our towels to clean it up and a guy with that really dirty mop came and cleaned up the worst area. I think it was cleaner, but I’m not 100% sure. There were also lots of wet spots - Mike cleaned those up with a towel also. In the middle of our skip pass shooting a dog walked across the court - pretty funny! There were about 15 people in the gym watching us practice. Flexibility is the key word.

We have really focused on shooting the last two summers and it seems to have paid off. Hopefully over the next 5 days it will continue to pay off.

Though we have done scouting reports and edits as always, it was very difficult this summer as we did not get to see everyone play before we played them while we were in Europe. So we are focusing more on ourselves and sticking with our defensive principles. Our prep for this tournament will include: Film; tendencies of players; walk-through of sets, our offensive advantages and scouting reports – the athletes will write the scouting reports in their team note books. I know they are feeling very prepared and ready to go.

Pre-game meal is at 1:30 pm and we will leave for the gym at 2:45 pm. It is tough to plan as the gym is about one hour away - we timed it last night and it took 55 minutes there and 50 minutes to get back - but that was at night and it is hard to predict the traffic. We will cut warm-up down in this heat and humidity - and the fact that we are playing 5 games in 5 days. Along with running and Movement Prep we will total between 15 and 20 minutes for warm-up. The gym has a roof, but is open air on the sides of the walls. It is really warm in there so warm-up does not need to be very long.

The plan is to warm-up in our practice gear and then put our uniforms on just before tip-off. This is so that we don’t start the game with soaking wet, heavy jerseys. We also have cut the lining out of all the uniforms - so that should all help with the heat. We talked to the players about recovery. Joan will have bananas at half time and then we will have bars at the end of the game. We will also stretch post game and use our foam rollers. We reminded them to continue to hydrate with both water and Gatorade. I know we are prepared, but our recovery is going to be the key to playing well all 5 games.

Power has gone out at the Hotel about 7 times. The TV went off today. The water was not working. Teresa and Nikki turned their sink tap on and did not get any water and then they did not turn it back off and when they got back to their rooms they had about 3 inches of water on their bathroom floor. The air-conditioning has not worked in some of the rooms and every time the power goes out the air-conditioning stops! Flexible and resilient, repeat after me – Flexible and resilient!

Lost to Cuba 73-61. We did some good things - but we were not the aggressors. We looked a little tentative at times. We did a great job on #6 and #11 - but 15 went off on us from the 3-point line. We did a good job defending their sets - but got a little out-athleted at some positions. We executed well and got good shots. Had we made those shots we could have beaten them. We hung around all game and just could not get over the hump with a big shot.

The gym was not ready when we got there - still signs on the floor; clocks were up but not working; the hoop at one end was not up; the scorers table was not ready; the TV was setting up and there were guys all over the gym floor. We were there one hour before the game. The team room is really hot and humid and has a tiny chalkboard. The clock went out at least 4 or 5 times in the game. We had to play with only one clock - not in the direction we were shooting. There were bird droppings on the floor and Kim bounced a ball in some and had to come over and clean off her hands! No anthems. Instead of calling us in at 6:00 minutes on the clock they called us in at 7:05. But after all of that the refereeing was good and the game was well played. Time to review the tape and then move on – 5 games in 5 games means everyone has to be able to review, learn and then move on. No hanging on to this game. Argentina is next.

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Beyond the Court by Allison McNeill – Flexible and Resourceful - April 15, 2008

I am in the Airport flying back from my weekend at NEDA, in Hamilton and the Quebec CP, in Quebec City. Once again I have to give thanks. This time I am thanking the coaches in the Quebec-CP. Great job! I really enjoyed working will all of you. It was wonderful to spend some time with coaches I know, and meet some whom I did not know. This is the second year of CP in Quebec and it is off to a great start. The athletes were very attentive and worked very hard. We had lots of fun getting better.

I flew into Quebec City on Friday and was lucky enough to be shown around this amazing city by Laval University Coach, Linda Marquis. Linda was born in Quebec City and lives right on the St. Lawrence River. She knows the city well. I will not make this long… but I must comment on my tour. What a beautiful city, it is absolutely amazing. I have seen pictures in magazines of old Quebec City and of the Hotel Frontenac. Pictures do not give the city justice, they are nothing compared to seeing it in person. The buildings are so old and beautiful. There were lots of people out shopping, walking, and enjoying a coffee at the many cafes. It is a city steeped in history. It feels like you are walking down the streets of Paris. This year is Quebec City’s 400th anniversary. If you ever get a chance you should definitely go visit. I know I will be back. We are so lucky to live in Canada. The more I travel the more I love my Country!

Here is the third installment of my diary from the World Qualifying Tournament in 2005. We play Cuba tomorrow!

Day Three

We had breakfast at 9:00 am and then left for practice at 9:45. Nikki and Tammy both sat out practice with sore knees. They will both play tomorrow. Shoot went really well. But, oh my, we are very ready to play someone else. We went over Cuba's Zone O and then their sets again. We worked on our press attack and our 1/2 court motion and sets. We look sharp and are executing well. We also got up a lot of shots. Had fun with some shooting competitions at the end. Kept it short, but intense.

We saw the Cuba team when we returned from practice and they have added at least 2 players. #10 the 6'5" left handed post player and #13 the experienced point guard. Those were the only other 2 that we saw that we did not see at the tournament in Brazil. Brazil looked like the same team; Puerto Rico seems to have added one older post player about 6'1" and the Dominicans are the exact same team we played at the Pan Ams. We have not seen Argentina yet - but we know they have added Sanchez for sure.

