Thursday, December 31, 2009

2000 -2009 Recap

Happy New Year..everyone. As we enter into a new decade I would like to share with you..the last 10 years of my life and what I hope to accomplish in the next decade.

Lets see..where do I start...so many things have happened during this period.

Ok, lets start with the lows...that way we can end with the highs.

I lost a player (Patrick Dennehy) who was murder in 2003. Patrick was like a son to me and I took his death very hard. Its been almost 7yrs since he was killed and I miss him so much. Pat drove me crazy at times...but I loved him like my own. I've tried to keep his memory alive by hosting the Patrick Dennehy memorial Rumble in the Bay basketball tournament. The event has grown over the years and has become the premier spring tournament in the west.

I had some personal things that I had to overcome also. I spent the most of the early part of the decade of fighting the temptation of committing suicide because of all the things I was going through. I was able to get past that and I haven't had those feelings in years and I'm in a much better place mentally, so I won't be having those feelings again.

I also discovered that I had some fake ass friends who never really were my friend at all. Its amazing how you can be there for someone in their time of need and be a support for them and their family and then have them..have them stab you in the back and then not talk to you..like you did something wrong to them..that shit is really hilarious to me. I guess those kind of people usually expose themselves sooner or later and then you should just walk away because cussing them out doesn't really solve anything even if it feels good at the time.

Ok, enough of the lows..let here about the HIGH'S

My kids were born and I love them with everything I have. The are the main reason why I work so hard. I have 3 tattoos that I have of them "D3P" one of my tatts says "the best of me"..because I hope and pray that they are the best of me.

I've meet some friends that have really inspired me to go after all my dreams and to not stop until I make them happen and that is what I'm working on.

The Ballers had a great decade...we were strong the early part of the decade and then we dipped and had to rebuild during the middle part of the decade..but we finished the decade off very strong.

I had the great pleasure of coaching 24 boys that played their ass off this spring and summer. I wouldn't any of them for any other player. They were a very special group for me to coach.

My adopted Aussie sons Josh and Scotty had been a blessing to my team and to my life. They are two great kids and its been a pure joy to coach them and to have them apart of my family.

My other guys I also love like they were my own kids..I could write a novel about all of them.

My goals are not just for 2010 but for the whole decade and there are:
  • Become a college coach at the Division I level.
  • Finish my 300 hours and become a certified sports psychologist
  • Get more tattoos about my kids and where I'm from (Long Beach...Baby)
  • Keep the Ballers playing at a top level.
  • Love my kids more each day
  • Make sure people don't take my kindness as a weakness
  • Put people in their place more often
  • Stop being so damn politically correct.
  • Stop dealing with fake ass people who pretend to be your friend
  • Workout more than I do now
  • Keep eating healthy

That is about it right...but I may add more later.

Thank you for reading my blog and have a very Happy New Year

Peace & Love

Big Nellie

Monday, October 5, 2009

Its been too long

Hello People,
Its has been way too long...since I lasted blogged and I'm sorry about that. Sometimes life just gets in the way. As u know from my last blog a few months ago the Ballers had a really good summer. Here is an update on some of the Ballers.

Demitruis Owens: Is a freshmen at Cal State East Bay and he has a very good chance at starting as a freshmen. He was hoping to walk-on at CS Northridge but things didn't workout. He is very happy to be at East Bay U.

Josh Tueta & Scotty Kenny (the Aussies): They are both at Blinn Community College in Brenham, TX...just outside of Houston. Everyone is very happy that they are both back here in the States and playing basketball. Both have a good chance of starting and making a huge impact on the team.

James Osorio: Will attend Seattle University next year as a non-scholarship freshmen on the basketball. All that means he is on the team and that he will have a chance to earn a scholarship later.

Tyler Johnson: He accepted a scholarship offer from Fresno St. University. He actually had 6 offers total from Sac. St., Northern Colorado, St. Mary's College, Hawaii University, Utah St. and of course Fresno St. who he picked.

Spencer Britsgchi: Has some very good opportunities also and is currently trying to figure out what is going to be the best situation for him. I will keep you posted on him and the other kids in the Baller family once more information becomes available.

We also have 5 Ballers playing in the Super 100 camp in Richmond next weekend..which is a camp for the top 100 players in Northern California. Drew Dickey, Sean Dawkins, Zayn Kirkendroll, Ivan Maragetric and Zach Thomas are the Ballers attending the camp.

