Columbus Discovered... Basketball?
Lots of basketball for GraceAnne over the long Columbus Day weekend. Friday night started with an open gym at GCHS for her CYO St Hyacinth Storm team. The newly minted Storm was preparing for a preseason tournament to help them get ready for their first season with a couple of new girls on the team. Surprised by how many did not know the offense but they got it together after an hour or so.
From Glen Cove we went directly to St Mark's in Rockville Center for an excellent Boot Camp with Nicole Capurso and some of her Hofstra teammates. Very nicely run with the girls split up based on age and ability. Three stations were set up with a starting Hofstra player manning each one.
Marie Malone showed the girls post moves and footwork. Drop steps, inside pivots, step through moves... the progression reminded me of all the time Grace spent learning the very same moves from Brittany Hunter. With only four girls at the station everyone got plenty of reps and as much individual attention as they needed.
Candice Bellocchio ran them through ball handling. Two ball dribble, crossovers, lots of things kids need to know, big or guard, if they want to command time on the floor.
Nicole ran them through the shooting station showing them some form shooting and then into jumpshooting.
While GraceAnne worked on her game my time was spent productively chatting with Marc about the game, the positive aspects and life lessons learned and about the time and effort needed to achieve success. Grace has certainly committed herself and put in tremendous effort. Great way to spend part of a Friday night!
Sunday was another great Boot Camp with Nicole, Anthony and this time former Hofstra big Isoken Uzamere running the Game7 crew through their paces. We were a little late so Nicole asked if we'd like to stay for the second session with the High School group so Grace could catch up. Seemed like a good idea at the time so I volunteered Grace.
Little did I know the intensity of the workout! Ball handling, speed and agility and loads of shooting. Grace wanted to stay after she was done with the first session but she looked like she started regretting that decision about halfway through the second one. I could see she really pushed herself much harder working with the older kids. Probably just what she needs to do.
Monday tournament day finally came. Nicely run little preseason CYO tournament at Fundamental Sports Training in Westbury. Brand new floor which was beautiful and a great opportunity for the girls to get to know one another prior to the CYO season. Beat an overmatched St Boniface 8th grade B team in the first game and were challenged but persevered against a combined Silver Bullets/NY Elite 7th, 8th grade team in the second game. Grace had 14 blocks in the second game and played her best ball in a very long time in both games. She also smiled, laughed and had fun on the floor throughout both games. They got a nice shiny medal which made all the girls as well as the coach and parents very happy.
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| Marie shooting over Maya Moore |
Marie Malone showed the girls post moves and footwork. Drop steps, inside pivots, step through moves... the progression reminded me of all the time Grace spent learning the very same moves from Brittany Hunter. With only four girls at the station everyone got plenty of reps and as much individual attention as they needed.
Candice Bellocchio ran them through ball handling. Two ball dribble, crossovers, lots of things kids need to know, big or guard, if they want to command time on the floor.
Nicole ran them through the shooting station showing them some form shooting and then into jumpshooting.
Sunday was another great Boot Camp with Nicole, Anthony and this time former Hofstra big Isoken Uzamere running the Game7 crew through their paces. We were a little late so Nicole asked if we'd like to stay for the second session with the High School group so Grace could catch up. Seemed like a good idea at the time so I volunteered Grace.
Little did I know the intensity of the workout! Ball handling, speed and agility and loads of shooting. Grace wanted to stay after she was done with the first session but she looked like she started regretting that decision about halfway through the second one. I could see she really pushed herself much harder working with the older kids. Probably just what she needs to do.
Monday tournament day finally came. Nicely run little preseason CYO tournament at Fundamental Sports Training in Westbury. Brand new floor which was beautiful and a great opportunity for the girls to get to know one another prior to the CYO season. Beat an overmatched St Boniface 8th grade B team in the first game and were challenged but persevered against a combined Silver Bullets/NY Elite 7th, 8th grade team in the second game. Grace had 14 blocks in the second game and played her best ball in a very long time in both games. She also smiled, laughed and had fun on the floor throughout both games. They got a nice shiny medal which made all the girls as well as the coach and parents very happy.
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