It is very hard to believe that the 2009 year is coming to an end. I am sure there are many people that are very happy that this year is coming to a close. It was a difficult year for many people losing their jobs, savings, etc.. The economy suffered and so did a lot of people. Hopefully the new year will be a fresh start for everyone. I am looking forward to 2010 as I do every new year. It means setting new goals for the family, work and making shots. I am always looking to improve both on the court and off the court.This Christmas was a special Christmas for me as I got to spend it with my wife, daughter and family. It has been awhile since I’ve been with the family on Christmas. Last year I was in Cleveland with the Wizards. Christmas in Cleveland sounds like a bad movie. Sure was fun seeing McKenna open up her presents. It was also special spending time with Carole’s family and I am so very blessed to be a part of that family.December 26th went to Lincoln, Maine to shoot some hoops at the house of the Sowers. They were kind enough to let me get some shots up. They have a hoop in a large garage, it was perfect. Nothing like being able to get some shots up after being lazy all day on Christmas.This morning was up at three AM to Bangor airport to catch a flight to New York and a connection onto Toronto. Everything went smoothly. The flights were all on time and I got to the arena at noon time. Plenty of time for the one o’clock tip off. It was great seeing all of the familiar faces in Toronto. The Raptors hung on to win against the Pistons. The Raptors have been defending better and have been holding opponents under 100. When they do that they are tough to beat. Looking forward to working with the guys over the next couple of days.Happy New Year to everyone. May the Good Lord continue blessing you and your family.

I would like to take the time and thank everyone for reading my blog. At this time I would like to say Merry Christmas to everyone and their friends and family. Enjoy the time with one another. I am looking forward to spending Christmas with my wife and her family. Don’t forget what Christmas is, it is the celebration of Christ’s birth. Still can’t understand why people get bent out of shape at this time of the year, calling Christmas trees-holiday trees and all of the other stuff that goes with it. Christmas will ALWAYS be Christmas. Merry Christmas to one and all.

     It’s hard to believe that it is already December. Christmas will soon be here and then it will be 2010. Time sure does fly by. The older you get, the faster time goes by. When you are young you think that you have all the time in the world. Appreciate the time that you have on this earth and make sure that you spend time with the ones that you love and care for. Hope everyone had a very Happy Thanksgiving. I really enjoyed mine, got to spend it at home with my wife and daughter as well as my in laws. A couple of close friends also enjoyed in the festivities. A good time for all. So far two coaches have been fired and I am sure that they are not the last of the litter. I feel bad for Byron Scott and Lawrence Frank just like I feel bad for any coaches that get the axe. People don’t realize the amount of time and effort coaches put into their craft. If the team doesn’t do well the coach gets the blame and if the team does well the players get the glory. Lawrence had no chance to succeed with the team the Nets had and to top it off there was a bunch of injuries. Eddie Jordan had the same problem last year in Washington. Now injuries are part of the Sixers problem, they have lost a few key players in Speights, Brand and Williams. Any team that suffers injuries has major hurdles to get over. It is hard enough to win when you have a healthy roster. I wish coach Jordan all the luck as well as Mike O’Koren and Randy Ayers down in Philly. You guys keep coaching and teaching and everything will work out fine.Watched the DUKE UCONN game and I couldn’t believe the shooting in that game. Duke wins and shoots 29% for the game. Are they both that good defensively or did they both have bad shooting nights? It was a tough one to watch. While watching this game and the game before LSU and ASU I noticed alot of athletes and not too many basketball players. I mean there were alot of guys that were strong, fast, quick and could jump out of the gym but there weren’t alot of guys that could dribble with their weak hand, make an open jumper, make a free shot, pass the ball to the post and set a screen and open up the correct way. I watch the same thing happen in the pro game. We must start teaching kids how to play instead of just letting them play. The kids play too many games and they don’t even know how to play. Kids need to learn the fundamentals at an earlier age. We need to do something at the grassroots, NOW. Thanks for reading and I hope everyone has a very good week. Take care and God Bless.