That is the lastest with some of the boys and as for me I'm very excited about their opportunities and I've been busy with all their stuff...I did manage to get a new tatt recently which I'm very excited about. Well I gotta run...thank you all for your support and remember GO BAllers!

Saturday, August 1, 2009

Day 4 Best of Summer

Day 4
The last day of the tournament and we are all tired...but we have 1 more game...the championship game of the Gold Division. We arrive at LMU at 11am for our 11:30am and the boys seem ready. I'm a mess already crying...because its the last time I will get a chance to coach this group as the Bay Area Ballers. All the kids on the purple squad will be moving on to college either in the fall or after their senior year...coming up. Some how I manage to pull myself together long enough to coach :) We start off slow...but like always our defense which has been great all summer kicks in and we start rolling. Every single player contributed to our 16pt win over NW Houston. The purple squad was on a mission all summer and I'm so proud to say that they completed that mission by how hard they played all summer long. July 14 is we started our summer tournament and we played 20 basketball games during that time and our record was 18-2...not bad at all...I was very impressed. I would like to say Thank you to: Tyler Johnson, Spencer Britsghchi, James Osorio, Suhail Mohammadi, Tyler Atwater, Josh Tueta, Scotty Kenny, Matt Johnson, Robbie Vaughan, Alex Stephenson, and Demitruis Owens for given me the opportunity to coach you all...it has been my pleasure and I feel bless to have had that opportunity...I love and will miss coaching you all...please remember that I'm always here if you need me for anything.

My Ballers-Grey squad thank you for working hard you all improved throughout the summer: Tim Wang, Ryan Tana, Jordan Rubin, JR Olson, John Pellarin, Jason Riland, Zayn Kirkendoll, CJ, Sean Dawkins, Jalil Eppenger, Nick Reddy and Sam Kelley...for all the returning players...lets have a great run again next year.

Take Care

Big Nellie

Go Ballers!

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Day 3 Best of Summer

Day 3
Had both teams playing two games.

Ballers-Grey had a moring game at 11:30 and they played really well. Which turned into a 20pt win. The boys really moved the ball around well. The second game wasn't as good as the first game. They didn't play as well...which in turn resulted in a loss for them and the end of the tournament for Ballers-Grey...My grey team had a very good summer and we have a lot of really good players returning for next spring.

Ballers-Purple didn't play until 5:45pm and that meant win or go home. The purple squad started the game off slow...by giving their opponent an early 7-0 lead. They got it going behind TJ, Josh & D and a very tough defense. They won the game by 18pts. The second game of the night was at 8:15pm and the purple squad hasn't always played their best when they have multiple games during a day and with a short amount of time between games. The purple squad played Mass River...from Massachusetts and they were big....but that didn't matter because Scotty came ready to play...he hit 7- 3pters and finished the game with 28pts...Big Tueta was huge in the middle as he scored from the inside and rebounded like crazy as well as blocking shots. Scotty & Josh's play helped the team fight through being tired and sparked a 24pt win...which put the Ballers-Purple in the semi-finals tonight at 8:15. The winner of tonight's game plays for the Gold division championship tomorrow morning at 11:30. I'm hoping to have some good news for everyone later tonight.

Go Ballers!!!!

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Day 2 Best of Summer

Day 2 at the Best Summer was a little tough on both teams.

Ballers-Grey played hard in the 2 games they had yesterday going 1-1 on the day. That put them in 3rd place in their pool and will now be in the bronze division for the playoffs. If, they continue to play hard they will have a great chance to go deep into the playoff.

Ballers-Purple played hard as well in their 2 games yesterday but finished 1-1 on the day. Which dropped them to second place in the pool. They will enter the playoffs in the Silver division...the purple squad is more than able to make a deep run...if they get back to playing Baller basketball...which wasn't the case in last night's lost. The purple team is pretty hard to beat when they play Baller basketball...but like any team...sometimes there are days when those things don't happen. You live and you learn...today is a new day for both teams...and the boys will be ready. Gotta Run

Go Ballers!
Big Nellie

Monday, July 27, 2009

Day 5 Main Event and Day 1 of Best of Summer

Day 5 of the Main Event was very exciting...we started off with a 9:05AM game against a team from Colorado. They had some very good guards but the Ballers-purple guards were a lot better. TJ, Spencer, Scotty and Oso (James Osorio) were too much for them and big Josh was a beast in the middle with rebounding and timely inside scoring. Robbie Vaughan took an elbow to the head and wasn't able to continue playing in the game. The purple squad won the game and that put them into the finals.

