In the dynamic world of youth basketball coaching, nurturing not just physical skills but also mental fortitude is crucial for success on the court. One fundamental aspect that can elevate a player’s performance is confidence. In this article, we delve into the significance of confidence in sports and unveil five effective strategies for youth basketball coaches to cultivate and boost the confidence of their players.
The Importance of Confidence in Sports
Confidence is the secret ingredient that transforms good players into exceptional ones. As mentioned in the recent “Basketball Leadership Podcast,” confidence is likened to a superpower, influencing individual and team performance. When players believe in their abilities, they make bolder decisions, take calculated risks, and ultimately contribute to a positive team atmosphere.
In the competitive realm of youth basketball, instilling confidence becomes a game-changer, impacting not only skill execution but also teamwork, leadership, and overall game strategy.
Make an impact with your players this year! This is a made to order painting on stretched canvas signed by the artist, Candice Griffy. Choose your own colors, name and number for this unique piece of artwork! The canvas has stapled back and is ready to hang directly on the wall so there is no need for further framing!
Emphasize quality over quantity when it comes to practice.
Encourage players to focus on effective, purposeful drills.
Teach the importance of concentrating efforts on specific skills to see tangible improvements.
Think Positive Thoughts:
Emphasize the power of a positive mindset on and off the court.
Encourage players to engage in positive self-talk, dismissing negative thoughts.
Share examples of overcoming challenges through optimistic thinking.
Prepare for Success:
Stress the significance of thorough preparation for individual and team scenarios.
Teach players to anticipate challenges and plan strategies for overcoming them.
Discuss the value of poise in high-pressure situations and its role in building confidence.
Plan Ahead for Adversity:
Acknowledge that adversity is a part of sports and life.
Utilize in-game situations as learning opportunities for future challenges.
Coach players on resilience and maintaining confidence during tough moments.
Play Without Fear:
Emphasize the importance of playing fearlessly, free from the fear of failure.
Foster an environment where mistakes are seen as learning opportunities.
Instill the belief that taking risks can lead to personal and team growth.
Conclusion: As a youth basketball coach, your role extends beyond teaching the technicalities of the game. Cultivating basketball confidence in your players is a strategic investment that pays off not only in terms of on-court success but also in the development of strong, resilient individuals. By incorporating these five strategies into your coaching approach, you empower your team to unlock their full potential, setting them on a path to success both in basketball and life. Remember, confidence is not just a skill; it’s a game-changer that can make a lasting impact on the future of your young athletes.
As a coach, you understand that developing your players’ physical skills is only part of the equation for success on the court. The ability to navigate through challenges, overcome setbacks, and maintain focus in high-pressure situations is what sets truly exceptional athletes apart. Basketball is a sport that demands players be mentally tough. Mental fortitude shines through split-second decisions and relentless competition can push players to their limits. However, it is in these crucibles that champions are forged. Whether you’re a seasoned coach or a passionate player seeking personal growth, this comprehensive guide will equip you with 20 invaluable strategies to cultivate mental toughness and resilience.
In his book, Training Camp: What the Best Do Better Than Everyone Else, author Jon Gordon presents Twenty Ways to Get Mentally Tough. This book is a valuable resource for coaches, but here’s a look at the strategies to develop that necessary mental fortitude.
20 Ways to Get Mentally Tough
When you face a setback, think of it as a defining moment that will lead to a future accomplishment.
When you encounter adversity, remember, the best don’t just face adversity; they embrace it, knowing it’s not a dead end but a detour to something greater and better.
When you face negative people, know that the key to life is to stay positive in the face of negativity, not in the absence of it. After all, everyone will have to overcome negativity to define themselves and create their success.
When you face the naysayers, remember the people who believed in you and spoke positive words to you.
When you face critics, remember to tune them out and focus only on being the best you can be.
When you wake up in the morning, take a morning walk of gratitude and prayer. It will create a fertile mind ready for success.
When you fear, trust. Let your faith be greater than your doubt.
When you fail, find the lesson in it, and then recall a time you have succeeded.
When you head into battle, visualize success.
When you are thinking about the past or worrying about the future, instead focus your energy on the present moment. The now is where your power is the greatest.
When you want to complain, instead identify a solution.
When your own self-doubt crowds your mind, weed it and replace it with positive thoughts and positive self-talk.
When you feel distracted, focus on your breathing, observe your surroundings, clear your mind, and get into the The Zone. The Zone is not a random event. It can be created.
When you feel all is impossible, know that with God, all things are possible.
When you feel alone, think of all the people who have helped you along the way and who love and support you now.
When you feel lost, pray for guidance.
When you are tired and drained, remember to never, never, never give up. Finish strong in everything you do.
When you feel like you can’t do it, know that you can do all things through Him who gives you strength.
When you feel like your situation is beyond your control, pray and surrender. Focus on what you can control and let go of what you can’t.
When you’re in a high pressure situation and the game is on the line, and everyone is watching you, remember to smile, have fun, and enjoy it. Life is short; you only live once. You have nothing to lose. Seize the moment.
If you coach a K-8th grade team, we have hundreds of resources. All laid out in an easy-to-follow, step-by-step system to save you time and money. Check out coachingyouthhoops.com today!
We’ve all heard expecting parents talk proudly about the dreams they have for their child or children on the way. They’ll say things like: “My son’s gonna play for the Yankees” or “My daughter’s gonna play for UConn”. Even before a child is born, the foundation of lofty dreams and expectations are already being laid. However, there is no box labeled “Dreams” on any birth certificate. Perhaps if there was such a box, it would feature 3 choices: “Dream Big”, “Dream Small”, or “No Dream”.
Of course, life doesn’t work that way. But it would be an interesting experiment to find out how parents would answer that question. What about coaches? Would any parent or coach have a mind to select “Dream Small”, or even worse, “No Dream”? When confronted with such blunt options, it’s unlikely, but not inconceivable. In reality, it’s not so obvious. But in many ways, parents and coaches convey these negative outlooks everyday. In most cases, without even realizing.
By not creating a culture of dreaming big and chasing those dreams, we’re consequently creating an opposite culture of mediocrity, and either dreaming small or not dreaming at all.
Ironically, we’re all completely equipped at birth to dream and achieve anything. But parents rarely encourage their children to dream passed a certain age. Yes, genetics does determine our physical makeup overall, but the heart and mind are virtually an empty canvas just waiting to be painted. Unfortunately, many parents often fear the thought of handing their children that proverbial paint brush, and daring them to dream big. In looking to spare their children the pain of failure and rejection.
In actuality, can send them on a path that’s far more likely to lead to mediocrity, and often more failure and rejection than if they’d encouraged them to dream big in the first place. Disappointingly, many of these children at some point enter into athletics with this uninspired mindset. It’s the job of every coach who believes in the power of dreams, to reverse this process as soon as possible, and inspire them to dream before it’s too late.
To the player, this new concept of inspiration and the instilling of dreams, goes far beyond the game of basketball. In fact, it can often be a pivotal turning point in their lives. Many happy and successful adults can look back to one specific coach or teacher that had a huge impact on their lives. We must never forget to inspire our players to dream big from the very beginning. And remind them to remember the dream throughout their lives, both on and off the court. It’s a great responsibility, but one that provides joy and inspiration for everyone involved.
As the days of summer heat up, stay cool inside and watch some classic basketball movies! Here’s my top 10 basketball movies and a few honorable mentions.
For Free Basketball drills, videos, practice plans and much more CLICK HERE
This might be a stretch, as far as basketball scenes, but I have fond memories of watching this my senior year in high school. “A struggling high school student with problems discovers that his family has an unusual pedigree when he finds himself turning into a werewolf.”
The revolution of the Air Jordan brand helped this movie become a cult classic. “A 14-year-old orphan becomes an NBA superstar after trying on a pair of sneakers with the faded initials “M.J.” inside.”
I could not put Anchorman on this list so Semi-Pro had to do. “Jackie Moon, the owner-coach-player of the American Basketball Association’s Flint Michigan Tropics, rallies his teammates to make their NBA dreams come true.”
Not sure this deserves to be on the list but it shows the corruption of college basketball. “A college basketball coach is forced to break the rules in order to get the players he needs to stay competitive.”
I had to list one romantic, date night movie. “In 1981 in L.A., Monica moves in next door to Quincy. They’re 11, and both want to play in the NBA, just like Quincy’s dad.”
A cult classic that everyone should watch at least once, not to mention it has a young Julius Irving! “The Pittsburgh basketball team is hopeless. Maybe with the aid of an astrologer, and some new astrologically compatible players, they can become winners.”
A great movie showing the pressure of family and basketball in today’s society. “A basketball player’s father must try to convince him to go to a college so he can get a shorter sentence.”
Another favorite movie from my childhood. “David Greene is a New York basketball enthusiast, who wants to coach. He is then offered the coaching job at a small Nevada college. He brings along some players, who are a bit odd.”
