Culminating Blog Post

        Over the past couple of months I've been devoting my time coaching kids basketball. These kids were in Kindergarten through Second grade with a few exceptions on a handful of kids. At first I had struggled to coach the kids while the majority of them where friends and didn't want to play basketball. As time progressed I've came out of my shell and was more vocal with the kids as I had to use my voice to get their attention and tell them information on practice, plays, and games. It was hard but I had great colleagues besides my mentor Anthony, I had other coaches to help me along the way to help me if couldn't handle all the kids at once. At times I was able to make my own plays for the kids to run in their practices and games. While the plays didn't really work in the practices, they eventually ran the right play in games when it mattered the most.
        Coaching was something that was totally new to me and I had never seen what it is like on that side of the sport so I was kind of nervous in the beginning. During the clinic stage is where i was able to learn as I go because all I really did was teach the kids the basic fundamentals of the game of basketball. This gave me lots of confidence because I wasn't thrown into a game situation where I'd get nervous. Being that I had to give feedback to the parents about their kids progress I feel as though that I can now talk to any person with confidence rather than being shy and nervous. Compared to the first practice when I was nervous and didn't talk as loud, now i can talk louder and not be shy about it. Intellectually I was able to form a bond with the kids as most the kids referred to me as coach Chris, most liked the NBA so when we would split up into groups I would talk about the NBA with the kids. Most of them like the Heat and Thunder, while only a few liked the Warriors.
        With Success comes failure and there was a few times where I had challenges in my project. During the clinics the kids didn't want to listen to me being that I looked to be younger than all the other coaches. But after the first class the kids took me serious after I started to relate the drill to those run in the NBA. Another challenge that I faced was outside of my coaching classes and that was night school at Baden. I had to make up 10 credits which meant I had to complete 2 books before May 9th. The nights I would've been at school I went to go meet with my mentor instead, after having the will and courage i was able to finish both before there respective deadlines. The finals major challenge I faced was in the class stage where I had kids in my 4:30 class that required special attention due to an illness, or just not interested in the sport at all. This wasn't as hard to overcome as I had 3 other coaches that would all watch over these kids while my mentor led the practices and games as normal.
        All  in all, I learned a lot about coaching in the past couple of months. I've always seen sports from the athletes point of view and now I can say I've been a coach. At first the kids kind of didn't want to listen to me but as time went on they trusted me and thought I was a "cool" coach. There were struggles but thanks to my mentor and fellow coaches they were able to guide me when there were struggles. This is something that I can see me doing part time in the future as my mentor told me that there is a possibility of me getting a job to coach the basketball classes. Overall I'd have to say that the capstone project seemed scary, but these last couple of months made it seem interesting and fun and I have memories that I will remember for the rest of my life.

Todays hours 2 Total Hours 30

 

Yesturday i met with my mentor for the kids final practice. In both classes we had them test their skills in a inner squad scrimmage the whole practice. My 3:30 class has made the most progress out of both classes. The 4:30 class is good too but there are a few kids in that class who it takes them a little bit longer to learn things, but there has been major improvments from their first practice. All in all im looking forward to both of the teams final games on friday.

Todays hours 2 Total Hours 28

 

Today i met with my mentor to help him coach the kids second to last games. Both the games were close and there was major improvements from the vast majority of the kids.most kids can at least hit the rim while the majority of them can make a actual basket. they also have made progress with offense as they run fastbreaks on almost every play.

Todays hours 2 Total Hours 26

Yesterday I met with my mentor Anthony for 2 hours. We began each of the classes with the usual warm up drills, followed by dribbling drills. Then we broke them up in two groups and taught them out route passes where they made cuts in the key by running in the form of a v and l. After that we finished the practice with a scrimmage game on both occasions. It was also bitter sweet for me as at the end of the first class it marked my 25th hour in the project making this portion officially complete. But I'm not going to stop there as I will continue to volunteer til the classes end. At this time I am proud to say I've completed 26 out of the 25 required hours.

Todays hours 2 Total hours 24

Today I meet with my mentor for 2 hours as my two teams played games against two other teams. This time around the coaches decided to not keep score to avoid a team from getting blown out. That wasn't the case though today as both of my teams keept the game close and I lost count on who won the game. So far I have completed 24 out of the 25 required hours

Todays hours 2 Total hours 22

I met with my mentor Anthony yesterday for the usual 2 hour Monday practice. We continued to teach the kids better ball handling skills and enhance there defensive skills as well. We close each of the 2 practices with a inner squad scrimmage game to get them ready for there games on Friday. So far on my project I have 22 out of the 25 required hours complete

Todays hours 2 Total hours 20

Yesterday I met with my mentor for the first series of games. This was the first time in all my hours so far that I felt like I was coaching. In the first game my team won their game, but it wasn't as good in the second as my other team lost. It was cool having the option to sub kids in and out and also calling plays. At this time I now have 20 out of the 25 required hours

Todays hours 2 Total Hours 18

Yesterday I meet with my mentor and we had our final class with the teams before there game on Friday. I'm the classes we continued to teach them the 2-3 defense and shoot the ball with jump stop shot. So far I have a tally of 18 out of 25 hours

This week I didn't meet with my mentor due to the camp taking time off for spring break. I will be back on the court with the K-2 kids on monday

Todays hours 2 Total hours 16

Over the past week I haven't posted anything regarding my senior project. But luckily after a two week break I can say I got two more hours in. Instead of the usual scene at spruce gym the classes shift to terrabay gym. Now there two teams in a 2 hour time slot. So today's lesson we had the teams do shooting drills and defensive stances, them we taught the kids a dribbling game that they played in the key. I now have a tally of 16/25 hours

Todays hours 2 Total hours 14

Today I shifted from the usual k-2 basketball lessons to help my mentor with his 6th grade basketball team. It was different because he made his eighth grade team, which my little brother plays for have a scrimmage game. I helped coach the eighth grade team to a win and also worked the scores table and scoreboard. In total I have a total of 14 out of the 25 hours

Todays hours 2 Total hours 12

Today was the last day of the clinics for the r.a.p.p. in the lessons the kids played games similar to the ones on Tuseday and after had a practice game. In the Thursday class there's a little kid and he's probably like 6 and this kid can play the way he dribbles, shoots, and passes is way advanced for his age. So far in my tallies I'm at 12 hours out of 25

Todays hours 2 Total hours 10

Yesterday was the last day of the clinic stage of the k-2 basketball class, now the kids have the option of joining the league and play games. In the classes the kids played games like steal the basketball and takeaway where they all bounced the ball I'm the half court circle and had to knock the other persons ball out the circle. So far I'm at 10 hours out of the 25

Todays hours 2 Total hours 8

Today I help my mentor Ant  with the lessons by helping the kids with there defensive stance by dribbling the ball while they tried to steal the ball from us. After that the kids had a scrimmage game. So after this lesson I'm currently at 8 hours out of my 25

Todays hours 2 Total hours 6

Today I meet with my mentor again for 2 hours, In the classes we taught the kids basketball drills, made them run around then they played a game. It's such a cool sight seeing them try so hard to shoot the ball and they can't even hit the net, reminds me of myself back in kindergarten. So I currently have a tab of 6 hours

Todays hour 4 Total Hours 4

This week I met with my mentor Anthony for the first time. On tuseday and Thursday I spent two hours  each day teaching kindergarten through 2nd graders basketball. In these classes there were different classes on these days so we taught the kids the same stuff on both days. First in the class we taught the kids how to take jump shots, then after that we taught them how to play defense in the 2-3 formation. Lastly after all of that the little kids had a little practice game. As of now I currently have 4 out of 25 hours completed