We watched the Cuba edit after practice today - now the players have seen the edit twice, gone over the scouting report and walked-through Cuba on the floor twice. We are ready. The scout/edit on Argentina is done and we will wait for tape on them vs. Brazil after the first round to see if there is anything that they are doing new that we will have to add.

We have added a few new looks for some inside scores - it is always a dilemma - we are small and have trouble scoring inside against Brazil, Cuba and most of the teams in Europe.... then to qualify we can score inside against D.R., P.R. and even Argentina. So for about 12 games this summer we have trouble scoring inside against the bigger teams, and then against P.R. we have our 3 posts as our leading scorers!! The players really have to learn to adjust to the different teams/styles and understand the different advantages we have against each opponent. Thankfully this is a very bright group and a very versatile group so it has not been a problem. Our motion offense also allows us to adjust quite easily. We are able to put the offensive focus in different places at different times.

There is really nothing to do here at the resort and it is very HOT and HUMID so we have all been spending all of our time in our rooms. Because we lost one practice time down here, and the fact that it is hot and boring, I would recommend coming down here one day later than we came down. Hindsight is 20/20. We could send a representative down earlier and they could make sure the food, water, practice times etc. are set. Then the team could follow the next day.

Anne Marie arrived back from the technical meeting. So the practice times have been changed to later in the day. None of the teams are using the practice times at the facility we are playing in because it is too far away. Apparently the 40 minutes they said it was to the competition facility is really over an hour! So we are now working to get practice times in the same gym we have used for the last 2 days. Man, have we ever learned to be Flexible

We just spent the last hour in Nikki and Teresa's room taking the lining out of the uniforms. Anne Marie had done one as an experiment and it was so much lighter without the lining. When she showed the athletes there was no question that they wanted to do it! So we did all of the red shorts and red uniforms today and we will do the whites tonight and tomorrow. It was kind of fun. A little like a knitting club or a sewing bee. Good team bonding. Anne Marie comes through with another great plan. The uniforms without the lining feel like they are at least two pounds lighter when we sweat in them tomorrow the athletes won’t feel like they are carrying an extra 5 pounds up and down the court. Not only are we flexible, we are downright resourceful… well at least Anne Marie is.

What day is it tomorrow?
GAME DAY!

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Beyond the Court by Allison McNeill - Sammy Sosa, mangy dogs - April 8, 2008

I made visits to the BC-CP and the Victoria RTC this weekend. I would like to thank all of the coaches - it was like old home week catching up with everyone. The work that our CP and RTC coaches around the country are doing is amazing and greatly appreciated!

In one of my previous Blogs I talked about mentoring and legacy. While in Victoria I was thrilled to see four former UVIC players coaching at the RTC. Dani Everett, Lynn Mongomery, Andrea Elves, and Kim Johnson. It is great to see these former players "paying it forward" and making a difference in kids lives.

Here is the second day of my diary from the World Qualifying Tournament from the summer of 2005.

DAY TWO

Watched film on Cuba this morning and then we had a walk-through at 4:30 pm. Players are just relaxing, emailing, playing cards, watching movies and reading. They are such a great group of women, very self-sufficient and no-maintenance.

The walk-through went extremely well. We went some 5 on 5 and it looked great-nice to get a little run and loosen up the legs. We have a very good flow on offense right now. Tammy (Sutton-Brown) is starting to look more comfortable with the rest of the team-her, Teresa and Kim are really playing well.

We really need to play another team; we are definitely tired of beating on each other. It has been great to get down here early - and get the lay of the land - but one day less probably would have been better. Dinner was good again tonight. All things considered we have had good variety and lots of food and water. The mangoes are still a hit and let¡¦s not forget the peanut butter!!

The gym we practiced in is not the facility we will play in. The floor was pretty bad - very dirty and warped in several places - but useable. There were 2 mangy dogs in the gym and lots of people watching our practice. So much for keeping any secrets! We had a guy on a loud motorcycle-scooter thing come onto the gym floor twice. Just a minor distraction! They did provide us with water and they wiped the floor down with some really disgusting mop thing! It was really hot in the gym and the players were soaked with sweat. Wait until we put on our heavy uniforms! That double mesh should add another 5 lbs to everyone-Yahoo! The ball went right through people's hands because they were so sweaty. Still 37 degrees and 97% humidity - just perfect for basketball.

The bus was late picking us up - it was the same bus that went back to the village to get Puerto Rico and bring them to the practice gym. We waited outside; it was actually cooler than the gym.

I had been talking to the bus driver about all of the great Dominican Baseball players. The Dominicans love their baseball. They are very proud of their players, as they should be. So on the drive back to the hotel our Driver decided that we should stop by Sammy Sosa's house. Too funny! Sammy's brother, mother and son all came out and waved to us from the top of his very well fenced in home. I must admit it was a bit strange. He said we could bring cameras and come back tomorrow for some pictures! Other priorities.

Before and after each practice there are young children waiting outside our bus to see us. They are adorable. Some of the team have given them sweat bands or pins. I can tell we are getting a little group of boys who love our team.

The Dominican team asked to scrimmage us tomorrow - we said no. 5 games in 5 days will be quite enough ¡V we just want to get started

The last 2 nights we have watched film - Cuba last night and Argentina and Cuba tonight. Both teams we can beat - but we will have to play well.

Denise is working to get the 8:00 am practice times changed - it is ridiculous. So hopefully we get 11:00, 12:00 and 1:00. There are teams that play the 9:15 pm game one night and have the 8:00 am practice time the next day and the gym is 40 minutes away from the Hotel. That does not quite seem right??

