semi OT: I need some advice

christian72589 · Post #1 » by **christian72589** » Tue Dec 2, 2008 2:53 am

My younger brother is a very talented basketball player and is a freshman in highschool. He plays JV

and just had his first game. In the game he went one for one from the field for three, but played a

whopping 2 mins. in a ten point loss. He has never been a bench player far less a player that gets no

PT and is extremely discouraged right now... I am wondering if any of you can offer me words of

advice to help him along or anything... do you guys think maybe he should move down? Or do you

think it would be better for him to tough it out and see? In case it matters, he averaged 15 ppg 7

ast. 2 blks. and 4 rebs in middle school, so He isn't a scrub playing in a small school

Cammo101 · Post #2 » by **Cammo101** » Tue Dec 2, 2008 3:31 am

IMO he will be better off being a bench guy on JV than being a starter on the Freshman team. He will get a ton of experience playing agaisnt the older, better players every day in practice. You need to tell him to be patient and continue to improve and work hard in practice. If he keeps working and keeps his head up, he will be better off for the experience.

Remind him that he is a Freshman playing with older players and he needs to be patient. His time will come and the coaches clearly see that or he would be back on the Freshman team.

EasternMagic · Post #3 » by **EasternMagic** » Tue Dec 2, 2008 3:45 am

stick it out

Post #4 » by **UCFJayBird** » Tue Dec 2, 2008 4:42 am

coaches generally respect a player who is willing to tough it out and wait for his dues. If anything, have him talk to his coach and ask what the coach thinks. The coach will probably say he's on the higher team because he sees him as a starter next year and a leader, and wants him to learn the system and know what he's going against going into next year. Plus, he should use this as motivation to fight for more playing time.

and of course there are always extenuating circumstances that could change what you should do.

UCFknight84 · Post #5 » by **UCFknight84** » Tue Dec 2, 2008 4:53 am

christian72589 wrote:My younger brother is a very talented basketball player and is a freshman in highschool. He plays JV

and just had his first game. In the game he went one for one from the field for three, but played a

whopping 2 mins. in a ten point loss. He has never been a bench player far less a player that gets no

PT and is extremely discouraged right now... I am wondering if any of you can offer me words of

advice to help him along or anything... do you guys think maybe he should move down? Or do you

think it would be better for him to tough it out and see? In case it matters, he averaged 15 ppg 7

ast. 2 blks. and 4 rebs in middle school, so He isn't a scrub playing in a small school

he should tough it out, hes going to get better practicing with the JV players instead of the freshman. If he doesnt get playing time after the next 3 or 4 games, tell him to be a man and talk to his coach about how he feels hes better than the limited minutes he's getting.

As for offseason, if he really wants to be good, he needs to play in basketball camps/leagues and hit the weight room if he isnt already.

Post #6 » by **Devin 1L** » Tue Dec 2, 2008 5:05 am

You should stick it out.

Tell the coach that if he doesn't start you, that you're not going to play. Call out your teammates, burn as many bridges as possible, and try to force them to cut you. Then, sign with the neighboring town.

mrtcsm · Post #7 » by **mrtcsm** » Tue Dec 2, 2008 5:34 am

We need proof.... Pics or Video will do!!!

As far as helping him with any advice you should tell him there are guys in the team that have earned their spots for 3 or 4 years and are on their way out. He will get his chance when time comes but for now he will be better just watching and learning from older players and trying to be a sponge and absorb everything the coach has to teach him. If he does this, then probably by his junior year he will be like a coach on the basketball court and having all the confidence from the coach staff I have no doubt he will be the captain for his team. So for now, just stick to practice, practice, and practice!!! He can be pretty good, but at that age, there is ALWAYS room for improvement... He needs to go to the gym and workout his body three or four days a week and do the same on the court practicing his dribbling, shooting and playing schemes. I hope this help him and that at the end of his HS career he can get a scholarship to go play College Basketball for a good team. After that, who knows...

