Coach’s Corner

Newport away - 28/3/08

Good job gentlemen!

Despite the turnovers and lack of control at some points, i think it was the best game we have played and been apart of this season. Had a similar feel, for those of you who remember, the UWE playoff game last year.

Its our first overtime game, however, and it shows we can take a game home and we know how to win when its on the line.

Some great performances all round, with Dave, Bri and Nick controlling perhaps the best passing offence to date, John rebounding like a 90’s shaq and the Roach boys finishing at the business end.

Generally it was a simple equation for me (ok haha here comes some PE maths joke from Mark) but, the higher intensity was (on offence and D) the better we played. We are a good half court team, but wherever we are playing on the court, we have to hustle, look sharp and the game is always in our control. Lets take that to Redcliffe Monday.

Cheers for everyone who made the effort to support this one, it really is noticed and makes a difference.

Im out of here like a No.11 drive on Moore

jb

6.3.08 - Home Game vs Olympiad

The return of the return!

Dan Roachs’ shooting
John Moore scoring
Nailsea winning like Gentlemen
Coaches Corner

This is a good start to the end of the season, nice job fellas!

For me things were a lot more positive throughout the game, even when we let our lead slip. Attitude to our team mates, the refs and ourselves were a lot better, i would probably even say the game was enjoyable!

We won because we ran well, but didn’t always take the first option, trailers and second options ensured the score board kept ticking over. As the score sheet shows, this has to be one of the best all round team offensive effort we have probably ever had. The ball was shared well.

That started for me at the point, good job Nick and Dave. The forwards also dished back out well.

Defense was immense at the start and the end, a little shady in the middle, but probably the coaches fault. 3-2 worked well and man even better.
Shout out to Gus, John and Paul who did the job on the big guy.

About time Dan scored some points. As Dan and I spoke about at the end of the game - once your shot is technically good, and practiced, the rest is psychological. Gotta have the right frame of mind going into a game. As Jordan said, never thinnk about “what if i miss”, dont doubt yourself, have confidence.

Good job all round. Not enough time to talk about everyones strong performances, but there were definately no weak ones.

good job fellas,

im travelling out of here like John Moores’ dunk and an LL fadeaway drive!

jb

17.1.08 - Cup Game vs Wizards

Hey team

As scorer I didn’t have too much opportunity to watch the game, but with only 7 points scored in the 4th by our team, I unfortunately had a little more time than I should have.

A wins a win as they say, but in the importance of self improvement and to avoid games like this in the future I thought I would share a few thoughts on the game…

Defence was good, to hold them to 56, although they scored highly in the 4th and went on a few runs, we boxed out well and hustled to a satisfactory level.

I think our offence could have been a little better. Against the zone I guess we should have moved the ball quicker and used the drive and dish a little more. But, these things did show up, and looked good when in use. White was effective at times (this has been developed a little more, which we will work on) but the ball got stuck in the corner a bit much. Just gotta be moved a bit quicker.

Wizards played a good game, all credit to them. But, like most of these games where we under achieve, it’s a game we can control and seems to be dictated by the way we play, not the opposition.

Thanks to Adam and Dave for stepping in and coaching, its not easy last minute, the bench seemed to be used well and the right calls were made.

I am optimistic and confident things will keep getting better and look forward to these next trophy games.

Good job team, Im fading away like the MVP.

Jb

6.1.08

What a fun game to play in! Only 10 players able to make it so more court time all round which also meant everyone was warm coming off the bench.

The fast break was great; running, cutting and passing from all players made us look really good.

Defence was pretty tight, we lost focus once or twice, but all round, as a team it’s along time since we had a consistent game like that one.

All individuals did well, but special mentions to John, who had his game of the season (about time), Dave who menaced it inside, and Nick, who ran the point superbly.

Good job fellas.

After this weeks training we have 4 games before our next official training, so lets make the most of it,

Keep shooting,

jb

Offence wins games, defence wins championships

Well done team Nailsea on getting back to our winning ways in the house of Scotch. No doubt helped by the louder than usual crowd this game was a great example of how to dig deep and work our way to victory. We held our heads high throughout the match (I doubt anyone ever even contemplated losing this game) and constantly adapted our game plan to eventually overcome our opponents.

Good things:
-Defence. This kept us in the game, without it our final push would not have taken us into the lead. Sometimes you can’t explain why shots aren’t dropping no matter how hard you try, and that can be frustrating. But in such times if you channel your frustration into working harder on defence and rebounding you will instantly see results and morale will pick up.

-Big guys. A tough game, you work your ass off wrestling with ‘I wash myself with a rag on a stick’ on the defensive end, and then are faced with a quick-collapsing zone which makes it near impossible to get your own back on offence. Later stages of the game saw some great rebounding, particularly on offence which gave the shooters more confidence to let the 3 go. Special shout out to Dave for his hustle in his debut game, a great start.

-Versatility. I changed our strategy several times throughout the game, and no matter what crazy offence or defence was thrown at you, everyone just got on with it and got the job done. Full court denial, half court denial, 2-1-2 zone, 4-1 offence, white, red whatever, the plays were ran well and for most part the right shots taken.