Practice time has been changed for tomorrow - we are now at 10:00 am - we were at 4:30 pm. Great job Denise. We get 1 hour in the gym we were in today. The competition facility is not ready - they are painting it, fixing the backboards and getting the clocks up.

We will watch film again tomorrow after our shoot; then we will go to the competition facility to at least do a walk-through. After film we will go to an "official" welcome with the Major-it is required for all of the teams. They want us to stay for dinner - but we will not eat, as we cannot check out the food for quality. Denise has told them that we will stay only until 9:00 pm and then we will head back to the Hotel. We will eat before we go to the "official" welcome! Last time we ate at on "Official" welcome in the Dominican, at the Pan American Games, half of the team got sick and we had to cancel a "friendly" game.

Two more sleeps until we play Cuba.

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Beyond the Court by Allison McNeill - 10 Year Rule - April 1, 2008

I spent the weekend at the Alberta CP. I just wanted to thank Dawn Keith and all of the CP coaches – I really enjoyed the weekend! I also wanted to thank the athletes for working hard and making my trip fun! They were great! It was also wonderful to catch up with two of our former National Team athletes – Karla Karch and Kelly Boucher – they are coaching at the CP and also coach in the Alberta Provincial Team program. There is some great potential around the country in our RTC’s (Regional Training Centers) and our CP’s (Centers for Performance). For now it is just potential and it is up to each athlete, and our coaches to develop that potential.

As I like to say, becoming a great player “is a marathon, not a sprint”. This is where the “10-year rule” comes into effect. Athlete Development is a long-term process. An athlete should progress through the stages of LTAD (Long Term Athlete Development) to the highest level of his or her ability based on a well-designed program that allows for long-term improvements. Scientific research has concluded that it takes a minimum of 10 years and 10,000 hours of training for a talented athlete to reach elite levels (Ericsson & Charness 1994; Salmela et al. 1998). This translates into more than 3 hours of training daily for 10 years (a commitment that few can or are willing to make). This is referred to as the "10-year rule," and it is supported by both the (CSC) Canadian Sport Centres (2006) and the (USOC) U.S. Olympic Committee (2002).

While we were at the World Qualifying Tournament in Dominican Republic (Summer of 2005) I kept a journal. We did qualify – the first time in 12 years – and we went on to finish 10th at the World Championships in 2006. I thought I would take some excerpts from my journal and let you come along on a National Team journey to the World Championships.


Day One

4:30 am wake-up call and then we left the Hotel in Toronto at 5:00 am. Our flight from Toronto left without a hitch – good start! We stopped in Miami and most of the players bought something to eat - smoothies, bagels etc. We got on our flight on time and then waited about 45 minutes on the tarmac and they took some persons luggage off the plane as she decided not to fly with us! Ok I knew the start to this day was way too smooth. We arrived in Santo Domingo about 1 hour late. We had to pay 10 dollars for each person in our travel party to enter the country and we all had to fill out forms. We also got everyone lathered up with bug spray at the airport - the athletes are taking it all very seriously. Note: the reason we were lathering up with bug spray was that the last time we were in the Dominican Republic, guards Teresa Gabriele and Isabelle Grenier were bitten by a mosquito – which lead to Dengue Fever – which lead to extreme illness – which lead to not being able to play in the Pan Am Games semi-final and the Bronze medal game. So all we have to do now is bring up that story (sorry Isa and Ree) and everyone gets their body covered!

The bus we had to the Hotel was small and rickety - but it did have air-conditioning – huge luxury! We had a single policeman on a small motorcycle as an escort. There was lots of honking of the horn by our driver and he drove very fast and very close to the car in front. It reminded me of driving with Denise in Toronto or Montreal. Joanie (our super physiotherapist) said she wished she had sat in the back of the bus - no way you miss all the action. Four guys loaded our luggage on a truck at the airport. It did not all fit so we ended up shoving some through the window of the bus and filling the back seats. So at this point we are thinking we will never see our luggage again…

When we got to the Hotel they had us in two different sections - it is a huge place and the rooms are spread out all over the place. And of course there are no elevators. Anne Marie (our incredible manager) wove her magic and was able to get us all moved to the same section of the Hotel. About 3 hours later our luggage arrived.

All the rooms have air-conditioning and TV - so that is good. They even have some good English channels. There is a building with computers and Internet so the team will be able to contact husbands, partners, family and significant others.

To no ones surprise we did not get the practice time that was scheduled for us - so no practice the first night. No reason, just no practice. We thought about going for a walk - but the heat and the bugs made the decision for us - NO! Then we waited for some time for food - they told us 4:30 pm at one place and then they said there was food only until 4:00 pm, the sign said until 5:00 pm. Then they said 6:00 pm and when we got there at 6:00 pm - NO FOOD! By this time we are all starving - no food on the plane and up at 4:30 am. The kids had snacks - but that was not quite doing it! 14 hours without real food was a bit long. Finally Anne Marie and Denise badgered the kitchen staff enough that they brought out bread and fruit - which we cut up. We also had our staple - peanut butter. We cannot survive without it!

When we finally got a real meal - at 8:00 pm - it was very good.
Another nice surprise! It is a relief to know that the food is good. Ira (our amazing Doctor) explained to everyone what we can and cannot eat and so far all seems to be very good. We are allowed yogurt; bread; all the cooked food and all the fruit - not the fruit that they cut up - but we are cutting it up ourselves. The mangos are a big hit and of course the bananas. Lisa (Our outstanding assistant coach) showed us all how to properly cut a mango – who new! I have a new skill that I will have for the rest of my life – mango cutting. And where would we be without the peanut butter. Only bottled water of course. No brushing our teeth with the tape water and no letting any water in your mouth when you shower.

