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Winston – Salem Stealers & the WBCA

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The Winston-Salem Stealers & The Women’s Basketball Coaches Association

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A Little Bit About The WBCA…

Founded in 1981, the mission of the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association is to promote women’s basketball by unifying coaches at all levels to develop a reputable identity for the sport of women’s basketball and to foster and promote the development of the game in all of its aspects as a sport for women and girls. (Borrowed from the WBCA Web Site at www.wbca.org.)

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Three of our program participants had WBCA ties. Chante’ Black was selected to play in the All-American Game in 2004, while Brittany Strachan was an honorable mention for the 2007 Team. In 2011, Megan Buckland was named as an honorable mention.  Also, Coach Robinson was selected to be a member of the WBCA High School All-American Committee in 2007, and then was named Chair of the committee in 2011.

WBCA’s “THINK PINK”

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December 20, 2008

In Honor of a good friend of our program, Kay Yow, we try to honor the WBCA’s “Think Pink” Week.  In 2009, our program gave out free pink T-Shirts at our two fall season invitational tournaments.

High School All-American Game Committee

4473Coach Robinson was selected to the Nine-Member WBCA High School All-American Game Committee in 2007. Coach Robinson is in charge of District 3 which covers North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia.

Twenty graduating high school seniors are nominated and selected to play in the game by the nine-member committee. The game takes place during the Women’s Final Four.   Twenty other graduating high school seniors are named to the honorable mention team, for a total of forty players nationally.

 

 

Chaperone For The 2008 All-American Game

WBCA Chaperone Committee

WBCA Chaperone Committee

Coach Robinson was named as a chaperone for the 2008 WBCA All-American Game.  Coach Robinson was one of three committee members selected for this opportunity over a four day period at the Women’s Final Four in Tampa, Florida. Below are some of the activities that the All-American Team, the game coaches, and chaperones took part in during the week.

The two other chaperones for Tampa were Teri Morrison from Carroll Senior HS in Texas and James Anderson from Narbonne High School in California.  Committee Chair Gary Glasscock from Missouri also attended and served as a guest chaperone.

 

 

Out On The Town In Tampa

Players Visit Downtown

Players Visit Downtown

The twenty players and game coaches had the opportunity to see the Final Four activities taking place in downtown Tampa on their first night in the city.

The players received their game credentials, went through the mandatory NCAA Educational Session, and got the opportunity to shoot-around on the game floor used for the Final Four.

 

 

 

 

Attending The State Farm Awards Presentation

Stacey Dales At The Press Conference

Stacey Dales At The Press Conference

The players attended the State Farm Awards Presentation Press Conference in downtown Tampa.  Stacey Dales and Trey Wingo (ESPN) were the presenters at the press conference.  Candice Wiggins from Stanford was named the National Player-of-the-Year and Candace Parker from Tennessee was Runner-Up.  Maya Moore from Connecticut was the lone freshman up for POY.

 

 

 

 

Practicing At The University of South Florida

Elana Delle-Donne Warms-Up

Elana Delle-Donne Warms-Up

The two teams got in a brief practice before the actual game at the University of South Florida.   The teams ran through drills and plays, before departing back to the hotel to get changed for the game later on in the day.

 

 

 

 

 

Pre-Game Activities

Red & White Teams

Red & White Teams

The twenty players were split into two teams (Red and White). Here were the game rosters: Red: Amber Gray, Elana Delle-Donne, Ayana Dunning, Chay Shegog, Whitney Hand, Tiffany Hayes, Angel Goodrich, Glory Johnson, Alyssia Brewer, Shekinna Stricklen. White:AshleyGayle, Lynetta Kizer, April Sykes, Nnemkadi Ogwumike, Shay Shelby, Shenise Johnson, Brooklyn Pope, Cierra Bravard, Jasmine Dixon, Chelsey Lee.

 

 

 

 

WBCA All-American Game

Coach Robinson On Game Bench

Coach Robinson On Game Bench

Elana Delle-Donne was named the game MVP scoring 17 points as the red team won 114-95.  Coach Robinson served as bench personnel for the game for the white team.