A historic story that changed our game forever. “In 1966, Texas Western coach Don Haskins led the first all-black starting line-up for a college basketball team to the NCAA national championship.”
The only documentary on the list and one of my all-time favorites. “A film following the lives of two inner-city Chicago boys who struggle to become college basketball players on the road to going professional.”
A story of a coach who puts the game in perspective. “Controversy surrounds high school basketball coach Ken Carter after he benches his entire team for breaking their academic contract with him.”
I love this movie and thought it was a great twist of live action from Michael Jordan, one of my favorite players, and cartoons. “Michael Jordan agrees to help the Looney Toons play a basketball game vs. alien slavers to determine their freedom.”
This movie gives every high school player a dream of winning it big. I remember the day I watched this movie for the first time as a freshman in college. I wanted to live that dream and did it with 3 state titles! “A coach with a checkered past and a local drunk train a small town high school basketball team to become a top contender for the championship.”
For Free Basketball drills, videos, practice plans and much more CLICK HERE!
This is the Information we have received from coaches It is quoted from specific coaches and if something is in-correct please email me at [email protected] or reach out via social media (Twitter: @coachcollinsjmm; Facebook group–coaching basketball Click here)
Alabama
The Alabama High School Athletic Association has approved its Return to Play “Best Practices” guidelines for winter sports
Alaska
starts January 11 (it appears) and will end in late March. Not sure yet on fans and the use of masks may or may not be in play for athletes!
Arizona
Practice for winter season sports had begun on Nov. 9 for the counties, districts and schools that met metrics to allow for a permissible start, the AIA said. Those schools can continue to practice until further notice, the AIA said.
With surging COVID-19 metrics again hitting the state, Arizona Interscholastic Association Executive Director David Hines recommended to the Executive Board on Monday that high school winter sports competition be delayed until sometime in January.
Arkansas
Limited spectators, no in season tournaments, if a conference game is missed due to COVID reasons and can’t be made up the game isn’t counted/penalized, for either school. Conferences have choice on a district tournament and how it’ll be played, our conference will probably travel to the higher seeded team.
California
Dates shifted, yes, but sports are also played at a different time. For example, boys volleyball is usually a spring sport, but it has moved to the same time as girls volleyball during the “fall sports” that will begin mid December through mid February. Girls tennis is usually a fall sport and it is moved back to the “spring sports” at the same time as boys tennis beginning at the end of February through early May.
They have shifted from 3 seasons (fall, winter, spring) down to 2. So there are a lot of sports happening at the same time that do not share seasons. Makes it difficult for multi sport athletes that have 2 of their favorite sports happening at the same time. Basketball and baseball/softball as an example.
The state of California has always had an 18 hour rule during the week. Games/meets/matches count as 3 hours towards that number, even if a cross country meet only takes 20 minutes, it counts for 3 hours. Plus the practice time during the week. If you play one sport a season, that is very reasonable. There will be more people trying to play 2 sports at the same time instead of making a tough decision. That 18 hour rule will be pushed big time in that case. In addition, the 18 hour rule also states you cannot double up on sports on back to back days.
Delayed Start until March
Colorado
Season moved back to start January. Shortened season (14 games). As of right now, play with masks, no spectators
Connecticut
postponed at the moment after a spike. Prior was playing a shortened season and area teams. CT has announced we are postponed until January 19.
Delaware
Have not found much looks like they are playing
Florida
is playing every county is different tho. My county (orange) is doing covid testing every few weeks. And we have several in game changes when it comes to covid. Like no jump ball to start game, sanitized ball every timeout, come to game in uniform, etc. Fl is county to county even though you don’t have them as missing. Most counties are pretty normal. Ours unfortunately is not 1 of those. We can only play in county. We could play a tourney vs out of county teams though as long as the games were at a private school in our county.
Georgia
is Playing
Hawaii
Hawaii has a tentative date of Jan 4….. we still have no protocol or policy
Idaho
Is Playing
Illinois
As of now, Illinois is leaving it up to the local school districts. The governor wanted it moved till spring but the IHSA is not following that guidance. Illinois is currently in limbo (at least my school is). Governor and IDPH both have said basketball is high risk and the season is postponed. IHSA has said the season will commence on schedule. Some have opted out, some are saying they’ll play. Illinois – Health Department says NO to basketball. IHSA- sports association says we are going to ignore you and play. Most schools have announced they will not play due to insurance liability issues. Insurance companies cannot support a school knowingly going against expert health advice.
IHSA sent a survey to delay the season. They meet on 11/11/20 to discuss. Practices scheduled to start next Monday 11/16. Very few schools have committed to participate.
Indiana
Playing. Coaches wearing masks, limited tickets for family pending on school, players are playing on (no masks) at the middle school level in
Iowa
We are currently as normal. Some conferences are limiting fans but as far as the top goes they have only submitted recommendations.
Kansas
Here is KS, we have some limitations on crowd size depending on the school (most everything is decided local) and we are not having jump balls this year to start the game, instead visiting team will start with a side out.
Kentucky
Kentucky High School Athletic Association votes to delay hoops, other winter sports until Jan. 4
Louisiana
Seem be to playing/ No masks for players
Maine
Under the announced schedule, teams in all winter sports except for wrestling may conduct “skills and drills” practices beginning Dec. 7, with more formal preseason practices and intrasquad scrimmages scheduled to start Dec. 14.
Maryland
MPSSAA in MD granted permission to begin winter sports as early as Dec 7. (First day of tryouts. MD requires 20 days of practice before competition.) However Anne Arundel County where I am just suspended indefinitely all indoor and outdoor workouts, practices and training due to a surge in cases locally. Dev 7 is now up in the air. The original plan a month ago was a 2nd semester winter sports season starting in early February.
Massachusetts
MA… still being negotiated. Youth basketball not happening as of now.
Michigan
I’m in Michigan and our players have to wear masks at all times, even while playing. Coaches, fans, and refs will be masked too. No more than 2 spectators per player/coach, no locker room use for practice, no jump balls for games. Michigan is playing but has instituted a ton of restrictions/rules. Refs can’t the ball. No jump ball. Coin flip if game goes into OT. Have to play with masks on. Etc.
Minnesota
18 games instead of 26 for the regular season. Section play offs, the state tournament is undetermined as yet. Two family members per player can attend. This could change as COVID-19 numbers are rising.
Mississippi
Seems to be playing
Missouri
Missouri is playing and pretty much like nothing happened. Looking like our bench is going to be 6 feet away from each other
Montana
Delayed start of 1 month. Reduced spectators based on county health recommendations. Games start Jan 2
Nebraska:
Nebraska currently: 25% capacity, limited to house hold members only effective till Nov 30. Masks worn by all except those on floor. No pregame or post game hand shakes. Masks on bus rides. Athletes responsible for their own water bottle during games.
Nevada
Do not seem to be playing
New Hampshire
A tentative start to competition is set for Jan. 11, 2021.
New Jersey
As of now NJ is playing. Shortened season. Players are supposed to wear face covering while on bench. Not sure how that will work/be addressed. No fans at all. NJ: 14 regular season games. 1 scrimmage. Down from 25ish and 4. Home and Home with the same opponent each week. Limited state playoffs.
New Mexico
NM no sports at all happening In The state. New Mexico tentative start date Jan. 4th 2021 with 18 game schedule
New York
We have confirmed with state officials that low & moderate risk winter sports may begin play on Nov. 30. We continue to examine opportunities for high-risk sports to be played with strict risk minimization efforts in place. At this time, high-risk sports are not authorized. New York recently got moved to January 4th
North Carolina
North Dakota is playing a full season at this point. Masks during games and practices just came down for volleyball so I expect it is coming for winter sports. We have been doing open gyms with masks.
North Dakota
Winter High School Sports & Activities Suspended in North Dakota Until December 14
Ohio
The Ohio High School Athletic Association reaffirmed its plans Wednesday to move ahead with winter sports as scheduled, notifying athletic directors across the state while providing results of a recent survey.
Oklahoma:
Is playing. Oklahoma we put signs up to wear masks, and social distance but games are packed like sardines and no masks. Game un changed
Oregon
winter seasons slated with our athletic association, OSAA, to start December 28th with a short 7-week season. However our governor says no full contact sports which basketball has been designated, until OR phase 3 which is a long ways off… a reliable COVID treatment or vaccine is required. Oregon reduced games from 24 to 14. Season from 14 weeks to 9. Pushed start back by 6 weeks.
Pennsylvania
PA is starting basketball on time on Nov 20 with full schedules planned. Many schools are starting to shut down
Rhode Island
Season shortened from 17 to 10 games then playoffs.
