Kids need to compete. Kids want to compete. The issue is what they and we as the adults in charge define as competing.
The dictionary definition of compete, has it as a verb meaning: to strive to outdo another for acknowledgment, a prize, supremacy, profit, etc.; engage in a contest; vie: to compete in a race; to compete in business.
Our kids tend to think of competeing as engaging in a contest. They "compete" when there is a score or prize or an opponent. The issue is that to become a high performing basketball player you need skills created through muscle memory and repetition on your own. Kids associate competion, and the accorded effort, to game like situations. In reality the competition should be striving to be the supreme basketball player, person and part of the best team they can be. The competition and drive should be internal not external.
Solutions that we as coaches can offer:
1) For kids who can't grasp the concept of internal vs external drive you can cheat a little. You can turn drills, and skills work in practice in games, with scores, winners, etc. Kids enjoy this and tend to work ahrder. They are going to struggle on their own and miss out on a lot of development since without the external factors they won't want to drill hard or at all individually.
2) Demand high performance all the time. There are no break drills, or drills where we don't go hard. Require that everything be done all the time at game speed and intensity. The drawback to this philosophy is that developing skills for young athletes often requires to walk before you run. On teams with varied skill levels someone is going to be bored or overwhelmed. It also requires kids that are committed to being better, kids that play for fun or to be part of something may not responsd well to constant demands and pressure.
3) Spend the time reminding, praising, punishing, talking, . . . whatever your kids need to create that internal voice that pushes them. I don't buy that there are driven kids and lazy kids. No one pops out of the womb ready to take on the world, or indifferent to their surrondings. Competing and demanding excellence of yourself is a trained skill and learned behaviour. You have to keep putting people who need to learn it in situations where they develop the proper attitudes and structures. The draw back is you are talking about personality, values and attitude which are shaped by all the influences in their lives. You get them after they've spent 6-16 years with other adults and peers shaping their values, changes may not happen over night or at all. If your message deviates or contradicts their prior programming there is no sure bet they'll ever buy in.
The most a player can do is compete every second they have available. The most we can do as coaches is everything we can to try to help them do that.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Tactics vs. Talent
Everyone likes to win. Ask my players after a game or practice, I'm about the win. Heck, ask my wife during a game of Scrabble. I'm about the win. That being said, I don't think as a coach it is my job to determine the outcome. It is the job of the players to go out and win the game. Out work, out execute, out read, and have better skills then the opponent.
There are lots of ways to use tactics to win a basketball game. Do you want to win in mini game? Press and full court deny letting them throw deep since most girls and not a lot of boys can. Get a big kid teach them to post up at the rim and let their teammates feed them the ball. Clear out on offense and let your best player attack the rim all night. You'll win mini games.
Do you want to win in high school in New Brunswick? Chase the stud all over the floor, zone off of everyone else and let them shoot. That will win you a lot of games vs. the skill set of NB kids. Have you made your kids better basketball players???
These are strategies, ways we find to win. You see at all levels of basketball. I heard a middle school girl last night say, "Hey coach you know what works against her. If we all just back off everyone else and 2 or 3 of us crowd her. " Its true there is always a tactic you can use to make it harder for a team or player to be successful. At elite levels (university, pro, National teams) most of what they do is tactical. This doesn't always make kids better basketball players. The young lady's idea to shut down the girl in middle school is great, but would she or her team become more skilled defenders or players by selecting that option.
Talent wins out in the end. We've all been on teams, or in tryout situations to get to a higher level where even though we worked hard, we just weren't good enough or at least as good as someone else. {Unless you are an NBA all-star (in which case thanks for reading).} Kids need to be able to play. Especially in the FIBA game of 24 and 8 with a move to a European style by Canada Basketball. Everyone has to be able to shoot, everyone must be able to dribble, everyone must be able to play at speed and defend all over the floor. If you want kids to be skilled, we should be putting them in situations where they have to be.
