DRIVE Basketball :: Coaches Corner : Gil Cheung

"I also loved being a role model to so many kids, and give something back to the community."

- GC

"I think the biggest thing a kid can do is play against older and better players."

- GC

"Some of the best University players are ones who are not the most dominant in HS."

- GC

Our 1st Installment of Coach's Corner for the new year is a sit-down chat with DRIVE Head Coach Gil Cheung. Gil is a past U-17 B.C. stand-out who both played and coached at Brandon University in Manitoba. We thank Gil for sharing his wonderful thoughts and advice for players in B.C. To read more about Gil check out his new staff page here.

ID: What are the most fondest memories of your high school and University basketball career?

The ones I cherish the most rarely had to do with actual basketball. It was never a great pass, shot, or game, even though some of those do stand out. My fondest moments would be working out at the gym early mornings with Pasha, or banging on the back door at Richmond High trying to wake Bill up from his afternoon nap in the Satellite room to let us in. Or maybe bribing Armando (our janitor) to leave the lights on for a few more minutes so we could get a couple of more shots up. I loved riding my bike to various parks, and hoping that you were good enough to get a run in with the older guys. Guys like Novell Thomas and Andrew Mavis, we would be on our bikes with our slurpees from Danny’s market wishing they needed one more guy.

There isn’t a greater feeling then winning a “AAA” provincial championship. Yes it feels great to know you are the top team that year, but the part I will always cherish is knowing the fact that we won and I got to celebrate it with my teammates, who were also my best friends. Even if we had beat St.Fx those 2 years in the CIS finals, I don’t think I would of traded that for that title at RHS.

I loved university basketball in Brandon also. It is a town of 45,000 and the gym was full every night. Everyone treated you great, and the fans were loyal through everything. They would line up outside in –35 weather to get into a small little gym to catch us play University of WPG or Victoria. I enjoyed the road trips and chemistry with the guys, and just being able to play a sport you love and get your school paid for it. I also loved being a role model to so many kids, and give something back to the community. This was one of the reasons I chose to go into teaching, to help mentor kids. Working with DRIVE lets me continue with this.

If I had to pick one moment that I can recall that made me realize that basketball was giving me back so much was the summer when I was 16. I remember making the U-17 Provincial team and also playing on Team Excel which was a AAU type team also. I can fondly remember Pasha and I played a tournament in Denver, we played well, but had to leave with 5 mins left in the game to catch a cab so we could catch a flight back to Seattle, then drive back to Vancouver for a flight leaving for Las Vegas the next morning. I was already in Phoenix the week before and it felt like I was living out of a gym bag for over a month. I remember being late for the flight, being rushed through security, still in our jersey’s carried our bags on and just making the flight. We were both exhausted, but it wasn’t a full flight, so we got to relax with a whole row to ourselves. I remember Pasha’s feet stinking up the whole plane cause for good luck he wouldn’t change his socks all tournament. I remember us to teenage guys, talking, eating, and living basketball. On a empty flight with nothing except our sneakers and our basketball, sitting there I realized how much I owed to the ball beside and to the guy sitting a row infront of me with his feet up.

ID: You've played with and against some great players in your career, who are some of the best players you've played with or against, or might have seen in person and why were they great?

Well for teammates my top 5 would be Pasha Bains, Kyle Russel, Earnest Bell, Aaron Mitchell, and Mike Raimbault. Pasha is the greatest scorer I have ever played with. We have been best friends for over half our lives, and I have never had a connection with another player on the court like I did and still do with Pasha. We could go play pick-up today and I will still know where he will be and when to get him the ball. He is a complete player who I am a huge fan of, but also his biggest critic.

Kyle Russell is a guy I will always look up too. He was very versatile and really showed me what hard work was, and how much basketball is just competing.

Aaron Mitchell who is a coach at STM now is a player who I have to say is one of the smartest players on the floor I have ever seen. I played with him at Brandon University, and we would of never made it to the National Cahmpionship that year if it wasn’t for him.

Earnest Bell was a All-Canadian swing man from Louisville. I played with him for 2 years, and he was a animal. He was a great defender, averaged 24 and 11 a night. Great instincts.

