Welcome Guest [Log In] [Register]
Welcome to Jackal Pack Games. We hope you enjoy your visit.


You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile, sending personal messages, and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free.


Join our community!


If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features:

Username:   Password:
Add Reply
players from France committed first, Kariata i
Topic Started: Dec 6 2017, 08:05 AM (55 Views)
riluowanying123
Advanced Member
[ *  *  * ]
WASHINGTON -- One by one, swimmer Katie Ledecky handed her Olympic medals to Bryce Harper. Four gold medals and one silver from the Rio Olympics sat in the hands of the reigning National League MVP.As the Nationals star outfielder admired the medals of the Olympic champion and held her hat, Ledecky threw the ceremonial first pitch to reliever Shawn Kelley before the Baltimore Orioles beat Washington 10-8 Wednesday night.Ive swum in front of 14,000 people, Ledecky said of the pitch. Once the ball leaves the hand, you cant really control it.Ledecky, a native of nearby Bethesda, Maryland, has thrown out the first pitch at Nationals Park before. That was in 2012 after she won the 800-meter freestyle at the London Olympics as a 15-year-old.I think Ive gotten stronger and a lots happened in four years, she said. Ive been to a couple world championships, more international meets, another Olympics, Ive gone through high school, Im heading out to college. Looking back four years ago, a lot has changed since then.Ledecky has just become more dominant.She tied as the most decorated U.S. female athlete in Rio along with gymnast Simone Biles and just short of Michael Phelps for the most among Americans. Before Ledeckys first pitch, a tribute played on the video board, featuring a clip of her world record-shattering victory in the 800-meter freestyle performance in Rio when she won by more than 11 seconds.The 19-year-old met several Nationals before the game, including Harper, whom she called one of her favorites. They didnt give her any tips on the first pitch, which she said she practiced plenty Tuesday, but they were curious about her five medals.They all wanted to see how heavy they were and things like that, Ledecky said. They are pretty heavy. It was kind of a different feeling for me to have them be a fan of me when Ive been a huge fan of theirs for a couple years.Ledecky got a warm reception on the field 20 minutes before the start of the game but a rousing standing ovation when she was shown on the video board before the fifth inning. Fans cheered and broke out in chants of U-S-A! U-S-A!She said her accomplishments in Rio are slowly but surely sinking in, only days after the closing ceremony.I expect itll sink in as we move forward the next couple weeks, Ledecky said. Once I get back in the pool and start working toward my next goals, I know you just kind of have to put everything youve done behind you and start working toward the next thing.For now, the next thing is college. Ledecky will be a freshman at Stanford in the fall and plans to take some time off before starting school.Before she finds out who her roommate his, Ledeckys mind is already on the Tokyo Olympics in 2020.Itll probably be the longest break Ill take in the next four years, she said. Its just nice to be out of the water a little bit and get recharged for the next four years. Amaya Finklea-Guity was sitting in the Syracuse video room this past summer when she realized this wasnt going to be like all her other interactions with college coaches.This was going to be about instruction and improvement, not promises and promotion.Orange coach Quentin Hillsman was showing tape that illustrated his vision of her career at the upstate New York university when, suddenly, he asked Finklea-Guity to stand up.He proceeded to show her some tips on how to avoid foul trouble by not swinging her arms and by doing a better job of moving her feet laterally.It was as if Hillsman had read her mind. On the plane ride from her home in Boston to Syracuse, she had told her mother, Paula Guity, she wanted to stop fouling so much.What Coach Q did definitely made an impression on me, said Finklea-Guity, a 6-foot-4 senior center and the No. 42 prospect in the espnW HoopGurlz Top 100 who last season led Noble & Greenough (Dedham, Massachusetts) to the New England prep school Class A championship.I felt he was ready to work with me and push me to be better. It was a cool moment.It was also a winning moment for Syracuse because thats when Finklea-Guity decided she would be joining the Orange program. Then again, Syracuse has been doing a lot of winning lately. The Orange went 30-8 last season, reaching the NCAA final before falling to Connecticut. Before last season, the Orange had never advanced past the tournaments first weekend.Last month, Syracuse (7-3) nailed down what is being hailed as the best recruiting class in program history. In addition to Finklea-Guity, the Orange signed Nikki Oppenheimer, a 5-9 combo guard at Montini Catholic (Glenview, Illinois) who represented Puerto Rico at the FIBA Americas U18 championships in Chile; Diaby Kariata, a 6-5 center from Voiron, France, who has represented the Ivory Coast in international competitions; Maeva Djaldi-Tabdi, a 6-2 forward and three-star recruit from Paris who played for France at the 2016 FIBA U18 European championships in Hungary; and Digna Strautmane, a 6-2 forward from Rigas, Latvia, who is ranked 23rd in the Top 100 and played for her national team at the FIBA U20 European championships in Portugal.I think our program is in a good place, said Hillsman, whose team will graduate five seniors this season, including four starters. When you get to the NCAA title game, you are right there. I think we just needed perimeter shooting, size and versatility, and this class addressed that.Size and speed in onePaula Guity, whose parents were born in Honduras, has raised