3rd Grade-Week 2

3rd grade comp vs 3rd grade comp (intersquad)

 A great game was played between the two teams, as the players from the 3rd grade comp team faced off against their teammates.  We had a few tournament team players mixed in, just to fill out the rosters.  It was a fun game, and the important thing is everyone played hard!  The players are coming along in learning the "faster paced" game and learning the new concepts they are being taught.

I saw many players applying some of the things we have been working on in practices, so this is exciting!  I look forward to the day when it all "starts to come together".

3rd grade tournament team vs NorCal Matrix 3rd grade

 In their first game playing against a "real" tournament team (one with tournament experience), the team played REAL well.  The YBA-XTREME team lost by a small margin of five points - in DOUBLE OT!!!  An exciting game for all involved!!

The players are still in their "Transition Period" from rec league to AAU basketball, and it showed at some points. Easy passes were stolen, unguarded dribbles were poked away, and the overall aggressiveness and speed of the opposing team seemd to take YBA-X by surprise.  Many of the kids made adjustments while playing (stronger passes, guarding the dribble, passing more) and that is what kept them in the game.

A few great things to point out - defense.  The team did well on the defensive side, with the coach seeing many of the concepts being taught trying to be applied.  Also, passing.  The team is doing a great job in seeing an open man.  The first step is seeing them, then the next step is getting the pass there.

There is great potential in this team, and this first loss is nothing to hang their heads about.  Coach is really proud of all the boys and how they hustled and fought every second of the game. 

4th Grade-Week 2

The 4^th grade Xtreme had another great week!  We began the week with training on an intense Monday night however crazy it may have seemed, we were able to get some good work in with all the kids.  Keep in mind, we had no idea how many kids were going to show up, and we were overwhelmingly pleased with the turnout!  We have made some changes to the process and will continue to make refinements as needed.  During these training sessions, the kids will be pushed towards their goal of playing basketball at a higher level. 

Wednesday’s practice was chalked full of instruction and once again, I asked a lot from the kids.  It was a practice full of positive energy and praise.  We did have a slight issue with lack of focus, and in an attempt to gain that focus back they all ran their share of lines.  We touched on a 1-2-2 defense, three quarter court press, learned 2 out-of-bounds plays, and reviewed the offense, our press break, 2-2-1 press, m2m and 2-3 defenses.

Sunday was game day, and once again I was really proud of all the kids.  In the first game we split the teams up for an inter-squad game.  Zeki took control of the ball and penetrated very well!  Noah and Garrett faced off against one another at the 5 spot and battled for every rebound.  Ryan was able to get open for some clean looks.  Keep shooting the ball Ryan; it will come!  I asked the kids to run the offense, and they did it at a very high level.  Nathan and Julian were able to get the offense setup and started.  We will keep working on our cuts this week.  Please remind your boys, “PASS-CUT-ROTATE”.  We’ll get it.  Sava continued his solid play and was knocking down jumpers.

Our final game was against the 5^th grade comp team.  Our boys played their hearts out against a much bigger and stronger team.  We worked as a team trying out all of what we learned in practice last week.  We played m2m, 2-3 and even a little 1-2-2 defense.  The boys tried to run our out of bounds play, but it didn’t always go the way we drew it up!  We’ll be working more on these this week in practice.  I was very happy that they did try to set them up.

The game was tight from start to finish.  The 5^th grade team has some beasts under the boards that we struggled with all day.  Vince did an excellent job in the 4^th quarter of staying low and fronting their big man.  This was a task that I asked each of our post players to do.  What was impressive, was that these players have never been coached in this and were open to learning and applying this new skill.  I was even able to get in some playing time for our comp kids.  They came off the bench and provided some great fire.  I have been asking a lot from Josh as I have been playing him out of position this whole season.  I’m asking him to take on the point guard duties.  He’s made great strides, and I’m very proud of him for taking on something he is not comfortable doing.  This type of attitude is contagious and it shows on this team. 

