June 23, 2023. I am working with another camp at Skyhawks sports academy. This week’s camp is in the City of Shaker Heights, OH. I am coaching a basketball camp. It is Friday and it our game day. On Friday, we focus on competing with one another. We usually divide the kids into different teams to make it enjoyable.
In the beginning of our practice, we did active warm up with freestyle movements. These include dribbling and shooting. After about 15 minutes later, we started to create our competition. We created 5 teams and each team had 3 kids. We played 3 on 3 basketball in the half court. I was surprised to see the kids’ progress. They were really skilled and some of them showed high potential. Just like the kids, I am also improved as a coach. I am better at managing and coaching practices. Especially, when I am in communication with parents, I can understand what they want from our programme. Today was largely about competing with one another and winning team awarded with candy. As a coach, I prepared the certificates for each kid. We provided them different Skyhawks shirts and shorts. Hopefully, this was an experience that they will remember in rest of their life. Personally, I was exhausted because it was a long week. Considering drive that I am doing from Tiffin to Cleveland is not easy. But my passion about sports and coaching encourages me to go for it!
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June 22, 2023. I am working with another camp Skyhawks sports academy. This week’s camp is in the City of Shaker Heights, OH. I am coaching a beginning golf camp along with three other coaches. Today, we created a station to work on athletes’ skill.
Personally, I don’t have enough knowledge about this sport. I am coaching based on my searches that I did before the session. Thus, I am prepared for the camp and created a camp schedule based on my findings. Today, the weather was rainy which makes it harder for kids to hit the ball and have fun outside. However, we did have so much fun! Me and along with other three coaches created a camp game. Top 5 kids who hit the longest distances has been awarded with a snack. I figured that kids are having so much fun with our camp games. Hence, I implemented different practices which we can turn them into the games. Our camps usually finish with a camp game and competition. We also ask questions about what the kids learned today. Individually, I am getting better as a coach. The most challenging part of working with kids is the communication. Sometimes kids tend to not listen and you need to say one thing several time and then they start doing it. However, I am having fun with the interesting experience and grateful for working with Skyhawks! June 21, 2023. I am working with another camp Skyhawks sports academy. This week’s camp is in the City of Shaker Heights, OH. I am coaching a basketball camp. Today the weather was rainy but we have a great basketball here inside the facility. Most importantly, we have everything we need for basketball. I feel that it is going to be very interesting throughout the week. We have kids ranging from age of 5 to 12. Therefore, we have to split them based on their skills and age. I am responsible for older kids. I am teaching them the basics of basketball. These are dribbling, handling, shooting and passing the ball. Each day we teach different skills. On Fridays and Wednesday, we do basketball competition and award the winning team.
For me, I pay close attention to kids’ behavior. Because it is an important evidence for me to create a good camp schedule. I like to implement practices that kids enjoy so they can have more fun on what they do. Additionally, I teach them the basic principles of basketball such as importance of assists and importance of getting your teammates engaged in attack. I also like to test their knowledge of the sport. I ask questions about their favorite player and team. As I always mention, I think I am getting one percent better as a coach in each day I work. Especially, working with kids is different experience. June 20, 2023. I am working with another camp Skyhawks sports academy. This week’s camp is in the City of Shaker Heights, OH. I am coaching a basketball camp along with one other coach with me. In the beginning of our session, I held orientation session with families. I explained them about our goal and vision behind our practices. After that session, we (as coaches) started to get to know each kid and played a name game with kids.
At first, we started to play Skyhawks camp games. This is important because kids have lot of fun while playing these games. It is also active warm up for them as well. Then, we got into actual practice. I explained the basics of basketball. I described the rules and regulations of basketball. We started the practice with dribbling the ball. We dribbled the ball with both right and left hands. The challenging part of most of the practice under the sun. Because the very gets really hot when it comes close to lunch time and we need to take frequent water band snack breaks between the practices. I also try to wear hat all the time, otherwise, the sun can give us headaches. At the end of the practice, I made a quiz for the kids. I asked them what they learnt today and asked the basketball rules that I described in the beginning of practice. We finished the practice with camp games. I checked out each kid from the camp with their parent’s signature. June 19, 2023. I am working with another camp at Skyhawks sports academy. This week’s camp is in the City of Shaker Heights, OH. I am coaching a basketball camp along with one coach. Today, our main focus was on shooting the basketball. As a coach, I tried to explain them the right shooting form, the right shooting technique, and the aim. I told them you should always aim the furthest distance of the rim that is the closest to the backboard. This way, players can have better chance of making the basket. Also, when shooting a free throw, the form should never change. Each player has different free throw routine and they should stick and repeat the same shooting routine over and over time. This will make them better free throw shooter.
Additionally, we also worked on our jump shots. Obviously, it can be hard for kids to jump and shoot but the right foot work movements were my goal. I taught them how they should stand, and set their foot when shooting. Afterwards, we gave 10 to 15 minutes snack break. After the break, we played camps games such as ‘’Skyhawks across the ocean’’. It is always fun for kids to play. They also engage with each other and build chemistry by playing this game. As usually, we finished the session with small shooting contest. The winner was awarded with a chocolate from me. Personally, I like giving and making kids happy. I am happy to get the opportunity to teach them some sports. June 7, 2023. Another day with Skyhawks sports academy summer camps. This week’s camp in Powell, OH in the library park. I am directing a soccer camp. Today, it is our competition day. Our main goal is to make the camps as enjoyable as possible for the kids.
