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Slowing Down To Speed Up October 31, 2008

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Slowing down to Speed up

Jerome Green

Slowing down to speed up is one of the most important steps in getting better at anything. The principle of learning is the fuel to the process. To get better at anything you have to be willing to fall down, learn while you are down there, and then get up and try it again. You don’t learn how to make the big foul shot to win the game, until you actually missed the big shot a few times.

Many players today don’t have the patience to undergo the process of learning how to get better. Instant coffee to instant game is what a lot of players are looking for. The players that are more gifted physically can circumvent this process for a while, but even they, in the end, end up fully achieving their full potential.

On a very practical side it looks something like this. You need to learn to keep the ball lower, while also learning how to attack the basket. So what do you do when you play? Do you revert back to your old way, the safe way, or take a chance and start learning how to do it the new way. Players don’t realize that they look bad doing it the old way and look a lot better embracing the new and failing. When you embrace the new, you are demonstrating your ability to learn and grow.

My true luvv with sport has a little to do with the actual activity. My luvv for sport is tied into the process of learning and growth. How many players are really going to the top on the court or field? How many players can go to the top of their chosen profession or pursuit of their ideas?

I watch players in the gym from age 6-18 and each one of them have some part of their game that they hold on to. No matter how many people tell them that it won’t hold up over time, they continue to do it. It becomes far more critical as you enter High School. The Changes are so rapid for year to year, that if you are not working on your game, and getting better, someone you were better than a year ago can fly by you.

Slowing down to speed up is about being willing to learn. Learning is a key principle in life. I am currently watching a young player in the Hoop Masters program who came to us a few months ago. He was shy, quiet, and I hardly audible. For 2-3 weeks, he would hang with me were ever I went in the gym. I didn’t know if he was going to make it. I gave him my traditional 2-3 weeks that allow new players to acclimate and then I compassionately laid it out for him. I gave him “if you really want this speech”. The speech usually ends up one or two ways. I never see the player again or he comes back more committed and more willing to work. This player chose the latter. Since our talk he has engaged at a higher level. His shyness has decreased and he is in the process of learning. Seeing principle in action always brings a tear to my heart.

There is no better time than now for all of us to learn how to slow Down to Speed UP.

Former Hoop Masters Player Gets NBA Championship Ring October 29, 2008

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Former Hoop Master and Westchester player, Gabe Pruitt, is the first Hoop Masters player to obtain an NBA Championship Ring. We congratulate Gabe on his achievement and while this is Laker country, we also congratulate the Celtics. Oh, as a long time Knicks fan that really hurts, but you have to admire champions.

Jerome Green

Alumni News October 28, 2008

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We wish DeAndre Bell, Hoop Masters class of 2000 and Palisades Grad, the best of luck on his upcoming back surgery. DeAndre was slated to be the Captain of this years Georgia Tech-Yellow Jacket team and will now red shirt for this season. Click here to read the story-index.html

Can not play with Him October 28, 2008

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This is a classic moment in “New Age Sports”.  A old school guy, giving new school guys some lessons on what it really takes to be a winner. So many times we have players who think it all about them, but Mike sets us straight.

Ken Mink shows that Fantasy lives October 27, 2008

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In a follow up to my Fantasy basketball article, Ken Mink, renews his spirit by finishing something he started 53 years ago.

rosters-08-09

Gabe Pruitt shows he belongs October 22, 2008

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Gabe in action

Gabe in action

By Steve Bulpett

Boston Herald.com

It is often said one should be careful what one asks for. But Gabe Pruitt feels very comfortable this morning after receiving the playing time for which he’s longed. A bit sore, but comfortable.

The second-year point guard got off the end of the bench, started and went for 11 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists in 44 minutes of the Celtics [team stats]’ 83-66 preseason victory over New Jersey yesterday. He also picked up a few bumps.

“It’s funny,” Doc Rivers said. “He was so tired and had all these bruises all over him, and he was grabbing everything. I told him he did today what Allen Iverson [stats] has done for 10 years. He plays 82 games, 45 minutes a night.” Now, Pruitt can relate.

“That makes me (have) more respect for Kevin (Garnett), Paul (Pierce) and Ray (Allen),” he said. “Those guys have been doing it for 10-plus years now. I got a taste of what it’s like to be one of those stars. I think I showed I can play with the Big Three. I can be on the floor if they need me. I can play solid, and putting me on the floor won’t be a step back.

