Kazakhstanding Tall: Basketball Season II

Sunday, June 4, 2017

Basketball Season II

This year was my second year as the head coach of the NU women's basketball team. Last year was a complete rebuild - with only 1 returning starter and six new players. In the spring last year we had four girls graduate, and so this year we added four new players to the roster after tryouts in August. Brandon Brock, who is a writing instructor in the school was my assistant again this year. One exciting development this year was that a new wooden court and new standards were installed so that the local professional team could practice at our facility. It has made our basketball facility much better.

The team really started building an identity this year, and it is amazing how much improvement they have made. I have grown a lot as a coach and have been able to build some new drills and routines to maximize the strengths of the girls. The four new girls that we added to our team this year have been great. Two of them are from Semey, which was the area of Soviet nuclear testing in the 1950s and 1960s and had played together in high school. One of the girls is from Almaty and is also one of the leaders of the NU cheer-leading club. The last is from Taraz, and she also plays in the orchestra. We have students from each of the three undergraduate schools, and the girls do very well.

We had a few activities this year. The first was a breakfast during the first part of the season as a kind of get to know you activity. We also had a great end of year dinner with the girls. I spend three nights a week with them at practice, and more hours planning, preparing for games, and just talking with the girls. They become a part of our family in many ways, and we really enjoy having them as part of our lives here.

Team Breakfast in September

As far as the season goes, we didn't have a national league and tournament this year. In the fall we put together two friendly games with two universities here in town that have good basketball programs. We played four more friendly games in February and early march against the same two teams. One of the teams, Eurasian National (ENU), is very good. They have players that have been playing for a long time, and who have played together for a long time. They also have a good coach. We beat them in October, but didn't beat them the rest of the year. Medical University is another good team, and we split our friendly games with them.

Photos from our last friendly game against ENU - the team that won the tournament this eyar.

At the beginning of April we were told that there would be a city-wide tournament. The women's brackets included the three strongest teams, us, Medical, and ENU in one bracket along with one weak team. The other bracket had three weak teams. Our first game was against ENU and we lost, but in a fairly close game. We had a difficult time scoring in the second half and couldn't beat them. However, we won the next three games and took 3rd place in the tournament overall. It was a good place to be. We don't offer athletic scholarships and most of our students have not played a lot of sports, and so we are building a program from the bottom up. With the girls and the growth they are making, it is our goal to compete every year for the top place in the city, and to be competitive if we ever play games against other cities.

Overall, the year was a success. We had a nice closing dinner after the tournament ended. We said goodbye to our three graduating seniors and gave awards for most improved and most valuable players. The alumni from the past two years put together a scholarship fund (on their own) and awarded two of the girls about $100.00 each to help them with their studies. Like I said, they are great girls, and we are glad to have them in our lives. Coaching basketball has been one of the most rewarding things that I've done here and has really tied us into the lives of students here in ways that would be impossible otherwise.