All

I thought we would try for something a little different and have a gathering at the outdoor basketball court at Chinquapin Rec Center next Saturday 3/19/2011  11 ish - 1 ish.  I also put it on the team calendar.  The team can play pick up games on the court and I will supply the Burgers and Hot Dogs.  Please feel free bring drinks and other stuff you may want to go with hamburgers and hot dogs or just bring yourself...as you have figured out I like to keep it simple (at least simple for me), so I will leave it up to you regarding coordination of other food, but you could simply use the comments field below to share with the group what you plan to bring and avoid duplication.

In the event the weather doesn't agree with this plan (below 45 degrees or pouring rain or both) plan b is the Fluharty house (716 Parkway Terrace Alexandria VA 22302).

No official RSVP stuff, but if you know you can't make it and you think to send me a note or add a comment below that would be great.

PS.  Check out the new photos on the site.  If you have others you would like to share send them to me and I will post them.

Team

They got out to an early lead using a half court press that we haven't seen this year.  You didn't give up and we figured out how to counter their press and almost came back to tie it up at the end.  I'm very proud of how all of you played and you should be proud too.

How about the Dynamite cheering section?  I think the Barbour twins imported half the city of Pittsburgh to watch the game today.  That was awesome!

If anyone has pictures of the team they would like to share with the others send them to me and I will post them on the site.  Also, I want to insure that we get team photo.  I will ask that everyone plan to stay after the game on that day to get a photo.  The next game probably isn't going to be good for me, so let's target the game on Feb 5th.  I will send reminders, but please let me know now if anyone knows they are going to be out that week and we will target a different game.

As you are all now probably aware I have injured my Achilles tendon.  I haven't seen a doctor yet, but i will likely have surgery at some point next week and leave there with a cast.  I plan to continue coaching, but obviously this will impact my ability to do certain things.  I will be leaning more heavily on coach Leon to facilitate the practices.  Marc and I talked today and he will be available on Tuesday the rest of the season, so I think we can make it work. 

Thanks Marc!

I will keep you all updated next week as I figure out the schedule of the surgery and initial recovery period and my availability for practice or the game.

Thanks

Another win for the Dyn-O-Mite
Defense Defense Defense Team Team Team
Everyone did their job and everyone worked together as a team.  What fun it is to watch!

Practice schedule changing
Starting this week we will drop down to 1 practice per week at MacArthur on Tuesdays.  I removed the Thursday practice on the team calendar.

Team Photo
We attempted to get a team photo after the game on Sat, but we didn't have everyone.  I will work on a reschedule and let you know.

The Big Game Bring on MacArthur #3
It's gonna be big!  It's for all the bragging rights.  Let's have a focused practice on Tuesday and get ready to play a great game.

Team

I hope you enjoyed your win, I'm super impressed with how each of you performed yesterday.  We didn't have very many practices before that first game and you really rose to the challenge.  A few things I consider highlights of the game.

DEFENSE!  We have focused on defense in practice and you guys really performed.  Staying in your positions and fighting for the ball.  It was fun to watch and if we continue to play defense like that we can play with anyone.
TEAMWORK  Everyone got into the game, you were passing to the open player, you were talking to each other on the court about what to do.
HUSTLE and FUN  I saw everyone playing hard and having fun.  It's important to have fun, don't forget it.

I did see a few areas for improvement during the game and I would like to continue having two practices, at least for next week, as we prepare for Patrick Henry and I will revisit the practice schedule after the second game.

Administrivia:
1 - Pictures 
As I mentioned, I passed on getting the professional pictures offered through the REC program.  I suspect we have at least one or two parents that are semi professional photographers with high end cameras.  Let's plan on sticking around a few minutes after the game on Sat for a team photo.  Anyone want to be the official team photographer?  That basically means you remember your camera and you scope out a location for the photo.
2 - Wardrobe Malfunctions
We had several last minute uniform issues.  Please remember
     - Shorts without pockets and as we learned no sweat pants (sorry Oliver!)
    - Only plain white tee shirts under the jerseys
    - No jewelry which includes wrist bands/silly bands/rings/etc
3 - No Snacks
You may start to notice a theme here with your coach, but I'm somewhat of a minimalist on these other activities.  We all have enough to do without creating the overhead of snack schedules and special picture days.  Frankly, I applaud all of you for figuring out how to get your kids to and from practice and to the games on time each Saturday.  I know it's not easy.  So, please be sure your kids eat something appropriate near game time and drink water leading up to the games.
    
