BCAM March, 2015 Monthly Report
Tom Hursey – Executive Director
FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: March Magic, March Madness, Tourney Time…Whatever you call it, it is the best time for basketball fans. Yes, the colleges are going through their conference championships and starting the NCAAs but high school basketball is unique because everyone is invited to the “big dance.” There might be some mismatches during the tournament but there will also be some major surprises. Unranked teams rising up, playing “over their head” and knocking off, what the critics say, is a superior team. If your team is one of the underdogs, maybe you will pull off a major upset. If your team is ranked and favored to go a long way in the tourney, beware. These are the scenarios that make this time of year so special. I wish you all Good Luck and a long run in March. Many of you will be heading to East Lansing for the Boys’ State Finals. I hope you stop by the hospitality room (see below) and join many of your peers for some social time. Another reminder to vote when you get email ballots from the BCAM office. It is too bad when deserving players and coaches don’t get rewarded because members don’t vote. BCAM TOPS 5100 MEMBERS: BCAM’s membership set another record for high school associations across the country. Last year’s record membership of 4901 was surpassed this year with a total of 5175. The BCAM “School Membership” allowed 425 high schools to sign up their entire basketball staffs. This is a big increase over last year’s 392 School Memberships. I keep thinking that we are reaching our peak in membership but each year more and more coaches are joining and enjoying the benefits of membership. COACH KEITH GUY IS PRESIDENT-‐ELECT: I am happy to announce that Keith Guy (Boys Varsity – Muskegon High School) will be our next President-‐Elect. Keith beat out Ramsey Nichols (Boys Varsity – Kalamazoo Central HS) in a close race 363 – 314. Both candidates were highly regarded and highly recommended. Coach Guy will serve one year as President-‐Elect. He will serve as President during 2016-‐2017 and Past President in 2017-‐2018. I want to thank both candidates for accepting their nomination and putting their name on the ballot. Next year BCAM will elect a girl’s high school varsity coach as President-‐Elect since we alternate between boy’s and girl’s coaches each year. HOSPITALITY ROOM AT BRESLIN: IMPORTANT NOTICE: The Hospitality Room will not open until 12 Noon on 3/28. BCAM, along with the help of the MHSAA and Team Sports, will be hosting our annual Hospitality Room at the Breslin Center for BCAM members during the Boy’s State Finals. Bring your membership card to the BCAM table in the concourse to get your pass to the Hospitality Room. Members are allowed to bring in three guests (one free and two for $5 each). Please do not try to bring a group of players to this event.
MISS BASKETBALL/MR. BASKETBALL NOMINEES: The following are those players that the committee deemed as the top senior players in the state, each player with the credentials to be Miss Basketball (Mr Basketball nominees will be announced March 6th):
• Tania Davis – Goodrich HS • Erika Davenport – Clarkston HS • Kalabrya Gondrezick – Benton Harbor HS • Presley Hudson – Wayland Union HS • Cierra Rice – Grosse Pte. South HS
Complete bios and videos are available on the BCAM website: www.bcam.org
If you are an “actively coaching” BCAM member, you will be receiving an email from “Survey Monkey.com” on March 3rd
with a ballot for Miss Basketball and one week later another email with a ballot for Mr. Basketball. PLEASE TAKE TIME TO VOTE.
MISS AND MR. BASKETBALL WINNERS WILL BE HONORED DURING THE STATE FINALS: For the first time, Miss Basketball and Mr. Basketball will be honored during their respective state finals. BCAM wants to thank the MHSAA for allowing this presentation to take place. The player and her/his parents will be presented with their awards during this ceremony. (The Detroit Free Press will still have their ceremony/press conference announcing the winners on 3/16 and 3/23.)
