I thought I would re-post this video, mainly because I spent a lot of time on it.
It also shows how breaking down a defense in the Dribble Drive Motion offense is, contrary to a popular misconception, more about offensive spacing and sound footwork than exceptional skills and athleticism. You see a few drives from the perimeter to the basket here, but more commonly penetration leads to a pass, drawing help and generally breaking the defense down by getting to the middle of the floor. Like a good opening in chess, the goal is to create good options and, as in chess, good options come from attacking the middle.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Monday, June 29, 2009
Jelmini 7th in Discus at USA Championships
What happened to Anna Jelmini? Seventh? Well, she jumped from competing against high schoolers to competing against everyone. In an Olympic year, the top three at this meet would represent the United States in the Olympics. This year they go to the World Championships. The winner was Stephanie Brown Trafton, gold medalist in Bejing. Jelmini was not only better than anyone her own age, she also topped all collegiate competitors. The closest collegian was reigning NCAA champ D'Andra Carter, whose best fell a full 10 feet short of Jelmini's mark.
Rounding up related honors, Anna won both the shot put and discus in the National Junior Championships. She will now go on to compete in the Junior Pan Am games. Cheers to Matt Godbehere for being named Track and Field Coach of the Year by The Californian. Anna Jelmini was the Track and Field Athlete of the Year. Anna also won some other award.
Rounding up related honors, Anna won both the shot put and discus in the National Junior Championships. She will now go on to compete in the Junior Pan Am games. Cheers to Matt Godbehere for being named Track and Field Coach of the Year by The Californian. Anna Jelmini was the Track and Field Athlete of the Year. Anna also won some other award.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
General Memories, 2001-03: Fabian Jimenez
One of the great pleasures of having this blog is filling in blank spots (at least for me) in the history of Shafter basketball. The late 1990s and the early 2000s have been one such blank spot. It includes some very good teams, including the 2002-03 team. Fabian Jimenez was a senior that year and from what I hear one of the great Shafter players. Regular readers might recall that I reported a while ago on Fabian's brother Phillip's ('06) exploits at Cuesta College. This is most of an email from Fabian about his time at Shafter. He was kind enough to let me post it here.
Basketball was the most memorable part of high school for me. I came to basketball as a way of escaping from all the bad my old friends were getting into and from trouble at home. I was a full-time student of the game.
As a freshman I played on the Frosh-Soph team. Our team would scrimmage the varsity team for practice. That varsity team was by far on of the smallest teams I can remember but scrappy as heck. People I remember from the 99-00 varsity team are seniors Sammy Macias and Isaac Preston, juniors Robert Haude, Lee Frish, Emmanuel Huerriati, and Darren Wright, and sophomores Ricky Ishida, Ryan Watts, & Vincent Iniguez. That same team (minus Macias and Preston) returned the following year along with the eight players who had played JV as juniors. That was the last year with Stan Davis as the varsity coach.
By my junior season (2001-02) and first on Varsity, our team had played for two years together and not only grew as players and students but as brothers. In 2001-2002 season, we beat some teams we weren’t supposed to (so the paper says). We played a couple of state-ranked teams very close, led a very good Garces team at the half before losing by 10, and lost to the 2 seed in playoffs. We played San Joaquin Memorial that year. They had a guy named Antonio Lawrence who was #1 player in country for his class freshman-junior year and was in his senior year. We also played El Segundo who was ranked 15th in state. Our team was tough but we did not have enough offensive weapons. The seniors on that team were Ricky Ishida, Jake Bergen, and Ryan Watts. The juniors were Fabian Jimenez, Mike Watts, Peter Frantz, Jonathan Hardman, John Garza, Daniel Urias, Adam Hernandez, Quintin Hurst and Lelan Gonzalez. Juniors Kelly Bonner and Gabe Espinoza were moved up to varsity for the playoffs.
Losing to a team that I thought we should have beat in the playoffs bothered me. I watched my senior friends leave crying knowing that was the last game they would ever play. I didn’t want that my senior year so I play club ball and worked all summer in order to pay for it. My adopted brother Kelly Bonner Joined me on the Beyond Limit Travel team out of Bakersfield who was coached my Milt Henderson (J.R. Henderson’s Father). We played against tough teams and some of the top players in the nation including future NBA players Jordan Farmar, Hassan Adams, and Brooke and Robin Lopez (Suns & Nets). Playing these people improved my game. My brother Kelly learned how to defend and play the 2 guard.
