Get the most of July by setting goals

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By Mark Lewis
HoopGurlz
Archive

One of the regular mailings I used in recruiting through the years focused on the importance of having and setting goals. Any competitive athlete or coach is going to aspire to be the best they can be and hope to come away a winner every time they take the floor. What's usually is not on everyone's agenda is how to accomplish those lofty standards or the steps it may take to get there.

 

 

 

Glenn Nelson/ESPN.comThe ability to make post entry passes is one of the fundamentals that helped Jewell Loyd make the USA U18 national team.

 

 

 

The quote, "If you don't know where you are going, you will probably end up somewhere else," sounds as though it was written for a lot of basketball players. Each summer I see so many talented athletes "going through the motions" and approaching their club games as if they were nothing more than a trip to the mall. Those 20 days in July offer recruiting, competitive and personal opportunities that are hard to come by the rest of the year. To take full advantage of them you have to go in knowing what you want to get out of the experience, approach it with a positive mentality and stay focused on your goals.

 

 

For the most part, goals tend to be either outcome- or performance-oriented. More often than not, outcome goals are the end result and long-term targets. Winning a state championship, getting a scholarship, graduating with honors or a particular grade-point average are examples of those kinds of hopes and vision. As we approach this year's July evaluation period, I wanted to go the other direction and offer some performance-focused goals that might help the summer become a stepping stone to achieving those bigger objectives.

 

 

With that in mind, here are some thoughts that might make your time in the gym more productive and maybe catch the eye of one of those recruiters sitting courtside.

 

Play each game as if it were a championship game: Up to three games a day during the course of the evaluation period can be a drain both physically and emotionally. Be ready to embrace every moment. If you can show coaches that you know only one way to play they'll know that what they're seeing is what they would get if they were to make you an offer.

 

 

Use and improve a specific weakness: Demonstrate to recruiters that you're not just out there to impress them but you're focused on advancing your game. Hiding that you have no left hand or can't hit the 15-footer is less impressive than the athlete willing to use and refine a skill that needs attention. Be better on July 31 than you are on July 6.

Updated: June 16, 2010, 11:27 PM ET

Grading the trials performances

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By Chris Hansen
HoopGurlz
Archive

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Our second tip sheet looks at the players in the classes of 2011 and 2012 who tried out for the USA Basketball U17 and U18 National teams.

Ariya Crook-Williams -- U18 Trials Invitee: There was every reason for Crook-Williams to get off to a slow start in the trials. She admittedly underperformed a year ago and air travel issues led to a late arrival. But she hit the court focused and turned in a constant performance throughout the five sessions. She controlled tempo and in a setting with very few guards knocking down perimeter shots, she shot the 3 better than most. She balanced attacking the paint with running the offense very well. This was perhaps her most controlled showing but not conservative by any stretch. She was one of the better perimeter defenders as well. If she brings this kind of effort and play to the upcoming viewing period, the Cal Sparks are going to be a tough team to beat.

USA Basketball Announces 2010 USA Women's U18 National Team

RESHANDA GRAY

The 12-player roster includes: Diamond DeShields(Norcross H.S./Norcross, Ga.); Stefanie Dolson(Minisink Valley H.S./Port Jervis, N.Y.); Reshanda Gray (Washington Prep

H.S./Los Angeles, Calif.); Cassie Harberts (San Clemente H.S./San Clemente, Calif.); Bria Hartley (North Babylon H.S./North Babylon, N.Y.); Malina

Howard (Twinsburg H.S./Twinsburg, Ohio); Alexis Jones (MacArthur H.S./Irving, Texas); Allyson Malott (Madison H.S./Middletown, Ohio); Kayla McBride 

(Villa Maria Academy/Erie, Pa.); Chiney Ogwumike (Cy-Fair H.S./Cypress, Texas); Cassie Peoples (Cy-Fair H.S./Houston, Texas) and Theresa Plaisance 

(Vandebilt Catholic H.S./Marrero, La.).

