Shooting Games

Basketball was my sport in high school. Dad was a coach and I grew up learning about the game. I even coached a team myself one season. Like most sports, basketball practices can be hard and demanding. Coaches ask a tremendous amount from their players. It's the only way to succeed. A team must constantly push their limits to reach new heights.

It doesn't matter if it's the Utah Jazz or in a YMCA summer league. The successful teams push and push hard. But every coach knows that you can't simply keep pushing. At some point the team must relax, have a little fun. In basketball they play shooting games. They're different simple competitive games focusing on shooting (every players favorite thing to do). The mood in the gym lightens considerably. Most leave smiling.

We are playing shooting games at Nushagak Kennels this weekend. It's been tough with the weather and trail conditions lately. I saw it on our last run on Snake Lake road. Some of the dogs were feeling it. The runs this weekend are short, fun, and the trails perfect.

Johanna, Alethia, and I put in a simple trail behind our property. It twists and turns 10 miles then makes a big loop and comes back, 20 miles total. The cherry on top is the snow conditions. We had lots of wet heavy snow and now the temps have dropped to zero degrees. It is hard and fast with enough give to set a hook and provide a little cushion for each step.

The dogs took off and loped/fast trotted the whole way. They ran the 20 miles at 10 - 12 mph and came home with wagging tails. Everyone had fun. Everyone was happy.

I'm planning to hit it pretty hard these next 7 days. The goal is to get 250 miles this week. 250 miles would keep us on track to hit our 1000 mile mark by January 1st.

You can't just drive a team to exhaustion. Sometimes you've got to play some shooting games.