Kingston Lady Yellowjackets`

[JACKETDAD]

The Lady Yellow Jackets have now played 26 games in the 07-08 season (thats beginning with the Hall of Fame Game against White County). If my records are correct, they're current record is 6-19. I dont want this topic to be a sounding board for bashing the players or the coach. I think for the most part, we all want to turn this program into a program that is respectable and something the girls, the coaches, the parents and the fans can be proud of. I know several parents and players read the forums on CoachT, I've been told that the Head Coach has even been on here a few times. The purpose of this post is to get the opinions of some of you that actually watch and care about the future of this team and hopefully, maybe a suggestion or two might catch the eye of a player or coach that they feel could help this team turn its program around. I'll start with my input:

 

There are a couple girls on the bench that have seen limited time, however, when they do get the opportunity to play, they have not had the amount of turnovers that others seem to have each and every game. Maybe they should be given a little more of an opportunity to help the team.

 

Its apparent from everyone in the gym that there are attitude problems with a few players. I heard one parent say that if you have a choice between players, one continuously displays a negative attitude but sees significantlly more playing time than the other, would you rather deal with the one with the negative attitude who appears not to even care, or the other who maynot be be as quick or aggressive, but when you talk to her, she listens and actually shows some respect and tries to accomplish what you've asked them to do. I know which one I would be playing.

 

And my final thought, these girls dont need a bunch of plays to begin winning more games. Play 3 guards that turn the ball over the fewest times, put two post players down low and demand the guards get them the ball. We're big enough and strong enough to score if we get the ball inside.

 

Looking forward to others input.

[CHEESEFRIES]

I believe that there are some detrimental attitudes on the team. However, I think every coach wants to win and will play the players that he/she believes give their team the best chance to do that. I hope the problem, whatever it is, gets corrected and Kingston can return to the level they used to be at.

[fan25]

I have seen several of the Lady Yellow Jackets basketball games this year. I do not want to bash the coach or single out players, but I will suggest several things that I think is essential to turning this program around.

 

DISIPLINE starts with the coach on the first day of practice and does not change throughout the season. The coach is not being paid to win the girls friendship, but he is being paid to put together a program that the students, parents, and community can be proud of. This does not necessarily mean winning games, but does mean that the girls play hard, respect the coach, respect each other, respect other players, and understand playing for your high school team is something to be proud of.

 

DEDICATION also starts with the coach and he must stay positive through the good times and bad. If the girls sense that the coach is giving up or quitting... the girls will follow his lead. The girls must dedicate themselves to basketball and this is not only during the basketball season. AAU basketball has changed the game and is essential for girls to improve their abilities. AAU basketball is not the only way to improve though, the girls can improve by lifting weights, shooting, and working on fundamentals.

 

TEAMWORK. The players must respect each other and understand that each player has different strengths. It is essential that the girls support each other. If you watch Kingston play you can tell some of the girls do not understand the true meaning of a team.

 

Here is my top 10 list of things that I see as problems with the Kingston Lady Yellow Jackets.

 

1. The girls are out of shape. They do not play but 6-7 players the majority of the time, so they need to be in shape to maintain intensity throughout the game.

 

2. The girls do not play with enough intensity. This could be corrected through tougher practices and better conditioning. Everyone needs to be attentive at practice so when they go into the game, or scrimmage in practice, they know the plays.

 

3. TURNOVERS. The Lady Jackets turn the basketball over approximately 20-25 times per game with the majority of the turnovers being unforced errors and this is allowed to continue without loss of playing time.

 

4. BREAKING THE FULL COURT PRESS. I think this is the only team that I have seen that continually takes the basketball up the sideline trying to break the full court press. Everything that I read or have been taught says you take the basketball to the middle of the court to break the press.

 

5. PLAYING A WEAK MAN TO MAN DEFENSE THE MAJORITY OF THE TIME. Defense is mostly effort and desire which must be enforced in practice every day. You have to play defense with an attitude that you can't beat me. When you watch the best AUU basketball teams in the country they all play hard nose in your face man to man defense.

