Regional Coach Matt Buchi traveled to Comox and Powell River on the weekend of Feb 17-19 for a skills day in each region. Here is the report from each club.
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Comox Skills Night
Matt Buchi, Regional Program Development Coach for BC Wheelchair Basketball, came to our venue to provide us with training and skills development. He appoached the task with a remarkable enthusiastic sensitivity. While our demographics are somewhat differing from the 'normal' venue of wheelchair sport players, he was able to inspire and encourage us with instruction and training successfully geared to each individual player and the club as a whole.
Matt took the time to assess our play, gave instructions and quick drills on new skills then had us practice in play. This method was perfect for us. We could gain 'bite size' pieces of information, and directly apply them, with coaching, to our game. While the majority of players are adults, Matt ensured that his training also included and captured the interest and attention of our junior player.
At the end of the session, the club members were quite exhilarated and inspired to continue working on their skill sets and technical skills. We look forward to another skills training in the near future.
Click here for the slideshow from the skills night
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2012 Ravens Bounce Off Challenge
On February 18 and 19, the Ravens hosted the 2012 Bounce Off Challenge at Brooks Senior Secondary School in Powell River. This event was sponsored by Wheelchair Basketball Canada. Matt Buchi, BCWBS Regional Coach, joined us on route from Comox and, altogether, twelve Ravens were in attendance.
It was great to meet Matt. He cleared up some of our questions regarding the rules of the game and taught us some defensive and offensive strategies. On Saturday, we worked on basic skills via a handful of drills and then played ball. That evening, the entire group went to Magpies Dinner for a catered supper to sponsor team cohesion. More of the same on Sunday morning, with donuts and prizes. By the time the weekend had ended, our game had come together and our muscles were pretty sore.
Since this weekend, the Ravens’ weekly Friday practices look a lot different than they used to. We have a new set of warm up drills to consider, we now use our chalkboard to explain plays prior to playing ball, and we pay closer attention to following the proper rules of the game. Overall, our game looks more like it probably should and has become a lot faster.
Big thanks go out to Matt for travelling by way of four ferries to meet us. We had a lot of fun, learned new things, and look forward to doing this all over again sometime soon.