Late in the 4^th quarter when Josh hit a wall, Spencer came in and provided exactly what we needed.  He came in with the much needed energy and defense.  Chase was a warrior all day.  I can’t tell you how many elbows he took trying to defend the ball.  His combination of speed, effort and attitude is so huge for us.  I told the boys entering the 4^th quarter down 4, that defense is what was going to win this game.  All of the kids bought into this, buckled down and played lock down defense.  YOU GUYS ROCK!

I know I am starting to sound like a broken record, but I am so proud and impressed how hard the boys are working.  I have asked a lot of them each and every time we meet and they have stepped up and met the challenge.  In fact, they have thrown it back in my face with “Coach, is that all you got?” 

The boys have all of 24 hours to relish in the accomplishments this week.  We are back at it hard starting Monday 5-7pm with training and we will have a very intense practice Wednesday.  I’m sure they will exceed my expectations.  They have done it thus far and they will continue to do so. 

On another note, a big thank you to all the parents.  The kids are not the only ones that need to be dedicated for this program to work.  An extra thank you goes to Mark Sienkiewski for offering to assist me on Wednesdays.  Maybe I can get him to join me full time!!  You have all been great and very supportive of what we are trying to do with this program.  Every one of you have my promise that I will continue to work as hard as I can to better your kids not only as players, but people as well.

 Coach Bob Mack

5th Grade-Week 2

Tournament Team:

This past weekend we had 3 games on Saturday and 1 on Sunday.We came away with a 2-2 record for their first official weekend playing at the AAU level of competition. The boys had their first taste of  aau competition and tempo in their first game against a good Delta Runnin Rebels. Boy, did they run! They were fast,quick and aggressive. Our boys played hard and accepted the challenge but at the end, with only 7 players, we ran out of steam. 

The second game vs. EDH proved to us that we are a new team and we need to keep working hard and focusing. The boys were tired and less focused but kept their heads up and learned what it is going to take to play at this level. The 3rd. game vs. EDH, the boys were showed up ready to play. The team passed the ball well and found their open teammates, they were aggressive on the boards and started to gel offensively.  The team routed their opponent and realized with hard work and teamwork, good things happen!  

The game on Sunday was vs. a good Elk Grove team who were very well coached and aggressive. It was head to head down to the final seconds in the game when Coach Tom drew up an awesome out of bounds play.\ The boys executed the play to perfection and made the winning basket as time ran out! 

This team has great passion for the game and they work hard at getting better.  Can't wait til next weekend to see their progress!     

Comp Team: 

The team played a very good 4th. grade Extreme tournament team this weekend.  The boys came out and scored right away and played well defensively. They stopped the aggressive penetration drives of the 4th. grade guards and rebounded well. The boys listened to Coach Tom and worked hard at executing new plays. With playing a fast uptempo team, our 5th. grade team gave it their all. They slowed the pace down for the first 3 quarters but with only 6 players, they ran out of steam by the 4th. quarter. They never gave up and fought til the end.  Keep working hard and see you at practice on Wed!    

6th Grade-Week 2

Sunday, the 6th grade teams at an Intra-Squad Scrimmage.  J Kim Porras again set the bar high with his shooting, rebounding and defending.  Austin Rosenberg was scoring rebounding and getting physical with some great defense.  Jacob Hedger's hot shooting kept his team close all the way to the end of the first game.

In the end all the boys came together on their teams which made for two great games.  We are definitely looking forward to some tournaments.

7th Grade-Week 2

The YBA-XTREME 7th grade teams had a good weekend with much more competitive games and noticeably improvement. I am very pleased with the progress that we have made in only a week. I had fun this weekend as we played a very good last tournament game and then followed that with a very fun, exciting, and entertaining comp scrimmage game on Sunday. I have little doubt that these first two weeks of existence are going to be our toughest as we work too hard, and listen too well, and are learning too fast to improve week in and week out.
We are in a special situation because of the "No contact" rules for AAU basketball during the Middle School Basketball season, which means that you/ your son cannot play if they make their MS team. So it is possible that after this month most of you will not be playing YBA-X. The working solution for this right now is that we plan to have a "How to make your Middle School Team" Camp, and then offer a possible refund or credit for the next session in January. I strongly urge every single player to come back out and play for me again in January! This program and team is exactly what you/ your son needs as a player to grow and become a "next level" basketball player! We will have more info on this in the following week.

