Planet Hoops Basketball

Wine to Water

noreply@blogger.com (Todd Kozinka) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 10:50:00 -0800

Hi there. This is from my friend and basketball compadre Tyler Smith. Please read:

From: Tyler Smith (Former Penn State Basketball Player who now plays professionally overseas. This season he is in Japan with his wife (Cara) and daughter (Hannah) and he plays for Hitachi. Sadly, he does not get paid in flat-screens.)

Hey Hooligans,

I was inspired this past summer by a friend of mine who ran a half-marathon and dedicated her run to a young boy who was battling cancer. She listens to her iPod when she runs these insane distances. I am not sure anything could distract me from wanting to kill myself if I were to run 13 miles. But, she is a warrior and I'm a little school girl deep down inside.

For a small donation, you were able to be a part of her run and pick a song that she listened to on her run. The money went to the young boy who was fighting for his life.

Given the rules of paying for songs, the cruel side of me wanted to buy every song for her run so that she only listened to the music I chose. And I would then tell her it was Shania Twain's "From This Moment On". On repeat. For 13 glorious miles.

Her lawyer said that it wouldn't go down like that. So, I naturally picked the most inspirational tune known to man that we all secretly know the words to by heart. Ice Ice Baby. Dum dum dum da da dum dum (ch).

Anyway, I began thinking that maybe I could do something similar in regards to raising awareness and funds for a cause that meant something important to me. Something that helped people who may be in need. Rather than just playing basketball, I want to turn it into something more.

I recently came across a guy named Doc Hendley who is turning Wine into Water. He started a non-profit organization "WINE TO WATER" (www.WineToWater.org) that is focused on providing clean water to needy people around the world. He holds wine tastings in the US and the donations made during those events go towards clean water projects around the world in India, Sudan, Cambodia, and other developing countries. He is nominated as one of the Top 10 CNN Heroes of 2009.

Personally, I drink a ton of water everyday. I sweat more than 99% of you on a daily basis b/c of basketball. And one of the best parts of my day is when there is a break in practice. I walk over to the water cooler. I take a huge swig (yeah I said swig). It's cold, clean, and rejuvenates me. Never for a second do I think that my water might be contaminated. I would shove my tiny Japanese manager Sakamoto in a trashcan if it were. Never do I worry that I could get sick. Or that the water little Hannah drinks at home could give her a disease.

But, the fact is that 1 billion people don't have access to clean drinking water. Here I am chugging it down like a whale. My heart goes out to people who drink and bathe in the same dirty water. Or those who walk 3-5 hours each day to get clean water. Tragic. Occasionally I am too lazy to walk 3-5 steps. What a loser I can be.

So, here is the game plan. My thought is that for every point I score and every rebound I grab this year I am going to make a donation to this organization (Wine to Water) that provides clean water to those who don't have it.

I'd like you to join me.

Yeah yeah. Everyone is asking you for money and you don't have any. Listen, my personal feeling is that literally any amount counts. A little old lady once put 2 practically worthless coins in an offering tray a while ago and this guy named Jesus said she gave more than the big dawgs who gave their hundreds and thousands of dollars. Every bit helps.

When was the last time you were really thirsty? On a long car ride, so you pulled over? During a workout, so you grabbed your water bottle? Tasted divine. Didn't it?

Just to give you an idea of how many points I may score or rebounds I may grab. It looks kind of like this:

Current PT Ave - 10 pts/game ( x 40 - 50 games) = 400-500 total points (approximately for the full season)

Current Reb Ave. - 3.6 rb/game (quit laughing) ( x 40 - 50 games) = 150-180 total rebounds (approx. for the full season)

This is assuming I don't suddenly catch fire and go Kobe-esque on my small samurai competitors.

EXAMPLE: if you donated $0.10 per point I score this season you would donate about $50. You can donate $0.01 per point if you want. Seriously. No one will know. I'll never judge you on it. You'll be contributing to save lives and bring hope to people who may not have much.

You can donate however you’d like. Donate per point. Per Rebound. Both. Or something you make up on your own like personal fouls or number of Japanese words I learn to yell at the refs.

We'll even throw in some wild card donations for you gamblers.

A Dunk - $25 (I haven't had one since...... ummmmmm.... I'll get back to you on that)

A Championship - $100 (my team Hitachi made the Finals last year, but has never won one)

NBA Call-up - $250 (hey, you never know. Celtics could be scouring Japan's league as we speak for the next white sensation)

As the season progresses, I will update you on my points and rebounds. (Maybe I should give back $ for turnovers). At the end of the basketball season (April '10), I will inform you of my total points and rebounds. And you can make your official donation then by check, cash, gold bullion, or credit card online via PayPal. 100% of the money will go to Wine To Water. Zero to me and my Krispy Kreme Addiction.

