Another night, another big challenge for our young hoopsters. Our 15U took a sound defeat at the hands of Boom, which had me reminiscing a little bit. It was just two years ago when we had a solid nucleus in NJB All-Net League, our 15U loaded with shooters like Keanu, Isaiah, Bryson and my nephew, Josh. One day, we went to play (I think it was Palama Settlement gym) and the other team didn't show. It was Boom.
At the time, I didn't know why. We moved on to the next game and the next. Then I heard from a friend that Boom didn't show up because they didn't want to lose. Apparently, they had a young team, mostly 13-year-olds, and feared getting smashed by our guys.
Fast forward to tonight, and it was our 15U that's loaded with young players: Sean (14), Brent (14), Sifo (13), Jared (12), Kyle (12), Tanielu (12) and Chris (11). Only Max (15) is at that age with a lot of playing experience. Still, I thought we would compete far better. But there's no way to overcome a lack of practice time as team, and our 15U has really lacked the opportunity to gel and build teamwork and chemistry.
Why? I can't answer for the kids. I know our older guys had school team practices, but that's not more than twice a week for most teams. So why not come to practice otherwise? The younger ones (13 and under) were free and came to a lot of practices in the past month, and it shows. They run plays better than our older guys sometimes. They just lack playing experience, and as they play against older teams more and more, their growth will accelerate.
For now, the 15U is our enigma team. The 17U is mostly 16U, really, and they've had quite a bit of experience together now (though they also need to really get serious about practicing right NOW). The 13U has come together nicely in a short time and they're benefitting by getting lots of playing time in the 13U league and more PT in the 15U.
The 15U has some guys who have been on mainland trips, or are on the mainland right now. They haven't gelled, and with two or three games left, it's late in the season. I'm a little disappointed, but they've done better than they did in the NJB spring league.
There's no championship to chase after at this point, but the boys keep playing hard and learning. At this point, the guys who don't come to practice during the week will automatically sit out the first half (or more). It's time to invest the playing time in the boys (and girls) who make the effort to practice, learn the offenses and defenses, and build team chemistry.
I've seen quite a bit of freelancing offense and defensive assignment errors in the past week to know. It isn't a surprise, either, that the guys who have missed practices are the ones who are out of shape and making mental errors. We can build on a lot of things and get better, but it only happens when everybody shows up for practice.
I LUB THIS GAME.
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