Its been a busy summer coaching two teams (30 games, and 70+ on court practice sessions), 2 camps, the dad thing and all the travel. Obviously I haven't blogged in a while, but this week I promise to make up for that with a fury of blogging. I am at nationals and our schedule gives me heavy on court time and then a day off so I'll blogging about it all. Our team, things I see, and basketball thoughts in general.
Keep posted. Its about to get crazy.
Sunday, August 5, 2012
Thursday, June 7, 2012
NB and Me x 3
Need to rant be warned. (Seriously a lot of ranting!)
Lets make a short list. The rule with my team is that if we are talking about more then 3 things we aren't talking about anything.
Let's short list the 3 things that coaches in NB (myself included) need to do a better job of coaching explicitly and getting our kids good at perfoming. This may not even be overly constructive on how or what we are currently doing wrong I may get into that down the road. All I really want to do is the first step, point out what I see and then what I would rather see.
1) Close Outs:
As a province we don't close out to lock down and compete. 99% of the kids that I see close out to show they are defending but really hope you take a somewhat contested shot or hope that their spacing and stance stop you from wanting to drive (at in hard straight lines). Luckily for them kids in NB don't shoot well and have been engrained that contact is foul so avoid it at all costs. Kids need to close out to compete. They need to arrive with the ball, in stance trying to dictate to the offense. Now I don't want to argue contain to pressure vs pressure to contain, I want to talk basketball. Here is the only place that me and most women can agree. We want the person responsible to show up on time, ready and willing to do whatever it takes to make this work.
Here is how to recognize an NB "I hope" close out. The "I hope" close out is square chest to chest at the same height as the offense, though they had to go from high to low to get there. The defender is at least an arm length off with arms down (or up at 45 degree angles as if the offense is going to do anything at a 45 degree angle outside their body and off their shoulders). They are flat footed with knees bent doing their best to look like they are in a stance and a good defender. Now, the hope is that the offense will see the defense there and not shoot it (or a path around the edges of the defender so they have a chane to slide and give ground to keep them from going straight to the rim).
What I would love to see regularly, is a close out that says "Here we go b!&@#, boy did you pick the wrong neighbourhood." Arrive coming from low to high into the reciever at the moment of the catch throwing hands and chin up and at the player to force them to worry about cleanly catching on balance, not playing basketbal or running offense. Be loaded with legs athletic and explosive. Down low with your face on the ball or the waist arms wide ready to dig or deflect. Little foot movements to stay wide but locked in on their tower to be able to react to movement. Square to force east west action but weight loaded to hip turn or bounce if they attack your body. On their shooting hand to prevent a quick release then in and off to compete on the dribble drive. Loud and active demanding they do what you want. Take away the shot, take away the blow buy, take away all but one possible action then work like crazy to take that away too. You know compete and play basketball.
2) Pass and Catch
Forget the gamer kids, the lazy kids, the fat kids, the kids dropped out of sport, the kids who've got too many other interests or opportunities, forget the kids who's situations are wacka doodle. Look at the kids you've got. The ones who are showing up and want to play. They've been so structured in their activity as kids and athletes that they'd have been better off, if instead of playing small ball they'd had an egg toss for 15 minutes a day at recess. They can't pass and catch. Sure they can make the ball come off their hand the way we want and it ends up close enough for the offensive player to end up with the ball, but I'm starting to think quality passing and catching is an art form. If I didn't believe the research says any skill was teachable I'ld be inclined to believe that good passing and catching was genetic and we've some how bred it out of kids.
Here's what I see. Passes that are to a general area or space. Its the equivalent of teaching a kid archery and saying just hit the target somewhere. I mean for me (who's never shot a bow) thats going to be a big deal for a couple of lessons but eventually just hitting the target is a little sad. Bio-mechanics? There is footwork and body movement involved in passing?!? Crazy talk! Kids see passing as throwing to a person. They are not the same thing. I also see recievers catching unathletically and then once they have the ball trying to obtain an athletic position. I see almost zero kids who can move at game speed, in stance, with their hands shot ready and then strongly catch a ball with good footwork. Most seem to be able to get you 1 out of 4. I can catch with good footwork but only if I'm standing pretty straight up and I'm going to have to play with the ball to shoot it. Or I can move around at game speed but can't get myself balanced to catch and use footwork so I'll use a momentum dribble or two before I start playing again.
