This season is nothing but running
Even before the tryouts even start, every Saturday there is conditioning. So as we showed up in our running shoes ready to just go a few miles, the assistant coach, Miko Cano had other plans. While we were stretching Miko was telling us that we are going to be ready for other teams and whatever they are going to throw at us. After a warm up sprint of about a mile most of us are already gasping for air. We still had about 6 more miles to go.
Tryouts, they consist of a timed mile and after that some drills to see where you at with your basketball skills. The mile didn’t seem to take that long but as soon as everyone was done it was straight in the gym. Stretching and even more running was what awaited us in the main gym. Doing defensive slides and running 17’s, while the coach yells, “WHO OWNS THE FOURTH QUARTER!” with that little breath we had the team would yell back, “DONS!”
This was followed but what is called the BCU drill. Two basketballs the full court length and only five minutes to get at least 60 layups. Sprinting the whole time while dribbling the ball to try and take up as little time as possible to reach the goal of the 60 layups. Down to about ten seconds left we had managed to get 64 layups but it wasn’t over. We had to do it all over again but this time with just our left hand.
After the first water break coach Miko looks at the team, who is still trying to catch their breath and all he says is that we have been working hard. So he asks if we want a “rest”, they nod their heads and he explains that “rest” is an acronym for, RUN, EXPLODE, SLIDE, TURN. Which meant to us that we had to RUN the full court length, EXPLODE and slap the backboard, SLIDE to the sideline, then TURN back and sprint to the other baseline. Then going on into the next drill which was called exaggeration which would leave an unpleasant feeling in your legs while being in a position of a wider base and getting your butt as close to the ground as possible. Holding that for two minutes our legs began to tense up so coach Miko relieved us saying that it was the end of the first round…
With all this running that we are doing this year it is easy to see that we are going to be a team with that “run and gun” type of offence that the Suns Made popular a few years back. With the quickness of Daniel Jones(12), Shane Harney(12), and Shawn Martin(12), all returning varsity players, this year should be very exciting. There is also the returning varsity player Adam Dickerson(12) who is another quick player up and down the floor as a big man. His ability to beat other big men down the floor will help the team push the other teams defense to the point where it looks like they will just be letting us walk in and score.