It is extremely hot here. 32 degrees and 97 percent humidity! Yikes. Here is hoping the gym is air-conditioned. The dining area is open air - but the rooms are air-conditioned. Needless to say we are all staying indoors trying to stay cool, rested and ready to play.

Coaches and athletes always carry food and water when we travel – which we did on this trip. We also brought extra water - but that bag seemed to go missing between the airport and our 4 guys bringing it in the truck. We are lucky we only lost that bag. The hotel has provided us with water that is purified and we will have to get some more tomorrow.

The athletes have, as usual handled the travel extremely well. They are a great group and I know we are going to play well. We are all tired and it is time to go to bed. Our travel day is over, and all things considered, it turned out to be a pretty good day.

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Beyond the Court by Allison McNeill - Kids say the funniest things - Mar 25, 2008

Last week I ran a spring break camp for children in grades 3-7. What fun it is to work with young children. They are so energized and so uninhibited. Time seems to fly by when you are in the gym working with young athletes. I thought I would relay a few funny things that kids have said to me over my years of coaching.

I was refereeing a game at a camp and I called “3 in the key” a couple of times. All of the kids seemed to understand what it was so I did not think I had to explain the call. Then I called it for a third time and a little girl turned to me and said, quite indignantly, “that was not 3 in the key! There were only 2 of us in there!” This little girl thought “3 in the key” meant how many people were allowed in the key at one time. That makes sense! Needless to say I took a few moments to explain the rule.

Lesson: Sometimes things that seem so obvious to you are not all that obvious to kids!

At the end of camp I always call the kids in to the center circle to wrap up the day. This particular camp was 2.5 hours. The lone grade 3 boy at the camp comes running in and says in a very loud and very disappointed voice, “It’s not over yet, is it?” “Yes it is Connor, that is two and a half hours of basketball.” Connor looked up at the clock in the gym, which had not yet been changed for daylight savings, and with a huge smile said, “It’s not over Allison, it is only 10:30, we still have another hour to go”. So after I showed Connor my watch, which said 11:30, he said, “Are you sure your watch is right?”

Lesson #1: When you’re having fun 2.5 hours seems to fly by… and when you’re not having fun 2.5 hours seems to drag on, and on and on!

Lesson #2: We all need to work to keep the same enthusiasm we had in grade 3!

I was doing a provincial identification camp for ASRA (Aboriginal Sport and Recreation Association) in Northern British Columbia. There were several young girls from Bella Coola, BC at the camp. They were about 12 years old and loved basketball. You could tell they had played a lot, and were used to “hanging out” in the gym. Well, as the camp went on I had to do a few demonstrations. My game is pretty much gone, but I can still do a few ball handling drills and make it look OK. On one of our breaks I went over to the young athletes from Bella Coola just to chat them up and get to know them a little better. Well one of the young girls said, “How old are you?” “How old do you think I am?” “Like, 25” …… Nice! Then one of her friends said “your really good, man you’re a baller”. I love those Bella Coola girls, they know just how to make a coach feel good!

Lesson #1: Kids have no idea about age, 25 seems really old to them!

Lesson #2: You can fool some of the people some of the time and you can fool 12 year olds much of the time!

I was doing a Steve Nash Youth clinic with some grade 4’s and 5’s. There was a 9-year-old girl who had the ball high up on her fingertips as I asked the kids to get the ball into shooting position. She was holding the ball like it was a tomato that she didn’t want to squish. When I asked her about it she proudly stated, “my coach said “finger tip control”, so I hold it with my fingertips.”
Lesson: Kids really do listen and they tend to take things quite literally.

I was helping a little guy with his shot at one of my camps. He kept shooting the ball with two hands and I was so sure that in this 2 - hour camp I could get him to shoot it with one hand. What was I thinking!!
So as I persisted with trying to change him, he finally said, “Thanks for helping me, maybe you could go and help someone else now.”

Lesson #1: Too much feedback at one time can be overwhelming to kids.

Lesson #2: If you use please and thank-you it is possible to tell someone that enough is enough, and still be polite.

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Beyond the Court by Allison McNeill - Pay it Forward - Mar 18, 2008

While I was back at the CIS Nationals I was struck by a great story.
A story of mentoring, or encouraging women in coaching and of friendships forged through sport.

Now see if you can follow along here…
Michelle Belanger, the 28 year Head Coach of the University of Toronto coached Theresa Burns, the 16 year Head Coach of McMaster University, who coached Lisa Thomaidis, the 8 year Head Coach of the University of Saskatchewan. Three generations of CIS athletes all coaching at the National Championships – amazing!

I was also delighted to see some of the next generation of young coaches being mentored and giving back to the game.

UBC’s assistant coach Carrie Watson is a former CIS National Champion and MVP in 2004, who played for Head Coach Deb Huband.
Laval’s assistant coach is former CIS All-Canadian Isabelle Grenier who played for Head Coach Linda Marquis.
University of Saskatchewan assistants Jackie Lavallee and Ali Fairbrother are former Huskies who played for Head Coach Lisa Thomaidis.
Regina assistant coach Cymone Bouchard lead Regina to a CIS Championship in 2001, and Cathy Butlin the Alberta assistant coach lead Alberta to a CIS Championship in 1999.

I would also like to mention that Carrie Watson, Isabelle Grenier and Jackie Lavallee have all played for the Senior National Team.

I applaud all of the coaches out there mentoring some of their former players. Mentoring is so important in coaching. Whenever I talk about coaches I always talk about their “lineage” – whom did they learn from, whom did they play for, and who are their mentors?

