This past Sunday was Super Bowl Sunday and i was on a flight from Portland, Maine to Moses Lake, Washington. My flights were as follows Portland to Newark, Newark to Seattle and Seattle to Moses Lake. On the flight from Newark to Seattle I was able to watch the Super Bowl. Congratulations to the Saints. Watching the game sure made the trip go quickly.I was on this trip to Washington to go and speak to a couple of High Schools in eastern Washington. Ben Addink the head girls coach at ACH High School contacted me about coming out and speaking to his girls team and also if I would speak at Ephrata HS as well. Ben said that when he was a player growing up he remembered me doing my shooting demo at several camps that he attended and that it was inspirational to him. I have never been to this part of Washington state but I am looking forward to coming back and doing a camp or clinic there. The girls at Ben’s school were very attentive and I wish them luck in the upcoming games. After speaking at ACH it was off to Ephrata High School to speak to all of their basketball teams. They had a nice turnout and the kids asked some very good questions after the demo. At ACH I shot 408 for 412 and Ephrata I shot 497 for 505. It was a pleasure coming out to Washington and the people were all so nice and friendly. Then it was off to get a bowl of soup and some sleep. I had a 5:35 AM flight out of Moses Lake the next morning. I was up and ready to go as was my man Ben. Got to the airport thru security and then they said the flight was going to be delayed two hours. Now I am missing my connection from Seattle to Denver and then Denver to Eagle, CO. The joy of traveling. It would’ve been nice to have slept in or to have had breakfast with Ben. Thank goodness I had a book to read and I have a book to write. Once I got to Seattle I had more time to sit and wait. Almost three hours. The flight to Denver went well and now all I had to do in Denver was wait again for another flight. I thought of driving to Eagle but I was too tired. Got to Eagle at 7:15 PM I should’ve been there at 2:40 PM then when I did arrive no bag. Isn’t traveling fun.  The bag finally arrived at 11:15 pm when I was sound asleep.Too bad they don’t have hoops up at the gates, then I could’ve gotten some shots up. Remember to enjoy each day and live it to the fullest. Tell your loved ones how much they mean to you.  Take care and God Bless.

    January has been a very busy month for me. Started out in Florida after leaving Toronto. Was in Melbourne, Florida for a few days and got to see my good friend John Reynolds (women’s coach Florida Tech). Then it was back to Boothbay Harbor for a couple of days. It is always nice to get home and spend time there with my wife and daughter. Then it was off to Vail, CO to do some work. While I was working my wife did a little skiing and McKenna went to ski school. I myself never learned how to ski and I am not about to learn at this stage of my life. After a week in Vail it was time to get home for a few more days and then it was back down to Florida. This trip was to Naples and during my time there I ran into Rollie Massimino who is now coaching at Northwood University in West Palm Beach, FL. Coach Mass let me speak to the team for a couple of minutes at his shootaround. It is nice to get away from the cold and get down to the Sunshine state for a little while, but I also miss my wife and daughter when I am traveling alone. Would much rather be with them. Everybody tells me that kids grow up too fast and that is so true. McKenna is four already, hard to believe. I try to cherish and treasure every moment. By not being in the NBA (fulltime) it gives me the opportunity to spend more time with my family. I am so blessed to be able to do what I am doing but also to be able to spend time with the family. This past week I was on my way to Louisville to do a corporate speaking engagement and had a five and a half hour delay due to bad weather in Newark. I should’ve been in Louisville on Monday afternoon but instead I got to the hotel around 10:30 pm. When I got to Newark I ran into coach Tom Green (former coach at FDU) and he was also traveling to Louisville. Coach Green is a great guy and I hope to see him back on the sidelines soon. I cannot thank him enough for always having me at his basketball camps. It was nice to talking with him and getting to spend time with him. On Tuesday I did my speaking engagement and then it was off to the airport to catch a flight back to Maine. Needless to say the flight back to Maine was delayed as well. Last night which was Friday night I spoke to a group of kids in Morristown, NJ. There were approximately 50 boys and girls there grades 4 thru 8. They were a very good group, they listened and worked hard. That is all you can ask of anyone. Today I will be back there as well with a different bunch of kids. Looking forward to it. The guys that organized this trip Ralph and Tom Ferrara really care about the kids and basketball. It is people like Ralph and Tom that do so much but don’t get any credit for their efforts. There are so many people like them in every community and organization, that donate their time, effort and money and get no recognition or thanks. Here is a great big THANKS to them.When I am finished today I will head down to Keyport, NJ exit 117 off the Parkway to have dinner with my Aunt Jo and Aunt Wez. I will spend the night with my Aunt Wez and then it will be off to Mt. Laurel on Sunday for another clinic. Then I will be head back home to Maine. It has been a very busy January, but not as busy as it is in the NBA.The Raptors have been playing some very good ball of late. Keep up the good work guys. They have had some very impressive wins over the Lakers, Heat and then a come from behind victory against the Knicks after playing the night before.So far for the month of January I have taken 1,211 shots and made 1,202 for a percentage of 99.25 during my lectures. Take care and God Bless, pray for all of those who need it.

