Graceketball

The girls had a great time again this year, made a bunch of new friends, played a lot of basketball and generally seemed to really enjoy the experience. They were moved up to play with older girls two hours into the first day which they were very happy to report. GraceAnne scored more than usual and she and Grace Stone were on the same team so they liked that. Addie Micir ended up coaching their team and giving them lots of instruction. They both know Addie from last year and from following the Lady Tigers team during the season. Addie will be a senior this year, is the team captain and led the team in scoring last season. Good person to have coach ya I would say. GraceAnne made a lot of new friends. One played on the Kyniska team the Lightning played in the Princeton Shootout just a few weeks back. All in all the girls came back excited and enthused about the game, the school as well as the camp experience itself, and...... STONE WON THE CAMPER OF THE WEEK AWARD! GO G-FORCE...

Yesterday was the last Game7 Bootcamp of this spring session. The girls got to meet Jason Fraser Amityville '02, Villanova '06, after the session (see the second video below, 3 minutes in). I'll miss taking Amara, Evangelia, Woody and Stone out to Rockville Centre on Sunday afternoons. They got quite a few good workouts in and I know all four of them have been working on the skills and drills at home that Marc and George have taught them. They are all better basketball players for their experience at Game7, no doubt about it. More than that I really appreciate all four of them in a different way after seeing how they approached the sessions. Evangelia is a great kid, very tenacious with a great attitude. Having started playing ball two years after most of the other girls does put her at a disadvantage. Many of the fundamental skills that she needs the most work on aren't covered in team practices anymore. Never-the-less, she never put her head down, never got discou...

Dropped Gracie off at Princeton camp yesterday. She and Grace Stone are on the same team this year, the Columbia Lions, and Megan Bowen is their coach. They are staying in a beautiful dorm room this year. They are having fun already if the txts from last night are any indication. I'll be going down on Friday to catch their games and pick them up. Looking forward to seeing Jadwin gym again! Sunday they had another great workout at Game7 in Rockville Centre. This Sunday will be the last session of Game7 Bootcamp for the time being. Grace will be attending the Kim Barnes Arico girl's basketball camp at St John's next week. Lightning will have some practices and open gyms starting on the 30th and Grace will be participating in a playground league under the lights at Stanco Park in Glen Cove.

Camp season officially begins next Tuesday when Woody and Stone go down to Princeton to attend their second year of Tiger Camp. Last year they had a great time, learned a lot and this year should be no different. I'll be repairing the blog over the next couple months. Youtube killed my account for putting copy written music on some of the videos... so over 130 basketball videos have disappeared into the ether overnight. Live and learn. I have some stored on my hard drive so all is not completely lost. GraceAnne's Long Island Lightning team had two great tournaments over the last two weekends. 6/7-8 They went 3-1 in the CT Premier Shootout losing their final game by 4pts to a Futurestars team from Westchester. 6/12-13 they went 4-0 in the Princeton Shootout blowing out all four teams. Grace played well but she did get in early foul trouble in that one loss and eventually fouled out. Lets just say the she didn't commit the fouls defending her own girl and leave it at ...

Crazy weekend. Connecticut Premier Shootout in Westport Ct. Four games in two days in a 90° sweltering gym. Won the first three games easily and then ran into a buzz saw in the final game. The girls were ahead at the half, battled in the second keeping it close but couldn't seal the deal. HOT, humid, dark and sticky gym. GraceAnne and Stone left it all on the floor, they were spent. The girls were tired but decided they wanted to try to hit Game7 on the way back home anyway. We left Westport at 3:00 and, in spite of traffic and some torrential downpours, got to St Marks in Rockville Centre around 4:30. Apparently Stone had something left because she was all over the gym as usual, making crossovers and hitting jumpshots. Woody was maybe a step slow but definitely gave it her all hitting layups, working her retreat dribble, working on staying low... as always Marc Von Essen is good for keeping you honest and making sure you get the most out of yourself. Always a good workout, hi...