“I’m trying to make the most of the minutes I do get and open the coaches’ eyes (so) that maybe they’ll say ‘He can play.’ ”

Yesterday he accomplished that mission.

“You know, if he can continue to play like that, we may have something with him,” Pierce said. “He might be able to solidify a backup role. . . . He just had an overall solid performance.”

Garnett agreed with Pierce and said he isn’t at all surprised by Pruitt’s play, based on the youngster’s work during the offseason. Pruitt did commit six turnovers vs. the Nets.

“To his credit, he worked really, really hard this summer,” said Garnett. “He came back bragging, talking about how he was going to get at (Pierce) and some of the other guys, but that’s what you want to see from your young guys. You want to see that they’re hungry and they’re going to be competitive. So, no, I’m not surprised at all.”

The coach may be, but it’s pleasantly so.

“He’s definitely worked himself in with Eddie (House) and Rajon (Rondo),” said Rivers. “He’s ready to play. I think he is. It’s not the offense for us. You know, he doesn’t see certain things yet, (but) that will come. It’s more that defensively (is) where he’s made his biggest improvement. He stays in front of the ball and he stays long, and that’s good.”

Fantasy Basketball October 16, 2008

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Fantasy Basketball
Jerome Green

It’s in the game at every turn. We see it, we feel it and we express it. The luvv of the game is stored in our DNA. It is so present and revealing that we don’t need a C.S.I crew to examine it or find out how it got there. It’s in the exchange between competitors that we get to explore who we are and why we are. What are we here to do? What are our lives about? Basketball, while not the Gandhi of wisdom, is a perfect place to discover a few things about us. No matter if it’s between the lines or on the sidelines. Every exchange, every possibility brings us closure to the courage that is needed to conquer our fears, overcome obstacles and learn.

Basketball is a fantasy game. A game that allows us to dream and venture beyond the realities of the realness of everyday life and into the playfulness of the world. Basketball is a game. A game made up of spirit, skill and athleticism. To play the game to it’s fullest requires work, not drudgery. If you find yourself laboring with the game, step away, but don’t run away.  Each player and coach who comes to the game comes with a set of expectations and a bucket full of potential. Sometimes players choke on their potential.  Potential requires work.

There is no better place for me to watch basketball right now than on a Sunday at the Hangar in Hawthorne, California. There you get to see 8-year-old 3rd grader and 18-year-old twelfth graders playing with their hearts, mindless to the outside pressures of the day. Economic recession? Not in their thoughts. What is in their thoughts is getting the ball up the court, making the pass, playing defense and having fun. I see some kids having fun, I see others worrying about not being good enough, but in each of them I see hope, passion and luvv.

Today’s player has to navigate in waters that I never had to. Everyone is looking for their ESPN moment, the top 10 play of the day. Being rated, being scouted, being chosen as the one is something that many of today’s players play for.  They have to manage their fantasy lives with the reality of being compared. One college coach told me-“ players have to pass the eye ball test, and look the part of a D1 player.”

As I look around the Hangar, I see parents with dreams and wishes, desiring their son to be the one that gets that D1 scholarship. Many parents want their child to be the one that everyone talks about being the horse or go to guy on his team. Yet, others parents just want their son or daughter to play the game to learn lessons about dedication, discipline, teamwork and achievement and develop life-long companions.

Imagine if each player had to carry the burden of the game only having value if you are the best-the game would die. What makes the game great is the process of the game itself. The process of getting better, understanding what it takes for you to make the winning shot. How many shots you took to be able to realize that one moment of victory and how many losses you’ve had and the learning that took place because of those loses.

The game was meant to be fun and in the process a few players get the opportunity to take that fun all the way to the top. The rest of us get to play the game in adult league, or intramurals or until our bodies give way to age. In the meantime, no matter if it’s the NBA or the PBA, you can see that glimmer in every ones eyes once the ball goes up. The question being asked over and over, will today be the day that I find peace in the game?

Before he passed, Paul Newman said, “It’s been s privilege to be here.”  What a way to go out. Realizing that the life you lived was wonderful and that it was a pleasure to be here, to exchange, to luvv and be luvved. I’ve heard coaches say leave it all on the floor and some people like Hank Gathers and others have done just that. We remember them, not for how they died, but how they lived.

The game is just that. A game. A funny, silly game invented by Naismith and refined and defined by thousands of others. I am sure when Naismith invented the game, he never in his wildest dreams thought that it would be where it is today, but then again, maybe he did. It is all a fantasy after all.