 

6. It seems that some of the girls continually make the same mistakes but nothing changes. They continue to make the same mistakes and are allowed to keep on playing. This sends the wrong message to the players on the floor and the players on the bench wanting playing time.

 

7. Not playing to the strength of the personnel you have. Kingston has three big girls but the offense that is being ran has two of the big girls out on the perimeter the majority of the time. What is wrong with pounding the ball inside and then working it back out for the open jumper?

 

8. If you watch the Kingston offense you cannot tell what they are trying to do. I asked one of the opponents coaches how he prepared his team for the Kingston offense and he said after watching the film he could not tell what they were attempting to do and they did not have any continuity.

 

9. Somewhere in today's world with the complicated offenses the coaching staff has lost teaching the simple philosophy of setting screens, back door cuts, and staying in motion. The practice floor is where you teach and assure that the players understand what you are attempting to do; remembering that you can't just verbally explain what to do... they have to practice it. It is not about the number of offensive sets or plays you have but how well the players understand what is being coached and how well they can execute.

 

10. Most disappointing is that the Lady Yellow Jackets have played approximately 25 games with a record of 6-19, and I do not remember seeing personnel changes in the starting line up, different offensive or defensive strategies, or improvement in poor attitudes.

[bbtalk]

I have seen several of the Lady Yellow Jackets basketball games this year. I do not want to bash the coach or single out players, but I will suggest several things that I think is essential to turning this program around.

 

DISIPLINE starts with the coach on the first day of practice and does not change throughout the season. The coach is not being paid to win the girls friendship, but he is being paid to put together a program that the students, parents, and community can be proud of. This does not necessarily mean winning games, but does mean that the girls play hard, respect the coach, respect each other, respect other players, and understand playing for your high school team is something to be proud of.

 

DEDICATION also starts with the coach and he must stay positive through the good times and bad. If the girls sense that the coach is giving up or quitting... the girls will follow his lead. The girls must dedicate themselves to basketball and this is not only during the basketball season. AAU basketball has changed the game and is essential for girls to improve their abilities. AAU basketball is not the only way to improve though, the girls can improve by lifting weights, shooting, and working on fundamentals.

 

TEAMWORK. The players must respect each other and understand that each player has different strengths. It is essential that the girls support each other. If you watch Kingston play you can tell some of the girls do not understand the true meaning of a team.

 

Here is my top 10 list of things that I see as problems with the Kingston Lady Yellow Jackets.

 

1. The girls are out of shape. They do not play but 6-7 players the majority of the time, so they need to be in shape to maintain intensity throughout the game.

 

2. The girls do not play with enough intensity. This could be corrected through tougher practices and better conditioning. Everyone needs to be attentive at practice so when they go into the game, or scrimmage in practice, they know the plays.

 

3. TURNOVERS. The Lady Jackets turn the basketball over approximately 20-25 times per game with the majority of the turnovers being unforced errors and this is allowed to continue without loss of playing time.

 

4. BREAKING THE FULL COURT PRESS. I think this is the only team that I have seen that continually takes the basketball up the sideline trying to break the full court press. Everything that I read or have been taught says you take the basketball to the middle of the court to break the press.

 

5. PLAYING A WEAK MAN TO MAN DEFENSE THE MAJORITY OF THE TIME. Defense is mostly effort and desire which must be enforced in practice every day. You have to play defense with an attitude that you can't beat me. When you watch the best AUU basketball teams in the country they all play hard nose in your face man to man defense.

 

6. It seems that some of the girls continually make the same mistakes but nothing changes. They continue to make the same mistakes and are allowed to keep on playing. This sends the wrong message to the players on the floor and the players on the bench wanting playing time.

 

7. Not playing to the strength of the personnel you have. Kingston has three big girls but the offense that is being ran has two of the big girls out on the perimeter the majority of the time. What is wrong with pounding the ball inside and then working it back out for the open jumper?

