Recap Last week was the last week of training. Zaharee went back through all the thing that they learned. He made sure that Courtney was able to spot mistakes that she made and then they switched roles so she could spot somebody else's mistakes. After that they played to well known basketball game of horse. He used this game to show that now matter what the stakes are always keep good form. Then they just talked a bit about how she has done and improved over the past couple of weeks. Moving On Since this is the last week of the project and we are unable to have he one v one game that we originally planned to have the end goal of the project had to be altered. Instead of them playing each other they went back through all of her stats from the last 11 weeks of training. Zaharee then decided that the end goal would to see how much she had improved and was hoping for an over 50% increase in accuracy because this would not only reflect how well Courtney has done but it would also reflect Zaharee's coaching abilities. They both had been keeping a log to track their progress each training period. They both read over those to each other to compare and to see if she was really doing as well as she thought she was doing. The logs backed each other up mostly and it was a mutual understanding of how Courtney was performing. Stepping it up
After looking back over all the information and data that they had gathered they decided to start doing some calculations. Courtney started out with a 20% free throw accuracy. By the end she had a 84% free throw accuracy. That totals to a 64% accuracy increase in just 11 weeks. Courtney start with a 10% jump shot accuracy. By the end she had a 57% jump shot accuracy. That is just 3% shy of the 50% that Zaharee had hoped for but he was still very proud. Overall this project has taught us many more things that just basketball. We have both developed better time management skills, increased work ethic, new found motivation, discipline, how to take constructive criticism, collaboration skills, and communication skills. We are sure that there is many more but that is all that we could think of while we were discussing. We both would also like to give a special thank you to Mr. Barker for assigning us this project. It was definitely worth all the hard work and struggles that we went through. "I am so happy that I was able to do this it definitely has made me more open to try new things. I am also thankful that I was able to have such a good coach that really helped me to improve and become a better player." - Courtney "This was such a great experience. She was a great learner who took well to constructive criticism and has a really good work ethic. I'm glad that I was able to share a part of my everyday life with her." - Zaharee
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Recap Last week was a review week that allowed Courtney to review all the techniques and skills that she had learned throughout this process. Zaharee also incorporated more exercises into last weeks training session because you use so many different muscles in basketball so being in shape and maintaining it will definitely help you out. We went back through three of the basics that we learned. We used this time as an opportunity to make little changes to the way Courtney was doing things whether that be bringing in her elbow or bending her knees. He was looking for all the little tiny mistakes that are commonly made so that they could be corrected. Moving On This week we continued to review but instead of him telling her what she did wrong Zaharee wanted Courtney to be able to tell him what she was doing wrong. This technique really forced Courtney to think about what she was doing until it just became muscle memory and that is what basketball is all about. Courtney was able to get into a rhythm and she began to make little to no mistakes. Zaharee then wanted Courtney to pretend to be the coach and he was her player. He shoot around and wanted her to point out the things that he was doing wrong. This just continued to help her build the understanding of what she was supposed to look like whenever she is on the court. After that he just wanted to see where she was at with everything that she had learned and reviewed. She allowed her the opportunity to ask anymore questions that she had. Courtney told him that she felt pretty good about all the things that she was learning and she could definitely tell that she had improved. Stepping it up
In the later half of the training session Zaharee wanted to play a well known basketball game called horse. Even though this wasn't serious training he wanted to see if she still applied the things she learned even when it wasn't a high stakes situation. Courtney like most people started off with using the techniques that she learned but then began to slack a little and it was showing. Zaharee used this example to explain to her how in a game it can feel like it is going on forever and even if your team is winning that doesn't mean to stop doing what you know your supposed to be doing. He then went on to explain how sometimes games can and will get to be real close and the rush an pressure is getting to you and you just think you should take a shot anytime you get the ball. Your coach might sometimes be okay with this but make sure that when you are taking those under pressure shots you still remember to keep good form. Throwing a bunch of sloppy shots might work if you have really good luck but 9 times out of 10 all your doing is giving the ball to the other team and helping them out. "It's incredible how much she has improved coming from not ever playing basketball before to having a good deep understanding of the game in just the matter of 11 weeks is unbelievable." - Za'Haree "It so weird to think about all the new knowledge that I have of this game. I am far from the best but I think that you could say I am a decent player." - Courtney Recap Last week we continued with our virtual training sessions. We started working on the last basic; rebounding. We did a little drill that Courtney's brother helped with. He would throw the ball at the rim or goal with no intention of it going in and Courtney would go get the rebound. The point of this was for her to see where the ball