Reading an article about Georgia Tech's recent win over #5 Duke, I thought about how important it is to be a clutch free throw shooter. For those of you who missed Tech's 71-67 victory over Duke, the game came down to Georgia Tech's great free throw shooting in the second half. The Jackets were 17 of 18 from the free throw line in the second half and 7 of 8 from the line in the last 32 seconds. Without this clutch free throw shooting performance the Jackets may have found themselves on the losing end of an important early ACC contest.

Elite Hoops just finished up training with 15 boys and girls last week at Norcross High School. The skills training was an intense 1.5 hour session focused on fundamentals. The players worked on ballhandling fundamentals, like dribbling with their finger tips and keeping their heads up; passing fundamentals, like making a chest pass by extending their hands outwards toward the recipient of the pass and finishing with their thumbs pointing to the ground. The players finished out each day with fundamental layup drills, which worked on developing proper footwork and finishing with the appropriate hand around the basket. The players worked hard each day and improved greatly over the 5 days of training. As we head into our Fall training schedule, hopefully we can get the same effort and see the same improvement from all of our players.

The camp at McIntosh High School has gone well the first 4 days. From the first day, our goal was to "not mistake activity for achievement." Each and every player has tried to make sure that when ever they are going through a drill, a station, or even in warmups, they are trying to get better by going full speed. Campers are also doing a good job of showing sportsmanship. It is not out of the ordinary to see players giving high fives, encouraging one another, be it in games or in stations. These players that pay special attention to being good teammates by showing good sportsmanship are players that coaches love to have on their teams. Hopefully, these good attitudes and hard work continue on to "Championship Friday!"
-Coach Langley