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‘Ready, set, break’

Bellbrook basketball teams use holidays to practice

Jon Thacker of Bellbrook shoots over a sea of red during a game against Milton-Union. During the district's two-week winter break, Bellbrook's boys and girls basketball teams have no games scheduled.

Nick Falzerano/Contributed Photo Jon Thacker of Bellbrook shoots over a sea of red during a game against Milton-Union. During the district's two-week winter break, Bellbrook's boys and girls basketball teams have no games scheduled.

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By Dave Long, Contributing Writer 1:49 PM Wednesday, December 23, 2009

BELLBROOK — It’s review and retool time for Bellbrook boys and girls basketball.

While many high school teams will get in four or five games over the traditional two-week holiday, Bellbrook hoops shut down.

Boys coach Perry Caldwell and girls coach Jason Tincher and their players would obviously like some game action. But the Bellbrook administration says take some time off. This season the boys have 17 days between games, the girls 18.

So both coaches use the time as training camp.

“Both Perry and I get back to the basics,” Tincher said. “It’s really kind of nice. You have in enough games so you have an idea what is and isn’t working.”

“You’re not rushed for time so you can spend a lot of time going over tapes with the kids, both in individual and team sessions,” he said.

Both coaches will run tapes during practice showing their teams different situations of what they are doing wrong and the adjustments they have to make.

“From a pure coaching standpoint, it’s great,” Caldwell said. “Most of the in-season time, your practices are rushed because you’re going over scouting reports and put in this and that for a game two days away.”

“During these two weeks, I get to do nothing but teach basketball. You have enough games that the basics of your offense and defense are in.”

“Now we have the time to be a more specific. If we need to spend an hour just working the zone defense we can. We can stop, break down what we’re doing right and wrong,” Caldwell said.

There also is a lot of individual emphasis. The coaching staff from both squads will spend extended periods working with players in improvement of their overall game.

“We’ll also do a lot of scouting and preparation for future opponents,” said Caldwell. “We have a lot of kids who are in other sports in the fall.”

“This period really gives them time to get in good basketball condition and be ready for that heavy schedule in January, February and into the tournament,” he said.

The break hasn’t hurt. The past three years the girls have been 8-5, 8-1 and 10-2 after extended holiday breaks. The boys have been 11-5, 9-3 and 12-3.

Caldwell has a squad of seniors Chris Lynch, Jon Thacker, Tommy Chitwood, Zac Rogal, Zac Guess and Mike Licher; juniors Chris Hamilton, Scott James, Shawn Jabir, and Jake Fryman; and freshman Daveon Greene.

“This is the smallest team we’ve had in a few years so we have to work on our rebounding, especially blocking out,” said Caldwell. “Our outside game isn’t bad. But we have to run our sets a lot sharper. And get tougher on defense.”

Tincher has two seniors — Caitlin Dorsey and Stacy Ulrich; sophomores Leisha Crawford, Shelby Sigman, Kaitlin Gibson, and Elizabeth Clifford; and freshmen Erin Dorn, Gabby Etter and Kelly Neumann.

“This group plays as hard as any team I’ve had for a long time,” said Tincher. “That makes up for a lot of mistakes. We’ll work a lot on shooting and shot selection on break. On defense, we have to get better at extending the defense and pressuring the ball.”

Contact this writer with story ideas at davelong299@gmail.com.

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