Hoops 101

Always a great time catching up with two close friends and mentors of mine - Coach David Duke of Adelphi University and Coach Joe Conefry of Molloy University.  David and Joe have had a bunch of success as coaches and it will only continue for them.  Coach Joe Conefry is the newly named Head Men’s Basketball Coach at Division 2 Molloy University after having tremendous success while leading the Holy Trinity HS Boys Basketball program for many years.  This past year, Coach David Duke was named NE-10 Coach of the Year, All-Met Division 2 Coach of the Year, and led the team to a first place finish in the NE-10 Conference, as well as a birth in the NCAA Division 2 Tournament.  It has been an awesome experience working with both of them over the course of a lot of years.  Time flies!!

Congratulations to Coach Joe Conefry and our Girls 3rd Grade Red Team on their win in the Winter League Championship Game!!  Very proud of this group of girls and all of the 3rd Grade Girls in our travel program.  Year 1 of the “game experience” is challenging.  The girls learned/ developed new skills and learned about proper spacing, movement, and overall offensive/ defensive concepts.  This group has made a lot of progress over the course of just one year.  Keep working hard girls!!

Congratulations to Coach Joe Conefry and our 8th Grade Red Team on their win in the Winter League Championship Game!!  This particular group has only been playing together for a few months.  They have made tremendous progress in a short period of time.  Great job boys!!  Keep working hard!!

Awesome possession by our 6th Grade Red team in their game this weekend!!  5 passes.  No dribbles.  Our “Pass and Screen Away Action” into one of our options off of this action - Curl/ Pop - finishes with a made 3 pointer by the screener (Carter Rothman) popping back to where he came from.  Keep working hard boys!!  It’s a lot of fun to watch this group play!!

Congratulations to one of my closest friends, Coach Dave Duke, the Head Men’s Basketball Coach at Adelphi University.  This is the 2nd year in a row that he has led the program to the NCAA Division 2 tournament, coming out of one of the top Division 2 leagues in the country, the NE-10.  Good luck to Dave, the players, and their staff as they begin post season play!!

Billy Edelstein is a current senior on the Port Washington Boys Basketball team.  He is a dynamic guard who can score in a variety of ways and who has led the team to a strong finish in their regular season. While recently looking back at Hoops 101 pictures and videos from the past, I stumbled upon a video clip from 10 years ago at Pine Street Park, where I had the pleasure of beginning to work with Billy as he began his basketball journey.  Fast forward to a few nights ago and the additional video clips included here of Billy leading his team to a win in their final regular season game. Where does the time go??? Very proud of Billy and the young man that he has become.  Billy is one of the toughest and hardest working players to have come through the Hoops 101 program.   Best of luck to Billy, to one of the best coaches in the game, Coach Sean Dooley, and to the highly respected Port Washington Basketball Program, as they move on to post season play.

Two of our 4th Grade teams are seen here playing at halftime of the St. John’s vs. UConn game at Madison Square Garden this past weekend.  In front of a sold out crowd, they did a great job of doing what they practice - passing and cutting, back cutting, driving and kicking to open teammates, filling open spots correctly, and exiting from the rim area correctly.  Really proud of the kids and how they shared the ball and played the right way in front of a huge crowd!!

Incredible night in an electric environment at Madison Square Garden for the St. John’s vs UConn game this past weekend!!  Two of our Hoops 101 4th Grade teams had the opportunity to play at half time in front of a sold out crowd.  A BIG THANK YOU to two of our Hoops 101 parents - Andrew Sami and John Burnette - for organizing all of it!!

Awesome time at Madison Square Garden with my sister’s family, my close friend Vinny, and our Hoops 101 Family!! The atmosphere was electric!!

This quick video clip shows 6th Grade Red doing a really nice job scoring off of our Back Cut/ Pop Option that is part of our Pass and Screen Away Action within our Motion Offense.  This group has done a great job understanding the different reads within our motion offense.  Our pass and screen away action contains 3 options - each of which is determined by how the defense guards the action.  Very proud of this group of players and all of the hard work they have put into developing their individual skills and into becoming a really fun TEAM to watch play!!