What I would love to see. Kids who treat passing with as much importance as bouncing the silly thing into the ground. Passers and recievers who act as if the movements, decisions and actions they make are important to their relationships and team success. Use the footwork, pass types and body movements that your coaches expect and accept situationally to hit at speed, in a timely manner, a reciever who's moving low and explosively ready to catch and shoot or catch and stop, or catch to explode in a change of direction. Put every pass into someone's shot pocket so they have a chance to shoot it or at least make a basketball play from the proper position to start. Make sure the reciever is choosing to dribble not that they have to because of the pass or their own footwork/balance.
3) Shot Making:
I wanted to say shooting but thats not true. I haven't been at many basketball games or practices where getting kids or coaches to get shots at the basket was a real problem. The issue is I don't see a lot of quality shots that go in. I see tons of kids taking bad shots or shots from tactically determined positions to increase their chances of making enough to win. I do not see a lot of quality getting the ball in a stance and in a high shot pocket, to a vertical explosion of energy with a consistent extension of shoulders, elbows and wrists into a snap that has teardrops raining through the macrame.
This is tough. I know because shooting is probably the easiest thing to under and overcoach in athletes. Not enough coaching and habits form that become deterimental long term, too much and it becomes mechanical and unnatural so that they never develop confidence and comfort shooting the ball. This is about quality reps. I do about as good a job as most coaches I've seen at getting kids reps in practice time to shoot, and giving them the freedom and confidence to make and take shots. For me like most people though its quality. Volume of poor isn't much better than nothing.
What we need to see is more attention to detail as kids develop. Make every kid a jump shooter not a shot taker. Teach kids footwork and balance. Don't accept poor mechanics early because it works for them since their build won't let proper mechanics work as well. Finally, don't just encourage kids to shoot on their own. Make them shoot when their with you, talk to them about shooting when their not, make them believe that they can and should be great shooters. I would love to see more mini games lost because kids missed jumpshots that looked good, then won because they took a bunch of bad layups but forced enough in. We need all (more?) kids to be able to catch and knockdown. It will make offense better (and easier) it will also force our closeouts to be better and the reciever to be more focused on making a good catch and desirous of a good passer.
Lets make a short list. The rule with my team is that if we are talking about more then 3 things we aren't talking about anything.
Let's short list the 3 things that coaches in NB (myself included) need to do a better job of coaching explicitly and getting our kids good at perfoming. This may not even be overly constructive on how or what we are currently doing wrong I may get into that down the road. All I really want to do is the first step, point out what I see and then what I would rather see.
1) Close Outs:
As a province we don't close out to lock down and compete. 99% of the kids that I see close out to show they are defending but really hope you take a somewhat contested shot or hope that their spacing and stance stop you from wanting to drive (at in hard straight lines). Luckily for them kids in NB don't shoot well and have been engrained that contact is foul so avoid it at all costs. Kids need to close out to compete. They need to arrive with the ball, in stance trying to dictate to the offense. Now I don't want to argue contain to pressure vs pressure to contain, I want to talk basketball. Here is the only place that me and most women can agree. We want the person responsible to show up on time, ready and willing to do whatever it takes to make this work.
Here is how to recognize an NB "I hope" close out. The "I hope" close out is square chest to chest at the same height as the offense, though they had to go from high to low to get there. The defender is at least an arm length off with arms down (or up at 45 degree angles as if the offense is going to do anything at a 45 degree angle outside their body and off their shoulders). They are flat footed with knees bent doing their best to look like they are in a stance and a good defender. Now, the hope is that the offense will see the defense there and not shoot it (or a path around the edges of the defender so they have a chane to slide and give ground to keep them from going straight to the rim).
What I would love to see regularly, is a close out that says "Here we go b!&@#, boy did you pick the wrong neighbourhood." Arrive coming from low to high into the reciever at the moment of the catch throwing hands and chin up and at the player to force them to worry about cleanly catching on balance, not playing basketbal or running offense. Be loaded with legs athletic and explosive. Down low with your face on the ball or the waist arms wide ready to dig or deflect. Little foot movements to stay wide but locked in on their tower to be able to react to movement. Square to force east west action but weight loaded to hip turn or bounce if they attack your body. On their shooting hand to prevent a quick release then in and off to compete on the dribble drive. Loud and active demanding they do what you want. Take away the shot, take away the blow buy, take away all but one possible action then work like crazy to take that away too. You know compete and play basketball.
