New player!!!!

Hello!!! I went to practice tonight...and i got introduced to a new basketball player on our team. Her name is Allyson. She is a wonderful dribbler she is really great at playing basketball. Our team is sooo lucky to be introduced to a new girl who is great at basketball. We are still running our five out offense....(dribble at & pass-n-cut) everyone caught on great. We were down some players tonight but luckily we have coaches younger daughter hannah to fill in. Brittany and Kirsten were on spring break...and I am still not 100% back to normal from my asthma sickness thing. Welcome to the team Allyson!!!!

Storm Practice

We have basketball practice every Tuesday and Friday night! Last night we had practice we worked on some new drills and some passing and catching. We will not have our first game until this session is over which will probably be in the next month or two. We have to wait until this session is over because we took this one off for a little break. When we have practice they are two hours long. Sometimes they are very harsh practices but other times they are just practices for learning and discussing. Every once and a while we will scrimmage against the fifth grade "Dynamite" team. They run the same read and react offense as we do so we normally work on the offense and how to defend it. Both of our teams coaches split the big round marking dots so we would understand a lot better. I personally think its going great!!!!

3rd Grade Basketball

Brittany, Jessica, Lauren, and I all help coach third grade basketball. All of our sisters play on the team so we were asked to help (Jr. Coach) the team. The third graders at first we just getting used to being on the court and holding a basketball. They have came a long way from the beginning. The girls were running a man offense and were a little confused how to do so...they caught on after a few practices. All the girls were great basketball players on the team but Hannah Walker was amazing on defense. You would of haven to be there to see this girl play...she rocked at defense. Ashley Bell was a great point guard she helped us get the ball into the paint to get some shots off. If nobody was open she would drive it in to take a shot herself. Bree Alvarado did great she was another great point we had...she made great passes and almost half the teams shots. Ashley and Bree worked together to get the ball down the court. Karoline Kilkenny was one of our great posts. She knew how to catch the ball and not to be scared of it she went right for it when it was loose. Shadoe Lewis did an wonderful job on defense as well she helped out when one of our players were in trouble and were trapped...she had a rough start remembering which way our basket was...but she caught on and did a awesome job. Naveah Lewis was fantastic....she did a good job on offense she mostly remembered our plays...she guarded the opponent well. Katie Cocorran did a great job too! She was good at when she fell down she would get right back up. She did a great job setting screens and a fantastic job blocking out. Alexis Elmore did a great job...at first she was a little timid towards the ball but when we got farther into the season she got more used to the ball and was good at holding and dribbling the ball. Arianna Saad did an awesome job getting those shots up. When she first started she wasn't used to playing basketball but i have to say she is probably the most progressed third grader on the team....she was a good defense player and she sometimes got confused...she thought she was supposed to tell the defense where to go. She thought every one (team) had the same plays as we do. The girls did a great job all year round. Congratulations girls!!!

Platte County Girl's Basketball

Almost every time the Platte County girls basketball team plays half of our team is always there watching them and learning how to be better basketball players. Taylor Johnson who is won of the top players on the team is Morgan Johnson's sister. Morgan Johnson used to play for the Platte County pirates but graduated and is now playing women's basketball for the Iowa Hawkeyes. Taylor Johnson will practically follow in her sisters footsteps and will go to Creighton which is a very great school and a very good basketball team in Iowa. Our team watches the Platte county pirates and learns how to dribble better and play man defense a lot better. We watch them and see how dedicated they are to the sport..... I get new defense ideas from them just by watching how they play it against their opponents. This team always plays to win just how we do.

Read and React

Right now in basketball practice we are running a five out offense and a lot of man defense. Our offense is called "The Read and React". It comes from the women's' Iowa Hawkeyes basketball coach. This coach designed it to look in to more passes and easy lay-ups. There are 20 different layers in this offense but our team only runs four out of the twenty. We are working on the pass-n-cut and the dribble at offense. It is working great for us...this offense is practically unstoppable. Our coach has bought 75 lb. spots to keep on the floor when we practice that way we always know what we are doing...the Iowa team uses these as well. Anyway...these spots mark where we are to go and when we are to do it when he ball is being dribbled at us or passes the half court line...confusing huh? If you saw it a couple of times then you would get it it's pretty simple and will really confuse the defense! This also works out great because there are know set positions such as; post, wing man, or point guard. Well, the point guards will probably be the same because they are pretty much the fastest and smallest and best dribblers on the team. This is a wonderful offense and will work out great.