Winter Break

Please mark these dates on your calendar as we have our next tournament the week after we come back from break and need all the gym time we can get to get ready for the Hawley Hot Shot Tournament! It is very important that we have all players at the next few practices to help prepare for the upcoming tournament.

• Sunday, January 3^rd, 2 – 4pm in the Community Center (2 hours instead of 1.5 and new location!)
• Monday, January 4^th, 6:30 – 8pm in HS Gym
• Saturday-Sunday, January 9^th – 10^th, Hot Shot Tourney, Hawley Schools (time/date TBD)
• Sunday, January 10^th – NO PRACTICE

If possible, we strongly encourage you to visit Open Gym over the holiday break to work on shooting and ball handling. Open Gym is on Sundays, 3:30-4:30pm. If you can’t get to Open Gym, there are five drills you can practice inside that won’t drive your parents crazy! Visit http://tinyurl.com/h5zk3zk for details and videos on how to do the drills.

Floor Shots – All great shooters practice with plenty of repetition. You can practice your shot laying bed or on the floor.

• Lie flat on your back
• Slightly bend your legs
• Set your hands in a shooting position and shoot the ball directly upward to the ceiling
• Follow through, catch the ball, and repeat

Ball Circles – You don’t have the dribble the ball to improve your ball handling skills. Strengthen your hand-eye coordination.

• Stand with your feet about shoulder-width
• Swing the ball around your torso from front to back
• Work in 60 second intervals and switch direction
• Work circling the ball around other areas of the body: head, knees, and ankles

Finger Tips – Building up strength in your fingers will help with your ball handling, passing, and catching.

• You can do this while standing, sitting, or lying down
• Hold ball in front of you with your fingertips, tap ball back and forth between your hands as quickly as possible
• More advanced players can move arms around in different locations while moving ball back and forth
• Set goals of how long you can tap ball back and forth without making a turnover

Ball Slaps – another drill that you can perform to increase finger strength.

• Hold basketball in one hand then pound it in your opposite hand
• The receiving hand should squeeze the ball upon impact
• Repeat process for 60 second intervals

Defensive Stance – Just as repetition helps your shot, muscle memory also applies to your defensive stance. Increase your strength and stamina.

• Set your feet slightly wider than shoulder-width and bend your knees to a defensive position
• Keep your hands extended
• Hold this position till fatigue

Happy Holidays and see you in 2016!

Break Info

Practice During December and Break:

• Sunday, Dec. 20 (2-3:30pm, Fieldhouse)
• Monday, Dec. 21 (6:30-8pm, HS Gym)
• Sunday, Jan.  3 (2-4pm, Community Building)
• Monday, Jan. 4 (6:30-8pm, HS Gym)

Monday night in closing, Paige led the team chant and picked a fitting word to close with. This quote popped up on my feed the very next day...

"We started out as teammates, and ended up as family!"

Great Teammates

Saw this quote today on the Proactive Coaching Facebook page and just loved it. The girls have been doing a fabulous job this year on thanking each other for a great pass, celebrating their teammates successes and cheering them on when they need lifting up. If you notice it, please help us encourage this by complimenting them when you witness their positive attitude and/or celebrating with them when they have been recognized as being a great teammate...encouragement and praise go a long way! :-)


"I would rather have a team of super teammates than super stars."

Basketball Note

Nugget Buddies

Being a proud participant in the Nugget FUNdamental League you are invited to play at half-time against your classmates at a B squad girls basketball game (see tentative schedule below, you will be notified if a change occurs). Participants will be allowed to attend free of charge. Come to the game at the time listed below. Wear your uniform and tennis shoes. You will get a chance to go into the locker room before the B game and listen to Coach Ben Lofgren fire up his B team before the game.

Please sit directly behind the Hawley Nugget Bench in the bleachers and watch the games. Please do not be running around the gym and up and down the bleachers. You will play on the Nugget gym floor at halftime of the B game. You are also invited to stand in line with the varsity team during the introductions of starting lineups and cheer the girls on to victory.

• Thursday, December 10                                5:30pm                 Opponent – Thief River Falls
• Thursday, February 11                   5:30pm                 Opponent – Perham

If you cannot attend, PLEASE email us at ladyhawleynuggets@gmail.com (or text to 218.329.2904) so that we can prepare the split-up of mini teams ahead of time.

Earn a FREE Basketball to improve your Shooting

Reminder, if you attend 5 open gyms you will receive a free basketball. Open Gym is held on Sunday's from 3:30-4:30pm in the HS Gym (November 1st through March). It works out well for us, as many players walk from practice right to open gym. Make sure to “check-in” with the Open Gym staff member to record your attendance to earn your ball.

Tournaments

While not all teams have been divided per tournament, please tentatively save the dates below. If you have a preference or prior commitment, please email us at ladyhawleynuggets@gmail.com to best accommodate your request. All girls need to bring a [women’s] basketball, filled water bottle and pants/sweatshirt to tourneys. Snacks are a great idea as well as concessions aren’t always the healthiest option. Brackets aren’t usually available until 4-7 days prior to the tournament.

• 12/12: Rothsay
• 1/9-1/10: Hawley
• 1/16: Wahpeton (optional tourney)
• 1/23: Menahga
• 1/30: Lake Park-Audubon
• 2/6: Ada
• 2/13: Norman Count East/Ulen-Hitterdal
• 2/20: Frazee
• 2/27: Waubun/Pelican Rapids/Barnesville