Possibly Varsity only no JV , Max roster 15 but only 12 dress for games. Games played on Saturdays. 2 spectators per player no student fans. All players will wear masks even while playing
All subject to change
South Carolina
limit number of fans … follow protocols as far as distance on bench, players/coaches wear mask while on bench… HSL has recommended playing same opponent back to back (Tues/Fri), tournaments pretty much have been canceled… recommending coming dressed to games, limit use of locker rooms.. have several basketballs for use during games…
South Dakota
South Dakota is starting as normal. Fan limits are on school to school basis.
Tennessee
Playing
Texas
Game limit of 27, no tournaments. Only one game allowed during school week. —-Nov 10 Texas, 1st game today, must wear a mask while playing and on the bench. No fans allowed in the gym
Utah
Gov tonight declares a state of emergency effective tomorrow due to rising Covid cases and limited hospital space. Late-night order includes a statewide mask mandate and orders people to restrict casual social gatherings to family only. No youth or high school sports
Vermont
A tentative start to competition is set for Jan. 11, 2021. Vermont, practice start 11/30, games begin 1/11/21. Right now no spectators.
Virginia
At this point VA is starting winter sports on Dec. 7th with a condensed season and championship bracket. For public schools, high schools are slated to start practicing in a couple of weeks, cutting season by about 25% of games, no spectators in the gym. I’m a middle school coach, and we are not slated to start practicing until January, have cut about 20% of the games, and only 1 parent per kid in the gym (no siblings)
Washington
No fall sports in WA State; we are supposed to start basketball on 12/28/20. Currently practicing; only 5 players and 1 coach per practice.
West Virginia
Gov. Jim Justice issued an executive order on Friday morning that the high school winter sports season will postponed until Jan. 11 at the earliest.
Wisconsin
Dane County is not playing. The WIAA is going on with a season….Yes we are doing wrestling and winter sports when our state is on fire. Our State Association has done NOTHING to push for a later start or second season.
Wyoming
The WHSAA has not pushed back the start date for any winter sports
Countries around the World
Japan. Back to Normal
Ontario, Canada (a province, not a state) is currently not playing winter sports
In Italy all youth basketball is suspended. Only the first two male and female championship are playing
England is in a lockdown until early December so just about all competitive matches put back to a January 2021 start.
Sydney, Australia – we have been playing since July (on and off). No masks but at times no spectators. All change rooms are closed so you need to turn up in your gear. Players must sanitise hands as they sub in and out as well as out of timeouts and breaks between quarters/halves. Now each player is allowed one spectator to any indoor sport but spectators must remain socially distanced. Seems to have worked well so far.
We have had a ton people email and message about getting in Teachhoops.com
We have decided to open it for a FLASH SALE…with a Discount
We we RE-OPEN Prices will be HIGHER
Special Discount / JULY 8th 2022
Monthly ( 31.99 a Month)
Quarterly ( 29.99 a Month )
6 Months (27.99 a Month )
Yearly (25.99 a Month)
Error! The button ID (266) you specified in the shortcode does not exist. You may have deleted this payment button. Go to the Manage Payment Buttons interface then copy and paste the correct button ID in the shortcode.
You can save Thousands of dollars off the Full Curriculum (Over $4870 if you bought each program that makes up the Full Membership Individually).
If you go to the Site, you will not SEE the Discounted PRICE.
P.S. The Full Curriculum Consists of SO much
1. Basketball Roadmap. This walks you through the Pre-season, Season, Post Season and Off Season with Drills, handouts, videos, much more…Total Value $540.00
2. Offense and Defensive Curriculum (Levels 1-4) designed for Coaches to compete at youth high school – Total value $500.00
3. Building. Program Course (Levels 1-4) How to turn any program into a winning program from a nationally renowned coach – Total value $325
4. ON COURT CLINICS. 100’s of hours of online clinics ( 50 from the last 2 years) with challenging drills, concepts from the top coaches in the country – $1000.00
5. Practice planning Courses. 100’s of hours of videos, templates and handouts to prepare for your practice. Total Value $475
6. Plays, Handouts, Drills, Playbooks. It will walk you through the process. Too many to count (Video & Printable PDF’s) Total Value $700
7. Team Building and Coaching during Covid (Video & Printable PDF) Total Value $350
8. Weight Training, Youth Basketball, Individual Workouts (Video & Printable PDF) Total Value $480
9. Monthly Office Hours and One on One Mentoring with a Nationally Ranked High School Coach. Total Value $500 10. A Private Basketball Community of like minded coaches Total Value : Priceless
See how the program will transform your coaching career like it has done for countless Youth, High School, and College coaches!
Teach Hoops mission is to make YOU the best version of yourself, so YOU can get the absolute best out of your players and team.
The Full Membership contains all the tools you’ll need to do just that.
Teach Hoops Deals are backed by our 14-day FREE TRIAL
Life is a series of moments. Each uniquely unfolding every second for all who walk this earth. Good or bad, each and every moment is a miracle, as well as an opportunity to be our best or worst. The number of these moments we’ll receive in a lifetime remains forever unknown to us in the land of the living. Only after we’re gone will this exact number be revealed. A painful epiphany, often occurring just seconds after another pivotal moment of truth in our lives has come and gone. Moments that most of us so often take for granted. In these pivotal and powerful moments, life presents us with 3 simple questions: Will you take the risk?, will you play it safe?, or will you freeze?
Our decision is often based on a choice between listening to our mind or listening to our heart. Ironically, the assurance that comes with deciding to play it safe, does not always assure a safe outcome. In fact, taking the risk in any given moment is often safer than not taking it. Risk provides the potential increased reward to further separate us from harm or danger. This separation is one of the great differentiators between every person, place, thing and idea on this earth. Any one person being healthier, wealthier, or happier than the next, is often a direct result of the risks they’re willing or not willing to take.
Basketball Game of Risks Example
A perfect sports example would be playing conservative for an entire game against a superior team, in hopes of keeping the score as close as possible. This approach often leads to a more competitive defeat, but a defeat nonetheless. In actuality, a more aggressive or risky approach would be far more likely to produce a victory, with the only drawback being a potentially larger margin of defeat. If playing it safe leads mostly to losing anyway, regardless of how close the score is. Then why not take the risk of being more aggressive.
William Wallace, the legendary Scotsman, better known as “Braveheart”, faced many pivotal moments of truth throughout his life. He and his fellow freedom warriors were especially confronted on a particular battlefield, which would become the site of a miraculous shift in spirit and fearlessness going forward for Wallace and his warriors. That great shift was given life by these powerful words from Wallace himself:
Fight, and you may die. Run, and you’ll live. At least awhile. And dying in your beds, many years from now. Would you be willing, to trade all the days from this day to that? For one chance, just one chance!, to come back here and tell our enemies, that they may take our lives, but they’ll never take our freedom!
The most powerful moments of any risk taken or not taken, are not the moments unfolding in the present. The most powerful moments are the ones that follow immediately after, and on into the future, for the rest of your life. Ask yourself. Ask your players. Did you take the risk?, did you play it safe?, or did you freeze? And since no one is promised tomorrow. What about today?
Jim Kramer, the famous stock analyst, advises his viewers to take risks based largely on their age. He feels that the younger an investor is, the higher their risk/reward profile should be. The logic being that younger investors have far more time to recover from high risk losses, which allows them to be more aggressive in pursuing their financial goals. Compared to older investors, who have far less time to recover from high risk losses, and therefore often take a much more conservative approach. This concept proves true with young athletes as well, who should always be more aggressive in chasing their athletic goals.
Basketball Game of Risks
Increased competition level is a great place to start. Most young ballplayers tend to play equal or lesser competition, in comparison to their skill level. Often due to fear of failure or physical punishment, many young ballplayers are not willing to take the risk of playing bigger and better competition. When in fact, this is exactly the time in their lives when they should be taking that risk. Players of all ages should always play up in competition whenever possible, never equal or down. That’s the best way to test their physical and mental limitations both on and off the court. Specifically, when young players become accustomed to playing up in competition. They often not only increase their skill level and toughness, but increase their confidence as well, leading to loftier goals and expectations.
Another great opportunity for high risk/reward potential is increased level of personal play. Young players often have a tendency to limit themselves in the way they approach and play the game. These limitations can reveal themselves in many ways. Usually in the form of timid execution, such as passing up open shots on the offensive end, or failing to aggressively engage on the defensive end. Unless addressed and corrected, this timid approach will only get worse in time. Eventually, it can even become part of their lives off the court, such as in the classroom and in social situations.
The best remedy is repetition. Confidently encourage your players to step out of their comfort zones on a regular basis, regardless of the results. The more they become comfortable with an aggressive mindset, the more likely they are to become comfortable executing aggressively as well. These are just a few suggestions, but the bottom line is that young players need to take more athletic risks while they’re still young. If they continuously make the mistake of waiting until they’re physically or mentally ready. It will almost always be too late. Encourage your players today to embrace being young and being bold.
