Delphos Jefferson High School Wins Great Shot Give-a-Way Grand Prize
Noah 2008 - For more than 50 days, Marc Smith logged on to his computer and made his way to noahbasketball.com. He wanted to win the Great Shot Give-A-Way in the worse of ways, for Delphos Jefferson High School (Ohio), for his players and for the community. This was a chance to have a NOAH Select Shooting System that he had heard and read so much about.
The contest was held March 15-June 30.
“I started on March 30 and every day I was at a computer, I entered,” said Smith, who coaches the boys varsity team at Delphos Jefferson, which is 45 miles east of Fort Wayne, Ind. “I even had my assistants doing it.”
Smith’s persistence paid off when it was announced July 10 that he had won the grand prize.
“We just got the system today (July 14),” Smith said. “One of our best players who works at the school during the summer told me when it arrived. He was so excited. It feels like Christmas around here.” Unfortunately, Smith and his players had to wait an extra day before they could open up their new gift because the gym floor was being resurfaced. So they just looked at it with wide eyes.
“I’m so excited for the kids,” Smith said. “They deserve this.”
Delphos Jefferson is no basketball school, not yet at least. The football team has had 26 winning seasons in the past 27 years. However, folks are starting to take notice of the basketball team. In his first three seasons, Smith has led his team to 4, 6 and 10 victories. This winter he returns a team with loads experience.
“We’ve always tried to control the controllable factors like defense, rebounding and taking care of the ball,” Smith said. “Shooting has been a weakness of our program.”
The Wildcats have shot 34 percent, 36 percent and 39 percent from the floor the past three seasons. They also managed just 60 percent from the foul line last year.
“You think shooting is not a controllable factor,” Smith said. “But from what I’ve read and seen with NOAH, it can be controlled. We talk to our kids all the time about keeping the shot on line, not missing left or right. We didn’t know how to show them distance control. But NOAH will teach them that, and because they will get objective data, they will believe it.”
Besides improving the shooting of the boys varsity team, Smith said the school has plans to use it for all levels in the community. That means youths starting in the third grade will have an opportunity to practice with the system. He also wants to incorporate NOAH in a more aggressive offseason program, and perhaps conduct clinics to raise money for the school.
“I just want to give NOAH a huge thank you for developing a great product,” Smith said. “In today’s economy, nobody has to give anything away. But for NOAH to do this, and to give away prizes at the high school level, it’s really encouraging to see.”
Besides the grand prize, NOAH Basketball also gave away a Dell Notebook computer to Jeff Martin of Rider High School in Wichita Falls, Texas. There were 10 secondprize winners of a Better Basketball Resource Libraries. Also 10 winners claimed the third prize of a Better Basketball Better Shooting II DVD .”