    Last Friday I flew to Denver for a two day clinic with Mark Sharpley and JAM. Mark has been a very good friend of mine for the past 15 years. He does an outstanding job of getting kids to the shooting camp. We run another camp in Denver around Memorial Day. The kids in Colorado are always very well behaved, they listen and they are talented as well. It is always a pleasure to come to Colorado and work with the kids. Besides doing the camp I get to stay at my friend’s house. My friend is Big Bill. Bill Ficke, there is no finer human being that the Good Lord could make. Big Bill was in my wedding and I am blessed to have him as a friend.After finishing up camp on Sunday at 3:00 PM  I was off to Vail, Colorado to work with the kids at Battle Mountain High School for two days. What a beautiful town Vail is. The weather was perfect, the upper 60’s. The school was brand new and the kids were fantastic. It was a joy working with them. I hope to be back in the not to distant future. My host Gary Weiss is one in a million. Through basketball I have met some outstanding people, thank you LORD.The kids at Battle Mountain worked from 6 until 9 PM on Sunday night and then I worked with some kids individually on Monday from 12-3. Then we were back at at 4 o’clock and went until 6 o’clock. The following morning I was on the road at 4 AM to get to the airport. Flew from Denver to Newark and then Newark to Portland, Maine. Once I arrived in Maine I had a four hour drive to Connecticut.Veteran’s Day clinic at East Catholic High School was hosted by the CT STARTERS program. What can I say about the STARTERS, I have been friends with them for over 20 years. I am so blessed to do something that I love to do but on top of that I get to see my friends and work with them as well. It seemed strange not seeing Nick Eco at East Catholic. Congratulations Nick on the Hall of Fame. Wish I could’ve been there for your induction.                                                               Also with the STARTERS is Joe Ticotsky who always is on the ball. He is super organized and a wonderful person. Thanks for another great clinic. Also working the clinics and camps are the Madera brothers, Scott and Brian. I hope I spelled your names correctly. Forgive me if I messed it up. They have been working camps for years and I always look forward to seeing them, we have some good laughs together. Then there is my man Pringle. My heart goes out to Pringle as his mom just passed away. You are in my thoughts and prayers. It has also been eight years since my mom passed. I always look forward to seeing Pringle and I always enjoy our phone conversations.                                                                            The clinic went well as they always do with the STARTERS. Great bunch of kids.Thursday I tweaked my back in the weight room at the Boothbay YMCA. I get these spasms once in a great while. Bad timing as I have to go Vermont to do two clinics on Saturday. Tried stretching and the hot tub but this only gives me temporary relief. Drove up to Burlington, VT with some icy-hot pads on my back. Had the heated seat going while I was driving. Relaxed in my room on Friday night.Saturday the clinic was at Rice High School and was organized by Mark Pfaff. He has been trying to get me up to Burlington for the past three years. Finally got it done. The back was tight and I couldn’t shoot any jumpshots during my demo, so I did my form shooting and shot free shots during the talk. Finished up 336 for 339. After the talk we did three hours of drill work. ALL of the kids were great as they ALL listened, followed directions and hustled. When kids do as they are told coaching is such a joy. A special thanks to everyone that helped out and most of all to the athletic trainer at Rice for treating my back and giving me some Advil.After Burlington I was off to do another clinic at Norwich University in Northfield, VT for Paul Booth. I have known Paul for many years. We first met at Nelson/Sanders camp in Henniker, NH. By the time I arrived at Norwich the back was really bad. Don’t know how I managed to make all of my shots. The LORD does perform miracles. HE got me through this day and I can’t thank the kids enough for being so good and doing everything that was asked of them. Thanks Paul and Sue for your hospitality.Made it home and now I have some time to mend. Thanks to everyone that reads this. Take care and God Bless each and every one.

     Another year of hoops has begun. The season is young and exciting as it always is. Rumors of LeBron, DWade and CB4 leaving their teams because of free agency. Who knows what will happen? What we do know is that we will have basketball regardless.For the past three years I have been coaching in the NBA at first with the Raptors and then the past two with the Wizards. It seems strange not sitting in on the coaches meetings and putting together a gameplan, watching film and getting ready for practice. I miss that part and also the part of being in practice working with the players. I miss the coaches and the players as well. I do not miss the travel and being away from the family.I was offered a couple of jobs to continue coaching in the NBA, but I turned them down because they wanted me to take a huge paycut and the job was not going to be a pension position. It was easy to go back to my own business (Dave Hopla Shooting Clinics). The LORD has blessed me with this gift and I am grateful that I can share it with others. Now I get to pick and choose when and where I want to go to work. It was an easy decision to make on my part. The Toronto Raptors also called and they asked if I would be interested in coming up to work with the guys whenever they are home for a few days. To work as a consultant. I jumped at the chance. I get to be home with the family and I get to work with a great organization. I cannot thank Bryan, Jay and the rest of the coaches for inviting me up. I went up over the pre season for a few days and am looking forward to my return. They have a bunch of talented players and they all want to become better players. It was a joy working with them. Talk about your prayers being answered. Thank you LORD. So now I have the best of both worlds, I get to be with my wife and daughter and I still get to work with the Raptors. I would also like to thank everyone out there for booking camps, clinics, speaking engagements for this fall, winter and spring.Remember we can do nothing without our GOOD LORD. Have a blessed day.

