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Nike Championship Basketball Clinic Recap

Published by CROWN staff on May 19, 2009

Toronto, Ontario-From Friday May 1st to Sunday May 3rd, the Nike Championship Basketball Clinic took place in Toronto. Canadian coaches and players were treated to a display of various coaching strategies put on by some of the brightest basketball minds from the NBA, college and high school levels.

Tim Floyd at Nike Coaching Clinic --Photo Credit: Big Shot Images

Jim Calhoun at the Nike Coaching Clinic--Photo Credit: Big Shot Images

On Friday, participants were treated to an informative session with Geno Auriemma, coach of the University of Connecticut’s Women’s Basketball team. Auriemma delved into the offensive and defensive schemes of his championship teams, much to the delight of the coaches in attendance hoping to pass on these principles to their teams. Following Auriemma was former Memphis Grizzlies coach, Tony Barone, who provided an insightful session for coaches looking for strategies to improving their techniques and moving up in their profession.

Saturday’s sessions included both physical and verbal demonstrations. The Humber College Men’s Basketball team were used throughout the day to go through all drills and demonstrations. The early morning session got off to a bang with respected strength and conditioning coach Alan Stein. His high-energy clinic ran through numerous conditioning workouts he uses while training some of the top basketball players in the world, including Kobe Bryant, Lebron James, Kevin Durant and many more. Following that, the great California high school coach, Frank Allocco of Delasalle, spoke about the importance of implementing an effective coaching system and style for any basketball team with serious aspirations of success. It was a well-delivered speech that was well received by all in attendance.

Sunday featured former Canadian National Basketball coach Ken Shields, who demonstrated his coaching prowess by teaching various strategies for attacking pressure defenses. Wrapping up the weekend’s clinic was coach Joe Mihalich of Niagara University, who put on a great session for how to run plays for various baseline and out-of-bounds scenarios. These often-overlooked parts of basketball can separate great teams from decent ones, and it was a reminder of how to utilize them to their full advantages.

Undoubtedly, all those who attended the Nike Championship Basketball Clinic got their money’s worth. From offense to defence, to conditioning and general basketball strategy, all topics were covered in depth, and hopefully provided ideas that can be used to continue developing our stars of the future.

By Jovan Brkic

For more information on the coaching clinic tour and general inquiries, visit www.basketballcoach.com or call the hotline: 503-671-3140

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