So how tall is he??? Can he help us at the PG spot?!?!?! I might give a call to Otis so that they can begin the scouting process!!! :wink:

Bests!

christian72589 · Post #8 » by **christian72589** » Tue Dec 2, 2008 2:03 pm

thank you all for responding... i have a ton of dvds of him i have to find a way to make a mixtape or something for real... i agree with sicking with that team and being patient. i will seriously work on getting some video up online and let you know. once again thanks a lot.

magicfanatic23 · Post #9 » by **magicfanatic23** » Tue Dec 2, 2008 8:07 pm

I played Varsity my sophomore year and I was in a very similar situation. I had never been a bench warmer and I rarely ever played that season. However in the long run, the things I learned that season helped me tremendously. Until you get to about HS varsity, you don't realize how hard you have to work and how good the competition is. It was a great learning experience for me to learn from older, bigger, stronger guys who made me want to work hard to be like them. I know its tough sitting on the bench for a season when your not used to it. A lot of times I wished I was playin JV. Just remind him that in the long run, playing up will only make u better. Trust me he just has to stick with it, stay motivated and work hard especially in the offseason.

Teams are made in the season but PLAYERS are made in the offseason. Never forget that.

BTW Does your brother live in the area and if so who does he play for?

christian72589 · Post #10 » by **christian72589** » Tue Dec 2, 2008 11:22 pm

Yeah, he plays for lake howell right now. we are in the casselberry area. He was going to go to Bishop Moore, but there is WAAAAYYY too much politics in that school, along with terrible coaching. I will never forget how that school was when it came to athletics (or discipline for that matter). Basically, the more your parents were willing to fork out, the better your chances of playing and/or making a team. We (my fam) didn't have much to fork out, so we didn't want him to be held back for that reason.

magicfanatic23 · Post #11 » by **magicfanatic23** » Wed Dec 3, 2008 1:11 am

Lake Howell is a great basketball school. No wonder he isn't getting that many minutes as a freshman. Just tell him to keep his head up and work hard. They have a good program with good coaches so that is a great opportunity. Good luck to him.

christian72589 · Post #12 » by **christian72589** » Wed Dec 3, 2008 2:58 am

^thank you so much... i will work on getting a video and i will share it with you all... thanks again.

Kent · Post #13 » by **Kent** » Wed Dec 3, 2008 3:44 am

Definitely tell him to stick it out on JV. I played a sport in high school and was on JV all the way up to junior year. My coaches felt I would be better suited to practice with the varsity as a way of getting better, faster. Truth be told: I did get a lot better and became a captain of JV, setting up my role on varsity my senior year.

Plus, if he works hard in practice against the older players, he'll get noticed a heck of a lot faster by the coaches and receive more confidence should the need to play him arise.

I'd love to see what encouraging words HappyPedro would give. His "advice columns" are always a good laugh.

TheRevTy · Post #14 » by **TheRevTy** » Wed Dec 3, 2008 4:16 am

Back when I played 7th and 8th grade basketball, I was a stud. 7 or 8 fouls per game. They couldn't stop me. I was a machine.

christian72589 · Post #15 » by **christian72589** » Wed Dec 3, 2008 5:17 am

lol... i took the advice from you all and things seem to be going well... I just told him to bust his tail

today in practice like never before and the coach took notice... apparently, his 2 mins impressed

the coach enough that he took him aside and told him that he is going to give him mins

tomorrow and that he needs to just be more aggressive and that he ( my brother) didnt "owe any favors to the

upperclassmen" as far as not gunning for their spot. We will see how it goes... I will keep you all

posted with any RELEVANT information. thanks for all the support.

Post #16 » by **Devin 1L** » Wed Dec 3, 2008 5:24 am

Not to get too off-topic, but is your return key broke or do I suck at poetry?

christian72589 · Post #17 » by **christian72589** » Thu Dec 4, 2008 5:31 am

lol, no man i usually do that so that my posts don't look like giant blocks... and if i add anything it messes up the way it looks.