ENDORSEMENT

This is a product I will endorse on the blog.  Bob Hurley has a DVD on the drills he has used over the years at Saint Anthony’s High School.  I like the fact that some of the proceeds are going to the school.

PLAY THE RIGHT WAY!

HARD WORK AND TOUGH LOVE

Many people are afraid of them – some even discourage this type of discipline.

“Don’t yell at him!” , some will say.

Parents, friends and even the players themselves fight this when it comes to becoming a better player/person.  Dominic Cheek at St. Anthony of Jersey City embraces them both…and thrives.

Kevin Armstrong of SI.Com has the story on the Jersey City native.

He was not put on a pedestal when he enrolled at St. Anthony in Jersey City, N.J. His long, lean frame needed to fill out. His internal fire flickered, but it needed kindling. In signing on to play for Bob Hurley’s basketball program four years ago, Dominic Cheek agreed to shave his braids and that no tattoos would appear on his skin. On weekends, the 6-foot-6, 195-pound swingman would have to phone the white-haired disciplinarian from his family’s landline phone by 9 p.m.

PLAY THE RIGHT WAY!

THE HALL OF FAME

This past weekend the basketball Hall of Fame elected a few people through their doors in Springfield, Mass. But their were two major omissions.

One, is Bob Hurley. Men’s head basketball coach at Saint Anthony High School in Jersey City, New Jersey. The other, the late Dennis Johnson. Here is Peter Vescey of the New York Post on the snub.

“Coaches, organizations and those handing out the honors love to talk about sacrificing personal statistics for the sake of success yet rarely reward it,” he said. “Dennis Johnson epitomizes that. He did so many things that effected winning. Many were intangibles. Much of what he did gave his team’s superstars the freedom to focus on what they did best.

“No, Dennis Johnson’s stats aren’t Hall of Fame. But his game was Hall of Fame. You actually have to understand the game to understand that.”

For Hurley, take a look at Wikipedia’s bio on Hurley. The guys has won 23 state titles!

PLAY THE RIGHT WAY!

YOUTH BASKETBALL

Ok well it’s a couple of hours since I saw ESPN news broadcast live, the summit involving the heavy hitters in basketball trying to improve youth basketball in America. NBA, NCAA, AAU and sneaker company top guys all in attendance. (John Feinstein and Jason Whitlock, two outstanding writers were also in the building, and even asked a couple of questions.) These guys will be great to help get the word out.

Another couple of people the basketball Gods need to get in touch with are Doug Gotlieb, Fran Fraschilla, Bob Knight and Jay Bilas of ESPN. These guys have powerful voices and know the game.

I’m going to cover this situation very close in the coming days.

Really though, I understand it’s a problem, but it’s not as bad as people make it out to be.

First, I have talked about this in the past. Let’s start with getting an RV. Take a few oustanding basketball people like myself, Herb Welling, and Bob Hurley, and tour the country preaching how to play the right way.

We can run basketball clinics in each city. We can also use the local coaches and get them involved.

We’ll start in June and go the whole month, and into July.

First thing you have to do is get kids excited about basketball. Teach them how to pass, dribble and shoot. Also, you need to show them the importance of defending and not caring who gets the credit.

It’s mostly the attitude. Of course it’s teaching the game physically but we have to get into the minds of our players. All one has to do is look at Memphis Tigers Chris Douglas Roberts. Coming out of high school, he mentions in this article that he didn’t win any awards, make any ‘first-team’ all-state, etc. Joe Gergen of the New York Newsday reports.

He was a star at Cass Tech in Detroit but transferred to Northwestern High School for his senior season, costing him playing time and diminishing his scoring. “I didn’t make all-city, all-state. I was pretty disappointed,” he said. “Now I am a first-team All-America and I just laugh about how minor those awards were in high school compared to this. Anyone would love to be me right now, especially anyone from Detroit.”

PLAY THE RIGHT WAY!

HERE COMES THE JUDGE

Well as I have said in the past, it’s all about ‘Playing the Right Way’, right? Came across this article from Anthony Schoettle of the IBJ and they talk about the NBA and Myles Brand looking to get down to business and help our younger players learn the game.

The desire to bring structure to youth basketball development and to field improved teams for international competition is the driving force behind the agreement. For two years, the parties have been discussing a pact to develop year-round training programs for high school players and academies for elite players; conduct sanctioned cobranded youth leagues, tournaments and development programs for coaches and officials; and explore corporate partnerships that could pay for such sweeping initiatives.

Good luck with all of this, really. But it’s actually a simple solution to all the problems. Teach kids how to play. Tell the parents to sit in the stands and watch, and if the sneaker companies are going to shell out shoes and dough, spread the wealth.

It’s not too hard to teach kids to; pass, shoot, dribble, defend and be a good person.

Where is this not being taught?

I’m not going to waste time with writing letters to people about what to do but here’s an idea. Get an RV (like the ones ESPN has) and myself, Herb Welling and a few other basketball purists – give us the company gas card, a few gift cards to Applebee’s, a dozen indoor/outdoor balls, a few dozen t-shirts, John Madden’s driver and we’ll hit all the big cities across the country and teach the game.

We’ll pack up June 1st and go through the summer. We’ll pull up outside the Rucker on 155th. Then we’ll head south to Atlantic City (maybe we’ll stop off in Jersey City and take coach Hurley with us), we will not miss Philly; we’ll hit Atlanta, Orlando, the Carolina’s and make our way west.

We’ll hit all the schoolyards. Give us a bullhorn. Give us the resources and we’ll change the culture!

Oakland, Compton, Iowa City, Detroit, Chicago…we’ll go anywhere and everywhere!

PLAY THE RIGHT WAY!

READING TIME

Every ten days I will highly reccomend a book for you, the player, to read.  Why am I asking you to read?  Well, just like watching tape/video, you can learn a lot by reading about other players and programs. 

Bob Hurley Sr., the boys head basketball coach at St. Anthony’s of Jersey City has been doing a tremendous job for 30 years at the small catholic high school just minutes away from New York City.  He’s produced players who have gone on to college and some to the NBA.  Hurley does a great job in not only teaching basketball, but he makes men out of boys.

Your reading assignment is “The Miracle of St. Anthony”, by Adrian Wojnarowski.   This was one of the best books I have ever read.  Wojnarowski follows the team during their season and writes about the ups and downs.   I had the chance to watch Hurley coach and also witnessed an open gym/practice.  Hurley does it the right way and he isn’t a guy who cheats his players…he gets the most out of them. 

PLAY THE RIGHT WAY!