DICK DEVENZIO

Bob Starkey in a recent post touched on Dick DeVenzio (founder of 'Point Guard Basketball College,' now Point Guard College). Coach Starkey is a maven. His blog is full of good info. (I think I've spotlighted it previously).

Dick has been a mentor for many. His legacy and teachings live on in his books and through PGC. (His brother, Dave, who I look forward to meeting one day, also carries to the torch in his National Point Guard Camp).

Coach Starkey excerpted one of Dick's chapters on loyalty…

Loyalty to friends, to teams and to nations is unwarranted when it conflicts with doing what's right.

Loyalty is a word often associated with sports. Some coaches emphasize its importance. Personally, I am skeptical about it. If you find yourself demanding or asking for loyalty, you may not be doing the things necessary to inspire it.

Make sure you remain loyal to yourself and to the principles you believe in. Loyalty is not always admirable; loyalty to friends, to teams and to nations is unwarranted when it conflicts with doing what's right.

You have to decide for yourself what's right.

Click here to read the whole post from Coach Starkey.

I have a lot of thoughts on the topic of loyalty that I'll look to share in another post. I know many struggle with it: How do you develop loyalty when it doesn't exist? How do you transform an organization's or team's culture? What things are loyalty killers?

These questions are ongoing challenges for all of us who seek to move ourselves and others from good to great.

In my experience, having been a part of some very good (and well led) organizations, loyalty is not something that requires a barrage of discussion and commentary. Define your org's or team's core values. Live it authentically. Protect it. Identify and secure others whose values align. When their sense of "what's right," as Dick says, aligns with yours, synergy occurs. A movement is created. Attraction and retention will come.

An overly simplified version of a complex and pervasive topic. I know.

We're working through it now. Like tending to a garden, it's a never ending process that requires a lot of LEADERSHIPENERGY.

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For more from Dick (or on him)…

• I'd recommended "Stuff!" or "Think Like a Champion" as starting points in his series of books. Dick also wrote a fantastic, yet hard to come by, book called "Smart Moves." (The latter is a personal favourite of mine and it has nothing to do with basketball.)
  
• A great article at the time of his passing in 2001 about his legacy: http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/columnists/20010603cook.asp
  
• Article by Dick on Leadership from HoopU: http://www.hoopsu.com/coachingtips/devenzio-leadership.html
  
• A lot of great notes from Dick by Eric Musselman: http://emuss.blogspot.com/2009/02/notes-from-dick-devenzios-book-stuff.html
  

Yes, Dick IS a superbly masterful basketball mind. But, his masterpiece is in his use of language. His musings go far beyond the court into all fields of play.

SCHAPE yourself first. /sEf.

"Communication isn't just a long word; it is a powerful force. It elevates – or drags down – all human experience." (Dick DeVenzio)

BREAKING OUT THE SALT & PEPPER AT POINT GUARD COLLEGE

Amidst my commitments to the Canadian National Team program, I've been directing Point Guard College sessions this summer. Love it! What an honour and pleasure to work with such committed and enthusiastic athletes and coaches.

I just returned from two back-to-back sessions in Anderson, Indiana, and then in Bloomington, Illinois. These were especially fun as I was co-directing with Dave Daniels. Coach Daniels is the Head Coach at Colorado Christian University, a former Olympian and five time national teamer having played for Canada (most notably backing up Steve Nash in the 2000 Sydney Olympics). All of those credentials say nothing of the man. And, as I was fortunate enough to learn, Coach Daniels is a wonderfully authentic and genuine person with a sharp basketball mind. Thanks D for the many lessons learned and ideas exchanged! It's great to have you as a part of the PGC family. You're now in the "us" and "our" category. ;-)

Self promotion is not my forte… but I'm so excited about what's coming up, that I have to tell. August 10-14 in Maryland, PGC will be holding its first ever session for COLLEGE ATHLETES only at St. James Private School.