To work on:

Versus the zone
We need to accept it’s not going to be on inside a lot of the time and instead when we get the ball in the post make a quick fake and dish it out again. After all the strength of the 2-3 zone is stopping the inside, and the weakness is the ball can move faster than the men so lets take advantage of it and rotate the ball quickly.
While we shouldn’t just jack it up without thinking about our options, once we have a feel for the game and know it’s a shooting match we need to quick draw when open. There is as much chance of an open shot dropping with 20 seconds on the shot clock as there is with 5 seconds to go. As soon as you overthink it the shot’s going to be harder to make, just let it go on automatic.

Free throws
Nick’s clutch shooting was outstanding and a big reminder of why we need to be able to hit these shots! Not only in the dying seconds of the game, but throughout it. A shot with no defence, no clock running and 13 ft away from the rim - make the most of it!

Dominating victory in first Division II match

My first coach’s corner, and I’ll keep it short. Dominating would be my one word summary- throughout the game we looked stronger, faster and wiser than our opponents. Intimidating defense and fast-paced intelligent offense. Well done.

Everyone stepped up and contributed a lot; new guys and those of last season all gelled together.

Two things to work on:

- Weakside low post in the zone.
This is where a lot of Aces points were scored. Be careful not to hang too low to the basket allowing cutters on the weakside. Step up and get a hand in the passing lane. Guys at the back of the zone need to shout and boss the defence, call the cuts and threats. Guards do not have eyes in the back of their head; but you can see all the floor.

Other than that our zone looked good -like a dense Amazonian rainforest, packed with trees and vines, with every turn a dead end. We left the opponents helpless, trying to penetrate and hack through the suffocating bush with nothing but a blunt penknife.

-Intensity
80% of the game our intensity was awesome, but we have such a deep bench we should aim for 100% intensity. I will try to keep the bench flowing so trust that if you run hard and then come off for a breather, you will get back in the game. Don’t hold back.

So yeah, nice one fellas lets keep up the momentum on Tuesday!

Adam

First training back

Not much to say, but thought I should write something after our first full session back this season.

I thought this was a great start to the year, everyone seemed focused and up for it. I think we are going to do really well this year; we just need to keep working hard and pushing ourselves individually and as a team.

Well done to all the new guys as well. Spots on the team are going to more competitive than ever. Damn hard from my point of view, but a good position to be in at the same time.

Recap…

The session was a mixture of different drills and games, with the main focus of simply getting running with the ball and familiarising ourselves with our team mates.

We could still all work on our chest passes and shooting. These are things we are not going to have a lot of time to work on in training but can be improved dramatically and quickly with a bit of technical practice, in your own time of possible.

Nice one, note we have 2 friendlies coming up so far, more coming this way soon…

Signing out, jb

Summer

During this off season I just wanted to say a few words of encouragement and motivation to not only keep fit, but to push ourselves in order to improve for this upcoming season.

Many people have been coming down for casual shoot arounds since the end of the season, plus I know a few have been in the gym and going for runs, but if we want to see our games develop at all from last year, we need to push our bodies and basketball skills to the next level.

Our bodies have their limits of what can be achieved and I do not just mean endurance fitness, but also a crossover without looking at the ball, shooting 60% free throws. Even on a good day, there are boundaries to what we can consistently achieve.

However, these boundaries can be pushed back further, allowing ourselves to go to the next level, hitting more shots than ever before, running faster, jumping higher. I believe that at any age there are things we can all physically improve.

There is a small but tiring price to pay though; hard work.

I would encourage us all this off season to choose a few things to improve on. These may be, speed (through squats, sprint drills, skipping), power (weight training, skipping), shooting percentage (basic technique practice, jump shots), dribbling (just tonnes of bouncing without looking at ball!), passing. If you need something specific, look at the feedback I gave a while back, or ask again, I or someone like Jake can help write a training programme, for example.

Take yourself to the next level, when you feel you are getting tired, keep going. If last year you went for 2 x 20 min runs a week, this year go 3 x 30! Go big or go home.

Your motivation should not solely be to play basketball next year (although that is a good motivation), but find that intrinsic goal of bettering yourself physically. It’s a goal, that when achieved, feels damn good.

When it comes to pre season and then game time, we need to be ready individually to contribute at a higher level than ever before. Will you be ready?

Coach

29.03.07
I don’t want to sound like your mum here, but first and foremost I would like to say how proud I am of everyone. Players, supporters, well everyone.
It has been an awesome season, and what a game to finish on! It has to be the best sporting experience of my life so far, one that I think is going to be hard to beat.
Continuing on the mum theme, mine put it quite well when she reflected on how we started as a bunch of fellas (plus slycra for those who remember) playing some streetball at Backwell and have come this far……
A website starts networking this newly formed group of friends, unifying under the name of Team Nailsea. Weekly training starts at Nailsea School, new players join, friendlies are played, some are lost, some are won. Team Nailsea enter the league with more new players signing up. A near perfect season commences, players are injured, recover, WAGS and supporters increase weekly, the season finishes with perhaps the greatest sporting event in Nailsea since the county cricket game (if that is really a sport!)…

After a strong defensive, but poor offensive start from both teams, we edged ahead. However, we lost this narrow lead and went down by a few. I think this was due to lack of confidence and focus which meant screens and movement whilst attacking was sparse.
Some important buckets by Nick, tough defence by all, lead by Bryan, and Jake and Big John turning their switches to on, we took the lead in the fourth and never looked back. Supported by an awesome crowd, there was really only one result, a WIN.

All players should be extremely proud of not only what we have achieved, but the commitment and attitude that has helped us get there. We can only build on this and improve next season.

Special mention to Adam who without, this team would not even exist or run as the most proficient team in the league. On behalf of the team, thanks.

