Believe it or not, we are 1/3 of the way through our Edge season. To date, we have practiced more than 10 times and competed in two tournaments. I thought it would be a good time to embark on my first “Coaches Corner” of the season.

Our staff has said on a number of occasions that the primary objective of our program is improved fundamental development. If the participants can become better defenders (including on the ball, off the ball, rebounding, etc.) as well as becoming more skilled offensive players while having fun and making some new friends, our season is a success. If we win some ballgames on the way, in my mind, that is gravy.

Let me clarify that last point: we will try to win every game we play in, but only by adhering to our philosophy and staying within our program design. We are, along with your hard work and enthusiasm, attempting to assist you to having a better high school season next year than you did last season. For some of you, that will simply mean making next year’s team. For others, it might include moving from the bench to becoming a starter. Your goal might be leading your team to a league championship. Again, if this Edge season can help you achieve your goal of having a more successful high school season next year, than we will be happy to help you along that path.

What are some areas that will help you achieve your goals? To start, you can always improve in the following: ballhandling, seeing the floor, passing, decision making, screening, hustling after loose balls, applying the importance of the team taking the best shot available (which will often require you to pass up your shot if a better one is presented), shooting a true jump shot off the pass and dribble, strengthening three or four 1 on 1 moves on the perimeter and low post, shooting at least 50% from the floor and 75% from the foul line, limiting turnovers, scoring in traffic/around the basket with contact, improving your strength and conditioning, becoming quicker, improving your hand-eye coordination and footwork, becoming a better all-around defender, understanding various stratagies in specific situations (ie-down 2 with 30 seconds to go without any timeouts), etc.

For continued improvement in the aforementioned areas as well as many more, we will continue to harp on improved skill development in the duration of our practices. Will we spend some more time on running “sets” in practice? Yes, but only slightly. It has been our experience that kids benefit exponentially from a concerted effort to improve skill development through various fun, competitive, structured drills rather than making them “robotic” by running them through the same set offenses against a man or zone defense time and time again. The bottom line is that, no matter how well orchestrated a set offense is, if you aren’t passing, dribbling, or shooting correctly, you and your team’s success will be limited.

With that, I ask that all of our players and parents continue to “keep your eye on the 8 ball” which in our Edge program means “continued skill development” and not team won-loss record. Our program has helped more than 20 Dutchess County boys basketball players on their way to playing in college. I can honestly say that, in 10 years of working with this program as well as at Poughkeepsie and OLL High Schools, I’ve never had a coach ask me or a recruit, “What was your team’s AAU record last year?” Furthermore, when coaches are gathering to talk shop about specific players or select an all-Tournament or All-Conference team, they talk about things that those individual players accomplished, never AAU won-loss records.

I am really looking forward to working with your guys in practice this week! As always, please let me know if you have any questions.

Coach Hayes