Ok so I'll be honest, I opted to push today's workout to tomorrow night for two reasons, to ice down a sore limb or two, and to watch UNC-Michigan St. play on deck of an aircraft carrier. How could you miss this (unless of course you are at work or have your own game to deal with)? I could only imagine how different that feels, but how rewarding it is at the same time. I've played against UNC, which is definitely a cool experience in and of itself, but this is cool. It would be awesome if this becomes a yearly occurrence, and even spread to the women's game as well.

Speaking of college basketball, I want to shout out one of our former Cosby players, Kelsey Conyers, for making her college debut as Virginia Tech got the win at ODU tonight. I've mentioned before, all of us in the Cosby basketball family are proud of Kelsey, and I have a feeling tonight's game is the first of bigger things to come. Congratulations to her, the Conyers family, and the VT women's basketball program. Good stuff all around.

Interestingly enough, my first college game was an exhibition at ODU my freshman year. I was inactive, on the bench in street clothes. That's the breaks of college ball sometimes, but still a cool experience. That's a great facility down there, and looking up at the big screen and seeing yourself, even sitting on the bench, is surreal. It makes all the hard work worth it. I won't ever forget that night, I was truly blessed to have been a part of that experience.

This year, I've committed to give even more of myself to our basketball program at Cosby. Our coaches and players work so hard, and I'm just following suit, trying to go the extra mile. One way I'm doing this is by staying after our Varsity practices to help out at the JV practices. Last year, I didn't make many of them, so this year I want to make as many as possible. I've been to all of them so far. There's likely no way I can maintain that pace, but I'm going to try. Coach Ox, Coach Leonard (who volunteers by the way), and our JV team are all working hard and poised for success. I am challenging myself in other ways as well to help all of our girls, JV and Varsity, get better and accomplish their goals as well. It's a pleasure to work with such great coaches, and under one of the best, Coach Mead.

People have been asking me my opinion on Joe Paterno and the Penn St. situation. Again, I don't think my opinion matters much, but I will say I agree it's a sad situation that has affected so many people, all over the country. I have a feeling more people may be exposed to have some sort of involvement in how the whole thing went down. It's too early to even say anything. It's a developing story, with new twists and turns everyday. Several analysts have said, there's no way Penn St. could let Paterno go out and coach this weekend, be touted as a hero, and run the risk of that later coming back to bite them as the facts continue to unfold. I totally see that side of the story. Also, I'd hate to be one of the coaches who is likely to be let go once the season ends as the school attempts to clean house and start anew. There are probably coaches and staff in that department who work extremely hard, and had no knowledge or participation in anything other than their jobs, who could be without a job soon. Sad story, we'll see what happens next.

This is just another example though, of wrong doing in a college athletic program. Sure it's worse than the dirty money, rule breaking, etc., but still, the games that so many love are used and abused by people who go about it the wrong way, breaking rules and laws along the way. I've played at the college level, and seen first hand some of the bad stuff that happens at times. It's taught me to always value the game and go about it the right way. Breaking the rules, lying to players, using players, not valuing their health and education, and so much more of that stuff is all bad. Now you have the Penn St. situation that takes it to a whole other level. I always say sometimes it's easy to do the wrong thing, but you should always strive to do what's right, no matter what. I really enjoy meeting coaches who go about their work the right way. That's the place I want to be. I hope an effort is made to highlight those who love the game they coach, the players that work hard for them, and their efforts to do things the right way. They should be applauded.

I'd be remiss to not thank all of our veterans on this holiday. Like so many, I have veterans in my family, and I also have fraternity brothers who have served and are still serving right now as we speak. I love all of you guys, and hope that one day I can use basketball in a way to pay even greater tribute to all those that serve.

That takes me back to tonight's game. It's over, UNC wins, but like Dicky V said, it's a great night for basketball and America regardless. I enjoyed watching it, and yes, I did take some notes on stuff I saw, some of you know me too well. Add playing and/or coaching on the deck of an aircraft carrier to the bucket list.

That's all I got, time to chill out and it's back to CBS 6 in the morning. Thanks for reading.
-- Travis

Less than a month to the season...

The good news... the Virginia High School League adopted a week earlier start time for winter sports this year.
The better news... Monday, November 7 is less than a month away
The bad news... until then, we are still working with preseason practices and the obstacles associated

So over the past week and a half, I've been spending a whole lot of time doing film study, watching our games from last year over and over, looking at the smaller details. I've also been studying film of colleges who have clips of their practices online. Check out this one of the Gonzaga Women's Basketball Team:

This is impressive. In our practices at Cosby, I always preach energy, intensity, and communication, from the time you walk in the gym to the time you wrap up. Notice how every player is into it, yelling, clapping, working hard, and enjoying it. That's how I played, and I think you get more out of practice if you practice in this type of atmosphere.

Another website I stumbled upon is the one created by Florida State Women's Basketball. Take a look.
http://www.seminolehoops.com/index.html

All I can say is wow. This is great stuff. All of the videos not only are useful to young players from a workout stand point, but a lot of the clips show how Coach Semrau's program is a family. Playing in college, I felt as if I was part of a family too, but they really showcase it to the world on this website. Honestly, I'd want to go to Florida State after visiting this site. It must help them with recruiting, and obviously they do a ton of great things there to have had so much success. I'm sure I'll visit this site more than once again. I hope to one day have the chance to work in a program like that.

On another ACC basketball note, I want to shout out former Cosby stand out Kelsey Conyers for making the women's basketball team at Virginia Tech. Kelsey has played with and against that level of talent before, and she was a pleasure to coach last season as a Senior. She was an All Distirct, All Region, and All Metro player multiple times, and not only a top rate player, but a top rate person. It doesn't surprise me at all, and I'm glad she decided to play at VT. Congrats to her, and I have a feeling that program will be better everyday she walks in the gym. That's just Kelsey.

Other than that, I'm just waiting to watch the CBS 6 News at 11 (sorry, I'm not on tonight), and then get to sleep. Tomorrow is my Saturday, and my only true off day this week, with shifts at the YMCA and preseason practice filling the rest of my week, then it's back to CBS 6 Friday. I'm just looking forward to working out tomorrow and getting some shots up. Hopefully, my ankle and knee soreness continue to subside. Thanks for reading.

-- Coach P