Amaya on her own. For years, Guity put her daughter in just about every after-school activity imaginable, from swimming, to tap dancing and tennis.I was trying to find her niche, Guity said.Ultimately, Finklea-Guity outgrew dance -- literally. After seeing she was the tallest girl on stage, she asked her mother to try something else.A friend told Guity that the AAU Boston Showstoppers were looking for a center. Even though Finklea-Guity, who was 11 at the time, had never played basketball, the Showstoppers took one look at her height and immediately said yes.There was a tournament the next day, and the Showstoppers coaches were yelling out instructions to their new center, teaching her the game on the fly.The coaches told her, Just put your hands up, Guity said. So Amaya did that and just stood there. She didnt realize she had to run up and down the court until they yelled at her again.Then when the opposing point guard came down, and Amaya blocked her shot, she thought that was the greatest thing.She had found her niche.Finklea-Guity, who has a 3.5 GPA and is interested in studying computer engineering, chose Syracuse over 25 other scholarship offers. Harvard and Brown were among the colleges recruiting her. But Finklea-Guity wanted to play for a national title, and she thought Syracuse gave her that chance.Hillsman sees in Finklea-Guity a prototypical post player who can score over either shoulder. But he also sees a player with uncanny speed.Shes as fast as any high school post player Ive ever seen, Hillsman said. Speed and quickness comess down to your will.dddddddddddd You can be fast, but if you dont have the will to run hard every time down, it doesnt matter.Amaya always puts pressure on the other post because of how fast she gets up and down the court.Finding a shooterOppenheimer, who is set to play for Puerto Rico this summer at the U19 world championships in Italy, will certainly help with any shooting issues.She is the daughter of Josh Oppenheimer, who played nine years of pro ball in Europe and is now an assistant coach with the NBAs Houston Rockets. Josh taught his daughter the proper shooting form during her earlier years, and it stuck.Oppenheimer committed to Syracuse in October of 2015, thoroughly enjoying her visit with Hillsman and his staff. But the deal was sealed when she and her mom took a quick detour to the local mall.While trying on sneakers at a Foot Locker, Oppenheimer was asked by the salesperson what made her come to Syracuse. When she explained she was a potential Orange recruit, the salesperson had an immediate reaction.She said, Oh, I love Coach Q, Oppenheimer said. She had been a team manager at Syracuse, and to hear her say so many good things about him just showed he was good to the people around him and that he was a genuine person.That just confirmed what I was already thinking.Oppenheimer, who has a 4.3 GPA and is interested in becoming a sports agent, has drawn praise of her own. Her AAU coach, Dave Yates of Midwest Elite, calls Oppenheimers jumper pure.Its one of the best shots Ive seen in 10 years of coaching girls, Yates said.Because she was the first player in her class to commit to Syracuse, Oppenheimer is called the anchor of the group by Hillsman. But shes more than that.Nikki played point guard on her AAU team and off the ball in high school, so she knows how to adapt, Hillsman said. We all know she is a phenomenal shooter. But shes also deceptively quick, she can get to her spots, and shes very intelligent.Project EuropeAfter Hillsman got commitments from Oppenheimer in 2015 and Finklea-Guity this past July, his next move was to recruit a recruiter.Adeniyi Amadou, a native of Paris, had come to the U.S. as a teenager to play basketball and go to school. By 2009, he had transitioned to coaching, and he landed a job as a Syracuse graduate assistant.From there, he became an assistant coach at Dayton and then at Kentucky before Hillsman called his former GA and said two simple words: Come home.Amadou accepted his mentors offer, bringing with him expertise in working with post players but also vast international recruiting connections. When Amadou was hired on August 16, Syracuse had no commitments from players overseas.Hillsman told Amadou what he needed -- size and skill. Amadou gave his boss a list of 12 players he thought could fit, and Hillsman then had him focus on the three or four he had actually seen and liked, either on tape or in person in trips to European competitions.The only problem was that other schools had already been recruiting the players Syracuse now wanted.We were late, Amadou said. But I knew enough people in Europe, and the relationships were so strong, we were able to make up the ground.The two players from France committed first, Kariata in mid-September and Djaldi-Tabdi a couple weeks later.I had known both of them for a long while, Amadou said. The coaches knew me, and that made things easier. The credibility was there, and the fact that I am French helps as well.Amadou had no such home-country advantage in Latvia, but he worked his contacts and got Strautmane to commit in October.I didnt have to sell them on Syracuse, Amadou said. They knew we had good people.In the end, Amadou said, Syracuse landed three international kids who would be much more highly rated had they played high school ball in the U.S. and had been seen by more scouts.These are girls who practice twice a day and compete against grown women, pro players, Amadou said. We dont get caught up in rankings. But I know weve done well. Cheap NFL Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale NFL Jerseys Jerseys From China Wholesale NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys ' ' '
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous)
ZetaBoards - Free Forum Hosting
Create a free forum in seconds.
Learn More · Register for Free
« Previous Topic · Mister Slate's Office · Next Topic »
Add Reply