 

 

 

 

 

Visiting The Children’s Hospital

Tampa Children's Hospital

Tampa Children’s Hospital

The girls visited the Children’s Home in Tampa following the All-American Game. The players toured the facilities at the hospital and got to visit with the kids.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Attending The Women’s Final Four

2008 Women's Final Four

2008 Women’s Final Four

The girls, coaches and chaperones received passes for the semifinal round of the Women’s Final Four.

In the first semifinal, Stanford defeated UConn and in the second semifinal, Tennessee hit a last second shot to nip LSU.  Tennessee wound up winning the National Championship two nights later.

 

 

 

 

Coach R’s Daily Blog From Indianapolis & The Women’s Final Four!

Coach R's Daily Blog From Indianapolis & The Women's Final Four!
Coach Robinson:) did a blog from Indianapolis, Indiana for the Women’s Final Four March 30 – April 4, 2011.

Coach R's Blog From Indianapolis!!!

Coach R’s Blog From Indianapolis!!!

Coach R:) was a chaperone for the WBCA High School All-America Game and then spoke at the National High School Roundtable.

Monday, April 4: Interesting games last night as both favorites lost: Stanford to Texas A & M, and UCONN to Notre’ Dame. We are shuttling the girls to the airport this morning for their departures, then I have to drive downtown to speak at the high school coaches roundtable between 10:00-12:30.  I will then make my way back to the hotel and prepare to depart this evening around 7:00 PM. More pictures hopefully coming later this afternoon.

Sunday, April 3: Our final full day of All-American Activities concludes with a trip to Women’s Final Four Games this evening. The day begins with a visit to the “Hall of Champions” this morning. The girls will then participate in Circle City Dribble in downtown Indianapolis.   Following lunch in-between, we will head over to Tourney Town to participate in the Final Four Pep Rally. The girls will then get to hang out in Tourney Town before departing for the games tonight.  First set of trips to the airport on Monday begin at 4:00 AM Monday Morning to get the girls and coaching staff back to their respective homes.  Pictures from Saturday’s All-American Game are posted below.

Saturday, April 2:  Today is the High School All-American Game.  We begin Saturday with a trip to the Westin Indianapolis in downtown to watch the State Farm Coaches’ All-American Team Selection Presentation and the State Farm Wade Trophy Announcement. We follow that by heading over to Tourney Town as the game coaches in our group run a clinic for Girls Inc. Follow lunch, the girls stretch with Jackie Ansley, then begin warmups for the game.  Following the game, our group heads back to the hotel to watch the Men’s Final Four Games and have dinner. Up-to-this-point, the activities have been non-stop, but the girls have been receptive. I have now posted some pictures here for you. As noted yesterday, the girls practiced in Hinkle Fieldhouse on the campus of Butler University. To all familiar with the movie “Hoosiers”, this is where the final scenes were shot. More pictures coming from Saturday posted soon.

Friday, April 1:  We have a full day on tap.  We have team breakfast at 7:30 AM, then drive out to Conseco Fieldhouse so the players can take their photos and do some video shoots for the game tomorrow.  We’ll have lunch and then head over to Tourney Town for an autograph session (I won’t be signing any autographs:), I don’t think… ). We then head over to Butler University so the team can practice. We will practice in Hinkle Fieldhouse. The city is buzzing with Butler being in the Men’s Final Four.  We’ll then make our way back to Conseco this evening as guests of the Indiana Pacers. The Pacers are providing the team, coaching staff, and chaperones with a box suite for the NBA Game tonight between the Indiana Pacers and Milwaukee Bucks.  I should hopefully have some pictures on here tomorrow for you all.