We've made a hard adjustment in the last year with my varsity boys teams. There are almost no assigned player positions, our offense and defense is concept based, everything everyone is being asked to do is about making reads and executing skills. Its tough. They play in league where defensive tactics and set plays are the norm over developing players who play. They want what the other team has. They want answers that never change, patterns they can memorize, and something that they can do everytime so the the pressure is on the kids who want it. In my mind the only thing you can everytime is be stronger, smarter, and more skilled. Its taking some growing pains but everyone is learning to play the game the same way.
Coaches give me all sorts of reasons why that is great but their team has to do this or that. The reailty is if you want your kids to develop skills (imho)you have to put them in a position to play, run and win executing those skills. If we tell them skills are important, but then use tactics that never let them practice new skills in games they take something away from our actions: finding a way to win is more important the learning the skill coach asked me to learn.
I'll end with this notion. One night a couple of coaches and I were discussing a similar issue one coach who disagreed with my view point passionately proclaimed, "My job as a coach is to put my kids in the best position to win games." I completely agreed with his statement. THe difference was he felt that what his kids did, and the schemes they used, to maximize their talent were what put them in the best position to win the game. I feel like what we do in practice, in games, and the off season to become better players than the other team should be what puts us in the best position to win. How do you feel?
There are lots of ways to use tactics to win a basketball game. Do you want to win in mini game? Press and full court deny letting them throw deep since most girls and not a lot of boys can. Get a big kid teach them to post up at the rim and let their teammates feed them the ball. Clear out on offense and let your best player attack the rim all night. You'll win mini games.
Do you want to win in high school in New Brunswick? Chase the stud all over the floor, zone off of everyone else and let them shoot. That will win you a lot of games vs. the skill set of NB kids. Have you made your kids better basketball players???
These are strategies, ways we find to win. You see at all levels of basketball. I heard a middle school girl last night say, "Hey coach you know what works against her. If we all just back off everyone else and 2 or 3 of us crowd her. " Its true there is always a tactic you can use to make it harder for a team or player to be successful. At elite levels (university, pro, National teams) most of what they do is tactical. This doesn't always make kids better basketball players. The young lady's idea to shut down the girl in middle school is great, but would she or her team become more skilled defenders or players by selecting that option.
Talent wins out in the end. We've all been on teams, or in tryout situations to get to a higher level where even though we worked hard, we just weren't good enough or at least as good as someone else. {Unless you are an NBA all-star (in which case thanks for reading).} Kids need to be able to play. Especially in the FIBA game of 24 and 8 with a move to a European style by Canada Basketball. Everyone has to be able to shoot, everyone must be able to dribble, everyone must be able to play at speed and defend all over the floor. If you want kids to be skilled, we should be putting them in situations where they have to be.
We've made a hard adjustment in the last year with my varsity boys teams. There are almost no assigned player positions, our offense and defense is concept based, everything everyone is being asked to do is about making reads and executing skills. Its tough. They play in league where defensive tactics and set plays are the norm over developing players who play. They want what the other team has. They want answers that never change, patterns they can memorize, and something that they can do everytime so the the pressure is on the kids who want it. In my mind the only thing you can everytime is be stronger, smarter, and more skilled. Its taking some growing pains but everyone is learning to play the game the same way.
Coaches give me all sorts of reasons why that is great but their team has to do this or that. The reailty is if you want your kids to develop skills (imho)you have to put them in a position to play, run and win executing those skills. If we tell them skills are important, but then use tactics that never let them practice new skills in games they take something away from our actions: finding a way to win is more important the learning the skill coach asked me to learn.
I'll end with this notion. One night a couple of coaches and I were discussing a similar issue one coach who disagreed with my view point passionately proclaimed, "My job as a coach is to put my kids in the best position to win games." I completely agreed with his statement. THe difference was he felt that what his kids did, and the schemes they used, to maximize their talent were what put them in the best position to win the game. I feel like what we do in practice, in games, and the off season to become better players than the other team should be what puts us in the best position to win. How do you feel?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)