As a veteran basketball coach, I have seen firsthand the importance of developing solid shooting and dribbling skills in young players. Today, I want to share a highly effective practice method that can elevate your game: the 44 Shooting and Dribbling Drill. This drill not only improves ball handling but also enhances shooting accuracy, making it a must for any youth basketball training regimen.
What is the 44 Shooting and Dribbling Drill?
The 44 Shooting and Dribbling Drill is designed to challenge players by combining dribbling and shooting in a dynamic and engaging way. It involves five key spots on the court where players will dribble for 4 seconds at each spot before executing a series of dribble attacks. This drill helps players develop coordination, speed, and accuracy under pressure.
Setting Up the Drill
Identify Five Spots on the Court:
Select five spots around the court. These can be marked with cones or simply visualized by the player.
Dribble for 4 Seconds:
At each spot, the player will dribble creatively for 4 seconds. This part of the drill encourages ball-handling creativity and control.
Perform Dribble Attacks:
After the 4-second dribble, the player will perform a two-dribble attack with the right hand.
Next, perform a two-dribble attack with the left hand.
Then, execute a one-dribble attack with the right hand.
Finally, complete a one-dribble attack with the left hand.
Repeat at All Spots:
Move to the next spot and repeat the process until all five spots are covered.
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Why the 44 Shooting and Dribbling Drill is Effective
This drill is particularly beneficial for youth players as it combines multiple skills into one practice session. Here are some key benefits:
Enhances Ball Handling:
The requirement to dribble for 4 seconds at each spot forces players to handle the ball with confidence and precision.
Improves Shooting Accuracy:
Transitioning from dribbling to shooting helps players get used to shooting under various conditions, improving their overall shooting accuracy.
Builds Game-Like Conditions:
By incorporating dribble attacks, the drill simulates game-like scenarios, preparing players for real-game situations.
Develops Both Hands:
The drill requires using both hands for dribble attacks, ensuring that players develop ambidextrous skills crucial for higher levels of play.
Tips for Coaches and Parents
To maximize the effectiveness of the 44 Shooting and Dribbling Drill, here are some tips:
Encourage Creativity:
Allow players to be creative with their dribbling during the 4-second intervals. This not only makes the drill fun but also improves their overall ball-handling skills.
Focus on Form:
Ensure that players maintain proper shooting form even after dribbling. Good habits during practice lead to better performance during games.
Consistency is Key:
Regular practice of the 44 Shooting and Dribbling Drill will yield the best results. Incorporate this drill into your training sessions consistently.
Positive Reinforcement:
Praise effort and improvement. Building confidence is crucial for young players’ development.
Conclusion
The 44 Shooting and Dribbling Drill is an excellent way to develop essential basketball skills in young players. By focusing on ball handling, shooting, and game-like scenarios, this drill prepares youth players for success on the court. Whether you are a parent helping your child practice or a new coach looking to improve your team’s skills, incorporating this drill into your routine will undoubtedly yield positive results. Remember, consistent practice and a positive attitude go a long way in youth basketball development.
Stay connected and join our community of like-minded coaches at teachhoops.com for more tips and strategies to improve your coaching and help your team succeed!
Cross-training for basketball is a crucial strategy for developing well-rounded athletes. As a veteran basketball coach, I have seen firsthand how cross-training can enhance a player’s skills, prevent injuries, and keep the game exciting. This post will delve into why cross-training for basketball is essential and how it can be incorporated effectively into your training regimen.
Why Cross-Training for Basketball Matters
First and foremost, cross-training for basketball helps in injury prevention. When players engage in different sports, they use various muscle groups, which reduces the repetitive strain that can lead to injuries. For instance, playing soccer or volleyball can strengthen different parts of the body, promoting overall physical health and resilience.
Best Sports for Cross-Training for Basketball
When considering cross-training for basketball, it’s important to choose sports that complement basketball skills. Volleyball and soccer are two excellent options.
Volleyball involves jumping, lateral movements, and quick reflexes, all of which are crucial in basketball. The jumping and movement patterns in volleyball closely mirror those in basketball, making it an ideal sport for cross-training.
Soccer, on the other hand, enhances stamina, agility, and spatial awareness. The constant running and quick directional changes in soccer help build endurance and improve footwork, which are vital for basketball players. Moreover, soccer helps players develop better field vision and anticipation skills, both of which translate well to the basketball court.
Incorporating Cross-Training into Your Routine
One of the challenges of cross-training is managing the schedule. Balancing multiple sports can sometimes lead to conflicts, but the benefits far outweigh the challenges. It’s important to plan and communicate effectively with coaches and parents to ensure that players can participate in different sports without overextending themselves.
Additionally, consider the off-season as a prime time for cross-training. Encouraging players to engage in other sports during this period can help them stay active and continue to develop their athletic abilities.
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Building a Well-Rounded Athlete through Cross-Training
To build a well-rounded athlete, it’s beneficial to incorporate a variety of activities. Dance, for example, is excellent for improving footwork. Tennis can enhance hand-eye coordination, and track and field events can boost speed and explosive power.
By focusing on these different areas, players can develop a more comprehensive skill set. For instance, a basketball player who also practices dance will have superior footwork, while one who plays tennis will have quick reflexes and better hand-eye coordination.
The Long-Term Benefits of Cross-Training for Basketball
Ultimately, cross-training is about more than just improving on-court performance. It helps in developing versatile athletes who enjoy a variety of physical activities. This approach not only keeps training interesting and fun but also fosters a lifelong love for sports.
In conclusion, cross-training for basketball is essential for developing well-rounded athletes. It prevents injuries, enhances various skills, and keeps the training process engaging. As you plan your training routines, make sure to include cross-training to maximize your players’ potential and enjoyment of the game.
Tips for Implementing Cross-Training for Basketball
Schedule Wisely: Balance different sports and avoid overloading players.
Focus on Complementary Skills: Choose sports that enhance basketball skills like soccer and volleyball.
Utilize the Off-Season: Encourage players to explore other sports during the off-season.
Communicate Effectively: Keep open lines of communication with coaches, parents, and players.
Prioritize Injury Prevention: Emphasize the role of cross-training in preventing injuries and maintaining overall health.
Cross-training for basketball is a game-changer. By integrating various sports into your training regimen, you can develop stronger, more agile, and more resilient basketball players. Embrace cross-training for basketball and watch your players thrive both on and off the court.
Stay connected and join our community of like-minded coaches at teachhoops.com for more tips and strategies to improve your coaching and help your team succeed!
As a veteran basketball coach, I’ve spent over three decades navigating the complex landscape of coaching youth basketball. For new and inexperienced coaches, understanding the challenges for a basketball coach can be daunting. In this post, I’ll break down the top eight challenges you will face and provide some insights on how to overcome them. Let’s dive in!
The Top 8 Challenges for a Basketball Coach
Here, I’ll outline the top eight challenges you likely encounter and offer insights on how to navigate them effectively.
1. Time Management
One of the biggest challenges for a basketball coach is managing time effectively. Coaching is incredibly time-consuming, involving planning practices, strategizing for games, and handling administrative tasks. Balancing these responsibilities while maintaining personal time can be challenging. Therefore, developing a solid schedule and prioritizing tasks is essential for success.
2. Dealing with Critics
Handling criticism is another significant challenge for a basketball coach. Critics will come from all directions—parents, players, and even other coaches. Developing a thick skin and focusing on constructive feedback while filtering out unhelpful noise is vital. Remember, you can’t please everyone, and that’s okay.
3. Limited Financial Rewards
Financial constraints are a common challenge for a basketball coach, especially at the youth level. Coaching often doesn’t provide substantial monetary rewards. It’s important to view coaching as a passion and community service rather than a lucrative job. The real payoff is the positive impact you make on young athletes.
4. Building a Successful Program Takes Time
Impatience can be a significant challenge for a basketball coach. Success doesn’t happen overnight. It requires consistent effort, dedication, and a long-term vision. Coaches must be patient and persistent, focusing on gradual progress rather than immediate results.
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Having a supportive family is crucial for long-term success and is one of the personal challenges for a basketball coach. The demands of coaching can strain personal relationships. Ensuring your spouse and family understand and support your commitment is vital to maintaining a balance between professional and personal life.
6. Managing Player and Parent Expectations
One of the persistent challenges for a basketball coach is managing expectations. Not every player or parent will be happy with your decisions. Clear communication, transparency, and setting realistic expectations can help mitigate misunderstandings and dissatisfaction. Focus on what’s best for the team and individual player development.