Thursday, March 31: Today will be player and coach arrival day.  Seventeen of our twenty players participated in the McDonald’s All-American Game last night, so they will be bussing from Chicago to Indianapolis today. That drastically cuts down on our trips to the airport. We will have a few pickups, though. Tonight, the girls have a Nike Welcome Party and then an NCAA Educational Sesson. Following that, we have our dinner and then lights out. We have a big day on Friday.  Some have asked who is playing in this game?  The answer is: Twenty high school seniors. They are: Taylor Greenfield and Amber Orrange will both attend Stanford next year, Krystal Forthan (LSU), Briyona Canty and Shakena Richardson(Rutgers), Samantha Logic (Iowa), Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis and Kiah Stokes (UCONN), Elizabeth Williams and Amber Henson (Duke, side note: Henson is the sister of UNC’s John Henson), Cierra Burdick and Ariel Massengale (Tennessee, side note: Burdick is the only player from North Carolina in the game), Ariya Crook-Williams and Alexyz Vaioletama (Southern Cal), Morgan Jones (Northwestern), Bria Goss (Kentucky), Justine Hartman (UCLA) and Eliza Normen (Arizona State). Two players are uncommitted: Bria Smith and Betinjah Laney.  Another side note: our very own Megan Buckland was one of twenty players selected to the game’s Honorable Mention List.  Megan was the only player from North Carolina on the WBCA’s Honorable Mention List. Megan joins former Stealers Chante’ Black (Duke 2003) and Brittany Strachan (NC State 2007) as the only players from our program to make the team (Chante’) or be named honorable mention (Brittany). Also, there two player representatives from the WNBA: Alana Beard (Duke, Washington Mystics) and Kristi Toliver (Maryland, LA Sparks).

Wednesday, March 30:  I have arrived in Indianapolis and it is COLD (at least colder than home)!!!  I flew from Greensboro to Newark and got a nice view of Manhattan Skyline on the way in. It was neat seeing the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty, albeit from a distance.  From Newark to Indianapolis was a turbulent flight, as it snowed earlier this morning here.  Tonight, we have a chaperone meeting to go over the Thursday Activities, which basically will be running back-and-forth from the airport to pick up the student-athletes and coaches for the game which will be played on Saturday.

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From Left-to-Right above: Our Committee & Game Coaches At Tourney Town; Coach R:) at Hinkle Fieldhouse; Team Athlete Representative Alana Beard. Eliza Normen, who was sitting out the game with ACL Injury, takes time to picture at the WBCA All-America.

Below: Pre-Game from Our Suite at the Indiana Pacers / Milwaukee Bucks Game; Jackie Ansley Prepares the Girls to Stretch at Friday’s Practice; High School All-American Team.
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Below: The All-Americans get ready to lead Circle City Dribble in downtown Indianapolis; Coach R:) at the Hall of Champions; Circle City Dribble is in full swing with over 500 kids dribbling through the city.
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Above (L-R): Final Four Scoreboard; Pre-Game Speech; Notre’ Dame Women’s Team on the court practicing before the start of the All-American Game.
Below (L-R): First half of the High School All-American Game; Coach Bamford talks to the Red Team at halftime; Jump Ball to start the game
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Below is the pre-game warmups for the Stanford / Texas A&M Game.
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Below: Jackie Ansley demonstrates to the girls; Coach R:) in front of Lucas Oil Stadium where the STEELERS will beat the colts later this season :), if we have NFL; The girls warm-up for practice at Butler University.
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Coach R Selected To Be Chairman Of WBCA HSAA Game!
Coach Robinson:) was selected by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association’s Board of Directors to be the new

Coach R:) With HSAA Committee Members

Coach R:) With HSAA Committee Members

chairman of the WBCA High School All-American Game Selection Committee.

Coach R:) has served as a committee member since 2008.

The position requires Coach Robinson:) to oversee all high school All-American Selection Conference Calls, all activities before, during and after the High School All-American Game which will be played in Denver, Colorado in 2012 (and in other cities in years to come), and to help with the evaluation of players for the Nine (9) Districts that nominate players for the game (among other duties).

The WBCA High School All-American Game features 20 of the top high school senior girls basketball players in the United States and is held in conjunction with the WBCA Convention and Women’s Final Four each year.