College Basketball will soon start practice and then high school basketball will follow suit. It is a great time of the year to be in the gym and hear the squeaking of sneakers on the hardwood. The days get shorter and the nights longer, the temperatures start to drop. What better place to spend the fall, winter and spring seasons than in a gym.All of the work that you did in the off season will now pay off . During the off season is the time for individual improvement. If you put the time and effort in during your workouts you should be much improved. On the other hand if you didn’t put the time and effort in don’t expect playing time.Coaches have been getting ready by preparing their practice plans for some time. It is an exciting time for them as well. Everyone starts the season with high hopes. Once practice starts and then the games reality sets in. Coaches find out just how good or bad their teams really are.As far as what I will be doing this season I am continuing to work on my game. There is always room for improvement. I have a bunch of camps, clinics, individual workouts and corporate speaking engagements lined up.I am also writing a book on shooting, this is something that I have always wanted to do. Human Kinetics has been kind enough to believe in me and my knowledge of shooting to want me to do this as well. Human Kinetics have done a number of books on basketball and other sports as well. This is a very exciting venture for me.Thanks for reading. Will blog again soon.

    Well training camp has been going on for awhile and the exhibition season is upon us. It is hard to believe that the season will be tipping off in a couple of weeks. Can the LAKERS repeat? How much does SHAQ have left in his tank? What about the CELTICS? These are all interesting questions and it should be an interesting season especially with the replacement officials.I am currently back doing what I have been doing for so many years before joining the NBA and that is running my camps, clinics, lecturing and doing my corporate talks. So if anyone is interested in having me come and speak or work with their group please feel free to contact me via email or call me at 1-800-993-SHOT.Thank you for reading my blog and I look forward to keeping you posted as to my doings. Praise the LORD and count your blessings as we all have so much to be thankful for.Until the next blog take care and God Bless.

  The summer has come to an end and fall is upon us. Baseball season is coming to an end and the playoffs will begin shortly. Football season is here and that means hockey and basketball will start their season as well.On my way to Troy, New York from Baltimore I stopped in Plattekill, NY to go to the rest room. While washing my hands there is a guy next to me washing his feet in the sink. He was there taking off his shoes and socks. I thought to myself here is a guy washing his feet and then there are people that don’t wash their hands after going to the bathroom. Both scenarios are gross. What will I see on my next trip? My fall season began today in Troy, New York at Hudson Valley Community College. Obama will be here on Monday. I was hoping he would be a camper this weekend as he is a true hoophead. It has been some time since I’ve done anything in the Albany area. As always it was fun teaching the game of basketball to the kids. The camp began with me doing my shooting lecture and about twenty minutes into the lecture the lights went out. I finally shot the lights out. The lecture continued and I finished up shooting 385 for 389.After the shooting demo the kids broke into groups and did form shooting. The coaches at the hoops were the college women from RPI. They did a great job coaching. Once the form shooting was done we continued to work on the shot off of the bounce and off of a catch and shoot.The afternoon session we got into shooting on the move going from left to right and right to left. Tomorrow we will continue to work on improving our shot and how to practice on our own. We still have to cover shot fakes, jab jumpshot and creating space.Once camp ends I will head home for a day and then get on a plane for Naples, FL. I will be down there for a couple days and then head to New Jersey to do a corporate speaking engagement.NBA training camps open up on the 29th of September. It looks like the officials won’t be starting the season as their contracts expired and are having trouble agreeing to a deal.I want to thank everyone for reading my blog, but most of all I would like to thank the GOOD LORD for all of my family and friends. Take time out of your day to pray for your friends and loved ones. Give praise to the LORD.

