Family Sports Life Today

Free Symposium for Parents and Student-Athletes to be held at University of Washington on Saturday, May 31st

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - April 14th, 2008

FamilySportsLifeToday.com announces “Expectations with Revelations: an insight to the process of Intercollegiate recruiting today…”, a symposium for parents and student athletes.

The event will be held at the University of Washington, Hec Ed Pavilion, Assembly Hall, Saturday, May 31, 2008, from 12:00 -3:30pm. Middle School and High School parents and their student athlete children are invited to this FREE program.  Pre-registration is encouraged by joining
www.FamilySportsLifeToday.com.

This program features college coaches as Panelists from various areas of intercollegiate sports. Division I, II, III, NAIA and Community College representatives will present their recruiting insights and information for parents and their student athletes on what identifies a prospect today when they evaluate a student athlete playing interscholastic sports.

The representative Universities and Colleges from the Puget Sound will include coaches from Seattle University, Seattle Pacific University, St. Martin’s College, Pacific Lutheran University, University of Puget Sound, Northwest University, Bellevue Community College, and the host school, the University of Washington. The sports being represented in this symposium will be the following:

• Men and Women’s Basketball
• Volleyball (D-I, D-II)
• Men and Women’s Soccer
• Football (D-I, D-II)
• Track and Field
• Fast pitch Softball

Also featured in this extraordinary program are former intercollegiate student athletes from the various levels of intercollegiate athletics and their respective sports. Certified professionals from Strength and Conditioning training programs will also provide information for parents and student athletes.

Topics will cover:

• Identifying a student athlete “prospect” today. Where and when are they first discovered?
• The “first” contact: is the beginning of “expectations”?
• The Parent’s role in supporting their student athlete today in middle school and high school sports.
• How a Parent can best prepare for understanding the eligibility related to NCAA Clearinghouse rules and regulations today.
• Important information and dates to remember.
• Core subjects that are pre-requisites for eligibility standards per NCAA Clearinghouse rules.
• Select Team programs: does it help to be on a “Select” team today or not?
• What age should individual training, such as Strength and Conditioning programs be initiated?
• Sports Nutrition and your student athlete today. The importance of eating well and staying healthy.

The program is FREE to the Public. The program is FREE to the Public.

Refreshments will be available.  A question and answer session will follow the presentation.  Questions for the seminar can be submitted in advance to FamilySportsLifeToday@gmail.com.  Parents are invited to fill out a survey on college recruiting at www.FamilySportsLifeToday.com/survey.

Registration will be open from 12:00 - 12:20pm.  Pre-registration is recommended online at www.FamilySportsLifeToday.com. Seating is limited, so it is important to register online now for this event. 

Donations of Food items for Northwest Harvest will be greatly appreciated and gladly accepted!

This is the third program of its kind, hosted by Family Sports Life Today, Co-Director, Coach Tom Newell. The inaugural program began in 2001 at Seattle Pacific University and was widely acclaimed by all parents in attendance at that time. The second program was hosted on the campus at Hec Ed Pavilion two years ago, and all parents in attendance came away with a better understanding of what college coaches think when they identify a “prospect” for their sports programs.

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For more information:
Contact Tom Newell
familysportslifetoday@gmail.com

About FamilySportsLifeToday.com
FamilySportsLifeToday.com was founded in 2006 by former NBA Coach Tom Newell, high school Coach Guy Perry, and technologist Jay Arnold.  FSLT is dedicated to assisting volunteer coaches, parents and participants develop better teaching models and motivational methods, bringing families to improve the dynamic of the youth sports experience.  FSLT provides Internet radio podcasts, news articles, documents and resources for youth coaches, parents and players at www.FamilySportsLifeToday.com

FamilySportsLifeToday.com organized the first televised basketball game with 11-foot hoops in June of this year, kicking off a national discussion on the state of professional basketball.  See www.FamilySportsLifeToday.com/ForLoveOfGame

Tom Newell was the first NBA coach to coach a Chinese Basketball Association team, the Jilin Northeast Tigers in 2007-2008.  Coach Newell blogged about the experience at www.FamilySportsLifeToday.com/blogs/Tigers.  Previously, Newell was an Assistant Coach for the Seattle Supersonics, Director of Player Personnel for the Indiana Pacers, and Scout for the Golden State Warriors.  He also was an Assistant Coach for the WNBA's Portland Fire. 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE...

“For the Love of The Game: an elevated view of basketball…”

"The basket height has never been changed [since James Naismith first
invented the game] despite the fact that we have players that can dunk the
ball with their teeth if they tried to."

