Monday funday

We're heading into the dog days of summer, when the driven basketball player keeps repping out every day, whenever possible. A guy like Jance says he'll be there tomorrow for a 10 am workout (bus it again from Kalihi Valley), then be there again for the 4:30 pm workout. He has to be told that the 10 am is for guys who can't make the 4:30 pm.

You can't teach that kind of hunger.

Jance and Micah have become so much more effective on the dribble, able not only to beat 1-on-1 coverage full court, but to EXPLODE and accelerate through that gap no matter how narrow. Jance's fake crossover dribble has really blown me and anybody guarding him away. He came up with that on his own. Keanu Vela taught it to DJ a few weeks back, but we don't actually work on it at practice. Maybe we should :)

Monday's workout was very back-to-basics with almost all our 13U crew, a mix of Pups and newer guys like Skyler and Matthew. So much to work on, so we just focused on a few things like man defense, zone offense, ballhandling. We'll work on other things Tuesday and Wednesday. Reps. Time. Some things can't be rushed at this age level, though having Ryan, Jonah, Jayden and Jance (Jhevin is going to summer school at Kapolei and will miss most practices this summer) in the fold make a big, big difference. We'll have fun, hopefully lots of it, as we grow as a team.

It would not surprise me at all if Ryan and Jonah are the two best players in CAL 13U Gold, and if Jayden and Jance become part of the best 10 players overall. Jayden is able to make more practices now, and that's only going to help him every day. Our newer guys (mostly 12 or just turned 13) have a lot of work to do, but if they follow the example of our veterans in 13U and JV, they'll do very well. It's up to them. If they keep working, they're going to have a lot of fun in the summer and fall.

Lineup: Jonah, Jance, Ryan, Matthew, Skyler, DJ, Jason.
Not available: Micah (sick/Roosevelt practice), Keanu (Kaimuki football), Kapaa (restricted/ankle), Kyle (family trip),  Chase (?), Jared (?), Josh D (?), Tanielu Mosi (Farrington football), Josh R (Saint Louis basketball/football), Sierra (injury), Michael (?), Chris (football training), Kali‘a (Kalani football), Felcris (?), Radyn (injury), Colin (MPI practice), Chaz (?), Gabriel (injury), Tenchi (?), Trinity (Sacred Hearts practice), Jhevin (school), Walter (?).

Next: Tuesday, 4:30 pm - Practice at Makiki Park. The morning workout was cancelled since nobody confirmed they would go. Morning workouts are for the guys who can't make the afternoon practices.

WE LOVE THIS GAAAME!!