ROY JOHNSTON HITS 700 WINS: Legendary Beaverton basketball coach Roy Johnston earned an historic victory on Wednesday. And his Beavers gave him the milestone win by playing the game the way it should be played. Led by Johnston’s grandson, senior point guard Spencer Johnston, Beaverton moved the ball nicely on offense, crashed the boards, and played solid defense in a 69-‐47 win over visiting Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart. The victory, which came in the gym named after Johnston, made the Beavers, the second-‐ranked team in Class C, 18-‐0 on the season, and it gave Johnston his 700th career victory as a boys’ coach — most of them coming at Beaverton. Johnston becomes only the second coach to reach the 700-‐win milestone in boys’ hoops in the state of Michigan. He trails only longtime River Rouge coach Lofton Greene, who finished with 739, although some of those came in Kentucky. Roy Johnston has been Beaverton’s varsity boys’ coach for 41 years, to be exact. Prior to arriving in Beaverton in 1971, he coached varsity boys at Yale (Mich.) for a couple of years and for another year at Howell. After serving as the Beavers’ junior varsity coach for three years, he took over as the varsity coach in 1974. Asked what the milestone means to him, Roy Johnston, who’s 72, broke into a big grin. “For one thing, it means you’re still coaching and you’re still alive,” he joked. Combined with his 55 victories as Beaverton’s former girls’ varsity coach, Johnston now has 755 total wins. (Thanks to Fred Kelly, Midland Daily News Sports writer for this article 2-‐26-‐15)
JIM VALVANO SPEECH: Coach, take 50 minutes to watch this video. Not only is it humorous but inspirational. You will find it time well spent. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uezVYG4ba1E HELP WANTED – BASKETBALL OFFICIALS: by Mitch Hubbard -‐ Athletic Director Reading HS, BOCCC Member, Basketball Official and Assignor.
We need basketball officials and we need them now. Coaches, Athletic Directors, and Officials need to band together to recruit as many new Officials as possible. We need young men and women that appreciate the great game of basketball as much as we do. We need people that want an excellent second job and that enjoy working with today’s youth.
In talking with our league assignor, he informed me that the average age of a Michigan Official is 55. This places even more emphasis on the urgency to fill our officiating pool. With this age, we will be faced with a serious shortage in the next 5 to 10 years. This will affect all of us and each level of the game. Many officials that I have employed this year have stated that they are close to retirement. Several have stated that their bodies can’t handle the 3 to 4 games per week. Officials are leaving the profession at a higher rate than replacements are entering.
We need to be proactive and encourage as many people as we can to join the ranks of officials. We also need to help in the training process by communicating effectively with new officials. We need to positively help and support each individual so that they will stay in the profession.
Today would be a great day to start. Say something to a student, a neighbor, or a friend. Inform them of the shortage and of the benefits of being a Registered Official. Point out that the pay is solid and it’s a great way to stay in shape. By being an official, you would be helping yourself as well as the game of hoops.
We all need to do our part and reach out to as many candidates as possible. Make it a priority before it’s too late. The future of our great game depends on us. Contact the MHSAA and start your career as a Basketball Official today. 2015 NCAA Division III Women’s Basketball Championships are coming to Grand Rapids. A great opportunity to see a national championship tournament in our state. For information go to: http://westmisports.com/wmsc-‐events/grchampionshipcity/2015-‐women%27s-‐basketball . NATIONAL FEDERATION SURVEY: If you are presently coaching basketball at any level AND a BCAM member, you should have received an email entitled: NFHS BASKETBALL QUESTIONNAIRE FOR COACHES. Please take the time to fill this form in and return. The National Federation of High Schools uses this information to get feedback that can help them with future rule changes. The deadline is March 9. THE BEST TEAM DID NOT WIN THE SUPER BOWL? The team that won this year’s Super Bowl was the same team that won the other 49 Super Bowls… Not the best team… it was the team that played the best!
One of the greatest stories of all time about a Super Bowl winning quarterback is the story of Super Bowl XXXIV champion and MVP Kurt Warner.
