Columbia Cascades

Current Communications & Complete Schedule

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May 18, 2020

We have pulled out of the Chicago Nike TOC Tournament due to Covid – 19 issues., regarding: Venue, and Airlines Travel

Cascades families funds will be lowered accordingly.

We are still hopeful to get out to play some ball even though it apepears as if the NCAA is not going to allow coaches to come and watch. Everything will be done via video.

Update May 7, 2020

WE ARE LOOKING FOR PLAYERS FOR THE CASCADES AND REIGN TEAMS. CONTACT COACH AL IF INTERESTED IN JOINING US!

CASCADES HAD ANOTHER FLIGHT CHANGE REGARDING THE CHICAGO TRIP. IT IS CORRECT BELOW ON JULY 9 OF ITINERARY.

WE ADDED A NEW LINK ON OUR WEB PAGE CALLED: “PLAYER MEDIA .” IT IS WHERE ALL PLAYER HIGHLIGHT FILMS ARE LISTED. CHECK IT OUT.

WE ARE THINKING AHEAD TO HELP OUR PLAYERS!

Hello to all families,
I hope and pray this note finds you all healthy and doing OK in this time.
As always, a players health and well being is being considered in all that we do.
As you are aware, I have been coaching for a long time, and over 40 years at the HS / College level.  I have some expertise in doing this, and I am connected nationwide to coaches from all over the country.  In saying that, I think we can still help our kids, and especially our seniors get some badly needed exposure for college recruiting. I have been asking our players for several weeks to get a highlight film put together, and several have finished those (Thank you!). Player films are critical evidence needed when I contact coaches on behalf of our kids!  Our plan below can help these seniors a great deal!  I also thinks its over and above what other organizations will do for their players.
With all that being said, I want to keep you informed and let you all know we have a “forward thinking” plan in the case of July events being cancelled or postponed.  It is possible for all kinds of scenarios to take place i.e. Run as a scheduled ( which is where the NCAA and EYBL are at currently), only run a few events later in July, no events period, or events in August and possible even September).
Regardless of what transpires, we want to have a plan in place. Given these possible scenarios, here is what I am considering:(As you know, everything is contingent on when the CDC/Governor gives us the “OK,” and allows us to proceed)

1.  IF THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS ALLOW ACCESS, we would start on or about or June 25 start time. Work on skill development, training, our team plans for games and all aspects of the game to help our kids be organized and to get better.  If the schools don’t allow access after June 21, this can change a few things, or cancel it all.
If we decide to proceed with option #1, we would bring all players together for work at Prairie HS and have out of town guests stay at the Team Hotel in Vancouver. We would help transport to the gyms for workouts.  We would be doing this to organize our team structure, as well as help our players improve individually.  After we have organized a little, we would then invite other local clubs in to scrimmage against us, and film these sessions for the kids to use as highlights for they’re recruiting. ( summer clips vs just HS clips)  We would hire refs and play as games too, for filming. So some for practice scrimmages, and some for filming as live games.  There are several good teams in our area that may wish to join us for these activities.
2. WE ARE ALLOWED TO MOVE FORWARD & PLAY CLUB IN JULY, we will be amped up and ready to go.  If tournaments are not active, then we will focus on our team skills and start implementing all we can to be ready for upcoming events. I anticipate about 1 week to 10 days to organize, lay out and communicate this plan.  Thereby assuring our teams that if things open up later we would be ready for viewing period events.
3. RENT A PRIVATE FACILITY, this alternative would be more costly, and we can only do this if the state is allowing it.

Regarding fees:I will try to keep the expenses to within our deposit scenario as best I can. (So we will try and limit any more expense out of pocket,)  except for your deposits unless it is necessary to break even on expenses.  I have airlines fees paid already for the Cascades to and from Chicago. ( They reinstated our flights  from Midway to Seattle and Portland, so I rebooked those after the word from the EYBL people.) Fingers crossed again!!

