NCDS: Dustin Kerns, Asst. Coach - Santa Clara

By: Dustin Kerns, Asst. Coach - Santa Clara

I hope everyone is doing well as we are all in the heart of our conference seasons and gearing up for March.  We certainly have had some ups and downs this year but our team continues to work hard and get better each day. 

A couple of weeks ago we were in a slump and our next game was against a long time rival in San Francisco.  We thought we needed to give our guys a change of pace and told them we were coming back on Friday night to watch more film on USF.  When they all got to the arena around 7pm, we told them we were not going to watch more film that we were actually going bowling.  Everyone went including our trainer, sports information director, team managers, and strength coach and we rode the athletic department's bus so it was even more time together.  While on the bus to the bowling alley we showed them highlights from our entire season from both the offensive and defensive side of the floor. Coach Keating wanted them to watch themselves making good plays all the way there and back. 

When we got to the bowling alley, our Director of Basketball Operations divided our program into four teams all mixed with coaches, players, and support staff.  We played two games and took the total team scores from both games as a friendly competition.  Everyone had a really good time and of course my team of me, Robert Smith, Ben Dowdell, Kyle Perricone, Coach Pruitt, and our SID Michelle Schmitt won both games and the overall by 23 pins!

This experience seemed to get our team's mind away from basketball for a night and allow us to spend quality time together off the court.  We spend some much time together at practice, hotels, games, shoot arounds, meals, etc...it was nice to get everyone in a different environment. 

We ended up going to San Francisco the following night and getting a great road win!   Our entire team contributed and helped us get the win as well.   

In hoops,

Coach Kerns