Prayer

    At the beginning of each practice we pray.  At the end of each practice we pray, and before and after each game, we pray, all together as a team each time.   It is a good habit.  It is a good routine.   I grow so accustomed to this routine that I half-expect to hear the break down"1-2-3-TEAM..." immediately following prayers at home.

     My question for the team last week was about the purpose of prayer for our practice.

    My concern about our prayers were that as they were routine, they were not always entered into wholeheartedly. And as picks are not effective when they are not done with purpose, I feared that our prayers had lost some of the meaning.

    The conversation we had helped even me recognize the value of prayer outside of basketball. We  talked about the power of prayer, and determined that praying would still be a good thing to do as much as possible.  I hope guys grow in their prayer life, and  as we continue to pray as a team this season, that we would with a purpose.

Grand Haven Scrimmage Info

Scrimmage

@ Grand Haven High School

Friday, November 28^th, 2014

                        1          Grand Haven                          Bob Eidson

                        2          Baldwin                                 Josh Kutchinski

                        3          Zeeland West                       Kevin Towne

                        4          Tri-Unity                               Mark Keeler

                        5          West Ottawa                         Steve Windemuller

                        6          WMC                                      Kyle Mastenbrook

Varsity Teams – 10:00am to 12:45 noon (gym opens at 9:30am)

West ct                      East ct                                                      Aux gym

10:00

1-4                              2-5                                                                  3-6

10:50

1-2                              5-6                                                                  3-4

11:40

1-3                              4-5                                                                  2-6

Done at 12:30 approx.

Junior Varsity Teams – 1pm to 3:15 pm

West ct                       East ct                                                             Aux gym

1:00

1-4                              2-5                                                                  3-6

1:50

1-2                              5-6                                                                  3-4

2:40   

1-3                              4-5                                                                  2-6

Done at 3:30 pm approx..

Freshman Teams – 4:00 – 6:30 pm

                                   

ALL TEAM NUMBERS REMAIN THE SAME ECEPT  FOR BALDWIN AND TRI-UNITY CHRISTIAN.  THEY ARE REPLACED BY RAVENNA JV AND TRI UNITY IS REPLACED BY GRANDVILLE

West Court                 Middle Court             East Court                  Aux. Gym

4:00 pm

1 VS 2                                                             3 VS 6                         4 VS 5            

4:50 pm

1 VS 6                                                             3 VS 4                         2 VS 5

5:40

1 VS 5                                                             2 VS 3                         6 VS 4                        

                                   

                                   

Game Format

Ø  JV/Varsity – 2 periods – 18 minute running clock, stop the clock the last minute of the game

Ø  Freshman – 2 periods-18 minutes running clock, stop the clock last minute of the game

Ø  Officials will be provided

Ø  Coaches can call timeouts, clock will still run, unless it is the last minute of the game

Score clocks will be available in each gym (you must provide your own scorekeeper)                                   

Foul Shots – Act of shooting will be 1 FTA worth two pts, unless it is an “and one”, then it will be 1 pt.

Ø  Substitutions – Dead balls or call a quick Timeout for a sub (Try not to take away an opponent’s fast break or advantage with substitutions)

Ø  BLOB/SLOB – decide with opposing coach and let officials know if you are going to use them or “check it” on top

Christ Sets Screens?

     The two things that have been emphasized the most in basketball practice on the offensive end are setting picks, and moving the ball.  Even if I have a mismatch, if I see an open guy, I can make a great team play by passing the ball and setting a solid screen away from the ball.  Without these acts, our offense will be stagnant and more difficult to defend.  With unselfish ball movement and solid screens, we can make life difficult for defenders.  Both of these things are acts of humility.

     I really want to confuse the reporters asking what our strength will be as a team this year by telling them "meekness."  This would seem incredibly backwards, but as Christ did some things that seemed backwards (Ie. coming to earth to serve, rather than be served), so we as his followers can understand how we can be called to humility.  

     I wanted to remind the guys of the two humble basketball acts we had been emphasizing.  I also wanted the guys to understand learn about the command to imitate Christ's humility.  We discussed Philippians 2 by having players say in what ways Christ was humble, in what ways we can be humble in basketball, and ways we can act in humility outside of basketball.

Mission to be Great Discussion Nov. 20

     We spent some of the practice time Thursday getting focused on what we were aiming for this season.  I was impressed by the participation of the group, and the maturity shown in their answers.   Coach Dugener took note of what the team agreed on would be good goals for the team.  These goals will be summarized into a mission statement that we will discuss at a later time.  

Below you can see a picture of the notes we took down, and some highlights from this discussion.

     We could all agree that it was important to play for the glory of God.  What was really beneficial was talking about what that meant or how that would look.  A verse that came up was, I Thessalonians 5:16-18 “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”  This was a verse I remember discussing with the seniors as they were freshman as our triple threat against the challenges we face. 

      We will talk more about the challenges we face, but in our discussion we talked about how basketball's challenges can give us an opportunity to test our faith.  Two good things can come from faith testing situations, a strengthening of confidence in God/Self/Relationship with God (See Abraham's Testing), or it can show that ones faith is not strong enough to rule their actions, and they must rethink their priorities.

     This discussion was a great start to further discussions that I hope will help aid these young men grow in their faith walk and help our team be unified in our efforts and mission.  From our team meeting, I can see that these guys "get it" about the importance of being unified in our efforts.  This was demonstrated by another thing we talked about, "characteristics of great teams."