2) Pass and Catch
Forget the gamer kids, the lazy kids, the fat kids, the kids dropped out of sport, the kids who've got too many other interests or opportunities, forget the kids who's situations are wacka doodle. Look at the kids you've got. The ones who are showing up and want to play. They've been so structured in their activity as kids and athletes that they'd have been better off, if instead of playing small ball they'd had an egg toss for 15 minutes a day at recess. They can't pass and catch. Sure they can make the ball come off their hand the way we want and it ends up close enough for the offensive player to end up with the ball, but I'm starting to think quality passing and catching is an art form. If I didn't believe the research says any skill was teachable I'ld be inclined to believe that good passing and catching was genetic and we've some how bred it out of kids.
Here's what I see. Passes that are to a general area or space. Its the equivalent of teaching a kid archery and saying just hit the target somewhere. I mean for me (who's never shot a bow) thats going to be a big deal for a couple of lessons but eventually just hitting the target is a little sad. Bio-mechanics? There is footwork and body movement involved in passing?!? Crazy talk! Kids see passing as throwing to a person. They are not the same thing. I also see recievers catching unathletically and then once they have the ball trying to obtain an athletic position. I see almost zero kids who can move at game speed, in stance, with their hands shot ready and then strongly catch a ball with good footwork. Most seem to be able to get you 1 out of 4. I can catch with good footwork but only if I'm standing pretty straight up and I'm going to have to play with the ball to shoot it. Or I can move around at game speed but can't get myself balanced to catch and use footwork so I'll use a momentum dribble or two before I start playing again.
What I would love to see. Kids who treat passing with as much importance as bouncing the silly thing into the ground. Passers and recievers who act as if the movements, decisions and actions they make are important to their relationships and team success. Use the footwork, pass types and body movements that your coaches expect and accept situationally to hit at speed, in a timely manner, a reciever who's moving low and explosively ready to catch and shoot or catch and stop, or catch to explode in a change of direction. Put every pass into someone's shot pocket so they have a chance to shoot it or at least make a basketball play from the proper position to start. Make sure the reciever is choosing to dribble not that they have to because of the pass or their own footwork/balance.
3) Shot Making:
I wanted to say shooting but thats not true. I haven't been at many basketball games or practices where getting kids or coaches to get shots at the basket was a real problem. The issue is I don't see a lot of quality shots that go in. I see tons of kids taking bad shots or shots from tactically determined positions to increase their chances of making enough to win. I do not see a lot of quality getting the ball in a stance and in a high shot pocket, to a vertical explosion of energy with a consistent extension of shoulders, elbows and wrists into a snap that has teardrops raining through the macrame.
This is tough. I know because shooting is probably the easiest thing to under and overcoach in athletes. Not enough coaching and habits form that become deterimental long term, too much and it becomes mechanical and unnatural so that they never develop confidence and comfort shooting the ball. This is about quality reps. I do about as good a job as most coaches I've seen at getting kids reps in practice time to shoot, and giving them the freedom and confidence to make and take shots. For me like most people though its quality. Volume of poor isn't much better than nothing.
What we need to see is more attention to detail as kids develop. Make every kid a jump shooter not a shot taker. Teach kids footwork and balance. Don't accept poor mechanics early because it works for them since their build won't let proper mechanics work as well. Finally, don't just encourage kids to shoot on their own. Make them shoot when their with you, talk to them about shooting when their not, make them believe that they can and should be great shooters. I would love to see more mini games lost because kids missed jumpshots that looked good, then won because they took a bunch of bad layups but forced enough in. We need all (more?) kids to be able to catch and knockdown. It will make offense better (and easier) it will also force our closeouts to be better and the reciever to be more focused on making a good catch and desirous of a good passer.
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Evolution of Dealing with Adversity
One of our keys to being relentless as a team (see 5 Keys to Being Relentless ) is to have a response built in to all situations. This way regardless of the situation we can attack confidently knowing how to respond. We have footwork and reads for actions and reactions. We even go so far as to create rules for when you are confused or lost on offense and defense: we dictate what you say and how you physically respond so your teammates can continue to flow and go.
