Wolfpack Basketbal

Happy Thanksgiving Wolfpack nation

STUDENT ATHLETES ONLY YOU CAN TAKE CHARGE OF YOUR CHOICES.

Being responsible for yourself is a huge key to success in sport and life. No doubt physical talent is obviously important, but if you can’t take and accept responsibility for yourself, you won’t last long in most programs, no matter how talented you might be.
Being a Responsible Athlete means you are the primary person in charge of your life. It means taking charge of your choices, decisions, actions and inaction and how they ultimately lead to your success or failure. Responsible Athletes willingly and reliably do what needs to be done to reach their goals rather than blaming circumstances or others for their own lack of success.
The first step in becoming a more Responsible Athlete is to take charge of your choices. You have numerous choices, decisions, and actions available to you each and every day, which subtly or significantly impact your future success in some way, shape, or form. From the time you get up every morning to the time you go to bed at night, you are presented with several choices that can either help your chances of reaching your goals or hurt your chances of reaching your goals.

How many choices would you say you get to make each day that impact your
success? ___________

List three of the most important choices you get to make every day that impact your success as a student-athlete:
1. __________________________________________________________________
2. __________________________________________________________________
3. __________________________________________________________________

100 CHOICES EACH DAY THAT IMPACT YOUR SUCCESS:

Whether you realize it or not, every single day you get to make roughly 100 choices that impact your success - and ultimately your team’s success. Don’t believe it?
Let’s take a look at some of the important choices you get to make every day and do the math. Your 100 or so choices available to you daily as a student-athlete include such seemingly simple yet significant things as:
Practice: Over the course of a 2 hour practice, you likely do anywhere from 6-8 physical drills. During each of these drills you get to choose your attitude, effort level, focus, competitiveness, mental toughness and a variety of other mental factors that have an impact on your and your teams success. Multiply these five factors times the six drills you do throughout the course of a practice and you get 30 choices.
Weight Room: Similarly, in the weight room, you get to choose your attitude, effort, the amount of weight you lift, the number of times you lift it, the quality of the lifts, and whether or not you are going to persist and push through every last rep. Given you are likely doing at least 5 different lifts or exercises in the weight room, you have at least 25 choices.

Nutrition: Between breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks, you likely eat at least 3-4 times a day. Each time you eat you get to choose from a variety of foods to either fuel or fatten your body. Each meal you choose your proteins, carbohydrates, fats, portion sizes, drinks, appetizers, main course, desserts, and snacks. Daily eating and hydrating alone account for roughly 25 of your choices.
School: As a STUDENT-athlete, you have a number of classes to attend throughout the day. Each of these classes you get to choose your attendance, attitude, effort, focus, how much you participate, and often where you sit in the classroom for each of your classes. Assuming you have at least 4 classes on a typical day, you are looking at another 24 choices at the minimum.
Looking at just these areas alone, we have already added up 104 choices. This doesn’t include your fitness and physical conditioning, what time you wake up in the morning or go to bed, what your social life is like, or the studying time you choose to put in.
As you can see, every day you have at least 100 choices you get to make that in some large or small way impact your success - and ultimately your team’s success.

RECOGNIZE AND OWN YOUR 100 DAILY CHOICES
Responsible Athletes recognize and own the enormous power of their 100 daily choices, decisions, and actions. Further, they recognize how these choices add up and compound over time…
Your 100 or so choices each day eventually become:
700 choices in a week,
2,800 choices in a month,
36,400 choices in a year,
728,000 choices in a playing career,
2,912,000 choices in a lifetime.
“I am who I am today because of the choices I made yesterday.”
Eleanor Roosevelt

DO YOU SEE HOW IMPORTANT THESE SEEMINGLY SMALL CHOICES BECOME OVER TIME?
DO YOU SEE HOW POWERFUL YOUR DAILY CHOICES CAN BE AND HOW MUCH THEY INFLUENCE YOUR SUCCESS, YOUR FUTURE, AND YOUR LIFE???

CONSIDER THIS…
When you are 15 years old, you have already made over 500,000 choices that have largely determined where you are in life.
When you are 20 years old, you have already made over 700,000 choices that have largely determined where you are in life.
If you live to be 80 years old you will get to make almost 3,000,000 choices that will largely determine your life. So you definitely have the power to create the kind of life you want with these millions of choices available to you.