  It is hard to believe that the summer is coming to an end. I have had a very busy summer as usual. Once I left Washington I was off to Vacationland (MAINE). I got to spend some time with my wife and daughter. Then I was off to China with NIKE for the All Asia Camp. It has been going on for quite some time and I am proud to say that I have been to every one of the NIKE AAC.Came back from China and worked some camps and also spent some time with my good friend Mike Stevens in Carbondale, Illinois. The place that time forgot. I don’t know how Clyde survived there. Tried to get something to eat on Father’s day and two of the better restaurants were closed. Went to a Dairy Queen and they only have chocolate ice cream on Thursdays. Tried to take a boat out at a marina and the marina was closed on Monday, went back on Tuesday and they said that they don’t rent boats on Tuesdays. I’m not making this stuff up. At least I got to work with some great kids at the Brehm School.Then it was off to China again with the NBA. I had a great time in two cities that I’ve never been to. I met a great group of guys. Marty, Pat, Jeremiah, Dave, Anderson and Kobe . Did some sightseeing as well while I was in Wuhan. Wuhan is a very beautiful city with lots of lakes and water.Came back from China and had another nightmare flying. This time with DELTA. My bags were soaking wet and so was everything inside of them. They were left on the tarmac in Atlanta (during a storm) as I was awaiting my flight home to Maine. Flight was delayed and I didn’t get in until 3:00am. I could go on about this whole episode that I am still dealing with.I have spoken at around sixteen camps this summer. I still have one more to do on Thursday. It’s hard to believe that I used to speak at over a 100 during the summer.This fall, winter and spring I will be available to speak at schools, colleges and also do my camps, clinics, demonstrations and motivational speeches. If anyone is interested in having me come in and speak don’t hesitate to contact me through my website.I would like to thank everyone that actually reads this and thank all of my friends for their support and prayers. Take care and God Bless everyone.

     I would like to take the time and say goodbye to everyone in Washington as well as say thanks for a wonderful two years. Thanks to the fans who had to endure this season, the people that run the Verizon Center. I will miss each and everyone of you. I will miss everyone up in the basketball office, especially the ladies Cathy, Lisa and Jennifer a big thank you to each of you for everything that you did for me and my family. We will all miss you ladies. Carole and McKenna send their love. How can I thank the guys down in the trenches for all of their help, support and friendship. I am talking about JW, Rob, Drew, H (also no longer with the Wizards) Eric, Koitche (sorry about the spelling), Corey, Dave Avery and Billy C. You guys are the best. I have lots of memories and you are all part of them.

    The people that I am going to miss the most are the guys that you spend every day with and spend the most time with and that is the coaching staff. After losing two friends and fine coaches earlier in the season (Eddie Jordan and Mike O’Koren) the coaching staff tried to keep it together with the rest of the coaching staff. Tap took over the head spot (the smartest man that I know) did everything in his power to keep us afloat. Randy Ayers as fine a coach and human being that there is. Phil Hubbard aka PH or Hub a Dub, I am going to miss the laughter that you brought to the table everyday and kept us laughing instead of crying. I have yet to hear someone say anything bad about Hub. He’s funny without trying to be funny. Wes Unseld Jr. a brilliant basketball mind who will one day be a head coach in the NBA and a wonderful person.

    I am truly blessed to have had the opportunity to work with these guys. I learned so much from each and everyone of them. We all got along so well. There are alot of staffs where the coaches are so jealous of one another, I never experienced that here, we all pitched in and helped one another out. It was a perfect fit, nobody thought they were too big to do something.

Thanks to Ernie, Tommy and Milt for bringing me to Washington and having the chance to be close to Baltimore.

    Thanks to the best ballboys and ballgirls in the NBA. You guys are the best. I will miss all of you.

    Last but not least, thanks to the players. Over the two years that I have spent coaching in Washington I have come into contact with some fine young men. I will miss each and everyone of you guys. Thank you for being so coachable and for working hard. I wish that you will all have good health for next season and then everything else will take care of itself.

     I don’t know what the Good Lord has in His plans for me and I don’t try to question Him. I just put my trust in Him and pray for Him to give me wisdom, understanding and knowledge. I hope everyone has a great summer and I look forward to keeping you abreast of my activity during the upcoming months.