Click HERE for an article on Coach R’s 🙂 new job.

Click HERE to learn more about the WBCA.

Coach R & WBCA Select The 2012 National Senior High School All-Star Team!
Coach Robinson:), chair of the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association High School All-American Game, and the 945188WBCA HS AA Selection Committee, selected the 20 seniors to play in the High School All-American Game in Denver.

The game will be played in conjunction with the Women’s Final Four Games.

Here is a LINK to read the press release from the WBCA.

Coach R's 🙂 Daily Blog From Denver And WBCA - 2012
Coach Robinson:) posted a daily blog from the happenings at the Women’s Final Four in Denver, Colorado from 3970407Wednesday, March 28th – Monday, April 2nd.

Coach R:) is the chair of the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association High School All-American Team Selection Committee and will help organize and coordinate the activities for the twenty high school All-Americans (seniors) from Wednesday, March 28th – Monday, April 2nd.

Wednesday, March 28: I am now in Denver (two hours behind you in N.C.).  The trip was good and the weather, so far, is great.  We have our first staff meeting tonight at 8:30 PM in preparation for the players arriving on Thursday.

Most of the girls in our game will participate in the McDonald’s All-American Game which will be played Wednesday, March 28 on ESPNU and then fly to Denver on Thursday.

Thursday, March 29: Today is airport run day. We’ll start picking up players and coaches at the Denver Airport at 9:15 (MST) and bring them back to the host hotel so they can go through the process of being registered for this weekend.  We just five players / coaches to pick up this morning. Our big group comes in around 2:15 from Chicago, where the majority girls played last night in the McDonald’s Game.

We’ll have the mandatory NCAA Educational Session with the players, followed by a brief rules meeting, dinner and then lights out as we have a full day on Friday.

Friday, March 30 (and late Thursday, March 29): 18 girls are here, and 3 of the 4 coaching staff members as of Thursday Night. The one remaining player and coach fly in late Thursday Night. One girl will not be attendance.  On Friday, the girls will take their photos for the Jumbotron at the Pepsi Center in downtown Denver. We will then head to tourney town for an autograph session before heading back to the Pepsi Center, where the Final Four will be played at, for practice.  There is a picture below of the girls after dinner on Thursday.

Friday’s pictures include: (middle top row) Brittney Griner (#42) and the Baylor Bears head to practice as we are waiting for the girls to finish their photo shoots. The girls sign autographs at the Denver Convention Center’s Tourney Town.

Second Row: (Left-to-Right): The entire WBCA Team at tourney town; former Stealer (2000-2005) Brittini Young is now working on the college level and I ran into her at the NCAA Registration booth; the coaches and chaperones take a picture on the Final Four Court in the Pepsi Center, Team Co-Captains Brianna January and Sophie Young talk to the girls with Nike Representative Lauren Westendorf.

Third Row (Left-to-Right): ESPN’s Carolyn Peck, Kara Lawson, and Trey Wingo prep for the upcoming games; Nike Sparq Trainer Jackie Ansley works out the girls before their practice in the Pepsi Center.

Saturday, March 31 (and late Friday, March 30):  The girls had a full day on Friday (see pictures below). Saturday is game day.  The game is at 4:30 (MST), but will not be shown live on TV.  Before the game, the girls will be guests at the WBCA’s Awards Ceremony where they announced the WBCA All-American Team for college players. The girls will get to watch all four Final Four Team practices before taking the court at the Pepsi Center for their game.  More pictures coming later on Saturday, or early on Sunday.