If you'd rather make your donation monthly b/c that is easier, I can arrange that. I just figured that 1 lump sum would be simpler at the end of the season.

PRIZES

* The Top 2 donors will receive an authentic Hitachi “Smith” Jersey. Highly limited (value is debatable). I will wash it first.

* The Next Top 5 donors will get a signed Hitachi basketball poster by the whole team. They're pretty sweet.

* Top Next Top 20 donors will get a Hitachi trading card of me. Yes, you can put it in your bike spokes.

* EVERY donor will receive regular updates from me with ridiculous Japan basketball stories and the point and rebound update.

Please join me in this small but significant effort to make a difference. The change from your car ash trash counts. My goal is to raise $17,500 by the end of the season which is enough for 35 new clean water wells in a place like Cambodia. I wear #35. (Wells are $500 each)

Please pass this along to others so more can be involved. They get a ton of spam anyway. What’s one more? :)

I can't imagine what it's like to not have clean water. Let's help make it so that others don't have to live without it.

Gratefully Yours,
Sweaty Guy Ty

If you are interested, please just send me a one-liner saying you are in and however much you’d like to contribute. Arigato.

Watch as I now turn into the White Japanese Lebron. A slower, weaker, and less explosive version. But, I can throw white hand chalk way higher in the air than him.

90-sec video of Wine to Water - http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/04/30/heroes.doc.hendley/index.html#cnnSTCVideo

Blog Updates will be here - http://www.proplayervideo.com/blogs.php?user=2&blog=17

Brian McCormick Basketball Podcast

noreply@blogger.com (Todd Kozinka) — Thu, 6 Nov 2008 17:35:00 -0800

Today's guest for our Podcast is Basketball Coach, Trainer, author and entrepreneur Brian McCormick.

Brian has a wealth of knowledge around so many facets of basketball, coaching and training.

Today's podcast is about one hour long.

You can listen to the Podcast here.

You can also download it directly from this link so you can listen to the podcast at your leisure on your iPod or .mp3 music player. Simply right click or control click and "save as" whaetever you want to name it.

Either way we are sure you will enjoy this one.

Have a great day.

Todd

2-3 High Offensive Set

noreply@blogger.com (Todd Kozinka) — Wed, 5 Nov 2008 13:09:00 -0800

For all you coaches out there we have another Basketball animation for you today.

This one is a simple 2-3 High Offensive set play out of the old Shuffle Offense set up.

Please enjoy. I love the 2-3 high set depending on what players I have to work with.

Have a great day!

Full Court Secondary Offense

noreply@blogger.com (Todd Kozinka) — Wed, 5 Nov 2008 06:27:00 -0800

Today we are using a free screen capture technology from TechSmith called The Jing Project. What a great service. Jing is so easy to use and you can host up to 2 GB on their servers for free. The only downside is that it is not as flexible as using Camtasia (also a TechSmith company).

Another option is to use CamStudio which is Open Source freeware. So, for Coaches who want to branch out and use this technology of screen captures to share their knowledge, I think this will really change the way we share information as coaches.

Click Here for the Full Court Secondary Offense Screencast Animation

Please enjoy today's Full Court Secondary offense animation and tell your friends about our blog and our website, Planet Hoops.

Diamond Zone Offense

noreply@blogger.com (Todd Kozinka) — Mon, 3 Nov 2008 15:35:00 -0800

Please enjoy a little basketball animation we put together today on a Diamond Zone Offense I used and experimented with in Australia.

The animation goes for about 17 minutes as we walk you through the basics of the offense. I think this offense gives the typical 2-3 zone a look that it might not be used to. Also, I like the attacking angles we get with the diamond shape and the overload choices.

Please let us know your comments.

1-4 High Offensive Set

noreply@blogger.com (Todd Kozinka) — Sat, 1 Nov 2008 14:48:00 -0700

Starting today we will be taking a look at different offensive and defensive sets and plays for Coaches to use.

Utilizing Sideline Sports awesome play animator and diagram maker and screen capture technology we will be able to show you exactly how a play looks in real time without having to read all the text of where each player should go.

We hope you enjoy our first attempt at what we hope will be a useful tool for coaches to learn about offensive and defensive concepts.

Please click the following link if you would like to download this video for your iPod 1_4_high animation or to view on a separate page.

Have a great day!

Planet Hoops

Coach Randy Brown Basketball Podcast

noreply@blogger.com (Todd Kozinka) — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 08:04:00 -0700

Today's Podcast is with a great Coach. Randy Brown has coached for many years and his passion and enthusiasm shines through in our conversation.

Coach Brown has an awesome website at Coachrb.com.
Please look into it.

In the podcast today we talk about a unique coach mentoring program Brown offers, Brown's philosophy (which you will find very insightful) and lastly we take a close look at Youth Basketball.

