Blame the coach. If it’s not directly the coach’s fault, they likely could have prevented it by exercising more team control. In the short-term, it may be the responsibility of individual players but in the long-term, the burden falls out the coach’s shoulders. Whether it is minor issue like high school players who come late to class after practice or serious case such as professional teams that blow 3-0 series leads, the root cause is usually something that the coach could have resolved. Likewise, give the coaches credit when credit is due. José Mourinho proved to be an expert coach …
Blue Devils and Raptors
I like ball movement. I like player movement. I even like it more when the two coincide. I like the Duke Blue Devils. I like the Toronto Raptors. So the twenty-four hour period that began at 21h00 on Saturday night contained both highs and lows. There was one primary reason that Duke beat West Virginia in the National Semi-Finals: motion. Golden State beat Toronto Sunday afternoon for the same reason: motion. I like motion.
Making Better Decisions
When a crisis occurs during the year, the players are ultimately responsible for the resolution. Coaches can recommend actions but players must execute these actions. Sometimes, the players must pull themselves together and move forward on their own. Adversity occurs during every minute of every game and practice: there are always battles between you and an opponent (or you and yourself) that present opportunities to set a personal best. Adversity also occurs every day of your life. How we make decisions under pressure decides how we handle adversity. Decisions made under pressure in sport will recur under pressure in daily …
Communication between Athletes and Coaches
Players are people. People should think because intelligent thinking optimizes performances. Therefore, players should think. Young players are new to the game. They encounter multiple situations for the first time with which they must learn to cope. They must process what is happening is on the court, place it into context, and select a course of action. For inexperienced players, coaches are the primary source of cues on how to interpret information and make a good decision. Sport is a vehicle to teach life skills, including how to make decisions under pressure. Basketball is inherently stressful – physical and mental …
Play Your Game
Too many times athletes lose sight of the big picture and become distracted. It doesn’t matter if Amy Van Dyken spits in your lane, Martins Dukurs lays down three great skeleton runs before you, or another team seeking home court advantage wins their final game by a large margin, you can only do your best. Keep your eyes on the prize and win. The rest will take care of itself. Don’t become consumed with anger, fear, or doubt; don’t let an imbalance of noradrenaline, adrenaline, adrenocorticotropic, or corticotrophin take you out of your zone. Focus on what simple actions must …
Teaching and Coaching
As coaches, we endeavour to guide athletes to the next level. As teachers, we strive to do likewise for students. Along the road to success, the court and the classroom provide parallel paths. What student-athletes learn in one environment is reflected in the other. Coaches value basketball ability and skills such as initiative, teamwork, mental training, leadership, and work ethic. When athletes demonstrate that they have met these expectations, they are rewarded with minutes and touches (along with praise, constructive feedback, and self-confidence). These rewards are not equally distributed; coaches allocate burn and ball based on most consistent and most …
Black Swans
David Hume remarked that “no amount of observations of white swans can allow the inference that all swans are white, but the observation of a single black swan is sufficient to refute that conclusion.” Too many times, coaches and players become conceited, myopic, or ignorant, unwilling to change their paradigm in order to improve. If you believe that you know it all, there is only one way to learn: teaching yourself. If you are willing to accept that others have valuable knowledge – which may range in significance from high to low – you can learn continuous, even if it …
My 300th Blog Post Extravaganza
Watching the Raptors 106-105 win over the Lakers on Sunday it is clear that there are two sides to the team. There is the meek Dr. Jekyll, who settles for outside shots and may not always box out, and the aggressive Mr. Hyde, who gets to the line and contests opponents’ shots. Dr. Jekyll may shoot early in the shot clock or out of the team offence whereas Mr. Hyde is more focus and resolute. More importantly, Mr. Hyde seems to come out on the winning end more than his daytime alter-ego. Why do they need to wait until halftime …
Carleton, Again
