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glenn
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Northeast Community Center: 78-79
At the end of the summer, 1978 I applied for and was granted a transfer to a fulltime community center as Senior Recreation Specialist at Northeast Community Center on the southeast corner of Washington Park.
Northeast was a medium sized community center with a grade school size gym where the backboards hung from the wall and the walls were out of bounds. One of my responsibilities was coaching three of the four teams the center tried to field: boys 13 and under, boys 16-18 and girls 14-15.
%5B3%5D.jpg "northeastcc7879 (5)")
Because Northeast Community Center didn’t have enough girls to field more than one team the girls team included Mona Dycuss and Pam ???, two younger girls who should have been on a 13 and under team. I couldn’t convince Mona and Pam to play on the boys 13 & under team where they would get more playing time. Mona and Pam were pretty decent players for their age but there was such a size disparity between them and the older girls that their opportunities would be limited. Pam actually, as isn’t abnormal at that age for a girl, would have been one of the taller players on the boys team.
Being the first time coaching girls I was also a little uncomfortable putting grade school girls with high school girls because in truth some of the girls on the older team tried to portray themselves as a little on the ‘fast’ side. As it turned out they weren't displaying more than a ‘front’. Sometimes I think it was just their way of making fun of the coach whom they saw as a little ‘square’.
The compromise I reached with Mona and Pam was that they could be on the girls team with the understanding that I couldn’t guarantee them playing time but would still expect them to work as hard as the other girls in practice. To their credit, outside of an occasional pouting, they worked as hard as could be expected. It was hard to find games for the girls team because their were few community centers that fielded teams at all let alone in the same age bracket. This was further complicated because any players with marginal skills where usually playing for the schools during basketball season.
%5B3%5D.jpg "northeast_cc7979 (4)")
One thing that became immediately apparent was that the girls were much more anxious to practice and very receptive to coaching. It was obvious that this came from an appreciation of getting any gym time at all. Any community centers that had a so called ‘girls night’ usually limited it to one night a week. It was also apparent that any girls, especially inner city girls, that had any demonstrated ability got it from playing pick-up games with boys when they could. The reason for this was that youth leagues for girls where rare so they usually found the experience of actually being coached as a welcome change.
We had managed a few games with mixed results. We had 3 girls that were 5’10 [Kim Goliday (Tech H.S.), Rochelle ‘Rocky’ Benedict and Michelle ‘Micky’ Benedict (twins from Howe H.S.)] so we tended to control the boards and play aggressive defense. The energy level was high and everyone contributed when given the chance.
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By the time the Parks Department City Tournament rolled around the team jelled pretty well finishing in second place. The girls team, like both boy’s teams, might have won the championship if I hadn’t had to coach all three games back to back. With only ten minutes between games.
I don’t say this as a testament to any basketball genius on my part but in reference to game preparation. With trying to keep track of 30 kids, ages 12 thru 18 during and between games, submitting lineups, etc. there was no time to review strategies or anything. The hectic atmosphere had to be as distracting to some of the players as much as it was for me.
Eventually Kim Golliday and Rochelle Benedict would try out for and make their High School Team.
Following the tournament I received a letter and invitation from the Women's Basketball Association of America [WBAA] based in Kansas City inviting our team to participate in their upcoming national tournament for 18 and under girls teams.
At first the letter was seen as a positive thing for both the center and the girls but the initial response was that their was no way that an inner city community was going to generate funds to pay the expenses for 12 teenage girls, a coach and a chaperone [that didn’t even win their age division] to play in a tournament for an older age group. 15 year olds that didn’t make their high school team versus varsity high school and college freshman players. 15 and 16 year olds versus 17 and 18 year olds. Neighborhood kids versus high school all-stars and scholarship freshman. We weren’t even sure if the parks department would pay my salary for the week long tournament in Kansas...
…but at some point the talk turned to how do do it, if it could be done and eventually the attitude became why not.
I sat down with the girls and we discussed the ideals that were being presented about accepting the tournament invitation. I emphasized to them that it would take a lot of work to raise the money and that at some point success would be dependant upon finding a sponsor to pick up the difference. I also pointed out that even if we raised the funds and found a sponsor the fact was that to be competitive we would have to add players and that would mean that some of them would not be going. There was no sense putting the practice time, the fund raising time and getting permission to be out of school for a week if it wasn’t our intent to try and win the tournament. A simple field trip to Chicago could substitute for a basketball road trip if we weren’t going to be competitive.
To their credit, and the surprise of many, they accepted the reality of the situation and were unanimous in agreeing to put in the work and accepting my eventual decision on who would or wouldn’t make the trip.
Initially we set-up and staged a car wash as our first fundraiser, I also recruited two high school players from Cathedral and incorporated the team as a not-for-profit corporation with the state as ‘Circle City Warriors, Inc.’ to accommodate the planned fundraising activities. Things were progressing enthusiastically and the car wash was a moderate success but we were far from thinking that we were going to pull it off as we weren’t getting anywhere on a sponsor other than an occasional pledge of a donation. Then the community center director made contact with Officer Lymon Battles of the Indianapolis Police Athletic League. Officer Battles obtained full funding for the trip and brought in three high school players from Arsenal Technical High School and one from Marshall.