We have come along way and experienced a lot together as a team. For me, it’s now that look, when you catch someone eye to eye, your team mate, and without saying anything, you have a common shared experience that is sometimes beyond words.

For the last time this season…

Signing out, jb

15.03.2007

Well well, what can I say? League champions, well done everyone!!! A fantastic achievement for everyone involved with the team!
Season isn’t finished yet so reflections on the past yr are postponed for 2 weeks.
So, what about this game?!
An exciting and tense game if I have ever seen one. Not the greatest basketball ever from either teams, but it was evenly matched and well fought.
I nearly mention them every week now, but the WAGS and supporters were awesome. I had to shout in the huddles, and still could not be heard, it was that loud.
Filton fans were also very vocal, I enjoy a bit of banter with the crowd, but they did do a good job distracting us on our free throws.

Defensively we were consistently sound, as we have been all season. Defensive boards were a little shaky at times, but our team rotation around the key; help defence and communication were excellent. Just need to be a bit more physical and box out the nearest person to you. As soon as the shot goes up, target someone and get your ass all over them.

Transition offence and fast breaking was also good. I think we think we are not as quick as a team as we actually are (hang on, does that make sense?). Yes. We do play quite a fast game, run and gun works well for us and we are better than ever at slowing it when it’s necessary.

On the half court offence we held onto the ball a little too long and needed to move it against there zone to expose the gaps. Having a big man high and a big man low would exploit the gaps in the key. Jonnie demonstrated this well.

Players that played above average for me; Big John obviously got MVP with some strong all round play.
Jonnie had one of his best games yet and Wally ran the floor well. I think everyone else played their usual strong games.

Before next week I think each individual should ask themselves these questions.
What did I do well to contribute to the team? How can I strengthen this?

What do I need to improve on? Attitude? Effort? Focus? Shooting? And how will I achieve this improvement in the game?

We don’t have training between now and then, but try and go for a run, shoot some hoops and mentally focus yourself before the game.

The playoffs are here, bring it on.

Signing out, jb

14.02.2007
Well after a week off from the shackles of coach’s corner, I am back.
PC Jonnie did a pretty good job; maybe I will employ you again some day.

72 – 30. What else can I say? Score line sums it up really, Nailsea basketball has never looked so good.
Speedwell are one of the better teams in the league, and out of respect to them, I think they had an off game yesterday and the score line did not give credit to how well they can normally play. However, I think the game did show we are in a different class as a team and are ready to move up to the next level.

Nick was MVP and was solid and consistent is his, shall we say, abusive play?! But some great shooting and rebounds coming from Nick. This epitomised the strong inside game we had yesterday. John, jonnie, Kieran and Paul were all impressive.

Fast breaks kept the score board ticking over. Great, wide runs from the guards made easy passes for me and Brian, racking up our assists (if only the stats were recorded, note: hopefully will be next season).

Talking of score boards, how nice did our new one look; especially with Closer as the first test dummy model, nobody does it better, baby you’re the best.
Cheers to Neil again for doing the book.

A further key factor I felt created a positive atmosphere, and was also perhaps intimidating for the away team, was of course the spectators. With banners, wine and love in the air, some may have mistaking the balcony to be some kind of religious club. Unlike the Walls of Jericho, Nailsea’s “fortress”, as this “religious group” calls it, has once again been unbreeched. So thanks to those cheering, drinking and loving (special note to Lewis` folks for their banner), it really does make a difference.

Happy Valentines Day to you all!

Signing out, jb

10.02.07
This week a guest Coach’s corner with Jonnie Taylor:

Sorry the post is a little late I’ve been busy, and coming from substitute coach Jonnie!! Can’t quite remember why I volunteered…..

Anyway to the Trowbridge game. Well it didn’t really go quite as we all would have liked, the first half was fairly awful I think it’s fair to say. We never really seemed to get into the usual groove that we’ve become accustomed to over the last few games there were some good moments but we just didn’t click. I think we could probably put it down to a number of things like a long journey, not enough warm up time, maybe over confidence from beating UWE.

However within the game I think perhaps what let us down was our normal rock solid defence which didn’t exist in the first half and so we didn’t have the platform to score points off of. However once we got it together part through the third and the fourth quarter we stopped making unnecessary mistakes and pulled it back from 10 points down to 8 points ahead at the end.

We didn’t play our best but despite that we won, for me that’s what counts and it makes the difference between coming top or not. All teams have poor games where it doesn’t seem to click like normal. Even the mighty Man Utd have bad games and the reason their top is because they know how to scrap out a win (I couldn’t resist some reference to them). That’s why going into the next game we can feel confident all we need to do is keep focused because we know we can play some awesome basketball and we certainly know we can win.

Also big thanks to the ardent supporters who could make it, Anna and Mr Lippiat we have by far the best support in the division and it makes a difference.

Hope my first coach’s corner was ok

Love you all (in a very manly way)

Substitute coach
Jonnie x

29.01.07
Sorry this is late ladies and gents, that game was exhausting and I have only just recovered enough to lift my fingers to type. I think it must have been the heat, it reminded me of playing basketball in Uganda, which was awesome by the way and a very good standard.
Anyways, despite the arid conditions we got another good victory! Well done everyone, and when I say everyone I mean not only our team but all the people who travelled along with us, especially Mr and Mrs Beaumont who made haste to bring our registration cards. Thanks.
Without taking anything away from UWE, I think the game was ours from the tip. They looked a bit deflated and at no real point did they seem like they wanted to win the game. However, we did.
Defence was consistently good as it has been the majority of the season. Again we held a team to under 50 points by closing down all of there offensive options. Apart from rebounds that is, but we will let that one slip for now.

