"Practice" from Harry's Way! Vince Carocci

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9— Practice

They’d never met, of course. But Harry DeFrank could well have been a graduate of the Norman Dale Basketball Academy. Because in the Norman Dale/Harry DeFrank school of coaching, taking care of the basketball is every bit as important as shooting the basketball.

You remember Norman Dale. He was the down-on-his-luck coach in the 1986 David Anspaugh film classic, “Hoosiers,” who took a group of underachieving, undermanned underdogs from mythical Hickory High School to an Indiana state basketball championship. When Norman Dale assumed the Hickory High coaching duties—a last chance to resurrect his sagging career—he stunned his team and outraged the booster group in attendance at his very first practice by refusing to allow the players to shoot the basketball. Instead, he drilled them and drilled them some more on the skills of footwork, dribbling and passing. “Squeezing the orange,” he called it. That was the Dale way.

Well, as it turns out, that’s also the DeFrank way. When Harry DeFrank’s Lady Shamrocks take the court for their 90-minute practice sessions each afternoon or evening, they know before they do anything else, they're going to hone their fundamentals—“squeeze the orange,” you might say--for at least 30 minutes under their coach’s watchful eye.

Every team, every practice, every week, every season. It’s chest passes, bounce passes, over the head passes. Spin dribbles and a lay-up; bounce passes and a lay-up; chest passes and a lay-up. Miss the lay-up and you run a lap around the court one time. Then still more dribbling…this time full court. Up with the right hand, back with the left hand; spin dribbles once again, right-to-left first, left-to-right next; finally stop-and-go with a between-the-leg dribble for good measure. And so they drill, they drill, and they drill still some more. "Not very exciting," he confides in an aside to an observer. "But I'm a stickler on these things because it's important, very important."

Drill…that's a word you hear a lot when you talk to Harry DeFrank's players about Harry DeFrank the coach. It was 20 years since Rita Balaban, the all-state power forward, All-American selection and the Trinity girls' career scoring leader, led DeFrank’s second team to the school’s first state championship. But when you ask her about DeFrank’s coaching techniques, the first thing you hear is: "He'd drill us, drill us, drill us. And it paid off. Win or lose, Trinity's always been known for how sound they played in the fundamentals…passing, blocking out, things like that."

DeFrank’s emphasis on fundamentals…Harry’s way, the Norman Dale way…may, in fact, be the very foundation of his successful coaching career. For this, the 2004-05 team which entered the mid-point of its season at 10-2, fundamentals are a problem despite its impressive start. The Lady Shamrocks, perhaps because of their youth--one senior, two juniors, a sophomore and a freshman point guard in the starting lineup--have been averaging 12-to-15 turnovers a game. So DeFrank works his team hard in practice to curb them.

This particular session occurs two days before Trinity's biggest Mid-Penn Conference game of the year. The Lady Shamrocks will host the undefeated Lady Cougars of Harrisburg High School, the defending Eastern State Champion with three starters and an all-regional transfer from neighboring Central Dauphin High School on its roster for another run at a state championship. Trinity will have whatever advantage a home court can provide. But beyond that, this game will be more of a long three-point shot than a lay-up for the home team. .

DeFrank and Phil Gillis stand patiently by, sometimes at mid-court, sometimes on the baseline, sometimes on the sidelines while the Lady Shamrocks run through their drills. Silent for the most part, but always watchful, looking for careless slips from their charges. They needn't worry.

Prior to this 4:30 practice session, DeFrank had been at the high school the better part of the day, updating team statistics, reviewing the scouting reports from two assistants who watched the Lady Cougars beat the Central Dauphin Rams the night before and planning his strategy for two nights hence. He also has two tapes of the Cougars he will take home with him that evening to review before calling it a night.

Freshman Rachel Holt is the starting point guard and she hears a lot from DeFrank this day. "Hey, Rachel, you don't do that again," he reprimands after her sluggish pass on a fast break is intercepted by the defense. Youth may account for mistakes on the court, but it doesn't go uncorrected with DeFrank. He wants her to learn, so he doesn't cut her any slack. "You don't throw a slow pass against them," he warns. "They're faster than us, we can't do that."

