Coach Doubley talks about winning the Oakland Junior Warriors middle school girls league championshi
On Saturday March 16th, 2019 at approximately 1:00 PM the Claremont Middle School girls basketball team clinched the junior warriors league championship. The final score of the contest was 36-31. Claremont defeated the very same team that denied them a championship last year in Montera Middle School. Coach David Doubley who is the coach of both 8th boys and girls basketball teams recently talked about this seasons coaching experience and how he fell in the love with the game of basketball.
Coach Doubley surprisingly first started coaching at the tinder age of 8. Doubley's mother who taught physical education at Claremont for many years also coached basketball and volleyball. Doubley's father also coached pop warner football and basketball. Doubley was destined to play sports on the intramural level. Coach Doubley remembers his mother coaching and handing him a clipboard giving him specific instructions on who to scout. According to Doubley his mother would ask him "give me a clipboard and write down who was good at what and which players should I play", Doubley said.
Doubley played high school basketball at Berkley high school from 1996-2000. He was the starting point guard all four years. After high school Doubley played briefly at a junior college before transferring to Pacific University in Stockton, CA. Once Doubley finished playing basketball at the collegiate level he went on to play professionally in Germany for several years before returning to the United States.
Winning the 2019 junior warriors girls basketball league championship meant the world to Coach Doubley because he loves the game and loves to win. Also he knew this would be the last time he had this particular group of girls together on one court. As the shot clock reached triple zeroes Coach Doubley and the Claremont Middle School girls basketball team won the 2019 Junior Warriors league championship. "I was so proud that the girls got what they earned, deserved and worked for. I thought we had the best team all season. I was just proud in that moment they played a tough team who beat us earlier in the season, last year they beat us , the year before that they beat us so it was a little bit of redemption with that group. I was just proud they just put it all together they finished the season on a high note. Also it was end of an era at that moment some of the 8th graders are gone off to high school and I won't be able to coach them the way I have the previous couple of years I'm a little bit sad to see them go but proud to see you know they are going to go where they are going", Doubley Said.
Coach Doubley was asked what advice does he have to give to future coaches regardless of the competition elementary school, middle school, and high school and here is what had to say "you're gonna get out what you put into it. That cookie cutter mold of I'm going to do what worked at the middle school level is what likes empowers your team at the middle school level to get better." What may work for one player may not work for another player", Doubley said.
According to coach Doubley "you have to know your players and meet them where they are", Doubley said. Coaching the boys and girls is totally different. The boys "lack the discipline and the focus the girls do. For my experience the girls if you tell them what to do. They want to do what you want them to do. Girls don't mind doing drills because they know that's what's going to lead to them getting better", Doubley said.
The girls brought home the championship trophy and the boys made the playoffs. Pretty safe to say Coach Doubley had a successful season coaching basketball. Now Doubley can shift his focus to coaching track and field which is slated to start in April after spring break.