Sunday, April 1 (and late Saturday, March 31): Pictures are posted below from our Saturday All-American Game, beginning on Row 3: (Beginning with the third picture) UConn Women’s Practice, Tip-Off our the WBCA High School All-American Game, Row 4: Fellow Committee Member Kevin Keirnan (Mater Dei’ High School) and one of our two ball girls Sophia, our other ballgirl Bella with Team Captain Brianna January and Chaperon Glenna Warhurst (and if you look in the background Pat Summitt is behind them), last picture is the WBCA College All-Americans (4 of them) Elena Delle-Donne, Glory Johnson, Shenise Johnson and Alyssa Thomas with the WBCA HS All-American Team following the game. Row 5: The WBCA College All-American Team was announced before our game. On Sunday, April 1st, the girls will participate in the Mile High Dribble in downtown Denver then we will attend the Women’s Final Four Games that evening.

Monday, April 2: Three more pictures were added to Row 5 below.  The Mile High Dribble festivities, the Mile High City Dribble led by our WBCA Team, and then a shot from the UConn / Notre’ Dame Game. The Row 6 picture is from halftime of the Baylor / Stanford game. Each head coach from the past (and current) USA Basketball Olympic Teams was honored by the NCAA and WBCA (Sue Gunter and Kay Yow, also former USA Olympic Coaches were honored).  Monday starts early with a 4:30 (MST) run to the airport to take four players.  I then have to make a second run around 8:15 to drop off another set of kids, before driving to downtown Denver. I have to speak at the WBCA / National High School Coaches Meeting. I will be discussing how the WBCA HS All-American Team and Selection Committee are chosen among other topics. Following that speech, it is back to the airport to catch my flight back home.

You can click HERE to learn more about the WBCA or click HERE to learn more about the High School All-American Game.

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2013 WBCA High School All-American Team Selected!
The Women’s Basketball Coaches Association High School All-American Team Selection Committee recently 9429771announced its’ twenty member 2013 Team.

The WBCA national high school girls basketball committee is chaired by Winston-Salem Stealers / 292 Director Brian Robinson.

Click HERE to read a story on the selections.

GO STEALERS!!!

Coach R:)'s Updates From New Orleans Continue April 4th!
9246381Coach Robinson’s updates from the Women’s Final Four in New Orleans will begin Wednesday Evening, April 3rd.

Coach R:) is the Chair of the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) High School All-American Selection Committee, and will help coordinate and oversee the activities of the twenty seniors selected to play in the game, which takes place on Saturday.

To read more about past WBCA activities with our program, go to our WBCA page on this site.

To learn more about the WBCA click HERE.

Keep checking back for updates!!!

April 3: Coach Robinson is now in New Orleans and is preparing for the initial meeting tonight in preparation of the players and coaches arrival on Thursday. Next update coming Thursday, April 4th.

April 4: Today is pickup day. 17 of our 20 participants fly in from Chicago where they played in the McDonalds All-American Game last night.  Our four-person committee will pick the players and coaches up from the airport, the girls will then have a brief meeting and go through the NCAA Educational Session.   Tomorrow, all of the activities start, beginning with a volunteer service project at 8:00 AM.

April 5: Wow, the joy of travel… the 17 players flying in from Chicago had several flight delays causing their 6:30 PM arrival to be pushed back to 10:15 PM.  The others arrived around their time.  I spent most of the day with the committee chaperones in the airport waiting for the players and coaches to arrive.  The waiting wasn’t all for naught, as I saw many of my college coaching friends and met Yolanda Griffith, who is a former Olympian and ironically, a new member of the USA Basketball Selection Committee, that I was a part of the past four years.
I also ran into former Stealers player and current Hall-of-Fame member Brittany Cox (2002-2009). Brittany is here taking part in the WBCA’s “So You Want To Be A Coach” Program.  Today, we take the girls to work at the New Orleans Food Bank. They will prepare 750-some meals and then after our lunch, they will go to the New Orleans Arena, next door to the Mercedes Benz Superdome, for their team practice.