The objective should always be to win in regulation. Too many outside factors can determine the outcome of the game in overtime. Factors such as foul trouble become increasingly crucial. This means the refs will have a much larger impact on the outcome of the game. Fatigue also becomes a major factor, specifically when it comes to game schedule. Game location, too, which even in basketball can have a substantial impact on the game.
Some of these factors include elevation and temperature, which can affect both the team and playing conditions, such as breathing issues and dangerous floor condensation. Overtime also allows for the further risk of injury, both in the current game and in the games to follow.
More Basketball Triple Overtime Factors
Another factor to consider when contemplating settling for overtime, is carry-over. The same explosive factor discussed in the “2 Sides 2 Every Blowout” blog. Game 1 of this year’s NBA Finals is perfect example of that. The positive and negative carry-over of an overtime game is so much more powerful and future altering than a regulation game, especially in the playoffs.
In game 1 of the 2018 NBA Finals, the Cleveland Cavaliers were one of the biggest underdogs in Finals history, and yet they dominated regulation. They put themselves within 1 possession of pulling off the huge road upset, but casually squandered the final seconds with a gigantic miss from both the free throw line and the floor. This was followed by an inexcusable mental blunder, to finish regulation, and doom them to overtime.
As most of us know, overtime was a disaster for the Cavaliers, and I believe produced a negative carry-over so powerful, that regaining their confidence going forward was virtually impossible. That would end up being the case, and further solidify the point that almost any risk is worth taking in regulation, in order to avoid overtime. With the lone exception being a comeback situation where the only mathematical path to victory is forcing overtime. The Warriors proved that in the exact same 2018 NBA Finals Game 1 example, after trailing for most of the game, but finding a way to sneak in to overtime. The rest is history.
In conclusion, it should be abundantly clear that overtime is in no way a desirable destination for any team involved in the final minute of a tie game, or in possession of the ball in a tie game at the end of regulation. In fact, it’s where most regulation dominated performances go to die. As entertaining as overtime is to fans because of the fireworks it so often provides. Why not provide some winning fireworks at the end of regulation instead, and send everybody home happy. Everybody, that is, except your opponent.
As the last of the final minute plays out, the beginning of the final possession is the perfect opportunity to catch your opponent off guard. You want to get out on the break as quickly as possible. Make sure there’s at least 10 seconds left on the game clock. Anything less would most likely not allow enough time to rebound a miss, or recover from an unsuccessful fastbreak, which usually takes an average of 3 to 4 seconds to unfold.
The shot clock must either be in sync with the game clock or turned off. Your opponent will often assume that you’re going to call an immediate timeout if one’s available. Regardless of how the possession is obtained, this assumption provides a great chance to quickly advance the ball while your opponent may simply be waiting for the whistle to blow.
Triple Overtime Strategy
This strategy not only opens the door for a potential game-winning fastbreak opportunity, but also for some possible trickery in the process. Having your players casually approach the bench for what looks to be a timeout being called. If your opponent appears to accept that a timeout has actually been called, it can often provide a virtually uncontested path for a deep leak-out, full court pass and layup. It seems quite risky, but is surprisingly safe. That is, as long each player knows not to initiate the play if the defense doesn’t take the bait. The contingency plan would be to simply call an actual timeout, and not allow the defense any clues to what was in the works. This will preserve the play for the future.
When all strategies for the final minute and the final possession have been either analyzed or applied. If the game is still tied, you still have the ball, and there’s still time left on the clock. The final shot is all that matters now. However, taking the final shot at the buzzer will not give you the best chance to win the game. It will only give you the best chance to go to overtime.
The best chance to win the game comes when you shoot the final shot several seconds before the buzzer. Preferably something in the paint, or at least inside the 3 point line. Far too many regulation tie games go to overtime because the team with the ball let the clock run down too far. They had to settle for a 3 point attempt at the buzzer. Instead of purposely letting the clock run down, use every single second of the clock to get as deep in the paint as possible.
Take the final attempt with several seconds to spare, which allows for the possibility of a quick put-back, or more. Sometimes it’s not the best drawn up play that works, but the one right after. So every time a team holds for the final shot, they automatically eliminate the chance of the one right after.
It’s late in the 4th quarter, the shot clock is turned off, the game is tied, and your team has the ball. We’ve all been there before, as either a coach, player, or both. Standard operating procedure is usually to call an immediate time out if available. This can happen after a rebound or a turnover. This is usually the moment when many coaches exhale with the comfort that overtime is the worst possible outcome, barring any disastrous miscues. Unfortunately, this standard operating procedure that so many coaches lean on. This quite often leads to the same standard operating results that so many coaches regretfully look back on.
Triple Overtime
This misplaced trust in the safety of overtime can usually be traced back to three crucial parts of the end of regulation. The final minute, the final possession, and the final play. The team that consistently makes the most of these 3 parts will always have the best opportunity to win in regulation and avoid overtime (and especially triple overtime). First, it’s important to ignore the general notion that a tie game in the final minute is a time to be conservative. In actuality, it’s the perfect time to be aggressive. Because it comes with the guarantee that any failed offensive possession. At worst, it can only result in a 3 point maximum deficit on the other end. That’s excluding the rare exception of giving up a 4 point play.
With this in mind, the smartest way to apply aggression in the final minute, is to attack the basket. This eliminates the pressure of having to connect from outside in such a hostile shooting environment. It also potentially places your opponent in serious foul trouble and provide the opportunity for making the possible game winning free-throws. Bottom line, the final minute of any tie game is a time to be aggressive an. Avoid overtime at all costs. In fact, the final minute of regulation should always be approached as if overtime is not an option.
Motivation
If a win or a tie were the only two possible outcomes, then most teams would be much more aggressive in the final minute of regulation. Especially at the end of the regular season, when many teams are fighting for every possible victory to make the playoffs. Ironically, most of those teams would not be in that position if they played that aggressive in the final minute of every game. It’s all about having the proper perspective for the current moment. Because many coaches and players instead have the “next” mentality. They’ll say things like this. “We’ll get it next play,” “next quarter”, or “next game.” Although attempting to be positive, this way of thinking doesn’t put enough emphasis on the current moment. In basketball and in life, that’s the only moment that should ever matter.
Year after year, the NBA Playoffs offer us all a front row seat to the game of basketball being played at it’s highest level. However, even the top seeded teams can often fall short of that level when it comes to playing with maximum effort. In any given game, most NBA Teams can be trusted to play their hardest, but in a “best of 7” series, there are far more opportunities for human nature to sink in. Following a loss, the most common NBA Playoff Team adjustment is usually not schematic, but simply to play with more energy and determination.
Coaches have used several different buzz words over the years to describe either how an abundance of effort led to victory, or how a lack of effort led to defeat. In the past, the most frequently used buzz word was “desperation”, which has graced the narrative of many post-game press conferences and off-day interviews. However, in 2018, the new buzz word appears to be “force”, which ironically has been used most by Head Coach Steve Kerr of the Defending Champion Golden State Warriors. Regardless of whether “desperation” or “force” best describes maximum effort. What’s most important is why it alludes a team to begin with, and how to get it back when it does.
Overconfidence is the most common contributing factor, and also the most damaging. Overlooking any opponent brings about consequences that often cannot be reversed. Coaches of all levels can learn a valuable lesson from this years NCAA Tournament, in which a #16 seed beat a #1 seed for the first time ever. The concept of “rest vs rust” is also a major factor, when a team is affected by having either too much rest, or not enough. Lastly, is a lack of 3-dimensional preparation. Most preparation is based on 1-D and 2-D tendencies, such as preparing for an opponent that plays fast, or tries to dominate the paint. An example of 3-D preparation would be discovering that your opponent has a hidden motivation, such as a team member dealing with a tragedy, or perhaps a hidden revenge angle. That hidden motivation could make this game extra emotional for them, causing them to play with maximum effort and increased intensity. That could be huge problem if you as a coach are unaware of it, and your players enter the game at only a standard motivation level. Bottom line, there are infinite reasons why a team can lack effort in any game, at anytime, at any level. These are just a few details to keep an eye on.
First, I want to say thank you to Coach Collins for asking me to do this Blog for Teach Hoops. Two things you need to know about me is that I am not all knowing, and I am always learning how to better myself as a coach.
Right now at the college, we are just kinda at a wait and see period for some recruits with an attempt to find that gem that went under recruited by the 4 year schools. Yes, I am assistant at junior college in Wisconsin, but before that I coached 5 years as a varsity boys coach and I almost coached every level below that since my coaching journey started in 2005. As I sit typing my Blog in the sun over Memorial Day Weekend, I ponder the question….why are coaches so busy in the summer?
