And Summer basketball is officially over!

Well, I have spent this past week at Heart of America basketball camp. Talk about a hot week. With the temperature over 100 degrees outside can you imagine what it must be like in an unairconditioned basketball court? Well let me tell you, it's hot, hot, hot. I was with the 8,9,10,11, and 12 year olds this week. There were a total of 73 kids. Big group. Add to the fact that we were at the YMCA and had to compete with YMCA Day Camp all day, it made for a pleasent experience. I had lost my voice after the second day. All in all, I had a good group to work with. I mainly stayed with the 12 year old group. Great group! A lot of talent. You know, I think I really like that age group better than the little kids. I've worked with the little guys for 4 years now, and not to take anything away from them, but the skill level is much better (obviously) with the 12 year olds. And maybe to, it was because I had known some of them from tournaments that we've played in. I got to meet some really neat kids from teams we've played before from the Emporia Spartans, Topeka Stars, Kansas Kings and the Manhattan Magic. We talked about meeting each other over the winter. I'm sure we'll see these teams at some point. I loved to hear them tell how they hated to see World Class Sports on their weekend schedule.
It was nice to see that all four WCS players, that were at camp this week (Treyton Hines (3rd), Dylan Lefort (5th), Devon James (6th), and Parker Hambley (alumni) were named to the All-Star team. It's great to see our players make a name for themselves and find other success rather in just our games.
HOA camp officially marks the end of my summer basketball experience for the year. Can't wait to start back up in October.

Saying Goodbye - For now

The only thing that I hate about this coaching thing is the fact that we all at one time or another have to move on to bigger and better things. After this tournament, unfortunately, we had to say goodbye to some players as they will be leaving to play for their school teams in the winter. It's not that we won't miss those who are unsure of the winter's options, but these players are entering into a new chapter that the others of us won't be entering for another whole year. They deserve our recognition.

Blaine Newton is going to play for Concordia Middle School this next school year and has played a very positive role on our team this summer. And what's better is that it is a role he wasn't used to playing. Blaine has really improved his defense greatly which will be a strong factor when playing at the middle school. His defense kept us in games and helped us pull away when they were close. Defense is wonderful, but don't forget that you can shoot the ball too.

Matt Weaver is going to play for his middle school team in Hesston. Matt will not be playing with us this winter like he did last year and our team will have a big hole that will be impossible to fill. Matt has also been a very important part of our team. His ability to attack the basket and the uncanny ability to be in the right place at the right time, have been his biggest assets. Man, those shots from the corners have been the dagger in hopeful teams hearts on many an occasion. We'll miss his hustle and defensive awareness. Oh yeah, and he was fun to pick on to. Stay away from trampolines and smoke bombs.

And finally Cade Hays. (God, I hope I don't cry again) He will be leaving us to play for the Ell-Saline Cardinals this season. Cade has been with WCS for six seasons now. It makes me proud to think of how much he has worked and how much he has improved since his first day of practice with us. Cade never would have taken a ball and dribbled full speed from one end to the other and make a layup without the practice and determination he's showed throughout the years. Cade has been our motivation over the past seasons. It always makes our whole team pumped when we see someone who has worked so hard for something be rewarded with success. I have never met anyone who tries so hard ALL the time. That little turnaround jumper and those high arcing shots from the elbows have proven to many teams to be deadly. That shot is money. Cade will help his Cardinals greatly next year.

Good luck to all of you. We will be thinking of you and wish you all the luck. You have been and always will be a part of our WCS family. See you next summer.

Finishing off with a bang.

You know , this weekend was a rough weekend. Not so much from a winning or competition standpoint, we won all games by 15 or more, but we had a rough time of executing and finishing some basic basketball plays. Nevertheless, you all always seem to amaze me how well you perservere and fight hard to win a basketball game.
I will say this, even though we won games handley, they took a quite a bit of effort to do so. I am very proud of our wins and think that these were some of the hardest fought wins we earned all summer, mainly because we had to control ourselves as well as the other team. Those gold medals should feel good around your necks this week, because we earned them.
Finishing our summer season with a record of 27-4 really says a lot about how hard you have all worked. It's nice being able to grab anyone off of the bench at any time and know that they will contribute to the team. That I think is part of the reason for our success. Everyone had a role on the team, and they played it to the hilt. It's fun to watch.

Our WCS 7th graders look like they have been playing well also these past couple of weeks. It sure is nice to see World Class teams being recognized throughout the state in a positive manner. Think of this: the past two weekends, WCS teams have won 3 gold medals and a silver and have combined for a record of 23-1. Now that's impressive.