 

8. If you watch the Kingston offense you cannot tell what they are trying to do. I asked one of the opponents coaches how he prepared his team for the Kingston offense and he said after watching the film he could not tell what they were attempting to do and they did not have any continuity.

 

9. Somewhere in today's world with the complicated offenses the coaching staff has lost teaching the simple philosophy of setting screens, back door cuts, and staying in motion. The practice floor is where you teach and assure that the players understand what you are attempting to do; remembering that you can't just verbally explain what to do... they have to practice it. It is not about the number of offensive sets or plays you have but how well the players understand what is being coached and how well they can execute.

 

10. Most disappointing is that the Lady Yellow Jackets have played approximately 25 games with a record of 6-19, and I do not remember seeing personnel changes in the starting line up, different offensive or defensive strategies, or improvement in poor attitudes.

[bbtalk]

Bravo to Fan25! You scored on all points!!!

[JACKETDAD]

Kingston lost to Stone tonight. Not a big surprise. Now that the regular season is over, a brand new season starts on Thursday night when we open up the District Tournament against Scott County. Its usually pretty tough to beat a team three games in a row, however, if the Lady Jackets get focused, they should not have too much trouble beating the Highlanders. Next will be A.C. on Friday. Even though A.C. has beat the Lady Jackets both time this season, its very possible they can pull the upset and win this game. Heres just a suggestion on how that can be accomplished:

 

1) Start out playing an aggressive zone Defense. Make them score from beyond the

arc. If they happen to get hot then dont wait until you're down by 10 before you

swithch to a man to man.

 

2) On offense, slow things down and go inside to your post players. A.C. wont be able

to stop them if the Lady Jackets make good passes to the girls inside.

 

3) Reduce turnovers!!!! Dont make those long passes, especially across a zone

defense.

 

4) Hustle, Hustle, Hustle, Hustle, Hustle, Hustle!!!!! Dont give up if you make a bad

pass or a not so good shot. Regroup immediately and get back to playing ball.

 

5) Stay positive!!! Pump up your teammates, give encouragement, and cheer for one

another.

 

The Lady Jackets can win their first two games and end up playing Loudon to see who

plays for the championship. Best of all, if they can beat Scott County and A.C. , no

matter what happens against Loudon, they still go the the Regional Tournament. That would be a tremendous accomplishement for a team that struggled so much duing the regular season. It would also give a boost of confidence going into the off season and next year.

[RCSportsStringer]

Talent's not really the big issue with Kingston as they've got some good players on that team and some good underclass players. The big issue is ATTITUDE. I won't name names, but there are a few players with some glaring attitude issues. I'm amazed Coach Anderson has put up with the bull he's had to deal with from some players. At least he can handle it because if it was me, I would have quit coaching a long time ago.

 

On the positive side, Tayler Smith is a very underrated player for Kingston and has stepped her game up big this year plus players like Neal, Brooke Smith, and Lunsford give them some pretty good hope for the future.

[JACKETDAD]

I'm one of the first people to say what the Lady Jackets are doing wrong and how Coach Anderson should be trying different things. Tonight, I want to say Congratulations to the Girls and Coach Anderson. They beat Scott County last night and tonight, even though they lost to A.C, I thought there were some bright spots. Didnt really see any negative attitudes, Coach Anderson made some changes to the lineup that I thought worked well for them. Megan Fritts finally got a well deserved start after showing she could play and do well with the varsity. Carlye Cole came off the bench and hit a cruical 3. And Jacklyn Givens had a very good game showing she could hit from long range. I thought the post were rotated effectively and for the most part, played well, even though they still need to get better crashing the boards. With our size, we should absolutely dominate on the boards, both offensively and defensively. Bottom line is this, if Coach Anderson and these girls look at these last two games as a positive, they can begin building a more solid foundation and by the time next season starts, we will surely win more ballgames. Again, great effort last night and tonight.

[goosevol]

I don't want to say anything about player attitudes or anything like that, but Kingston has everyone coming back next season and they could be a pretty good team. To me, their biggest issue has been unforced turnovers. It's ok to have turnovers if you're pushing tempo, but sometimes Kingston just throws some crazy passes that mises their mark by 10-15 feet. If Kingston cuts down those turnovers then I think they could have won five or so more games this year.