First, I think it’s important to know that all coaches are not busy in the off-season. For example, I consider myself as a college coach to have a lot of free time. But, my position is much different from when I coached Varsity Boys Basketball at the high school level. My current summer commitments reside in help running two youth camps and support supervision for open gyms. But, I know how much work consist in the summer for High School coaches in the summer. And in reality without summer, I think it would be impossible for coaches to function without it. Summer is a time for development, trial and error, and logistics. Here is a list of items I have done in one summer as a head coach.
Try and tweak new sets, defenses, offenses with team opportunities
Meet with High School staff weekly
Plan and organize online shoe and apparel stores for upcoming season
Wow! I forget how much I did in the summer for preparation for the upcoming season. The question you really asking is why? Winning is hard work, and frankly my tenure at my previous job had only small moments of success. I worked harder than most of my players. Personally, I saw more growth in the youth program with future players coming up the ranks in next the 5 years. But, building a program takes time and making the right decisions through the journey. The worst decision I made was not facilitating the workload to others to provide more time for my own team. My advice to young coaches is create a pipeline of people to work under you. Build and maintain positive relationships with other coaches, parents, and community members to support building your program. Your support system comes down to finding individuals that believe in your program and our invested in the program not their child. Again, the process takes time to build a program, which you have to be careful about picking the right job. That is something I can address in a later Blog.
Summer is a period of time for coaches to eliminate clutter during the season. It’s impossible to do the items above plus coach your team during the season. It would be overload. I feel the many of items on my list provide clarity and direction for the season to come. You can learn about your players and how they respond to certain offense and defensive schemes. The regular season has not enough for trial and error and building your identity. 10 practices and your competing in your first game.
Finally, coaching isn’t a full-time job that pays the bills unless you make it to the big time. I currently still teach 5th grade and coach other sports as well. Without using summer, I believe no one could function during the regular season, unless your single and retired. Please email with questions regarding my blog at [email protected].
This is one of many letters I received about the video and podcast I did concerning my son not playing AAU and summer basketball. I thought I would share
Steve,
Appreciate your views on this and agree with much of it. However a few observations:
I train my son and his skill development has exploded in the last few years. But, as you know, there are tons of kids who can “kill a drill” but can’t perform when there’s 10 guys on the court. When you have defensive pressure and lots of decision-making in a game situation, those skills can all of a sudden look a lot different. You just can’t simulate that environment in the quiet of a gym while developing skills. I know every good trainer tries to develop an athlete’s skills while doing “game-like” drills. But it is just not the same. Actual “games” must be played and it’s becoming really hard to find them outside of the AAU tourney scene.
In AAU ball, my son has learned “toughness” that he never had before, and would have never developed, in a training session in any kind of drill. There’s a clock, there’s a scoreboard, there’s fans, there’s referees, and there’s personal “pride” at stake. When he was getting beat up in an AAU game, he either had to fight back or get crushed. He chose to fight back and it has served him so well. He hasn’t turned into an aggressive maniac, but acquired just the right amount of toughness and aggressive mentality that will enable him to play high school basketball. I guarantee he would not be in the same place at this moment without AAU basketball. (He’ll never be a college recruit, but he setting himself up to have a ton of fun playing HS basketball.)
It’s really difficult to supplement skills training with “games” without having a place to actually play games. You and I know there aren’t a lot of parks or gyms that young athletes use to play meaningful “pickup” games that aren’t tied to their schools. We’ve tried playing in the local clubs and the games are mostly garbage for development purposes. Please don’t take this personally, but being a father who is a head coach gives your son access to a gym and I’m only assuming a place where players can get together to play decent pickup games (if WIAA allows, which I believe it does) during the summer. Not everyone has that.
I do agree that AAU travel is ridiculous. I myself coach a boys AAU team and my HS daughter plays AAU and I see that the competition 1 hour away is not substantially different than competition 4+ hours away. I also agree it’s way more games in a weekend than necessary. But of course, the tournaments are making money and they aren’t going to set up tournaments where you only play 2-3 games — which in my opinion would be plenty to supplement skill development.
AAU is ridiculous for kids under 12 years of age (and maybe that’s too young). The most physically mature kids dominate and nothing real productive gets done an AAU format for those young kids. But parents are feeling good that their kid “played AAU”.
I assume the birth of AAU must have been to get the very best players exposure for college. And it probably then trickled down to younger and younger age groups.
Bottom line — I think there’s value in AAU but I think it’s overhyped. At the same time, in order to become a better basketball player, it takes more than reps in the gym. Those skills have to be tested in a game format. I played DI college baseball and there was plenty of guys who hit .300+ in “batting practice” but in a game, for some it was a completely different story. It’s all a “balance” (skills practice + games) which I know is what your message is all about.
Thanks for making your video and providing quality content on Teachoops.com !!!
This Podcast is a sneak look at teachhoops.com . How do you handle halftime? The post game speech? What is your off season practice look like? What type of shooting machine do you use?
From the fifth quarter studios in Madison, Wisconsin, you’re listening to coach unplugged. Here is your host, Steve Collins. Everybody welcome to. This episode is brought to you by the people over at HealthIQ/bcu, an insurance company that helps health conscious people like you, runners, basketball coaches, weightlifters, vegetarians, people that eat well, get lower rates on their life insurance over to healthiq/bcu. See if you qualify and help us support the show. And it’s a good, it’s a good thing for you. It’s a good thing for your family. And it’s a good thing for coach plug. So government check Mount Health Iq.com/. All right, so we’re gonna get started here a couple minutes early, but that’s OK. Um, so a couple questions and then if you’ve got questions, put them over in the chat over on the side and I will, uh, definitely get to them as fast as I can.
First question is from from Janice. She had put it in a little bit earlier, but her question was, and, and when I’m looking to the side over here, it’s because I’m, you know, I don’t have quite the right move it over a little bit. Um, I don’t have quite my, uh, set up the way it normally is. My daughter was in doing work in my office today, so I’ll never been quite set up the way I normally do. But anyway, so the first question was, what do you talk about at half-time and how do you break it? How do you break your halftime up? Um, so how do you, how do you tackle a specific halftime and um, you know, we have in where I coach, um, we have 10 minutes at half time, so, uh, the way it works is usually, you know, obviously the buzzer goes,I have an assistant coach who goes and checks the book to make sure that we’re, we’ve got files and everything situated correctly at that point.
And then I put the, I put the team into the locker room and let them have several minutes by themselves, um, before, before we come in and uh, um, have our discussions. What I do is I get the coaches together and we, um, we basically talk at that point, um, and kind of come up with some solutions or the first half. What are we doing well, what are we not doing well, what can our adjustments beef the second half. Um, so then, uh, yeah, so adjustments. What can we do? We talk about offensive adjustments, we talked about defensive adjustments. I apologize for talking in the background there. Um, and then, uh, so then I go in and we tend to do are we tend to do are a sets, we tend to talk about our offensive or defensive assets and I think it’s really important at halftime specifically that you need to, um, talk about probably those key two or three adjustments just before you leave the locker room.
Speaker 1: 03:15 Um, those are really important as far as heading out to the second half. And I usually try to leave two or three minutes to get them loose, get them moving again after half time. Um, I think teams come out of halftime a little flat sometimes, especially depending on the first half went. Um, so I like to leave a couple minutes. I like to, um, to do those specific things. Um, hi todd. How are you? Um, so you can, I guess I didn’t know him, facebook live, you could also leave comments, but anyway, so we were just talking about halftime, what we do kind of do with halftime. Um, you know, it’s not nuclear physics as far as how we handle half time. But again, we check files, we check any, anybody that’s going off, anybody that’s doing really well the first half we meet as a staff so we can talk about offense on events and stuff.
We we basically come up with a plan as a coaching staff before I go in and talk to them and a half time. I think that that’s really important either that I have less time in the, in the locker room at half time and be able to converse about things that we need. Then me just kind of going right in. Um, and then, uh, I usually start with a defensive parts to be honest with you. And then I talk about the offensive parts and then any motivational, anything we’re not doing, we’re not getting the floor, we’re not taking charges. And then just before we leave the lock room, you know, I hit him with a couple of things. Hey, remember we get back on defense, we got to know where [inaudible] is at all times.
I’m whatever. And then we after that, after that spurred me talking for four or five minutes because most of it they’re going to forget. Then I go into um, like make sure they get out so they have enough time to warm up. So it’s that too much after the game. So Janice also asked about what we do after the game, after the game. It really depends. Um, they don’t hear you as well. Do they hear you? It halftime? Um, but they definitely don’t hear you, first of all, after a tough loss, they don’t hear you after a big when they tend to hear you if it’s a game. Um, so if there’s something really important for me to say, I don’t tend to say it after the game, I will keep it short and there are exceptions to this and I’ve actually broken this exception this year.
