One door closes and another opens

Im not gonna into details but when last season was ending I was set to continue in Denmark, but not everybody wanted that. I choose to move back to Lund and was about  to take a year of from basketball and study. With "off from basketball" I mean just coach one team in a local club.

 Then a phone call changed everything and all of sudden I was in Bergen (Norway) visiting one of Norways powerhouses in basketball a club called Gimle. I was amazed by the city and its location which must be one of earth most beautiful places, but i was also amazed about the possibilities that the club have that is undeveloped.
 I met some great people during my 2 days stay in Bergen and for me it was a NO BRAINER really.

Some days later we agreed on me coaching their mens and womens teams that both play in the highest league in Norway and finished 1st and 2nd last season. I will also have kind of club coordinator role to help the whole club develop and progress to what it has potential to be.

Im right now waiting for a apartment, so I can move to Bergen and begin my job in Gimle basketball Club.

Im ready, lets work hard and smart! 

Take a look at some pictures from Bergen and then tell me thats a place you dont want to visit :-)

Pictures here!

The way its suppose to be

This weekend I had many of my players on nationalteam tryouts so we cancelled practise and I myself took a trip to Huskvarna and a basketball weekend.
The coperatiing clubs in that area of sweden arranged a splendid final four arrangement of high class for Women & Men U17 &U19.

Its was a pure joy to see this beeing arranged for the future of swedish basketball and I do believe all players felt very special this weekend in may.

The people behind this FINAL FOUR in Huskvarna has just made a couple of players fall in love more with the game. Pro arrangement around the games, you could even watch games LIVE from the other gym in the other gym.

All games was broadcasted on stream and LIVE stats and social media activities all weekend.

The had made a program for the weekend that you had to pay for which I think is about time that somethings cost money around youth championships.

They even arranged a banquet on saturday evening for all players and coaches. Its pretty unusal in the nordics but very common in other basketball countries. LOVE IT!

Coaches got a special made mug, so they could get free coffee all weekend.
(yeah coaches need coffee since they sleep very little)

Many things to celebrate this weekend for. It had some nice games and on the final day they even had two elder gentleman in their fine clothes and even with a black tie sweeping the floors.
Not some kid 12 years old sitting like usual a great idea and very loved by all.

Many peoople behind it and team Aulander & Enbom directing the plays behind the scenes and Aulander even was speaker for some games dropping classics like "pengar" money when shoots was made, to "kust till kust" coast to coast and more.

NT coaches was there to hand out awards to players, just super.

But only one thing was in my eyes negative and on the finals a couple of minutes into the first final they stopped the crowd from using loud horns.....Who likes them, well not me, BUT it creates such a atmosphere for the players and as long as they dont sit and blow the horns directly into peoples ears, well guess what its basketball.

People are there for the players to support them in the way they can...most scandinavians need something to make noise, they had horns to make noise. A few didnt like how loud the sounded and simsalabim it gets stopped.

Have you ever been to a game outside the nordics?
Well its not like watching pool or bowling.........

I asked about it and one voulenteer said the federation said it was OK to stop them

I`m sorry but this made me mad.....

But the whole weekend was super and gets the highest grades from me at least.
Hope they get this 17 & U19 for a couple of years in a row now, why change when its this good.

Still in love - thank you Dr J.Naismith

1891 Naismith invinted what we know as basketball of course it was played earlier like I think it was maya indians that played something similar with the head of the beaten tribe member cut of after winning the battle.

But I like Naismith version better.......

Directly when I found basketball as a youth I knew that this was me. First as a player and for the last 22 years as a coach. I fell in love with basketball and now as this season comes to a end I can look back and smile once again.

Looking towards the future is also positive and one is exctited of what  the future will bring for a basketball addictive Swede living in Denmark.
I know what I want, but its not up to me so we will see what time will bring me.