NEGATIVE CHOICES ADD UP TOO
While it is easy to see how your positive choices help advance you forward, you also must recognize how your negative choices hold you back. Keep in mind:
Cutting corners is a choice…
Apathy is a choice…
Laziness is a choice…
Blaming others is a choice…
Inaction is a choice…
“It is not only for what we do that we are held responsible, but also for what we do not do.”
Moliere, French Playwright

Unfortunately, many athletes aren’t very conscious of their choices - until it is too late.
Until they get cut from the team…
Until they get beat out for a starting spot…
Until their opponents dominate them in competition…
Until their nemesis gets selected for the all-conference team over them…
Until their rival team wins the conference championship instead of them…
Then they wish they could go back and change many of the apathetic or Hurtful Choices, decisions, and actions they made over time into helpful ones. But many times it is too late.
Don’t let this painful regret happen to you and your team!

UNDERSTAND NOW THE CRITICAL IMPORTANCE OF YOUR 100 CHOICES YOU GET TO MAKE EACH AND EVERY DAY.
TAKE CHARGE OF YOUR CHOICES!
TAKE CHARGE OF YOUR DECISIONS!
TAKE CHARGE OF YOUR ACTIONS!
TAKE CHARGE OF YOUR FUTURE!
TAKE CHARGE OF YOUR LIFE!

Don’t look back on your season with regret because you didn’t take charge of your choices!

Last but certainly not least is your EDUCATION!

8 Tips for the Student Athlete

1. Your “job” is to be a student athlete. Practice, class, film, weights, eat, study hall …. Wait a minute, I don't have any "me time." How am I supposed to check Facebook, SnapChat, Instagram, do my laundry, call my mom, and play Xbox? Treat your responsibilities as if they were your-full time job, because they are. Create an hourly planner, and update it daily. Stop scheduling nap times, and use breaks between classes to study and get your work done. If you manage your time during the day, you may just find that you have 15 minutes in the evening to sneak in a game of Fort Night.

2. Telegraph your absences. The key to successfully managing missed classes is to communicate. At the beginning of the semester, let your teacher know (in person, by E-mail, or through a letter from your mom or dad) the dates you will be missing class to participate in athletics go on vacation or handle personal tasks like Doctors. A week before you miss a specific class, remind the teacher, and make a plan for how you will make up the work and obtain the notes. And when you return, make sure your work is handed in at the agreed time.
3. Avoid "imposter syndrome." Inevitably, there will come a time in your High School career when you feel as if you're walking around with a sign on your back that says, "Dumb Jock." You may feel you don't belong in the same class as the "regular" students, either because of your lack of self-confidence or poor treatment by those who (for whatever reason) don't like athletics. Step out of your comfort zone: Make an effort to cultivate friends outside your small circle of teammates and coaches. Remember that each student brings value to the School in different ways, whether it be musical talent, academic excellence, or athletic ability.

4. Don't be a punch line. We all know him, we've all seen him, and we all know how much of pain he is . . . that guy. And trust us, every team has one. You don't want to be the player who causes your teammates daily grief. Be on time (in the athletic world, being on time means being early). Be prepared, whether it's practice, class, or study hall. If you are perceived as responsible and reliable from the start, when you are late or you do make a mistake (and you will), you will have created a margin for error, a little bit of social capital.
5. Manage your “brand.” Yes you have a brand! Signing on to be a High School athlete automatically projects you into the spotlight, not only on the field but off the field, too. You are the face of your school, and your actions reflect on your school and your sport, both positively and negatively. Make good decisions, especially when it comes to alcohol and drugs. One bad decision will negatively affect not only you but your team, your family, and your whole athletic department. Understand that as an athlete, it's not just about you anymore; you are part of a greater whole.
6. Make the most of failure. Many freshmen­—especially student athletes who have the twin demands of challenging athletic competition and heightened academic expectations—experience some kind of difficulty in their first semester. For some, it's a low grade on an exam or paper; for others, it's just feeling lost or overwhelmed in their new surroundings. Resist the temptation to give up. Make a realistic assessment of where you went wrong: Did you spend enough time studying? Did you ask questions in class? Did you visit the teacher during office hours for extra help? Then take the steps necessary to correct the problem, right away.
7. Value Plan B. Every student has dreams. For the ones who are athletes, those dreams usually include competing professionally. That's Plan A, and there's nothing wrong with it. The reality, however, is that fewer than 1 percent of all highschool athletes compete professionally after graduation. This means that you need to make a Plan B for what happens if your athletic career ends after highschool-level competition. This does not mean you must drop athletic pursuits altogether; it just means you should pay enough attention to the student part of your student athlete status to be ready for whatever opportunities life presents you after graduation.
8. Plan for life. It's easy to forget the big picture when your daily life is packed with academics and athletics, but remember to use your resources and build your network. You should aim to take at least two classes from the same teacher so that when you need letters of recommendation, you will know a faculty member who can write a strong letter for you instead of a form letter. And create a college or job résumé early. It’s never to early to recognize where you stand. Where to rank with other students or athletes? Competition is an area that you most likely succeed in so why not use it to examine yourself? Though most student athletes are intimidated when it comes time to write one, it's good to keep in mind that your athletic experience has taught you many skills that employers value. As an athlete, you have demonstrated that you are goal oriented, work well in teams, communicate, and are organized and disciplined.