Speaker 1: 05:44 Um, after some wins that I didn’t think we played well and I thought, hey, we got to adjust. And that was right and stumbled a couple times because of some of the things I said in those, but they don’t tend to hear it. You need to, if you need to get on kids, if you need to talk about what they did well or what they didn’t do well after the game doesn’t tend to be the time to talk to a group. I will grab a specific kid or a specific group of, hey, you did this. You were really rebounding well and you were doing this exceptionally well. I was so good. I was so proud of you. Um, but as it is an entire group, hey, nice when blah blah, blah blah, two or three minutes and then I try to get out of there and they will hear the words that you have to say better the next day at practice or in your film session or something like that than they will after a big win after a big loss there thinking 20 different things.
Who, how am I getting home, you know, it was my girlfriend man at me, Blah Blah Blah. I’m not kidding. It is. Um, it’s that kind of stuff that goes through their mind. So, um, if again, if you have any, any other questions, you know, put them in the comments down below or over on the side. Um, and I will definitely get to him. I’m just going through ones that I got people sent me before. Um, this [inaudible]. So we talked about half time. We talked about after the game, I’m a, someone sent me, how do you deal with a player who has a bad attitude but as, but as one of my better players. Um, that’s a tough one. I’m going to tell you, that’s it. That’s a difficult one. Um, you can’t teach without discipline. Kids want discipline is my, is my theory with that. Um, you know, if they’re not doing what you expect them to do, then there has to be a consequence.
so it doesn’t matter if it’s your best player, doesn’t matter if it’s number 15 on your bench, everything’s gotta be kind of consistent throughout. And if it’s not, you’re going to lose the control of the ship and bad things are gonna happen. So, um, it doesn’t matter. That doesn’t matter. They have a bad attitude because, you know, one bad apple can spoil a whole bunch, so you got to get that one on or you got to get rid of that one. Um, and then, uh, you can move forward, to be honest with you. I think that’s really a sport. Um, do you, here’s another question. Do you do film review, um, with the team after every game to watch it from start to finish? That’s a great question. So we use crossover. We don’t, we do, we use a lot of film. Um, we have a big game tomorrow, really big game tomorrow, one of the top teams in our state we play tomorrow, um, and I think we have nine or 10 names on them.
, uh, we do, we do different types of film sessions. So that’s a great question for all of the pro, the coaches out there. So the way film sessions worked for us is I’m normally the day after a game, especially if we didn’t play well, we will look at our film and it depends it, there’ll be times where we sit down and watch the entire film, um, and we’ll break it down and we’ll stop it, rewind it, you know, that takes good 45 minutes to an hour at least to do that. Uh, so do that after game. Sometimes we’ll just do clips after game, um, you know, will show us, we’ll show like the three minute mark to the seven minute mark or will show or we’re where our price was really good. So that’s the first thing with film. Um, it really depends on the opponent and really depends on what we’re doing and where we are in the season.
So I hope that helps. That. And then that’s the first thing. So, so the second thing is, um, we spent a lot of time looking at opponents because I think, I think coaching is a lot as much of how am I going to judge, how, how it’s player x going to adjust the player, why, um, how are we going to adjust to, to what they’re doing. I think, you know, especially with junior high, middle school, youth, high school, even the in the collegiate level, um, it’s really important, um, to be able to adjust. OK, so it is really about match ups and it’s really about how are we going to stop player 20 [inaudible], how are we going to stop him or her? Um, what are we gonna do to do that? Um, what adjustments can happen there. So I think those are really important.
Again guys, if you have you have comments over on the side, um, anything else you, uh, you want, um, please leave it over there. You know, we’ll, we’ll, uh, we can, uh, we can definitely ask questions, um, over the chats if you’re watching facebook live, if you’re listening to the podcast because it’s probably become one of my podcasts at some point because I think this is really good stuff. Um, or if you’re, you’re on our, you know, our, our live q and a right now, either any of the places, um, make sure that you go and leave a, leave a comment if you’ve got a question. I’m just going through questions that people have already sent me. Um, so if I go over here on the side, I can, uh, that’s why I’m looking at. I’m looking at the questions that people had free since me.
Speaker 1: 10:56 I’m finishing up with your question todd. Um, I think, uh, I think film is. Film doesn’t lie. I think I said that like four times today in practice. I’m somebody who wasn’t boxing out. Somebody wasn’t, I’m rotating correctly and uh, what did I do? You know, we showed him some film and uh, it doesn’t, you know, you, you weren’t getting there, you weren’t rotating the way you needed to rotate. Um, that’s a problem in the film, doesn’t the, you know, look at it, the film doesn’t lie, we talked about it, we talked about our practice, he didn’t the game we need to fix this problem. So, um, and then we, we, like I’ve told you, I don’t know if I told you todd, but we use crossover. So crossover. I’m a stat. Crossover is great for analytics, is great for breakdowns, you know, we can, we can show John’s everyone at John’s three pointers that we’re playing and then how does he deal with those?
Speaker 1: 11:50 And then here’s, um, here’s a specific thing. Um, do you film practice? I used to film practice. Um, there’s a reason I, you know, the problem is there’s only 168 hours in a week and I don’t have time. So a lot of that film initially when I, when I did it sat unwatched, um, and got washed in like June, which is not of any use to anybody. Um, so there will be times for members of the tubes. I have actually pro. I have actually taped my practice, isn’t shared it with them. Um, that’s something that I actually want to do. And for those of you up above, at or, or, or they’re listening to teachings that calm, um, is my membership site is great as a great todd can vouch. It’s a great community, a lot of resources, blah, blah blah. But anyway, so what I’ve thought about doing, and I talked to the dean about this to have the community that maybe we should get together and have each other’s practices and then that would be great if nothing else for the off season.
It’s like, Ooh, look with Dean doesn’t practice or liquid harmony does in her practice in California, or look what todd does, you know, so it would be. Yeah. Um, it is an awesome community. I agree todd. But um, no, I, that’s something that I’ve thought about. The problem is it’s like, OK, so here’s the issue with, with taping practice, college coaches do it. They also have for assistance. They also have a video coordinator breaking it all down. They also have time to watch it. They don’t have other kids like you and I do side gigs or side hustles. I’m teaching math all day, I don’t have time to sit down and watch my practice. Um, so that’s the issue with taping practice I think. I think it’s a good thing to do. Um, but I think it’s easier said than done to be able to find time to be able to watch it.
Speaker 1: 13:41 So I’m todd, did you get that package I sent? I sent it it school mail, so I may want to make sure he gets it. I’m todd Scott has a special needs kid on his. Uh, yeah, he’s got down syndrome, I believe. Anyway. Um, I sent him a package and I want to make sure he gets it. So if he doesn’t get it, you let me know. It is. School mail went out through the school meal so it could be three weeks from now. Who knows? Um, do I have a shooting machine? Yes, I have a shooting machine. Um, we’re in the process of buying another shooting machine. I use Dr. Dish. Um, I liked Dr. dish better. I’m going, AH, they’re going to give it tomorrow and cnet. All right, so, so Brad, I’m going to get back to your question. Hold on one second.
Speaker 1: 14:31 So like I said, I sent this package, um, I found some stuff for um, you know, some tee shirt. Well, anyway, I’m so happy time that, I mean that’s what I love about the community. I love that. I love the coaches are talking anyway. So soup I want a picture of, of, I want a picture of him giving that um, so I can share it with the boys. I told team my team signed our poster and stuff. We’ll do a poster and stuff and they all signed it, wanted to make sure that he got it and stuff. So I definitely want a picture so I can share it with my guys. And let’s hope we play well tomorrow. I’m going back to you brad. Um, so, uh, we, I believe in the shooting, so I, first of all, there’s a, there’s a 15, almost 16 year old living in my house who has spent a lot of time.
Speaker 1: 15:17 I’m on the shooting machine. He has spent a lot of time. I’ve told them he’s a great shooter. He’s not a score yet. Shooting machine is great for repetition. There’s a couple guys in my team that just need more reps right now. So the shooting machine is good. Every second I can get them another shot. Um, so from that standpoint, I love the shooting machine. I think it’s a great way. We don’t have all the managers, we don’t have the people rebounding for kids. I’m like the opponent we play tomorrow, I think four or five shoe machines. So the haves versus the have-nots, to be honest with you. Um, but anyway, uh, there are great for getting shots up. You have to be creative, a doctor, dish in the gun and all them do really good things with drills and stuff. I know all my teachers community, I’ve got some um, some shooting drills with the machine.
Speaker 1: 16:03 I want to definitely do more with that. Um, just because how often do you get your feet square to get an open shop? I’ll on that. So the shooting machine is good for. I think it’s good for that and I also think it’s good for, uh, you asking questions too fast. I got to make sure I read them all. Um, and I also think, what was my train of thought? This is, I’m having a senior moment, although it’s great for arc to. It’s really good for art. Um, I liked it. It teaches art. Um, you can’t shoot a flat shot and, and, and, uh, and get on the shooting machine. Um, yeah, I would agree.