There seems to be a consensus in this country that we do not have enough good basketball coaches. Where, and from whom, do up and coming coaches learn from? I think anyone who coaches has a responsibility to mentor young coaches.

So what exactly is a mentor? A mentor is a wise and trusted advisor.
A mentor is a more experienced coach who helps and guides another coach’s development. This guidance is not done for personal gain. A good mentor always places the interests of the student first, and a seeks to have the student achieve maximum potential.

Ok we know what a mentor is, now how does one mentor. It is really as simple as coaches helping coaches. If you coach, if you care about others, you can mentor! If every coach in Canada took a young coach under his/her wing and helped, counseled, advised, guided, taught and listened to that young coach… we would really help young coaches grow and develop.

"If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else."
Booker T. Washington

Top 10 Qualities of a Good Mentor
Penny Loretto. “Your Guide to Internships”

1. Willingness to share skills, knowledge, and expertise.
2. Demonstrates a positive attitude and acts as a role model.
3. Takes a personal interest in the mentoring relationship.
4. Exhibits enthusiasm in the field.
5. Values ongoing learning and growth in the field.
6. Provides guidance and constructive feedback.
7. Respected by colleagues and employees in all levels of the
organization.
8. Sets and meets ongoing personal and professional goals.
9. Values the opinions and initiatives of others.
10. Motivates others by setting a good example.

Who mentored you?
Take a moment to thank them and then “Pay it forward”.

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Beyond the Court by Allison McNeill - Sacred Trust - Mar 13, 2008

I do have some more things to discuss on youth basketball and youth sport in general – and I want to say thanks to Ian for the comment on the Blog and for spreading the word on youth basketball!

Coaching young children is such a joy and an honor, but it is also a huge responsibility. I am reminded of coaching legend, John Wooden’s quote:

A leader, teacher, or coach has the most powerful influence on those he or she leads; perhaps more than anyone outside the family. Therefore, it is the
obligation of the leader, teacher, or coach to treat such responsibility with great concern. It’s considered a sacred trust helping mould character,
instill productive principles and values, and provide a positive example for those under their supervision.
Furthermore it is a privilege to have the opportunity, responsibility and obligation. It is not to be taken lightly.

- John Wooden, retired UCLA Head Coach

Sport at any level needs to be FUN, but especially at the youth level. It also needs to be FUNdamental! Kids have “Fun” when they are learning, improving, growing and receiving quality, age-appropriate coaching. There is a move in youth sport to use a games approach to teaching. This means that all aspects of basketball, from basic to more complex, are taught in the context of fun, yet instructive, games.

Coaches need to be teaching all the skills to all the kids. We do not want to make kids into guards, forwards or posts, we want to teach them to be ‘players’. It will limit their joy of playing and also their ability to continue to play the sport later in life if they are put into positions too early. We need to play fewer games and practice more. Lets get back to basics: 2 foot stops; pivots; footwork; lay-ups; passing; cutting (back-door; ball cut; basket cut); shooting and lots of it; spacing; triangles. Use small-sided games (1 on 1, 2 on 1, 2 on 2, 3 on 3 and 4 on 4) and a “games” approach to teaching.

Many youth coaches worry too much about winning and they spend more time on their “systems” then they do on their player’s skill and conceptual development. Kids want to improve; they want to be challenged at an age appropriate level. I often say to parents and youth coaches “One thing we all have to remember when coaching kids – this is their experience – not yours. IT IS NOT ABOUT YOU!”

Here are a few interesting paragraphs from an article written by David Oliver Relin. Though this information is from an American perspective it certainly applies to youth sport in Canada.

“Across the country, millions of children are being chewed up and spit out by a sports culture run amok. With pro scouts haunting the nation’s playgrounds in search of the next LeBron or Freddy, parents and coaches are conspiring to run youth-sports leagues like incubators for future professional athletes. Pre-pubescent athletes are experimenting with performance-enhancing drugs. Doctors are reporting sharp spikes in injuries caused by year-round specialization in a single sport at an early age. And all too often, the simple pleasure of playing sports is being buried beneath cutthroat competition.”

“If I had to sum up the crisis in kids’ sports,” says J. Duke Albanese, Maine’s former commissioner of education, “I’d do it in one word—adults.” Some adults, Albanese says, are pushing children toward unrealistic goals like college sports scholarships and pro contracts. According to National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) statistics, fewer than 2% of high school athletes will ever receive a college athletic scholarship. Only one in 13,000 high school athletes will ever receive a paycheck from a professional team.

“There is a terrible imbalance between the needs kids have and the needs of the adults running their sports programs,” says Dr. Bruce Svare, director of the National Institute for Sports Reform. “Above all, kids need to have fun. Instead, adults are providing unrealistic expectations and crushing pressure.” As a result, Svare says, at a time when an epidemic of obesity is plaguing the nation’s youth, 70% of America’s children are abandoning organized sports by age 13. “The only way to reverse this crisis,” Svare argues, “is to fundamentally rethink the way America’s kids play organized sports.”

While I was coaching at the university level many parents would come up to me and asked me “what should I do to help my daughter get a university scholarship for basketball”. One particular mother comes to mind… I was thinking I would tell her to get her daughter into our National Development CP program, try out for the Provincial team, go to camps, get a DVD of her daughter playing to send out to schools she was interested in and start some physical training. But before I launched into my advice I thought I would ask how old her daughter was. Of course I am thinking grade 11 or grade 12, but no, her daughter was in grade 6. GRADE 6 for goodness sake! So I politely said, “step out of your daughter’s way and let her have fun, play several sports and BE A KID.”


