Bay Area Ballers Top 10s

Bay Area Ballers Top 10s

    All time players                                            Best 3pt Shooters

1. Senque Carey                                              1. John Parsons

2. Patrick Dennehy                                          2. Corey Blick

3. Tyler Johnson                                              3. Scotty Kenny

4. David Choitti                                               4. Gokul Nastem

5. Omar Samhan                                              5. Senque Carey

6. Ali Thomas                                                   6. Chaz Thomas

7. Chase Lyman                                                7. John Casnocha

8. Lloyd Cook                                                    8. Ryan Rocha

9. Joe Skiffer                                                      9. Spencer Britscghi

10. Kyle Bailey                                                  10. Jordan Couch


Most Athletic                                                      Top PGs

1. Lloyd Cook                                                  1. Senque Carey

2. Tyler Johnson                                               2. LyRyan Russell

3. Phil Jackman                                                3. Joe Skiffer

4. David Choitti                                                4. Kyle Bailey

5. Michael Blackmon..aka Bubba                    5. Tyler Johnson

6. Kerry Wooldridge                                        6. Chaz Thomas

7. Jeff Parrish                                                    7. Hakeen Gillard

8. Anthony Oliver                                             8. Justin  Logan

9. Justin Legrand Logan                                    9. Terrence Worthy

10. LasJohn Johnson                                         10. Stephen Grosey

Most Versatile                                                    Best Defenders

1. Phil Jackman                                                1. Phil Jackman

2. Reggie Cooks                                               2. Joe Skiffer

3. Patrick Galos                                                 3. Brandon Gilbert

4. Demitruis Owen                                            4. Reggie Cooks

5. James Osorio                                                 5. James Osorio

6. Chris Busch                                                   6. Tyler Johnson

7. Mike Nash                                                     7. David Choitti

8. Chase Lyman                                                 8. Patrick Ekeruo

9. Jemel Gillard                                                  9. Patrick Galos

10. Llyod Cook                                                  10. Kyle Bailey

Best Rebounder                                               Best Score

1. Patrick Dennehy                                         1. Senque Carey

2. Omar Samhan                                             2. Tyler Johnson

3. Michael Blackmon..aka Bubba                   3. Ali Thomas

4. Reggie Cooks                                              4. Gokul Nastem

5. David Choitti                                                5. Kyle Bailey

6. Kevin Neveu                                                6. Hakeem Gillard

7. Lloyd Cook                                                  7. Chase Lyman

8. Josh Tueta                                                     8. Scott Kenny

9. Phil Jackman                                                 9. David Choitti

10. Demitruis Owen                                          10. Patrick Dennehy

Still I Raise

Hello Everyone,
I've been gone for awhile, but now I'm back.  As much as I want to blog more, I've never been able to be better at staying on top of it and blogging more.  I'm not going to make the same kind of declaration that I'm going to be better this time and blog more, because I have no idea if I will be able to.  I here now and I'm just going to leave at that.

Well 2014 hasn't started off well and it has been kicking my ass from the beginning.  I lost my close and dear friend Creighton Lane to stomach cancer in February.  Creighton was an amazing person and I learned a lot from him over the years.  We had some great times traveling all over the country with the Ballers.  The kids we coached with the Ballers overall were great kids and we had minimal issues with kids while traveling.  I constantly think of the fun times we had and the hilarous stuff that went on with the kids.  I have so many funny stories from our times.  The outfits Creighton would wear when we were in Las Vegas were legendary and besides coaching I spent most of my time trying to keep up with him with the outfits and I not ashamed to stay that I didn't come close to keeping up with him…lol
I held my own with the shoes, but the outfits I didn't stand a chance.  Between the shorts, shirts and the hats he would wear, he was styling for head to toe.  The way Creighton would coach was a great site to see.  He was demanding but he was fair and he would make the kids he coached better and they would play so hard for him.  He's been missed by me and countless other people so much.  I changed the name of my memorial weekend tournament.  Its now the Patrick Dennehy/Creighton Lane memorial Rumble in the Bay basketball tournament.