ARIYIA CROOK WILLIAMS

ESPN HOOPGURLZ FEATURE ARTICLE FROM USA BASKETBALL

Story Link- "Crook-Williams takes game to new level", Glenn Nelson, ESPN Hoopgurlz

ARIYIA CROOK WILLIAMS AND RESHANDA GRAY TO USA BASKETBALL TRIALS

ESPN HOOPGURLZ announcement.

FROM USA Basketball facebook.

USA Basketball With the addition of Ariya Crook-Williams (Long Beach Poly H.S./Los Angeles, Calif.), 27 of the nation’s premier prep athletes,

including 12 of the top 20 senior prospects, are ready to participate in the 2010 USA Basketball Women’s U18 National Team Trials, June 8-11 at the

U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.

FRANNY VAAULU, 6-2 Fwd, 2011, Cal Sparks Gold.

SLAM Magazine Story on the FILA Shoe.

http://www.slamonline.com/online/blogs/sole-searching/2010/05/from-the-ground-up/

Aryia Crook Williams earns a slot on PARADE magazine ALL AMERICAN TEAM 2010.

Link to ALL AMERICAN TEAM LIST

Reshanda Gray.... A rising Star who plays The Game "Blue-Collar" "Old School".

ESPN Chris Hansen refers to Too-Tall in a recent article about Duke recruiting the #1 Class in 2010 and on pace to have the #1

Class in 2011

The program (DUKE) will have a plethora of ball handlers with two point guards signed in 2010 -- Chelsea Gray of Manteca, Calif., and Chloe Wells -- as well as verbal commitments from two combo-guards in the 2011 class -- Whitney Knight of Winston-Salem, N.C., and Ka'lia Johnson, of Chester, Va.

Duke has also added versatile swing players capable of playing on the wing or at the forward position with 2010 signees Richa Jackson of Oklahoma City, Okla., Tricia Liston of Oak Park, Ill., and Haley Peters of Shrewsbury, N.J., along with the verbal commitment of Amber Henson of Tampa, Fla.

The 2011 post class is not incredibly deep but does have some potential impact players and Williams is at the top of the list. Several of these top posts have already committed -- No. 7 overall Justine Hartman of Brea, Calif., committed to Boston College, and No. 13 Rachel Mitchell of Houston, Texas, to Texas A&M. Kiah Stokes, the No. 10 ranked player in the class according to ESPN HoopGurlz is the next highest rated post after Williams. There

 hasn't been much talk of Stokes being involved with Duke in recruiting but the player for Duke fans to keep an eye on is Reshanda Gray.

The Los Angeles native is ranked as the No. 38 prospect in the country but is also among the most

improved players from sophomore to junior year. She has a long list currently but sources have told ESPN

HoopGurlz there is mutual interest despite being cross-country.

Link to full article

Carson girls edge Narbonne to win

 

L.A. City Division I basketball title

 

By Tony Ciniglio, Staff Writer

Posted: 03/07/2010 01:12:35 AM PST

 

Carson sophomore Jasmine Barrnett leaps after her basket on a... (Sean Hiller, Staff Photographer)

 

With a chance at its first true L.A. City Section title, the Carson girls basketball team went on the offensive.

One by one, Carson started picking off a shorthanded Narbonne squad.

Carson knew that Narbonne had suspended three players for the game - including star forward Atoe Jackson - and the Colts showed no mercy.

First Narbonne stars Tori Breshers and Tailer Butler fouled out in regulation. Then Jamasha Hudson, Kim Pickett and Nailah Long followed suit in overtime.

Carson eventually wore down the Gauchos for a 53-47 victory in the Division I final Saturday night at Galen Center.

"We knew who was in foul trouble, and we took it to them," said point guard Chante Miles, who led Carson with 14 points, 10 rebounds, two assists and two steals. "This was about heart. This is so big, this is about legacy. I can't even talk clearly, it's so big."

The excitement almost got to be too much for Carson coach Marcel Sanders, who had to be treated by paramedics for anxiety and shortness of breath at the end of regulation. He missed the entire overtime period.