April 5 Recap:  What a great day for the high school all-americans and our staff!!!  We started the day with a trip to the New Orleans Food Bank. The girls and chaperones helped prepare 262 meals, label 3000 cards, and stack food in the warehouse from 8-11 AM.  It was definitely an eye opener, especially when the staff talked about how Hurricane Katrina is still taking its toll on the area.  From the food bank, we took the girls to La Madeline for lunch.  Neat place to eat with a lot of local cuisine. We had a little time to kill, so we went across the street to the mall and spent an hour there before reporting to the New Orleans Arena for practice.  When we arrived, we had to wait an hour while the Final Four Women’s Teams finished their ESPN Interviews.  The Louisville, Notre’ Dame and UConn Players were there, as well as the California-Berkeley head coach, Lindsay Gottlieb.  Skylar Diggins, Notre’ Dame’s point guard stopped by briefly and talked to the girls.  The girls took their pictures and then changed for practice.  There was a brief five minute period where no one was on the Final Four Court, so I took advantage of the opportunity to take my one shot a month, and of course, made it (those who know my philosophy on shooting, know what I mean).  Lauren Westendorf of Nike and her assistant Emily talked to the girls before practice.  Those two picked out the gear that the girls and the chaperones are wearing throughout the trip. ESPN was setting up to do their pre-game show shots, so we had to cut practice short, but the girls got a decent amount of time in.  Following practice the girls had the opportunity to have an hour Q & A with WNBA Players Tamika Catchings and Swin Cash.  Those two really gave the girls a lot of great information about life, basketball, and balance, then gave each player and chaperone a book (written by Swin Cash) and 24 points to being a champion (by Tamika Catchings).  Really, really good stuff.  We left the arena and headed for dinner, then returned to the hotel. I think the girls were really tired after yesterday’s adventures with flight delays.  Saturday approaches and it will be game day, as well as other activities ahead of the game.  More updates coming Saturday!!!

April 6: Game Day!!! However, before the game… the girls signed autographs and took part in the first portion of “Big Easy Bounce”, the annual dribble through the city with kids program.  The program was held outside of the Superdome.  We took the girls over to the New Orleans Arena afterwards to prepare for their game.  We caught the end of the Louisville Cardinal practice, then the girls got to see the WBCA College All-American Team announcement.  The ten college players selected were: Elena Delle-Donne, Alyssa Thomas, Odyssey Sims, Brittany Griner, Chelsea Gray, Chiney Ogwumike, Skylar Diggins, Kalena Mosqueda-Lewis, and Stefanie Dolson. Following the announcement, the girls watched Notre’ Dame practice, and the first part of the UConn Practice before heading back to the locker room to change.  The girls used the California-Berkeley locker room which was neat.  ESPN announced Kara Lawson talked to the girls before the game, and then Nike Sparq Trainer Jackie Ansley worked the girls out before warmups.  In the game, the black team defeated the purple team 74-70. Future Northwestern University player Nia Coffey was the Purple Team MVP while Tyler Scaiffe, who will attend Rutgers, won the MVP for the Black Team.  Good day today…. tomorrow, we will have some afternoon activities and then go to the Final Four Games.

April 7-8:  The Final Four Games were fun. The girls, coaches and chaperones all attended as guests of the WBCA.  UConn defeated Notre’ Dame and Louisville ralllied past Cal-Berkeley.  Before the game, the girls took part in an autograph session at “Tourney Town” and participated in the activities there such a 3-point shooting and hot shot contests. The girls also met Ann Meyers-Drysdale, who was one of the greatest female basketball players of all time. Lisa Leslie also stopped by the festivities.  Following that we took the girls to Mardi Gras World where they learned the history of Mardi Gras and saw the warehouse where all of the floats were held. It was pretty interesting stuff.   We arrived at the hotel at a decent hour following the Final Four Games, and some of the girls had flights as early as 6:00 AM this morning, so our runs to the airport started early.  I had to speak at the WBCA High School Roundtable Session at the New Orleans Convention Center this morning after one of my airport runs.  High School coaches from across the country were in attendance to share ideas and learn about what I do as the Chair of the All-American game.  I am also looking for possible future committee members.  Now I am off to the airport for one more run with a player, dropping the van off, and heading home this evening.

Hope you have enjoyed the daily blogs and pictures below.

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