I truly enjoy all of the sessions, but one of the things that makes them so rewarding is the time spent with observing coaches exchanging ideas on athlete and skill development. And, each week, we typically have anywhere from 2-6 coaches who sit in on a PGC session as a part of their own personal and professional development. Awesome! Talk about a learning culture.

Last week was especially fun with the coaches in Illinois… what made it so good? Salt and pepper. Yup. The spices came out.

You see, it's so tough, for me at least, to sit around with a bunch of coaches because the conversations seem to quickly go in the direction of plays, sets and players. Who's who. And, where whomever is playing; and, for whom. (ZZZzzzzzz!). Sorry. It just doesn't do it for me.

Well, I knew I was with a good group when we broke out the salt and pepper shakers. (I was the first with my grubby hands on them, so pepper was on offense; and, since we were discussing concepts of zone attack and "Pack Defense," as I told Daniels, it's only fitting that salt be on defense!). It was great. We were beckoning to others in the cafeteria to donate their salt and pepper to the cause until we had enough for '5on5.'

I knew I was with a group of learners/sharers when everyone collectively slid forward in their chairs; others, interrupted the conversations with others breaking away mid sentence to come over and get in on the action.

I got goose bumps. Thanks coaches! Sorry we had to break off early to get back to our next session, but I look forward to doing it again.

Hey… If you're the type to get all goose-bumpy too at the thought of a little salt and pepper action, come join us at the PGC College Session. I'm getting excited just thinking about it! We'll have all five (5) PGC directors leading the session which also makes it extra special. And, this will be the only session NCAA Division One coaches can attend because there are no "recruitable" athletes in attendance.

/sEf.

(BTW – Athlete registration is limited for this session. There are still a few spots remaining for athletes looking to participate.)

On learning and sharing: "Eat like a chicken. Poop like an elephant."

U16s: PICTURES SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS

Wrapping up the experience in Mendoza, Argentina, by sharing some pics from our time there. These will do far greater justice to it all than I could ever...

After the medal ceremony, Team Canada poses for on last group photo.

Click here for team roster and final team stats.

From left to right: Kirby Schepp (Assistant Coach), Roy Rana (Head Coach) and Krisjon Vargas (Trainer, Therapist and do-it-all)

Duane Notice (ON), Fergus Duke (NS), our attache, Marianella, and me. The boys managed to steal a few moments away from signing autographs to snap a pic or two. (I had to laugh as by weekend they were commenting that their hands were cramping up from signing autographs... if only they knew what the life a pro athlete is like!) Canada was a big hit amongst the fans.

Oscar, our driver for the week, tries desperately to keep up with the police escort after the final game. We had a police escort for the better part of the week, but on championship night, it was like a scene out of Bourne Identity. Argentine cops decked out in all black body suits and helmets with matching incognito black motor bikes and blue sirens. They had side pistols, shot guns and bullet proof vests lined with shot guns shells. These guys were bad-mama-jamas... and, whizz in and out of traffic criss-crossing in front and behind of us in an effort to stop traffic. The boys felt like they were in a presidential caravan. (Shoot... so did I!)

Club Israelita-Macabi was one of the practice gyms.

Group photo with the staff at Macabi after our final shoot around there. (That's me on the far right layered and deck out in a toque. I was 'frio' as it's the Argentine winter this time of year.)

Walk through at Macabi. We did most of our stuff in half court... see next to understand why.

This was the other end of the court. Looks good from a distance, but is far.

The old parquet floors at the garden have nothing on this. The wood tiles where literally torn up from the floor. My guess is that some had popped up and others were pulled from the baseline to use to patch up the main court. You had some tiles on court that were a good 1/2 inch up and loose. The coaches mandated against dunking as the rims were rusty and holding on by some loose screws. They couldn't afford having a player go down because of injury or 'rust poisoning.'

Here's a close up of some of the handiwork at half court. There's dead spots and then this this... potholes!

This is 'The Barn' as a couple of us called it. Here's our shoot around prior to the Bronze Medal game. This spot was real nice. It gave you the feeling of an old style gym from Indiana. It was Hoosier-esque. (And, still cold!)