Officer Battles was a life saver, not only was the funding there but the four girls he brought were standout players. All sophomores; Monique Carter, Canandra Goodall, Miranda Bryant and Karen Woodard.
The skill level of these four and the two girls from Cathedral were clearly a level above the team that had played in the Parks Department Tournament but I don’t think the new girls intimidated anyone as everyone continued to work and practice. We played a couple of scrimmages against some older girls at Hill and Douglass Community Centers and looked pretty good doing so.
click here to see a larger version of this slide show
As trip time neared we had to trim down the roster from 16 to 10. Obviously Pam and Mona were not going to make the cut. The six new girls were a lock to make the team until one of the Cathedral girls badly sprained her ankle and was a late scratch. From the original team it was an agonizing decision but the three that I had to cut from the trip were: Latrisha Thomas, Daisy Members and Michelle Benedict. Latrisha and Daisy were important in the parks department games but where their strong points were unique on the parks department team the skills the new girls brought displaced those attributes. Daisy was a good shooter with adequate ball handling skills and Latrisha was a quick ball handler who could hit the open shot enough, but both of them tended to be more accurate with the set shot and weren’t consistent rebounders because the set shot kept them on the perimeter. Michelle was as good as her sister Rochelle but it really came down to a toss up for two frontline positions between Michelle, Rochelle, and Kim Goliday. I can’t really remember how I decided that one.
It never ceased to amaze me how well these girls took things, Mona and Pam would pout and stomp out as pre-teens will do but they never really quit. Michelle, Latrisha and Daisy worked hard, where fun to have around and never backed down and I cut them. Yet, over the years when I have run into them they never have complained about not making that trip even though I know it was important to them. Maybe they realize that I genuinely felt bad about not taking them and if that is the case then that just raises my assessment of their character even more.
The ten girls, all sophomores, selected to make the trip where:
 | Karen Woodard, 6’4 Center. Tech High School Oh my. Talent and humor. Between her and Miranda you didn’t know if you were talking to ball players or a comedy team |
| Miranda Bryant, 5’10 Forward. Tech High School All arms and legs with unlimited potential. Also a state level track star in the 400 and 800 and niece of Crispus Attucks H.S. and Harlem Globetrotters star Hallie Bryant | %5B2%5D.jpg "northeast_cc7979 (2)") |
%5B2%5D.jpg "northeast_cc7979 (8)") | Canandra Goodall, 5-8 Guard. Tech High School An athletic smooth 5’8 guard who could shoot and handle the ball extremely well |
| Monique Carter, 5-9 Forward/Guard. John Marshall High School A natural athlete and a born gym rat, 5’9 strong and with quickness. She was a state Champion track star in the 100 and 200. | %5B2%5D.jpg "northeast cc 7879 (2)") |
 | Rochelle Benedict, 5-10 Center/Forward. Howe High School. Rochelle was long and a little stronger than she looked with a decent short range shot. |
| Karen Strickland, 5’6 Guard. Howe High School. Strong, fast and aggressive, she had a little bit of a jumper along with her set shot. Her defense got her on the trip as much as anything. | %5B2%5D.jpg "northeast_cc7979 (9)") |
%5B4%5D.jpg "northeast_cc7979 (6)") | Paula Walker, 5’8? Guard/Forward. Tech High School. For her size Paula was probably the quickest off her feet for a rebound after Miranda and Monique with a decent jump shot and moderate quickness. |
| Kim Golliday, 5’9 Center. Tech High School. Kim was strong and a decent rebounder. | %5B2%5D.jpg "northeast_cc7979 (7)") |
%5B2%5D.jpg "northeast_cc7979 (5)") | Allison Evans, 5’6 Guard. Howe High School. Of the parks department team Allison probably had the most balanced game. Wasn’t necessarily the best at any one thing but was consistent across the board. Shot, dribbling, speed, strength, defense, confident and aggressiveness. Her demeanor didn’t always suggest the confidence and aggressive play but I thought I saw that. |
The tenth spot was the second player from Cathedral but after we had submitted our roster to the WBAA she informed us that since the other player from Cathedral, her sister, wasn’t going she didn’t want to. It was too late to replace her so this left us not only under aged for this tournament but also undermanned as we had only been able to fund 10 players as opposed to the tournament limit of 12.
The Northeast Community Center area was a neighborhood that had seen better days and Cathedral High School was a private school outside of the area. With the exception of the girls from Cathedral all the girls came from the neighborhood or similar neighborhoods on the north side of INDY. If I had felt the injured Cathedral girl’s heart was in playing on the team I would have fought for using the car wash money to send her and a twelve player on the trip. The ankle injury wasn’t that bad and she probably would have recovered before the first game, but as it was I don’t think they or their parents ever felt comfortable with the team or the neighborhood.
[back row: L2R] Karen Stricklin, Karen Woodard, Kim Goliday, Canandra Goodall
[front row: L2R] Rochelle Benedict, Allison Evans, Monique Carter, Paula Walker, Miranda Bryant
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Douglas CC: Girls
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
This Teams Info is still being compiled.
Check Back Later.
glenn
Woodruff Place: Boys
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
This Teams Info is still being compiled.
Check Back Later.
glenn
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