Melrose Lady Raiders Basketball

Our opening practice for the sixth graders is tomorrow, and I'm posting the opening hour practice schedule. We're going to move fast. Refinement comes with time and repetition. There is no "muscle memory." The ability to function more quickly and reliably comes from brain MYELIN deposition.

The colors have meaning to me from a preparation standpoint. We will always have clear goals, a transparent philosophy, and detail-oriented approach. Drills come from elite college and NBA programs for the most part, although I have developed some as well.

I'd like players to be there a little early (5 minutes) for the initial distribution of practice shirts and notebooks.

Our theme for the first day is GET VOLUME REPETITIONS. The best way to grow your TEAM is to grow your individual players.

Program themes are: 1) Development, 2) Sacrifice, 3) Accountability

Primary teaching concept: Basketball is a game of cutting and passing, not standing and dribbling.

Thought for the day, "If you don't have time to do it right now, when will you have time?"
Reminder: "The game is about making plays, not running plays." - Mike Krzyzewski




Pete Maravich was one of my basketball idols growing up.

From MelroseGirlsBasketball.com blog. Major changes in defensive rules.

Sarah Foote, Ashley Harding, and Katey Sullivan are the Melrose Girls' Basketball captains for next season.

Hannah Brickley is completing her studies at Trinity as one of the outstanding students in her class. She had a stellar career in volleyball at Trinity, and after a couple of years layoff returned to the hardwood to become the top player in the NESCAC. The Brickley family is no stranger to sports recognition.

She earned All-League honors as well as Player of the Year achievement during her senior campaign. Congratulations to someone who represents the best of the scholar-athlete tradition.

With the North tournament completed, the season ends for Middlesex League girls.

In Division 1, Reading exited in the first round and Woburn won two games before losing to sectional champ Lynn English.

In Division 2 North, Wakefield, Wilmington, and Stoneham all got tossed in the first round, and Watertown advanced to the sectional final where AC defeated them in a game not as close as the final score. Watertown trailed at halftime 19-9 as AC completely shut them down.

The North representatives at the Garden will be Central Catholic, Arlington Catholic, and St. Mary's. In the South, it's Braintree, Duxbury, and Archbishop Williams. In other words, four of the six finalists are private Catholic schools. Maybe it's The Truman Show.

All performance improvement begins with the reality and self-assessment. Outcomes reflect process. Great outcomes require great process or incredible luck.

What is reality? It begins with asking questions, such as "what would have to be true, for that to be so?" A company declared it wanted to be the market leader in Germany. It had a fraction of the sales, minimal sales force, and no specifics nor accountability plan on achieving those goals. It didn't happen.

Although Melrose won't be playing in the postseason, four Middlesex League teams make the cut in D2 North along with 18-2 Woburn and 10-10 Reading in D1 North.

In D2 North, three teams should get byes, and the strongest teams in D2N may be Bedford, AC, and Pentucket. The Middlesex League was not strong this season, so it will be interesting to see how the ML teams do in tournament play.