I can’t believe the season is officially here!  We have our first test tomorrow…a home opener against Illinois!  I’m so excited for the season to be underway and to get out on the court and really compete.  We’ve been preparing all week for the Fighting Illini and we feel like we have a great opportunity at hand.  I know our players are excited, especially with starting off the season at home. 

From now until April is by far my favorite time of the year. Basketball basically consumes all of my time, and I wouldn’t want it any other way!  Not only will us coaches be spending the majority of our time in the office to prepare our team as best as we can, when I go home I get to turn on the TV and watch other college basketball games and the NBA. I would say that the only time I get a break from basketball is when I sleep…but most of the time my it finds a way into my dreams too! In fact, just the other night I had a dream that I was trapped in Dwight Howard’s body and I was playing Coach Webster 1-on-1. I ended up jumping over her and dunking so hard that I broke the backboard. And then I woke up…

Speaking of Dwight Howard, did anyone see his performance the other night?!? 30 points, 19 rebounds, and 10 blocks. I did that a few times back in my college days…in my dreams.

I hope practice is going well for everyone and that you’re all excited for the upcoming season!  Wish us luck for tomorrow! Until next time…

Hi everyone! Been a while since I last wrote. I feel like so much has been going on. We have an exhibition game tomorrow against Indiana Tech at 1:00 pm, and I am SOOOO EXCITED! It’s unbelievable to me that season is already starting. The girls are so jacked to play against someone besides each other. They’ve been battling in practice every day and doing a really good job. We still have things we need to work on, but we’re headed in the right direction.

The other thing that comes when the season starts is scouts, and please believe that scouting is my 2nd (only to on court coaching) favorite part of this job! I love breaking down film, looking for tendencies, and trying to dissect other teams. It’s like being handed a big puzzle, and you have to find how your pieces best solve it. Ok, I think I just made myself sound like a huge nerd, but I do love it! My first scout is Illinois and it has definitely been quite an interesting puzzle so far!

As for other things, I am happy to announce that the Haz Beenz are the Jorgenson YMCA Women’s League champions!! Coach Mann and Coach O’Connell both shot lights out, and we coasted to a 20 point victory So, we’ve decided to challenge ourselves a little bit. Next season (3 weeks from now) we will be playing in the Men’s B League instead, and we’ve also expanded our horizons to volleyball. We had to pick up a couple of ringers (IPFW volleyball alums), but we’ve been doing well so far.

Well, I hope everyone has a safe and happy Halloween!! My favorite show ever is the Office, so I’m taking Jim’s idea from last night’s episode and I’m going to wear a name tag of someone else’s name as my costume. Very cost effective Until next time…

Coach Webster

Hello there!!! Well I can’t believe it. Tomorrow is the first official day of practice. It does not feel like it is actually here. Next thing you know it’s going to be November 14 and we will be playing Illinois in the Gates Sports Center. Time has flown by so fast. I am very excited to start putting more in during practice and getting to see more of what our girls have when we put everything together. Right now we have been getting after it on the defensive end. Our main focus will be defense this year.

On the personal side of things, I just got back from Florida. My sister just had a baby girl Jocelyn Anne so I was fortunate enough to go visit them. It was very exciting. Hard to leave them. My mom has been down there too so I was able to her and as well as my brother (who arrived a couple hours after I left). I was down there for about a week so it was a good time to get away because our girls were on fall break so I didn’t miss too much.

Well, next week is going to be a busy week. We start practice and on Monday night we start our tournament play in the Y league that the coaching staff is in. Also, on Wednesday we will start playing in a volleyball league. Although I don’t feel as young as I use too, it is nice to stay active and still be able to play the sports that I love.

Til next time,

Coach O’Connell

Only 16 more days until our first official practice!!!  For me, it seems like preseason just started yesterday, but at the same time October 17th can’t get here soon enough.  I know our players are just as excited for practices to start, mainly to be done with preseason conditioning!

A lot has happened since I last posted on here, including a few staff bonding experiences.  First off, over Labor Day weekend, Coach O’Connell, Coach Webster, and myself got a few friends and made the 4 hour drive up to the Sturgeon River in Michigan for a camping/kayaking adventure.  The fun started when we first arrived at the campground. It was a beautiful day and we walked around a little bit until we noticed some people playing 3 on 3 sand volleyball. We had a group of 6, all 6 of us being former division 1 basketball players, so naturally we challenged the smaller, more unathletic group to a game. They hesitantly accepted our challenge, then proceeded to absolutely embarrass us in 3 straight games before taking their ball and marching triumphantly back to their campsite, leaving us standing in complete bewilderment in the sand wondering what just happened.

After picking up the pieces of our pride and brushing the sand off them, we were off to our next adventure…and an adventure it was.  For some of our group it was their first time kayaking, and the Sturgeon River just so happens to be the fastest moving river in Michigan, boasting a 90% capsize rate. Everyone in our group managed to tip at least once and there is no doubt in my mind that my friend Liz now holds the record on that river for most tips…her total was well into the 20’s!!! If you think I’m joking, I’m not, and a trip that was supposed to take us 6 hours definitely took us 8!

For our most recent staff get together we decided to pass on kayaking and do dinner instead. Coach O’Connell just moved into a new apartment, so we went over there to check it out and she made us dinner.  I’m talkin chicken, mashed potatoes, corn, and homemade bread! Not to mention brownies for dessert. It was classy…the only thing missing being a decorative garnish or my napkin folded like oragami into some sort of swan…or better yet, a mastodon!

Oh, and for a quick update on the Haz Beenz…we have now moved to 5-0 after a dominating performance on Monday night. We still have some game left.

Until next time…

So things have been pretty busy around here with the season right around the corner, and I wanted to make sure I wrote to keep you updated! We have doing really well with workouts, lifting, and conditioning like Coach O’Connell mentioned last week, and we’re really excited to see it all come together. We’re implementing a lot of new ideas this year, so it’s been a learning process for us as coaches along with our players. Every time I start to see what we’re looking for, I get so excited because I feel like we have a ton of potential this year!

Outside of work, I’ve been trying to get some things in before the season starts and it’s SUPER busy. I visited my parents this past weekend and then went up to see a friend in Chicago (the best city in the world) on Saturday. I always love going to the city because there’s so much to do and so much going on, and I get to see Solider Field!! My Bears struggled on Sunday though. It’s going to be a long season if we can’t find some offense.

But most importantly, I wanted to let you know what our Y League team that Coach O’Connell, Coach Mann, and myself all play on is currently 4-0 and dominating!! We’re called the Haz Beenz We’re old timers now like our players tell us all the time. Joking aside though, I love getting out there and having a place to play against some good competition. Like they say, every coach is a player whose fire never died.

Well, that’s all for now! Getting ready for the big premieres of Grey’s Anatomy and the Office tomorrow!!