If I coach again, here are some of the areas that I will work on: Motion: During the course of the season – due to combination of complicated school rules and players’ health – numbers fluctuated. Also, it seems as if I personally gravitated towards small-sided games that emphasized pick and roll play. In game situations, we did not involve all five players as much as we would have liked until the middle of the season. I think that more passing and cutting will be harder to defend while also energizing more players. Ball Pressure: The season started later than …
10 Changes
The lengthy off-season in 2020 was an opportunity for thorough reflection. After attending dozens of virtual clinics, talking to other coaches and reading, I’ve settled on ten ideas that I think complement my coaching philosophy and can be implemented for the next season. I was not seeking to make significant change but incremental improvements.
Pre-Game & Pre-Practice
I’ve been thinking about effective pre-practice and pre-game routines and how players can maximize their preparation. A good routine should prevent injury, raise heart rate and mentally prime the athletes. It should be dynamic and challenging, not static and predictable. Take initiative to get better by creating a routine that can be practice during pre-practice, pre-practice and afterwards. Good Pre-Practice Routines… Recreate Games Take shots or perform moves that you use in games or manifest themselves in the offense that the team runs. If drills do not mimic competitions, they will not prepare athletes. Select a weakness that impacts your …
Learning from Losing
It was an eye-opening loss for me. Some losses you’re angry about and some losses you learn from. That loss, I think I learned the most from in a long time. I got so much better after that loss. I was able to improve a lot. I worked on things. I didn’t see the results straightaway. But months later, I started seeing the results, more and more. Serena Williams, reflecting upon her loss to Garbine Muguruza in the 2014 French Open.
Game 7: Miami and Indiana
Over the course of a seven game series lasting two weeks, both changes make numerous adjustments and counters. For the final game of their series versus the Indiana Pacers, the Miami Heat chose to pressure the basketball along the perimtere and play physically in the paint. The Pacers were unable to counter to the Heat won handily. When a team is determined to pressure the ball and deny high percentage shots, individual players have little chance to overcome the odds. This adversity demands teamwork As a result, the seventh game of the 2013 Eastern Conference Finals shone a spotlight in …
What’s Wrong with the Raptors?
The Toronto Raptors have started the season off 3-13, alienating many fans. Compared to last year, offense is a little better and defense is a few points worse but the record is a disappointment. The difference comes down to a few minor points: conceding open baskets, allowing a little more penetration and needing too much help while rotating too slowly.
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Shaq: The Big Retrospective
Sport fans and the public at large will remember Shaquille O’Neal because of how he combined athleticism, skill, and charisma on and off the court. From his first season in 1992 until his seventeenth in 2009, the Big Cactus remained an impact player in the Association. Sustaining his place atop the pyramid of post players required the Big Aristotle to develop his game constantly, growing from a powerful force inside to a well-rounded basketball player. Shaq-Fu may have been initially known for breaking backboards (compelling the Association to reinforce the basket supports) as a rookie and losing a memorable battle …
Why Are You Here?
Players frequently try out for teams, working as hard as they can to make a school team or a regional select squad. What is the point of this exercise? Certainly, youth are enabled to meet their fitness, belonging, and esteem needs. Some might even achieve their self-actualization goals. To satisfy all of these requirements, athletes must possess a deeper motivation. Everyone must ask themselves: what do I want for myself today, this week, and this month? What do I want for myself in the long-term? Once that vision is established, one should ask themselves how they will get there. What …
Mindset
As they pass through adolescence, most players develop physical performance factors and improve their sport-specific skills. Far few elect to enhance their mental abilities, placing a ceiling on their performance — at school and on the basketball court. Arriving at a practice, training session, or class with the appropriate mindset removes this cap. Players must want to come to the gym. Forcing anyone to do something will not achieve the desired results. An athlete who doesn’t want to train is like a student who is constantly late, they are not motivated to improve. Throughout the year, it is not incumbent …
Watching the League
The League is for entertainment only. Tempting as it may be, it is not sensible to take the games seriously. Professional athletes rarely provide a second thought to their partisan supporters. Even if they did care (and provided total effort, played through injuries, set a good example, used their heads, etc.), the game is almost fixed. Officiating is inconsistent and influences the outcomes of games far too frequently. Nevertheless, professional basketball offers many benefits, ranging from bursts of exceptional athleticism to occasional examples of incredible teamwork. Players and coaches can study the League and learn a great deal, providing they watch the …
Continuous Improvement
So many times, a student-athlete performs a skill and observers, coaches, officials, and spectators alike, agree that it was “truly a high school play.” The sequence may play out differently – lacking a clear plan, forcing a low-percentage option, misunderstanding how the play will be officiated – but the process (emotions out of control) and outcome (a missed opportunity) remain the game. It’s bound to happen from time to time during the season but how often is too much? When is it time to learn and move on. Players seem to think that they can fool coaches but they’re crazy. …
Acting Like a Team
In practice, teammates should push each other constantly. During games teams should remain focused. A sad scene transpired during Toronto’s last exhibition game against Chicago. The Bulls held a ten point lead and had just called the games final automatic timeout. During the timeout, Chicago was immensely attentive, huddled around coach Tom Thibodeau as he reviewed some tactic or strategy. The team could have relaxed as they held the advantage but they chose to remain focused, because that is the behaviour that they will need to succeed in the playoffs.
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 …
What I Learned this Summer, Part II
This was probably the area where it is most difficult to evaluate my progress. Largely because I have not had any specific feedback from students about my lesson plans. I enrolled in a OISE/UT Additional Qualifications course and was able to communicate and exchange ideas with a plethora of business teachers facing similar concerns. Consequently, I have a much better idea of what I teach, why I teach, who I teach, and how I should teach. Even if I forget the entire Business Studies component of this course, I will remember to ask myself those questions. Throughout the course, we …
What I Learned this Summer, Part I
Earlier, I described a desire to become a more empathic leader. I hoped to become better at building relationships with other coaches, players, and people in general. I endeavoured to become more sensitive as to what others were feeling and discover how I can help student-athletes on and off the court and inside and outside the classroom. To do so, I read a couple of books which described examples of excellent relationships that resulted in personal development and basketball championships: Red and Me and The Gold Standard. Bill Russell’s tribute to his mentor Red Auerbach was a quick read that …
What I Hope to Learn this Summer, Part I
I hope to improve my ability to deal with people and egos, to better motivate student-athletes and demonstrate more empathic leadership. I recently read Competitive Fire by Michael Clarkson and learnt many facts that I hope to apply in the coming year. We often discuss how it seems that teenagers have a “fight or flight” mentality but there is a scientific basis to the argument. Under pressure, the brain releases hormones, such as adrenaline or noradrenaline, that can cause aggressiveness, increase feelings of fear, and inspire the body to perform faster, higher, or stronger. All people, including athletes, need to …
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