Lastly I would have to say Mike Raimbault, who is assistant coach at Brandon University now. He wasn't very athletic, but I would learn from his workout habits, and his thirst for knowledge. I spent 3 months with Mike in Calgary the summer before my Senior season, and I truly learned what hard work was. For the best players I have played against it would have to be Steve Nash, Luke Ridnour, and Lamar Odem. I got to play against Nash a few times, and the most amazing this about him was how efficient he was. He never wastes a step, a dribble, or any motion at all. He is the best PG in the league because he can make decisions better than anyone else going full speed. There are no tricks to his game, he out thinks his defender and makes other around him better.

ID: You grew up as a player in the Basketball BC community, what are some of the things you think players in BC need to work on in regards to their skills and overall knowledge of the game? Where do you see the high school game heading in this province and how has it changed over the years?

I think the biggest thing a kid can do is play against older and better players. You learn so much from that. When we used to have open gym at RHS and guys like Andrew Mavis would come back to play, or Ron Putizi, or Jordie Mctavish, I would learn how they got open, how they handled being pressured, how they got defenders on their heels etc. I think today kids are afraid to fail. They are scared to get beat, or to look bad. Basketball has this macho image about it that he worst thing out there on the court is to get dunked on or crossed up. So you see top players playing against inferior ones, instead of taking on a challenge and getting better for it. Kids are scared to learn. Players also have to watch good University basketball. UBC, SFU, Duke, etc. Watching the NBA you don’t learn as much, cause those guys you see on TV 95% of them are freak athletes who no matter how hard you try you can’t do what they did. I don’t care how many hours you spend in a gym you will not be able to cross-over like AI or dunk on a 7 footer like Lebron. Instead watch a guy like JJ Reddick of Duke. Watch how a poor athlete gets open shots, how he uses screens, how he gets people off their feet or to dip their hands. Watch how he uses his footwork to get him to the foul line.

The truth is with more and more high schools the competiton is at a lower level than it has been. Not saying the kids are not as skilled or talented, but instead of the kids are spread out through many schools. When before you could have 4 BC team members on your HS squad, but now a days you would hard to find a school with 2. The thing I see that has dropped off the most is shooting and passing. Players don’t shoot the ball as well as the used too. Maybe its AND 1 mix tape or the streetball scene but shooting is defianely a lost art. Also passing has fallen off also. Not the actual pass itself those still look great, but everyone now a days wants to massage the ball and be the “guy” to make the pass for the assist. Instead, players forgot how to make the early pass or the one that makes the defense shift so the next pass gets a basket.

ID: What overall advice would you give young players growing up in B.C.?

The best advice would be to find a friend. Find a best friend, one who loves basketball, who wants to get better, who want the same things you do. A guy who will push you, work with you, cheer you on, and be honest with you. I was very lucky to have a few friends like that Pasha Bains and Atnas Maeko. We did everything together, play video games, go to the mall, look for girls, movies, whatever. But basketball kept us close. If I had a bad game these guys were there to pick me up, to tell me what they saw and how to get better. We all had aspirations of playing University basketball, I think we would of made it on our own, but having those 2 with me, I was sure to succeed on and off the court.

ID: What makes a player great?

A player who can make others around him or her better. When they can take a average team and with leadership, teamwork, shooting, passing, rebounding, and defense hey can make them winners. A great player gives others confidence, and is a leader on and off the court. He or she is a player who works harder than everyone else, and it is infectious to the entire team.

ID: You've both coached and played in the CIS - what would you tell a BC recruit looking at potential places to play their post-secondary career?

I would first tell them to make sure they hit the books. There are a lot of Universities and Colleges to play at, but unless you have the academics there isn’t much they can do for you. I always here of people saying “Oh, he’s real good, they will get him in” Believe me, I recruited a few players from Toronto and the US who were great players, and no matter what I tried, if he didn’t have the grades, there was nothing we could do for him. Some of the best players in the world are living in cities just playing at the local community center because they never hit the books. They are usually the ones with a 20 yr old All-Star t-shirt from some HS tournament who’s telling the young guys out there how Coach K was recruiting him and how he had a shot at the league straight from HS.

The other thing is to get your name out there. Some of the best University players are ones who are not the most dominant in HS. They are maybe a little awkward, or have been playing out of position. There are many players that I never heard of in our recruiting but turned out to be great University players. Technology is a great thing. Email the coach, no coach is going to turn down a tape. Send them video, stats anything, do not be shy! If you are not one of the top 10 players in your province, you have to find them, cause we can’t find everyone on our own.

DRIVE is excited to have Gil back in British Columbia. We thank him for sharing his thoughts in this installment of 'Coaches Corner.'