I've always felt that you need a good group of seniors to have a good team and Kingston hasn't had that type of leadership in a couple of years now. I hope they cut down on their turnovers and get that type leadership next year. If that happens they'll be back in the top half of the district and back in the region tournament. I really think they have a solid eight-player rotation heading into next season and I wouldn't be surprised if some of this year's freshmen push some of those eight players for time. Good luck next season.

[T14U]

I would like to say that any club is only as good as its leader. Coach Anderson has had two long years to make a statement with this team, and I would definitely say that his statement has been made. He obviously didn't understand that you cannot win playing 5 or 6 players, especially when they are out of shape. You can't expect any out of shape player to play continuously and not get tired and frustrated. It is a shame that the other players on the team, other than the starters, received very little playing time. In my opinion, that will come back to bite Anderson especially with Kingston's past history of Senior leaders. With his record, I'm not sure what a change in the lineup would've hurt.

 

There might be a couple of decent players moving up, but from what I understand they are a bit emotional and cry all the time. That will never work in high school.

 

Good luck to the Lady Jackets next year, and hopefully there will be changes in store!

[H0thead]

14-55 in the last two seasons. No bashing here, just TRUTHS. Coaching ,coaching, coaching. From those three words come all things basketball!... attitude, toughness, cohesiveness, teamwork, direction, TEACHING, LEADERSHIP, and most importantly DISCIPLINE. Anybody that has been to see RCHS knows that these are values that are not prominent. These are just kids! I know as a parent that children NEED guidance every single day. Left to their own devices they will always choose the path of least resistance. The fact is....don't we all? No team can be consistently good without good leadership? Leadership has to start with the coaches. A coach may know his Xs and Os but they need to do more than that.

Ultimately, responsibility starts at the top, just like in the everyday work place. Management has to set policies and rules. If workers don't follow the rules there are consequences or you flat out loose your job. These policies are equal for ALL. Nobody can be above what is best for the company, and management has the duty to enforce this culture. "The team" is the company and coach Anderson is the management in this case. This is the model that will ultimately bring Kingston back to respectability.

Coach Anderson needs to start enforcing very clearly conveyed rules and goals CONSISTENTLY from the first day of practice. He and his assistant need to TEACH FUNDAMENTALS such as ballhandling, passing, rebounding and defensive drills EVERY DAY at practice. When they are loafing or not doing anything right, LET EM KNOW IT!!! Hard practices make better players and ultimately a better team. Coaches have to ensure that expectations are understood and are followed BY EVERY PLAYER consistently, whether they are a senior or a freshman, a starter or a sub. If a player can't or won't do what the coach DEMANDS at practies or in games, they don't play! (do any of these look familiar?) You don't box out; you sit...you make bad passes; you sit...you don't hustle every minute on the floor; you sit...you talk back; you sit...you pout on the floor or bench;you sit...you call out another teammate on the floor; you sit. Tell the offender why they are sitting and that they can go back in when they do what is expected. A player may be a great athlete but there can be no double standards on a team. TEAM being the key word here. It sends a very strong and clear message when there is EQUAL accountability for EVERYONE!

I do keep harping on the "EVERYONE" theme here, coaches included!. If you have been to see this team you know some players are held less accountable than others. I am talking about EVERY class here also. Players make mistakes. Coaches make mistakes. When the same mistakes are made over and over something has to change!!!!!

I truly hope coach Anderson reads these posts. There are definately consistent themes in almost all these threads. I understand that we are not the "coach" and that he is. That does not necessarily make him infallible. Sometimes two or more heads are better than one.

[bulldogplayermom]

I was just browsing through here. I didn't realize that Kingston was in such turmoil! To be 15 and 55 or whatever is pretty bad.

 

I don't know the coach in question personally but I do know of him. From what I can tell, I wouldn't want my daughter to play for him at all! Good luck to the Kingston girls you deserve a chance to be competitive!