Showing posts with label learning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label learning. Show all posts

Friday, August 2, 2024

Windham boys’ freshman basketball pulls ahead in final moments of Gorham game to earn win

By Matt Pascarella

The Windham boys’ basketball first team squad, comprised of all freshman players, traveled to play Gorham on Monday, July 29 and ended the summer with a victory.

Windham freshman Colton McLeod goes up for a layup
on Monday, July 29 in the final game of the boys' First Team
basketball summer season against Gorham.
PHOTO BY MATT PASCARELLA
Windham trailed the Rams for most of the game, then took the lead with roughly a minute left and held off Gorham to earn a 33-30 win in the final game of the summer basketball season.

“I think one of the biggest things is they stayed composed,” said Windham First Team coach Cameron Brown. “We’ve had a lot of close games this summer and there’ve been times we kept our composure and times we kind of lost it. It reflects on the scoreboard when we play within ourselves and we know what we want to do; towards the end of the game, don’t get too sped up, those are the things that have been successful for us. Just being down three, you know [Gorham] is going to go for a quick three-pointer ... the biggest thing for us was high hands without fouling and they executed really well.”

Windham was slow to start, but this would all change later in the game. Gorham held a small lead but Windham’s Quraunte Pender put the Eagles on the scoreboard.

After battling hard, Windham came within one point of a tie game. They worked hard to get rebounds, though Gorham kept the lead by getting several turnovers. Windham was rebounding and tied the game at 14. Gorham took the lead 18-16 at the half.

“They had the lead most of the first half and that was tough,” said Windham’s Boston Krainis. “But moving the ball, cutting, spacing, and obviously Jalen [Stephens] with the big three [-pointer] at the end and we were able to pass it around, move it in the last two minutes and finish up the game there.

In the last 30 seconds, Windham looked to see who was open, tried to get open, moved around and waited until Gorham fouled – they just didn’t want to turn the ball over.

Pender tied the game at 18 in the second half. Gorham still led, but the game was within reach. Windham snagged a few rebounds, and Gorham led by four with six minutes remaining.

Windham’s Parker Frost hit a three-pointer and Windham is now down by one point with just four minutes left. Stephens sunk a three-pointer with a minute left in play.

“We really took pride on defense when they were driving down the court,” said Windham’s Mason Rulman. “We tried to make no turnovers while on offense, that helped us win. We focused on what we were doing, not trying to make mistakes, we were able to get to the basket and score. We put a lot of work in at practice and it shows when we come out here and play.”

Coach Brown said that his biggest takeaway from the summer season is that the team came in and they wanted to learn, they wanted to get better; and they put themselves in situations so they could get better.”

He said they know what this program can be, and they want to be a part of it. <

Friday, August 5, 2022

Eagles’ summer basketball camp great opportunity to make friends, learn skills

Windham varsity senior and volunteer JC Chouinard teaches
basketball skills to students during the Eagles' summer
basketball camp on Wednesday, July 27 at Windham
High School. PHOTO BY MATT PASCARELLA 
By Matt Pascarella

For as long as Windham varsity boys’ basketball coach Chad Pulkkinen can remember, Windham basketball has had a summer camp, where younger kids can learn the skills of the game as well as meet new people, who could one day be their teammates.

Pulkkinen has been running the camp for six years and next winter will begin his eighth year as the head boys’ basketball varsity coach. He’s had a tremendous response to his annual camp with almost 100 kids signing up.

Things are starting to come back to normal as far as kids’ camps go following the pandemic and Pulkkinen and his assistant coaches Geoff Grigsby and Noah Estey say that they were glad they could help the younger, aspiring players of the community out by hosting the K to 8 basketball camp at Windham High School during the last week of July.

“The No. 1 goal is to have fun,” said Pulkkinen. “It gives them an outlet to learn the game and have some fun.”

Every day of the camp there were themes like teammate, hustle, body language or coachability. Along with essential basketball skills, Pulkkinen and his coaches teach the kids the importance of being kind on the court and what it means to be a good teammate.
 
Basketball has given Pulkkinen a lot of life skills, so part of his goals for this camp is to teach life skills to the future group of varsity players.

“Overall basketball has been a tool for me to apply in all that I do,” said Pulkkinen. “Commitment, dedication, discipline, how to handle adversity, how to be a good teammate. It's shown me when you work hard at something and put the time in it pays off. You get what you put in.”

Players from freshmen to seniors volunteered their time and set a good example for the young athletes and participants appreciated the new skills they worked on at the camp.

“I’ve learned new ways to dribble and new ways to throw,” said Windham fifth-grader Kingston Mack.

Mack’s goal is to make over 1,000 shots in his lifetime.

Windham senior and varsity player JC Chouinard remembered attending this camp himself when he was much younger and how he looked up to high school varsity players.

“It’s pretty cool it’s come full circle now that I’m a senior here,” said Chouinard.

Chouinard has volunteered at the camp for the last four years and likes that it brings the community together. He likes seeing the younger kids learn the game.

Basketball has helped Chouinard out a lot in his life, so if he can use basketball to help another young athlete, that means a lot to him.

Chouinard said that his goal during the week was to have the kids remember the camp and the fun they had, skills they improved upon and new friends that they made.

Windham second-grader William Hanf had been working on making baskets and drills during the Eagles’ Basketball camp. He said he wanted to become better at playing basketball and has been having fun learning new skills and meeting new people.

“I just think it helps everybody come together and get to know each other. The camp shows you how to be a good teammate. And that really goes beyond the court in everyday life,” said Chouinard. <