Will sapper be coaching?

can you assure me that the country players (ie not close country) will attend all trainings?

or are we to again have 1 group pleasing themselves, rolling up, enjoying the top shelf and 1 group doing all the work, with no rewards - again?

Jirachi,

I guess it is programs like this and the philoshophy of helping players improve that attrachs these types of players to Sturt.

Wasting my time,

A pretty negative post for a program that is only going to be positive for all those involved and the club in general.

Country players will not be down every weekend for SAP training (it is unrealistic to expect they drive 8 hours return every weekend for something that they are not paid to do) but when they are down for a game they are required to train. This is the case at most clubs I know of who have far country players. The only reason they may not train is if they have SA Country training that conflicts with their club training, or if we have exhausted all other avenues to find them another session.

Usually the kids make up for any sessions they miss by doing two trainings in a weekend (an Individual on Saturday, team session Sunday for example) when they are in the State Country training "off season".

We have a sensational group of far country kids that put a huge commitment into the club, both in time and money, by travelling down to the city to become better players. Believe me, all of our country kids WANT to train and want to get better...that's why we have recruited them.

Cheers

Thanks Liam - I respect what you say and understand where you come from.

I think the program is an excellent idea.

but for every success story about some dedicated country kid from some tinpot town that makes the big league - that everyone loves, there are probably 2-3 metro based kids that no one wants to know,that are just as dedicated, that will never get a chance.

i have seen it at sturt

Liam - how did you come at selections?

was it on merit, length of service, skill, whoever asked first - whoever made the choices - it's got me stuffed ??

can you clarify - they get 1 year's selection into the squad.

Wasting my time,

Thanks for your reply.

The club certainly doesn't consciously favour players, but you are entitled to your opinion. I believe the club gives all kids an opportunity to improve, regardless of where they come from.

Some of the problem is that there may have been a comunication breakdown between yourself and the club regarding the reasons for when a child misses a training (or you may have missed the information when it was distributed). I know I have had two parents come up to me since reading post #10160 saying "that they didn't realise that that was how our country players were managed and that the situation makes so much more sence now".

As I mentioned before, we have a terrfic bunch of country kids, who work their buts off to be better players and never ask for 'preferential treatment'. But if you feel strongly about a certain situation, or if you just want more info, I would be happy give you an audience to air your opinion (by phone or email).

Scratchin my head-

The players were selected by myself and Marcus Wong (the Girls JCD) in consultation with the SAP managers and some of the DIv 1 & 2 coaches from around the club. The process was not as formal as it will be next term (we didn't have applications this term but we will have next term), as we only came up with the SAP concept in August and wanted to have it up and running by October.

The selection criteria was (and will be in the future) as follows:

1) Potential to be a State, SASI or senior player for the club (although some country kids involved are already in SASI programs in their area). This means that they must have an excellent skill set (and/or the attitude to improve this skill set), plus the physical attributes to play at a higher level.
2) Be in U/16 - U/20 player at the club.
3) Be in Division 1 or 2 (although there will be some Div 3 players involved from time to time).

Criteria 1, is always going to cause some conjecture because it is of a subjective nature. I have full confidence in the players we have selected because they have displayed enough in the time at the club (regardless of how long that time is) to impress someone on the selection panel.

I guess there will always be some dispute over Criteria 2 & 3 also because we are only offering the program to a certain section of the club. I would like to have offered it to more age groups, but we would not have the court time, recources and quality of delivery to do the program effectively.

We will expose another 30 boys and 30 girls (approx) during any calendar year to a more 'elite' level of training which the club is really happy about.

Thanks for your questions and feedback people.

good move - this is just another reason Sturt is one of SA's premier clubs - like to see some applications advertised next time though !

I would like to see my club get something like this up and running. I, personally at this point in my basketball 'career' (second yr under 21's) would love the chance to accelerate.
Lol, I never thought id say this but i like Sturt more and more these days.

Rookie,

Your club does have something like this up and running. Over 100 division 1 and 2 Forestville junior players have been provided with individual trainings over the last 4 years. A large proportion of these trainings have been conducted by current or former State head coaches, assistant coaches, and coaches involved in SASI/ITC programs.

The program has also been made available for all Forestville coaches to participate in, and some have used this opportunity to coach players in their own teams.

It sounds like the problems with the program are that we haven't given it a name, and we haven't promoted it enough! (although it is mentioned here).Both will happen in the next few months.

In the meantime, if you would like more information, send me an email.

Congratulations to Sturt on SAP, and any other initiatives aimed at improving junior basketball in this state.

I think it is good particularly at your Forestvilles and Sturts -as they have very big squads, coaching shortages - so the smaller ratio groups you may need can be acheived.

PS - congratulations Paul on your award - from my experiences with you - you deserve it

We did this a couple of years ago. They were called HEAT Clinics. The groups were 6 or less players. The coaches were Brett Maher, Rupert Sapwell, Jae Kingi, Matt Dodson, Keith Krause, Trudi Hopgood, Jarrod Younie and others. Everyone whinges about 36ers etc. not getting involved with Junior basketball. In Mahers and Kingis case Rupert got us their contact details and we just rang them and asked them and it was pretty much like "yea no problems we would love to give something back".

To be honest I think you will find all 10(or 9) member clubs do some kind of inidividual programs. Sturt are just promoting it to the wider basketball community through this forum.

In these programs there are always the knockers as we have seen above. We charged the kids for the programs and some said the club should fund them. So the club partially funded them. Then another group complained that the club should not fund some kids junior development and not others. ARRRRGGGHHHH!!

Paul,

I know about individuals and things like that, i did have them (and hope to provide them to my girls) but even though i trained my heart out, and still didnt feel like i accelerated as such.
i will be doing the same this season... hopefully i will accelerate!

paul arnott...i dont think i like ur attitude, just cos ur a coach at forrestville doesnt mean u have to talk it up permanetly, i will admit that forrestville are an advanced club and HARRI HARVEY IS A MACHINE but still...

forestville*

Quitter, I'll take that on board.

Sorry we didn't get a chance to chat tonight.

HARRI HARVEY IS THE BEST PLAYER EVER!!!!!! WE ALL LOVE HIM HEAPS AND ESPECIALLY ME!!!!!

really i dont think harry harvey is that good i mean he is good but a bit ova rated i have guarded him a few times ova my career and last time would have to b about 1 month back he got about 6 points couple assist but nothing amazing like i hear.......

This program sounds great! Its unfortunate my club has nothing at all like this program in place for players because it definately would be an advantage

Whatever came of this program?
Still running?

What a great idea - Was there any success with this program and would it be worthwhile re-visiting it for the current lot of kids coming through