It is a daunting task to face the Carleton Ravens not only because of their physical abilities but due to their mental tenacity. Recovering loose balls. Taking charges. Tipping passes. Boxing out. Hitting the floor. Following shots. Talking. Refusing to give up. A post player following his own miss. A point guard stepping in front of a forward to protect the basket. The team is technically skilled and obviously practices diligently. They can take a small opening and use it to break down the door. The game may be close for one moment and a blowout minutes later. The opponent …
Get Confident, Stupid
Whether athletes achieve their goals seems intricately connected to their feelings about themselves. Coaches over the years have seen body language, a lack of energy, and fear of making a mistake result in poor performance just as players have noticed how their self-talk, mental imagery, and focus on specific objectives contribute to their success. LeBron James dropped thirty-one points in the first half on Portland tonight but the Trail Blazers reversed their fortunes by coming out for the second half with much more determination. They moved the ball and took better shots. They played improved team defence and curtailed Cleveland’s …
Teaching Self-Evaluation
The Globe and Mail posted a curious article regarding how humans learn (and perform) complex skills. Initially, we learn each skill separately and combine the individual actions as we progress. Instead of thinking “jab-step, explosive first-step, jump-stop, and pull-up jumpshot” great players think “make an open shot” and execute all the components together. If told to go slowly, an expert will deconstruct the movement in their mind and make it harder for themselves. On the other hand, a novice needs to consider each skill distinctly in order perform the entire action successful. The article illustrated the point with a putting …
Coaching the Players on the Team
ESPN’s 30 for 30 documentaries have been very intriguing. Some of have covered famous events, others have brought intriguing issues to light. Directed by Billy Corben, The U covers the rise and fall of the Miami Hurricanes football program in the 1980s. To me, the Miami Hurricanes program is interesting because of how a small academic school in Coral Gables won four national titles during a span of twelve years. The University of Miami had flirted with the idea of becoming “The Harvard of the South” but decided to place greater emphasis on football as the 1970s came to a close. …
Mistakes Worth Making
Aside from the priority placed on planning and reviewing – briefing and debriefing – as espoused by Robert McNamara and others, the main message of Mistakes Worth Making is that coaches must deal with the emotions of players, in addition to their skills. As evidenced by the title, there are some mistakes which lead to improvement and others which are desultory. As coaches, we aim to manage mistakes so that we (and athletes) learn from the positive errors and control the negative ones. A theme which is repeated through the book is that the emotions of athletes are as important …
The Damned United
First, a Serious Warning: This is a highly subjective biographical film. The publishers of the book on which the film is based were successfully sued for defamation by a player mentioned in the work and others would have similarly filed suit except they were deceased and estates cannot sue for slander or libel. This is not an autobiography; it is a drama based on a real person. Now, the Review: The Damned United is about relationships. Relationships between coaches and players, coaches and management, coaches and the media, and coaches and their peers. Brian Clough experienced a great deal of …
Don’t Break Clipboards
Try not to smash clipboards on your knee (or the floor) while coaching. It is dangerous: Clipboards can shatter and cut somebody. It would be unfortunate to cut a player (literally) with a jagged edge. If you slash bespoke slacks, you need to order a new suit, irrespective of the condition of the jacket. It displays emotion: Firstly, treat the underlying emotion, then the technical problem. I have smashed a clipboard and it badly disturbed players. Rather than “firing the team up”, it increased their anxiety and decreased execution down the stretch. Players may be nervous about the outcome of …
Skills We Should Teach More, Part IV: Taking the Clutch Shot
Trailing Phoenix by one with twelve seconds to play, Toronto called timeout to set up the final shot. The Raptors inbounded to Hedo Turkoglu, who endeavoured to penetrate, lost the handle, and forced a fadeaway jumper. The poor shot was the result of Turkoglu’s slip, not the set but the shot still lacked viable alternatives to the primary option. Posting Chris Bosh against Amare Stoudamire would have been definitely feasible but how could coach Jay Triano better incorporate the Raptors’ young players into these pressure situations? During climatic moments, mental and somatic anxiety heightens. The latter can be controlled by …