"The girls were trying to kill me with the way they were playing," Sanders said. "Seriously though, I was just overwhelmed by the moment at the end. But I'll be all right. They'll play better at state."

Carson (22-8) nearly cost itself a shot at the title by making only 15 of 44 free throws for a percentage of 34.1 from the line.

Annie Currie had nine points and 11 rebounds, and Tiffany Moorehead had seven rebounds and two blocks for Carson.

But even Carson star Janitah Iamaleava, who managed 13 points, 10 rebounds, two assists and three steals, fouled out with 1:36 left in regulation.

Luckily Carson found its killer instinct.

"We just kept attacking," Iamaleava said. "I'm feeling great. I'm happy - it was our time."

In the midst of Carson's struggles, a hero emerged.

Sophomore Jasmine Barrnett came off the bench and made the biggest baskets of the game for the Colts.

Barrnett scored on a breakaway with 19.5 seconds left in regulation to tie it at 42-42, then came up with a steal and a breakaway with 13 seconds left for a 44-42 lead.

Narbonne tied it on single free throws by Pickett and Tashawn McGhee to force overtime, but Barrnett scored the backbreaker in overtime to give Carson a 48-44 lead with 1:25 left, essentially sealing the game.

"There were nerves, and plenty of butterflies," said Barrnett, a sophomore who scored 11 points. "But when you know you have it, it just all leaves.

"All I was thinking was win, win, win, win, win. That's all we wanted to do."

When Narbonne coach Victoria Sanders made the decision to suspend Jackson, Tori Paschal and Jamesha Chapman for a violation of team and school rules, she had no idea she would lose all five of her starters to fouls.

"That just didn't make any sense," Victoria Sanders said.

Sanders boasts about her team's depth, but she was forced to go much deeper into her bench than she ever imagined. Narbonne (22-10) made just one field goal in overtime and scored just three overtime points.

"We had the young ones out there, and they were terrified," Victoria Sanders said. "It is what it is. What can you do but move on.

"But I definitely won't say the better team won tonight."

Breshers led Narbonne with 13 points, 10 rebounds, three blocks and three steals. Hudson added eight points. Butler had seven points, two assists and four steals. Long and McGhee each scored seven points.

"We should've done better," a sullen Breshers said. "Me and Tai, we shouldn't have been in foul trouble. Every time one of our starters fouled out, it was heartbreaking.

"We're a team that's been through a lot. If we had all our players, we would've done better."

It was a stilting game from the outset.

The all-female referee crew called five fouls in the first 92 seconds, setting the pace for a slow, frustrating game.

The teams combined for 58 fouls and 74 free throws.

"We played awful," Marcel Sanders said. "Maybe it was the big stage, the anxiety of a big game, but give Narbonne a lot of credit. With no Atoe, they played us so tough. Luckily we brought it together at the end."

February 22, 2010

April Phillips accepted into WBCA Coaching Program.

http://www.wbca.org/releases/2010SoClassPR.html

WBCA’s So You Want To Be A Coach Class of 2010 Announced

ATLANTA - The Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) is proud to host the eighth annual WBCA’s So You Want To Be A

Coach program.  This two-and-a-half day workshop will be held April 2-4 in conjunction with the WBCA National Convention in San

Antonio, Texas.  The 2010 class marks the largest in the eight years of the program and is sponsored by the WBCA, the NCAA

Diversity and Inclusion, NCAA Minority Opportunities and Interests Committee, and the NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics.

“The WBCA continues to remain committed to the development of women’s basketball coaches and the So You Want To Be A Coach program

has seen such a positive uptick over the last eight years,” said WBCA CEO Beth Bass.  “The WBCA will continue to make strides in this

program and is dedicated to helping diversify the women’s game.”

The So You Want To Be A Coach Program was designed to increase the amount of women in the coaching profession, with an emphasis on

female minorities by providing a workshop based on educational and professional principles to help those interested in the field.  

February 10, 2010

LA Times Article on Reshanda Gray 2011 class

HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL

For Reshanda Gray, the basketball court is a zone of defense

The 6-3 Gray, who averages 20 points for Washington Prep, grew up in a tough L.A.

neighborhood but got a break when the leader of an after-school basketball program took an

interest in her. If not, she says, 'I'd probably be dead or in jail.'