7. Maintaining Player Motivation
Keeping players motivated is a continual challenge for a basketball coach. Players must find their own drive and passion for the game. As a coach, your role is to inspire and guide, but ultimately, players need to bring their own energy and commitment to the team.
8. Balancing Emotional Investment
Coaching is emotionally taxing, and balancing emotional investment is a challenge for a basketball coach. It’s easy to let wins and losses affect your mood and relationships. Learning to manage emotions, celebrate successes, and learn from failures without becoming overwhelmed is crucial for longevity in coaching.
In conclusion, the challenges for a basketball coach are numerous and demanding. However, with dedication, effective time management, and strong support systems, these challenges can be overcome. Embrace these obstacles as opportunities for growth and remember the profound impact you have on your players. Coaching is not just a profession; it’s a rewarding journey that shapes the future of young athletes both on and off the court.
Keep these insights in mind, and you’ll not only navigate the challenges for a basketball coach but also thrive in this rewarding career.
Stay connected and join our community of like-minded coaches at teachhoops.com for more tips and strategies to improve your coaching and help your team succeed!
As a veteran basketball coach, I have spent years refining techniques and drills that truly make a difference in youth basketball practices. One drill stands out above the rest, and today, I’m excited to share it with you. This is the ultimate youth basketball drill to enhance your players’ passing, cutting, and pressure handling skills. This drill is simple, effective, and perfect for new and inexperienced coaches looking to improve their practices.
Why This Drill is the Ultimate Youth Basketball Drill
First and foremost, this drill is all about fundamentals. Youth players often struggle with spacing, passing, and cutting under pressure. By focusing on these key areas, you can significantly improve your team’s overall performance. The ultimate youth basketball drill eliminates dribbling, forcing players to concentrate on moving without the ball and working as a team.
How to Implement the Ultimate Youth Basketball Drill
Step 1: Set Up Start by organizing your players into groups. Depending on the number of players, you can set up 3v3, 4v4, or 5v5 games. The key here is to play without dribbling. This forces players to focus on passing, cutting, and getting open.
Step 2: Emphasize Key Skills Once the game starts, emphasize the importance of cutting after passing. Players should move towards the basket to receive a pass back. If the pass isn’t available, the next player should fill in and rescue their teammate, maintaining proper spacing.
Step 3: Encourage Communication Communication is crucial in this drill. Players must talk to each other, call for passes, and alert teammates to open opportunities. This not only improves their on-court skills but also builds team chemistry.
Step 4: Create Challenges To make the drill more engaging, turn it into a contest. For example, award points for successful passes or for getting seven consecutive passes without a deflection. This keeps players motivated and focused on their tasks.
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This drill offers numerous benefits. Firstly, it teaches players the importance of spacing. Many youth games suffer from players crowding around the ball. By eliminating dribbling, players learn to move without the ball and create space for their teammates.
Secondly, the ultimate youth basketball drill enhances passing skills. Since players can’t rely on dribbling, they must make precise and timely passes to keep the game moving. This improves their accuracy and decision-making under pressure.
Additionally, cutting and getting open become second nature. Players learn to read the game, anticipate passes, and make quick cuts to the basket. This constant movement keeps the defense on their toes and opens up scoring opportunities.
Practical Applications in Games
Implementing the ultimate youth basketball drill in your practices will translate to better game performance. Your team will become more disciplined, understanding the value of each pass and the importance of spacing. They will also develop better court vision, making them more effective in both offense and defense.
In actual games, you can apply the principles of this drill by encouraging your team to make multiple passes before shooting. This not only ensures that everyone is involved but also helps in breaking down the opposing defense. Additionally, players will be more comfortable handling pressure, as they are accustomed to making quick decisions without dribbling.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the ultimate youth basketball drill is a game-changer for any youth basketball coach. By focusing on passing, cutting, and pressure handling, you can significantly improve your team’s performance. Remember, simplicity is key. This drill is easy to implement, yet its impact is profound. So, next time you’re planning your practice, make sure to include the ultimate youth basketball drill. Your players will thank you, and you’ll see the results on the court.
Stay connected and join our community of like-minded coaches at teachhoops.com for more tips and strategies to improve your coaching and help your team succeed!
Ask just about any basketball coach what their key to success is, and in almost every scenario, you’ll hear some version of the same answer: Teamwork. Basketball requires players to have the right attitude, work together, and sacrifice for success on the court. Individually, skills are only effective if the team can effectively collaborate, taking advantage of each other’s strengths and creating opportunities.
Communication is Key to Basketball Teamwork
Effective communication is crucial for teamwork in basketball. Calling out screens, setting picks, or discussing plays, players must communicate to ensure everyone is working towards the same goal.
Build Trust within the Team Dynamic
Trust among players is important for smooth teamwork. Trusting each other’s skills, tendencies, and abilities leads to better results and a stronger team dynamic.
Sacrifice for the Team
In basketball, players must be willing to sacrifice personal interests for the good of the team. This could mean taking a less prominent role, passing up a shot, or making a defensive play that doesn’t result in personal recognition. When players make sacrifices, they put the needs of the group first, leading to greater success.
In conclusion, teamwork is essential in basketball. Communication, trust, and sacrifice are key factors in achieving success as a team. Focus on these elements and you’ll be on your way to reaching your goals.
Coaching today’s basketball players features a unique challenge in the sport. Considering all the other outlets and opportunities available to young people these days, finding the right way to grab their attention remains paramount for basketball coaches.
Coaching Today’s Basketball Players
Have you ever told your team that they should just worry about the things they can control and forget about the things they can’t control? Referees, hostile fans, illness, injury, size & speed of opponents, tournament draws are all out of the players’ control so they just need to find a way to deal with them and work around them. Have you ever taught that concept to your players? I’m willing to bet that you have – probably several times!
My question to you today is this – are you following your own advice, especially when it comes to the individual personalities of your players, or do some of them just drive you crazy?
Now for an even bigger question – are you letting those personality differences keep you from coaching the players up to the very best of your ability? Think about it for a second. Are any of your players being short changed, even unintentionally, because they are loud, moody, self absorbed, tatted up, and/or listen to music that you neither like nor understand?
Coaching Basketball: The Mental Game
In his book Coaching the Mental Game, H.A. Dorfman tells about the time he was speaking to the St. Louis Cardinals organization and a question was asked about coaching “today’s kids.” Dorfman responded by saying that if they so choose, coaches don’t have to listen or watch the music and television of today’s generation of athletes. But they:
“do have to coach and teach a pitcher with a nipple ring and a “dude” mentality. That’s a contractual obligation. The player’s styling is not his substance. You’ve got to know more about him than how he looks and speaks.” (p.21)
Do you know more about your players than just how they look and speak?
I can’t tell you how many frustrated coaches there are who tell everyone within earshot “Back when I was playing, players (fill in the blank),” or “10 years ago players would (fill in the blank) but not anymore.”
If you are one of those coaches – quit saying those things! You’re not back in high school and your players aren’t back anywhere. They are living in the here and now and they need you to coach them! Dorfman may have had this in mind when he went on to remind those in attendance in St. Louis that they all signed a coaching contract and each contract had a specific date on it. “You’re not being hired to coach kids of the 60’s, 70’s, or 80’s. The effective leader addresses the mission of the organization and the needs of each player. Whatever his age – or yours!”
Reaching Your Players Today
Of course players are somewhat different than from previous generations but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Regardless of how they look or talk, or act off the court kids/players of this generation (often referred to as “millenials”) are generally more motivated, more competitive, and have a greater understanding and appreciation of technology than any group you have ever coached. Instead of worrying about things you can’t control why not take full advantage of them instead?
Motivated players want to improve and are willing to put in the necessary time and effort and competitive players want to win! I don’t know about you but those are players I can work with and want to coach, regardless of the other “baggage” they may carry.
Great teams and great players of every generation have all won the exact same way. By playing hard, playing together and by mastering the fundamentals of shooting, passing, ball handling and defense. That was true 50 years ago and I’m willing to bet it will be true 50 years from now.
You might not be able to control who you coach but you can certainly control how you coach. And how you coach is going to determine your success or failure.
An integral part of being a basketball coach is developing key leadership skills. This often goes beyond giving just words of encouragement and developing ways of becoming a better leader. Clint Eastwood once said: “You can say more with your mouth closed than you can with your mouth open.” In today’s society, most young people learn only how to talk about taking action, but very few learn how to actually do it. To demonstrate basketball leadership effectively, you need to show it, not just say it.
Here’s a look at six ways to show commitment to your team and further develop your basketball leadership.
Understand What Motivates Your Players
In practices and in games, we’ve got to know how to get our teams going. I often tell my teams that games aren’t the time for teaching…go play and we’ll fix it later. The same goes for us as coaches.
