Coach Cal’s Womens Clinic October 13,2019
By Peggy Gilligan
The clinic today was attended by about 500 very devoted Big Blue Fans all women. The first item on the agenda was for all attendees to get a photo and autograph with Coach Cal and Ellen Calipari the ladies had the option to purchase a basketball for autographs at registration. Most if not all had the basketball and various other items from pictures, purses, books and also Makers Mark bottles to be signed.
The autograph session started at 12:30 and continued until after 4:00. This required a change to the itenary.
Coach cal’s welcome was next and he talked about the new and returning players and answered many questions from the attendees. Next up was a video featuring the players and then each was introduced to the crowd all received enthuastic applause.
The next segment included the three assistant coaches Kenny Payne, Joel Justus, and Tony Barbee.This discussion was about the new rule changes implemented by the NCAA this season.Examples included the new 3 point line and shot clock reset to only 20 seconds on and offensive rebound. There was also a question and answer session after this discussion as well.
The next video that was shown on the scoreboard was Ellen Calapiri interviewing the players at media day last week. She seemed to have a good time making the players uncomfortable when tryting to find a reason for her son Brad’s departure from the team.
Next up was the strength coach Rob Harris and his assistant Brad Merchant. After explaining his role and answering questions he invited the ladies onto the floor at Rupp Arena for a short exercise session. All seemed to enjoy this segment. For their last segment Rob had Ellen Calipari and Wlex personality Jennifer Palumbo engage in a plank off. And it was no surprise the Ellen Calipari was the winner. From what I could see Mrs. Calipari could have continued for several more minutes.
The final segment was Coach Barbee with the players doing a walk through of how the team would set up and execute a 2-3 zone. It was very informative and the players seemed very attentive as this was their first introduction to this defensive method of play.
The day ended with all the attendees back on the floor for a group picture with the players and the Calaparis.