Preseason Conditioning for the Basketball Player

As head coach for the women’s basketball team at Boston University, Kelly Greenberg distinguished herself as the program’s first coach to secure consecutive 20-win seasons. In total, Kelly Greenberg has nearly 25 years of experience in the coaching field.

In basketball, preseason conditioning is essential for a player to develop the strength, agility, and speed that he or she needs to play at a high level throughout the season. An effective conditioning program should address all of these areas at alternating times, so as to provide balanced training.

Players can train with drills that combine different running speeds, as all are necessary on the court. The ability to sprint is particularly important for basketball players, so ladder, shuttle, and interval drills make up key elements of well-designed conditioning programs. Many coaches also choose to integrate core training and anaerobic exercises, which improve an athlete’s strength, as well as bike workouts, which enhance conditioning while placing less stress on the body than impact exercises.

Some Basics of Field Hockey

In her college years, Kelly Greenberg played softball, basketball, and field hockey. Building on this experience, Kelly Greenberg entered the ranks of NCAA Division I women’s basketball coaches; she has made several trips to the national tournament as an assistant or a head coach.

Greenberg still enjoys field hockey. The game is played on a 60- by 100-yard field with horizontal lines at 50 yards and 25 yards from the goal. Each goal has a striking circle, inside which offensive players can hit the ball with their sticks past the goalie to score one point. Goals are also scored from outside the striking circle when a player inside the circle deflects the ball through the goal.

The game has two umpires that start play and spot fouls, such as blocking, pushing, and tripping. In most situations, the non-fouling team can take a free hit on the spot where the foul occurred. The fouling team must stand 5 yards from the spot.

For rules violations inside the strike circle, the ball is placed on the end line, 10 yards from the goal. The fouled player passes the ball to a team member on the circle, who then can take a shot at the goal. If a foul hinders a likely goal, a member of the fouled team can make a shot from the penalty stroke line directly in front of the goal.

Each team has 11 players. In the event of a tie at the end of regulation, most leagues feature a 10-minute sudden death overtime. To create more scoring opportunities, each team places only seven players on the field.

If neither team scores in overtime, each team selects five players to take one penalty shot. The team making the most penalty shots wins.

Games are split into two halves, ranging from 25 to 35 minutes, depending on the level at which the game is played (high school, college, or international).

Boston University Terriers Join the Patriot League

Kelly Greenberg has spent the last decade serving Boston University as head coach of the Terriers basketball team. In 2009, Kelly Greenberg led the team to a perfect 16-0 season and was named the America East Coach of the Year.

When the America East collegiate sports conference began in 1979 as the ECAC North, members included the University of Maine, the University of New Hampshire, the University of Vermont, and Boston University. Beginning with the 2013-2014 academic school year, however, Boston University made the decision to join the Patriot League, becoming the NCAA Division I’s ninth full member.

According to Robert A. Brown, the president of Boston University, the decision was made with both academic and athletic goals in mind. The Terriers’ entrance into the Patriot League was a considerable success, with the university’s softball team numbering among six women’s teams to win Patriot League titles. Boston University became the first school to win six women’s titles in a single season, and its six overall championships tied the record for most wins by a first-year school in the Patriot League.

An Explanation of NCAA Divisions

As head coach of the Boston University women’s basketball program, Kelly Greenberg has led her team to more wins than all other coaches but one in the university’s history. Named 2009 America East Coach of the Year, Kelly Greenberg has coached at the Division I level for more than 19 years.

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) places each school into one of three divisions to encourage fairness in competition. Division I, the most elite of these three distinctions, consists of just under 350 schools with more than 170,000 participant athletes each year. These schools must sponsor at least 14 sports, including at least two for both genders. Division I schools must offer no fewer than seven women’s sports and no fewer than six men’s sports. Play in these divisions is highly competitive and is believed to be a stepping stone for professional play.

Division II colleges and universities must offer at least five women’s sports and at least four men’s sports, including two sports for both genders. These schools emphasize a balance between academic and athletic achievement, and scholarship opportunities reflect this philosophy. Division III schools, by contrast, offer no athletic scholarships, prioritizing student life over athletic commitments.

The WBCA’s Betty F. Jaynes Internship Program

Kelly Greenberg, the former women’s basketball head coach at Boston University, has over two decades of successful coaching experience. Active within the professional community, Kelly Greenberg is a member of the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association.

The Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) has been promoting women’s basketball and fostering the game’s development since 1981. The organization brings women’s basketball coaches together and develops an honest identity for the sport through the alliance of its coaches. The WBCA also helps individuals interested in an athletic career through its Betty F. Jaynes Internship Program, which allows interns to participate in the organization’s National Convention and learn about various aspects of a professional athletic association.

The WBCA’s Betty F. Jaynes Internship offers part-time positions through December, but interns must work full time from 9 AM to 5 PM Mondays through Fridays starting in January. The internship typically starts in either December of January, and goes until the middle of May. Internships are posted in late August, and applicants must specify which internship they are applying for. While the internship is paid, finding housing and covering moving costs are the intern’s responsibility.

Women’s Basketball in the America East Conference

Kelly Greenberg, head coach of the women’s basketball team at Boston University, stands out as the America East Coach of the Year for 2009. Kelly Greenberg has led her team to multiple America East Championship title games since she assumed team leadership in 2004.

Founded in 1979 as ECAC North, a men’s basketball conference, America East welcomed all sports and both genders in 1988, when it became the North Atlantic Conference (NAC). The organization assumed its current name in 1995. The conference includes schools in the Northeast, from Maryland to Maine.

The most recent America East women’s basketball championship ended on March 10, 2014, when the University at Albany defeated the Stony Brook Seawolves with a score of 70 to 46. The final game played by an America’s East team that season took place two weeks later in Louisiana, when Albany lost to West Virginia in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Career Development Resources at the WBCA

A prominent women’s basketball coach with many years of experience, Kelly Greenberg most recently served as the head coach of the Boston University women’s basketball team. Kelly Greenberg belongs to the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA), which provides valuable resources for coaches across the US. Here is a quick look at some of the career development opportunities available at the WBCA.

Career Center: For women’s basketball coaches seeking a new position, the WBCA Career Center represents a useful way to find vacancies and contact prospective employers. Visitors can post anonymous resumes, browse open jobs, and set personal job alerts.

Interactive Webinars: Through the “In the Huddle” series of interactive webinars, the WBCA enables women’s basketball coaches to learn more about the game without ever leaving their homes or offices.

Drills and Plays: Submitted by some of the most prominent coaches in the women’s game today, the drills and plays in the WBCA database allow coaches to take their tactical game to the next level.

The Disaster Response Efforts of Habitat for Humanity

The former women’s basketball coach at Boston University, Kelly Greenberg dedicates time to charitable causes. One of the organizations that Kelly Greenberg supports is Habitat for Humanity.

Many individuals think of Habitat for Humanity as an organization that builds homes for families in need around the world. In addition to this vital function, the organization also responds to disasters with a focus on meeting the housing needs that arise. Through an integrated approach that involves both sustainable housing and shelter options, the organization creates reliable shelter for a short-term solution and lays the foundation for a long-term approach to recovery.

Habitat for Humanity works closely with communities in areas prone to natural disasters to help them develop better protection against future threats. The organization’s team offers technical training and assistance with program implementation, as well as direction on creating effective disaster response protocols, policies, and procedures. Individuals can learn more about the past, present, and future of Habitat for Humanity disaster response online at habitat.org/disaster.

Habitat for Humanity Greater Boston Resells Household Items

Working as the women’s head basketball coach for Boston University since 2004, Kelly Greenberg previously was the head basketball coach for the women’s program at the University of Pennsylvania where the team was the Ivy League champion for two of the five seasons she coached. A strong believer in giving back to the community, Kelly Greenberg spends time off the court volunteering for Habitat for Humanity Greater Boston. The Boston chapter, which is an independent affiliate of Habitat for Humanity International, aims to end poverty housing by building low-cost homes.

In addition to monetary donations, people can make donations of household items, such as furniture, cabinets, and lighting, to Habitat for Humanity Greater Boston. The store, called the ReStore, solicits donations of new or gently used items that it can sell to the public to raise additional funds. Most often, the donations come from homeowners who are remodeling their house and no longer need certain household items. Rather than allow these items to end up in landfills, the ReStore resells them to other homeowners or contractors. Open every day except for Monday, the ReStore offers prices comparable to those at home improvement stores.