FBC Defenders

Congratulations to FBC Defenders (Frederick) on a great Quaker City Challenge Tournament!

Both their hard work and TEAM work paid off as they captured Third Place Honors in their Division. After a difficult Thursday night loss to the New York Revolution, the Defenders quickly regrouped and played impressive basketball the entire weekend. Friday’s game against the Philly Freedom started out with a low scoring first half, but the Defenders turned it on after halftime with field goals and free throws falling, leading to a 35 to 31 victory. The team played their next game several hours later versus the Spotsylvania Sting, who led 28-25 at the half. Throughout the game the Defenders (Frederick) had great ball movement, wonderful assists, aggressive shooting, and tight defense, which contributed to the team’s 49-47 win.

On Saturday, they continued their strong team play in a tough, physical game versus the Silver Bullets of Long Island with the final result being a dominant 42-32 victory (their 3rd in a row!!). The girls, who were definitely on a roll and feeling good, quickly shifted their focus to their second game of the day, which was against a tough Tarheels team from South Jersey. While the Defenders played strong and were down by only three points at halftime, the Tarheels turned it on in the second half and won the game 54-41.

We are extremely proud of the ladies of Coach Frederick’s Defenders team who fought hard in every game and ended the weekend with a 4-2 record! We also want to offer our deepest thanks to Coach John Frederick for his amazing dedication and for everything he has done for our girls!!

CONGRATULATIONS to the defenders program as they pulled together to make it to the final 4 in the Pacific Bracket at the 2011 US Invitational at Penn State! In the semi-final game the defenders finally lost one but that is not the real story of the game. They started with only 5 players against the Team Cisco from Quebec City Canada (11 players).  At the half the defenders were down by only 3 pts and Team Cisco realized they were in a dog fight. The start of the second half proved that the defenders were there to win it all but with 10 minutes left (16min half) a player fouled out of the game! Determined to fight until the end, cause that is what defenders do, the FBC Defenders switched to a diamond defense (with only 4 player eligible) and for the next 6mins 30sec the score differential was never more than 5 pts. Can you believe that?! But with 3mins 30sec left in the game fatigue finally overtook the defender and they eventually lost the game by 13pts. On that day the team showed everyone why their head coach refers to all players in his program, he is the founder, as SOLDIERS!!! Yes they lost the battle, but they WON the war! Stay tuned as the player stats will be posted on this website shortly…

To all FBC Defenders players and family, FBC Defenders Frederick (Altlantic Division Bracket III) and FBC Defenders Stone (Pacific Division Bracket I) the program will view the NCAA video together on Tuesday  @ 12 noon, Multipurpose Building (down the hill from Bryce Jordan Ctr) on Penn State University campus. Please go to BlueChip Basketball website for details on admissions, schedules, rules, campus map, site locations, parking, etc. Everyone please park in the big parking lot adjacent to the Bryce Jordan Ctr and be sure to get your parking pass to display in your window from your coaching staff. This is the only lot designated for tournament parking. Park anywhere else @ your own risk!

PLEASE NOTE: US Invitational Tournament is bracket play. Because of that style each time you play a game the team you are facing will have the exact same record as you. Also it means that each time you play a game, your next game is determined by whether you win or lose. If you lose you move through the bracket to the left, if you win then you move to the right.  After your second game it becomes more difficult to track your progression without looking at the bracket layout. Because of that the game schedule on the website is somewhat tricky to follow. Please be sure you print the bracket files for your team’s division prior to getting to Penn State. It will just make your life so much easier for the week, promise.

The FBC Defenders are very proud to announce the selection of Taryana Kelly to the 2011 Allstar team for the Rose Classic Spring Tournament! Taryana played on the FBC Defenders team that won the Pacific Division by dominating the paint on both ends of the floor. Her selection to the allstar team is validation that this 6′2″ post has arrived! The allstar game is scheduled to be played on Sunday June 5th, 3 p.m., at 300 Adelphi Street, Brooklyn, NY.