We’ve got to remember to use practice time to figure out how each player is motivated to learn, how they’re motivated to push themselves, and how they’re motivated to excel. In the same manner, we can use scrimmages to see how they’re motivated in stressful competitive situations.
Do What It Takes to be a Champion
Winning cultures win. I’m sure you’ve played teams that your team was better than…but that other team had crazy swagger. They expected to win more than your team hoped to win. Before we can create a culture of winning, I believe we’ve got to create a culture of success. You all know by now how deep my love of John Wooden’s Pyramid of Success goes. He was awesome. He was also a champion.
Be a Learning Leader
Isn’t the coaching cliché that the best coaches steal from the best coaches? With so many coaches out there, I can’t think of a reason that we can’t all find someone to learn from!
I believe in being a coaching nerd and learning from as many folks as I can, whether it’s another coach or a business leader.
Provide Vision for Your Program
What is important to you? What is your coaching philosophy? How do you want your team to be perceived? All of those things go into creating a vision for your program. Then you go out and get it.
Without knowing what you want, how will you know what players to recruit? Beyond that, how will your players know when they’re successful?
Put the Team First
Everything we do has to be about the team. Whether it’s being incredibly prepared for every drill, practice, and game…or making sure you’re on the same page with your assistants. All of that puts the team first. Add to that all of the intangibles that we teach our athletes, they’ll appreciate that it’s “we before me” and model that behavior.
Have Fun
Hopefully, you love your sport. You love going to practice. Perhaps most importantly, you love coaching. Hopefully you love your athletes (even when they’re driving you crazy) and you get along with your coworkers. Hopefully you’ve got rock star assistants. If you’ve got all of that, then you’re having fun.
Leading, coaching…it’s not easy, but it’s the best job ever! We can learn from those folks who’ve not only been successful, but who’ve been continuously successful over a long period of time.
Basketball coaches at any level have a limited amount of time with their players. So maximizing practice time, especially entering a new season, becomes paramount. So crafting an effective youth basketball practice plan helps immensely.
At the youth level, this remains a stark reality. Coaches might only have their players for a few hours a week. No matter the level, basketball coaches invariably spend time practice planning.
“The structure of your practice is the most determining reason for your success or lack of success as a coach.” Bobby Knight
Basketball Practice Planning
Most basketball coaches have their own approaches to practice planning. Some minimize the pre-practice work, opting instead for what feels right in the moment. Others build off of the previous day, or something that stood out in the last game. A coach might scribble notes on a pad or random slip of paper. That paper usually finds itself tucked behind the elastic of the coach’s shorts.
The key to a good basketball practice plan will always be efficiency. Coaches must consider not only what their specific goals are, but how those goals will be reached within a given time frame. Youth leagues often limit practice time. Even high school teams find themselves forced into a given time slot at the school’s gym.
The best practice plans can be constructed on one sheet of paper. This paper focuses the goals and approaches for the day. Having a wide view of practice allows a coach to establish a logical progression through the drills. The plan can also keep a general timing structure, although flexibility is key for any coach.
By listing the drills and concepts clearly on the practice plan, coaches know exactly what the focus of each practice segment will be. This will eliminate any lost time between drills or segments, maximizing contact time.
Sample Practice Plan
Every coach should know the amount of time available to them for practice, both how long each practice will be and what the schedule looks like for the week.
From there, it’s a matter of dividing the time of each practice. These segments will have specific focuses. Segments might include warm-up and stretching, individual skill development or larger team concepts.
One helpful inclusion for any basketball coach’s practice planning is a drill library. Having the different drills listed directly on the plan itself will facilitate movement from segment to segment. The drill library can include not only the drills themselves, but also the specific focus points for development.
Having a drill library also allows a coach to vary practices from session to session. Sure, each coach will have a core set of drills they like to implement, but falling into a rigid routine is something to avoid. Keeping practice fresh can only benefit the players and maintain engagement.
Beyond that, varying the practice plan itself allows for the drills and segments that invariably will be cut short because others went long to be incorporated into the next practice.
Youth player development can be an avenue for coaches to share their love of the game. But if a team is going to be successful, it takes more than just love. Coaches are tasked with improving players both individually and within the context of the team. So youth player development often takes center stage with young teams.
To maximize their time with their players, coaches need to manage their time well. And one of the most important tools to optimize shared time is a detailed practice plan. Coaches that just roll the balls out often find their practices lack the focus and intensity necessary to improve the team.
Youth Player Development: Practice Planning
Different coaches have different approaches to practice planning. Some youth coaches zero in on specific basketball skill that need development, while others take a more free-flowing view. Some coaches scribble notes on a sheet of paper and tuck that folded plan into their waist band, whole others meticulously craft a minute-by-minute split using an app.
Whatever the preferred approach, it remains integral that coaches have a plan in place to maximize practice time.
A valuable practice plan lays out the exact avenues of attack a coach wants to explore. Especially early when youth basketball development is at its peak for the season, plotting out points of emphasis can be particularly useful.
What exactly do you want to accomplish during this practice session? Often writing those specific goals aid in achieving them.
From there, coaches can sketch out the best outline for the day. Teaching drills and execution is key in youth player development, but haphazard approaches can often sabotage valuable practice time.
A detailed youth basketball practice plan might help a coach that wants to get to a number of skills and sets focus on key developmental aspects.
What daily drills will you include? How much teaching happens before a drill? What does the debrief look like? These are all important questions coaches should ask themselves prior to the start of any given practice.
In my coaching education workshops, I always asked coaches if they thought sports should be a fun experience for their players. Should there be fun at basketball practice? Of course, everyone said yes. So then I would make them the following offer: “If you can give me an adequate definition of ‘fun,’ I’ll sign off on your certification right now and you can leave six hours earlier than everyone else.” I made that offer for almost 15 years running and there were no winners.
Focus & Fun at Basketball Practice
Since the majority of your athletes’ time is spent in practices, it is vital that practice time be a fun, enjoyable experience. If it’s not, it’s not going to be effective. Unfortunately, some coaches feel that, because learning sports skills require discipline and focus, it’s incompatible with fun. But focus and fun are not incompatible at all.
In fact, focus is necessary for fun to occur! Just think of some of the fun experiences you’ve had in your life. You probably remember them very clearly. And that’s because you were very focused on what you were doing, who you were with, and what your surroundings were like.
It’s the same with sports. Sports are fun when three things are happening:
Kids are deeply involved in what they are doing
They feel closely connected to their “mates” (e.g., teammates, coaches, parents)
Kids feel like they are performing to the best of their ability
All three of these items require focus on the part of the athlete. And, as a coach, you can make all of these things happen in your practices and your games. There are ways to maximize your time as a coach. Here are some suggestions.
Developing Focus and Fun
Encourage your players to participate with all their senses.
For example, if you’re outside on a beautiful summer day, take a deep breath, pound your chest and say, “Don’t you just love the way the grass smells on a day like this?” If you’re poolside, you could say: “I love the ‘swoosh’ sound you guys make as you glide through the water. It’s better than therapy!”
Help your players to get to know each other better.
When everyone is pulling for each other, even the hardest drills become more enjoyable.
Focus on skill development.
Improved skills lead to feelings of competence, satisfaction, and accomplishment. These feelings, in turn, create enjoyment and fun at basketball practice.
Provide realistic challenges.
Kids learn and grow through a progressive series of challenges that are appropriate for their skill level and development.
Emphasize personal successes.
Playing well, or the feeling that a person has played well, is an essential part of the fun in sport.
Keep winning in perspective.
Being on the winning side is less important than striving to win. By striving to win, your players learn to concentrate, try hard, and be the best they can be.
Look for ways to energize kids and jazz up your practices.
Be creative. Cal Ripken saw a mannequin in a ski lodge and got the idea to use old mannequins to help kids learn to hit the cutoff man in the infield grass while practicing throws from right field. Just imagine how entertaining (and educational) it was when someone hit the mannequin in the wrong spot.
Other ways to incorporate fun into your practices might include ending a week as ”crazy socks day,” and doing fun, teamwork-oriented drills like “follow the leader.” Don’t think that just because your coach always made you run laps, you have to do the same thing to your players!
A former Hall of Fame athlete and coach, Dr. Selleck—a retired psychologist, organizational and management consultant, and sports education specialist—is the founder and director of Lead2Play, a comprehensive program that encourages youth participation in sports while promoting healthy living and the development of key life skills, such as organization, management, and team-building.
Dr. Selleck was inducted into the Stanford University Basketball Hall of Fame, the Pac-12 Hall of Honor, and named one of the “100 Most Influential Sports Educators in America” by the Institute for International Sports at the University of Rhode Island.
