Welcome

Welcome to the team. This is the YMCA West Seattle 8-10 boys team. We will practice on Monday nights in the West Seattle YMCA East Gym from 4:00 to 5:00. Our games will be on Sundays and the schedule is shown on the right. The schedule indicates games will begin on 12/14 and end on 2/15. All games are at the Fauntleroy YMCA. There is no game scheduled for 12/28 and no practice on 12/29.

As you can see there will be a gradual move towards "real" basketball. Early on it appears they will be quite lenient on travelling and double dribble, and teams will not be able to "steal the ball' until 1/25, but I am sure teams will do their fair share of giving the ball away in the meantime!

My goals are for everyone to have fun playing basketball and to learn some skills about the game.

My name is Walt Cougan. I am no stranger to coaching, but will admit that I am more of a baseball guy than a basketball guy. I have coached baseball for years, enjoy working with children and have a passing competence with basketball. I plan on playing everyone, teaching everyone and stressing basic fundamentals, hopefully this will lead towards winning, but my main goal is to develop skills sets and teach teamwork and sportsmanship.

I will be all ears for any help you can give me about any issues your sons are having. Feel free to ask questions after any practice or game, but I would prefer devoting my attention to your sons before and during events. I can also be reached at my phone number and e-mail address at most reasonable times. My email address is work related, and as such I most likely will not be able to respond to evening or weekend emails.

This site will be updated weekly with "articles" about our games, practice tips for the week and helpful hints. It is interactive and please feel free to add comments.

As for the picture, I am a former SU Chieftain, but as old as I may look, I did not play with the O'Brien twins of SU fame, but did have the fortune to have Eddie as the athletic director during my baseball days at SU.