I want to thank the ladies from Forest Park for giving us a great season. Breyana Mason you are a special Student- Athlete and Forest Park will miss you, but you will do well at the next level.
I had a strong feeling last night was going to be our last night. The way the coaching staff prepared the team (three times) against Potomac and with Stonewall weakness the same as Potomac, I knew they would focus on the wrong players. We lost all three games to Potomac and the one last night to Stonewall. A good friend made a comment to me today that I will ponder a couple of weeks; he said Forest Park has not won anything big since Coach Kelly players left the program. The point he made was that the last senior class that took Forest Park to the State tourney was Kelly's kid, they came to Forest Park to be coached by Coach Kelly, but she left the program to coach at George Mason.
Which brings me to my next point the state of Forest Park basketball program? Elite players are no longer coming to Forest Park. AAU coaches are sending girls to other programs in the county or private schools. Some of the basketball wise parents who are well connected to the Prince Williams County basketball community are not recruiting girls to Forest Park anymore; we are now sending them to other schools in the county. One of the main reasons is Breyanna Coleman; a young lady who played AAU and could have helped this team was cut. Our leading scorer on JV last year. The key players on the team knew she could have help them against Potomac and Stonewall and tried to ask the coach to bring her back, but were unsuccessful. Yet they had to suffer thru the Coach Projects all season.
Some of the basketball parents don't think the coaching staff will play AAU girls over project and we don't want other families to experience what some have over the last 4 years. Most coaches have a 6'4 or 6'3 project not a 5'6 project on an elite team. But one person ego can bring an elite program down, which brings me to another point, an AAU player sat on the bench her sophomore season with very little playing time, most parents who knows basketball from Forest Park and other Cardinal teams wonder why Forest Park didn't use her instead of another project, this player could jump out the gym and down the road we all knew she would be a better player for the team. She is also an excellent student, now at William and Mary. I will never forget last year when this young lady had a double double in a very important game and then left the team to send a message to the coach "You should have been playing me all the time".I knew then we were not going to go far in the Northwest tourney without her, even if my daughter was the most Improved Player.
When my daughter was a sophomore who played AAU, she did the same thing put her on JV for soccer and freshman project players not AAU players. I had some parents from other teams wanting us to transfer but my daughter wanted to stay there with her friends. What freshman on any elite high school team makes the varsity but plays on the freshman team not the JV team, that's what we were dealing with as parents at Forest Park. ?Last year my daughter received very little playing time until about the tenth game of the seasons and a very talent guard that went to Dayton used dribble penetration to get her the ball because she knew she had good hands and a nice basketball IQ of the game from playing many years in AAU. The team won like 12 of the next 14 games. Now you would think something so successful last year the coach would have drawn up a play to use it this year to take some of the pressure off of the UVA star. Not at all, as one parent said I don't think our girls got better at Forest Park. ?What did she do bench her most of her senior year and she didn't even play in the last game of her senior year against Stonewall Jackson, the Most Improved player last year.
A player that was on the JV at the beginning of the year should have been on the varsity from the very beginning. She was used little at first and then they final figure it out and now she starts, wow. Most basketball parents knew the young lady could play because we tried to recruit her for AAU while she was in middle school.
Four years ago, I met some parents that were angry at the program, one father who's daughter is at a D-1 school, said he would never let any of his kids ever play at Forest Park, today I know why.
Forest Park lost its basketball community, the people who has helped them get elite players is gone.
They will do ok next year because of some of the players still in the program we recruited. But some of us know where the real players are going.
?
This post was edited on 2/22 8:09 PM by lavoy12
This post was edited on 2/22 8:15 PM by lavoy12
This post was edited on 2/22 8:24 PM by lavoy12
I had a strong feeling last night was going to be our last night. The way the coaching staff prepared the team (three times) against Potomac and with Stonewall weakness the same as Potomac, I knew they would focus on the wrong players. We lost all three games to Potomac and the one last night to Stonewall. A good friend made a comment to me today that I will ponder a couple of weeks; he said Forest Park has not won anything big since Coach Kelly players left the program. The point he made was that the last senior class that took Forest Park to the State tourney was Kelly's kid, they came to Forest Park to be coached by Coach Kelly, but she left the program to coach at George Mason.
Which brings me to my next point the state of Forest Park basketball program? Elite players are no longer coming to Forest Park. AAU coaches are sending girls to other programs in the county or private schools. Some of the basketball wise parents who are well connected to the Prince Williams County basketball community are not recruiting girls to Forest Park anymore; we are now sending them to other schools in the county. One of the main reasons is Breyanna Coleman; a young lady who played AAU and could have helped this team was cut. Our leading scorer on JV last year. The key players on the team knew she could have help them against Potomac and Stonewall and tried to ask the coach to bring her back, but were unsuccessful. Yet they had to suffer thru the Coach Projects all season.
Some of the basketball parents don't think the coaching staff will play AAU girls over project and we don't want other families to experience what some have over the last 4 years. Most coaches have a 6'4 or 6'3 project not a 5'6 project on an elite team. But one person ego can bring an elite program down, which brings me to another point, an AAU player sat on the bench her sophomore season with very little playing time, most parents who knows basketball from Forest Park and other Cardinal teams wonder why Forest Park didn't use her instead of another project, this player could jump out the gym and down the road we all knew she would be a better player for the team. She is also an excellent student, now at William and Mary. I will never forget last year when this young lady had a double double in a very important game and then left the team to send a message to the coach "You should have been playing me all the time".I knew then we were not going to go far in the Northwest tourney without her, even if my daughter was the most Improved Player.
When my daughter was a sophomore who played AAU, she did the same thing put her on JV for soccer and freshman project players not AAU players. I had some parents from other teams wanting us to transfer but my daughter wanted to stay there with her friends. What freshman on any elite high school team makes the varsity but plays on the freshman team not the JV team, that's what we were dealing with as parents at Forest Park. ?Last year my daughter received very little playing time until about the tenth game of the seasons and a very talent guard that went to Dayton used dribble penetration to get her the ball because she knew she had good hands and a nice basketball IQ of the game from playing many years in AAU. The team won like 12 of the next 14 games. Now you would think something so successful last year the coach would have drawn up a play to use it this year to take some of the pressure off of the UVA star. Not at all, as one parent said I don't think our girls got better at Forest Park. ?What did she do bench her most of her senior year and she didn't even play in the last game of her senior year against Stonewall Jackson, the Most Improved player last year.
A player that was on the JV at the beginning of the year should have been on the varsity from the very beginning. She was used little at first and then they final figure it out and now she starts, wow. Most basketball parents knew the young lady could play because we tried to recruit her for AAU while she was in middle school.
Four years ago, I met some parents that were angry at the program, one father who's daughter is at a D-1 school, said he would never let any of his kids ever play at Forest Park, today I know why.
Forest Park lost its basketball community, the people who has helped them get elite players is gone.
They will do ok next year because of some of the players still in the program we recruited. But some of us know where the real players are going.
?
This post was edited on 2/22 8:09 PM by lavoy12
This post was edited on 2/22 8:15 PM by lavoy12
This post was edited on 2/22 8:24 PM by lavoy12