Then in April I lost coach Ron Massey, my high school basketball coach.  I called him pop's because he was more like my dad than anythiing else.  I considered him my dad, so when he passed I lost my dad.  He's passing was so unexpected.  He was out with some of his friends and they had dinner and they watched the NCAA championship game.  He came home and put on his LB Jordan t-shirt went to sleep and didn't wake up.  When I got the news it rocked me to my core.  I still haven't recovered and I'm not sure when or if I will.  There are so many things Pops taught me.  He is the reason why I'm alive and that I made it through high school and he was a huge part of my motivation when I went to college.  I finished because I wanted to make sure he was proud of me.  I lived for his approval on so many things.  He taught how to be a man and to take responsiblity for my actions.  Good or bad he told me to face things head on.  I'm so glad that he was able to meet my kids because they are super important to me and he was a huge part of my life.  I struggle with his passing daily and this year when I had my memorial weekend tournament it broke my heart that he wasn't there.  I've been in a fogg since his passing and I'm trying to recover.  I miss him so much.  My goal is offer a scholarship in his name for the fall of 2015

Lets talk about this year's team.  We have struggled and we have the potential to be good, but its hard to be good when you don't come to practice.  We have yet had a practice with everyone there.  It makes running plays during a game very difficult.  It makes making the kids better difficult also.  I've had the Ballers for 20 years and this is the 1st time I've had a group like this that doesn't have a high level of comment.  Its my job to turn this group around and get them going in the right direction.  We have  some talent and the kids need to believe in themselves more and I'm hoping I can get them there.

We have our July tournaments coming up and we need to be ready.  I've put so much sweat, blood, tears and money into the Ballers and we will get things going in the right direction.

I will have a young Ballers team next year, because my youngest Dallas has been bitten by the hoop bug and he's now playing.  He just turned 8 on friday and he's nearly 5 feet tall and he's entering into the 2nd grade.  He plays been playing against 5th graders and he's even played against 7th graders during my memorial weekend tournament.  Thats what I love about him is that he will play against anyone.  He's not scared and unfazed that he's only 8.  He's the future of the Ballers and I'm already looking at high school he will attend.  I'm hoping he keeps developing and he gets good enough so that he can play at Mater Dei for high school.  I have kicked up his basketball training with 5mins a day ball handling and shooting.  Its all about having correct form.  I'm trying to build a good foundation for him.

We I've written a bunch and I'm hoping that 2014 gets better, because he has started off so shitty.  There have been some pleasant surprises and some things that I'm truly grateful and blessed to have.  I'm going to focus on those good things and hope that with time the 2 amazing people I've lost I'm able to recover.  Please and love and thanks for reading my blog.  Hopefully you didn't fall asleep.  :-)

Go Ballers

July tournaments

What up people.  I hope you all are doing well.  I know I know, I said I would blog more and I haven't, but let's look at it this way its only been 6 months between blogs..lol

The Ballers and I are at the Sweet 16 tournament.  I brought both the Ballers 16s and Ballers 17s.  So far it has been an up and down experience.  The 16s have won 1 game and lost 2.  Jonah Underwood got his 1st dunk in the game they won today so that was cool.

One of the biggest problem of the 16s is that they don't play hard enough all the time nor do they play with confidence our passion.  They are a work in progress and they are getting there even if its slowly..lol

The 17s have lost all 3 games so far and we honestly should have won all three games.  We were a better team, but we just didn't play that way.  I hoping that they get a win tournament that will give us momentum going into our next tournament.  Its a been a very frustrating weekend, because I want so badly for us to play better and to have more success.  Only wish that the guys understood how badly I want this for them.  Its late and I'm so tired.  I will blog again once I get to the Bay.  Thank you all who follow my blog and I will try hard to blog more constantly.  I should right now especially, its Ramadan and its not like I'm eating all the time...lol  May Allah grant you many blessings and may you have the visions to notice those blessing.  I'm out..peace & love

Go Ballers

2013

Hello All,
I hope that 2013 has start well for you.  As, for me 2013 has started off horribly.  On New Year's day while working out I hurt my back.  I spent the first 19 days of 2013 with a hurt back and not being able to stand up straight or walk without pain.  I saw a doctor and I got an injection to help with the strain and ligament and muscle I pulled in my lower back and it made it worst..lol  I spent my birthday laying on the floor with my feet up trying to ease the back pain.  That didn't make for a very good birthday.  My cousin also past away a few days ago.  He had been on life support and my aunt had to pull the plug he wasn't going to get any better.  January 21, 2013 I woke up and my back was so much better.  I could actually stand up straight and walk around with very little pain, if any at all.  I survived my back pain, which there were moments when I didn't think that I would.  I was very close to call an ambulance and going to the hospital, but I didn't.

