In the middle of the 2008 season, David Ross was cut by the Cincinnati Reds and thought that his professional baseball career may be over. He eventually signed to be a third-string catcher with the Boston Red Sox put played sparingly for the remainder of the season. After the team lost in the 2008 American League Championship Series, General Manager Theo Epstein told Ross that he had heard some rumours that the catcher was a bad teammate but added that he had not found this to be the case in Boston. Ross was concerned about his reputation: as a free …
Mental Training with Virtue & Moir
As coaches, we become myopic, scrutinizing every last detail of our own sport and ignoring, dismissing or perhaps even ridiculing other disciplines. On the surface, the attitude seems rooted in rationality. After all, how can a sport decided by judges be comparable to one which determines the winner based on points scored in a given time? Yet we should take a look around and see what is going on in the neighbouring pitch, rink or dojang. Improvement knows no boundaries. Firstly, we wouldn’t be coaches if we did not seek to fuse the objective with the subjective. Secondly, some of …
Bringing Team Culture to Life
As a coach, I always aim to improve my communication skills. While I have a firm grasp on my philosophy, as well as the team culture and style of play that I want to see, it is nothing if I cannot get the message across. As John Wooden would say: “You haven’t taught until they have learned.” Emphasizing a team culture helps youth adopt a different mindset, assuming the dominant characteristics of the group. Character skills are malleable, like intellectual and athletic ability (Tough, 2012, p. 97). Key words can be repeated in huddles and used as positive self-talk. It …
Thank You Tim Duncan
Tim Duncan retired this month, ending a nineteen-year N.B.A. career. Duncan was not a compelling superstar because of his style on the court or controversy away from it, but because of his excellence and consistency. The outcome – five N.B.A. championships – cannot be easily duplicated but players from all levels can learn about the process behind it all. Like the rest of the San Antonio organization, Duncan was about doing the right thing as often as possible. He let himself be coached. Gregg Popovich has been known to coach hard or “Go Serbian” and the three players who anchored …
Reduce Mental Errors
In the bottom of the fourth inning, Josh Donaldson hits a fly ball to Anthony Gose in right-centre field. Gose catches the ball but fogets the number of outs and does not throw the ball back to the infield promptly. Ryan Goins tags and scores from second base. The mental error provided the Blue Jays with an extra run and demonstrated how players, teammates and coaches can work together to stay focused. Players: Goins knows that he will tag up on a fly ball and notices correctly that the ball will not go over Gose’s head so he returns to …
Fouling at the End of Games
The Lakers experienced an awkward play at the end of of Friday’s game against the Grizzlies. Memphis was up a single point with under twenty seconds remaining but Los Angeles elected not to foul immediately. Eventually, Kobe Bryant ran over and fouled Mike Conley. The Lakers eventually lost by three points. Some areas for improvement: L.A. did not seem to discuss who they would foul if this situation arose. Conley was the best free throw shooter on the court and it might have been possible to trap him in order to steal (hopefully) or force him to give up the …
Don’t Stop the Ball
Chris Bosh shot-fakes repeatedly instead of attacking the hoop or moving the ball. As the twenty-four second clock is about to expire, Bosh moves the ball to Joey Graham in the corner (who is hardly a threat to shoot from that area). Passing off this late in the shot clock is not a good decision and it puts teammates under a lot of pressure. It’s selfish because one is avoiding a turnover or missed shot and giving it to a teammate who must rush instead. However, this time, Graham takes the ball strong and finishes at the rim, and Raptors …
Youth Basketball Comparison
It seems that clips of North American basketball players when they were young shows some sort of fast break that uses athleticism and ends in a dunk (Chris Webber from the Fab Five Documentary) but International players tend to make decisions and set up their teammates (Rudy Fernández from Raising an Olympian). Obviously, Webber experienced a higher scoring and more lucrative career than Fernández but from countries other than the U.S., we should be trying to produce players who had careers like Fernández because it is a more likely outcome than a first overall N.B.A. pick so shouldn’t our process …