- Hall of Fame Coach, Pete Newell, 91 years young

Bellevue-based sports website Family Sports Life Today is proud to announce today that it will stage an experimental exhibition basketball game at Hec Edmundson Pavilion on June 16 at 1 pm.

Former local basketball stars who played in the Pac 10, WCC, Big Sky and local colleges will compete in a game that will feature an 11-foot hoop in what event organizer Tom Newell, a former NBA and WNBA coach and longtime Northwest Native, calls "a science experiment.''

Newell's interest in announcing this unique endeavor is for players, coaches, officials, fans and participants to observe just how a player would "adapt" to a basket that has been raised 12 inches.

His original inspiration was his father, legendary Coach Pete Newell, who in 1961 elevated the basket to 12 feet and held an exhibition on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley, where he was the Athletics Director.

Newell believes the game has become stagnant at all levels with players dominating the ball for a "perfect" slam or individual play that draws attention and perhaps the notice of others who can help the player propel this athleticism into something bigger and better down the road.

So, he asked himself "what if..." and devised a game in which the basket will elevated another foot along with a few other tweaks such as eliminating dunk shots during the exhibition, having a 30-second shot clock, and allowing 3-point baskets only during the fourth quarter. There will be four 12-minute quarters and the rules for fouls will be similar to the professional game.

Newell also believes that basketball has evolved enough athletically that it's time to "experiment" with the height of the rim instead of doing things such as changing the dimensions of the ball, the textures and the seams in an attempt to improve the game.

While this may seem like a drastic alteration, he believes that it is no different than the changes football and baseball have made to adapt to the incredible physical skills of today's athletes.

Newell discusses some examples, such as the NFL moving goal posts and MLB moving fences in ballparks in the podcast episode "The NBA Game:  Time for a Change?" at www.FamilySportsLifeToday.com/ForLoveOfGame

Admission to the June 16 game is FREE, with Newell asking only that spectators bring a canned food item for donation to the Northwest Harvest Food Bank of Seattle.

Newell promises a "full" entertainment program for attending fans. Spectators, Coaches and others will be asked to participate as an Observer. If people are interested in participating as an Observer of this event, and providing your input on the evaluation of the shot selections, the Pick and Roll plays, Fast Breaks, Post Play and the Defensive alignments, they can register with http://www.familysportslifetoday.com/

 There will be shooting contests for prizes provided by this event's title sponsor, The Legacy Group, a Bellevue-based Capital, Mortgage and Escrow company. Half court attempts for prizes will also be included in the timeout periods and halftime. There will be live entertainment as well.

The coaches for this event will be: Alton Lister, former Seattle Sonics Center, 1986-90, current Head Men's Coach at Mesa Community College, Mesa, Arizona; James Edwards, former NBA Championship Team member of the Detroit "Bad Boys" Pistons, Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers, currently private instructor for player development in the Puget Sound area; Coach Paul Woolpert, Coach of the CBA Champion Yakima Sun Kings; and Coach Ernie Woods, former Bellevue Community College Coach, Hall of Fame member of Northwest Athletics Community Colleges Hall of Fame, current Director of Hooptactics.com and CybersportsUSA.com, both basketball resource programs.

This event is preceded by a High School Coaches Basketball Clinic beginning at 8:30 am, June 16th. All high school coaches, assistants and head coaches, are encouraged to attend the program that will feature guest speakers from the University of Washington Men's Basketball Team. The clinic is directed by Coach Newell and Coach Woods. This program will include "chalk talk" sessions, strategizing on the floor, player development stations and an innovative presentation on "How to Interview with Confidence and Vision...". Coach Newell says application forms have been submitted to the WIAA for clock hour approval for the coaches.

For more information regarding registration to the Coaches Clinic and Exhibition Game, please visit http://www.familysportslifetoday.com/
 
Additional information on the Rosters of both teams for this exhibition will be released over the next several weeks.

For more information:
Contact Tom Newell
familysportslifetoday@gmail.com

Coach Tom Newell discusses the exhibition with his father, Pete Newell, who held such an event in 1961, in an interview which you can listen to at www.FamilySportsLifeToday.com/PeteNewell

Tom also discusses the impact on the NBA game at www.FamilySportsLifeToday.com/ForLoveOfGame

About Family SportsLife Today
Founded in 2006, dedicated to assisting volunteer coaches, parents and participants develop better teaching models and motivational methods, bringing families to improve the dynamic of the youth sports experience.  FSLT provides internet radio podcasts, news articles, documents and resources for youth coaches, parents and players at http://www.familysportslifetoday.com/