The Cross Over Movement Blog

In one of the comments below, it seems like street ball and the And1Tapes were characterized negatively. I have always been a fan of the tapes and using the tapes. When I coached an u-9 AAU team, the co-coach Ahmad Clayton used moves from the mix-tapes to teach ball handling and develop confidence in the ball handlers, which made us a very effective team.

Last weekend, while in Los Angeles, I ran into a player who was on a team I assisted back in 2001-02. Since leaving Santa Monica in 2002, I have been all over. Priscila Cergol also moved to Brazil for a few years before returning to attend Lynwood High School. For some reason, most of the college coaches left her court before she played, but she was the best PG I saw on that day. I watched one of her games with a men’s college coach who said immediately that she was a DI PG.

Her father gave me a link to some tape of her playing street ball in Brazil a couple years ago:

Now, like the AAU team I coached, she has the ability to transfer the “street ball” skills into an effective game handle. She has played in International competition with Brazil’s junior national teams. In the AAU Tournament, she was one of the guards who would use an inside pivot foot, use either foot as a pivot foot and would make an initial move without traveling. While those seem like small things, at these tournaments, they were not.

Anyway, as I read the comment below, I thought of this link which I had just watched. It is a matter of developing skills and then a coach teaching players which skills to use in which situations. Having an elite handle makes Priscila a better passer and shooter, even if she cannot use the tricks in the games. However, learning the tricks and developing the handle which allows her to make the moves only enhances her game in a structured setting. She managed to break a couple ankles and get in the lane and dish to a teammate. Possessing this ability makes her a great high school player; it does not handicap her or have a negative impact on practice habits. If anything, she showed a passion for playing, even in warm-ups, that few other girls exhibited. And, in the end, isn’t that one of the most important elements of youth sports and coaching: to develop the passion and motivation so players love the game and love playing?