Offensively I thought we were ok/average/maybe pushing good/can be better, a lot better.
I prefer games when more of us are taking responsibility on the offence by saying what can I do to score and how am I going to do it. That has been a problem I have had on previous teams, when no one wants to take on the scoring responsibility. That doesn’t mean we should take crazy shots, but just have to threaten the basket more. I don’t think it is a problem now, but just want to make sure it doesn’t become one.
To answer my critics, that’s why sometimes I shoot maybe more than I should and would like to, honestly.
Big john, nick and jake had good offensive games as well. What was with those backboards though? They messed with our minds man, not to shift the blame of missed lay ups and free throws though of course!

Good night out after as well, thankfully I missed out on some of the man love that was evident I saw in some of the photos! What we gonna do with you jake, any other teams wanna trade?!
Only joking,
Right, I am done,
Signing out, jb

11.01.07

Happy New Yr!
What a lovely start we have had as well! Good win last night gentlemen (oh, and WAGS). The Wizards took us to a close away win last time, but was much more of a straight forward affair last night, in comparison.
Positive points for me…
Solid fast breaking – Jake did well in particular, but I thought generally we were looking to push it as much as we could. Our inside looks were perhaps not as often as they should have been, but I thought Big John and Paul’s presence was, well Big! Some good consistent rebounds, I would have liked to know our stats on that.
What I wouldn’t like to know our stats on particularly are our turnovers. We held them to 28 points, only conceding 7 in the second half, that’s awesome!!!
However, 66 for us is average, and ultimately, although a good win, we want to be pushing ourselves as well. Just got to make some better decisions, but I think that partly does come with game experience and confidence.
Yeah, zone D did work well, good shout Big J suggesting that from the start, who coincidently would be my MVP for his big second half performance and consistent rebounds.
Respect to Brian as well who keeps doing the dirty stuff and taking it for the team.

The crowd once again was huge! Cheers everyone.

Overtime…

Our fitness is good, but can be better, lets get a run in between now and Sunday or Weds.
Apologies for not getting those psych feedback forms yet, am working on them, they will be back with you in the next few weeks. No big revelations on there, but just some comments from me on my thoughts on all your positive contributions to the team and where individually you can improve.

Got some more big games coming up soon, and with everyone showing some good performances recently, team selection is going to be hard. Do not feel bad if not selected, try and think of the bigger picture of the team and use it as motivation to be picked next time.

Final thought… MJ used to say he never thought about his personal stats, that’s not a good way to look at your game. He said he just did what he could do help his team win, and I guess that was quite a lot!

Signing out, jb

13.12.06

The last coach’s corner of 2006!
And what a year it’s been for Nailsea Basketball at this, the half way point of the season.
It has been a great season so far, one which I have enjoyed immensely, both in training, games and socially; couldn’t have asked for a better bunch of fellas to be on the team with. I hope we will continue in our success both on and off the court in the New Year.
So, last nights game; pretty damn good!
Came out in the 1st all guns blazing, was awesome. Zone obviously worked better than the man to man in that game, but its always worth trying to mix things up, so no regrets regarding the coach’s decision (Big John) there.
Yeh, well done John, have appreciated your input on the coaching front the last few games. It has meant I can chill a little, but also subs are better managed. I thought you coached very well, cheers John.
Some high scores from quite a few guys in the game, nice work. I particularly enjoyed the contribution of Brian and Kieran who both hustled after every ball and did the dirty hard work that is not often seen or heard about in the game, so my respects to you.
The crowd was once again rocking, not as many as we would have hoped, but certainly helped and made a big difference.
Very pleased with the performance, we are continuing to develop as a `team`.

So, a few weeks off now then boys. Now I know there is a temptation to eat lots, sit around and do not a lot else during Jesus’ birthday, but my challenge for you is to do 4 – 6 runs between now and next training (03/01/07). Get shooting as well, plus look out for pick up games at the Horn on the weekends. We cannot afford to relax too much and become complacent. If anyone wants a running partner, give me a shout. Maybe we might organise some team runs. If not, hook up with someone who lives near you once or twice a week.

Have a lovely Christmas everybody, and remember; a basketball is for life, not just for Christmas!

Signing out, jb

9.12.06

So, straight to the game,

Now, it depends how you look at this. I think there are two possible ways.
No.1
We won! Awesome, by 30 ish points. Nice one, well done to Si who top scored (again) with 18 points. Fast break looked pretty good, offensive boards were also up to scratch, and to hold them to 30 points is fantastically good defence. Big John did well looking fly in that 2 piece, I thought it really did help someone solely sorting out the subs, everyone got good game time and contributed well. Remember; it doesn’t matter how many you scored, I don’t think you even need to worry about stats too much. Like MJ once said, as long as you win and play well individually and as a team, that is what really counts, stats are just stats.

So, I hear you cry, what is the second way this game can be interpreted?

No.2
We played pretty average, bordering on hhhmmm (a detailed analysis, im sure you’ll agree). We are a better team, but im not convinced that we actually won the game, but more so they lost it. Know what I mean?
We looked flat and a bit lifeless at times. We really need to work on screening away still, movement off the ball.
But hey, we won and won. I guess that’s it.