Incorporating team building exercises into practice has been one of the most impactful things I have done as a coach! My mission when coaching is to create an environment where everyone feels safe, valued, has a voice, and experiences joy every day! Coaches should strive to incorporate focus and fun into their basketball practices.
If you want to learn more about basketball specific principles and drills to create a championship culture, please check out my book, “Help Them Up” on Amazon.
The below exercises can be used for all team sports!
3 Practical Steps for Team Building
Question of the Day
Every day at the start of practice, we circle up. I ask if anyone has anything they want to share with the group. I have also used this time to praise someone for a good teammate moment I observed them do, had the team sing happy birthday to a team member, etc. Then, I share a question of the day or ask the team to think of one.
Everyone gets into groups of two or three and during a warmup lap and they ask each other the question. I ask them to pick a different teammate every day, so they get a chance to connect with everyone. They jog back to the circle, and I ask if anyone wants to share something they learned.
The team always enjoys learning about teammates. I have seen friendships develop through this exercise because they find commonalities about each other they previously didn’t know about.
A few examples:
What is your favorite topic to talk about and why?
What do you like to do on the weekends?
Do you have any pets? If so, how many and what are their names? (With my team, they love talking about their pets!)
What is a goal you have for today’s practice and is there anything I can do to help you with it?
What are you grateful for?
Dynamic Warm-Up
A few years ago, I attended a UConn Women’s basketball practice. It was incredible! They were in complete unison when executing their dynamic warm-up. Since that day, I have been very intentional with warming-up as a team which prevents side conversations, shows unity, and creates elite level communication!
I have my team line up on the sideline and they do the exercises to the opposite sideline. I select someone to be the leader of the day or ask for a volunteer who then energetically yells out the exercises. The team then responds in a loud and energetic tone the name of the exercise. Then the leader yells, “go” and the team, while in unison, travel across the court trying to stay synchronized with all teammates.
For example, the leader will yell, “high knees” and then the team yells, “high knees” followed by the leader yelling, “Go”. We proceed with exercises like defensive slides, skips, lunges, jog, back pedal, etc.
I love to make this player led and have them take accountability over their team.
Accountability Circle
A few years ago, I attended a USA Basketball youth development clinic. I was amazed by Coach Joe Mantegna at Blair Academy (New Jersey) and his presentation on building a culture. He shared this concept which happens at the end of practice for 5-10 minutes and after games.
We meet in a circle so everyone can make eye contact with each other. You can choose to have players put their arms around each other to stay connected.
When first introducing and teaching the team this exercise, I shared, “This is a safe space, and everyone needs to be respectful of one another. We will invest time everyday doing this because it will help us all grow as individuals and as a team. We are not stating things about any specific person, rather their actions and words that we witnessed that specific day. For the first few weeks we will only say positive things about each other and then if we do a good job, we will allow everyone to share feedback that may be tough to hear but said with the intent to help us improve.”
However, the coaches can interrupt if someone shares something unkind or not helpful to the team. The coach can explain why what was said was not helpful and why. It works best when the coaches don’t speak first and allow for some silence so teammates can use their voice to build up teammates. This exercise was key to our team building. It single handedly elevated my team’s culture and use it consistently.
Developing a patient team can be one of the most difficult aspects of coaching. Young and inexperienced teams tend to rush through sets and often leave scoring opportunities unexplored. These teams need to reduce turnovers and play with more purpose. So finding the right drills and competitive practice games becomes a challenge. So here’s a look at a basketball passing drill that works on both the offense and the defense simultaneously.
Basketball Passing Drill: Passing Lanes and Patience
The Passing Lanes and Patience drill promotes multiple things. For the offense, it promotes patience and making good passes. It stresses the importance of working for great shots. It also helps build habits like crashing the offensive boards.
For the defense, this drill promotes getting into the passing lanes, blocking out, and limiting teams to one shot. It stresses toughness in taking charges and playing hard without fouling.
Coaches implement four 2:30 minute quarters for the drill, with a 45 second break in between each segment. The two teams split time as offense and defense, alternating after each quarter. Subs can be incorporated with each dead ball situation.
The Rules
Coaches set a specific number of passes the offense must complete. (We do 6 passes.)
The offense “scores” 1 point if they reach that number of passes without a turnover or deflection. They also get 1 point for each offensive rebound. The offense gets 3 points for made three-pointers, but 4 points for a made two-point field goal. We stress working for great shots.
The defense “scores” 1 point for each deflection of a pass. They get 2 points for a steal, and 3 points for limiting the offense to one shot in a possession. They get 4 points for each charge drawn. The defense loses a point when a player commits a foul.
COACHING POINTS
Emphasize the importance of getting in passing lanes to get deflections & steals. On the line, up the line is a way of life for our program.
Discuss scoring with teams & ask them why they think 2’s are worth more than 3’s in this drill & ask them why they think securing a D-Board after one shot and taking a charge are worth so many points.
Kyle Brasher Gibson Southern High School
Social Studies Teacher
Lady Titans Basketball Coach
Gold. Basketball turnovers. What do these two items have in common? The answer is more than you may realize! As all coaches know, a turnover in basketball is one surefire way for your team to be defeated each and every game out. Not only do turnovers mean you do not get a field goal attempt, if the turnover is a live ball turnover, it could mean an easy bucket for your opponent. So basketball coaches seek new and innovative ways in reducing turnovers.
Gold is one of the most precious metals on earth, and an item that has monetary value. Gold is something that people want to protect and ensure that they retain. When playing the game of basketball, we like to think of the basketball as a piece of gold, We like to think of it as something that is very precious, which we hope to retain more than we lose. So using special gold basketballs to aid in reducing turnovers created a competitive practice game with stakes.
Reducing Turnovers with Gold Basketballs
As a program, we instituted gold basketballs in many of our live scrimmage segments to help encourage our players to be more focused on reducing turnovers. Players do not like the punishment of running; players will do almost anything to avoid running, so as a staff we decided to tap into that mindset and try to become a team that commits fewer turnovers.
In live scrimmage segments, we place three gold basketballs out for each team playing. (To create gold basketballs, we found three old basketballs that would not retain air and spray painted them gold.) During the scrimmage, each time a team commits a turnover, they lose one of their gold basketballs. Once a team has lost all three of their gold basketballs, we stop the scrimmage and that team gets on the line to run. After their run is complete, they only get two gold basketballs back.
It is imperative that they retain a high level of focus in not turning the ball over. Once those two balls are gone and they run again. Then, they get the last ball back. Once that final ball is gone and they run, they get all three back and we repeat the process again. The goal is for the players to understand the value of limiting our turnovers and putting ourselves in the best position possible to succeed.
Limiting Use (and Turnovers)
The Gold Basketballs are not something we use every day. As a staff, we feel they may lose their luster if we commit to doing them every practice. We utilize the balls once or twice a week. If we have a game where we just committed a lot of turnovers or an upcoming game where reducing turnovers is important, we may utilize the balls a tad more.
It has given our players a visual cue to look at and realize the importance of retaining possession and putting ourselves in the best position to succeed in all game situations.
Understanding situational basketball comes only after playing the game competitively for some time. Getting young and developing players to understand the ins and outs of different situations takes time, and experience. Coaches can carve out practice time for situational drills, but often, players won’t fully understand until they’ve experienced it in a competitive game.
Situational Basketball: The Background & Problem
Let’s start by setting a scene: low-scoring, hard fought playoff game in a loud high school gym in the first week of March. We worked for this all year long. It’s the month of the season where any coach would work for free just to have the chance to feel that utterly different, barely describable adrenaline that comes with a win to advance to the next round.
So that’s where I was as an assistant coach. Up off the bench trying to diagnose the intended action of a play before our team forced a five-second call on a sidelines out of bounds play. It’s where I was a few moments later, using what was left of my voice to remind our inbounder that we were out of timeouts. It’s where I was when his inbounds pass took our best free throw shooting guard back toward our own basket.
I exhaled as a late whistle negated a steal that would have led to our opponent tying the game. With both hands pressed behind my head, I felt a tap on my shoulder from our older and more composed assistant coach.
“We’ve got to work on late game situations tomorrow in practice,” seemingly oblivious to the fact that we still needed to make a pair of free throws to ice the game.
“I hope we have a practice tomorrow,” I shouted back to him.
We survived and advanced. I knew he was right. Teaching situational basketball was integral. But, in my career and with the coaches I had played for, worked for, or even spoken to, it’s always been the thing that got cut out of practice.
