Thorpe & Chemical Abuse, Lynx & Defense Abuse

#1 posting 6.5.2006
Your Daily Dose of Girls Basketball News & Information

THORPE ON A SOAP BOX
Thorpe is now answering questions. If you have a question email me & I will send it to Coach Thorpe. If your questions wasn't chosen this week, it may be selected in future weeks.

The question I chose was "How did you handle the Minnesota State High School Rule on Chemical Use?"

I think this is a question many coaches struggle with and some coaches feel more comfortable than others dealing with it. I am certainly not an authority on the subject. However, my many years coaching and teaching At Risk kids give me some insight into the problem.

First, I think any coach that thinks that this is not a problem is probably not realistic. I remember going to Hazelden Treatment Center about 15 years ago with high school captains from all over the Metro Area for a workshop. We went around the room and each captain was to estimate what percentage of their team violated the chemical rule. The general consensus was 70 to 80 % of the athletes on their team use chemicals and break the high school rule. I think the captains were fairly accurate with their figures. Because of my work with At Risk students I felt I had a little advantage over some other coaches.

There was nothing my students in class enjoyed more than saying on a Monday morning ‘Hey Thorpe, I saw one of your JOCKS at a party Saturday and she was wasted!’ My athletes were aware I worked with all groups of students and this may have helped.
However, when it comes to chemicals there is a lot of secrecy going on. If you want to be effective it is important to do more than just pass out the cards at the beginning of the year and tell the kids to sign them pledging that they will not use. I tried to meet and talk to the team many times during the year about the importance of staying chemically free for their health and for the success of our team.

How many times have you seen a team with a lot of talent that is not winning? Many times it is because there is hostility with some using and the others not. It is a secret that they don’t talk about. It divides the team. Kids should, but most of the time do not turn in other team members. Peer pressure is so strong at that age.

By bringing up the issue many times during the season you are showing that it is an important thing to the team and you.

I always thought that it was important to thank the team for their commitment to staying chemically free. This is especially important before homecoming, prom etc. I remember one of my captains saying "Thorpe you have one of the toughest consequences I have had as a player. You seem laid back, but you don’t fool me. The consequence is GUILT. We feel guilty if we let the team and you down.” I was OK with that.

Second, we established Straight Athlete groups at Osseo. This was a weekly meeting where athletes were committed to not using.

The one thing that bothered me was during my many years as a teacher and coach students would come to me with a variety of personal problems and issues, but I never heard about chemical abuse. I appreciated that they trusted me enough to come to me for help. I am sure most coaches feel the same way. I am sure I had players that had problems, but the last person they would approach was a coach. They knew that the coach would follow the high school guidelines and turn them in. Coaches may be the best person to help, but the last to be put in a position to give help. I don’t exactly know what could be changed to help improve communications and still respect the rule, but would like to see some changes.

Well , just some thoughts. I need to get ready for my 8AM softball game.

Have a good week. Dave Thorpe

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COACHING OPENINGS

VERBALS

A LOOK AT THE LYNX
A rotten first and fourth quarter torpedoed a two game winning streak for the Lynx as the traveled down to Houston.

NUMBERS EXPLAINED
player, points, possessions, pp100, floor %
MINNESOTA
STARTERS
Amber Jacobs 6, 5, 120.0, .600
Simone Augustus 20, 19, 105.3, .474
Timika Williams 9, 8, 112.5, .625
Krista Mann 10, 13, 76.9, .385
Nicole Ohlde 6, 12, 50.0, .250
BENCH
Vanessa Hayden 0, 4, 0.0, .000
Svetlana Abrosimova 5, 4, 125.0, .500
Tynesha Lewis 2, 4, 50.0, .250
Adrian Williams 4, 6, 66.7, .333
Meghan Duffy 0, 2, 0.0, .000
Shona Thorburn no numbers
Team, 0, 2, 0.0. .000 (24 second violations--no person listed on play by play)

HOUSTON
STARTERS
Dominique Canty 12, 9, 133.3, .778
Dawn Staley 13, 9, 144.4, .667
Sheryl Swoopes 13, 14, 92.9, .500
Tina Thompson 16, 12, 133.3, .500
Michelle Snow 24, 20, 120.0, .600
BENCH
Kayte Christensen 0, 1, 0.0, .000
Roneeka Hodges 0, 3, 0.0, .000
Sancho Lyttle 5, 6, 83.3, .500
Anastasia Kostaki 2, 2, 100.0, .500
Mistie Williams 0, 3, 0.0, .000

BY THE NUMBERS
Team, points, possessions, pp100, floor %
MN 62, 79, 78.5, .380
Houston 85, 79, 107.6, .506

The MN bench outscored Houston 11-7. The problem is the Snow had a season high 24, when she was averaging only 7 points before this night. Staley ripped it up for a season high 13. She went off in the third quarter for 9, which by itself would have been Staley's season high. It was also a season high for Houston.

The Lynx had a season low as a team with 62 points. It was also a season low for pp100, and floor %. Part of that is due to Houston's defense. But the Lynx have only held one team (LA) to under 100 pp100, and held only LA to under .500 in floor %.

Two problems I saw on Friday in the win. 1. There was too much dribble penetration which hurt overall team D when the ball got in the lane, post defense had to leave their players. Amber Jacobs was getting beat often on D Pen. 2. post defense was getting locked up and sealed. they were getting caught playing behind and at this level that is fatal. Timika Williams was being caught often. 3. Free throw attempts--usually means defense is out of position. The Lynx actually made 92.3% compared to Houston's 72.0%, but Houston went to the line 25 times compared to almost half as much for MN with 13.

Next up: later today with the North Tartan 16s vs Metro Stars 19s in the Hopkins tournament.