The hardest one for kids to learn is how to deal with stressors and adversity. When things go bad they've generally got already built in habits and behaviours for how to react. Obviously these are not normally useful in the game of basket to our team or to their performance. So we need to come up with cueing system for support, train them in language for self talk and refocusing and condition a response that we want when we put them in stressful or frustrating situations.
This is not always as straightforward as it sounds. Early in my career we would sub kids out for making mistakes or lack of effort, or we would talk to kids about being tougher, playing through it and staying focused. While none of these were bad ways to handle it they weren't the most productive. Subbing a kid out didn't give them a more positive reaction or improve their ability to perform in stress. It eliminated the problem from the floor but promoted them trying to avoid triggers rather then changing habits when they went back in. Conversations were often positive experiences and they ended with a general desire to be tougher, stay focused, etc. They often didn't have a meaningful and particularly short term or immediate coping mechanism.
This led us to trying to come up a cueing system to have kids be able to return to focus on proper mind set in reaction to phrase they can use not only as self talk but that coaches could use in order to prompt the proper reaction without the need to leave the play in order to make adjustments. To that end we adopted the mantra "Next Play". The purpose of which was to remind players that the past was over and we had to focus on doing our job in this upcoming play. We had limited success with this vocalization from coaches but once players embraced it as self talk or reminders to teammates we had more positive immediate returns following problems or moments of stress.
Again, this was imperfect. It didn't help the player with whatever feelings they were experiencing and while they might try to put themselves in the next play mentally and physically, depending on their repsonsbilities or the situation might not yield an immediate solution or chance for action. We wanted something that allowed our kids to respond to stress by: increasing their activity level, focusing on what they and their teammates each had to do next (to avoid focus on what just happened), and having a verbal communication component to raise support and energy.
So borrowed from the people at PGC we now use the idea of "Hustle Caat". This isn't a call or slogan as much as it is our general response to any problem or stressor. We hustle (force ourselves to sprint, get into a stance, and get active) and Call At A Teammate (call ou a reminder or a focus point on what is happening or you need next). We like this is it gives an immediate response of positive feedback mentally, verbally, and physically. It engages all parts of the individual and the team as our immediate response to a problem. We get hustle (something you always like to see). We get communication in our soundscape (which brings energy and focuses attention on task). We also get the player recogsnising the next potential actions to make decisions about what they need from teammates to call out something productive (focus becomes the moment not the previous issue).
Below is a clip from the originators of the Hustle CAAT idea. Dena Evans from PGC discusses Increasing Your Actvity Level. This and many more great coaching points we use all the time can be found on http://keystothegym.com/blog/
We've been extremely impressed with our results. We get sound, thought and action all built into an immediate stress response. It allows us to attack relentlessly because we have a standard positive repsonse to stress/adversity on the floor that we can program our kids to make in order to increase our productivity.
How are you teaching your kids to respond to stress? Could it be better?
The hardest one for kids to learn is how to deal with stressors and adversity. When things go bad they've generally got already built in habits and behaviours for how to react. Obviously these are not normally useful in the game of basket to our team or to their performance. So we need to come up with cueing system for support, train them in language for self talk and refocusing and condition a response that we want when we put them in stressful or frustrating situations.
This is not always as straightforward as it sounds. Early in my career we would sub kids out for making mistakes or lack of effort, or we would talk to kids about being tougher, playing through it and staying focused. While none of these were bad ways to handle it they weren't the most productive. Subbing a kid out didn't give them a more positive reaction or improve their ability to perform in stress. It eliminated the problem from the floor but promoted them trying to avoid triggers rather then changing habits when they went back in. Conversations were often positive experiences and they ended with a general desire to be tougher, stay focused, etc. They often didn't have a meaningful and particularly short term or immediate coping mechanism.
This led us to trying to come up a cueing system to have kids be able to return to focus on proper mind set in reaction to phrase they can use not only as self talk but that coaches could use in order to prompt the proper reaction without the need to leave the play in order to make adjustments. To that end we adopted the mantra "Next Play". The purpose of which was to remind players that the past was over and we had to focus on doing our job in this upcoming play. We had limited success with this vocalization from coaches but once players embraced it as self talk or reminders to teammates we had more positive immediate returns following problems or moments of stress.
