They don't make Canadian basketball players the way they used to - and that's a good thing, says Jerry Krause.
Quality talent can be found in increasing numbers north of the border, says Krause, who is Gonzaga University's director of basketball operations.
"Canadian kids (many years ago) were always very, very eager to learn, but their skill level was so low," says Krause, who is conducting a basketball clinic this weekend in Saskatoon. "Now, it's changed. We have Canadian players playing for Gonzaga, and they're playing all over the United States. It was a gradual thing. We may never displace hockey as the sport of choice, but at least it's in the conversation now."
Gonzaga, which advanced to the third round of the NCAA tournament this spring, had three Canadian players on its roster - Robert Sacre of North Vancouver, Kelly Olynyck of Kamloops and Mangisto Arop of Edmonton. Their latest recruiting class also includes highly touted Torontoarea point guard Kevin Pangos.
Krause, whose resume also includes 17 years as the head coach at Eastern Washington University, has had plenty of dealings with Canadian players and coaches through the years and he's glad to see the uptick in talent.
"It's well-deserved - a Canadian invented the game of basketball," Krause notes.
Krause's basketball teaching credentials are well established - he's written 27 coaching books and has been involved in the production of 30 instructional videos.
He says Canada is actually ahead of the United States when it comes to preparing coaches for working the sidelines and locker-room.
"Canada's one of the first, and one of the most advanced, countries around the world that stresses coaching certification and coaching education," Krause says. "They have a many-tiered level of coaching education. We're supposed to be the experts down in the United States, but anybody can coach - you don't have to be certified, there's no credentials. You just have to have a reputation. John Wooden always said your reputation is what other people think you are, but your character is what you truly are. I think we're getting by in the United States on a lot of reputation, but Canada is really trying to build their coaching expertise the right way. And (certification) is a nationwide effort. They're progressing at a good rate and getting better and better."
His one caveat to that: Canada, he says, needs to do a better job of supporting coaches, such as those working in high schools. American basketball coaches, he notes, often get stipends for working with young athletes.
"The only thing that holds Canada back, in my opinion, is coaches generally are not valued highly enough to be paid for actual coaching," Krause says. "They're almost all teachers who are just volunteering out of their love of kids and love of the sport. Then you put coaching certification on them and it puts Canadian basketball coaches between a rock and a hard place. They love the sport, but they're being asked to be certified and not getting any support by the schools. I think the local schools ought to start supporting the national coaching-certification program, because it's one of the best in the world.
"Your approach is better in some respects and our approach is better in others. If the ideas were melded together, it would be much better for the kids and that's what it's all about. It's all about the players."
Read more: http://www.thestarphoenix.com/sports/Canadian+hoops+surge+pleases+coach/4924155/story.html#ixzz1PNQKtFr8
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