hit and predict where it would bounce to. Your never going to get it perfectly but the more to try the closer and closer you are going to get. After the little drill Zaharee wanted Courtney to do a short workout. Basketball targets lots of different muscle groups so keeping yourself toned and in shape benefits you. Your arm and legs are the most obvious but then you have your smaller shoulder, back, and calf muscles that also play an important role. Moving On Since the project is coming to the end Zaharee thought that it would be a good idea for Courtney to review all the things that they have learned over the past 10 weeks. The first thing that we started with was dribbling so we did a quick review of that. He had her dribble on the rocks stationary and moving. He had her do wall sits and dribble. After they did dribbling drills they did a 5 minute workout circuit. Then they moved on to the next thing that they learned which was passing. They practiced all three different types of passes. They did passing drills that focused on each of them individually and then all together. After they did passing drills they did another 5 minute workout circuit. Stepping it up
At this point in the training session we had went back over the first two basics that we learned. Now we needed to move onto the next basic: shooting. He wanted her to shoot around for a little bit to see how much her shooting has improved since they last focused on it. She had made a lot of improvements on her shooting. After their shooting drills they did another 5 minute workout circuit. The last thing that they did was combine the 3 basics they reviewed today and did a drill that would focus on each one of them. "Now its really time to get my head together because we are getting real close to the game and that is really what it is all about." - Courtney "I might actually have a little competition on my hands." - Zaharee Recap So last week we had to switch things up and find a new way to continue the training process while obeying the social distancing laws. Things ended up working out well because they both had separate goals that they could teach and practice on. Courtney is now learning how to play basketball over the phone. It sounds very difficult and almost impossible but they made it work. She is continuing to do her part and so is Zaharee. Last week we were working on defense and Courtney's brother was able to help by playing a defender. As far as Zaharee could see from his side of the phone she was doing very well and listening to the tips he was giving her. Moving On The last basic the Zaharee wants to focus on is rebounding. Most people don't think of this as a basic because it's just like instinct to go after the ball once you shoot it but there are different times when you will get a rebound. If someone has just shot a free throw then the two "big guys" closest to the goal are the ones to most likely get the rebound but not always. Everyone around is going to be ready to get that rebound because the ball can bounce off the rim in any direction. Other times you going to get the rebound is when your team is shooting. If someone shoots and doesn't make it you don't want to just let the other team have the ball. You want to try to get the ball back so you don't miss an opportunity to shoot. Main thing is that when your going to get a rebound it can go anywhere on the court so you need to make sure you have your eye on your man and the ball. Also your teamates so really you need to be looking everywhere on the court. Stepping it up
Pro tip: always be ready to get the rebound Since Zaharee couldn't be there with Courtney to run drills with her he asked her brother to step in and help. Zaharee explained to him what he wanted him to do. He would throw the ball at the goal with no intention of it going in. Courtney would have to get the rebound from wherever it landed or went to. Zaharee asked that they run this for about 10 to 15 minutes so that Courtney could get a feel for it. After the rebounding drill Zaharee wanted Courtney to do a couple of exercises to build up her strength. She did push ups, sit ups, suicides, lunges, squats, planks and a few other things. Zaharee then talked to her about the importance of growing your muscles and being in shape. "I am enjoying learning and now this new way of learning is just another challenge that will show that I am dedicated to this project and am continuing my training outside of our training sessions."- Courtney "You can just see the hard work and dedication that she has put in. I know its hard without me being there in person to train her but you can see she is committed to the process with the continued progress she has made." - Zaharee Recap Last week we wrapped up shooting and moved on to defense. We didn't get far into it because a storm was coming and with everything that is going on our session can't last as long as they used to. He told her a little bit about defense but he didn't go into depth with things. Moving On This week we had to do things a bit differently because your not really supposed to be going out of the house unless you need to. Even though Mr. Barker's project is very important we both decided that we should leave the house for it this week. So instead we found another way to continue training. This week we had a virtual training session in two different locations. Courtney had a goal at her house and of course Zaharee did to. So he would show her something and then he would ask her to do it. Courtney got her brother to help out so that she had somebody to guard her while doing the drills that Zaharee asked. Stepping it Up