Again, this was imperfect. It didn't help the player with whatever feelings they were experiencing and while they might try to put themselves in the next play mentally and physically, depending on their repsonsbilities or the situation might not yield an immediate solution or chance for action. We wanted something that allowed our kids to respond to stress by: increasing their activity level, focusing on what they and their teammates each had to do next (to avoid focus on what just happened), and having a verbal communication component to raise support and energy.
So borrowed from the people at PGC we now use the idea of "Hustle Caat". This isn't a call or slogan as much as it is our general response to any problem or stressor. We hustle (force ourselves to sprint, get into a stance, and get active) and Call At A Teammate (call ou a reminder or a focus point on what is happening or you need next). We like this is it gives an immediate response of positive feedback mentally, verbally, and physically. It engages all parts of the individual and the team as our immediate response to a problem. We get hustle (something you always like to see). We get communication in our soundscape (which brings energy and focuses attention on task). We also get the player recogsnising the next potential actions to make decisions about what they need from teammates to call out something productive (focus becomes the moment not the previous issue).
Below is a clip from the originators of the Hustle CAAT idea. Dena Evans from PGC discusses Increasing Your Actvity Level. This and many more great coaching points we use all the time can be found on http://keystothegym.com/blog/
We've been extremely impressed with our results. We get sound, thought and action all built into an immediate stress response. It allows us to attack relentlessly because we have a standard positive repsonse to stress/adversity on the floor that we can program our kids to make in order to increase our productivity.
How are you teaching your kids to respond to stress? Could it be better?
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Movement is Offense
"Movement is Offense" is a pretty simple concept. I'm not sure why so many people struggle with it. If you are moving you are playing basketball, if you are stationary you are not. That being said the world is full of ball stoppers, over dribblers, and players standing in spots. Its partially coaching/tactics, partially bad defense and mostly a lack of focus/will to make people defend movement or at least defend constantly.
One of the odd things I notice about basketball is that 90% of the defensive drills and practices I see have kids in a low wide stance sliding or chopping. Yet unless you are a superior athlete to your opponent if they sprint and you slide there is no way to can maintain position. So either coaches believe: A) that defensively they will always have superior athletes that can out work, out speed and out athlete the opponent (ask my OKC Thunder how that is working out against old men like Parker, Ginobli and Duncan) B) that offense will never execute skills or play at top speed.
On our teams we try to address both. We play rotational m2m and work on defensive footwork to allow our kids sprint almost all the time. On offense we want our kids to play at pace and force defense to defend movement. We use a pivot foot theory and concept based offense built on ball movement, player movement and anticipatory reads so that every player should be able to constantly move at their top speed.
Keys to establishing and maintaining offensive movement:
- You must establish clear guidelines for spacing and action/reaction in all phases of offense/the shot clock.
- Your fast break, transition, half court and late clock offenses must flow seamlessly one into the next.
- Your pivot foot theory, offensive movements, and action/reactions must allow for the game to be play without stop - start or waiting for specific action.
- Players who can execute skills at speed and make anticipatory reads instead of making reads post catch and pivot.
- Players must be able to make shots. To maintain spacing and freedom of movement players need to be able to play facing the basket away from the rim effectively.
- Players must not be ball stoppers. They must catch and make their next action trying to maintain the pace of the ball and play. Maintain a 1 second advantage over defense.
- Simultaneous actions. Everyone must be reading and attacking on the move at the same time, not series of action or movement.
- Players must be in condition (or you must have great enough depth) to maintain pace of play.
- Players must trust each other and the movement to generate chances. They cannot force or overplay.
- Quality passes must take place to allow players to make the next action not be focused on making a clean catch.
- Have reactions and guidelines to situations trained and in place so there is no question or confusion about what should be happening even in break downs.
One of the odd things I notice about basketball is that 90% of the defensive drills and practices I see have kids in a low wide stance sliding or chopping. Yet unless you are a superior athlete to your opponent if they sprint and you slide there is no way to can maintain position. So either coaches believe: A) that defensively they will always have superior athletes that can out work, out speed and out athlete the opponent (ask my OKC Thunder how that is working out against old men like Parker, Ginobli and Duncan) B) that offense will never execute skills or play at top speed.