Rachel Holt is getting her first taste of basketball the DeFrank style. Her sister, Jen, was a Big 15 star for Harry ten years earlier before heading to the University of Delaware as a non-scholarship player. Rachel may have had some idea talking to her sister about what it 's like to play for DeFrank. But, truth is, you never really know…really know…until you live the moment for yourself. Rachel Holt is living it now for herself, and she's learning from it. Stern as he may be with her at times, Harry clearly thinks she has a promising future. “She's quick, she's smart, has pretty good court sense for a youngster, and she's tough, really tough," he says after practice ends for the day.

The same might be said for his team. He pushes them, but he's high on them, individually and collectively. "They're good kids, they understand, they listen and they try hard," he says about this squad. DeFrank, the man of few words, is not one much for pep talks, speeches or huddles. No surprise there. He says what he has to say, the team practices what it has to practice for the day and when the practice is done, they leave, ready to start all over again the next day.

On the court, he is a taskmaster.

Off the court, there is another side to Harry DeFrank. He is, if not grandfatherly, instinctively caring and consoling when the occasion calls for it. Minutes into the practice, he walks quietly, solicitously, unobtrusively over to the wall at the front of the gym. Sophomore point guard Mary Kate Holder sits against the wall in her school clothes, too ill with a cold to practice. He takes her hand, asks about her condition in that gentle off-court manner of his, and then suggests she might want to go home and rest. Whether she'll be ready for the Harrisburg game in two days is questionable. But Harry's clearly more concerned with her health than her playing status.

Age may have slowed his mobility, but it certainly hasn't zapped his enthusiasm for the game. At one point in the Wednesday practice, he's hunching over on the sidelines, knees bent, bouncing up and down as much as his 78-year-old body will permit. "Trap, trap, trap!" he instructs as the starters practice their full court pressure defense against the reserves. He catches himself and smiles to the observer. "See the old man get excited?" he laughs. Without a pause, he turns back to his team and applauds. "Good job, good job," he tells his players.

DeFrank is under no illusion about the high hurdle Harrisburg poses for his young Shamrocks the next night. But he does what he always does in practice…he works them hard and they respond in kind. It is, in the main, however, a ragged session. "Looked like it's the second night of practice," he says as he leaves the building. But he isn't worried. "These are good kids," he explains. “They'll play hard, they won't quit." He was right on.

The Lady Cougars defeated the Shamrocks, 52-45, the next night. The game was settled in the second quarter when Harrisburg outscored Trinity, 16-2. The Cougars' speed, strength and experience, which had Harry and his staff so justifiably concerned, all came together in the second eight minutes of the game to settle the outcome. Harrisburg grabbed five offensive rebounds in that span that resulted in scores. What’s more, their in-your-face, belly-to-belly pressure defense forced six Trinity turnovers. The Shamrocks had scoring opportunities of their own but just couldn't put the ball in the basket. For Trinity, it was one shot and done. Case closed. (Jean DeFrank, incidentally, left the gym about this time to occupy her toddler grandson in the lobby, not to return until the closing minutes of the fourth quarter.)

If, by halftime, the game was over for all practical purposes, DeFrank’s take on this team was very much on the mark. The girls didn't mail it in for the second half. They kept competing and competing, and when Harrisburg's defense mysteriously lost its intensity in the fourth quarter, Trinity suddenly found itself down by only 4 points with 26 seconds remaining. But two Cougar fouls shots sealed the deal.

…Harry had said two nights earlier, his players wouldn't quit, and they didn't. They outscored Harrisburg 24-14 in that final quarter. Not enough, but still an impressive statement on the competitive spirit of this squad. "Experience told tonight," he told the press after the game. "They've been in more big ones than we have and it showed. I was pleased we didn't quit and fought back. But we had too many turnovers and they killed us on the boards. This game will help us."

Help them it did. Less than 24 hours later, at 2 o'clock the very next afternoon, Trinity hosted perennial powerhouse Bishop Hoban of Scranton in a non-conference game. Tired legs or not, the 'Rocks played solid offense and aggressive defense and overwhelmed the visitors, 67-35, running their record to 11-3 at the mid-point of the season. Two weeks later, the Shamrocks were on a three-game win streak (four going back to the Bishop Hoban contest) boosting their record to 14-3. Ah, the energy and resiliency of youth. And lest we forget, the good things that can happen when you “squeeze the orange” and take care of the basketball.