The Rookie

[fondfoat]

RPI EW 247 v ID 78

[color="Navy"]At last, a home game. On paper it looked like we should take East Washington comfortably. I hoped we would give the home fans an enjoyable first night out![/color]

[color="DarkRed"]FIRST HALF[/color]

[color="Navy"]Some slight early game jitters as the Eagles got out to a 10-15 lead, but we fought back well to go on a 19-0 run through the middle of the half. That sparked an East Washington revival again and we made it into halftime just 6 points up (36-30). Maurice Williams had 10 points to the half.[/color]

[color="DarkRed"]SECOND HALF[/color]

[color="Navy"]We came out firing after the half and jumped away to 20 point lead early on. From there we controlled the game and even though the Eagles made a late run, we picked up a comfortable 8 point win. Devan Fletcher finished with 16 points, but Gerald Williams was given the POG award mostly due to his excellent rebounding.[/color]

[color="Navy"]As I sat in my apartment that evening draining a quiet brewski or two, I reflected on how things had gone so far. I was really pleased with how we as a team seemed to be improving each week. I thought I could see some hunger in the guys. I was not super impressed by Coach's tactics, but we were winning. I felt content.[/color]

[fondfoat]

The Vandals look like road warriors! If I were to start an association as an assistant, practice coach is the only way I'd go. Recruiting assistants job is done before the end of June, and the Scouting assistant takes too much work and too much time. If you'd chosen one of those you'd probably be pulling your hair out now. As practice assistant you at least get to feel you are a part of your teams success. Great start!

Yes, they are doing very well on the road. To be honest, there is not much to do at all. The idea of setting up a weekly practice schedule seems okay, but in reality it does not feel right. If I decide to give one skill some attention, it means I have to take away from another skill which increases the chance that players will lose attributes in that skill.

In the end this means you just tend to keep 10 points in each skill. It seems the practice set up would eventually make teams very similar as if you tried to strengthen a weakness, you could weaken a strength.

It seems better to try to design tactics they suit your strengths and weaknesses.

[fondfoat]

I am going to speed the update format up. Less info to be given.

[color="DarkGreen"]Game Day 07 to 09[/color]

[color="DarkGreen"]Records: Western Carolina (3-2), California St. Northridge (2-5), Colorado (4-2)[/color]

[color="Navy"]A good stretch of 3 games saw us pick up 2 away and 1 home win. Calvin Barnes came to play picking up 3 POGs. I had always rated Calvin as a solid player but no more than that. Perhaps he was about to step up and prove me wrong.

Our record was looking pretty good at 8-1. We still had 4 games to go before we started to face teams in our conference.[/color]