I wrote this initially for my boys but decided that maybe someone out there can use or share this with a student athlete who needs a reminder of how their choices will determine their future.

By: Gill Baca, Instructor at OneWay Sports Academy
(505)999-0539
[email protected]


Source Credit in part to Jansen Sports Leadership Center

More photos....

Some Upward and Wolfpack pics throughout the years.

Wolfpack Basketbal updated their phone number.

Wolfpack Basketbal updated their phone number.

What a day God made for Sports in Albuquerque. Thank you Jesus!

Timeline photos

We are having some basketball football and baseball teams that are Upward like. Until we get Sagebrush to bring back the program check out abqdukes on face book. That's for baseball and we will post basketball in January.

If your interested in Flag football One Way Sports Academy is Going to be taking over the feild that was used by Upward and have a football and basketball seasons. Visit our website at www.onewaysportsacademy.com season will start beginning of September. Same principals will apply as Upward Christian based sport run by former directors of Upward and many of the same volunteers. Call Gill Baca at 803-6700 to sign up.

If you are wondering about Upward Sports it's being discussed by Chris Drier and we will let you know as soon as anything becomes known. Sorry....

Special thank you to Mike Madrid, and the Madrid family for all you service! I also want to thank all the volunteers! Coaches, cheer & Football. Refs, patents, players, Sagebrush Community Church. Our year end celebration was great.

Thank you to everyone who donated food or money to Joy Junction.

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We have setup a Photobucket account to have everyone upload their images for use in the end of season slideshow. Here is the link for the site (http://s1298.photobucket.com/upload#). An email is being sent out with login information. If you do not receive it within the next 30 minutes, PM us for the info.

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We will be collecting canned goods/household items for Joy Junction on the last game day. We have supported them in the past and will do so again this season. Joy Junction is a homeless shelter dedicated to serving men, women, children, and families. They are a faith-based church ministry that serve as many as 60-80 children every day. Please bring canned goods and/or household supplies to the last games and drop them off at the snack shack. We guarantee donations will be greatly appreciated!

Future volunteers

Even coaches got in on the fun!

Spirit day was a blast! So many kids got hair dye & tattoos!!! We got attitude for heaven's sake!!!

This weekend is SPIRIT DAY! We will have temporary tattoos & hair spray. Bring on your crazy!!!!

The pee-wee football was found! Thank you to whoever brought it back.

We had a Pee-Wee sized game ball walk away today. If you have it please let your coach know, or contact us 933-9603. We need that ball. Our last game had to play with a bigger ball and their hands are too little for it.

What a great set of games today!!! Thank you to every volunteer out there!

First games are under the belt! What a great day! Thank you to everyone who stepped up to ref, setup, or coach. A HUGE thank you to Michelle Martinez. Michelle runs our snack shack that raises money for scholarships. She is one of the core organization that is Upward-Sagebrush!

Who's ready for some football?

We have cancelled games for tomorrow due to field conditions and the forecast of more rain this evening. We do not want any kids hurt and the fields are slick and swampy in areas.

The games scheduled for tomorrow will be played on November 09. The end of season celebration will also be moved back a week.

Practices were cancelled yesterday due to the City of Abq's request. We are cancelling practices based on the same request. We believe that games will be cancelled tomorrow. Stay tuned.....

If the weather does not want to cooperate, we will have the training at Sagebrush community church in the kids building. Room 200.

We are having our Ref training on Wednesday @ 6:30pm at the LBJ fields. We will have two teams scrimmaging to give each ref a little experience before the real games.

Each team is required to provide 1 ref for each game. If one team cannot provide a ref, the team will forfeit the game. Come out and find out how much fun it can be to participate in Upward sports!

Laying down stripes with a new striping machine. Thanks to Trey, Brian Sanchez, Matias Madrid, Trays on & Elijah!