Tournament Team

Our Defense was noticeably improved this past weekend as we cut our average points against way down, 55.5-44, against similar competition. This is a sign of rapid improvement based on the intelligence and hard work of the players. As a very Defensive minded and oriented coach this pleases me very much! We played excellent half-court Defense and had several series where we made the opponent play offense for 20 seconds or more, which is very good! Our full court Defense is improving and will improve more as we empathize it more in practice this week.  Defense wins championships, so continue to improve and put in the effort.

Our offense, point differential, forced turn-overs, and scoring efficiency all improved this week from the last. Offense, points scored avg last week was 22, this week it improved to 26. The point differential improved from -33.5 to a much closer -18, cutting almost half of the differential is an amazing improvement for only a week! We averaged 12 turn-overs forced this weekend compared to only 10 last week. We scored more points this weekend on less possessions. Last weekend, 44 points scored on 149 possessions= .30points per possession. This weekend we 52 points on 141 possessions= .37 points/ possession. This is another sign of improvement. So we are heading in the right direction both offensively and Defensively, as long as we continue to put in the effort and mental energy needed to progress we should continue to make progress.

We also continued to show the heart and team spirit needed to be successful. We will have success it's only a matter of time at this point, as we may run out of time this session with the upcoming Middle School Basketball season beginning in only two weeks. However, I expect to see all of you back out after the Middle School season for the January session, as we have a good start and I firmly believe that we can be a successful team and surprise all these teams that are beating us when we are still "learning to walk".

Comp Team

We had a good scrimmage that allowed me to see the improvement that you have made in the past week. I saw quite a bit of individual improvement out there, in addition to improved team concepts and B-ball IQ. At this point in the season the gap between the the Tournament kids and Comp kids is already shrinking quickly and I expect you to make a tournament team in the January session as long as you continue to work and put in the effort needed.

Coaches Final Thoughts...
I want to empathize how impressed I am with our RAPID improvement! It only re affirms what I saw at first, that these boys just haven't had the same amount of high level basketball coaching and experience as the higher level players. We are in a great place to remedy that and get these fine young men to the next level of basketball!! Keep it up my Dawgs, we'll show everyone what you are capable of!!

Coach Adam      

8th Grade-Week 2

Sunday September 19^th the YBA XTREME 8th Grade Tournament and Competitive Teams squared off in their second intra squad scrimmage at Hardwood Palace.  Both teams exhibited good defense at times and were most effective on defense when hands were active and moving and all players need to improve in the area of boxing their man out these and additional defensive skills and concepts will continue to be drilled and reinforced in weekly training and practice.   In addition, both teams exhibited solid offense at times as they continue to get familiar with the offensive sets, out of bounds plays and basic fundamentals of the game of basketball such as the pick and roll and moving with out the ball and we will continue to drill and reinforce these offensive fundamentals in weekly training and practice.

Game 1 saw a strong effort by the Blue team with Sean Lallen making good on one of two free throws in the final seconds to give the Blue team a 1 point victory.  Game two was also a closely contested game with Zachary Diele making good on a foul line jump shot in the final seconds of the game to give the Blue team a one point victory.

All players are showing great potential and need to keep working outside of practice to hone their skills as one practice a week is very limited time.  See everyone who can make it Monday 9/20/10 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Hardwood Palace for training otherwise be prepared to bring a strong effort and your utmost focus and listening skills to next Wednesday’s practice on  9/22/10 7:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. at Hardwood palace.

Coach Deloe