As of today, EYBL is planning on playing in July.  I have talked to a few clubs, who are planning on starting in June ( If HS seasons are cancelled?) Our school is closed until June 21 like everyone else, so I don’t know if there will be any summer HS ball period.  I may even move my summer HS tournament to June 20 -21 if possible, but I worry about a late notice in this change and teams committed to other tournaments for that weekend. Just trying to be forward thinking again, and this will only happen if the CDC/Governor approves.
I have been sending workouts for shooting and ball handling a couple of times a week to the girls,  so please keep working on stuff. Your shooting is an area where everyone can improve right now with or without a hoop.  Defense, ball handling, passing, and staying in shape are all areas of growth as well right now.  Whenever the opportunity arises, it is also important for players to watch film on themselves, look for mistakes you are making and ask yourself, “what was the better option?” Look for your areas of improvement since you all have access to your games on hudl.  If you need suggestions, myself and my staff are always available to watch a game and give you feedback.  As we want to develop the mental side of basketball with our players as well.  This is an area often overlooked, but given our circumstances, we can slow down and find time for our teams to focus on this area.
We have also been doing Team Zoom meetings to help get to know each other.
Please respond individually if you have any questions or concerns.  I want you all to know we are trying to think forward, be creative and be ready when this all clears up. I encourage kids to finish their highlight films and to make sure they identify themselves and their uniform numbers at the begging of each video. They should also use a highlight arrow or circle on the films to identify themselves on the films for each clip.  NO more that 4 minutes please.  Underclassmen a minute is fine for now, and save them for next year to add on another years clips.  I do not need to see those unless you want help or want my opinion on them?  If underclassmen have complete highlight film,  I can send them out for you as well.
Thanks everyone,
Coach AL

Update April 2, 2020 from the NCAA

We just heard word that the NCAA has extended the dead period until May 31st. This means no visits to college campuses and no off-campus in person recruiting from us coaches. Normal rules still apply for communication based on grade you are in.

Also all spring viewing period events are cancelled.

Update, March 26, 2020

We wanted to let everyone know that our Reign Coach GC Hillburn has recently been named as the new Head WBB Coach at Pacific Lutheran University. This has been a long sought after dream for him, and we are happy for this accomplishment. GC will continue to Coach with us and Coach the Reign Team, which is also great news!

We are looking for 4 players for each of our Reign and Cascades Team for spring and summer of the 2020 Basketball Recruiting Season. Contact Coach Aldridge if you are interested, at: aldridge8@msn.com

OUR TRAINER: TROY DEVRIES:

CASCADES TRAINING Devotion Basketball with Troy DeVries

LINK: www.devotionbasketball.com

April & May Dates TBA soon. All training on hold for now.

We welcome Troy DeVries to our Cascades Family as our Vancouver, Portland area trainer. Troy played in Australia and Europe Professionally and is the purest shooter I have ever seen. He is a great addition to our staff to help our players improve their BB skills and shooting. Troy will be teaching on Tuesday and Thursday nights in Vancouver at Prairie HS from 7 – 8:30 pm beginning in April and May. Fees included for training with a Cascades membership to our club. Drop-Ins welcome at $50 per session. ( 1.5 hours)

Cascades Reign Coach GC Hillburn, PLU WBB Assistant is training our Northern Players. His training is free to all Cascades & Reign players. His sessions are as follows:

ALL TRAINING IS POSTPONED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE .

Friday  May 22, 2020   ALL FEES DUE

Mail to Coach Al 

Summer 2020:

Official First Day of Club Workouts: June 25 5:00 PM Prairie HS

• Team Hotel: Howard Johnson by Wyndam
• Address: 9201 NE Vancouver Mall Dr, Vancouver, WA 98662
• Phone: (360) 836-1251

EOT Shootout Tournament June 26- 28, 2020

Resume Practices June 29 -July 4

July 4 Practice games at U of Portland noon

Tournament: EOT Oregon City July 5 – 8

Cascades to: Chicago Nike National Showcase: July 9 – -12, 2020

Reign Team to EOT Aftershock Tournament in Auburn, WA. Depart July 10 am returning July 12 after last game.