Congratulations Taryana! We are all so very proud of you!

Congratulations are in order for the FBC Defenders team as it wins the Pacific Division regular season at the Nike Rose Classic Spring 2011 in Brooklyn, NY finishing 5-0! Jasmine Walker a junior guard from North Brunswick High and Janissa Delzo a junior guard from Wardlaw-Hartridge High leads the team at 16 points per game and 8 points per game respectively. Shalette Brown leads the team in rebounds while Taryana Kelly controls the paint and Ashanti Bess leads the team in assist to turnover ratio. The addition of Shaun Stevenson has given the team a true point guard that understands how to get everyone involved while still contributing herself. This has allowed the team to move Ashanti Bess from the 1 to the 2 or 3 position at certain times in a game to take advantage of her quickness on the defensive side and her deep 3pt shooting. But make no mistake, Jasmine Walker has clearly established herself as one of the best players at the Rose Classic this year. She is doing whatever the team needs from scoring to rebounding to defending. Follow each player’s performance on the stats page at http://www.fbcdefenders.com/teams/2011-team-stats-stone/

So proud of my SOLDIERS!, Defenders(STONE) finished the exposure period (battle baltimore 4-0, metro classic 4-0, Rose Summer Showcase 1-1) strong, 9-1. Congratulations! You’ve had a tremendous season! So Proud! Just So Darn Proud Of Every Player In Program. Defenders(Frederick) finished strong as well, improving with each game down the stretch. When most would have given up, these ladies beat the odds and fought through for victory or near victory, or even defeat, and grew with each game. I love you and am proud of you in ways you just can’t image. You inspire me to fight my way back to 100%. I will accept NOTHING less for myself because you have accepted nothing less. True inspiration!

Coach Frederick and Nicole you have done a tremendous job for the program. The way you guys stepped up when I went down is admirable. Best coaching staff in the world, any level, any pay grade! I will put you up against anyone!

Parents, without your unwavering commitment to me and this program there is no way I could have gone through these past weeks. NO WAY! I thank you one and all for holding together and allowing your girls the opportunity to see how good they could really become. For that I thank you all. I would also like to thank you for working so hard at the fund raisers. Because of that I am able to send those players who have been in the program from the beginning to Ohio at NO registration cost to them! Yes the club picked up the tab for registering 16 players @ $90 each. Also the club paid for the summer league games @ W 4th Street and CAS Douglas combined costed $1,650.

Finally there is Q James. The entire program owes you it’s very life for the 2010 season. You alone save our season because you stepped into the Administrator role and seamlessly guided the program through to this point and made it look effortlessly. I know for certain that is took tremendous effort on your part to manage the defenders commitments and your own. God Bless You! Thank You hardly seems adequate. Much LOVE!

John Stone
FBC Defenders AAU Club

The FBC Defenders(STONE) finished up the regular season on a tear (3rd Place) as their final standing are as follows; 4 wins 2 losses, played without their regular season head coach (John Stone) for all W 4th Street games. New head coach (Jasmine Lytle) guided the squad the allof the way and has been flawless in that effort. Big thanks the the adults (John Frederick) on the bench as the team could not possibly have done this without you (Jerod, Mrs. Stone, Andrea). The program is so lucky to have people like you! Reason, Season, Lifetime.

Next up for the Defenders @ W 4th Street are the playoffs where they will be the Lady XMEN in the semi-final game @ 9:15 a.m. Hope to see all Defenders family at the game!!!!