Warner, who was cut from the Green Bay Packers in 1994 and went to work as a grocery store clerk bagging groceries, is one of the most inspirational stories of all time. One of the greatest NFL postseason performers worked the $5.50/hour job after being cut as the Packers’ fourth-‐string quarterback. It looked hopeless for the struggling signal-‐caller, and it seemed impossible that he would one day be the MVP of the biggest game in the world. Warner kept working to achieve his ultimate goal of being a starting NFL quarterback.
There were two things Warner never gave up on: his faith and his skills. Warner moved on to play in the Arena Football League, where he began to flourish and then stepped up to
more talented competition in NFL Europe. It was there that Warner caught the eye of NFL scouts and finally landed a job with the St. Louis Rams and their bright yellow jerseys. He quickly made the often-‐maligned jerseys respectable, and after an injury sent starter Trent Green to the bench, Warner proved he belonged in the NFL with MVP-‐caliber play.
There can be no success without adversity. We all get knocked off of our anticipated path to success. When you get knocked off course, do you get frustrated or fascinated? Do you get re-‐energized or de-‐energized?
That choice was Kurt Warner’s and that choice is yours. Make TODAY your super bowl and be MVP of the game you play today by not letting adversity adversely affect
your attitude. The attitude you take is a decision you make.
BALANCING ACT: (Reprinted from www.Beyond94feet.com Blog) February 20, 2015
I recently began coaching my son’s kindergarten basketball team and it has brought to light the pure joy that playing and coaching basketball has on my life. After coaching at the high school varsity level it is sometimes easy to forget what makes me love the game so much. I often get wrapped up in the competitive nature of the game, the physicality and the continuous attention to detail. But what really makes me love the game is the escape. For 32 minutes, it is an opportunity for me to forget about everything that is going on in my life and just have fun.
I told my son when he first started playing basketball (about a month ago) that his only responsibility on the team was to have fun. Whether you are coaching six year olds or 16 year olds, don’t forget that the game is meant to be fun. In practice and in games, as a coach you should do everything you can to make the game fun. During practice, make drills competitive and engaging and don’t let players sit. During games, depending on your level, make sure the bench is involved. Or if you are at a younger level, make sure everyone plays.
John Brady, current head coach of Arkansas State University basketball says, “criticize defense and encourage offense,” but make sure that your criticism is taken as constructive and helpful. Don’t make your players feel ashamed or embarrassed; use your criticism as a teachable moment, after all, that is why we coach right?
Although teaching our players the fundamentals of basketball is the key to the team’s success, make sure that your expectations are in line for what your team is capable of learning. Elementary school age children are not going to learn to run motion offense. On the other hand, they are probably capable of learning to maintain space and fill different positions on the floor. High school students might have a difficult time running Phil Jackson’s triangle offense, but they are more than capable of running a motion offense or a read and react style offense with proper instruction.
Balance, it is how we determine the intensity in which we coach the level of players we have and the amount of fun we allow them to have at the same time.
For every game that I have coached, the most important “key to victory” was to have fun!!!!! (Always with five exclamation points). Now that I am coaching 6 year olds, that key still remains the same, but the difference is, it is up to me to have fun. Kids will always have fun as long as the person leading them is having fun too.
Knowledge
“Employ your time in improving yourself by other men's writings, so that you shall gain easily what others have labored hard for.”― Socrates (Editor’s note: It seems like Socrates was anticipating basketball coaches learning from one another)
Goals “When obstacles arise, you change your direction to reach your goal; you do not change your decision to get there. ”―
Zig Ziglar
Confidence...(Motto for role players on your team)
“I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And because I cannot do everything, I will
not refuse to do the something that I can do.”― Edward Everett Hale
Principles
“In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock.”― Thomas Jefferson
Composure
"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy." – Martin Luther King
Character
"The time is always right to do what is right." – Martin Luther King
"There comes a time when one must take the position that is neither safe nor political nor popular, but he must do it because his conscience tells him it is right." – Martin Luther King.