Comments from Steve O

A great big team effort results in a Championship for the WCS 7th graders (soon to be 8th) in Lawrence this weekend.

After winning all three pool games on Saturday by an average of 20 points, we knew it would get tougher on Sunday. The semi's saw WCS match up against the August Jazz; after trailing by four at half-time, the kids stepped up their intensity in the second half and out scored the Jazz 28-18 to advance to the championship game with a 52-47 victory. The championship was a rematch against the St. Joe Heat. In pool play WCS won 53-37 over the Heat but we knew this time the Heat had revenge on their minds. After WCS lead 22-14 at half-time the Heat came out on fire to take an eight point lead late in the game. WCS wasn't going to be denined this week and played great defense down the stretch followed up with some clutch shooting and key free-throws to seal the championship 44-41.

Again what a great team effort all weekend long. Congratulations to Brian, Matt, Tyler, Cody, Logan, Xavier, Keegan, and Zac.

You guy's show great class and wonderful sportsmanship all weekend.

Friday Night Lights

Just finished playing our two games this evening. I'm happy to say that we won both of them. Even though we won rather easily, we didn't play all that well. We had a little trouble playing some good defense, which I might say is one of our strongest areas. The fact that we had a little trouble shooting in the second game didn't seem to help much either. We were short on everything. That poor rim was in the shape of a square by the time we were done shooting. Oh well, that's the game of basketball. Gotta love it.
I think we learned a good lesson tonight about how to play by the way the referees set the tone of the game. A couple of players picked up some cheapo fouls by not sliding their feet as well as they are capable and got called for reaching. Some refs call it tight, some don't call anything. As a basketball player, you have to know how to adjust your game to make sure that you stay in it.
I was glad to see "Smoky Bear", "Huggy Bear", "Weaviepoo", whatever his nickname is at the time. play this weekend. He had to leave us a bit early last weekend because of some sickness. I hope all the trouble is past him so he can move on and enjoy his summer. After all, it is his 13th birthday tomorrow. Everyone get those paddles ready. We owe Blaine some from a few weeks ago anyway.
Let's go out and play hard tomorrow. D-UP!

7th Grade successful during weekend tournament

I am happy to report that our 7th graders went and played in Maize this weekend and eneded up placing second and coming away with a silver medal. They were down by five or more points at halftime of each game and ended up fighting back to win. They ended the weekend with a record of 5-1. It is great to hear that our World Class teams are making a name for themselves throughout the state of Kansas.
This summer is probably the last year that they will be WCS as we know it. Next year, they will all be playing for their respective schools as they will be 8th graders this upcoming year. This is the first group of players who have played on a World Class team from start to finish (3rd grade to 7th grade). I wish them all luck as they move on and play for their middle school teams. You have all helped establish the name of World Class Sports in Kansas and the reputation that comes with it. Nate would be very proud of the hard work you have all put in over the years.
Thanks to Steve who has taken a lot of his time, money, and efforts to keep you guys going over the years. We could not have done it without him.

Get Well Soon Smoky Bear.

In the midst of our action packed weekend of basketball, we were missing a very key element and player to our team. And even though we gave you a hard time about your "accident", Matt, we hope you are feeling better and we want you to rest up and get well so that we can see you at Hutch where we hope to pick up where we left off. We missed you this weekend.
Take it easy buddy and we'll see you next tournament.

McPherson tournament

Here we are proudly displaying our medals and plague we earned from finishing first place in the McPherson MAYB tournament.
While the competition wasn't really the best, we played hard and even learned some things about ourselves. I hope that in the future, we'll be able to branch out and enter into some more competitive tournaments. Unfortunately, in order to do that, we are probably going to have to venture out from our area. It's nice to win, but when we are doing it by 30 points every game, it's really not all that fun. I don't like playing games like that because we can't do some of things that are our strengths such as press and play pressure defense. When we are up by so many points, we have to back off a bit. It's hard to give merit to pressing when up by 20+ points. We're not here to demoralize other teams. We are called World Class for a reason. I am very happy to be blessed with such a great group of young men who go out and play as hard as they can every single game. That says a lot for your character. Even though, I as a coach, get on you guys at times, sometimes not enough, I am very appreciative of everything that you have brought to our basketball club. You guys are setting the standard for future teams and you should be proud of all you've accomplished and will continue to do.

Hey Everyone!!!

Hey all you WCS fans. This is my first attempt at a blog. I am giving this a shot to see how it works. I'll try to post my comments and things on games and other happenings if I can find the time. Feel free to make your comments known as well. We'll see how this blog thing works together.