We started out by doing defense of slides from each side of the court. Then we did close outs which is when you run to the person shooting the ball with your arms up. We ran through those a couple times and then we did defense of slides on a moving target which was Courtney's brother. Zaharee was able to watch through the phone and critic things that she wasn't doing correctly. Though the situation isn't ideal we are still working in every way that we can to continue training so that Courtney will be ready for the big game at the end. Recap Last week was our second week of shooting. We continued with drills to help her get that muscle memory for her jump shoot. We focused on the first two letters of the BEEF acronym and preformed drills that focused on each of them specifically. The big take away from those lesson was to make sure that she remembered to create a good balance and to get her eyes to the rim. When working on the last couple drills you could see the improvement from when we first started shooting. Moving On... To start this week off we did the usual stretching and warming up the ball. We did some exercises to get our muscles warmed up and relaxed. After we focused on the last two letters of the BEEF acronym. The second e stands for Elbow. We did drills where she would catch the ball move to a certain spot and then pretend like she was going to shot. Zaharee didn't want her to shoot so he could see if he had it tucked in. Next, we working on f which stands for follow through. At first he had her pretend to shoot without the ball to see if she was doing all the things the right way. Then once he seen she had checked all the boxes he let her do it with the ball. Stepping it Up
Now that we have covered everything with shooting Zaharee thought that it was a good time to move onto the next basic: defense. He talked about how important it is to stay low and use your hands to stay in front of the defender. Guarding your man is always big on defense. We didn't get to much into it because there was a storm coming and it was almost 5 o'clock so we wrapped things up there. "It's a lot of things going on but I am still trying to maintain focus on improving and practicing as much as I can." -Courtney "With all the things going on right now it's very surprising how she is managing to continue to improve each week and stay motivated." Recap Last week was our first week of shooting. For her first time Courtney did exceptionally well. She followed instructions well and was able to listen to what he was telling her and apply it to better her shooting. Since last week was the first week we started off by seeing how Courtney naturally shot so that Zaharee could evaluate and see how he could best help her. She learned the BEEF acronym and used it while she was shooting. From here forward since she already has the basics of shooting we just have to improve her shooting. The last important thing that she learned last week was that form varies depending on distance so that why you develop a lot of muscle memory in the game of basketball. Moving On So, just to get warmed up this week we shot back and forth to each other. Making sure to keep good form at all times. So we did basically the same drills as we did last week. First we shot in front of the goal about 3 feet away. Then we moved 3 feet to the left of the goal and 3 feet from the right of the goal. While she was shooting Zaharee was looking to see if her form changed because its not supposed to. Then we moved back about 10 feet away from the goal and shot in front, to the left, and to the right of the goal. The point again to maintain form. Stepping it up
So the correctly perform a jump shot you need to use the BEEf acronym and last week Courtney learned what that was. This week we focused on the first two letters B and E. Balance was the first thing we worked with. to be able to have a good balance you need to start off with a good stance. Your feet need to be shoulder width apart not more not less. When you are going to actually shoot the ball you want to bend from the knees. Don't over do the knee bending because then you can get off balance but just enough bend. To help Courtney work on her balance we did a little drill. In this drill he would pass me the ball and from wherever I was on the court I would pretend like I was about to shot. While doing this drill the only thing Zaharee was looking for was were my feet shoulder's width apart and did I been my knees. Next we wanted to work on E. So how we worked on this was continuing to do the same drill we were doing but now he was looking for not only where my feet were placed and if my knees were bent but he then started to look at where my eyes went. This should just be automatic when you are about to shoot but since she is a beginner we have to train her eyes to just go straight to the rim. "I can definitely tell that she is developing. Overall she is doing really well but of course we have to fix some of the minor mistakes that all beginners make but that's no big deal. Can't wait to see what the outcome will be." -Zaharee "There is a lot of little things about this sport that you have to perfect to be able to get other things right but I am still loving this experience." Recap Last week we started passing. Courtney learned the three different types of passes; chest, bounce, and over the head. We first started with the chest pass as it is the easiest of the three but none of them you would consider to be hard. Then we covered the other two. Courtney did a great job with all the passes. Though she didn't have somebody guarding her making the passes a bit more difficult to complete. Moving on To get started with this week's lesson we reviewed all the material that we have covered so far. She definitely had improved on the techniques since she first learned them. When teaching someone how to shoot it is important to know how they already shoot. So he told her to shoot around for about 10 minutes while he watched to see her form, angles, etc. Here we were just working on your regular shot. Next thing that he needed to figure out was Courtney's jump shot so we started shooting back and fourth. While she was shooting he was just throwing out a couple tips to see if she could take in what he said and adjust. Zaharee said that a jump shot is just muscle memory. He taught Courtney the BEEF acronym. B stands for Balance, which needs to be maintained the entire time by standing with your feet shoulder width apart and bending your knees. E stands for eye, this means keeping your eyes on the middle of the rim the entire time your delivering. The next E stands for elbow, when shooting you want to keep your elbow tucked in when you shoot to help the ball stay in line. Lastly, F which stands for follow through and this is kinda self explanatory just following the shot all the way through with your hand. Stepping it up