I was in Saskatoon this past weekend at the CIS National Championships for Women’s Basketball. I would like to congratulate all of the teams for getting to Nationals and especially UBC who won their 3rd Championship in 5 years. Regina finished second and McMaster won the bronze. The University of Saskatchewan and the city of Saskatoon did a wonderful job of organizing the event.

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Beyond the Court by Allison McNeill - Dare to Dream - Mar 4, 2008

MARCH MADNESS - Is there a better time of the year. I think not!
I loved this time of the year as a player, as a coach and as a fan. For the basketball junkie it is almost too much to handle.

Well I promised in my last Blog that I would talk a bit about our National Team athletes who are playing overseas.

The opportunity for female athletes to continue playing basketball as a profession has never been greater. I had the opportunity to play overseas in Germany after I graduated for the University of Oregon. I really enjoyed my “professional” experience. Though I did not play at a really high level (second division), I had a wonderful “basketball and cultural” experience. I played for my team in Monheim, Germany and I also coached two young girls teams in our club. It was quite something trying to teach basketball to 11-14 year olds when you did not speak a word of German. That is when I learned how far a smile, a pat on the back, a “I’m not happy with your effort” look and a good demonstration could take you. Well enough about me let me tell you about a few of our National Team athletes.

So a couple of weeks ago I met Kim Smith at the Starbucks in Abbotsford. It was great to hear about Kim’s adventures in Europe.
Kim has just returned from her first season playing overseas in Namur, Belgium. Her team played in the Euro-League and also in the Belgium domestic league.
They won the Belgium league and played tough in a very strong Euro-League. Euro-League is comprised of the top club teams throughout Europe. It is extremely competitive and most of the top players in the world play for teams that play in the Euro-league.

Kim left early from Belgium (as soon as Euro-league was over) to get her body healthy and ready for her 3rd WNBA season with the Sacramento Monarchs.
Kim had an apartment, car (I have always wanted a car with a basketball painted on it!) and was paid to play basketball – how great is that! What a great opportunity for her to keep playing basketball and keep improving her game. Though, typical of professional basketball in Europe, Kim did have to wait for her car, phone and internet – it seems they never get things to you when they say they will. But she loved Belgium and enjoyed the high level competition in Euro-league and the trips to play Euro-league games in Slovakia, Russia and France. She had the opportunity to play against many of the top players in the world and she also had a chance to connect with WNBA teammates who are also playing in Europe. Kim also had her boyfriend, sister, and parents all come over to Belgium to visit. She also mentioned she enjoyed the chocolate and the Belgium Waffles.

Kim is not our only National Team athlete playing in Europe this season. Off last summers national team we have Sarah Crooks and Devon Campbell playing Second Division in Spain, while Lizanne Murphy and Tamara Tatham are playing First Division in Finland.

Tamara’s team won the Finnish league and will compete in Euro-league next season. Her team is very strong and they are enjoying a great season. Tamara is playing very well, loves her team and loves Finland…..
Though she did mention that the short days were a little tough to get used to. Lizanne is really enjoying her experience, but her team has not won as
many games as she would have liked.

Both of their teams train twice a day, 5 days a week.
The morning is dedicated to individual skill development and the afternoon is team practice. They also lift and do agility training. This has been great for both of them to continue to expand their skill and athletic package for our National Team.

I just received emails from Tamara and Lizanne and they are now playing TOGETHER on the same team! They are ecstatic about this new development. Lizanne’s team was not going to make the playoffs, so her team was going to sell her contract to another team.

Lizanne phoned Tamara to tell her. Then they got this bright idea (they both are very bright!) that Tamara would talk to her coach and Lizanne would talk to her agent. Well when two strong women get together and decide they want to get something done there is no stopping them. So now Lizanne is playing with Tamara!

This is Devon’s second year playing in Spain and Sarah’ s first year. They both really like the team they are playing on and enjoy living in Spain.
Devon’s parents have been over to visit and she is expecting a visit from her sister before the season is over. Apparently Devon’s Spanish is really coming along after two years… and Sarah’s is, well let’s just say “a work in progress”. They are playing on the same team and are also sharing an apartment. They both agree that it is great to have a training partner!

Their weekly schedule is as follows:

Monday - Cardio, Stretch, Core

Tuesday - Shoot/Skill Work, Lift, Practice

Wednesday - Shoot/Skill Work, Lift, Core, Practice

Thursday – Shoot/Skill Work, Lift, Practice

Friday – Shoot/Skill Work, Agility, Stretch, Core, Practice

Saturday – Game Day

Sunday – Rest and Recovery Day!

Ah, the life of a professional athlete!! When they are not training or playing they are probably shopping, sitting at a great outdoor café enjoying the sun, Skyping with family and friends and generally enjoying living the life!
The experiences of living in a new culture, meeting new people, learning a foreign language are all things that our National Team athletes have relished. And…..It’s not so bad to get paid for your passion either!!

We really need to keep our Canadian athletes in the game longer.
The average age of the athletes at the last World Championships was about 28. The Australian Team that won the World Championships started the following 5
players:

Point Guard - 5'6” 31 years old – Kristi Harrower

Shooting Guard - 6'0” 22 years old – Belinda Snell

Small Forward 6'2” 25 years old – Penny Taylor

Power Forward 6'5” 24 years old – Lauren Jackson

Center 6'7” 33 years old – Jenny Whittle

The average age of their starting 5 at the World Championships was 27 years. The Australians are the favorites to win the gold at the Beijing Olympics.
The average age of their starters at the Olympics will be 29 years.