I first heard this response as a high school player when I was talking to a respected and decorated retired coach from my high school as I explained the newfangled approach of fouling in the closing seconds when up three points.
“You’d have to practice that and then hope you get it right with the same players,” he said. “And no one is going to find time to practice that.”
I next heard the response as an eager young coach, trying to offer something different to a coach in my first job.
“That’s great, Bennett,” he said. “But have you noticed that we aren’t even good enough to be in late-game situations?”
“This is why we don’t do this,” I heard another coach say as I watched a comical close to an otherwise fine practice when my situations were marred by managers not being able to run the clock and JV players incapable of handling any sort of pressure defense.
But my idea persisted. I tucked it away in a notebook until finally, called for out of complete frustration, it got its chance to make its way into a practice plan.
“Bennett,” our head coach said. “We’ve got to figure out ways to teach our players what to do in different situations.” I heard this after a weekend where we nearly choked away a double digit lead in a Friday night game. We suffered a very frustrating loss a night later when we gave up not one, not two, but three 3-point shots to close quarters.
Our Solution
So what did I propose and implement? Nothing too time consuming. Nothing too difficult. But something that has helped our players think situationally better.
Three to four times in each practice, in little short segments, we blow a whistle, gather two teams, and conduct a situation. It works as a palate cleanser for whatever else has happened to that point in practice or to what might happen next. Of course, there are also consequences. We run when we don’t achieve our stated goal for that situation.
But, above all, it’s a chance to teach, talk, and coach players through a situation that they have seen or could see. It’s the opportunity to work on that last second play, see how long it will take to get into a set and execute it. Teaching situational basketball can reaffirm a recently taught point, or test the mental mettle of your team.
Defining Situational Basketball
Too often, I think coaches envision working on situations to mean the last two minutes, holding a lead or last 45 seconds trying to come back. Those kinds of situations often do take too much time or can lead to frustration when a JV team can’t pressure or a manager doesn’t know when to stop the clock.
Our situations are often short. I think back to the idea of getting a pass inbounded with two seconds left and no time outs. After that situation, we can grade our players immediately as to whether we got what we wanted. Did the right player get the catch or was the pass thrown to a place where it would hurt us the last if it were to be intercepted?
Often our situations aren’t end game either. One of my favorites is putting 45 seconds or so on the clock, giving the ball to us on a sideline out of bounds and saying that I want to win the end of the quarter. Our players have learned to look for quick action off the sideline out of bounds and then to move into a “get the last shot” situation.
Other times, we simply talk about urgency and give the ball to the opposition with 20 or so seconds to go. Give up that last shot? Enjoy a few sprints before we move on to the next part of practice. I reiterate that the most important thing that we do is huddle again after the situation and address exactly what we thought went right and what still needs to be fixed in future situations.
What We Like Best
Competitiveness
It’s a great way to bring some intensity to practice, even amongst coaches. I have been given free reign to coach our top varsity unit through the situations. Our other varsity assistant and JV coach, who both work in our building, often find me at lunch to try to figure out what situations we’ll be working on that day and what lineups I plan to use.
By the beginning of practice, I find that they’ve schemed to come up with sets they want to run against the top group in order to force them to have to run sprints. There’s been a healthy amount of competition while our players are also learning. As I mentioned earlier, it can also act as either a bridge to the next segment of practice or a cap on the previous portion.
Teaching
How often do we say to our guys “know the time and situation” or “be aware of the situation”? Now, we have three to four chances each day to teach our basketball players situational awareness. Want to know how and when to foul up three? How about focusing on getting 2-for-1 at the end of a quarter or half? Want to practice turning a ball handler after getting a score with a few seconds left on the clock?
These are all little quizzes that you can more easily incorporate into practice. Better yet, it’s a great way to review the situations you might have failed in previous games. Finally, it even gives us a chance to fit in sets/tendencies of our upcoming opponent.
Lineups
So often because of fouls, you wind up with strange groups on the floor. How often is your big on the floor at the end of the half because of foul trouble? This is a great way to try out different lineups as you envision the best or worst case that might come Friday night.
It’s also a great way to know who you can trust to do certain things. Going back to my high school’s old coach – I can pick one or two guys and teach them how to foul with a 3-point lead.
Data
How often as coaches do we say things like “Can we do this?” “Can so-and-so run that?” “How much time do we need to do this?” So much of the intel that I try to collect and have ready for our games comes from these situations.
I have an “end of quarter” column on a sheet I have with me each game that lets me know exactly how much time each set might take us to run. That way when our head coach calls something out at the end of a quarter, I can let our point guard know exactly what time to start the action. It’s similar with lineups. I know, based often by what guys have done in the past couple weeks, who can handle what assignment or what certain guys actually know how to do.
Takeaways
Does this cure all situational ails? Of course not. But, what it does do is it gets players thinking throughout practice. Just the other day, we had worked on how we wanted to finish a quarter by getting a stop and then running a bit of clock before going to a closing seconds set that we call “tap.”
Toward the end of practice, we worked a simple 8-minute quarter as a scrimmage situation. A ball got batted out of bounds with about 30 seconds left on the clock. Without prompting, our shooting guard turned to me and said “You want this like we did earlier?” I nodded and he right away called out and gave direction to his teammates. Something had clearly stuck with him.
How has it helped though? I think some. And the wins and losses do show that to be the case. Going back to that frustrating weekend where our current head coach tasked me with coming up with some solutions. We were 3-12 in two possession games over the past year and a half. Since then, a sample size of a little more than a year now, we are 8-1 in two possession games.
I go back to the coach I worked for (and highly respect) who said there were so many other things that needed to be done before we worried about end game situations. He was exactly right. But, I think winning situations in the first three quarters is integral in getting a lot of teams to the fourth with a chance. Nevertheless, it is something that you can work on in practice tomorrow – if there even is a practice tomorrow.
Brian Bennett is the associate boys basketball coach for Richmond (Indiana) High School. He has coached high school basketball for more than a decade in Indiana high schools. Bennett teaches composition, speech, and journalism.
Basketball team building can be a difficult task. Whether a coach is looking for bonding events or building morale through game awards, building a positive basketball culture remains integral.
Developing a Positive Basketball Culture
A positive basketball culture is the first thing you will need to build a winning basketball program. You will need to fight for this every single day in every thing you do–from the weightroom to your open gym sessions. When you face adversity your culture will be able to overcome any negativity if you have a strong foundation.
Jon Gordon is a master teacher on culture and I strongly recommend you check out some of my favorite books of his–The Energy Bus, The Power of a Positive Team, The Carpenter, and You Win In the Locker Room First.
When you start to establish your culture and identity as a positive team, you will then need to establish some core values for your program. We stole ours from Alabama and Nate Oats: Max Effort, Continuous Learning, and Selfless Love. We even tied Bible verses into these so we can reach our players spiritually.
Our program spent some money and put some cool signage up to improve our facilities with these words all around it for our players to see daily. The important thing is, you must fight for these values daily as a coach and hold your players accountable to them!
We talk about these values daily and what it means to live them out on and off the court to develop the entire individual. A few things we do is ask a player at the end of practice or a weight room session to name a core value. Then we will ask them to tell us how one player on our team lived it out today and why. This gets our kids thinking about the values constantly!
When you are building your culture, you have to have players buy into your culture. One way you can do this as a coach is to have your players have some input. We asked our players to create a vision statement and standards they would like to live out daily that correlate with our core values.
One tip I got from a few experts on culture was don’t limit yourself when setting goals. For example: we want to win districts, go undefeated at home, and go to the State Tournament.
While those are great things, oftentimes everyone has those same goals. And what happens when you lose that first game at home? What happens when you don’t win districts but you can still advance? Or an even better question: what if your players do get complacent when they accomplish winning districts and going undefeated at home?
You can get complacent and think you achieved enough and you fall short of going even further than what you were capable of doing. So we made a vision statement instead that has seemed to really motivate our players to the next level.
They came up with the following: The FCS basketball team is a united group of brothers here to glorify Jesus through the game of basketball while exceeding the expectations of others, with the expectation to win everytime we step on the floor.
A few standards our players came up with through guided discussion include: Accountability, Communication, Elevate, Grit, Selflessness, and Servanthood.
Avoiding Burnout
Kids have to have fun with the game of basketball and so do coaches! Basketball is a long season, and in a lot of ways it’s year round with post-season workouts, summer, pre-season, and in season. One way to avoid any burnout is to celebrate little things. Celebrate progress in the weight room. Celebrate winning two games in a row in season. And celebrate simple things like winning a situational segment in practice!