On our teams we try to address both. We play rotational m2m and work on defensive footwork to allow our kids sprint almost all the time. On offense we want our kids to play at pace and force defense to defend movement. We use a pivot foot theory and concept based offense built on ball movement, player movement and anticipatory reads so that every player should be able to constantly move at their top speed.
Keys to establishing and maintaining offensive movement:
- You must establish clear guidelines for spacing and action/reaction in all phases of offense/the shot clock.
- Your fast break, transition, half court and late clock offenses must flow seamlessly one into the next.
- Your pivot foot theory, offensive movements, and action/reactions must allow for the game to be play without stop - start or waiting for specific action.
- Players who can execute skills at speed and make anticipatory reads instead of making reads post catch and pivot.
- Players must be able to make shots. To maintain spacing and freedom of movement players need to be able to play facing the basket away from the rim effectively.
- Players must not be ball stoppers. They must catch and make their next action trying to maintain the pace of the ball and play. Maintain a 1 second advantage over defense.
- Simultaneous actions. Everyone must be reading and attacking on the move at the same time, not series of action or movement.
- Players must be in condition (or you must have great enough depth) to maintain pace of play.
- Players must trust each other and the movement to generate chances. They cannot force or overplay.
- Quality passes must take place to allow players to make the next action not be focused on making a clean catch.
- Have reactions and guidelines to situations trained and in place so there is no question or confusion about what should be happening even in break downs.
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Building a shooter: A philosophical difference.
Before I get started we need to clear a couple of
issues out of the way.
Issue
#1 - In order for any of this to be useful to you, you
have to believe skilled players are made and not born. If you feel that the
proper training and dedicated meaningful practice time put in by players and
coaches is not how to become a skilled athlete you might as well stop reading.
If you don't believe someone can be made into shooter given enough quality work
the rest of this debate isn't worth your time.
Issue
#2 - This isn't about the mechanics of shooting. You
can research any number of coaches world wide to debate footwork, technique and
skills. If you need recommendation please check out any resources you can get
your hands on by coaches Dave Love, Dave Smart and Steve Alford. They are my
personal favorites in terms of breaking down shooting technique.
With that out of the way I want to discuss
shooting. More specifically what some coaches would call shot selection, or
decision making or playing the percentages. The crux of the discussion is this
driving question: Is an open shot, where you catch ready , balanced and
confident a good shot? Some coaches some coaches say definitively yes, some say
definitely not, most have a complicated answer involving percentages in games/practice
or their system and the shots "they" want.
My feeling is that against good defense, in a fast
paced game you are never going to do better then open. Particularly in an
international style game with a shot clock. If you pass up open you will most
likely end up taking contested shots later. Regardless of what your feeling is on
who should be taking what shots when, most coaches are willing to concede that
if they believe a kid is a shooter they will let and even encourage them to
shoot when their open.
So how do make a shooter? Obviously it comes from
hours and hours of practice at the edge of their abilities creating muscle
memory and chunking their technique. They also need to build the fitness,
balance and tower strength to match the speed, explosiveness and strength
requirements to get and make the shots they need to in order to be successful.
How though do you get a kid to do all that?
As far as I can tell coaches fall into three camps
in terms of their response:
CAMP
1 - I don't make players, players make themselves.
These are coaches who train their kids in practice,
but primarily practice is about the team and their stuff. They tend to be of
the belief that they can give kids the basic knowledge but after that kids are
on their own. They cite examples of hours of work legends put in on their own
time and expose the virtues of the kids who "want it bad enough"
finding a way and the time to be successful. They coach the team but
players are responsible on their own for building and developing their skills.
The owness for becoming a shooter is totally on the player. So coaches either
end up with shooters who've built themselves or no shooters. Generally the kids
who are taking more shots on their own are better shooters. In games they end
up taking more of the shots (by design or personal desire) so they score more.
By shouldering more of the offensive load they need/want to score and help the
team win so they train more on shooting to be able to do that. So this coach
gets a couple of kids a year who make themselves into scorers, who they can
cite as examples to the others.
CAMP
2 - You earn the right to be a shooter.