Today’s skill was shooting the ball. When it comes to shooting the ball, there are variety of ways to shoot. The technique is also very important. We did outside foot shoot, inside foot shot, and finesse shot. I can say that kids enjoyed shooting the ball so much. They were happy to see that they can score goals. As a director, I created a small shooting competition for the kids and the winner got chocolate from me. I realized that kids get really happy and excited when they are being rewarded for their success. They become more competitive as well. At the end of our session, we created small teams to compete with one another. This was the most interesting part of our session as well. Each player of the winning team received a pocket of sweets from me. Of course, I also shared my sweets with other teams too because they wanted have some them as well. All in all, it was a great day. Working with kids is something special. Especially, knowing that we as coaches or directors are going to have an impact on their life and personal growth. So, it is important that we provide them right sports ethics and values. Thus, they can win in sports and their personal life as well. June 6, 2023. It is my second day working with Skyhawks sports academy. This week’s camp is in Powell, OH in the library park. I am directing a soccer camp. As usual, I checked in each kid and directed them to my assistant coach. He gathered everyone and started the camp game. We had already our drills ready. Because we arrive 30 mins before the camp starts to make sure everything is set.
Today, we focused on our passing abilities. I taught them the basics of making a correct pass by using the inside of the foot. Some kids used to kick the ball by using top of their foot. But I told them to pass the ball by using inside of the foot. Some kids were confused about the difference between kicking and passing the ball. Kicking usually occurs to start the game but a complete pass is being made by using the inside foot. So, I described the reason behind making pass. Soccer is one my favourite sports so I enjoyed teaching this sport. I belive I was successful delivering my messages to the kids and they were good listeners too. On the one hand, working with kids not easy. They may get crazy sometimes but that means they need break. So, I am really getting better working with kids and the experience is just great for me. Directing summer camps in Columbus&Cleveland is great opportunity for me to get to know people in my field and explore different locations too. June 5, 2023. It is my first day working with Skyhawks sports academy. This week’s camp is in Powell, OH in the library park. I am directing a soccer camp. It’s Monday and on Mondays, directors need to hold information session with kids and families. Therefore, I checked in each kid with their parent. After the check in, I held orientation session with parents. Some parents had questions regarding the camp. I tried to answer as best as I can. It’s my first time with Skyhawks and if I don’t have any idea about specific question, I call and ask our Area Manager.
In the beginning of our camp, I introduced myself and my assistant coach. Then, I let the kids to present themselves. We had a nice conversation. Then, we warmed up with our Skyhawks camp games. I was pleased to see the kids have fun with the games. After our camp game, we had a short water break before actual drills. I introduced the rules about game of soccer. I also evaluated kids’ knowledge about this sport by asking them questions. Our first drill was dribbling the ball. I focused on the technique and the positioning while dribbling the ball. After about 29 mins later, we had a snack break. So today, we mostly worked on dribbling skills and ball handling. Tomorrow, we are going to focus on passing the ball. It should keep the kids engage with each other a bit more. December 30, 2022. The Women’s Basketball practice at 3pm in Gillmor Gym. Another day at the court. Men’s team starts at 5pm after out practice so we need to make sure, we track our time precisely. We had quick huddle, warm up, and shooting drills. That’s usually what we do to get ready for the actual drills.
Our drills for today covered the full court press. We worked on our help defense. Yesterday, we also worked on how to attack against full court press so this was reverse. We also did half court press too. Players tend to make mistakes when it comes to defense. Because Coach Mason doesn’t want unnecessary defensive help from his players. It opens up space to attack for opponents. So, what we do is that we let our player know that they should stick with her player. If any help defensive help needed, they should be able to get to the help in one step. If not, the opponent has high chance to score the basket. Again, this get better with practice. Practicing over and over and knowing the mistakes are important. At the last drills, we divided our players into two groups. Some of them did fitness work and the other group did shooting drills. This is kind of a station that players switch locations every 10 minutes. I helped them with rebounding and passing the ball. Again, I am happy to be part of this great team and coaching staff. It is something I love. December 29, 2022. The Women’s Basketball practice at 3pm. It our back to back to back practice. We wanted to schedule this practice afternoon. The reason for that we wanted to give our players time to sleep. Sleeping is one the most components of physical growth and health. So, having afternoon sessions are important. Our next game is with Hillsdale. We have couple of days to practice and prepare for this game.
Today, we went over our game plays once again. It is never enough to practice those game plays. We also worked on full court press. If opponent makes a full court press, we have a special strategy to solve these situations. So, that was something new for me. I learnt that game play for the first time with the players. I asked Coach Mason to share his paper about our new gameplays and he was more than happy to provide them to me. I think that having variety of game plays on my arsenal will make a difference for my career. I am in the learning process, it is my first time to coach an NCAA div II team. This is a great opportunity. I am doing everything to take this as a full advantage. We ended the practice with shooting and free throws. I think that having frequent free throw drills also important because we need to shoot better. Free throws is always the easiest way to score and get bucket. |
AuthorMy name is Berk Ilbasan, I am an MBA Sports Management student at Tiffin University and currently an intern with TU athletics. Also, I am very passionate about sports in general. Archives
June 2023
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