Team trainer, Krisjon Vargas, maxing out time and getting creative with the use of space at Macabi. We were waiting for the Puerto Ricans to finish up their practice slot and then we discovered this gem of a court at Macabi. The surface looks like a clay tile. Kris led the boys through their dynamic warm up and movement prep here so that by the time we could get into the gym, the team could dive right in.

More dynamic work. The athletes loved this spot! It was so foreign to anything that they'd ever seen in North America.

The gentleman was a trip... he hopped in and started to do some movement prep with the guys. Hilarious! He also came through big time as he ended up washing our uniforms for us after each game for 1/5 of the price that our hotel was charging. Nice to find local hook ups like this. Gracias, senor!

Recovery & Regeneration: Oh so important. Again, Kris was working with the space he had available and took over the hotel halls. The rooms were too small, outside was too cold and their were no accessible common areas. Ice was at a premium and hard to come by... Kris tried to take advantage of using the outdoor pool for cold baths, but after taking a look at the build up of algae and other unknowns thought better of it. Instead, they rotated the guys through one of the bathroom tubs, but first had to get McGiver and create a plug out of plastic bags and athletic tape. Who knew that they didn't use plugs for their bath tups in Argentina. Lesson: To thrive in international basketball, you have to get creative.

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//SB//

THEY DID IT... 2010 WORLD'S HERE WE COME

Big congrats to Canada's Cadet Boys who have qualified for the 2010 FIBA U17 World Championships!

This was the sum of the effort, contribution and support of many; but a big shout out to the players, coaches and staff for creating synergy in such a short period of time. Well done.

Very proud and humbled to have the opportunity to have been a part of it all. It's not very often you have opportunity to represent your country in some capacity on an international stage.

One more thing off my 'bucket list.' /sEf.

PROUD... VERY PROUD

We lost a hard fought, well coached game last night to the Argentines in overtime. Wow, what a basketball game... what an environment to play in.

Our boys got their first taste of passion and fire that comes along with international basketball yesterday. And, there's no better way to know what that intensity feels like other than to play the home team in their gym in an important game.

The stadium was shaking and the media booth, where I was perched, was trembling. The Argentine fans were jumping up and down, chanting songs, and sending sustained piercing whistles in the air that reverberated off the walls. Players couldn't hear the whistles over the mayhem and the coaching staff could barely issue orders from the bench. (Amazing!)

I was told by the players after the game that there fans behind the bench were unwavering and unrelenting in the ferociousness of their comments. As told to me by the coaches, one older gentleman, was right in the player's ears screaming: "Eff you MFer! I'm going to kill you." His English, I'm sure, wasn't great, but some things you don't need to call on the attache to translate. The F-Bomb is pretty much universal and the players only needed to feel the spittle and warm breath on the backs of their necks to know that he felt adamant about what he was saying. (Awesome!)

That's the fire and "orgullo" (pride) that these countries play with.

Hey... I'm not condoning it. But, as an athlete, you better have a positive approach to cope with playing in this type of an environment, if you want to compete for an Americas or World championship.

Our boys had it on this night. Very proud.

Despite the loss, we advance to the crossover round and will play USA tonight at 6PM. The team has given themselves a shot to qualify for the World Championship next summer and will have two chances to come away with the a win which will secure a spot. The top three (3) teams from this zone qualifier move on to 2010.

No mercy for the wicked... /sEf.

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PICTURED ABOVE: Team Canada during time out of the CAN vs ARG game. U16 FIBA Americas Championship (June 19, 2009)

BIG MATCH FOR THE CANUCKS

It doesn't get much better than this... playing the home team on their court, prime time on a Friday night.

Canada vs Argentina @ 8PM.

Argentina is a skilled and tough minded team. It will be a good test for our kids. That fans have been loving "Ka-na-daaaa!" Tonight, I think they'll turn on us. Lots of whistles and jeers.

Take a look at a few quick clips of their U16 team...

//SB

WELCOME TO INTERNATIONAL BALL

International ball is a lot of things: Fast-paced, athletic, physical, skilled, crafty and outright dirty.

