randall big man clinic

Bruce Randall Foundation "Big Man Clinics"
@ Corona Centennial--(Sept. 10, 2001)

What:	Bruce Randall Foundation "Big Man" Clinic
Where	Corona Centennial HS
When:	*Two Player Sessions:*
	Thursday, Sept. 20, 2001--7:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
	Thursday, Sept. 27, 2001--7:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
	*One Extra Coaches' Session:*
	Saturday, Sept. 29, 2001, 10:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Who:	Players 6'-4" or taller
Cost:	Free (but a $5 donation is requested to cover materials, drinks, etc)

We received notification last week from Tom Lubin about a new Big Man clinic which will run at Corona Centennial High School, sponsored by the Bruce Randall Foundation. Tom tells us that the clinics will feature two player sessions (high school coaches are welcome to attend, so long as your own players are also not in attendance if you are from a Southern Section school) and a special, extra Saturday session, a sort of debriefing session for high school coaches who are prohibited by the draconian CIF-SS rules from attending the Big Man clinics with their own high school players.

The clinics will teach young big men the "seven moves" without the dribble and expand to a series of one-dribble moves both at low and high post. The clinicians will spend time teaching body positioning and balance both before and after receiving the ball. Tom tells us that "the balance and strength gained from these techniques will allow the player to gain and hold their position on the floor using their full body rather than relying on their arms." And apparently the guys who teach these clinics have had some fair amount of success, they're all "big man" oriented in one way or another, and they all feel that it's now time for them to pass along what they know to another generation of players. Coaches who will be working the clinic are:

Tom Lubin: Tom has been a coach at Cypress College, Southern California College, Orange Coast College, Norco HS, Corona Centennial HS, and in the WNBA Utah, and altogether, he's got 35 years of teaching and coaching, focusing mostly on big men.

Don Johnson: Don has been a head coach at Cypress College, and retired with more wins than any other California JUCO coach.

Val Popov: Val is the head coach at Corona Centennial HS and has also coached at several Orange County high schools.

Mark Campanaro: Mark played pro ball as for 19 years in Italy, and is a former All-CIF Player of the year. He's been a volunteer coach at several Riverside and Orange County high schools.

Todd Lee: Todd is currently a UCI Assistant Coach, and has experience working with several big men, including UCI's Adam Parada, who is the starting center for the Anteaters last season, and who played at the University Games for the Mexican National team this past summer.

Mark Soderberg: Mark played at Kentucky under Adolph Rupp, transferred to Utah, and played pro ball in Europe for a number of years after being drafted in the NBA. Mark has extensive coaching experience on the JUCO level as well as the high school level.

Tentatively, the Randall Foundation will also have two other accomplished big men, Mark Eaton and Swen Nater. Eaton is most well known as a center for the Utah Jazz. He's ranked number two in all-time blocked shots in the NBA, and still holds the single-season record for most blocks in a season and most blocked shots per game average, while Swen Nater is one of the long line of UCLA big men alums, and a former L.A. Laker center as well as a post man for several other NBA teams during his playing career.

What else do we know about the clinic? Actually quite a bit. For example, we know that rather than having just one session, the organizers felt it would be better to have two sessions. The two sessions are designed to allow the players to try the techniques and be able to return to ask questions and for the coaches to teach more moves and applications. It is possible to learn this material in a very short period of time. The subsequent "Coaches Session" is designed to allow the high school coaches of these players to know what the players have learned and to allow the coaches to help the bigger players to drill themselves during the season. Again, because high school coaches are prohibited from having basketball coaching contact with their own players, high school coaches are restricted to attending only the Saturday session. During this session, clinicians will both explain and demonstrate the techniques that have been passed on to the players in the two Thursday sessions. Tom says about the information, "The moves are timeless and have allowed many of the players to compete and remain in the game while others who didn't have this knowledge were long forgotten."

Again, because of the wierd CIF-SS rules the clinic is open to all high school players except Corona Centennial players.

What is the Bruce Randall Foundation? Tom also tried to explain that a bit: "I am sending this to you so that you might understand what this is about. We are a group of players and coaches who have set up The Randall Foundation in honor of Bruce Randall who was a volunteer coached from 1967 until he died in February, 2000. The Randall Foundation has given clinics throughout California, including in such states as Oklahoma, Utah and Arizona. We have enjoyed greatly working with the players both on the high school, community college, university and pro levels. Players we've worked with in the past and coached have included Adam Parada, Justin Garcia, Tyson Chandler, and many others. In general, most of the coaches who volunteer to work with our foundation do this because someone helped them when they were younger and its time for us to pass down the knowledge of what it takes to play as a big man to younger players coming up."

If you want more information about the clinic, please contact Tom Lubin at (909)371-8027 or email him at LubinTom@aol.com.