Cheers to Si and Mr Lippiatt (sorry man, is that how it’s spelt?) who came all the way to another country to support, much respect.
Looking forward to next Wednesday, remember to invite some people. I will probably have a tough time deciding on the team, but please take note that these decisions are never taken lightly. I will always give you a reason why you are not picked, unless you are picked, and then I cannot.
Highlight of the game for me; the referee giving very animated demonstrations of boxing out and offensive drives naked in the showers.

Enjoy, signing out, jb

16.11.06

Dear Team Nailsea Basketball

Well done boys (and girls, I feel I should now include the WAGS). A tightly
fought epic of a game!
I love games like that, the ones that go right down to the wire. I don’t
think either team was more than 5 points or down the whole game. It’s not
often either that we have such physical games, many of us coming home with a
few war wounds. They had 1 particularly good inside bruiser and all liked to
drive to the hole as well. No. 11, he was their best player and did some
damage on us but I thought we handled him quite well.
All our inside guys got 4+ fouls with Abomb and Paul Alexander Roy getting
fouled out. This was ok, however, because they used their fouls wisely
stopping them scoring, sending them to the line where they missed a lot of
free throws. Jonnie had a great game on the defensive end as well, sweet.
The offence, on the other hand, was slightly more driven by the guards. Jake
had his best game of the season yet making some pretty tough fast break lay
ups, Marcus linked up with him on the fast break department too.
Closer, well what can we say? Scoring his debut basket for Nailsea with a
signature driving sweeping shot, nice one.
Adam also made his first “3pointer” of the season as well!
Lewis had a great 1st quarter, making some basket defying lay ups and an
almost Nash style behind the back assist, damn refs!
But, no actually, we are appreciative to the refs for letting us play; the
second didn’t turn up till 2nd quarter. So thanks to the lone ranger who let
us start the game.
Stuff to work on? probably inside passing still and offensive movement, but
we are getting there boys, we are getting there.
A great team effort all round, despite a tough physical game and a probably
even tougher journey! Well done to all who made the effort, including Wally
who unfortunately had to pull out because he let his girlfriend do a hand
stand on his ribs! I’m not saying anymore.
Shout out to nick who has got a bit of an injury, hope to see ya soon.
Happy birthday to Marcus, who finally hits puberty on this the celebration
of his 13th year on the planet, well done Marcus!

Signing out, jb

2.11.06
Perhaps the most closely matched game we have had yet! But we won and are
still undefeated! Alright!

Props to UWE, they are a good team with a lot of young talented players; the
first team that have matched us all round for height as well.
Thanks to the crowd again this week, sounding awesome with the drumming! It
kept me going in the fourth quarter and as some of us discussed after; they
probably made the difference.

Every game we have played I feel we have improved from the last. I don’t
know what you all think, but I can really see a positive change in
individual play but especially team play.
We looked a bit more to get it inside, although we didn’t achieve this as
much as we perhaps should have, the emphasis was there. We managed to slow
the ball down more when we needed to but fast break like the road runner
when it was on.
One more thing to work on, probably defensive boards.

Subs are always a difficult thing, whether it’s NBA with 5 coaching staff or
local league like us where the coach is playing (what’s that about!?). We
have 12 players and only 5 spots on the floor and to manage subs so that
everyone gets a fair shot is hard. I guess I am trying to apologise to those
boys who didn’t get as much game time as they hoped and deserved. This is
something I/we will work on to get right and more just. But remember to keep
the bigger picture of the team in mind, be patient and always ready to
contribute.

Thanks to Wally and Matt who turned up to support and help, that’s good team
play.
Players that did particularly well for me… Our big guys blocking like crazy.
big John had a quiet start but warmed up and played a great defensive game.
I liked Si and Lewis’ calming and interlinking play when they came on. Nick
had a nasty block which led to a fast break, sweet. And remarkably didn’t
get in to much trouble! Well done Nick! Jake had a couple of sweet drives
to.

So a game on Monday away to Totterdown, and training next Wednesday.
Something I want all of us to think about before next Wednesday is what your
individual goals are this season, and how do you think you can achieve them.
Hopefully our team psychologist will be in to help us out. Watch this space,

Check message board for team for Monday, will be up Friday.

Well done team, signing out, jb

26.10.06

Well, what a great start to the season it has been! 4 wins, no losses,
couldn’t ask for any better really.
Last Saturdays game vs speedwell was good with strong resolve evident
amongst our team despite an extremely poor 3rd quarter. We came out good
though with Si hitting some nice J’s and jonnie coming up big inside.
To this Wednesdays game, wow what an atmosphere! I have played at some
pretty big games at a high level, but its not often I see and hear a crowd
like that at a basketball game, national let alone local league. Thanks to
everyone who came.

Organising a home game is quite a big job with a lot to worry about,
especially with the problems we have been having at the school. Adam has
been doing an awesome job at sorting out, especially hard seeing he can’t
play at the moment.
It is a good court though so we are going to stick it out.
We thought it was going to be spoiled by rain yesterday, with the numerous
leaks in the roof, but as you may know me and some other players believe
that God answers prayers, and I think he did yesterday, so a huge shout out
to the big man upstairs.