In the 2002-2003 season, the SSL was the toughest league in the county with Shafter, Wasco, Garces and Tehachapi all ranked in the county's top 8. We started the year strong winning two games then going to the Kingsburg tournament and beating Kingsburg, upsetting local hopes for a Kingsburg-Immanuel final. We lost to Immanuel in the championship game. Mike Watts and I were named to the All-Tournament team. We then went to Shafter for our tourney. Being returning champs, we wanted to dominate, but as a team we played poorly and lost to some crappy teams. Talk about Davis blowing up, it didn’t even compare, Watts blew up! Not gonna say what he did cause I love the guy, but Stan Davis blowing up was like a little black cat compared Watts being an atom bomb! Out team pulled together and started winning again, we took the consolation championship at the Garces tourney and I was named to the All-Tournament team. In league play we split with Wasco and split with Tehachapi, both teams did the same with each other, making it a three way tie for second place as Garces smashed everyone. Playoff time came we got the 6 seed. The top seeds were #1 Hanford, #2 Washington Union, #3 Granite Hills, #4 Kingsburg, #5 Tehachapi #6 Shafter, #7 Wasco. We beat the #11 Selma in our first game, then beat #3 Granite Hills in a tough game and then played #2 Washington Union and lost by 3.
There is a lot of finger pointing about who lost that game for us because we made some mistakes, losing a 12 point lead with 3 minutes left. At that point, Kelly Bonner subbed out because he was tired, mistake 1 (this is to go to the Valley Championship suck it up), Peter Frantz came in. Peter turned the ball over we are now up 10. Mike turned it over and we were up 8, Peter had the ball stolen and I chased the guy down and tapped his leg to scare him as he made a layup. I was called for an intentional foul. He made the free throw to cut the lead to 5. They in-bounded the ball, hit a three to cut the lead to two with just over a minute left (mistakes 3-6). Kelly came back in and we played them tough, but they forced us to overtime, in OT it was back and forth until they were up three, with three seconds left. Watts drew up a play for me, I come around the pick had to go into back court to get the ball. I head faked, stepped around two defenders and throw up a half court shop that hits rim and back board but misses we lose. Mike and I received first team All-League honors, Kelly was named to the second team. I was also named second team all section and honorable mention in the area.
Basketball was the most memorable part of high school for me. I came to basketball as a way of escaping from all the bad my old friends were getting into and from trouble at home. I was a full-time student of the game.
As a freshman I played on the Frosh-Soph team. Our team would scrimmage the varsity team for practice. That varsity team was by far on of the smallest teams I can remember but scrappy as heck. People I remember from the 99-00 varsity team are seniors Sammy Macias and Isaac Preston, juniors Robert Haude, Lee Frish, Emmanuel Huerriati, and Darren Wright, and sophomores Ricky Ishida, Ryan Watts, & Vincent Iniguez. That same team (minus Macias and Preston) returned the following year along with the eight players who had played JV as juniors. That was the last year with Stan Davis as the varsity coach.
By my junior season (2001-02) and first on Varsity, our team had played for two years together and not only grew as players and students but as brothers. In 2001-2002 season, we beat some teams we weren’t supposed to (so the paper says). We played a couple of state-ranked teams very close, led a very good Garces team at the half before losing by 10, and lost to the 2 seed in playoffs. We played San Joaquin Memorial that year. They had a guy named Antonio Lawrence who was #1 player in country for his class freshman-junior year and was in his senior year. We also played El Segundo who was ranked 15th in state. Our team was tough but we did not have enough offensive weapons. The seniors on that team were Ricky Ishida, Jake Bergen, and Ryan Watts. The juniors were Fabian Jimenez, Mike Watts, Peter Frantz, Jonathan Hardman, John Garza, Daniel Urias, Adam Hernandez, Quintin Hurst and Lelan Gonzalez. Juniors Kelly Bonner and Gabe Espinoza were moved up to varsity for the playoffs.