Washington's Reshanda Gray, battles for the ball during a home game against Narbonne on Feb. 5. Gray has become a standout student-athlete at Washington despite growing up in a violent neighborhood. (Christina House / For The Times / February 5, 2010)

 

By Melissa Rohlin

February 9, 2010 | 1:21 p.m.

 

Reshanda Gray was raised near 81st and Hoover streets, which is among the most violent neighborhoods in Los Angeles.

When she was 12, she saw a man stabbed. When she was 13, a man was shot in broad daylight just outside her family's home.

A junior at Washington Prep, Gray says members of her family are in gangs and she was headed down the same path until her life took a turn a few years ago. That's when she met Tyrone Dinneen, the coordinator of an after-school program.

Dinneen introduced Gray to basketball, and suddenly gangbanging didn't have quite the same allure.

"If it weren't for basketball, I'd probably be dead or in jail," Gray says.

Instead, she is well on her way to earning a basketball scholarship.

Gray, who is 6 feet 3, averages 20 points and 15 rebounds for a Washington Prep team that is 19-10 overall and leads the Marine League with a record of 10-1 going into its final game of the regular season Friday evening at Banning. She also has a 3.4 grade-point average -- and a growing stack of letters from colleges across the country.

"Basketball opened the gate of opportunity for me," Gray says.

Dinneen pointed the way.

"I've worked with hundreds of kids," Dinneen says. "But there was something about her personality, her being happy all of the time through everything, that's made me take a special interest in her."

Dinneen and his wife attend all of Gray's basketball games and make sure she keeps her grades up. Gray spends at least four nights a week at their home, and they treat her as if she were their own.

"Some of my siblings didn't have the help I have now," Gray says. "The only go-to person for them was gangs."

She has formed sisterly bonds with her teammates, many of whom have endured similar pressures.

Their motto is "hold the rope."

"If one of us is falling off the cliff, we've got to hold the rope and hold each other up," Gray says.

Gray is extremely grateful -- and she says he has an idea how to show it: "I'm going to make something of myself."

melissa.rohlin@latimes.com

Copyright © 2010, The Los Angeles Times

Jazmyne Porter, 2009 Class

Long Beach Press Telegram

Feb 5, 2009.

Jazmyne Porter, Cal Sparks 2009, Wilson High, Getting her chance to Shine at Long Beach State.

Women's basketball

Long Beach State does not have the deepest women's basketball team around. Injuries, players booted off the team for disciplinary

---

reasons and one quitting has depleted the 49ers.

That's why freshman reserve guard Jazmyne Porter, out of Wilson High, has seen her playing time increase dramatically of late. On Thursday, in a nine-point loss at Cal State Fullerton, Porter scored 12 points - her most thus far - and went 5-for-6 from the field. She also had two assists and three rebounds in her 17 minutes.

Long Beach coach Jody Wynn said a lot of freshmen believe they can come right in and play at the college level because of what they did in high school. But she said there is a transition all prep players must go through, and she likes the way Porter is handling being thrown into the fire.

"Instead of putting her head down every day in practice and saying, `Stop getting on me, I can never do anything right,' she's taken what we're teaching her and she's working hard every day," said Wynn, whose team will continue Big West Conference play today when it travels to Cal State Northridge for a 4 p.m. game.

Porter made only one of five from the free-throw line. But she showed her talent and tenacity when, with a defender all over her, she scored a left-handed layup after a hard drive to the basket during a 9-0 run in the second half.

Porter figures to be back in the mix against Northridge. The Matadors were defeated by the 49ers, 65-49, on Jan. 28 at the Walter Pyramid.