    It is very hard to believe that I graduated from high school in 1975, thirty five years ago. The years have gone by quickly and now I want them to slow down so I can enjoy my daughter, McKenna. Mckenna is already four, she will be all grown up before I know it. I cherish every moment that we are together. Time is too short, so enjoy life with your loved ones.Crazy happenings in Washington, DC. It will be interesting to see how this is handled by the WIZARDS and the NBA. Thank GOD that I am no longer involved with them.Not being with the NBA gives me alot more time with my wife and daughter. Before Christmas I was in Ft. Myers with my wife, daughter and Jessica (our nanny) for a week. At Christmas I was able to be with the family and see my daughter open up her presents. It was awesome to see how excited she got with each and every present. Then my wife and I went back to Florida to ring in the new year. We actually just went to dinner with some friends of hers, in Palm Beach. McKenna got to stay with her grammy and grandpa while we were in Florida.Now we are home until Saturday and then it is off to Vail, Colorado for a week of work but Carole and McKenna will be with me. Carole and McKenna will get to ski while I am in the gym. I am looking forward to watching McKenna learn to ski. I never learned and have gone only twice in my life. It’s something that we didn’t do during basketball season. I am not about to start skiing at 52 years of age. Although I did learn how to ride a motorcycle at 52.In 2010 my goals are to spend more time with my wife and daughter, be a better husband and father, be a better Christian and may my love grow more and more for others. Praise the LORD and let him know how you feel, we all have so much to be thankful for.

     It is very hard to believe that the 2009 year is coming to an end. I am sure there are many people that are very happy that this year is coming to a close. It was a difficult year for many people losing their jobs, savings, etc.. The economy suffered and so did a lot of people. Hopefully the new year will be a fresh start for everyone. I am looking forward to 2010 as I do every new year. It means setting new goals for the family, work and making shots. I am always looking to improve both on the court and off the court.This Christmas was a special Christmas for me as I got to spend it with my wife, daughter and family. It has been awhile since I’ve been with the family on Christmas. Last year I was in Cleveland with the Wizards. Christmas in Cleveland sounds like a bad movie. Sure was fun seeing McKenna open up her presents. It was also special spending time with Carole’s family and I am so very blessed to be a part of that family.December 26th went to Lincoln, Maine to shoot some hoops at the house of the Sowers. They were kind enough to let me get some shots up. They have a hoop in a large garage, it was perfect. Nothing like being able to get some shots up after being lazy all day on Christmas.This morning was up at three AM to Bangor airport to catch a flight to New York and a connection onto Toronto. Everything went smoothly. The flights were all on time and I got to the arena at noon time. Plenty of time for the one o’clock tip off. It was great seeing all of the familiar faces in Toronto. The Raptors hung on to win against the Pistons. The Raptors have been defending better and have been holding opponents under 100. When they do that they are tough to beat. Looking forward to working with the guys over the next couple of days.Happy New Year to everyone. May the Good Lord continue blessing you and your family.