To the game…

They were a young inexperienced side so we were confident in having the
victory, and I think we took it well. Fast breaks were good, still room for
improvement though, got to go early and wide if you are. When we passed it
around and inside we looked quality, we need to do this more. Like in all
previous games, when we take our time team Nailsea looks like a good team.
We scored 80 which was great but also conceded 52, which is not a lot if you
look at the wider basketball picture, however, our biggest conceding of
points.
Players of the game for me, well actually everyone. We had 4 players in
double figures and 10 players on the score sheet, that’s what im aiming for
this year, for everyone to be involved in every way possible.

Next week we got UWE at home and im afraid some people won’t get a game.
Thanks to Marcus who didn’t play yesterday but helped out on the table. This
is the kind of club commitment I appreciate and will also be a part of the
team selection for games. Selection is based of course on skill and
performance, but also attitude and effort. I hope everyone agrees with this
philosophy and can work with me, Adam and the team in achieving this.
In my first season at B’ham I didn’t get much game time, but instead of
moaning or annoyance I took the opportunity to earn my place on the team by
working harder than everyone else. No ones spot is safe.

Happy birthday to Brian, our senior member of the team. I read this and
thought of you…
“I play in the over-40 basketball league. We don’t have jump balls. The ref
just puts the ball on the floor and whoever can bend over and pick it up
gets possession.”

Cool, well done team, lets keep up the good work,
Skills,

Signing out, jb

12.09.06

Come on the nailsea!!!

Well done to everyone. What a fun and enjoyable game to be a part of! I loved it. the atmosphere was great, so first of all thanks to all the peeps who came down to watch! you really made a difference, please keep coming.

On to the game… I thought we looked on the whole a lot better as a team than the first game. we had to pass against the zone, and when we did, we looked good. shot selection was generally good and the fitness, effort and team cohesion was spot on.

Some stuff to work on… We should have used our big guys, john and nick inside a little bit more and supported them on the boards. a coach once said, “you can’t teach rebounding, you either have it or you dont” i agree with this but we can all still make an effort to go after the boards. But well done to nick and john who had a frustrating time playing inside against a difficult zone. When we passed along the top, making their ball and back zone move, we looked pro. lets keep that ball movement up, nice. there was a few silly turnovers though, we will endeavour to iron those out.

I hope everyone feels they played a part in the game, whether you played personally well or not, but felt you had the opportunity to do so. please feedback to me individualy if you want. i want to make sure this season that
everyone at least has the chance and opportunity to make an impact on the game at some point.

Defensively i felt we were ok. a few individuals stepped up defensively, old bry taking some charges, and the mark brothers coming off the bench playing some high intensity ball! it was good to see your confidence on offence as
well. good to see jake back to some of his scoring ways and going a whole game without getting injured! congratulations jake! also nick is back with us, cheers for making it nick, who once again managed to get fouled out! but this time at least he had some company! big john.

Shout out to paul and neil for doing the table, closer for bringing the music, abomb once again for all his skills, and Nailsea School, who cleaned the floor, tried(!!!) to get some new rings and finally to the caretaker Allan (if he is reading this) for letting us in early and staying a little late, we love you, we really do.

Signing out, JB

29.09.06

Congratulations team!

Our first official win! awesome. everyone who came did a great job, including abomb and all the fans!?
the first quarter was the best by far. we scored 20 points in the first and only 31 in the remainding 3. i think this was due to fatigue and lack of concentration really, things we can easily work on.
our offence looked a little shoddy at times, but like i say first game of the season so i was overall happy.
player of the game probably has to go to new boy big john with 16 points. i thought paul and brian also had good games. we had the inside advantage and used it quite well i thought. everyone put in strong performances and like always i am proud to be a player on this team.
defence was very strong, keeping them under 50 points which is exceptional, well done boys.

the refs! what about the refs, well theres not a lot we can do about refs as i learnt with my first ever technical. if i was just a member of the squad then i could understand the teachincal call, but as the coach and court captain i felt this call was riduculous. however, just goes to show, you cannot even talk to the refs, so we will learn and move on.

im sure more will be said on the message board so i will leave it here for now, welcome all comments on things we did well and things we can improve on.

UNDEFEATED, COME ON TEAM NAILSEA!

14.09.06

hey team,

we are back, like the best boy band ever once said, back for good, or
something like that! what a session this wednesday to help get things under
way. there was some top quality team basketball taking place. passing and
screening away from the ball creates so much space and opportunities to
score. remember though, we need to take our time and use our smarts as to
when and where to screen.

the game at the end was good as well, capped off with perhaps the greatest
dunk of all time! lewis’ defensive play by taking the charge may have also
been up there for play of the day.

was good to see marcus the wanderer back in town as well.

i also thought dave has put in a good couple of trainings as well, i like
your energy on the court dave man, keep it up.

every player has had a good few trainings, i am really looking forward to
this season now.

keep up the running, fitness, shooting, weights, whatever you are doing, its
pretty tough to get motivated to do stuff, but it really does make the
difference long term.

hope all those competing in half marathon also have a gd un this sunday,
wear you’re nailsea bball t’s boys! represent.

am speaking to bham uni coach this weekend about a fixture next week up at
their place so keep your eyes on the forum for the latest.

signing out jb

8.6.06

Hey there team

Well, here’s another coach’s corner, been a while. First thoughts, of course, lie with our first home game. I think that it was a success. Naturally we wanted to win and we didnt, but if thats all there was to basketball i would have given up a long time ago. Yesterday was more about learning as a team and individualy, and also experimenting to see
if Nailsea could host a game. from that persepctive, it was a success. I thought we put on a decent game of basketball. adam did well organising stuff, the horn were quite supportive and everyone seemed quite up for it.

