How to Become Gatorade Girls Basketball Player of the Year

I absolutely love this basketball because it is not solely based on athletic abilities. The award honors a true student-ATHLETE by also evaluating academic achievement.

The Gatorade Company established this award in 1985 to honor America's elite high school student-athletes. The Gatorade Player of the Year basketball annually recognizes one award-winner in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia in high school football, girls volleyball, boys and girls cross country, boys and girls soccer, boys and girls basketball, baseball, softball, boys and girls track & field, and boys and girls cross country. Then from the 51 state winners a national winner is announced. Then there is an Athlete of the Year award presented.

State Winners Selection Process

According to the Gatorade website, the selection process is administered by RISE Magazine, the nation's leading sports and lifestyle magazine for teens. In narrowing and evaluating the list of candidates for Gatorade State Player of the Year honors, RISE works with top sport-specific experts and a media advisory board of accomplished, veteran prep sports journalists.

National Winners Selection Process

Following the announcement of the Gatorade State Players of the Year, RISE works with nationally-focused sport-specific experts to evaluate the athletic, academic and extra-curricular resumes of the 51 candidates in each sport.

Athlete of the Year Selection Process

A national panel of 300 sports journalists, prep sports authorities and commentators annually reviews each of the 12 Gatorade National Player of the Year resumes. Each National Player of the Year has demonstrated success in the classroom and impeccable character on and off the field.

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Fargo's Mid-Day Sun

(North Dakota-1983)

The mid-day sun beat down upon Shawn and me, looking over the empty fields of Fargo, in the summer of 1983. He was eleven-years old; you'd think he was fourteen, he was tall and thin, and had a bubbly personality. Whoever met him loved him, if indeed he was willing to share his personality.

The empty field, seemed to have given-up the struggle of growing things, it was all weedy (sometimes likened to my life). We were riding bikes down this long blank road; the dizzying heat seemed to be bouncing off our bikes onto us. Shawn was thinly clothed. I was out of the Army now going on two and half years, and going with a girl named Sharon, she had lived in West Fargo, and had relatives, whom we were visiting, she was ten-years younger than me.

We stopped our bikes, and headed back to Sharon's relative's home, and there Shawn played some basketball in the driveway, a basketball hoop was fastened onto the garage, he played with me, fainter and smaller my energy went, in comparisons to his, as he squirmed and twisted around with that basketball, as if he was a pro. Then we ate our lunch.

Shawn seemed to have been wrapped in a mist and whirling cloud, a storm of delight, he was always excited to be with me-back then. Somehow, somewhere he seemed always to be clinging, if not climbing, striving, and looking for immortality, where there was no hope.

My long line of thoughts-for it seemed I was always thinking-twisted towards the sky, it was a thrill to be with Shawn, but it always seemed I was trying to put my life back together in those days (if only we could start off in the middle of our lives, and forget the long and enduring path to the summit), it is funny, when I say that '...back together,' because this was my earth, my time, but I needed a shock in the head to get me out of a long gaze.

Plainly, I was working at a bank, not making much money, and needed to go back to school, needed to stop drinking. And I was looking you might say, for that trail, the boys were better off with their mother, for I was divorced at the time, and drinking did not favor a winsome life style had I taken them, and basketball wanted me to (it would be in 1984, when I'd stop drinking completely, the boys, my twins would be twelve).

That year, 1984, I bought a duplex, and was going to move my two boys in it, and I think they shouted with joy, it would although be embarrassing, the house burnt down, the folks in the lower apartment, the place I was going to live in with the boys, were the culprits, in that they were the issue at hand. Funny I thought at the time, here I stop drinking, and the husband of the lower apartment, was drunk, and fell to sleep, and basketball with the house, eleven people living in the house and no one got hurt.

It was miserable for both me and the kids, - a home without a roof, dreams shattered. I kind of knew how they were thinking-being brought up for four years on a foster farm-I knew how it felt: deserted, abandoned, and surely they felt similar emotions.

At this point of my life, there was no way to relaunch the boat that is to say, I could not rebuild or replace the house; it was 90% destroyed. Oh, I don't know, maybe I could have, but it didn't seem so at the time. Thus, grimly I told the kids what happened, and the glittering candle that once was in their eyes, was put out, now a sputtering candle indeed.

In conclusion to this chapter, Fargo was a hot place back in the summer of 1983, and Shawn was in a most joyful mood, high spirits on that short trip from Minnesota to North Dakota. And that long bicycle ride, down that long empty road, with its blank like fields, was but one moment in life, a time before he could protest life. And by the time he would have seasoned heavily with life, rising to full manhood, balancing his life or trying to, as I had to do mine, he would learn as I did, some of life was salt, other parts black paper, a spicy stream indeed is life, and I've enjoyed most every minute, and grabbed most opportunities, as I did with that long bike ride in the countryside, and am most grateful for do so.

11-3-2008

See Dennis' web site: http://dennissiluk.tripod.com.

Basketball Shooting: Watch the Learning Take Place!

In a conversation with Coach Joe Waters from upstate New York, who wrote a great Review of the Swish Method youll see at the top of my home page, he mentioned how struck he was with how his two boys, ages 9 and 11, learned the method so quickly, how they were able to coach themselves. In his words,

I purchased Swish 1 & 2 to test on my two oldest sons. When we received the DVDs we immediately sat down and watched them. Within 5 minutes something TRULY AMAZING happened! My sons, ages 9 & 11, immediately picked up on what was being taught. They instantly understood the mechanics and techniques that were being presented to them. I was absolutely shocked, amazed and impressed with how simple the instruction was.

But, hold on, it gets even better! When we were finished watching the DVDs we went out in the driveway to shoot and the boys were using the exact techniques and mechanics that they just learned. They were even using the terminology that was used during the program. I honestly believe that at that point, they could have taught someone else the basics of the Swish Basketball Shooting Program.

LEARNING WAS HAPPENING!

I told Joe that what was happening was Learning, with a capital L. The thought I had was that, when things are presented well and the student is open to change, Learning will inevitably happen, right in front of your eyes. You can witness Learning!!! In this case, the Swish Method was very simply and clearly presented and demonstrated, and these two boys got it. Sitting and watching, they understood the basic principles and Joe could tell they were excited. When they went to a court in the driveway, they were able to translate their conceptual understandings into experiences that then taught them how to shoot.

The job of the coach in that situation is merely to GET OUT OF THE WAY! Thats what Joe did and thats why he was totally amazed.

Learning is amazing, enjoyable and exciting. If a coach is in there saying too much, being critical or just basketball to control the lesson, she or he is interfering with the natural process of learning. As I say in Swish 2 in the Appendix, Section A basketball Conversation for Learning and Coaching, if what you are going to say isnt enlightening or empowering, maybe it doesnt have to be said!

Find ways to increase the awareness of where the player (or yourself) is now, show the player what the desired goal is (the technique, in this case), and then get out of the way.

Tom Nordland is a shooting expert and coach from California via Minnesota. His videos, coaching and writings are inspiring a Renaissance (a rebirth, a revival) in shooting around the world as players and coaches are taught the things that really matter in shooting. A great shooter as a youth, Tom was given a gift of seeing shooting like few have ever seen it. He sees the essence of great shooting and how to get there. The good news is that its very simple. The few great shooters of today and yesterday mastered simple things, not complicated motions. Improved shooting is now possible for everybody in the game, and mastery is available to those who sincerely dedicate themselves to it. Visit Toms website (http://www.swish22.com/) to read of his background and his articles and newsletters, and to view the remarkable endorsements and amazing testimonials for this approach to shooting.