It is a hot & steamy summer saturday morning here in NYC as people begin to gather for what would ultimately become HISTORY for a team (and small program with only 2 teams) that seems to somehow show up 10 out 10 times wherever they go. In today’s me, me, me, take what I can world of aau basketball this would seem EXTREMELY odd but yet very refreshing if true. Well believe me it is absolutely, positively, TRUE. The FBC Defenders all arrive in new york this day ready to play there late morning game like they have so many times in the past. Parents and players gathering as if they are in their backyard preparing for a family function. Exchanging hugs and pleasantries like siblings all ultimately making there was to the matriarch of the program. Is this real? Some might think it’s not but for this program it is because of one primary founding principle. The FBC Defenders are a family through and through. Know that and NEVER doubt it, cause for EVERY family that it touches, they do KNOW it is ABSOLUTELY true.

here at the Cage, a world famous venue sitting in village next door to the Blue Note. The bustle picking up now the Defenders are finally up, gametime. Now at the cage fans all know when the Defenders play it will be an exciting game. Especially since they have this extremely dynamic coach who always seems to come with kid never seen before who just erupts at some point in a game. Win or Lose! It is amazing to watch and so the fence outside starts to pack.  The refs call for captains, little minute check, jump ball and the game is on. As the Positive direction team come out they jump on the Defenders from the start. A little startle the defenders take a quick blow but survive it. Remember now that’s nothing for them. Why? Because that who they are and they know it is NOT over yet game just started. Staring into the eyes of one of the Pd players is a kid that really looks like she should be at the short somewhere hanging. But what THEY don’t know is she is smoldering. Up the floor, down the floor they go. And them all of a suddden that same young lady does a quick body check. AM I FEELING, YES, IS IT TIME, HECK YEAH, you see had been asked that at key times in games before by her coach. BUT TODAY SHE IS NOT WAITING FOR HIM. Today it would be her who decides. At that moment she demanded the ball and BANG! Rain a 3333333333! On her way back she thought, that felt good. O crap you guy are in trouble and you don’t even know. Then all of a sudden she smiled. Now running the point for the Defenders is Ashanti Bess. Serving at point due to the abscence of the talented Shari Jones who normally starts. Now Ashanti has been working with Coach Stone to get her mentally to a place where she can KNOW she is a beast. Today she is there so looking this teammate of hers she sees it and thinks OMG. So next few position she is pass her the ball EVERYTIME she can. Who is she? Only the FBC Defenders Rose Classic famous Janissa “let id rain” Delzo!!!!!!! And for a short while at west fourth the sun was out but Janissa began to just make it RAIN 3s. Before the other team could realize the Defenders were right back in it and the team called time. Yelling at her team not to relax the coach made a critical mistake. She told her team not to let up until up by twenty. Bad move as the Defenders heard that and it was OVER!

Final Score FBC Defenders 59    Positive Direction 41    GAME OVER!

High Scorers Jasmine “ol skool” Phelps with 14 pts, Shalette “The Beastie” with 10pts and of course Janissa “Rain” Delzo 10 pts, Tia “Paryana” Kelly 9 brds 4 blks, and final Ashanti “you don’t know” Bess 7 dimes.

Now I know the coach so thought why not say hello. To my surprise the team was coach by Jamine “big pretty smile” Lytle currently the single most hearlded Defenders player of ALL time and sitting quietly on the bench with her making her coaching debut was MRS BRENDA STONE, the coaches wife. OMG!

Hey coach, I hope you’re doing well just keeping you updated with the games. Today we had to play 4 on 4 against the PA Storm. We only scored 2 points in the first half to the storm’s 20 something, during the start of the second half the team was motivated by the parents to hustle and play hard. With the help of Parris… J. Branker and Janaysia James to get us scoring, we soon found out that we could actually play a game with only 4 people. I was the teams leading scorer with 8 points, but with 4 or 5 minuets left on the clock Parris J. Branker goes down with a minor knee injury. The game ended 16-33., just as I was geting into a scoring groove, I was upset and then realized that our team was fighting, not only to try to come back and make the game close but to also prove to our parents and coach that we four players have heart and really wanted to play. Today was a good day for FBC DefendersAAU Frederick team.

By Karalyne Brown