The championship game pitted the Ballers against Nike Team Florida...the game was back and forth early...until TJ got hurt with a knee injury...the ballers was only able to cut the lead to within 2pts after being down 8. It was the Ballers first lost after having Scotty and Josh join the team. They had won 11 straight games prior to the championship lost on sunday. The lost hurt a lot...but I was so proud of how hard we played and to have a ton of people watching us was great. The crowd was truly pulling for the Ballers. There were several people who came up to me and said we would have won had TJ hadn't gotten hurt. It was great making the finals...but I wanted to win so bad for my boys...because they played and worked so hard to get to the finals. We got a second place trophy...which is kinda cool I guess. Making it to the finals came at a price...we didn't have any airline tickets home...so myself and 7 players were suck in Las Vegas until monday morning.

Day 1 Best of Summer
We got suck in Las Vegas and had to fly out monday morning to San Jose and then turn right around and fly out to Long Beach for the Best of Summer tournament...which started today.

The Ballers Grey and Purple both played at the same time today...so I wasn't able to help coach them.. They weren't able to come out with a victory...they had a couple of chances to cut the lead..but not for a lack of effort.

The Ballers - Purple squad won...but it wasn't anything to write home about...talk about playing ugly...but getting a win. It wasn't a good game for the group. I'm chalking it up to just finishing up another tournament and traveling all day and being suck in Vegas until today. I'm tired

Peace
Big Nellie
Go Ballers

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Day 4 Main Event

Ballers-Grey...started off Day 4 with a 6pts victory in the 1st round of the playoffs. In the 2nd round of the playoffs the grey squad fell...but had a winning record of 4-2 in the Main Event tournament. The Grey squad played really hard and should be able to carry their good play into the next tournament in LA at the Best of Summer. Good job fellows...lets keep it going in LA.

Ballers-Purple started off Day 4 with a 16pt victory over Fieldhouse Indiana Elite...that victory put the purple squad into the field of top 16 teams. The purple squad then beat Grant Slate from New Hamphire by 17pts to advance to the final 8. The final 8 game was a hard fought battle which the purple squad won without TJ who was suffering from a severe migraine. Final 4 tomorrow at 9AM...and I hope the boys are ready. The are having a great run and the championship is within reach. One game at a time has been the slogan for the team...take care of right now and not worry about other stuff. TJ is feeling better and he will be ready to play in the morning. Suhail really stepped up in TJ"s place and played great. Spencer hit a few 3's from Utah. The boys have really come together and are working super hard as a team...Well its late..I need to get some rest so I'm ready for tomorrow.

Go Ballers!
Big Nellie

P.S. Hard work beats talent...when talent doesn't work hard

Friday, July 24, 2009

Day 3 continue main event

Ballers-purple was the only team playing tonight. Ballers-Grey doesn't start the playoffs until tomorrow. Ballers-purple played St. Louis Majestic and they had a very good team. The purple squad held the lead for the entire game. Josh was the man in the middle with two huge blocks..Scotty struggled on the defensive side of the game tonight...but he was able to hit some key 3pters at key moments. Spencer had his mid-range shot going most of the night. Tyler was huge on the offensive glass tonight and he as well had his mid-range game working. The purple squad won by 12pts. Both teams are playing at 10:10am...but at different locations. Both teams have a great chance to make a deep run in the playoffs. Gotta Go

Go Ballers!
Big Nellie

Day 2 & 3 The Main Event

Day 2
The main event
Ballers-Grey had an exhibition game at 11:10 because the team from Illinois wasn't able to make the event. The Grey squad played well...with a 33pt victory. The Grey squad had their 3rd pool play game at 9pm last night....they played hard...but came away with a 8pt lost. The Grey squad finished 2nd in the Pool and will start the playoffs tomorrow(Saturday) in the Gold bracket...which will consist of all the other 2nd place teams from the other pools.

Ballers-Purple only had 1 game yesterday and they played well. The purple squad finished with a 29pt win and some amazing plays. TJ had 2 pretty spectacular dunks off of lob plays. The first lob play he reverse dunked the ball and never looked at the basket...it was pretty sweet.

