It is hard to believe that March 1st is a couple of days away. This means that most High School teams and players are thru playing as well as most colleges. The question I ask you is  “what are you going to do to get better?” In order to improve you need a plan and then you need to put the plan into action. Everyone can improve and get better if they are dedicated and if they stay focused on their goals. Make goals, write them down and keep them where you will see them all of the time. I put mine on the bathroom mirror so I saw them first thing in the morning and the last thing before going to bed. A constant reminder of what I wanted to do and needed to improve on.. By writing them down you are taking the first step. Keep a journal, what did you do during your workout, what drills, how many shots did you take and make. Challenge yourself, set goals each and every workout. By tracking and charting your shots, you can see your improvement and when you see yourself getting better, you gain confidence and confidence leads to success. When you see yourself improving then you want to practice more. You cant just play a 100 games in AAU and expect to improve your shot or ballhandling. You have to put in the lonely hours. Instead of just playing games all summer you need to improve your skill level and you do that by drilling. Repetition is the key, “perfect practice make perfect.” You need to go to camp. I have several camps and the kids all improve by the end of the week. I have two weeks of boys camp in the Pocono Mountains and a week of girls as well. For info on the camp go to www.hoopgroup.com  Then for all you college players I have a college camp at Haverford College. Register now, space is limited. College camp will be open to girls if I get a minimum of six players. Info on my camp page. If you pay in full for the college camp by the end of March you can take $100 off of the camp price. Another way to improve is by joining my shooters club info also on my website. If you join before the end of March the cost of the shooters club will be $149 a savings of $50. Keep track of your shots with my iHopla app available on iTunes or the Droid Market. Go to camp, join the club, keep track of your shots, get better. Take care and God Bless.

     The best story of the year by far in all of basketball has to be the emergence of Jeremy Lin. The reason it is a great story is that he is a young man of faith, a Christian. The Tim Tebow of the NBA. Billy Walker said that  ‘Tebow only performed miracles on Sunday but Jeremy does it everyday”. The only one that performs miracles is Jesus and He has done so in my life. The only way that Jesus was able to perform miracles in my life was for me to accept Him as my savior. To put Him first in everything that I do. Before Jesus came into my life, I was selfish, lied, had many bad habits, hurt people and didn’t care. Thankfully Jesus put people in my life that led me to Him.  These people showed me that Jesus was always there, even when I didn’t want Him there. They showed me that I had an incredible gift that He gave to me and I was throwing it all away. Since I have become a Christian the Good Lord has blessed me in so many ways. I owe everything to Him.

Back to Jeremy Lin, the kid graduated from Harvard and bounced around before finally getting his shot with the Knicks. A ten day contract, sleeping on a teammate’s sofa. Wonder what was on his mind? I am sure that he never gave up praising God or doubting what God’s plan is for him. It’s easy to go to God when things are going bad in your life, asking God for His help, to get you out of that situation. But what do you do when things are going really good? Do you praise Him then and give Him thanks? I am sure Jeremy never stopped believing in the Good Lord above and he never stopped believing in himself. Once he got the opportunity he made the most of it. He was ready to perform on the biggest stage of them all, Madison Square Garden. Now he is a household name. Most people give up on the Good Lord and themselves. In order to be successful in anything that you do, you need something spiritual in your life. Otherwise you will always have an empty feeling as if something is missing in your life. You also must believe in yourself when others don’t and you must have the desire, drive and dedication to continue, when others doubt.

Jeremy Lin will be successful on or off the court because of his faith in Jesus. Thank you, Jeremy and thank YOU, JESUS for Jeremy. Remember to always put God first in your life.