Housing in homes or hotel TBD.

Cascades: Travel to Chicago; July 9, 2020

Cascades Team: July 9:  Southwest flight 2200 departs PDX at 12:50 PM. Arrives in Chicago MDW @ 6:45 PM  CHANGE & CONFIRMED

Hyatt Regency Hotel

151 E. Upper Wacker Drive

Chicago, Ill.

Contact Traveling teams at 866-468-3268, ex. 808

CHANGES ON BOTH SEATTLE AND PORTLAND FLIGHTS:
Individual Returns from Chicago to  Portland & Seattle on July 12. :  Seattle passengers on SWA Flight1635 departs MDW @ 7:25, arrives in Seattle @ 9:55 PM.  
Portland players: SWA # 160 depart from  MDW @ 5:05 PM , arriving in Denver @ 6:50PM, departs from  Denver @ 8:00 PM arriving in PDX @ 9:45 PM AM

Both Teams off July 13- 18 Returning to Vancouver for Practice Sunday, July 19, 2020 Noon

July 20, Departs PDX on Southwest Airlines # 5985 @ 7:35 AM arrives in las Vegas at 9:45 am

Hotel: Tahiti Village Resort
7200 Las Vegas Blvd, South 
Las Vegas, NV 89119 Phone: 702/440-6800

July 23 Southwest flight # 5950 from Las Vegas to OC John Wayne Airport (SNA) Departs at 8:05 PM arrives in OC at 10:15 PM UPDATED

Ladera Ranch, CA for EOT Swoosh Final Tournament July 23- 26, 2020.

Hotel: Ayres Suites 28941 Los Alisos Blvd Mission Viejo, CA.

Return Home July 26, 2020. End of tour.

Portland Players: SWA flight # 4955 departs SNA @ 6:45 PM arrives in PDX at 11:00 PM via SMF. UPDATED again on 4/24/2020 CHANGED

Seattle Players: ALASKA AIRLINES FLIGHT 1223 DEPARTS SNA @ 5:20 Pm arrives in Seattle at 8:05PM 1 checked bag free. CHANGED AND UPDATED APRIL 24,2020

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The Cascades finished a great spring and summer season. We competed in some of the top events Nationwide and always competed in the top Divisions.  We finished with unbelievable record of 32-6, losing to Cal Stars top EYBL teams in 3 of those losses.  A great group of athletes who bought into our system and work at the defensive end as hard as the offensive one! Our 5 seniors all have college opportunities, and scholarships.  We accomplished this being short handed for the second half of the summer season with only 8 players available and 7 for a lot of it due to sickness and injuries.

Our Reign team also enjoyed a great summer improving as they went along.  Coach GC Hillburn from PLU did a good job with these young ladies. They also enjoyed a very successful season in terms of win/loss and have a the only 2 seniors & they were recruited with scholarships. 

All in all, it has been awesome. Traveling with these young ladies was fun and always entertaining.  THANKS EVERYONE !!!

Directions to Prairie HS:

Directions to Prairie HS…From the North: From I-5,  take the 205 South. The second exit will be Padden Parkway. Exit 32.( Its about 2 miles down 205.) Exit and turn left at the light. Travel East on Padden to the 3rd light. ( NE 117th Ave.) Turn left and travel about 2 miles North to NE 119th St. ( Shell on the corner and Winco shopping center across and left at that intersection.)  Turn left on NE 119th and go 1 block to first light. Turn left into Prairie HS. Take a left turn at the first parking lot and go around the first building. The gym is located on your right.

From the South take 205 North and the Padden Exit East. (Exit 32 also)  (Stay to the right on the off ramp & stay to the right) follow Padden Parkway to NE 117^th (2^nd light) turn left to the school 2 miles on left.

Go past the school to the next intersection (NE 119^th Ave.)  (Shell Station on corner) Turn left; travel 1 block to first light. Turn left into school. The gym is located directly ahead as you enter the parking lot, but follow the driveway to the left and then to the right to get to the front and the gym doors.