Pa ge 10 W e d n e s da y , Nov e m b e r 23, 2011

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The Record

Local Sports
By Jesse Feith

After my family, basketball is everything to me. From the age of 18 Ive had the chance to travel and view the world because of it, and of course all of the people I have had a chance to meet...

Coach Vecchio wrapping up his stay with the Gaiters

Part 2 on Argentinian international coach
low and was easy to approach. I wanted to learn more about how to teach basketball his way. It surely must be a thrill for our coaches and players at Bishops to be in his company, learning from one of the greats in the game today. Perno cant speak highly enough about what it means for the Bishops program to have a coach of Vecchios status with the team for the time hes been here, and how the legendary coachs influence and philosophy is slowly rubbing off on the Gaiters. He has done an excellent job at helping each girl understand what their role is on the team, who they are and how to play as one team with their teammates, with each player having a clearly defined role. The intensity has gone way up since he has been here in almost every aspect of practice. According to the Gaiters coach, besides his years of experience, Vecchio has also brought an entirely different philosophy of coaching that has spread across the Gaiters staff. He has his own philosophy that we have been adapting to in which the head coach concentrates on the technical aspects of the game while the assistant coaches roles are to keep the players motivated, keep the intensity up and bring them increasingly together as a team. It gives a break to the head coach and allows us to focus on the game play and worry less about the other things, explained Perno. Vecchio spoke very highly Perno and

espite his many accomplishments, Coach Guillermo Vecchio still considers himself a student of the game, claiming he learns a little from every coach he has the chance to spend time with, including Alex Perno and another basketball coach who is synonymous to the Townships: Eddie Pomykala, the man behind the Bishops Gaiters team for 25 years. Vecchio mentioned Pomykala as somewhat of a rival back in the days when he was coaching Argentina and Pomykala was an assistant for the Canadian Mens Junior National Team. He mentions that being in the Townships now and having a chance to reconnect with the former Gaiters coach has been a special opportunity. Pomykala also speaks fondly of Vecchio, and had the following to say about the coach. I met Coach Vecchio when I was an assistant with the Jr. Canadian Team in 1989-91. We were playing in the Tournament of the Americas Cup in Montevideo, Uruguay. Watching his team play was like watching artistry in motion. They simply played beautiful basketball featuring great ball movement, player movement, spacing, passing and finishing that off with precision shooting, said Pomykala before touching on the great opportunity it is for todays Gaiters to have him around. He was and is a very personable fel-

PHOTO BY JESSE FEITH

Vecchio and Perno running the team through shooting drills in Tuesdays practice as they work with Eloisa Katz, Annick Stephanny Charles, Marie-Michle Paquin and Danielle Lumley. especially of his future with the game of basketball. Perno has been great and Ive learned from his style of coaching. I think he will go very far with coaching and probably coach at a next level one day. He already has so much experience and he is still very young. Perno states that his lone goal right now is to make Bishops one of the top womens basketball programs in the country, but he doesnt deny the possibility of coaching at another level one day, and is thankful for the advice and mentorship he has gotten from Vecchio. It has been such a great opportunity and this particular chance to have a partnership with him has been exceptional. He once told me people had helped him along the way when he was young and now he feels hes doing the same with me.

Beats out Dodgers Matt Kemp

Braun wins NL MVP

By Howie Rumberg The Associated Press percentage and had a chance to overtake Jose Reyes for the batting title on the last day of the season but finished second with a .332 average. The four-time AllStar had 33 homers, 111 RBIs, 109 runs scored and stole 33 bases as Milwaukee won a franchise-best 96 games. His 77 extra-base hits was tops in the league. Kemp led the NL in homers with 39 and RBIs with 126 and was third in average (.324), but played for the NL Wests third-place Dodgers. He also won a Gold Glove. The 28-year-old Braun is the first Brewers player to win the MVP award in the National League and first since Robin Yount won in 1989, when Milwaukee was in the AL East. Rollie Fingers (1981) and Yount in 1982 are the other Brewers to take home MVP honours. Braun signed a $105-million, five-year contract extension in April, linking him to the Brewers through 2020. The 2007 NL Rookie of the Year winner rewarded the club with his fourth straight season with more than 100 RBIs. He hit a three-run, go-ahead homer in the eighth inning on September 23 to clinch the division title for Milwaukee.

ilwaukees Ryan Braun won the NL Most Valuable Player Award on Tuesday after helping lead the Brewers to their first division title in nearly 30 years. The left fielder received 20 of 32 firstplace votes and 388 points in voting announced by the Baseball Writers Association of America. Los Angeles centre fielder Matt Kemp, who came close to winning the Triple Crown, received 10 first-place votes and finished with 332 points. Brauns teammate Prince Fielder finished third with 229 points, and Arizonas Justin Upton finished fourth with 214 points. Fielder and Upton each received one first-place vote. St. Louis Albert Pujols finished fifth. It was the 11th straight year the threetime MVP was in the top 10 in balloting. NL Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw was 12th in the voting a day after Detroits Justin Verlander added the AL MVP to his Cy Young. Braun led the NL with a .597 slugging

For Vecchio, coaching in Canada has been yet another opportunity for him to coach a different level and style of basketball, and one he says he will always cherish. With all respect, Canadian basketball is quite different from the game Ive coached elsewhere coaches dont teach screens until the age of 16 and players are taught to pass with one hand. Differences in the game are something you often notice by coaching in different places, for instance when I coached in the Middle East, teams are all much smaller and much quicker. Coaching these different styles is all part of the experience, he said. With all his international coaching experience as well his stint as a Latin American scout for the NBAs Detroit Pistons from 2004 to 2009, Vecchio has witnessed the globalization of the game of basketball first-hand and he doesnt see it slowing down any time soon. For me, and I have experienced this all over the world, there is no borderlines to basketball, it is all one no matter where it is being played. It is often said that sports can bring a lot more to people other than the competitive aspects that happen between the lines of each sports respective playing fields. Vecchio says he cant thank the game of basketball enough for what it has allowed him to do in his lifetime. After my family, basketball is everything to me. From the age of 18 Ive had the chance to travel and view the world because of it, and of course all of the people I have had a chance to meet. If I had to redo it all, I would choose the exact same path. PHOTO BY BETHAN CHALKE Coach Vecchios last two games with Head Coach of the Bishops womens basket- the Gaiters will come this weekend ball team Alex Perno is thrilled to have Vec- when they play at Concordia Friday chio along with the team for the first half of night and host McGill Saturday night. their season.