Another tip to have a positive basketball culture comes with making time for relationships with your players. Something I got from T.J. Rosene at Emmanuel College and PGC Basketball is to write out the names of three players on your practice plan and have a meaningful conversation with those players that day. Mix up the names each practice and you will be able to reach all of your players consistently.
Use Your Assistant Coaches
As coaches we have to trust our assistant coaches–we hired them for a reason! A tip I want to suggest is to delegate your work and let your assistant coaches lead in some areas of the program. For example, in the pre- and post-season, my assistant coaches lead all my weight room and skill development days. As the head coach I serve as the manager and see the big picture.
My assistants will run everything by me and make sure it is in alignment with what we are trying to accomplish. This allows your players to hear someone else’s voice and allows you to save yours more so for the season! You also are helping your assistant coaches who want to move on to become a head coach one day.
I would also encourage you to write out other areas of your program you can delegate to your assistants. I really like the defensive end of the floor, so I call one of my assistants the “offensive coordinator.” We run a read and react/dribble drive hybrid offense, so I give him free reign out of that to come up with ways to improve our offense, drills, small sided games, etc. This also limits my film, as he will watch everything on us offensively and I will watch everything defensively.
I hope you found some useful tips and strategies that have worked for our program. Best of luck this season!
Coaches know that to win games you ultimately must score more points than your opponent. What coaches also know is that teams cannot win unless there are players willing to do all the small things that amount to winning. Small things like blocking out and getting rebounds, finding the open player for an assist, or taking a momentum-swinging charge. These are oftentimes the things that go overlooked when the local newspaper comes to write their stories about basketball teams.
Well, as a staff, we wanted to reward the players who impacted games in ways that don’t always make the paper. So, we created a system for our varsity game awards where the individual who earns that award will get recognition. We wanted to award them with an item that represents individuals who are tough, gritty people who show up every day to work hard and get the job done. We decided to go with the following three items: a Hard Hat, a Windex Bottle, and a Lunch Pail.
Lady Titan Basketball Varsity Game Awards
The Hard Hat
Our coaching staff elected to use a Hard Hat for one of our awards because construction workers are the type of people that do hard, tough, gritty work. We wanted to reward the individual who earned this award with a hard hat that has our school logo on it. We use a formula to help figure out the winner of this game award. The following stats are worth one point: Rebounds, Steals, Assists, and Deflections. Charges are worth 2 points. You add that number up and subtract turnovers, and the player who has the highest number wins the Hard Hat award.
Windex Bottle
As we all know, the team that wins the rebounding battle is oftentimes the team that wins the basketball game. We reward the player who leads our team in rebounding with the Windex Bottle as the person who did the best job “cleaning the glass.” Rebounding is something that is a tough,gritty skill to teach young players, and this is such a winning part of the formula that we wanted to reward it.
Lunch Pail
While the first 2 awards are very objective, the Lunch Pail is something that is very subjective. There is no formula or stat we look at for the winner of the Lunch Pail. The person who wins the Lunch Pail is going to be someone who makes a major impact on the game. This impact could be taking a momentum-changing charge, playing great defense on the opposing team’s best player, or being a supporting teammate on the bench. The player who earns this award represents all the people who pack up their lunch everyday and head to work, hence why we found a dingy old lunchbox.
These game awards have become a huge part of the identity of our program, and these awards are something our players want to achieve. They understand we can only pass these awards out for games that are victories, and on those victories the coaching staff will walk in with these players having already laid out the awards in anticipation of learning who earned the awards for the night. Those players then get their name on the board and a group picture taken for social media. This stat tracking method brings great life to our program and basketball team.
Kyle Brasher Gibson Southern High School
Social Studies Teacher
Lady Titans Basketball Coach
Any team that has hopes and aspirations of a great season needs to ensure that the team chemistry is very solid. An extremely talented team that lacks in the chemistry department could easily fail to meet its ceiling. On the opposite end of the spectrum, a team that is not as talented but has great team chemistry could exceed their expectations. This is where basketball team building comes in.
While the players in and of themselves play a huge role in developing chemistry, I think the coaching staff plays a huge role in that department as well. The staff needs to provide opportunities for the team to develop this culture. Because it cannot be done in your normal practice time. The staff needs to look for ways to create this culture through different activities. Below are some things we have done as a staff to help develop, in our opinion, strong culture through team building.
Basketball Team Building
Lead ‘Em Up
This has been hands down one of the best investments our program has made. Lead ‘Em Up is a leadership-based program run by Adam Bradley It teaches and encourages leadership habits that bring groups closer together. It is a positive-based program with fun activities that teach selflessness, encouragement, and a “green” mindset. This helps propel athletes into leadership roles as they continue to go through life. It’s a program that we run weekly and something our players look forward to weekly.
Dance Routine
We took our athletes to a local dance studio a few years ago for an opportunity to learn a choreographed dance routine to the High School Musical song “Get your Head in the Game.” It started where our girls stretched for a bit and then it was time to learn the routine. From a coach’s standpoint, it was a lot of fun to see our athletes in new situations to see how they would respond. It is safe to say it was a day filled with laughs and memories that will last a lifetime.
Great Basketball Cookoff
This is a new event we are trying this season and it centers around something our coaching staff and program loves: FOOD! Food seems to bring people together, and nothing brings a team together like a great team meal. We will break the athletes into teams, and each team will create the same dish. In addition, we will have a panel of judges who will then judge which group made the meal the best. The team that is judged to be the winner will receive the glory on social media, but at the end of the day what is really important is the team bonding aspect of the event.
These are just a few of a wide variety of ideas that we have implemented over the years. We have had lots of discussions on other ideas and there are other things we have done. The challenge is for every coaching staff to foster a culture and environment where the athletes want to come and work hard every day. We cannot always make everything centered around basketball. I believe that will burn the athletes out very quickly. The athletes need to realize we want to get to know them on a personal level. These fun-filled team bonding activities can go a long way to helping establish that type of positive, team mindset culture.
Kyle Brasher Gibson Southern High School
Social Studies Teacher
Lady Titans Basketball Coach
Here is the good news: AAU is not killing high school basketball. The bad news is that schools are themselves killing it, or, more accurately, school boards are killing it.
Reasons Why High School Basketball is Failing
No-one to hire. Coaches historically were teachers who taught to coach, or who coached to teach. It was easy to schedule practices after school, Mon-FRI, 2:30pm-4:00pm, plus be away from family 2 evenings per week, and on weekends. You only had to do it 3-4 months. The aim was to win. How you handled players came second, and parents a distant third. Coaching was fun, relatively easy to do, families were intact, and expectations clear.
It is impossible to hire competent non-teachers to coach who can do so mid-afternoon, and put parents first, players second, school boards third, ADs fourth, and, finally, still win enough games to keep your job based on merit. Who can do it, and who will do it for a stipend of $2.000.00-5,000.00?
As for teachers coaching, there is a joke: “The fastest way to unemployment as a teacher–is to coach.” The money has never been worth it; today the risk of coaching outweighs its benefit. Have you calculated recently how dangerous it is to show taught love to kids, so as to make a difference in their lives?
Standardized tests are the sole determiner today of the continued employability of teachers, and principals alike. Test scores, not Game scores, matter in both the long term and short term teaching calculus. Principals are never pressured today on how well their coaches coach, or if their teams win the conference. Teachers get meager annual appraisal points for “making a difference” in lives of players coached. I think it fair to say, of all parent feedback principals receive about coaches, 90% of it is negative.
So while the personal risk to teachers is skyrocketing, to be responsible to coach others’ kids, schools have completely de-incentivized coaching in the name of test scores and US News & World Report rankings.
High School Basketball Isn’t a Movie
Schools drift in nostalgia, in a sort of basketball movie Hoosiers-mode, where kids of mediocre talent come together once per year, in the Fall, to play for their high school to earn a letter jacket, under a wise teacher-coach. In reality, no serious basketball player 16YOA and up waits till October to dribble, and begins to condition only on the first day of practice in running line-drills.
Schools do not care about the other 8 months of a player’s basketball development. That is not the school’s problem. If you ever read a basketball coach’s contract, it generally says you will coach 6th grade, and Coach Joe will coach 7th grade, and Bill JV, James Varsity, etc.
None in the school track the overall, cross-year development of any player. This omission is from elementary school (95% of states do not have school-based basketball in elementary schools) to middle school to high school. As far as the school system is concerned, the first time a basketball player shows up on its duty-radar screen is 7th grade. Can you imagine any player in college today starting to play in 7th grade?