So, the game itself…
They were a good team, probably better than us, as a team. They had a good natural point guard (which we were missing yesterday, Luke, Marcus) and that decent no 15. During the times we moved the ball and passed it inside I thought we looked like the better team. I also think we lacked a little bit of confidence, which they didn’t.
The refs didnt help us, especially with Nick, but apparently you cannot be as physical in the local league as the national. A fact I was unaware of. So a learning experience for me as well.

What I would take from that game are these things;

• be strong, but less physical
• have confidence in the ability you have and try your best
• hustle after every loose ball
• keep the ball moving, don’t use and lose your dribble

My player of the game I think will go to Joe ‘Barry’. He showed up big inside, taking the right shots, missing some, but having the confidence to try.

Shout out to Jake and Chris who got injured. I said to Jake’s girlfriend, “Hey Jude, make sure he rests”

Cheers to all the people who came and watched, it was nice to have some interest and hopefully indicates more Nailsea support for future games.

Oh and happy birthday to Wally,

Signing out, JB

8.5.06

Hows it going crew!

just a few thoughts from saturday…

firstly well done to everyone, was a good game of high quality
basketball. to see the tranformation from 1 year ago or so to now is
awesome, both as individuals and as a team. the score reflects that as
well. in a 40 minute game to score 60 odd points is pretty damn good.
thats an average score for college teams, so i think that shows our
offence was nice. furthermore, they were playing a zone and we dealt
with this quite well. i definetly agree with some of the comments
posted about practciing a zone offensively and defensively. we have not
done this a lot so far because i feel there is more important things to
be doing, but will endeavour to look at it more in the near future. i
thought everyone had a decent game, particular shout outs on our team
to si, marcus and nick.also wally with his debut on the score sheet.
luke, barry, jack and sam also did well playing for leicester and
adapting to their play.
a little apology from me as well if i shot the ball to much. after not
playing in the 1st 2 games and not having played for a while anyway, i
got a little trigger happy, not really my game, (what about 10%
shooting!).

anyways,look forward to playing some more teams, bring on gwent again!

thanks to Brian, all the leaicester boys, adam and all the players and
fans (?!) that helped make it a good 2 hours of basketball fun.

signing out, jb

19.4.06

hey team

due to the short and compactedness of our training sessions of late, so
also therfore is this.
we welcomed this week tom, who is a native backwell streetballer, and
also wayne (think he was here last week but i wasnt), good to see some
new faces. we had a 1 hour session at the horn whcih i thought was
pretty good considering. had a good 14 players and basically played
some games. at times we lost our structure and i could tell everyone
was looking a bit unfit, me included, but im working out anaerobically
at the mo, get big get babes, you know what i mean chris ey! what dya
mean you cant tell!
anyway, hopefully gonna be picking back up to some 2 hour sessions soon.
this weeks homework… watch them MJ videos, he owed me one after
teaching him all i knew so i asked to make a couple of coaching videos
Jordan basketball coaching.

man anyone else find scotch horn to be sauna horn. that place was hot,

im out of here like ben’s sweat

signing out, jb

23.3.06

Sup team

there hasnt really been much coaching going down recently so i thought i would explain why. its kinda cos we dont have any games as such. working on screens and team moves can be quite monotonous (is that a word) so i have steered away from that and stuck to what we all love best anyway; games. i will endeavour, however, to put some more drills and skills in over the next few weeks, mainly individual stuff i think, ready for the streetball season…some cross overs, footwork, post moves, shooting etc
i enjoed this weeks training session a lot though. it was the usual 11 man and games, but like jam and toast, those ingredients never fail! matt and si did well also, coming straight in and joining in.
shout out to abomb whos chilling watching march madness, i mean recovering from his op. also to lukeyB whos recovering from vomiting for over 9 hours! nice work.

im out like abombs knees,

signing out, jb

8.2.06

hey team nailsea

well its been a while! i apologise for my lack of correspondance and posts
as the coach, i have let nailsea down! okay well, where shall i start this
week. we have had a lapse in numbers over the past few weeks so we have
mainly had a bit of fun and played some full court games. this wednesday we
saw an increase with 17 peeps turning up, a nice number. (welcome to Lee and
also Simone and Matt who i dont think i met at training before). there were
some nice passing plays coming through as well, i remeber one between bryan,
sam and lewis that made me think damn team nailsea are getting good.

i have been watching a lot of college basketball recently and i love the
pace and energy levels of the game. its all pretty simple, no crazy shots,
just really high tempo. dont know if some of you have heard of a guy called
JJ Reddick (Duke). he has got a real solid shooting game. he is a good role
model for working on one simple part of your game and making good. his
move.. catch, fake shot, step and bounce one direction, pull up and shoot.
simple but so quick and really effective.

hey, summers starting to creep up on us. im looking forward to getting
outside, spending sunday afternoons playing a bit of streetball. sweet. im
off curling, laters

signing out, jb

25.1.06

Hello

Once again its awesome to see the improvements everyone is making individually and as a team. Every week we are looking more like a basketball TEAM, nice one. As we come up to another game I feel confident that we will do well and improve on our efforts against Gwent.
Have mentioned screens in coaches corner a number of times before so I won’t bore everyone to much. But last night we looked one particular screen at the low post as part of our play `blue`. It involved guards curling around the post man who sets a screen resulting in the guard popping back up for a pass from the point. Man, what a play.
Great effort on the running as well, which was some tough exercise. It doesn’t matter how you do in comparison to everyone else, its how you do in comparison to your self; doing the best you can that matters. This is my philosophy in sports because you are always going to meet someone that is better and eventually are going to let yourself down by comparing yourself to others. But by striving for doing the best you can do and helping others do the best they can (i.e. in a team) we can find true success.
Damn, this is getting to heavy, im out of here, been thinking to much.