This was a no call...!

Filming credit goes Kirby "Kirbinder" Schepp (Assistant Coach, Canadian U16 National Team)... working his tail off breaking down film.

//SB

“HOLA!” FROM MENDOZA

First post of June, I know… for good reason. I've truly been living the nomadic life as these past 3-weeks. Home is where ever I take off my socks for the night. (Actually, there was a few nights at University of Central Missouri two weeks ago when the socks didn't come off because it was so cold!).

Let me sum it up: Cayman – Toronto – Windsor – Detroit – (Warrensburg) Missouri – Cayman – Oklahoma City – (Mendoza) Argentina.

It's been bonkers… to say the least. But, I'm truly grateful for it all and have been having a blast along the way.

Last week, was my first PGC of the summer. It was the first time partnering back up with Mano Watsa since our days of Point Guard Academy. Loved it! To add icing to the cake, Rick Torbett of Better Basketball, sat in on the week and I thoroughly enjoyed talking hoops with him. He's a teacher-coach who's a lifelong learner. (Thanks for the time and all the insights, Coach Torbett!)

And, within 26-hours of finishing up that session, I landed in Mendoza, Argentina. This is return trip for me as I was last here on "vacation" in December when we stayed in B's and A's. This time round, I'm here with Canada Basketball for the FIBA Americas inaugural U16 World Qualifying Tournament. (The top three teams from this tournament move on to compete in the 2010 World Championship).

Mendoza is quite different from Buenos Aires. It's in the middle of the dessert, more humble and restrained of a city. I did, though, experience a little déjà vu yesterday when I got dropped off. You see, we're staying at a beautiful 4-star hotel that's been dropped right in the middle of what I've now learned is called the "red district." (No similarities to Amsterdam!).

My taxi driver, when he dropped me off, started speaking in Spanish frantically waving his hands while do so. "No comprendo," is all I could say. Then he said something that I knew sounded familiar, but I couldn't place the word: "peligroso."

It took me a few seconds, but then the recollection slapped me in the face. The last time I heard that word was in La Boca (just outside Buenos Aires) when we were about to turn down the wrong road and the wrong time and this woman vehemently warned us against it.

Peligroso. It came back to me… dangerous!

They put us in da hood. I was just glad it wasn't midnight… cause you don't want to be in the hood at midnight – anywhere in this world! (Universal PGC-ism)

[Hhhmmm: Bad news… I may not get to see much of Mendoza. Good news… I may be able to use this as a legit excuse for not getting Cat something on my return trip.]

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I missed out on the first three games of Day 1 as I was travelling, but I did manage to catch the opening ceremonies which took place right before the final game between Argentina and the Bahamas. Canada won their game against Mexico by 40+ which was positive news.

Day 2 of the tourney wrapped up a few hours ago. It was an early rise and off to Walmart. Yup, that place with the greeters. Same as back home except the greeters say "Buenos Dias!"

We needed food for the boys as the hotel is feeding them by the plate as opposed to buffet. These kids are way too big to portioned sizes for the average population. We bought bundles of bananas, lots of oranges, granola bars, juice, and some PB & J as comfort food.

From there it was off to the arena from 1:30-10:00pm of straight games.

Canada walked out 2-0 and now faces a (very) tough Argentine squad tomorrow night.

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My hope is that our game earlier was a reminder to our boys that you can't sleep on anyone in these types of tournaments. We got up on the Bahamas quite well and they lapsed. Bahamas made a run cutting a 20 point lead down to 7 or 8.

As is par for the course in international tournaments of this caliber, the schedules for the athletes and coaches is pretty hectic as they turn from preparation to performance to recovery and back into a preparation cycle in quick short times frames. 5 games in 5 days! And, in typical FIBA fashion, you've got to do your work early as a coaching staff. For our U16 national team, the coaches had a very short 3-day training camp before flying down for the tournament.

If you'd like to keep up on the results, visit: www.fibaamericas.com or www.basketball.ca.

