A few minutes with Calvin Douglas

6-foot-3 Calvin Douglas signed in May with San Jose State, making the move from a very successful stint at City College of San Francisco. SpartanHoops recently did an interview with him:

SH -- What did you do basketball-wise this summer? Were you working individually or with a trainer? Any specific areas you were working on?

CD - Throughout the spring and summer, I was able to get in the gym with Phil Handy three times a week. Some of the things we worked on were my ball handling, spot-up shooting, shooting off the dribble, conditioning and just understanding the game better. Phil also had me work out with college and professional players to adjust to the speed and intensity and just to get an overall understanding of what the game will be like for me now.

Also, I was able to get a lot of shots up Saturday mornings at my old high school. Coach John Woolery would open up the gym and let me get a hour worth of shots up on the shooting machine before we did some skill work also. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I would go to Los Medanos College open gyms and get some run in. I would also come down to San Jose and get some open run in with some of my teammates, just to get know everybody and become more comfortable with them. Besides being in the gym, me and some close friends would go for a 8 a.m. workout which consisted of running hills and running on the track twice a week.


SH - What is happening right now for you with Spartan basketball? Are players able to practice as yet?

CD - Yes, I am able to workout and right now I'm just learning the system, trying to adjust and become more comfortable with it daily.


SH - Any idea how many family members will be coming to see you play at Walt McPherson Court this season?

CD - Since I am close to home, a lot of family members and my close friends have told me they will attend a lot of games. That is something I am really looking forward to.


SH - You've experienced high school, community college and how university academics -- what differences, if any, do you see?

CD - The difference from high school to community college was that you have to become more responsible. No teacher is going to tell you to turn your work in or remind you when an assignment is due. You have to pay attention to your syllabus and keep up with the readings or you will get left behind. There's not much of a difference from community college to a university. You're an adult, and the professors are going to treat you like one so they expect you to act like one when it comes to handling school work.


SH - First, it was Robert Owens coming from City College of San Francisco, now yourself -- Coach Justin Labagh is turning out players. Why did you choose to attend CCSF and how did Coach Labagh help you with your game?

CD - I chose CCSF because the school is known as one of the best schools in the state in academics and athletics, and because of the competition I would go up against in practice and games. Coach Labagh helped me a lot with my game by teaching me and everyone on the team to never be satisfied with just doing good and he pushed us beyond our limits.

In practice, everything was a competition from shooting drills, free throws, sprints, to scrimmages. By doing this, he just brought out the competitive nature in everyone and that is something you need to be successful.

He also broke the game down to us daily. Before every practice, we would watch film on our previous day practice and go over the good and the bad. That was helpful because the tape does not lie and if we messed up again you would continuously hear it and eventually you will do it right because you got tired of hearing the same thing.

Coach Adam (D'Acquisto) was also key in my development also because he helped with my defense and also my shooting along with Coach Tom (McNichol) and Coach Derrick (Bradley).