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PostPosted: 13 Nov 2013, 07:42 
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Kenny: I rarely answer twice to any forum question but Iwill this time because I admire your pluck. You are me 50 years ago only with me it was Ice hockey.. I grew up very poor in a small northern Canadian town and learned to play on the frozen ponds. I would get up at 6 in te morning before school and go and skate then on the weekends, we would begin at 7 a.m. and play untiil eleven at night. If I broke a stick, I would nail it together and go back at it. I made it to semi pro, in fact I was offered a scholarship to Michigan State but couldnt accept because my grades were terrible. I quit high school to play Junior hockey for 15 dollars a week plus room, it was a tough life. why do I tell you this, because I think you are the kind of kid that can hurdle your difficulties and become successful. If you are good enough, trust me, the scouts will find you. They found Andrew Wiggens in the small town of Aurora Ontario they will find you. . My final piece ofadvice to you is dont let your financial situation be your excuse to quit or give up. All the coaches on this forum love this game. Coach Sars certainly does as he continues to aid youngsters such as your self long after retirement. Coach Kelbick, Joe Jeff Coach Rob will look after you trust in them, trust in yourself. Dont let us down..Coach Mac


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PostPosted: 13 Nov 2013, 14:42 
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Kenny -

Whatever you do, don't give up on yourself. There are a lot of stories out there like Coach Mac..... I ended up being a head coach at a major high school in our area, without playing the game ... it takes work. IF you work hard at improving your skills, you will get better, you will play better and YOU WILL be NOTICED!

Don't forget to enlist the help of your head coach, IF he got one kid into a D1 school, he sure in the heck can get another one in.

BELIEVE in YOURSELF..... work hard and have some fun too. GOOD LUCK.


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PostPosted: 13 Nov 2013, 16:09 

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Kenny -

My background: I grew up in a few smaller towns. Played all kinds of organized sports growing up, anything with a ball and I was there. Ended up settling on basketball and tennis, played both through high school. Moved to the "big city" and have been coaching for the past 10 years. The last 3 years I've coached over 300 AAU games as our team played year round in several leagues and tournaments. All the kids on my team made their high school team this year. I also have 5 boys, so I've seen a few things over the years.

Quick story. My dad made me take a tennis lesson when I was in 2nd grade. Just between you and me, I thought it was a sissy sport, so I put up a pretty good fight, but still ended up taking a lesson. For the longest time, I couldn't understand how they were keeping score and what all the lines meant on the court. So, I hit against a wall for hours every day. I played when it was windy, cold, rainy, didn't matter. I was the guy on the court when no one else was there. I didn't have cool shoes or fancy clothes, I just had a passion for the game.

Long story short, I ended up being the #1 player on my high school tennis team and had a scholarship offer to a decent university. Like young kids do, I made some bad choices and passed on the scholarship. Funny thing is, several of the kids I beat on a consistent basis ended up playing on their college teams and doing well. One kid from a real small town that I consistently clobbered ended up on the pro tour and was ranked in the world (pretty low, but he was ranked). Goes to show you that small towns can produce good athletes.

You might want to check out some Ganon Baker videos on YouTube. This guy has some great work out drills from passing to dribbling that you can do on your own. He's all about doing drills that don't require all kinds of fancy gyms or equipment.

Choices my friend, it's all about the choices we make in life. Make the good ones on a daily basis and it will pay off in the long run. You control your destiny.

_________________
CRob


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PostPosted: 13 Nov 2013, 20:40 

Posts: 22
Coach Mac, I'm extremely honored that you feel that way about me, thank you so much for sharing your story with me, I feel like although we barley know each other, we are in some ways connected, Coach Rob, that sounds a bit like me, I currently play 4 sports (baseball, basketball, football, track n' field, which is everything they offer for boys), I'm pretty sure I've already said that I started playing Basketball 3 yrs ago, well that's because like you, I resisted playing because it just seemed weird, until I started playing, and now, like you were with tennis, I'm addicted. And thank you Coach Sar, I won't let you down. I'll keep trying to reach my goals until my last breathe as a senior. But until then, I will NOT QUIT on my goals. Since you all have been Coaching a while I figure you'll know this... Say their is a kid who IS better than me, but I have better grades than him, will that make a difference? (I'm currently on Honor Roll, 3.6 GPA)


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PostPosted: 14 Nov 2013, 08:16 
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Kenny -

That might depend on the school and HOW MUCH better he is than you. IF he is Michael Jorrdan better that will make a difference.... a big diference. IF his GP is borderline passing, I would say you would have an edge. There are 100s of great players out there but a lot of coaches don't want to worry about grades, some could care less, all the want is the Ws.
Shoot for the Yales, Princetons, Northwestern type schools...... You need good grades to get in. Bottom line is, there are 100s of schools out there.... and he cant go to them all. LOL

IF I would have worried about grades as I started college, I would have never gone. I was luck if I had a C average in HS..... I didn't go to college until I was 32 and from day one till I finished with 67 hours past my Masters, I had a 4.59. Took me a little while to mature huh!

One thing I hate to see is you worrying about this other kid, kind of like myself who didn't worry about all the other coaches out there that played the game while I didn't. That just made me work that much harder to beat them... SO .... work on your game and be the best player that KENNY can be and every day you set foot on the floor, work on a couple of things to make yourself better.

Here is one of our games... the team we played was #8 in the State... While I was really big on ball control, you tell me IF I let my players shoot when they were open. More than one way to skin a cat. Trust me, you can do anything that you make up your mind to do.... just takes a little work. IF I could do this without any playing experience, you sure in the heck can with everything that you do.

http://www.ihigh.com/osbornecardinals/video_886382.html

Hang in there and BELIEVE in yourself!!


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PostPosted: 14 Nov 2013, 14:30 
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By the way Kenny -

Your parents must be very proud of you... you are a very polie, well mannered young man.... and you can be proud of yourself for all that you do.


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