Every player on the top 4 teams (Australia, Russia, USA and Brazil) at the 2006 World Championships was a professional athlete. (The one exception was Candace Parker on the USA team, she is still in university) The team we took to the World’s was the youngest team there, average age 23 years, and we had only 4 players that were professional athletes. We need to keep our athletes in the game longer. It is important for our National Team to have more of our athletes playing overseas so they can continue to develop and gain international experience. When athletes finish University at 21 or 22 years of age they have not even begun to tap their potential. It is pretty tough for a 21 year old to compete against 29 year olds that in many cases have been playing professionally for over 10 years.

I hope there are young girls out their daring to dream.
Daring to dream of being a professional athlete.
Daring to dream of wearing the Maple Leaf on their chest.
Daring to dream of playing for Canada in the World Championships and daring to dream of winning an Olympic medal.

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Beyond the Court by Allison McNeill - Mental Toughness Part 2 - Feb 26, 2008

Now where was I? Ah yes, Mental Toughness…..Can coaches improve Mental Toughness?

Some people are naturally more tough-minded than others, but people can be ‘toughened-up’ with proper coaching and training.

Here are 3 of the major influences on toughening:
1. Early life experiences. Studies have shown links between exposure to stress and adversity in early life and reduced fear when exposed to similar threats in adulthood.
2. Passive toughening. Intermittent exposure to stress seems to protect against depletion of stress hormones and is linked with their quicker returns to normal levels. This means that if we stress athletes they will become less sensitive and more tolerant of stress and therefore handle it better.
3. Active toughening. Physical fitness achieved through aerobic conditioning is an important means of toughening.

What practical things can coaches do in their practice environments that will help to build mental toughness?

Coaches must put their athletes in stressful situations in practice - both physically and mentally stressful. “Exposure to stress in controlled situations is much more powerful than stress reduction or removal. Stress reduction or removal will not help an individual cope with future exposure to the same stressor.” (Lee Crust)

When we stress our athletes, we help them develop the skills to find stressful situations less threatening, and they experience a growing sense of control.

Practically speaking here are a few things that coaches can do to insure that you are developing mental toughness in your athletes: (these must be modified for younger athletes)

“Athletes don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care” – you must care about your athletes!

Communicate in an open and honest manner with your athletes.

Create an environment in which personal skill development is emphasized.

Never accept anything but your athlete’s best effort. Working hard is a must – the harder they work the less likely they will “give in” when the going gets tough.

Physically condition your team – you must be fit to be tough!

Challenge – demand concentration and focus.

Make practices tougher than any game.

Practice end of the game situations. Use time and score situations to simulate the stress/pressure at the end of games.

Create highly competitive situations in practice – make your drills competitive.

Reward toughness – make it the culture of your team.

Create situations in practice that demand that your athletes “lead” – they have to get together and figure it out – empower them to take control.

I had a great 2-hour cup of tea with Kim Smith the other day. She just arrived back from Namur, Belgium where she played her first season of Professional Basketball in Europe. She is training back in Salt Lake City, Utah (she attended the University of Utah, where she was the four-time Conference player of the year) and getting ready for her WNBA season. In my next Blog I will tell you more about her overseas experience and also fill you in on our other National Team athletes playing overseas. There are some great opportunities for athletes to keep playing and make a living playing overseas.

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Beyond the Court by Allison McNeill - Mental Toughness - Feb 19, 2008

So what to Blog about today…..

Well, ever since going to the 2006 World Championships in Brazil I have been thinking a great deal about mental toughness. The Australian women won the World Championships beating the Russians in the final. The Australians were by far the most mentally tough team at the World Championships. Of course they were athletic, skilled, smart, well-coached and extremely fit – but what set them apart from the other teams, in my opinion, was their mental toughness.

So I set out to find out more about Mental Toughness, based on a saying that I have believed for all of my 27 years as a High School, University and National Team Coach.

“Physical Conditioning precedes Mental Toughness
Team Discipline precedes Team Morale”

I have taken a great deal of information from a couple of different articles. One by Lee Crust, PhD, Bsc., a lecturer and researcher at York St. John University, and the other by David Yukelson, Ph.D., Coordinator of Sport Psychology Services, Morgan Academic Support Center for Student-Athletes, Penn State University.

What is Mental Toughness?

Mental toughness is having the natural or developed psychological edge that enables you to: Generally cope better than your opponents with the many demands (e.g., competition, training, lifestyle) that are placed on you as a performer. Specifically, to be more consistent and better than your opponents in remaining determined, focused, confident, resilient, and in control under pressure (Jones et al, 2002)

How can you tell who has it?

Mentally tough athletes will:

Be consistent performers;

Maintain a confident, positive, optimistic outlook, even when things are not going well;

Have their best performances when it counts;

Deal with distractions and maintain focus;

Values tough, demanding coaching;

Train at a high level;

Tolerate pain and discomfort;

Handle setbacks and persistent when the going gets tough;

Have the resilience to bounce back from disappointments.

Are coaches in our country doing all they can to develop mental toughness in our athletes? As a parent are you doing all you can to allow, and support, a coach to develop mental toughness in your child?

Here is a story my Dad and I recounted the other day over lunch.
It’s a great story for coaches, athletes, and especially parents.

In 1977 I graduated high school, armed with back-to-back Provincial Basketball Championships. I packed up my bags and left Beautiful BC to attend Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario. Why? One reason and one reason only - to play basketball for Coach Norm Vickery. The fact that Laurentian University was the defending CIAU Champions was nice – but not as important to me as playing for Norm Vickery. I went to Laurentian University sight unseen. No visit to the school, did not see the campus, did not meet the players, did not see the gym and I had no idea that Sudbury was that far north and that cold! All I knew was that Norm had recruited me out of Salmon Arm Senior High School and I knew he was a great coach who was going to get the most out of me. That is what I was looking for – I wanted to be challenged, I wanted to be pushed and I wanted to be the best player I could be!