Day 3
Ballers-Grey has today off and will not start the playoffs until 10:10am tomorrow.

Ballers-Purple had their last pool play game at 8am this morning(cuss word) that was early. The purple squad started off slow and that translated into a tied game at halftime. The 2nd half was a different story...as the defense picked up and the purple squad was able to pull away to a 17pt victory. The purple squad will start the playoffs tonight against a team from St. Louis. I haven't seen that team play...I plan on scouting them before tonight's game..because they play their last pool play game at 3:30. Gotta Go

Take Care
Big Nellie
GO BALLERS!

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Day 1 the Main Event 7/22

Whats up people...we just finished the 1st day of the Main Event tournament and both teams walked away with victories.

Ballers-Grey squad lead the whole game and finished with a 10pt win. Tim, Ryan, Ziggy, Sean, CJ and Jalil all played really well. Sam, John, JR, Jordan, & Nick all contribute valuable minutes off the bench. The Grey squad put themselves in a great position with an opening win tonight. Tomorrow's contest will also be a good test and if they play together like they did tonight we should come out with another victory.

Ballers-Purple started off a little slow tonight before getting it going to a 29pt victory. Demitruis played really well with 2 very impressive dunks with one of those 2 dunks over this kid. TJ, Spencer and Atwater were hitting 3's like they were lay-ups. Each guy had at lease 3...3pters. TJ had an amazing dunk off a lob play early in the 2nd half. Defensively the team was really strong...but the purple squad will need to be even better tomorrow if they are going win tomorrow.

Well its late and I'm so tired and I need to get some rest and be ready for tomorrow's games.

Later
Big Nellie

Go Ballers

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Day 2 Cream of the Crop

Day 2 of the Cream of the Crop wasn't as exciting as the 1st day for both squads.

Ballers-Purple had an 8:30AM game after a double overtime game that didn't get over with until close to 10pm...so by the time everyone got food and showered its was about midnight once the players got to sleep. The players had to be up and ready to go by 7:45AM. We didn't leave until 8AM which put me in a real shitty mood...because we were suppose to leave 15 minutes earlier. When we got to the gym 15 minutes late we had to rush to get warm and be ready for the game. We won...but we didn't come close to playing as well as we did the night before. Ballers-Purple second we so damn ugly. We only played as a team about 12 minutes of the 32 minute game. We managed to pull in out in the end with a 1pt win..but the team had a good look to win it from about 12 feet...we got the rebound and game was over.

Ballers-Purple went 4-0 over the 2 days..but we need to be more consistent with our efforts and need to remember to play together at all times.

Ballers-Grey...1st game we struggle that game to sub stain any real rhythm. I had to leave at half time...to get the purple squad to their second game because it was at a different location. Galos told me that the second game was much better and that the kids played hard and played well...but just couldn't get any shots to fall...which resulted in a 6pt lost.

Ballers-Grey finished the 2 day event 2-2 which is pretty good because they weren't at full strength...because of the players didn't make that trip

The Cream of the Crop event should have us ready to do well in Vegas.

Go Ballers

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Day 1 Cream of the Crop Shootout

The Bay Area Ballers started their july play at the Cream of the Crop shootout in Long Beach...my home town. I'm so happy that we have finally gotten back to playing basketball and to kick things off in Long Beach...is extra special for me.

Ballers-Grey started things off for us and it was clear that we hadn't had a game in awhile as we struggled both on offense and defense. We were able to get some good looks...but we didn't have many shots fall for us. Even with the slow start we were able to come away with a 3pt win.

Ballers-Purple had their 1st game at 4:40pm yesterday and they got off to a good start on the defensive end..but struggled slightly on the offensive end. The defense held the other team to 39pts which turned into a 26pt win. Tyler Atwater, Matt & Robbie were very good defensively off the bench..Atwater had several steals by making some very smart reads on lazy passes against a very good team.

Ballers-Grey game 2..was a different story...the shots were falling like rain..Zayn, Sean,Jalil and CJ shot the ball much better. Zayn, Sean & Jalil each made at lease 2 3pters and CJ was a monster on the boards. We also got a lot of help from Ryan Rocha...a veteran Baller. We were able to come away with a 6pt win.

