Game 7 Spring Boot Camp
GraceAnne had a busy weekend of basketball with four games at the Metropolitan AAU Regional Tournament in Hauppauge but... she couldn't miss the first day of Game 7 Spring Boot Camp!
Working with Marc Von Essen and the Game 7 trainers has become kind of a reprieve from the pressure of team basketball for GraceAnne. She has only herself to rely upon and can work on her individual skills and game without all the craziness. This is where she goes to get better.
Nicole Capurso was helping out at the spring boot camp. GREAT player!
"Named to All-Colonial Athletic Association Academic second team...Received CAA Commissioners Academic Award...Played in all 34 games, making nine starts...Averaged 9.7 points, 2.1 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game...Ranked third on the team in scoring...Had a team-high 58 three-pointers...Ranked eighth in the CAA in three-pointers made per game (1.7)...Tied a career-best with 23 points and five three-pointers against Providence."
GraceAnne didn't recognize Nicole at first but Nicole remembered Grace from a Hofstra summer camp that Grace attended in summer '09. On the way home in the car Grace said "Oh yeah! She was my coach!". Ummmm, ok... call me crazy but for some reason I think Grace should remember these things.
Most of the weekend we spent at the NY Division 1 AAU Regional Tournament at Coastal Sports in Hauppauge. Very nice facility and easy to get to. In the first game GraceAnne played extremely well. She completely shut down a girl who has given us trouble before, a big for St Patrick's CYO who we saw most recently this year but also in the Long Island Championship game last season.
In the second game GraceAnne scored an early eight points against the Staten Island Diamonds by going strong to the basket. She went coast to coast for a layup at one point, beat her girl in the halfcourt for another score, drew some fouls and got a beautiful putback off of a very strong offensive rebound.
That's when it got weird. She got moved to guard where she is still very uncomfortable.... this is where practice comes in, very difficult to ask a 12 year old kid to do something in a pressure cooker of a game that she does not ever do in practice. She has guard skills but doesn't know the offense from that position as well as she could, needs to work on it with the team in practice. She let a bad pass get by her by cutting the wrong way, didn't think it was for her, didn't hustle after the ball (no excuse for that) at which point she got pulled and told she was a "quitter", this according to GraceAnne. Got benched for the remainder of the half. Oh well...
She did get back in the game and played like an animal hustling to be the first one back, chasing down and blocking or fouling a girl that was absolutely killing us on the break. She gave the girl one extremely hard foul knocking her to the floor and after the game told me she went after her so she wouldn't come inside anymore... it worked but the damage had already been done and the team lost the game. After the game the parents were lectured that "quitters" would not be tolerated and should "quit now". Grace boo-hoo cried the whole way home in the car and for most of the evening.
Basketball on the whole has been a very positive experience for GraceAnne and she has met some wonderful nurturing people. Most people get it and understand what it's really all about, what the end game is and the real reason for participation. These kids are still very young and they are slowly learning what it takes to be successful not only in basketball but in life. Given the tools and the preparation to excel they generally come through and reach their goals. As a parent my job is to gently guide and nurture but also to protect my daughter from situations that I feel are potentially harmful to her long term success and happiness. Ultimately it's her personal development that matters most.... not one play, one game or even an entire season. Sometimes it's very hard to differentiate that which could be potentially harmful from that which is simply a learning experience, an obstacle to overcome, something a child has to experience and work their way through to reach a better understanding. We are all a work in progress.
8:00 am game bright and early the next morning, Sunday... Mother's Day and Grace was still pretty demoralized. Lost the first game in a blow-out to a very good Bull Dogs team with a fantastic girl who must be six feet tall. Grace did not start and played very sparingly. Next game against a Queens Express team we've been looking forward to meeting, they beat us by two in last years championship game at the regionals. Grace's team was relentless, won going away with some of the most unbelievable defensive pressure I have ever seen. Grace played very well blocking shots, rebounding, defending.
Kind of a difficult and stressful weekend. It was good to have Game 7 to go to so Grace doesn't have to think winning AAU games is all there is to basketball. Already looking forward to going back next Sunday!
Working with Marc Von Essen and the Game 7 trainers has become kind of a reprieve from the pressure of team basketball for GraceAnne. She has only herself to rely upon and can work on her individual skills and game without all the craziness. This is where she goes to get better.
"Named to All-Colonial Athletic Association Academic second team...Received CAA Commissioners Academic Award...Played in all 34 games, making nine starts...Averaged 9.7 points, 2.1 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game...Ranked third on the team in scoring...Had a team-high 58 three-pointers...Ranked eighth in the CAA in three-pointers made per game (1.7)...Tied a career-best with 23 points and five three-pointers against Providence."
In the second game GraceAnne scored an early eight points against the Staten Island Diamonds by going strong to the basket. She went coast to coast for a layup at one point, beat her girl in the halfcourt for another score, drew some fouls and got a beautiful putback off of a very strong offensive rebound.
That's when it got weird. She got moved to guard where she is still very uncomfortable.... this is where practice comes in, very difficult to ask a 12 year old kid to do something in a pressure cooker of a game that she does not ever do in practice. She has guard skills but doesn't know the offense from that position as well as she could, needs to work on it with the team in practice. She let a bad pass get by her by cutting the wrong way, didn't think it was for her, didn't hustle after the ball (no excuse for that) at which point she got pulled and told she was a "quitter", this according to GraceAnne. Got benched for the remainder of the half. Oh well...
She did get back in the game and played like an animal hustling to be the first one back, chasing down and blocking or fouling a girl that was absolutely killing us on the break. She gave the girl one extremely hard foul knocking her to the floor and after the game told me she went after her so she wouldn't come inside anymore... it worked but the damage had already been done and the team lost the game. After the game the parents were lectured that "quitters" would not be tolerated and should "quit now". Grace boo-hoo cried the whole way home in the car and for most of the evening.
Basketball on the whole has been a very positive experience for GraceAnne and she has met some wonderful nurturing people. Most people get it and understand what it's really all about, what the end game is and the real reason for participation. These kids are still very young and they are slowly learning what it takes to be successful not only in basketball but in life. Given the tools and the preparation to excel they generally come through and reach their goals. As a parent my job is to gently guide and nurture but also to protect my daughter from situations that I feel are potentially harmful to her long term success and happiness. Ultimately it's her personal development that matters most.... not one play, one game or even an entire season. Sometimes it's very hard to differentiate that which could be potentially harmful from that which is simply a learning experience, an obstacle to overcome, something a child has to experience and work their way through to reach a better understanding. We are all a work in progress.
8:00 am game bright and early the next morning, Sunday... Mother's Day and Grace was still pretty demoralized. Lost the first game in a blow-out to a very good Bull Dogs team with a fantastic girl who must be six feet tall. Grace did not start and played very sparingly. Next game against a Queens Express team we've been looking forward to meeting, they beat us by two in last years championship game at the regionals. Grace's team was relentless, won going away with some of the most unbelievable defensive pressure I have ever seen. Grace played very well blocking shots, rebounding, defending.
Kind of a difficult and stressful weekend. It was good to have Game 7 to go to so Grace doesn't have to think winning AAU games is all there is to basketball. Already looking forward to going back next Sunday!
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