Signing out, jb

18.1.06
Hey team

This week we had a bit of fun playing some game scenarios. the 2 teams battled it out in a number of diiferent game situations. the whites (whoever the heck that was) came out on top, mainly due to the fact that they always had the advantage with points or posession.
looked at a bit of screening again as well. this is one of the most fundamental team skills. when it is perfomed properly it provides almost endless opportunities to score. must remember good strong posistion with your body ideally between the ball, the basket and the defender.remember kids, the attacking player caanot move and use the screen his team mate sets until he is still. moving screens are illegal.
dont forget to bring your moneys each week (luke) or the money man a.k.a lewis will kick your ass.
much love,
signing out, jb

11.1.06

Hello Nailsea

Keeping short and sweet this week.
First session back after Christmas, and a good one (well when are they
not!). I thought intensity was real good. Everyone really up for it and
trying hard. Couple of knackering drills in there as well.
Introduced our first set play; blue. It basically involves guards moving
down to be screened at low post by the forwards and pooping back up
recieving a pass on either wing. Finally, screens away to free up weak side
men. It takes ages to perfect any play so I thought we did a good job. Will
look at it each week.

Next session i thought we would create some game
scenarios, e.g. 5 secs to go inbound ball. Will be points for defending as
well as attacking.
Laters, im off to my barn dancing lessons, signing out jb

8.1.06

Hows it team!

Just a quick coach’s word to say well done today. First game ever for Nailsea basketball and one I think we can all be proud to remember. We were winning pretty much the whole game, but I think it was just our fitness and lack of experience that let us down at the end. Great team performance though, everyone contributed in some way. Shout out to Adam and Jonnie who despite their injuries put in the effort, our cheer leader Kate and to closer who burned it down the motorway to make it in time for tip off. Awesome to see everyone there. Well done to Jake with 25ish points and Joe who got more fouls that points!
Yeh was a great afternoon; on the road with your buddies, playing basketball and drinking ribena! That’s the life.
Catch you all Wednesday, signing out, JB

14.12.05

Hey Team

Focus again this week was mainly on playing and getting game experience. The
best basketball players are those who can transfer the skills they have into
a game, the toughest skill of them all. It’s all well and good being able to
dunk or dribble between your legs but it’s how we use these skills in a game
or game situation that is really important. Check Steve Nash, he isnt the
quickest player or the best shooter and he can’t dunk it or dribble it as well as
other players. However, he can read the game better than any and knows when
to do what to get the best results. this is something I am really working on
personally at the moment, making the right decisions. this can really only
be improved through playing experience and reflective practice which is why
I often stop the games, as coach, to highlight different points.
Last one this Wednesday before Christmas, not sure if I am going to be there
but if not `the injured one` will be stepping up to take more of a
leadership role.
If I don’t see some people before Jesus`s birthday have a great Christmas and
remember;

a basketball is for life, not just for christmas

signing out, JB

30.11.05

Wassup team!

Most we have ever had on Wednesday, awesome stuff. Tried to play more games this week focusing on spacing around the court. Its important to use the whole court, not to bunch up. Some nice plays showing up as well (dan beaton with a sweet pass fake, drive and reverse lay up, nick with some nice blocks and ad with some strong post moves before he got injured!) yeh shout out to Adam as well! will be praying you will get well soon and focus on what you can do, not on what you cant. Gonna step up as leader and coach a bit hopefully, (yes! Some time off, alright!).

Also did a bit of fundamental shooting work… remember push the ball up nice and high following through with the fingers. I read an article once by Dirk Nowitskis shooting coach who says the fingers are the most important part in shooting, need a good finish to the shot.

Well done to the new comers as well and the returnees (bean, jonnie etc)

Catch you all next week, signing out, JB

23.11.05

Hows it?

Another great turn out and effort by everyone this week! The focus was on team movement down the court, moving into fast breaks. The most important thing in fast breaking is keeping that space and always moving the ball forward, never back. Shooting was good to with some of the quickest 21’s games we have had yet.

Also looking at 1v1 offence. Catching the ball in the triple threat position at a jump stop gives you a wider variety of moves you can use from either pivot foot. It’s important to read the defender, where is there body positioned? How can I best beat this defender?
You can practice these offensive jab steps and pivots anywhere with a bit of space and a ball. Check out Steve Nash, John Stockton, they are great examples of utilising the jab step to beat their defenders.

See ya’ll next week, signing out, JB

18.11.05

Hey all

I thought this Wednesday was probably the best training yet all because everyone turned wanting to play and train hard, that always makes a good session. Lets do it again next week. Well done to the new comers as well.

Just to encourage everyone to go for a run another day in the week or something. I know we don’t play pro or anything and running is pretty damn boring. However, you will reap the benefits so much more in training. The running in training will become easy, you wont get tired so easy which means when in game situations you wont be thinking, “man im knackered” you will be thinking about what killer move is gonna bust up lukey B and how am I gonna stop Paul getting all them rebounds.

Signing out, JB