Speaker 1: 16:49 I would agree that, uh, that the doctor dishes the way to go. I don’t know, I think that gun is fine. I just think that Dr. Dish has more possibilities for you as far as trying to get shots up type of shots, um, locations, those kind of thing. So that’s why I like it. I’m Madelyn really bad. Glared in a, maybe it’s just because it’s the middle of February and I live in Wisconsin and um, uh, I can’t, uh, I can’t literally can’t. Um, can’t see. So everyone who is listening right now is going, what is he talking about? It’s like, well, I’m trying to do. I’m multitasking, which is I guess what a good coach does. He multitasks um, I’m trying to do facebook live. I’m trying to do zoom, I’m trying to tape it all at once and the facebook live literally looks like I’m like, I haven’t seen in a really long time.
Speaker 1: 17:52 But anyway, we’ll move on. Um, I don’t have, you know what, I wish brad asks if by having any coaching clinic setup, I don’t, you know, I’m, I’m, I’m working with Dean in our teach who’s community to try to help me get some of those. I mean, I’ve done them all over the country. I mean I’ve been on the east coast so I mean I’d like to go warm, but I’ve been all over. Um, I haven’t done any for a couple of reasons. First I started coaching volleyball because my sons are playing volleyball, so I started coaching bibles which took the fall away from me a little bit. Um, I’m going to try to do some united basketball clinics maybe this fall. Um, and then it’s like I gotta find time to kind of try to find the people say I’m available that had a um, so dean is going to maybe try to help me do that.
Speaker 1: 18:42 Um, but I don’t have any lined up right now and again, one of the reasons I started the tubes that comp because I want it to be able to give back and wanted to be able to answer questions, that kind of stuff. And I guess I can do that anywhere in the world. We have members from Australia and stuff. So, um, yeah. Um, oh, I love to come to Florida. I know. I love to come to Florida. We’re talking about spring break maybe. Um, and I forgot, todd, tell me where you are in the, in the area. But no, I just, you know, I’m going to be honest and this is going to. My wife’s getting killed. Most of the clinics I do. It’s basically costs, you know, um, my only gig is if I run one, you let me tape it. Um, and you know, you get me there and you get me home and you feed me and you know, I’m, I’m not, I’m not, I don’t do this to make a lot of money.
Speaker 1: 19:34 I just like talking to coaches. Some of the best times I’ve had a clinics to, this is no lie, um, and I’ve met some of, I met some of the best coaches in the world of law and the best one is actually not even at the clinic. It’s like, OK, the clinics over and then we go have dinner or the clinic or we have breakfast or something, and then you get like six, seven coaches. What I’d eventually like to do in, you know, I like to run, I’d like to run a meet and greet kind of thing. I’d like to run like a live event where, you know, I’ve always thought this was something for coaches where everybody, I hope you’re enjoying this show as much as I am. This was a great q and a that we had, um, just talking questions and giving me a little bit of pulling back the curtains from, uh, from coach on plug.
Speaker 1: 20:20 So go over and check it out. Um, and then, uh, this is brought to you by and I can’t talk today. This is brought to you by, um, health iq slash pcu. It’s a term life insurance company that helps health conscious people find good rates and um, go over and check them out, see if you qualify. Help us out over coach unplugged. It’s healthy slash bcu, um, to support the show in and to see if you qualify. Um, everybody should have life insurance. So let’s get back to the Qa something for coaches where it’s like a retreat. We get away for a weekend and you can, you know, we can only do so much here via, by audio. And you know, I, I, I, you know, people have questions I can definitely do that. I have, have, have the capabilities of showing you stuff too, especially for the people that are on zoom.
Speaker 1: 21:11 I don’t know about facebook live, but anyway, um, yeah, so that in my utopian world, um, OK. So Kate, where is that? South of Tampa. I again, I’m, I’m reading todd’s questions here. Um, if it is south of Tampa then you’re in warm, warm. I’m guessing you’re north of Tampa. Um, other questions? Does anybody have any in the chat? Um, or down below and let me know and, uh, we can definitely, we can definitely ask them. Um, there is one thing someone ask, let me just pull this up, especially for the people that are on people that are on the people that are on facebook live. We’re going to have to be patient, um, people that are on registered on a, the thing, um, someone asked about a low screens and how to get good kind of open movements. I think it’s really big, um, as far as getting over movements when you set the screens to get to this hash.
Speaker 1: 22:15 Um, so you really want to make sure that you’re posting up in your setting screens at that Hash. So not the block. You move yourself up. And I think this might have been Janice, again, I don’t know if this is Janice from Mike that asked this question, but anyway, um, when you set these screens, most people are down here at the, at the, at the block. You got to move up to the first hash, to the second hash and do all of your movements in that area. Um, you know, if you’ve got a really good team, you know, Wesley, he’s always told me that the hidden areas as area right down here behind the back worrying kind of get lost, um, depending on the kind of teams you have, but we, uh, we try to do a lot of our posts movements in this region right in here, which is again from the [inaudible] for those of you that are listening from the, from the block, from the first hash, the second half going toward the free throw line. Um, that’s where a lot of good things can happen as far as being able to score is about to be able to attack and giving your guards bigs, whoever’s doing it space. Um, I think that’s really important. They’ll have space bale to do that. Right? Any cool. Let me get out of this. Stop the share. Are there any other questions from people, um, that you want me to go over? Uh, you know, I can, I can basically do anything I’ve gone through all the pre given list here. Um, [inaudible] over here.
Speaker 1: 23:49 Can you give a story as to why you don’t use the whistle during practices? Yes. OK. So Brad ass, why don’t I use a whistle during practice because. All right, so this is a long. This is a long story. You know, every coach basically when they start coaching gets a whistle. That’s the first thing they get. Um, and I was, I was the, a stopwatch how to whistle when I started coaching. Um, and Ah, I quickly learned, um, I quickly learned that I wanted them to be able to. And if I, if I start moving, it’s because I’m reading and I’d in denial about having to have readers at this point. So I’m trying to read this and trying to read that. Anyway. So going back to the whistle thing, I believe that the, I want them to hear my voice. What does a whistle, what does a whistle mean?
Speaker 1: 24:42 And again with so means any game, something’s wrong. OK? So let me travel. Somebody followed somebody of that. OK? Which is fine. If that’s what you want to use. The [inaudible] I blow the whistle that they need to stop. Great. Use the whistle for that, but what I want is I want them to be able to hear my voice. They’re not going to always be able to do that, especially, um, especially in a pack gm, you know, tomorrow we’ve got a big game and places going to, I mean, they’re not going to hear someone two feet from. But if there is a voice I want them to hear, it’s my voice. So if I’m yelling something out or we don’t have any timeouts left or we need to be able to execute something, the only voice they need to hear me, um, and the other four guys on the court.
Speaker 1: 25:27 So that’s why, you know, and it gets them tune into my voice. My, you don’t have a deep voice. Excuse me. It’s a little deeper than normal because I have a cold. Um, but I want them tuned into my voice knowing what I’m doing. Um, that’s important to me. Uh, that’s why I don’t use the whistle. A, the whistle was fine. Like I said, you know, I don’t, I hate to compare him to dogs, but a dog whistle does watts, you know, it trains the dog to do specific things. Same thing with a whistle, tells him to stop, play, blah, blah blah. So if you’re using the whistle to stop, play or move, OK. Um, I have better ways to transition from drill to drill than necessarily a whistle. So what I want to do is I want to, you know, I want them to be tuned into my voice and Brad, that’s the reason I don’t use a whistle as probably the reason when I’m 75, I won’t have a voice, but I have found it to be very successful now using the whistle. So I had a heart. Here’s another question. Oops. From Whitney as I’m losing my mic. All right, hold on one second. Do you can tell this is a live video
Speaker 1: 26:48 I’m going to hold. This will make it easier. I’m trying to fix something when you’re doing a live video or audio is hard, so I’m just going to hold it, will make it do and then I will fix this later. So again, not mapped out. That’s what I love about this. Anyway. Um, I have a hard time getting my players to transition from their long day at school to getting ready to work hard and practice. What drills do you use the energy flow early at? All right. So Whitney, that’s a great question. Um, so I’ve changed on this, you know, I used to come in and um, spent a lot of time early trying to get them moving. So what I do is I give them a 10, 15 minutes of individual workout time at the beginning of practice. Um, I have found that to be good.
Speaker 1: 27:37 Like I had my bigs working with an assistant coach. I have the guys that need to get on the machine doing that. I have someone so it lets them kind of get dressed, get out of the locker room, get into what they need to get into. And then um, we transitioned. So then I then I cue them back, going back to what Brad said, don’t, don’t put any more questions though because I’m not reading fast enough. So then I transitioned back. So then they have there. So what happens is they get to see their girlfriend, they get a little snack, they get changed, they come in the gym and so they get a little bit of downtime before school, after school, which we only downtime. I mean shoot, I take it at lunch and watch parks and rec or something I don’t know. I need downtime to.
