Last Friday I flew to Denver for a two day clinic with Mark Sharpley and JAM. Mark has been a very good friend of mine for the past 15 years. He does an outstanding job of getting kids to the shooting camp. We run another camp in Denver around Memorial Day. The kids in Colorado are always very well behaved, they listen and they are talented as well. It is always a pleasure to come to Colorado and work with the kids. Besides doing the camp I get to stay at my friend’s house. My friend is Big Bill. Bill Ficke, there is no finer human being that the Good Lord could make. Big Bill was in my wedding and I am blessed to have him as a friend.After finishing up camp on Sunday at 3:00 PM  I was off to Vail, Colorado to work with the kids at Battle Mountain High School for two days. What a beautiful town Vail is. The weather was perfect, the upper 60’s. The school was brand new and the kids were fantastic. It was a joy working with them. I hope to be back in the not to distant future. My host Gary Weiss is one in a million. Through basketball I have met some outstanding people, thank you LORD.The kids at Battle Mountain worked from 6 until 9 PM on Sunday night and then I worked with some kids individually on Monday from 12-3. Then we were back at at 4 o’clock and went until 6 o’clock. The following morning I was on the road at 4 AM to get to the airport. Flew from Denver to Newark and then Newark to Portland, Maine. Once I arrived in Maine I had a four hour drive to Connecticut.Veteran’s Day clinic at East Catholic High School was hosted by the CT STARTERS program. What can I say about the STARTERS, I have been friends with them for over 20 years. I am so blessed to do something that I love to do but on top of that I get to see my friends and work with them as well. It seemed strange not seeing Nick Eco at East Catholic. Congratulations Nick on the Hall of Fame. Wish I could’ve been there for your induction.                                                               Also with the STARTERS is Joe Ticotsky who always is on the ball. He is super organized and a wonderful person. Thanks for another great clinic. Also working the clinics and camps are the Madera brothers, Scott and Brian. I hope I spelled your names correctly. Forgive me if I messed it up. They have been working camps for years and I always look forward to seeing them, we have some good laughs together. Then there is my man Pringle. My heart goes out to Pringle as his mom just passed away. You are in my thoughts and prayers. It has also been eight years since my mom passed. I always look forward to seeing Pringle and I always enjoy our phone conversations.                                                                            The clinic went well as they always do with the STARTERS. Great bunch of kids.Thursday I tweaked my back in the weight room at the Boothbay YMCA. I get these spasms once in a great while. Bad timing as I have to go Vermont to do two clinics on Saturday. Tried stretching and the hot tub but this only gives me temporary relief. Drove up to Burlington, VT with some icy-hot pads on my back. Had the heated seat going while I was driving. Relaxed in my room on Friday night.Saturday the clinic was at Rice High School and was organized by Mark Pfaff. He has been trying to get me up to Burlington for the past three years. Finally got it done. The back was tight and I couldn’t shoot any jumpshots during my demo, so I did my form shooting and shot free shots during the talk. Finished up 336 for 339. After the talk we did three hours of drill work. ALL of the kids were great as they ALL listened, followed directions and hustled. When kids do as they are told coaching is such a joy. A special thanks to everyone that helped out and most of all to the athletic trainer at Rice for treating my back and giving me some Advil.After Burlington I was off to do another clinic at Norwich University in Northfield, VT for Paul Booth. I have known Paul for many years. We first met at Nelson/Sanders camp in Henniker, NH. By the time I arrived at Norwich the back was really bad. Don’t know how I managed to make all of my shots. The LORD does perform miracles. HE got me through this day and I can’t thank the kids enough for being so good and doing everything that was asked of them. Thanks Paul and Sue for your hospitality.Made it home and now I have some time to mend. Thanks to everyone that reads this. Take care and God Bless each and every one.

     Another year of hoops has begun. The season is young and exciting as it always is. Rumors of LeBron, DWade and CB4 leaving their teams because of free agency. Who knows what will happen? What we do know is that we will have basketball regardless.For the past three years I have been coaching in the NBA at first with the Raptors and then the past two with the Wizards. It seems strange not sitting in on the coaches meetings and putting together a gameplan, watching film and getting ready for practice. I miss that part and also the part of being in practice working with the players. I miss the coaches and the players as well. I do not miss the travel and being away from the family.I was offered a couple of jobs to continue coaching in the NBA, but I turned them down because they wanted me to take a huge paycut and the job was not going to be a pension position. It was easy to go back to my own business (Dave Hopla Shooting Clinics). The LORD has blessed me with this gift and I am grateful that I can share it with others. Now I get to pick and choose when and where I want to go to work. It was an easy decision to make on my part. The Toronto Raptors also called and they asked if I would be interested in coming up to work with the guys whenever they are home for a few days. To work as a consultant. I jumped at the chance. I get to be home with the family and I get to work with a great organization. I cannot thank Bryan, Jay and the rest of the coaches for inviting me up. I went up over the pre season for a few days and am looking forward to my return. They have a bunch of talented players and they all want to become better players. It was a joy working with them. Talk about your prayers being answered. Thank you LORD. So now I have the best of both worlds, I get to be with my wife and daughter and I still get to work with the Raptors. I would also like to thank everyone out there for booking camps, clinics, speaking engagements for this fall, winter and spring.Remember we can do nothing without our GOOD LORD. Have a blessed day.