Cuts

I think the toughest thing I've had to do since coming back to coach at the high school level, is to make cuts!  Kids who have worked hard on their game but just don't have what it takes.  It is very hard as a coach to sit down with your staff and go through each player and make a determination if they can help the team or not!  I do think it is better to cut an older player who may not play much at all, keeping a younger player who you can try to develop for the future.  We are now 5 practices into the season and have only 7 practices before the first game.  With limited time it is hard to get everything in and to get ready to play!  But on Wednesday November 27 the Beaver will travel over the mountain to play @ Valley.  GO BEAVER!

Quick update on the volleyball team.  We had a very good year going 3-1 at the STATE tournament and taking 5th place.  Last year we took 3rd.  I am so proud of this bunch of seniors who came to practice everyday ready to work and always gave their best effort.  We had 3 girls make the ACADEMIC ALL-STATE team and 2 players invited to play in 2 different state all-star games.  Also last Wednesday our outside hitter signed her National Letter of Intent to play Division I volleyball at Southern Utah University.  All of her hard work, on the court, in the weight room and in the classroom has paid off.  She is a great role model for the young girls in our community!

I will try hard to keep everyone updated on the basketball team as this season gets going!

Homecoming & Dealing with freshmen.

Homecoming can be a very tough time for coaches, there are daily activities bonfires, parades and all kinds of distracting events.  I tried to keep our volleyball team focused on the job at hand for the week and that was to be ready for our very tough match.  We talked a lot about still eating & hydrating properly and of course making sure the got their rest!  Basically getting them to focus as we hit the floor for practice and preparation then they could relax and enjoy the Friday night game and Saturdays dance.  But every day we had to have a little discussion on the important thing for homecoming was not your dress, but compartmentalize everything and pay attention to the task at hand.
Due to all the activities I did shorten practice by 15 minutes a day if they came in and worked hard, a little reward for them!  Work hard stay focused and they would have a little extra time to prepare for the evening events for that night.
We did play pretty well and won our homecoming match.

FRESHMEN:
O.K. where do I begin??  I truly believe you have to be positive and patient.
Those might be the two most important words in dealing with freshmen.  They forget, they will make the same mistakes over and over!  But every once in while the light goes on and they look like you have worked with them and they are getting it.  But stay on your toes because like a summer thunder storm as quickly as they look like the get it, they lose it just as quick and revert back to testing your patients and your positivity.  As my boss at Gonzaga University use to say all the time about freshmen, "There are only 2 good things about freshmen, 1) they were not here last year. 2) they will be sophomores next year."


Quote for today;  When asked at a booster meeting about next years team, college basketball Coach Abe Lemons said," I've got good news and I've got bad news! The good news is, we return everyone from last years team. The bad news we return everyone from last years team."

Go out and make it a good week

Coach Joe Hillock

Coaching a new season.

Well school is back in session and it goes with out saying that it is good to be back having a team and on the sidelines again for another year.  Coming into this volleyball season I thought it was VERY important to work on team chemistry.  I have done more with our seniors and I have asked them to do a lot more this year, for each other and for the team.  I know a good team can do some outstanding things if everyone is on the same page and working for the same goals. Working on getting everyone to think about their teammates more than they think about themselves!

Quote of the week comes from John R. Wooden.
"It is amazing what can be accomplished when nobody cares who gets the credit"

Have a great year.

Coach Joe Hillock

FREE THROWS

I have always talk about shooting free throws during you work outs, especially when your tired and breathing hard.  Then shooting a 100 after every work out to grove your shot!  FREE THROWS can win you a big game and can haunt you and cost you a game.  In both games tonight the FREE THROW LINE played a very big role.  It nearly cost Louisville & Michigan a shot at the NATIONAL title game.  So when working on your game find time to shoot some free throws.  Run a few full court sprints or sideline sprints before you shoot yours.  Oh yeah always keep track this will help give you feed back.  If your not breathing hard then your not in a game like situation.  Get out there and get better.

WARNING!

The Surgeon General has issued a severe WARNING!  The flu epidemic is just about over!  Brace yourself for a new epidemic!!
MARCH MADNESS, it is already started and it is starting to moving rapidly across the country.  Yes it is HIGHLY, I repeat HIGHLY contagous.  There is NO KNOWN CURE, and the is NO VACCINE for it.  Symptoms include but are not limited to, Yelling loudly at the big screen TV, jumping up and down on a buzzer beater, sittting on the couch for hours watching games,  taking your ipad to the bathroom to watch games, staying up way to late to watch games and phoning the office and letting them know how sick you are, and you can't make it in.  The SURGEON General expect this epidemic to beat at it peak this next week end stating that Thursday though Sunday will be the worst four days!
He also said that friends who have these and other symptoms seem to get better if they can stay together to watch the NCAA tourney and let this disease run its course.  Getting involved in brackets also seems to lessen the effects of this epidemic.  GOOD LUCK
Coach Joe Hillock

STATE CHAMPIONS

Tonight in Richfield the Bryce Valley MUSTANGS won the state championship in double over-time.  They have been close a couple of times but tonight was their night!  So happy for the entire community.  As most people know it is more than just the players and coaches who win!!  There is so much more.  So Congratulations to the MUSTANGS enjoy this great achievement!

Coach Joe Hillock

Oh yeah and the team at HILLOCK SPORTS are happy to have you representing our brand!!

BEAVER FANS=AWESOME

I really want to thank our fans this year!!  They were awesome.  The last 2 home games the upper deck was full and the enitire house was packed about as full as it could get.  Our student section was great.
The Blue Crue (a group of 8-10 student crazies) was beyound great this whole season.  Last year they came to a game dressed as KISS.  This year they came as cowgirls when we played Kanab and of course when we played Enterprise we even had BIG BIRD thin the house.  I hope we can find some of the younger students to step up and take these guys place as they all graduate and will be missed.  Due to our very loud and roudy crowd our gym is one of the toughest gym in the entire state for opposing teams to play in!!

Last of all thank you to the fans that travel to the away games no matter what the weather is.  We really do appreciate you loyal support!

Hope to see a huge BEAVER crowd aup at the first round game next Saturday in Orem!