Losing to a team that I thought we should have beat in the playoffs bothered me. I watched my senior friends leave crying knowing that was the last game they would ever play. I didn’t want that my senior year so I play club ball and worked all summer in order to pay for it. My adopted brother Kelly Bonner Joined me on the Beyond Limit Travel team out of Bakersfield who was coached my Milt Henderson (J.R. Henderson’s Father). We played against tough teams and some of the top players in the nation including future NBA players Jordan Farmar, Hassan Adams, and Brooke and Robin Lopez (Suns & Nets). Playing these people improved my game. My brother Kelly learned how to defend and play the 2 guard.
In the 2002-2003 season, the SSL was the toughest league in the county with Shafter, Wasco, Garces and Tehachapi all ranked in the county's top 8. We started the year strong winning two games then going to the Kingsburg tournament and beating Kingsburg, upsetting local hopes for a Kingsburg-Immanuel final. We lost to Immanuel in the championship game. Mike Watts and I were named to the All-Tournament team. We then went to Shafter for our tourney. Being returning champs, we wanted to dominate, but as a team we played poorly and lost to some crappy teams. Talk about Davis blowing up, it didn’t even compare, Watts blew up! Not gonna say what he did cause I love the guy, but Stan Davis blowing up was like a little black cat compared Watts being an atom bomb! Out team pulled together and started winning again, we took the consolation championship at the Garces tourney and I was named to the All-Tournament team. In league play we split with Wasco and split with Tehachapi, both teams did the same with each other, making it a three way tie for second place as Garces smashed everyone. Playoff time came we got the 6 seed. The top seeds were #1 Hanford, #2 Washington Union, #3 Granite Hills, #4 Kingsburg, #5 Tehachapi #6 Shafter, #7 Wasco. We beat the #11 Selma in our first game, then beat #3 Granite Hills in a tough game and then played #2 Washington Union and lost by 3.
There is a lot of finger pointing about who lost that game for us because we made some mistakes, losing a 12 point lead with 3 minutes left. At that point, Kelly Bonner subbed out because he was tired, mistake 1 (this is to go to the Valley Championship suck it up), Peter Frantz came in. Peter turned the ball over we are now up 10. Mike turned it over and we were up 8, Peter had the ball stolen and I chased the guy down and tapped his leg to scare him as he made a layup. I was called for an intentional foul. He made the free throw to cut the lead to 5. They in-bounded the ball, hit a three to cut the lead to two with just over a minute left (mistakes 3-6). Kelly came back in and we played them tough, but they forced us to overtime, in OT it was back and forth until they were up three, with three seconds left. Watts drew up a play for me, I come around the pick had to go into back court to get the ball. I head faked, stepped around two defenders and throw up a half court shop that hits rim and back board but misses we lose. Mike and I received first team All-League honors, Kelly was named to the second team. I was also named second team all section and honorable mention in the area.
Friday, June 26, 2009
Back in the Ground
I'm back from another purgatorial hall pass to Shafter. I will have more to report later on that.
Also, I am pleased to report that one of the stars of the great 2003 team has come to our little corner of the World Wide Web. It is always a pleasure to connect with former players and these years have always been a gaping hole in the tapestry of Shafter basketball history we are trying to weave. I will have more on that later.
In the meantime, I want to encourage you again to pass on your stories, information, and video about Shafter basketball. You can reach me at shsbbl at gmail.com. (No spaces and use the @ symbol for "at" in the address.)
Also, I am pleased to report that one of the stars of the great 2003 team has come to our little corner of the World Wide Web. It is always a pleasure to connect with former players and these years have always been a gaping hole in the tapestry of Shafter basketball history we are trying to weave. I will have more on that later.
In the meantime, I want to encourage you again to pass on your stories, information, and video about Shafter basketball. You can reach me at shsbbl at gmail.com. (No spaces and use the @ symbol for "at" in the address.)
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Jelmini Doubles Again
As I am sure you are aware by now, Anna Jelmini won state meet titles in both the shot put and discus again this year. That performance alone was enough to put Shafter in fourth place as a team.
It is difficult to appreciate how special Miss Jelmini's achievements have been, especially since they have been in a sport that is not as high profile as football or even basketball. Zach Ewing has always understood the uniqueness of what Jelmini was doing and wrote very nice profile of Jelmini before the state meet.
It is difficult to appreciate how special Miss Jelmini's achievements have been, especially since they have been in a sport that is not as high profile as football or even basketball. Zach Ewing has always understood the uniqueness of what Jelmini was doing and wrote very nice profile of Jelmini before the state meet.
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