I'm so glad that my back is feeling so much better.  I was actually able  to do crunches during my morning workout today.  My physical aches and pains are healing, but I'm still feeling down about so many things in my life.  I'm in the process of changing those things, but sometimes changes isn't as quick as you would like.  There are days when its so hard to move and I get so overwhelmed with life that I'm paralyzed by everything that I can't move, because I don't know where to begin.

Its been said that knowledge is power, which can be true.  If, you don't have the means to take advantage of such knowledge than its more of a burden and it has less power than it should.  Life can be so many things and sometimes it can be many things all at once.  I'm a work in process and Allah isn't done with me yet, so I'm going to keep working hard on becoming better at everything in my life.  Well I'm getting tired, so I'm going to end here.  My goal is to blog more about everything, my life, the Lakers, tattoos, food and diet, exercising, education and pet pives.

Take Care,
Big Nellie
Go Ballers

2012 Re-cap

Hello Everyone,
I know that I have been lagging on my blog postings and I would like to say my bad and that I don't have any excuse for it.  My goal for 2013 is to be much better at making sure that I blog more.

Here is my 2012 re-cap for anyone who is interested:

2012 started off amazing..I was in Australia and I brought New Year in down under.  I was surrounded by amazing people so that helped.  The rest of the month was cool as I turned 42 and I had my week long birthday celebration like I do every year.  I celebrate my birthday every year, because were I grew up there were plenty of guys that didn't make it and I'm one of the lucky ones along with my boy Big D who made it.  I don't remember exactly what I did during my week long birthday celebration..lol but I'm sure I had a blast :-)

During the spring time I was back in Australia during April.  I had a blast once again.  The Ballers also played in 2 tournaments.  We didn't win as many games as I would like, but we grew as a team, which was very important to me.  The rest of the spring was spent trying to get my Baller players ready for the  big July tournaments.

The Summer came and I went to Australia again for my last basketball camp of 2012 and it went well, expect for my last day of camp at M'Dor.. that was very painful..lol.  It rained the first 4 days of my June Australia trip.  That wasn't fun at all.  I almost came home early, but I decided to stay and keep my original flight.  I also had shoulder surgery on June 1st and that made my travel to Australia and the whole month of June very painful, because I had my shoulder in a sling for the whole month.  I also had this idiot, hit my shoulder at the girls dance recital.  I would have given him a beat down, but I was in so much pain.  I returned home on July 3rd, to get my boys ready for the July swing of tournaments. We played well and hard, but we had our ups and downs, but I was very happy with the effort we showed win or lost during our July tournament.  The Ballers had 3 great kids come and play with us from Australia and it was such a joy to have James Griffin, Jules DeCourtnay and Ryley Warmer be apart of the Baller family and I hope that their time here with the Ballers was beneficial for them as much as it was for us.

I had some highs and lows during the year and if you're alive and breathing that is to be expected.  My lows left me in a funk and depressed and I had no one to blame, but myself.  I've struggled for years with a few different things and this past year those things hit me hard.  I know being happy is up to me and me alone and the times I was happy, when I allowed myself to be that way.  I learned a lot about myself in 2012 and those things were both good and bad.  Looking within can be very hard, because you may not like what you find.  There were more lows, but I won't bore you with all of them.  My highs were my children.  They are my world and I probably won't be on this earth, if they weren't here. I would have easily let life get the best of me, if it were not for them.  I learned that its ok for me to be happy and that was a lesson that was hard to learn and I'm most truly a work in progress with that.  I tried to make sure that I gave everything I had to my Baller players to make sure that they had the best chance of reaching their dreams, whatever the were.  I also lost a dear friend to cancer this year, which is so very sad.  She left behind 3 kids and 2 grandkids.