Speaker 1: 28:21 So give them a little downtime and then in that 15 minutes will not make the difference between winning and losing the next game. Trust me. And then you cue them back. So the night what I do is I gather them back together and say, all right, here’s what we’re going to do a practice. And I cue it up by saying, hey, we’re going to work on getting trapped. We’re going to work on our transition time to get to work. We’re going to keep this short and sweet in and Whitney. That really helps a lot. It does, um, it took me 20 years to figure that out, you know, why aren’t they, why aren’t they ready to pride? So I’m writing, I got my practice by and Blah, blah blah. Yes, you are, you’re the adults. And sometimes I’m not. Sometimes I need a snickers bar or soda or something to get going, but they need to be able to delete a bill which is different, you know, it is a classroom, but it is different to go to.
Speaker 1: 29:10 All right, now we’re a team, Phil, you know, I think that’s really important, but that’s a great question with me. Um, uh, who do you have lined up for future podcast or would you like to line up as who or who would you like to line up? Uh, you know, you saw who was at Lance? That’s a great question, Lance. Um, I am, you know, the future podcasts, you know, I tend to do my interviewing once the season’s over and then I cue them up for the rest of the year. If you’ve got any ideas, send me an email. I’m always open. I’m looking for people that have, that are motivational, that love basketball, that are coaches that or whatever. So, um, it’s Steve [inaudible], [email protected]. So that’s a great question, lance, if, if there’s anybody that you would like me to try and go get, I would. I’m open. I’m, the podcast is really kind of taken off, which is excited me. I love doing it is basically talking hoops. That’s why I decided to do this three days ago. It’s like, ah, let’s do, let’s do a q and a. I got a big game tomorrow. Otherwise I’m gonna be sitting in the living room thinking about what I should have done. A practice where rather than what I did do a practice. Um, we got the. OK, so seniors, I’m reading here, so hold on.
Speaker 1: 30:38 So, but OK, so I added something about, you know, building, so moving on to next season. So Tom, those are all great questions. Um, so how do you build trust? Well here’s, this is the issue and I’m, I’m thoroughly convinced about this. You don’t build trust with your team from November to March. You build trust with your team from March to November. OK? It’s the whole winter basketball players may blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Because I gotta I gotTa be dad during the season. I got to be the hard guy. I gotta be the one that’s saying demanding that they get their time. I’m the one that’s got to say, why are you blocking out? OK, in the off-season it’s a totally different ballgame and I can, you know, I can be more, um, I can be more, you know, that and that same friend, but I can be more conducive to the discussions I can find out about their lives.
Speaker 1: 31:35 I can, I don’t have to be on. There’s a couple of things I don’t have. I literally don’t have time during the season. And then [inaudible], you know, I’m worried about the next opponent, you know, where we’re doing here, blah, blah blah. So that’s the first thing in. The second thing is, um, that’s when relationships are built there. They’re going to trust me, they’re going to run through a wall for me because they know I love them, but they’re going to find that out more in the off season and during the season. I’m todd. We can in our community or our faith in our facebook group itself. We can definitely talk about that and put that up. I’d love to put that up in our private facebook group and I’d love to see what the other coaches in our community say. I would love to see that. Um, my bags have trouble finishing through contact.
Speaker 1: 32:21 Do you have any drills? So, so Robert asked that question. Robert d you use, um, the football dummy things. So they’re big pads, um, that basically they used during football. Um, do you use those? If you don’t, you should. Every day. That’s what we, we do a lot of drill our bigs using those football dumping things and I, if you don’t know what I’m talking about, I can definitely, um, I can definitely find one, but it does show you at some point. Um, but that’s what we do there. The big, they’re like square there, you know, how they, um, they tend to be on those slides but they have individual ones that you hold and I thought, I’m sure you can buy them at like [inaudible] and stuff like that. I’ve just gotten a couple of former football staff and they’re just powering things and I, and I’m old, you know, I’m 50 plus and I’ll get in there and bang with him because I know I got that pad and unless I break a hip or something I’m going to be able to be OK.
Speaker 1: 33:17 Um, but anyway, so, uh, Amazon has those pads, branches set. Amazon is as pens. Yeah. Amazon to be better than tends to be expensive. My personal opinion anyway, I don’t know Dick Stock so I don’t really care. But uh, so yes, they’re really good. And Brad, I don’t know if you use them, but I’m a big fan. I’m all right. Other questions if you can honestly believe so. It’s almost nine isn’t nine something I’ve even eaten dinner yet so I practice it or my kids around blah blah blah. Um, so I, I know we have people on facebook live, we have people on our, our um, I’m going to try to send the people that missed it. I’m this, but, uh, if you have, now I’m going to tell you something in, in todd who’s over here can tell you the teacher whose communities great or growing, um, I’m getting to the point where I’m going to have to hire some help because it’s growing so fast and I can’t respond and get to people. I want to be able to like help todd when he sends me an email or, or bob or harmony. Well, whoever, whoever sends me an email, I want to be able to respond very quickly so I have to give her some room to some of the other stuff. So prices are going to be going up. It’s great. I can’t, I mean, it’s a great community. Um, it, it’s, the prices are going to be going up substantially. Um, what’s your ideal tech technique for catching and shooting?
Speaker 1: 34:55 Yeah, I like that he’s asking. I’ve been doing the attack. The pass. Yeah, I like that. You know, there’s w, W we, w we’d have to do that in another one bread because there’s a whole different, there’s whole step shooter. Are you hop shooter, you know, in which progression do you go? Um, I think it’s super important to be able to have the hands up and to be able to be, to be able to catch in that manner. Um, that would be a great idea for podcasts. Maybe we’ll put that for a lesson. Um, but anyway, so I’m going to the facebook live. People can watch here, just listen for a second. Especially the people that are, are listening here. Um, I’m going to show one thing. I got pull it up.
Speaker 1: 35:41 That’s what I want. This is what I want. Um, so what I was saying before, you know, I don’t remember whose I pulled up, I think I pulled up deans teach hoops.com thing, but there is so much stuff in this. Um, like I said, we’re probably going to be increasing. We’re in 19.99 a month. It’s like 12 or 14 bucks for a month. If you go for a year, I’m telling you right now, you will not find a better deal. It’s not only, it’s not only the stuff like the, the amount of videos we’ve got on here, you know, I’m doing a bunch of stuff on reading react because a bunch of our members have been asking about it. So I’ve been doing a lot with reading react. Um, we have office hours every month, so I put all the old office hours. You can see all the old office hours are loaded in their plays and drills, your practice plans, there’s pratts plans upon practice plans.
Speaker 1: 36:33 Um, you cannot like all, my goodness, look at all these practice plans in here. If you’re watching this, it’s just a great thing. And then the video library alone, it’s worth it. You know, you’re going to spend 29, 39 bucks just for one DVD. There’s hundreds of hours of video on defensive lessons, rebounding, offensive lessons. I can’t imagine how long it would take to get through everything. So, um, and then we have, like I was telling, talking with todd about, we have this private facebook group where, you know, the discussions, then that’s why I told him, come back over and put your stuff in here because this is where we talk, you know, this is where you can kind of see that we can advocate or bouncing ideas off each other. It’s a great community. So go over and check it out. It’s a 14 day free trial.
I think it’s a great deal. It’s, you know, it’s the way I was trying to reach out to more people. Um, I think at the end of this month, prices are going to increase substantially. I’m 25 to 50 percent for a couple reasons. I want to make sure people are really dedicated. They’re in it. Um, people that are already in our grandfather like Tottenham [inaudible] worry about is price going up. Um, so if you’re thinking about it, I would recommend it. Do it now, before, later. I’m in, you know, it’s a great gig. All right. Um, all right, any other questions from any of the other coaches? I’m todd. We’re going to have an office hour next Sunday isn’t my guess. I’m maybe this Sunday. Um, so if you’re listening, um, and again, if you’re thinking of joining the bits that come, I, I think you’ll love it, but again, I’m biased.
Speaker 1: 38:20 So, um, all right everybody have a great admin and uh, thanks for joining me. I’m going to try to send a replay for the people that signed up. I didn’t get everybody’s email address but I’m definitely going to try to sign, send to send a link so you can watch some of this stuff and todd can say we do a lot of x’s and o’s stuff in our, in our, um, in our office hours more than this. So I’m, have a great evening everybody and hopefully stay warm. Talk soon. Bye. Bye everybody. I hope you enjoyed that. Please go over and check out the www.teachhoops.com for coaches who want to get better. I’m, like I said, the prices are going to be increasing. I think it will be a great thing for you and your staff. like I said we are going to be increasing prices so I can, I can hire some people to help me.teachhoops.com is growing, it’s growing that’s a great thing because a lot of coaches out there helping other coaches. have a great week.