Thanks

Team, see the countdown on our web site, our first game is scheduled for Sat.  I hope you have it marked on your calendar and you are pumped up to get out there and play in a real game.  We have two practices this week, tomorrow night at MacArthur and Thursday night at GW.  We have many things to cover in preparation for the 1st game, so please try to make these two practices.

Parents and athletes, a few additional thoughts:

• Team Name: We have NOT named the team.  Tuesday night will be the final lobbying and final vote will occur immediately following practice.
• Code of Conduct: Please print the code of conduct and have your child read and sign it and bring it to practice this week.  I need to have them all collected for submission prior to the first game.
• Shoes: I have noticed some of the players practicing in non standard shoes.  I think it's a good idea to get them equipped with a pair of traditional "high top" basketball shoes for both performance and safety.  Let me know if you have any questions.
• Uniforms/Game Attire: I have the jerseys and I will hand them out at practice this week.  Two important notes:  Only white tee shirts are permitted to be worn under the jerseys.  Shorts can NOT have pockets.
  
• Rules: I will be attempting to cover most of the critical rules this week in practice, but it would be great if my athletes and their parents would review them this week as reinforcement.  Click on documents to find a copy of the Rules Document for your review.
  
• BE ON TIME: I would like everyone to plan on arriving at the game location 30 min ahead of game time and find myself or assistant coach Leon.  If you do take time to read the Rules Document you will see that players who show up late and still want to play will cost the team a technical foul.  Obviously, we would prefer to avoid giving our opponents easy points.
• Official Roster: The official roster for team no name is out.  I reviewed it and believe it's complete and accurate, but I posted a copy on the Documents page for your review.
  

Unfortunately the school gyms are closed for Winter Break, so tonight was our last practice for a while.  We will pick up practice again in the new year beginning on Tuesday, January 4th.  I have been talking to a few of the other coaches about a pre-season scrimmage.  If I can pull something off during the break I will send out emails letting you know a time and the place. 

Our first game will/should be on Saturday, January 8th, but we are still waiting for the official game schedule.  I will post it as soon as I get it.

I will be picking up uniforms (jerseys) tomorrow and I will bring them to the next practice.

Finally, please be sure to print the Code of Conduct and have your son read it and sign it.  Each player is required to sign the form along with a parent and the coach.  I'm required to hand in a separate form for each player before
our first game.

Thanks

Schedules:
Game schedules for the 2010 - 2011 season will be released the week of December 20. We are still looking for coaches for a few more teams. The schedules will be emailed to the coaches and will also be on the Youth Sports website. Games will begin the weekend of Saturday, January 8. There are 102 teams in this year's basketball league.

Bring your basketballs to practice
Team, I have a few extra balls, but if you have a good 27.5 or 28.5 ball bring it and it will help during drills.

Ball Sizes:

8 & Under Boys and Girls Division: Play with a junior ball (size 27.5)

10/12/14 Girls Division: Play with a women's ball (size 28.5)

10 Boys Division: Play with a women's ball (size 28.5)

12/14/17 Boys Division: Play with an official ball (size 29.5)

Please print a copy of the code of conduct and sign it and bring a copy to practice.

Team

Hello from coach Fluharty...some of you know me as Graham Fluharty's dad.  I'm excited to get this season underway and I hope you are too.  I know many of you and your parents and I think we have the makings of a really good team.  To get things kicked off and get myself somewhat organized I have created this web site to collect in one place team communications and a team calendar.  Please bookmark this site and use it as your primary point of reference for communications about the team.  You will find that it's still a work in progress and I will continue to update as we go along. 

There is an opportunity for you to collaborate by posting pictures, stats, etc.  So, feel free to join in with your own content you would like to share with your teammates and their families.

This is my first time coaching, so it's very likely that I will not anticipate all the things that I should be communicating/sharing, so please if you have a question/concern, please don't hesitate to ask...post it here on the site...send me an email...give me a call.

Practice Schedule
The league originally offered us 7 - 8 on Tues and Thursday at George Washington.  Several of you understandably voiced concern about the late time for our still young athletes.  I pleaded our case to Tamika and she was able to offer us a 6-7 time slot at MacArthur on Tuesdays.  I traded our 7-8 time on Tuesdays, so the official/final practice schedule is as follows:

Tuesdays 6 - 7 MacArthur
Thursdays 7 - 8 George Washington

* First practice is Thursday December 9th 2010 at George Washington
* As some of you have already seen, I created a team calendar with the practice schedule and I will keep that updated.