We went about 2 feet away from the goal and shoot. She did this with both he left and right hands while Zaharee rebounded the balls. Zaharee said that the more reps that you get in the better off you will be. Then we took it back a little further to 8 feet away from the goal. We shot here for about 5-10 minutes using both left and right hands. After he asked Courtney what was different about when she shot 2 feet away versus shooting 8 feet away. She said that she couldn't shot the same way at both distances. Zaharee then told her why. He said that form varies depending on the distance at which you are shooting from. This is why it is important you get muscle memory with the same shot so you don't have to think about it you can just do it. "Great work this week. I am really impressed on how she is able to take what I say and apply it so quickly." -Zaharee "Things are definitely beginning to step up and we are moving a little bit faster now than we were before." -Courtney Recap Last week we wrapped up dribbling. Overall she did a good job with this and showed lots of potential. Dribbling was just the first one of the five basic skills of basketball. So no it is time to move on to the next one so that we have enough time to cover everything. We are planning to only spend one week on passing so that we can cover everything before the final game. Before starting with the new stuff we went back over everything from when we first started. Making sure that she still had all of those skills. As expected she still had them and did way better that the first time. After going back over everything we did some stretching getting us all warmed up. We also did some workouts that focused on the arm muscles because those are the ones that we would be using the most but still not to forget about the leg muscles because they are just as important if not more. Then we woke up the ball as she learned how to do last week getting her mind ready. Moving On So this week we began a new skill of passing. First we got about 10 feet apart and did chest passes. This is just throwing the ball from your chest to your partners chest. After we did the chest pass we moved on to the bounce pass and this is simply where you bounce the ball into your partner's hands. Lastly she learned the over the head pass. This is where you throw the ball from over your head just like it sounds. You could then make this into a bounce pass or chest passe depending on where the defenders are. Stepping it up
When learning how to pass Zaharee told Courtney to make she that she always follows through with her hand and to let her hands guide the ball. After this he wanted to begin a passing drill with her. In the first drill Zaharee ran around the perimeter of the court and Courtney had to throw a differnt pass to him each place he moved. Then they switched places and Courtney was no the one moving and catching the different passes that Zaharee threw her. Next we did an exercise where Zaharee would throw the ball at Courtney and however she caught it she had to adjust to a certain pass to pass the ball back to him. To make it a little more difficult he would call out the pass that she had to throw back to him. After awhile Zaharee could tell that she had a pretty good handle on all the passing techniques and since we are supposed to be practicing social distancing he decided that we should end the session there. "I think that I did pretty well this week but still continuing to work on all the previous things I've learned along with the new stuff to keep getting better." -Courtney "She is do a great job. You can see the effort that she is putting in and the hard work and dedication will definitely pay off for her." -Zaharee Recap... Week 2 was definitely more of a challenge. Last week we focused on just being comfortable with the ball. She learned a couple of new techniques to continue to develop her as a player. Of course she didn't immediately pick up on the drills but after constantly repeating the same motions over and over it eventually got easier and more of a natural movement. One of the main focuses of last week's session was being able to keep your head up while moving with the ball. As easy as it sounds this is more of a struggle then what most people think. The challenge for last week was being able to dribble in the rocks. This was definitely a task. The ball bouncing against the rocks doesn't give you the same constant bounce that you get bouncing the ball against a smooth surface. Moving on We began the session with stretching to warm ourselves up. Then they talked about how dribbling was more mental than physical. Then she learned how to "wake the ball up." This gets your mind thinking about what your getting ready to do. You do this by smacking the ball and alternating it in between hands. We also went back and review all the new techniques from last week. You could definitely tell the difference between this week and last week. Stepping it up
We did a cone drill to show her how much mental emotion goes into dribbling. This drill requires you to move around the cones while dribbling, but the cones are placed in no certain pattern so you just have to be able to adapt. As we did last week he wanted to move her back to the gravel and this time really focus on not losing the ball. Next he wanted me to try to do wall sits and dribble. So she had her back up against his cousins house doing a wall sit and while she did them she was dribbling. This was definitely a task and wasn't easy at all. She wasn't that well at that it but she tried as hard as she could. Then he wanted her to do suicide dribbling. This is where you start at the end of the court dribble to the chalk line that he drew on the court then dribble back to the end of the court and then go to the next chalk line that was drawn. He wanted her to slowly get faster. To gradually slow down and let the session come to an end he wanted her to roll the ball around both of her ankles for 1 minute. "Every week you can tell that she is improving in more than one way." -ZaHaree "It definitely is beginning to get more difficult and there is a lot more to this sport than people may realize." -Courtney |
the player& the CoachMy name is Courtney Wilkes, I am the player. I have never played basketball in my life but am very excited to learn. |