VFW

We wanted to update everyone on a couple of recent news items for your information. First, we have cancelled all the reservations at the Golden Nugget today so your credit cards should see a credit for the deposit there. We are going to be staying at the South Coast Hotel for the whole team. Second, it appears that we have a good chance to participate in the Pasadena Bruins basketball tournament at the end of August 2006. The reason that we are looking to play in this tournament is we have the opportunity to play three games against teams that we have never faced before (San Fernando Dragons, Jets and the FOR 76'ers. All three teams are different then when we saw them earlier this year. Third, we need to send our practice fees to Jon or Wendy for the month of June 2006 The total amount for all the practices including both clinics with Natalie Nakase and Erin Kiyomura totaled $525. We can write a check of $52.50 to Jon or Wendy. I will also be posting the July 2006 practice schedule as soon as the gyms are confirmed. Let me know if you have any questions, Mark

There has been a little change for this Sunday July 2, 2006 Instead of the Jason Wright clinic at the SCCCC at 11:00 a.m. we will be having the optional clinic with Jason at Huntington Beach HS this Sunday from 1:00-3:00 p.m. The price will be the same $20 and I believe we have 6 or 7 attending from our team. It will be good to have them work with Jason as we don't have enough time to go over the ball handling drills at each practice. Be sure to check on our progress with the teams free throws. We only shot 240 total free throws in the past two practices so we will have to pick it up over this weekend. Remember it's under the "Stats" section then go to "Free Throw Summary" I will try to coordinate the practice schedule for the month of July and post it as soon as we get confirmation from Mariners. We have the Jets Tournament at the end of July so we are going to try and have a defensive clinic at Kennedy HS, Granada Hills in the next few weeks. We'll keep you posted on the calendar section of this website. Have a great week, Mark

This is just a reminder that we have now changed our practice schedule and will not have any practices on Saturday or Sunday until school starts. Our schedule will primarily be Wednesday and Friday based on gym availability. If you have time to attend a Jason Wright clinic on the weekend it would help your child tremendously as we do not practice dribbling or ball handling skills in our practices. I will be trying to coordinate special clinics, camps, practice sessions on some weekends in the next two months. These will not be mandatory but will be fun for the boys if you have time. The first opportunity will be next Sunday July 2 at the SCCCC in Irvine. I might have Jason Wright do a private clinic for one hour for just our team if we can get enough boys to participate. Please check your schedule and let Jon or I know if you would like to attend. The tentative time is 11:00-12:00 and the cost will be $20 per player. Jason normally charges $50 for a private lesson but is doing this as a favor for me and our team. The boys are moving along very well and right on schedule, we started to work on our press break last night, we need to start on our half court press and full court press in the next week or two. I will be having Coach Kevin Kanemura help in this process. We are probably the only 3rd grade team working on this so early in the year. We still need to work on our free throws and I will probably take a day just dedicated to this so we can catch up on our goal. Just a footnote from practice last night, I understand that most of the boys got out of school this past week and the feeling of "no more school" was just hitting them but they were not as serious as they normally are. I do not like using our gym time for running purposes as we can run outside if needed. Running to discipline is not my way of coaching, I just wanted everyone to know my feelings about this. Have a great weekend and will see everyone next Wednesday June 28th at Mariners from 6:30-8:30 p.m. Mark

Hello FORCE parents, Hope everything's well. I just wanted to share something with you all. I was uploading the final results from the various tournaments that the boys competed in, actually, the only one that posted the division wide results was the FOR tournament. You can download and print out the results if you go to the handout section of the website. Nevertheless, when I was looking at the results, I looked at how the other VFW teams did. BOYS: 3rd grade Gold, FORCE, 2 wins - 1 loss, Second place 4th grade Gold, Red Storm, 0-3, Lost in Friendship Game 4th grade Silver,Red Dragons, 0-3, Lost in Friendship Game GIRLS: 3rd grade Silver,Red Waves, 0-3, Lost in Friendship Game 4th grade Silver,Scorpions, 0-3, Lost in Friendship Game 2-13! With three tournaments (WLA, FOR and Tigers) done, we have JETS, Dodgers and VFW left. I don't know how the rest of the 3rd and 4th grade VFW teams did in Tigers or WLA but I know they aren't 8-1! Please share the results with your boys because that's where we could have been...like the rest! Talk to them about why we practice twice a week, why it's important to show up at every practice ready to play and learn, why each one is accountable and how they each complete a team effort. Mark, Scott and I have always said that our goal is to bring everyone up together, to be solid 1 through 10. We learned from last year that we can't have just one or two score but we need the whole team to contribute in order for us to hang with Ikaika. We are following the FORCE path...we have come a ways but we still have a long way to go. Mark and I talk daily (and nightly) about how or what we can do at practice to better prepare the boys. Mark is continually searching for the right motivators and guest speakers (Coach Erin, Coach Natalie, Jason and Coach Kevin) to help out and talk to the boys. My nephew, Mark, has told me how lucky the boys are with what we are teaching them at such a young age. The drills, plays, firsthand knowledge about the game, and additional coaches are things that he wished he was taught when he eight or nine, not while he was in Junior high. He's always telling Jordan how lucky he is and how he can be better than all of his cousin's because of what he's learning at his age. He also told Jordan that his old SEYO team didn't win any tournaments until he was in Junior high. Once the boys believe in what were saying, they will be unstoppable! Please tell your boys to keep up the good work! On another note. We have almost used up our FORCE fund. So far, the FUND has paid out $217+ for supplies (Nike bags, training DVD's and balls, blank DVD's and our First aid kit), about $400+ for Jason's ball handling clinics, Erin's and Natalie's clinics and $610 for the Dodger's entry fee. Roughly about $1227. We all have personally paid out about $1400 for the tournament fees this year along with our monthly gym fees...about another $100 or so. The total for this tournament season is about $2800, in which our FORCE fund paid for about half of that. Needless to say, Mark, Scott and I have taken care of the coaching aspect, as well as your ongoing help at practice. We are asking you all for help in selling the ad's for our tournament booklet and to replenish the FORCE fund again. Mark had said that our goal was to fund enough money to support us for the next tournament season and now we know what the costs are. Once again, we are to bring in at least $700. Anything over that is refunded back to us at 50%. If we sell $1700, minus the $700 that goes to VFW, we get back a reimbursement check for $500 (50% of the $1000), almost enough for the Dodger tournament fee. If you have any questions, please feel free to talk to me at practice on Wednesday. It could be worse, we could be like the rest of the teams! Thanks again, Jon

Since we are using the official Force website I can explain a few items that might be a little confusing. In the Calendar section you will notice a dollar amount under each practice time. This amount is the gym rental fee for that day. We are very fortunate that Mariners does not charge after our two hours are done as we are usually in the gym for another 30 minutes each night. We will then calculate all the gym fees for the month and will divide it equally between our 10 families. June will be the most expensive month sine we had no tournaments to participate in. We have paid Natalie Nakase and Erin Kiyomura from our VFW Tournament Fund as well as the entry fee for the Hollywood Dodgers Tournament in Vegas. IT IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT THAT WE GO OUT AND TRY TO GET ADS FOR THE VFW TOURNAMENT BOOK THIS YEAR, THE MONEY THAT IS REIMBURSED TO US AFTER THE TOURNAMENT CAN BE UTILIZED FOR PRACTICE TIMES, ETC. Thanks, Mark