Responsibilities
No one in the school system (even the Athletic Director of that system), “owns” the responsibility to create and run a basketball development program reaching across grades and ages, and skill levels, of players who want to grow in the game. No one manages transitions of players from year to year, and no trains them longitudinally. Further, no one in the school district is responsible to recruit out-of-school season coaches, and build valuable relations with adults in the community to staff a basketball development feeder program. No one coordinates between schools and, say, AAU or travel teams, from March to the next October.
The school sees, and contracts, only in parts. Most school coaches sign contracts just a few weeks before season begins, then wait to see who shows up for tryouts. Some are cut, others kept, then 10 practices are held before the first game. In most states HSB varsity coaches are precluded from coaching AAU, Elite and travel teams during the off-season. And below varsity coaches, few school coaches also coach in these venues. Similarly, very few coaches hold pre-season workouts or post-season player improvement trainings. Few hold camps, clinics or one-on-one trainings, at any time of year.
School System Difficulties
Schools are inherently political. They must satisfy the constituents they serve, who all vote, complain, and run to social media whenever the pettiest slight is felt, or perceived. It is impossible to believe how many people complain to a school principal on a given day.
The problem is not that parents complain (they do in AAU and travel as well). The problem is that no school board, and very few superintendents, will defend you, or hold warpath-parents accountable for their unfounded attacks on you. You get no protection from any quarter. In my experience, not one person above you will say anything good about you on the record, or to the newspaper, once an allegation is raised against you. Instead, you will meet a haunting silence that will fill the space around you.
Internal school system are also difficult. The principal’s daughter will make the team; the coach’s daughter will start, and; the son or daughter of a school board member will get to take the final shot in a close game! Children of fellow teachers also generally make the team, out of solidarity for all that teachers have to put up with to stay in the profession.
Athletic Department Difficulties
Athletic Directors are schizophrenic. Historically coaches had to do 2 things to keep their jobs: win 60% of games, and not hit players. Today the list of expectations is growing, and non-sustainable. Now yelling at is akin to battery. To be “mean” or to “talk down to” players is sister to abuse. To not respond to a player’s every need is to “negate their self-esteem.”
High School basketball coaches today are expected to: 1) Start each parent’s child; 2) Validate them in every way, and; as far as the AD is concerned, 3) Generate copious amounts of money to pay for all the other unsuccessful sports programs in the school. Win 70% of games, and be a “nice guy” 100% in practices, games, interviews, and in all conversations with members of the public.
As for ADs, 75% are full of pride, and the other 25% failed when they were coaches. They are men (almost all are males) who cannot coach, and who do not want to teach. Most see themselves as above principals, and many in fact do report direct to the school system superintendent.There is a clear dichotomy today inside schools: principals hire the teachers, and ADs hire the coaches. ADs function in perpetual plausible deniability.
Social Media Difficulties
In this social media age, every aspect of you as a teacher-coach is under direct, constant scrutiny. The problem is you cannot afford to hire a lawyer, personal security guard, and public relations specialist to defend you. There are no rules of ethics or legal procedures to limit how anyone may attack you. You do not get to argue merits. You can bet that each night while you stay awake to ready the team for the next day’s big event, someone, somewhere is posting something about you on social media that is harmful and not true. If it should go viral, you are dead before morning. I bet a parent is already taping you at games, to edit later, and use however they wish. It does not take long to get from a hostile parent facebook page to your school superintendent. In fact, just two “Shares” will do it.
When you coach kids from 2-parent homes there is a good chance you can reach agreement on what are the goals for the season, and how they define success, and fun, for their child. But with our totally messed up “family” structures today, 70 percent of the friction you face during the season will be caused by those who are not even related to those you coach. Most you will never meet, know or have any dealings with. Yet all can harpoon you in moments, so as to “stand up” in protecting “their” child.
For the reasons above, good coaches regularly leave schools after 2-3 seasons. The reason is because a rolling stone gathers no moss. Nothing sticks to the one who moves. So since 90 percent of high school basketball coaching positions are part-time, if you want to move up to coach full-time, you simply have to move. And move. And move. For coaches to survive today, move in 3, or perish, is the reality.
Mr. Terry Boesch is a Gold-level Certified Youth Basketball Coach with USA Basketball. He is a US Army veteran, and former senior leader in the US Federal Government in Washington, DC. He is a licensed public school teacher, and previously taught in the hometown of his basketball hero, John Wooden, in Martinsville, IN. Contact: [email protected] Website: TexasExpress.org
John Wooden, the Wizard of Westwood, is the coach by whom modern-day coaches are measured. Winning ten of twelve NCAA Championships has immortalized his place in basketball history. History, on the other hand, has not been as kind to another basketball wizard. Ernest Blood, who dominated his peers to an even greater degree a few generations earlier in New Jersey, was called the Grey Thatched Wizard.
Few basketball purists in California are aware of this first wizard of the hardwood. “Prof” was a shortened version of Professor. It was the name his players and students called him, but they spoke it reverently. Passaic High School’s Grey Thatched Wizard was known for his all-around coaching acumen. His teams enjoyed six undefeated seasons, and during another season, his team lost one game. His truncated stay at Passaic High School was a nonpareil 188-1. Furthermore, his teams would have undoubtedly won many more if jealous administrators and school board members hadn’t interfered.
A recently published book investigates the life of Prof Blood from his precocious athletic youth to the development of his avant-garde system of coaching. In Prof Blood and the Wonder Teams: The True Story of Basketball’s First Great Coach, California coaches learn how and why this man was a generation ahead of his peers. His methods and philosophies, which are not always followed today, are still very much worth learning and implementing.
Winning streaks followed these two coaching wizards. Wooden’s UCLA teams once compiled 88 consecutive victories. While a couple of generations earlier, Blood’s boys went five seasons in a row without a loss, 159 straight, topping the latter-day wizard’s mark by 71 games. Besides the length of their winning steaks, these two coaching wizards had much in common.
Basketball Lifers: Blood & John Wooden
For starters, Blood and Wooden were astrological Libras. Their birth dates were October 5, 1872, and October 14, 1910, respectively. If self-confidence is an essential ingredient to be a successful coach, then that explains the reason for their success. And their confidence was reflected in their teams’ demeanor.
Other similarities of these two Naismith Memorial Hall of Famers include:
Excellent, accomplished athletes—one of Wooden’s two inductions into the hall of fame was for his accomplishments as a player
Great free throw shooters–Wooden once made 134 straight in professional game competition with the Kautsky Athletic Club, while Blood at age seventy-four, calmly sank 484 out of 500 after a practice session
Physical conditioning enthusiasts. With Wooden, it was an obsession
Adherence to clean living was a must
Adamantly stressed the importance of teamwork
Recognized the importance of speed and quickness as essentials
Strange eating habits
Proponents of a controlled offense, fastbreak, and full court pressing defense. Blood pioneered these innovations and referred to his full court defense as “offensive defense”
Shy in social situations
Honest to a fault
Far ahead of their time as basketball tacticians
The only enemies they had were people who were jealous of their success
Neither believed in charging a team up before a game. They wanted a calm assurance in the dressing room and in the pre-game warm-ups.
Prof Blood often said: “I train boys for the game of life—not to win basketball games. If I succeed in that, I have accomplished something worthwhile.” In Prof’s way of thinking, winning remained incidental.
The Story of Basketball’s First Great Coach: Ernest Blood
Before little John Wooden was a twinkle in Joshua Hugh Wooden’s eye, Prof was equating basketball to the more important game of life. While reading John Wooden’s book They Call Me Coach, you could insert Blood’s name for Wooden’s. You would be accurately describing Blood’s philosophy as well.
The major differences between the two behemoths of the game were their eras of dominance (’20s and ’60s) and their arenas (high school and college). They had their priorities straight; they were teachers of the game of life. The differences between the two lay in society’s memory. Wooden has become a household name synonymous with basketball coaching excellence while Blood’s story has never accurately been told until now. His accomplishments, contributions to the game and tribulations that have been lost in the annals of basketball have been resurrected in Prof Blood and the Wonder Teams: The Story of Basketball’s First Great Coach.
There isn’t a basketball coach who knows an X from an O who wouldn’t benefit from becoming more familiar with basketball’s first great coach. Prof’s biography should be required reading for all high school coaches and fans.
***
Chic Hess, Ed. D. is the author of Prof Blood and the Wonder Teams: The True Story of Basketball’s First Great Coach, available at www.profblood.com. Hess is a former NAIA College District and NABC-Kodak National Junior College Coach of the Year.
Scheming the right defensive system for your team remains one of the most important parts of preseason preparation for any basketball coach. While defensive principles may largely be the same from year to year, the athletes on the team might not be. Coaches must gear their strategies and approaches to fit the capabilities of their players. That makes systems like the Funnel Down Defense so valuable. Funnel Down stands as a versatile defensive weapon for any team, no matter the level.
