After a season that saw the YRHS Sr. Boys Basketball team finish third in 4A basketball for a second straight season the brain trust of Sr. Boys head coach Jason Payne and Sr. Girls head coach Tony Hayden headed down to Las Vegas to attend a Nike clinic that featured some of the best D-I NCAA coaches in what was a trip to take notes and attempt to work some of the newest coaching philosophies into their programs. With Tony Hayden being a coaching staple in the city for nearly the entirety of the Raiders basketball program and Payne's accolades in the past ten year's as the coach of the Sr. Boys (Hayden helped assist the team alongside Payne in 09-10 and 10-11) the coaching duo made the trip down to continue the never ending pursuit of coaching knowledge.
With the top D-I NCAA coaches hosting seminars and lectures about their own coaching philosophies, Payne noted that carrying things over from the elite athletes and 35 second shot clock of American college basketball over to the 24 second shot clock and high school kids is the most important thing to take away from the clinics. "Obviously I deal with a little less elite clientele than say Roy Williams of UNC or Jim Groce from Illinois, but the stuff you do take away from each clinic is extremely valuable in continuing to provide your players with the best possible systems and fundamental philosophies possible to make them better players" says Payne who mentioned Groce's seminar as one of the most valuable of the coaches he listened to speak.
Hayden, who was not available for comment after the clinic, won his trip through a Basketball Manitoba clinic prize where he drew a free trip to Las Vegas, where Payne joined him. Hayden who works on fundamentals with handfuls of YRHS basketball players in individual training sessions as a volunteer as well as volunteering to help head coach the YRHS girls team is one of the longest tenured coaches in the province in any sport or program and even with all of his experience made the trip down to hear what some of the best coaches in the world had to say about the game.
Raider Basketball is still months away with the school year almost over and November and the start of basketball season well in the distance. Even with the long wait still ahead, the Raiders coaches continue to put hard work in preparation for another year of new students and players in the ongoing quest to develop the best ballplayers possible.