Please click here to go to the Podcast now.

Coach Augie Garrido-A Coaching Legend

noreply@blogger.com (Todd Kozinka) — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 11:12:00 -0700

I watched an incredible documentary last night on the coaching career and life of Augie Garrido.

Coach Garrido is a baseball coach at the university of Texas if you did not know.He is what coaching is all about. The interviews with him and his friends and players and former players said so much about the man.

If you ever get a chance to watch that documentary I highly encourage you to do that.

Click this link to see more about the Documentary entitled "Inning by Inning", a film by Richard Linklater.

His story is legendary. 5 national championships. He has coached for 39 years. The guy just oozed love for his players and the game of baseball. Of course this applies to any sport. Basketball is no different.

One thing that really stood out was that he constantly referred to baseball as just a game. It was not that important as a game although he loved it and respected it.

What was most important was the life lessons that baseball taught. To him that was the key and that WAS extremely important.

One other page which might interest you is this interview/chat from ESPN.

Click Here to see his full Profile and Career numbers

Mike Craw Basketball Podcast

noreply@blogger.com (Todd Kozinka) — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 12:32:00 -0700

Join us for yet another interesting Basketball Podcast from Planet Hoops.

Today we speak with Coach Mike Craw from Hobart, Tasmania, Australia.

We talk about basketball in Australia, youth basketball, Nathan Jawaii among other hoop topics.

Please enjoy.

Click here to Listen.

Lithuanian Basketball Podcast

noreply@blogger.com (Todd Kozinka) — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 10:42:00 -0700

We have another recent podcast for you today.

We took the time to speak with a young Lithuanian basketball
player who contacted me one day through our Planet Hoops website.

Lukas is 17 years old and he loves basketball. Lives and breathes it.

We decided to ask him a few questions to see what it was like growing up in another country where basketball is very popular.

We think you'll like it.

By the way, Lukas has adopted the Swish method of shooting.

Click Here for The Podcast

Tom Newell Podcast conversation

noreply@blogger.com (Todd Kozinka) — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 17:15:00 -0700

Join us for yet another Podcast with one of the best Basketball Coaches in the world.

Coach Tom Newell is regarded as a top coach and all around nice guy. He has coached all over the world, including China, Belgium, Russia, the U.S. and many spots in between.

We discuss the state of the team game of basketball, the possibility of raising the Rims (rings) to 11 feet, recruiting and youth basketball.

Tom's website is Family Sports Life Today

Click Here to go to the Podcast.

The Truth about Basketball Shooting (Part 1)

noreply@blogger.com (Todd Kozinka) — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 21:54:00 -0700

Tune in to Part 1 of a many part conference call series discussing the lost art of Basketball Shooting. Join Planet Hoops (www.planet-hoops.com) founder Todd Kozinka and Shooting expert Tom Nordland from www.Swish22.com.

The link to the page with the Podcast is HERE on this page.

Please visit us and tell us what you think.

We will be having more of these conference calls where Coaches and Players will be able to call in and ask questions to Tom Nordland and myself.

Stay Tuned!

Bruce Langford Podcast

noreply@blogger.com (Todd Kozinka) — Thu, 3 May 2007 08:55:00 -0700

Hi everyone. Just a quick not to say we have a new Podcast available. We had the fine pleasure of interviewing Coach Bruce Langford of the Simon Fraser University Women's Basketball team. Bruce is an excellent coach and teacher, as well as a great leader.

please click here.

Planet Hoops New Years Basketball Podcast

noreply@blogger.com (Todd Kozinka) — Tue, 9 Jan 2007 11:30:00 -0800

Listen in to our recent New Year 2007 Planet Hoops Basketball Podcast discussing Slam Magazine, International Basketball, additions to our site, Basketball Video and an Interview with Basketball Junkie Gary Mols from V.I.B.A. (Vancouver Island Basketball Association)

please click here for the Podcast.

N.B.A. Pacific Division Preview

noreply@blogger.com (Todd Kozinka) — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 12:01:00 -0800

Hi there Hoop fans. Thanks for coming back or welcome if this is your first visit. We have just posted our new N.B.A, Pacific Division Preview.

Please also remember to head on over to our Planet Hoops website!

Our newest Podcast can be found by clicking here.

Hoop Hype is Contagious-Don't Forget Your Shot!

Planet Hoops Blog and Podcast Page

noreply@blogger.com (Todd Kozinka) — Thu, 27 Oct 2005 21:17:00 -0700

Welcome to the Planet Hoops blog and Podcast Page.

We want you to read, listen and enjoy our musings from around the Planet.

And don't forget to check out our Planet Hoops website.

Our Planet Hoops Podcast can be found Here.