You may ask, why do a blog, why let the world know your thoughts and my answer to that would be..why to people write poetry or books and novels based on true facts.  It serves as therapy for some and for the others...I couldn't begin to explain why the open themselves up to the world.  I know I tend to be open just enough to the world, but I also keep them at arms length.  There are only a select few that I could and would bare my soul to.  I'm only a complete open book them.  I can honestly say that at times my lows almost got the best of me and there were times that those lows got the best of me and left my paralyzed and thinking there wasn't any hope.  So my goals and I only make goals and not resolutions for 2013 is to have a ton more highs than lows and to chase my dreams even harder.  I won't Nike to pick up my Australian program, which is running camps and tournaments in Australia.  I would back and forth, help kids from Australia come over and play high school and college basketball in U.S. I want to pursue a career in Sport Psychology and to be in a much better position financially, because I have way too much education not be making a lot more money.  I won't to make more money to provide for myself and of course my kids more.  I'm going to work even harder and get leaner, so I can get of this medication for type 2 diabetes.  I'm going to get several tattoos, just because I need that for me and if you don't have any ink, than you couldn't possibly understand what I'm feeling and why I need some more ink.  "Only a fool confuses fate with destiny, fate is what happens to us, destiny is what we make in spite of our fate"  This quote may end up being a tattoo some day..lol   I know I'm a good man with good intentions with a big heart and when I love you I love big, hard and deeply, but they say the road to hell is paved with good intentions..lol  I'm a flawed man on my best day.  I make mistakes daily and there are times when I make those mistakes twice in the same day.  That makes me human and I learned a long time ago after going to counseling that perfection isn't good and you tend to make more mistakes when trying to be perfect.  I no longer to be perfect, I just try to be me the best I can and sometimes that means I'm sweet and super nice and other times I'm a S.O.B.  lol  Some of you may read this and say he didn't say a damn thing and others will notice how much I opened up and truly understand what I'm saying.  I truly don't like conflict and arguing is such a waste of time and my goal is to not let those things happen as much as they did in 2012.  My 43rd birthday is 19 days away and I plan on having a kick ass week long birthday again this year and I will take notes this time so when I blog on 12.31.2013 I can give a better recap then I did this time :-)

Well I think I need to end this novel here and get ready to fall asleep before the New Year comes, because that is what I tend to do most years...lol  In closing I would like to thank you for taking the time to ready my blog.  I almost forgot, to mention that I have rediscovered my baking jones and I have been  baking up a storm in 2012 and I plan on baking more in 2013, because I have sharpen my skills and my baking is becoming kick ass and I want it get my skills even better.  I've finally gotten my frosting skills to my liking :-)

Take Care and may Allah bless you  in 2013

Big Nellie

LV fab 48 Day 3 & 4

Day 3 of the tournament was the beginning of the playoffs. Both the Ballers 16s & 17s started the playoffs after finishing 2nd in their pools. That meant that both teams would face a 1st place finisher from another pool. The 16s started the playoffs against team Philly which had a lot of size up front. I truly believe that some of these kids playing in the 16u division aren't truly 16. I'm pretty sure I heard a little baby look at one of these so called 16u players & called him grandpa..lol. Despite being undersized the 16s were tied with team Philly at half. Team Philly's size wore down the 16s in the 2nd half and the 16s lost by 10. One of the best things about the 16s the compete every time they step on the court.

The 17s started the playoffs against Texas Cager & they were big & athletic and they just new the were going to give us a beat down, but as the saying goes never judge a book by it's cover and that is exactly what the Texas Cagers did against us. We started off the game on fire & continued that way the whole game. We played great defense and Texas Cagers didn't know what to do. Seth got his 1st dunk in a game in America...it was a pretty nice dunk. We beat the Cagers by 22 & it felt so good because they just knew it was going to be an easy game...which it was just not for them. Next up at 9:45pm that night (yes they play games that late..lol)was the Iowa barnstormers. I'm pretty sure the barnstormers shot about 70 percent in the 1st half..they had this one kid who just didn't miss. We were able to slow in down in the 2nd when Stephen stepped up & said Nel got him. We came out of normal match-up zone & played man. The 2nd half was great the lead went back & fort. It was tied with 20 second left in the game. We ran our normal offense but as the clock ran down Gokul called a clear from the top of the key & proceeded to go to work. He made a great move to create some space from myself & he buried a 3 with only .04 left on the clock to win the game. We all went crazy after the game because we won & that put us in the quarter finals & that also meant a rematch with the Houston Lynx the team that beat us in pool. We want to go James Brown on the Lynx (big payback)(google the song if you don't know it)

Day 4
The big payback..the rematch game against the Houston Lynx and this time we were super ready with a chip on our shoulder & a newly found swagger. We beat the Lynx by 12 pick to advance to the semi-finals. Buddy was killing the Lynx with his baseline jumper & was again Gokul was on fire from 3. The Lynx also didn't have answer for Seth who basically shredded their defense getting to the basket the whole game. We meant up with Deron Williams Elite in the semi-finals & that game was really good. We held the lead most of the game but missed lay-ups & free throws helped them get back in the game. The game went to overtime & Gokul had a great look from 3 as time was running out to send it to double overtime but it fell a little short & that ended our great run in the tournament with that 3 point lost. I was & am so proud of all my boys. We played so well during the Vegas trip. Well I need to get some things done..the best of Summer tournament is coming up & I will have more to write about.

Take care
Go Ballers