I was already a highly motivated athlete. At 15 years of age I had already moved away from my family and friends in Princeton, BC to go to school in Salmon Arm (a basketball crazy community of 10,000 in the interior of BC). They just happened to have an amazing basketball coach and teacher by the name of Joe Kupkee – but that is for another blog!

I think my parents would have preferred that I stay closer to home – but they would never have said a word to me, as this was my future and my dream. They wanted me to be happy and to do what I wanted to do, where I wanted to do it.

Norm Vickery’s practices were legendary. To say he was tough would be a ridiculous understatement! We were the most fit, most mentally tough and most well prepared team in the country. Notice I did not say the most talented. We had lots of talent – but that is not the reason we won back to back CIAU Championships. It never seemed like Norm’s goal was to just “Win” the Championship. He wanted us to be the best we could possibly be – both as individuals and as a team.

The tension in my stomach before Norm’s practices is something I cannot even describe. You have to have played for a coach who knows how to push you to really get that feeling. I miss that feeling  Practice always had an “edge” – a wonderful, tough, competitive edge. I loved it! It was an incredible learning environment, Norm was an outstanding teacher. But it was also an incredibly stressful and demanding environment. Stressful and demanding in that you had to be sharp – mentally and physically. You had to be focused, you had to compete and give everything you had at every practice – Norm would not have allowed anything less. I am grateful to him for that.

There are many coaches who cannot handle the “uncomfortable” place that you have to go as a coach if you want to push people beyond what they think they are capable of. You have to create an environment where athletes feel safe, but at the same time they are challenged, stressed and pushed. Only then will they be able to grow, develop and toughen up in preparation for all of the challenges they will face in games and in life.

This was my first year of University and the stress of school, basketball and all that goes with your first year, was tough. I loved playing for Norm Vickery but like most freshman I had called home crying several times over the first month. My Mom and Dad were always there to listen to me. Then in late October of that first year I phoned home and started to lament to my Dad about how I was struggling with Norm and basketball. I was crying – ok whaling, on the phone – and all of the sudden my Dad cut me off in mid sentence.

“Okay, Allison that is enough! Go in and talk to your coach, or pack up your bags and come home. You have two choices. But do not call here crying anymore, you are upsetting your Mom ”, and with that he hung up on me. My Dad hung up on me!! Best thing he ever did for me. I immediately stopped crying – amazing what shock will do to you. The next morning I went in to Norm’s office and talked to him. It changed everything for me – it empowered me to take control of the situation and taught me that communication is a two-way street. It also taught me that parents do not always need to run to the rescue of their kids, and try to solve all of their problems. These experiences taught me some of the most valuable life-lessons I ever learned.

I stayed at Laurentian for 2 years, we won 2 National Championships and I learned a great deal from my experiences with Norm. (He left after my second year and I left for the University of Oregon where I played my final 2 years)

In my next blog I will continue discussing mental toughness and how to develop it.

This is the best time of the year - Playoff Time! There are High School, College and University playoff games going on all over our amazing country. I encourage you to get out and support the athletes playing. Get off the couch and go to a game….. I might see you there!

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Beyond the Court by Allison McNeill - Just Let the Kids Play - Feb 12, 2008

There I was last week having a little snicker at Leo Rautin’s blog. “Gosh I’m glad they asked Leo and not me.” Then a week later I received an email asking me to blog. Let me tell you a little bit about my technological skills – I had a computer on my desk for the first three years I coached at Simon Fraser University and I never turned it on. The athletic department started sending emails for inter-office memos and I was forced to turn the computer on and figure out this Internet thing.

I’ve come a long way since then, but blogging was not something I had planned to do in my lifetime.

This morning I am sitting at the Vancouver airport waiting for my flight to Cranbrook, BC. I am heading to the Kootney’s (a beautiful area in the interior of BC) where I will conduct Steve Nash Kids and Coaches clinics in both Cranbrook and Invermere.

I work with Basketball BC and the Steve Nash Leagues around BC doing coaching education when I am not working with the National Team. I have been doing clinics for the past three years for Basketball BC. I also work with the “Nashies” – the kids playing in the Nash League – now that is fun!

British Columbia has about 10,000 kids playing in the Nash league. It is a wonderful league and I was really excited when it went National this year. It is all about Fun and Fundamentals and I know it is going to make a huge impact on grassroots Basketball in our country.

Since October I have done clinics in Chilliwack, Parksville, Victoria, Williams Lake, Prince George, Kamloops, Vancouver, Penticton, Kelowna, Sechelt, Castlegar, Grand Forks, North Vancouver, South Delta, and Coquitlam to name a few! I really enjoy getting out into the communities and working with the coaches. There are so many passionate people in our basketball community. I am inspired by them every single day.

The main things I try to teach the coaches includes making sure that kids are having fun and build every child’s athletic base by teaching the fundamentals of both athletic movement and basketball.

We must develop every child’s ABC’S – Agility, Balance, Co-ordination and Speed. Building a young athlete’s physical literacy is key to their overall development.

A study in the US said that over 70% of kids quit organized sport by age 13 and never go back. That is just the age we do not want them to quit. The number one reason they quit is that it is not longer fun. The number two reason is that there is too much pressure to win.

I think Bob Bigelow (Author: “Just let the kids play”) said it best. The best way to evaluate a youth practice – “Kids are sweaty, red-faced, smiling and wanting to come back”.

With that said I am off to my favorite place in the world—
the gym.

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