I would like to take the time and thank everyone for reading my blog. At this time I would like to say Merry Christmas to everyone and their friends and family. Enjoy the time with one another. I am looking forward to spending Christmas with my wife and her family. Don’t forget what Christmas is, it is the celebration of Christ’s birth. Still can’t understand why people get bent out of shape at this time of the year, calling Christmas trees-holiday trees and all of the other stuff that goes with it. Christmas will ALWAYS be Christmas. Merry Christmas to one and all.

     It’s hard to believe that it is already December. Christmas will soon be here and then it will be 2010. Time sure does fly by. The older you get, the faster time goes by. When you are young you think that you have all the time in the world. Appreciate the time that you have on this earth and make sure that you spend time with the ones that you love and care for. Hope everyone had a very Happy Thanksgiving. I really enjoyed mine, got to spend it at home with my wife and daughter as well as my in laws. A couple of close friends also enjoyed in the festivities. A good time for all. So far two coaches have been fired and I am sure that they are not the last of the litter. I feel bad for Byron Scott and Lawrence Frank just like I feel bad for any coaches that get the axe. People don’t realize the amount of time and effort coaches put into their craft. If the team doesn’t do well the coach gets the blame and if the team does well the players get the glory. Lawrence had no chance to succeed with the team the Nets had and to top it off there was a bunch of injuries. Eddie Jordan had the same problem last year in Washington. Now injuries are part of the Sixers problem, they have lost a few key players in Speights, Brand and Williams. Any team that suffers injuries has major hurdles to get over. It is hard enough to win when you have a healthy roster. I wish coach Jordan all the luck as well as Mike O’Koren and Randy Ayers down in Philly. You guys keep coaching and teaching and everything will work out fine.Watched the DUKE UCONN game and I couldn’t believe the shooting in that game. Duke wins and shoots 29% for the game. Are they both that good defensively or did they both have bad shooting nights? It was a tough one to watch. While watching this game and the game before LSU and ASU I noticed alot of athletes and not too many basketball players. I mean there were alot of guys that were strong, fast, quick and could jump out of the gym but there weren’t alot of guys that could dribble with their weak hand, make an open jumper, make a free shot, pass the ball to the post and set a screen and open up the correct way. I watch the same thing happen in the pro game. We must start teaching kids how to play instead of just letting them play. The kids play too many games and they don’t even know how to play. Kids need to learn the fundamentals at an earlier age. We need to do something at the grassroots, NOW. Thanks for reading and I hope everyone has a very good week. Take care and God Bless.

    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.

College Basketball will soon start practice and then high school basketball will follow suit. It is a great time of the year to be in the gym and hear the squeaking of sneakers on the hardwood. The days get shorter and the nights longer, the temperatures start to drop. What better place to spend the fall, winter and spring seasons than in a gym.All of the work that you did in the off season will now pay off . During the off season is the time for individual improvement. If you put the time and effort in during your workouts you should be much improved. On the other hand if you didn’t put the time and effort in don’t expect playing time.Coaches have been getting ready by preparing their practice plans for some time. It is an exciting time for them as well. Everyone starts the season with high hopes. Once practice starts and then the games reality sets in. Coaches find out just how good or bad their teams really are.As far as what I will be doing this season I am continuing to work on my game. There is always room for improvement. I have a bunch of camps, clinics, individual workouts and corporate speaking engagements lined up.I am also writing a book on shooting, this is something that I have always wanted to do. Human Kinetics has been kind enough to believe in me and my knowledge of shooting to want me to do this as well. Human Kinetics have done a number of books on basketball and other sports as well. This is a very exciting venture for me.Thanks for reading. Will blog again soon.

    Well training camp has been going on for awhile and the exhibition season is upon us. It is hard to believe that the season will be tipping off in a couple of weeks. Can the LAKERS repeat? How much does SHAQ have left in his tank? What about the CELTICS? These are all interesting questions and it should be an interesting season especially with the replacement officials.I am currently back doing what I have been doing for so many years before joining the NBA and that is running my camps, clinics, lecturing and doing my corporate talks. So if anyone is interested in having me come and speak or work with their group please feel free to contact me via email or call me at 1-800-993-SHOT.Thank you for reading my blog and I look forward to keeping you posted as to my doings. Praise the LORD and count your blessings as we all have so much to be thankful for.Until the next blog take care and God Bless.