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I'm working to cut some footage to post here and share so others can see the differences in style of play. It's really interesting; although I must admit the 'stylistic' differences are far more noticeable when you contrast North American teams to the Euro and Asian.

Stay tuned.

Buenos noches! I've got to get some sleep. /sEf.

LIONS, TIGERS & BEARS… OH, MY!

Still here... I was asked recently by a friend if I my blog was still alive. Yes, Sebastian, I'm still ticking (or clicking). As my grade 11 English teacher, Mrs. Miller, can attest, writing doesn't come easily to me. These posts - which I love doing - take a little time to make it off my finger tips onto the keyboard. Keep faith.

I've been bouncing around, all in the name of ball, these past few weeks with some key stops in Illinois and Quebec. During the latter, I was reminded about the importance of being concise and efficient with your words when teaching. This is especially true when working with athletes who speak another language from your own. Hey... if you want to become a better coach, do a coaching stint in a place where their first language isn't English. You'll learn a lot. I'm going to tighten up my French and be ready for the challenge again next year. (Je reviendrai mieux, Québec!)

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This post was going to be titled: “Losing My Virginity!” I thought that one rather risque. Either way, that’s what I felt like a few weeks back when I attended my very first AAU tournament in Evanston, Illinois.

I was in Evanston, which is about 40mins outside of Chicago, completing the video production process for this summer’s PGC sessions. I had a great time with Coach Medders and Coach Coston pulling it all together. And, as Lady Luck would have it, the day I flew in was the final day of a major AAU tournament taking place about a half-hour’s drive from where we were. When asked, I jumped at the opportunity to see what all the hype was about.

I mean, this is ‘The Model’ that pumps out USA’s elite basketball players. And, like for the US athlete, Canadian kids flock to these events to live out their hoop dream and get seen.

I tell ya… my hands were sweating from eager excitement as I walked into the gym.

What made this event special, was that this particular weekend was the only (or last, I should say) viewing period for NCAA coaches prior to summer. For those who are not familiar with the US system, NCAA coaches are restricted from observing recruitable athletes outside of very specific windows.)

Admittedly, the only thing that I can relate this experience to is going to the zoo..! It's a mad house of athletes, parents and coaches caged into a small space. At this particular tourney, there were over 200 teams playing out of 5 multi-court facilities (with each team paying $600+USD for participation!!!). Not to mention, hundreds of NCAA coaches attend these things and they're also charged an inordinate amount of money for their attendance.

Forget the arguments on ethics and athlete development, talk to me about where that money goes. Crazy. The only obvious conclusion for me to make, as I was overwhelmed by the scope of this event, is that I'm in the wrong business. (Read: sarcasm).

I've had some time time to process things and am going to elect to withhold judgement of the AAU circuit as I'm still learning all about it.

With that in mind, if you're interested in another's take on it, ESPN's Outside the Lines examines the power struggle between club and high school basketball in the US in this interesting piece below.

//SB

BTW - Between PGC and a few National Team commitments, this summer is shaping up to be a "suitcase" summer. Home will be where ever I take of my socks at day's end as I'm bouncing from gym to gym (maybe even from country to country). If I'm a little more sporadic with posts - if that's even more possible - then bare with me. Know that I'm in a gym somewhere learning and will be sharing as soon as I can.

THE (IN)DISPOSABLE SUPERSTAR

Check out this ESPN 'Outside The Lines' story: The Disposable Superstar.

This is a GREAT article that was shared with me by Coach Berry. (Thanks, CB!) NBA life is and can be a tough and cruel experience - especially for athletes that fail to meet up to other's expectations early.

It takes a special person with a lot of resiliency and mental fortitude to overcome the battles that Chauncey Billups has.

There are many subtle truths to the harshness of pro sports in this article and the struggle that PGs face when deciding when to create for themselves and when to create for others. Worth the read.

"Point guard is the greatest position on earth." //SB

I was fortunate enough to have been mentored while in Toronto by Sam Mitchell. And, can say, without a doubt, that he's all the leader and influencer that's described; plus some. He had a big impact on my career and for that I'm very grateful. I look forward to his return to the League.