Our 6th Grade Blue team is seen here with Coach Sade Jackson following a great team effort in their hard fought win this past weekend!! It is a lot of fun watching this group PASS THE BALL and use our motion concepts to create very good scoring opportunities. They play the right way. Very proud of this group and the improvement they have made through the years!!

Smash 101 is a youth sports company that will provide badminton clinics, camps, and teams to student-athletes in 3rd Grade through 12th Grade.  Smash 101 will also provide pickle ball instruction as well as competition for children and adults.

Entrepreneur, Businessman, and Coach Mike Kelly ( Hoops 101 / hoops101.net ) has teamed up with Badminton Coach Bobby Kopp, a former Boys Varsity Badminton coach and current South Woods Middle School Badminton Club advisor / instructor in the Syosset School District.

Awesome to see 5 Hoops 101 players out on the court together representing the Port Washington JV team.  Chase Vigilis, Charlie Caslow, Sam Scharfstein, Sean O’Sullivan, and Joseph Telesmanic have worked hard and continue to improve themselves both on and off the court.  They are seen here passing and moving which results in a made 3-pointer by Chase Vigilis.   The Port Washington High School program is led by one of the best High School Varsity Coaches in the business - Sean Dooley.  Sean has created an outstanding culture at Port Washington and has put together a great staff who are all on the same page beginning immediately with their middle school teams.  If you enjoy watching basketball being played THE RIGHT WAY, I strongly recommend attending their program’s games at each of the different grade levels.

Congratulations to my close friend, Hoops 101 Coach, and current Molloy University Men’s Basketball Head Coach Joe Conefry on his first win as a Head Coach at the college level!! Many more wins to come as he will continue to build a successful Molloy University Men’s Basketball program.

Happy Thanksgiving!!  Grateful to have another day on two feet and another day to spend time with close friends and family. Happy Thanksgiving to all of our Hoops 101 players, families, and staff!!  Hoops 101 is very fortunate to have the players that we have, the families that we have, and the staff that we have.  A big THANK YOU to the above mentioned groups of people who make this program what it is!!  Grateful to be a part of this awesome youth sports family that we have.

Really proud of our 3rd Grade White team.  Although the team was missing several players, they fought hard and lost a tough 3rd Grade semi final game by one point this past weekend.  This group and all of our 3rd Grade teams ended the fall season on a positive note.  The players have shown a great deal of patience when it comes to trusting the PROCESS.  Great job boys!!

Congratulations to our Boys 5th Grade Red Team on their win in the Fall League Championship Game!! This group has been together for almost 3 years now and it’s a lot of fun watching them play. They run offense hard, share their shots, and can REALLY PASS THE BALL. Proud of this group of boys and all of our 5th grade boys teams for their hard work, commitment, and for understanding that improving individually and as a team is a PROCESS THAT TAKES TIME. Great job boys!!

Congratulations to our Girls 4th Grade White Team!!  They had an exciting win in the championship game of our Fall League!!  Our three 4th Grade Girls Teams have quickly progressed over the last year and a half.  It is fun to see the improvement in their overall skill level, their understanding of where to be/ how to move on the court, and their working as a team on the offensive and defensive ends of the floor.  Great job to all of our 4th Grade Girls!!

Very proud of our 4th Grade Gray Team.  They finished the Fall League with a hard fought win in the championship game.  All 5 of our 4th Grade teams have made a lot of progress in a very short period of time.  It’s fun watching how the players in this age group share the ball, try to get a good “team” shot each time down the floor, and frequently look to “make the extra pass” in order to get a more open shot.  Great job this fall!!

It has been awesome watching the progress of all of our 4th grade teams!! 4th Grade Red had an excellent possession here where they finished with a back cut to a short jump shot. The kids understand passing, moving, exiting from the rim area, and overall spacing - really proud of all of them!! The hard work on skill development and movement as a team will someday be combined with more physical growth and more speed. Look forward to seeing it all come together. Great job boys!!