The Funnel Down Defense
The basic principle of this defensive set up is to prevent opposing offenses from comfortably using the middle of the floor. Funnel Down creates “gutters” outside the volleyball lines, which are present on most high school and even college courts. Defenders force dribblers into these gutters and funnel them down the line to the next man. The ball is pushed down to the baseline and toward “strike zones,” or trap areas in the short corner.
Ideally, the offense never centers the ball, or swings the ball to the weak side of the floor. This defense focuses on shrinking the court for opposing offenses. Funnel Down tries to prevent offenses from effectively using 60 percent of the court.
Funnel Down is purposefully built to get opposing offenses out of their normal rhythm and flow, resulting in turnovers, and bad or rushed shots. When deployed in games that feature a shot clock, the effectiveness of this strategy is further amplified because the offense must spend time getting out of the trap zones.
Why Use Funnel Down?
This defensive system provides coaches with a versatile set up, adaptable to almost any talent level. Funnel Down can be paired with any base defense. It doesn’t matter if a team normally runs man-to-man or zone, funnel down can work either way.
When used correctly, this system disrupts any offense by keeping the ball on one side of the floor. Funnel Down seeks to “pin” opposing offenses to the sidelines and forcing them into traps. This creates an urgency in dribblers that often speeds them up to a point where they are uncomfortable. By speeding up the dribbler, the offense becomes more mistake prone, leading to game-changing turnovers.
And this defense can be taught by any coach, to basically any team. The lesson linked below provides all of the video tutorials, drills and practice plans needed to implement this system. Funnel Down might be the only defense a team needs!
The versatility of this set up allows for any type of athlete to be used on the floor. The defense creates difficult angles for passing and shooting, especially once the ball handler enters that baseline trap area. Funnel Down uses the sideline and the baseline as extra defenders to leverage pressure on the floor.
Incorporating this system into your routine forces opposing teams to spend extra time preparing. That ultimately robs opponents of time to prep for other parts of their game plans.
For more on how to implement this game-changing defensive system, Click Below for the Limited Time Offer!
Basketball coaches often find themselves scheming for different ways to defeat the best team on their schedule. Many of those schemes are oriented around the defense. Coaches searching for ways to streamline their practices and become more efficient in their instruction need to look no further than the Funnel Down Defense. This approach provides coaches with a tried and true defense system that dictates pace and generates turnovers.
The Funnel Down Defense
Funnel Down uses something most basketball courts feature and many coaches dismiss: the volleyball lines. This defense focuses on shrinking the court for opposing offenses by pushes ball handlers outside of that key stretch of the floor. Funnel Down tries to prevent offenses from effectively using 60 percent of the court. Instead, it forces them to the perimeter, operating on just 40 percent of the floor.
This approach attempts to keep the ball on one side of the floor. It speeds up opposing offenses to the point where they become mistake-prone. It also shrinks the usable floor space for the offense.
Funnel Down is purposefully built to get opposing offenses out of their normal rhythm and flow, resulting in turnovers, and bad or rushed shots. When deployed in games that feature a shot clock, the effectiveness of this strategy is further amplified because the offense must spend time getting out of the trap zones.
Three Key Concepts of the Funnel Down Defense
1. Pin the ball on the sideline
2. Funnel the ball to the baseline
3. Trap and Rotate in the short corner
The design of this defense borrows its terminology from bowling. The task of the defense remains to “funnel” the ball along the “gutter” of the court to the baseline, where a trap awaits in the “strike zone.” Funnel Down seeks to keep the ball out of the “alley,” which is the main stretch of center court inside the volleyball lines. The traps occur in “strike zones” positioned at the short corners.
Ideally, defenders pressure the ball into the gutters, avoiding the centering pass. This is called a “pin.” This tactic overplays the ball handler away from the middle so that the ball can’t be swung. Defenders stay ahead of the ball handlers by sprinting, not sliding, trying to stay half a body width ahead of the dribbler. This discourages penetration and funnels the ball toward the trap areas.
The defender “up the line” covers a man below the ball level on the court. This defender needs to remain between his man and the ball in order to help. The defenders continue to “funnel” the ball along the sideline, encouraging the dribblers to head toward the baseline. Once the ball enters the “strike zone” in the short corner, that triggers a trap and weak side rotation.
For more on how to implement this game-changing defensive system, Click Below for the Limited Time Funnel Down Defense Offer!
I think it is safe to say that there has never been a course created or an experience a coach could pull from on how to plan for and attack this situation. This has been a trying time for sure. But ultimately, this has been a time where, if done correctly, players and teams could still have improved. At Gibson Southern High School in Fort Branch, Indiana, the Lady Titans basketball program, like everyone else, has experienced our share of challenges and has taken many steps to combat the challenges of coaching in a pandemic
Challenge 1: Coaching with Masks On
Like all coaches, this has been a change for our staff. The biggest part of this is the difficulty in communicating and talking in a loud gym and the inability to show emotion in our facial expressions. There are many coaches, just like the great Pat Summit, who used emotion in their facial expressions to help coach their players. This is something that we have had to adjust in our practices to ensure we are able to continue the teaching of the game that is necessary to improve as a program.
Challenge 2: Keeping Everyone Healthy
It is imperative to emphasize the importance of masking up and putting ourselves in positions to remain healthy. We have consistently talked to our players about avoiding situations where they could be compromised and possibly contract COVID or become a close contact.
Challenge 3: Volatility in Schedule
We had arguably the best schedule our program has seen in over a decade scheduled for this season. Then we had received an invitation to play in an 8-team holiday tournament with seven schools more than double our size, many of which routinely play for sectional championships. Due to our county COVID status, we were forced to drop out of that tournament. Luckily, we were able to get in a shootout with two other quality teams to partially make up for the games lost in the holiday tournament. We have had multiple other games rescheduled or dropped within 24-48 hours of tip off. This volatility of scheduling has been very difficult to coach through. Needless to say, our Athletic Director has earned his money this season.
Challenge 4: Inability to conduct Team Gatherings
One of the things we pride ourselves in as a program and staff is developing a strong team culture/bond. One way we do this is through team gatherings and give-backs. We were unable to host our annual holiday giveback, where we’ll volunteer time to ring bells for the Salvation Army and/or donate gifts and time at our local YWCA. Unfortunately, we were unable to have our annual team Christmas Party as well. We have had to become more creative to help develop these strong bonds.
Challenge 5: Ticket Guidelines
In Indiana, every county has different ticket guidelines. Some counties allow two tickets per player. Others allow two tickets per player but can only be parents. Some allow six tickets per player. Others tickets are sold at gates, while others sell online. It can be a major challenge to stay on top of the various ticket guidelines from game to game.
With the volatility in our game schedule, it has become that much more important to network around the state with other coaches. I talked to a veteran coach this past week and one thing he mentioned he will miss when he retires is the camaraderie of the coaching fraternity. Every coach can understand and relate to the difficulty of fulfilling a schedule during these trying times. This season has shown the needed importance of developing those relationships with coaches around the state.
Step 3: Ornament Party
In an attempt to keep some semblance of normalcy for our players and do some form of team-building activity, we held a socially-distanced ornament party with our players. We got the players soft drinks and individually packaged snacks. With Christmas music playing, the girls paint their own ornaments. We then took the ornaments and had them “fired up” at a local pottery store that finished the ornaments. Many of the girls commented on how fun this activity was and we feel it met the important goal of team-building and improving our culture.
Step 4: Ticket Sales
One piece of advice: Try to have your athletic director conduct ticket sales online. This could take the collection of money and distribution of tickets out of your hands. It is important to be organized and have a system in place to ensure all money is collected and all tickets are distributed. As much as can be done online or via mobile sales, the better.
In conclusion, while this time is difficult, it is important to look at it through the lens of we still have a great opportunity to coach this great game and see young people grow. If we view this time as a positive, our players and those around us will view it the same way. Good luck and coach them up!
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A valuable practice plan lays out the exact avenues of attack a coach wants to explore. Especially early when youth 
Dan Horwitz
Few basketball purists in California are aware of this first wizard of the hardwood. “Prof” was a shortened version of Professor. It was the name his players and students called him, but they spoke it reverently. Passaic High School’s Grey Thatched Wizard was known for his all-around coaching acumen. His teams enjoyed six undefeated seasons, and during another season, his team lost one game. His truncated stay at Passaic High School was a nonpareil 188-1. Furthermore, his teams would have undoubtedly won many more if jealous administrators and school board members hadn’t interfered.
The 
1. Pin the ball on the sideline