Ballers-Purple game 2...was crazy...we got great play from Tyler, Scotty, Demitruis and Robbie. We had a 16pt lead at one point in the 1st half but lost it and went into halftime with a 1pt lead. Scotty got it rolling with his jumper after struggling a little in the 1st half with 3 quick 3pters in the 2nd half..which helped us push our lead back up to 12pts. Spencer hit4...3pters throughout the game to help us. We got a little tired down the stretch and made some bad plays and lost the lead. We were down 5 late in the game when James...hit a huge 3pter to cut the lead to 2...we cause a turnover to get the ball back with 12 seconds left. We ran a play and got Josh the ball and he was foul and he stepped to the line and knocked down 2 huge free throws sending the game into overtime. Overtime was crazy..we blew a couple of opportunities to take control and then found ourselves down 4 with 30 seconds left to play. We scored and then cause a turnover and got the ball back with 4 seconds left to play and we needed to go the length of the floor to score to either tie or win the game. Tyler was able to get open for a long pass but missed the lay up, Demitruis was right there to have his back and finished the play...to send the game into double overtime. Double OT...more craziness...again we blow opportunities to take control of the game and found ourselves down 4 again late in the game. We scored and cause another turnover. We didn't have any timeouts and we are all tired...so the plan was to go for 3..to either win or lose. James gets the ball and droves but was fouled..we took the ball out with 12 seconds left in the game. Tyler droves to the basket and then was able to kick it out to Scotty who launches a 3pter with a defender in his face and hits nothing but the bottom of the net...to win the game. We rush the court pumped...it was an awesome game.

That was day 1 and we are getting ready for Day 2.

Go Ballers!!

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Saturday July 11

We had practice today and it was a really good practice...the guys were focused and we were able to cover a lot of things. We still need to clean up our match-up zone and our zone offense..but we are extremely close to where I would like it to be.

Sean Dawkins was back today from injuries and it was good to have him back. He is the main PG for the Grey squad and we need him healthy and up to speed. He's getting better at running a team...he's on track to being one of the top PG's in the 2011 class...if he keeps on this pace of his development.

A couple of the guys looked a little winded after a few trips up and down the court...we will need to solve that issue before Tuesday. We should be able to build on what we did today...when we have practice tomorrow. I hope that we will have everyone there tomorrow....because we need everyone on the same page.

Later

Go Ballers!!!!!!!

Friday, July 10, 2009

July 14

I'm so excited about the upcoming tournament on July 14th. We had practice last night(Thursday) and it went well. We will have 3 more practices before we play and I need to put in a few more plays and then we should be ready. I'm hoping that I've made it cleared to all the players what their role is and how important everyone is to the team.

Here is our schedule:

Bay Area Ballers - Grey
1:10pm vs MOC Stars at Lynwood High School, 5:50pm vs 1 Dream, CA at Cabrillo High School

Bay Area Ballers - Purple
4:40pm vs 1 Dream Int'l at Lynwood High School, 8:10pm vs LA Rockfish at Cabrillo High School

We don't have Wednesday's schedule yet...the tournament director is always slow with getting the full schedule out. I wouldn't be surprise...if we didn't get it until Tuesday night.

I'm hoping we get some good fan support while we're in Long Beach...because its my home town and my people better come out and support us.

GO BALLERS!!!!!

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Let's Do this

We have our first tournament coming on next week on July 14...since our memorial weekend tournament. We played really well doing that event and I'm anxious for the Ballers-Purple squad to play again...because we've added 2 new players: Josh Tueta, and Scotty Kenny and those 2 guys are really going to help us. I still need some other guys from the Purple squad to step up and really focus on the task coming up.

The Baller-Grey squad has some really good pieces and some pieces that don't give a damn and that really bugs me...big time, but its my job and Galos to get them ready. I'm thinking it might be some sad faces on the Grey squad because we are going to only play kids that are ready to play...because its not fair to the kids that are ready to play...if we play the ones that aren't ready. The Grey squad is so close to being really good..especially with adding a couple new pieces...CJ Nwuzi and Jalil Eappenger...both kids can play...but there isn't a lot of time to get them up to speed...I hope they can pick up things quickly

I'm so excited about the 3 upcoming tournaments that we have. Both teams have a chance to make a big splash at all 3.

We had practice lastnight (July 6) and one of my favorite former players David Choitti came by and worked out with the team and he was help guys...it was great. David is married and playing overseas...I'm very proud of him...I watched him grow up...so its cool to see him turn into an adult and the love he has for the Ballers still is great.

Later
Nel