Looking back at this season I will always remember basketball as my savior. My father passed away in February and thank God I have basketball or I cant even guess where I would find strength to carry on. But knowing that I have like 28 players waiting for me to coach them every week and all the headache and joy they bring helps you escape reality and when you are ready to face reality they ares till there willing to work their asses of and listen to your wise (hopefully) words practise after practise and week after week.

The LOVE you get back as a coach is what keeps you going year after year. Its not the medals, the trophies its the humans you coach, to see them develop, to see them grow and find out who they are is coaching. All the systems in the world cant help you if you dont have foundamentally sound ground to stand on. I believe that I make a difference and to see former players succeed in whatever they are doing even if its not basketball is to me the real trophies. I cant put them in the cluboffice or in the closet, but in my mind I collect them all.

This season one of my former players (Alexander AKA Gorski) signed for NCAA D1 Wyoming Cowboys after spending a year at prep school Sunrise Christian Academy in Kansas. I have never ever been so nervous in life as for him getting his signature in place and it was a lot of years ago I coached him. But i know I made a difference and i know his goals with basketball, so even if my girls won the nordic championships for U16 teams this season its still second to him signing for a D1 school.

Many propably think I`m crazy in thinking so, but to me coaching is so much more than the game its about life.

But the way my girls won the U16 Nordic club championships has its own chapter
Take a look at this, we are down 2points after a 3 min overtime and my PG Caroline Hyldahl decides to knock down a 3 from downtown with 0 time left.
(Even benchplayers from the other team are on court celebrating)
Click on the picture to see the last seconds of the final

When preparing for something.....

....it doesn`t always goes as planned and it doesn`t matter how many times you been there as a coach it still hits you like a rock in the head.

It gives you headache and now brain begins trying to find solutions to compensate for things that didn´t go as planned. What I`m a talking about well for example, player or players gets sick, injured something happens that effects your prepairation for the big game, the tournament.

I had one of these "nightmaries" last week. We started practising again in the new year and I knew we would have one player still away on vacation. This is 6 days before the danish cup final, well had a double practise planned (11 players in team in total) 1 away on trip, that leaves 10 players, of course one gets sick - 9 left.

First practise one cant continue because of his fot is giving him problems - 8 left

Practise the next day 1 more player steps of - 7 left, one day off and practise again one player has to sit out.
Practise the next day (last practise before cup final) 10 players dressed, but 1 cant practise - 9 left

10minutes left of practise one of the teams best players looses his balance and of course sprains his ankle. The day before a get message from one of the injures players whom have moved pretty far away from where he used to live, he feels it cant work so he chooses to stop playing.

Gameday:
I was thinking what more can go wrong, but actually trains where in time and we had no problems at all. The player that sprained his ankle said he wanted to try his foot on the warmups. Halfway into the warmups he comes and says coach it cant be done. Stupid me of course I had some hope of him playing, but reality hit me hard there in the gym.

We actually started the game really nice in defense and played as I see it creative offense, but and there is always a but :-) As i wrote we played really nice "D" and we made them take bad shoots, but we didn`t block out at all. We are a very small team and they are big, so they punished us again and again on the boards.

Blocking out has to be done in some way or...!

Tried everyhting to get them to block out, but it was like the one thing just had disapeared from their skillset.
Very frustrating to watch and that continued for the most part of the game. But due to we played well in offense we where still in the game at halftime -7points. If we start blocking out its our game thats how I felt and what we agreed on.....but words, and answering "YES" "yes coach" "lets do it" aint the blocking out no players and sadly we continued to be spectators in rebounding situations. They had a 10p lead for most of the second half and I felt we need 2-3 stops and we can turn this around.

We had some moments where we came back really strong, but theey stoped our "runs" just in time. They won with 18 points and the killed us at the boards. They most have had 40p+ of second chance or third and that we actually where in the game for the most part anyway is something positive at least.

After that prepairation what could I exspect?
Well, if we forget about the rebounding issue me guys played their hearts out, we just forgot about one major important thing in basketball called REBOUNDING and I think after this game they will never forget again cause who wants silver instead of gold?!