ESPN HOOPGURLZ

A     April Phillips and the Musketeers are back in action on Thursday.     Nov. 30, 2009 CINCINNATI - Xavier University women's basketball standout April Phillips has been named Atlantic 10 Player of the Week after helping the No. 9/10 Musketeers to a 3-0 week, including the Freeport Division Championship at the 2009 Junkanoo Jam in the Bahamas. Phillips averaged 14.3 points 7.3 rebounds and shot 53.1 percent during Xavier's three victories last week. She averaged 15 points and eight rebounds in Xavier's two Junkanoo Jam contests and was honored as Junkanoo Jam Freeport Division Most Valuable Player. The Long Beach, Calif. native scored 11 points and snared eight boards in Xavier's semifinal win over No. 18/23 Kansas on Thanksgiving Day, before registering a career-high 19-point performance in Saturday's championship against Minnesota. Phillips also snared the 500th rebound of her career against the Golden Gophers and scored eight points during a game-changing 13-2 XU run in the middle of the second half. Phillips is averaging 13 points per game this year, which is good for second on the team. Her 8.4 rebounds per game is third on the squad. Phillips is one of three current teammates to be named A-10 Player of the Week. Amber Harris and Ta'Shia Phillips have also been so honored during their careers at XU.

Nov. 29, 2009

Ale paced all-scorers with a season-high 21 points with four rebounds, an assist and a steal. The Carson native continued her

perfect streak at the free throw line, hitting 5-of-5 to remain a perfect 22-of-22 on the season.

Share Delicious Digg Facebook Google MySpace Twitter Yahoo         Nov. 25, 2009   No. 4 North Carolina Routs Presbyterian, 92-37   Game marks the third time this season that the Tar Heels have won by more than 30 points.               Box Score |  AP Photo Gallery  |  Photo Gallery 2  |  Photo Gallery 3  Cierra Robertson-Warren added a career-high 15 points for the Tar Heels (4-0), who won by more than 30 points for the third time this season. Italee Lucas and Tierra Ruffin-Pratt scored 12 points apiece as North Carolina shot 51.6 percent from the field, and Cetera DeGraffenreid added 11 points for the Tar Heels. North Carolina played without leading rebounder Laura Broomfield, who was out for disciplinary reasons, and reserve forward Krista Gross missed the game after breaking a bone in her left hand during Tuesday’s practice. Their absences left extra minutes for Rolle and Robertson-Warren, who grabbed seven rebounds each and combined to make 12 of 15 shots from the field. “The freshmen are coming along,” North Carolina coach Sylvia Hatchell said. “Cierra is starting to play really well, and so is Waltiea. They’re starting to feel comfortable and play instead of being afraid they’re not doing the right thing out there.”

Cierra Robertson Warren UNC Photos

November 3, 2009

Oregon State Opening Game for Haiden Palmer and Tayler Champion

click red link above for the full Story.

"I think Hayden Palmer did a really good job for us tonight. If you look at her stat line, she did an excellent job scoring, grabbing rebounds, and

 getting steals.

(said Coach Lavonda Wagner).

Tayler Champion, Cal Sparks Gold scored 12 coming off the bench for the Beavers.

October 6, 2009

Chris Hansen , ESPN, Reports on the Improvement in

Cal Sparks Gold 2011 Team Leader Reshanda Gray.

Link to Story

September 21, 2009

Glen Nelson, ESPN Hoopgurlz, feature Story on Desia's verbal to USC.

Link to Story

September 14, 2009

Mindi Rice of ESPN Hoopgurlz just published an excellent article on Jianni Jackson, Cal Sparks,  class of 2009, and how she got

"a 2nd look" and was able to fullfill her dream of playing D1 Basketball.

As Brett Mccormick, Lead Analyst for All Star Girls Report,  told me today, 

"Its not always about the Big Timers, it is about everyone"

Link to ESPN/HOOPGURLZ story.

September 3, 2009

Mindi Rice of ESPN Hoopgurlz just published an excellent article on our 4 year Cal Sparks Gold player Ariya Crook Williams.

Ariya Crook Williams Feature Article

September 3, 2009

Daily Breeze Article on Mira Costa including:

Freshman Ashley Reese (Cal Sparks Silver) and Junior Kylie Nakamine

September 2, 2009

Mark Lewis of ESPN