These are coaches who are very focused on their
kids skills and areas of weakness. They train specifically to improve/hide
areas of weakness and maximize their existing skill sets. These coaches have a
very clear idea and generally some body of evidence to support who can take
what sorts of shots from where. They work with kids to build their skill sets
and encourage them to become more skilled by setting targets. ie. IF you want
to play the 2 or be able to take 3's you need to be able to consistently make
70% in practice. They then work with them and give them training regimens to
set and meet targets to increase their skill sets based on their wants, needs
and expectations. Kids that want to be shooters get the training they need and
support to become skilled shooters. The coach then provides the feedback,
training and reward/consequences for an individual effort to focus and maximize
performance and success. Players are identified, labeled and trained
accordingly and always have the option of changing or growing their roll and
skill set based on opportunity and desire. Shooters of various types and levels
are constantly being built or have the option to get built to some degree.
CAMP
3 - Players are shooters.
Coaches who believe if you are in the game you need
to be able to shoot it. Everyone is trained and expected to make shots.
Generally the team's success is dependant on who ever is left or gotten open to
make shots. Tends to involve a lot of long term commitment to developing
skilled universal players, while also focusing on building a relationship of
trust and understanding with athletes. These coaches take them on a journey of
player development that covers decision making, reading defense and individual
skills to make the easy open read. In the short term team success is sacrificed
as players work through the learning curve. Coaches though build a relationship
of trust with the athletes and inspire commitment by tying work, player
confidence and success into team success rather then treating them like related
but manageable entities. Players and coaches focus on belief in players
potential as a shooter and training is constantly needed to be at the edge of
their ability, rather than maximizing current abilities and avoiding/minimizing
weaknesses through coach control.
ME
I do my best to fall into Camp 3 mostly because I
believe in kids need to be able to play the game the right way universally. I
also tend to find this method the most likely to inspire more confidence in
kids and improve the quality of teammates relationships. Basically I feel like
if a kid takes and makes a shot they are more likely to want to work (with me
and on their own) to get back in a position to make another 1 or maybe two+.
The best shooters in the world focus on their makes not their misses I want our
play and training to match that.
I feel like if a kid can't take a shot until
they've made hundreds in a row just to get to point where you are ok with them trying
to make 1 (let alone more); in today’s society kids are just going to do
something else more inspiring and easier to feel connected. Our players need
relationships and mentors more then previous generations. They will not accept being marginalized
and have the flaws dictate their development and how we want to play
particularly when a world of on and offline activities will accept them as is.
Its about player investment. We constantly talk
about wanting kids to be more committed, kids needing to take responsibility,
kids being apathetic.
IMO what a lot of people mean when they say these
things. Is no matter how hard, boring, challenging the activity, or
disconnected kids are from the material or expectations (class, practice, game
etc) because the kid is there they have some sort of obligation to pursue it
passionately so anything less is a character flaw.
Telling a kid we can't let you shoot until you put
in the time to prove yourself or make yourself a shooter isn't honest. Honesty
would be telling them you can't let them shoot because your confidence in their
decision making, and them developing as a shooter on a learning curve, is less
important than winning games. You can't build a relationship with a kid based
on your controls and them then needing to do all the heavy lifting emotionally,
physically and confidence wise. They need to want to be part of what you are
doing, it needs to match their needs and goals, it has to inspire them to want
to be better.
If you aren't at least partially the motivating
force and inspiration for improvement, where and when and from whom are they
going to learn it: probably not from basketball. Skills, athleticism,
confidence, determination, commitment, decision making are all learned behaviors
are you teaching them or expecting them? How do you convince a kid to help you
build them into shooter?
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Noisiest Kids on the Block: Building a basketball soundscape.
One of my focuses for this summer and next year with my club, elite development and school teams is going to be the idea of "bringing the noise". We know as coaches that talking on the floor/ communication makes players more confident, execution and speed of execution increase all while building team chemistry. Science is teaching us that noise does all sorts of things from focusing our attention, to giving us adrenaline and even causing us dissonance and forcing a fight or flight state. Noise can control everything from our productivity to our sense of security. If noise can have this dramatic an impact on the quality of play and the upon individuals in the game, then it only makes sense to create a soundscape for positive play.
How do we go about creating a soundscape for positive play. I'm not a big fan of the Tarkanian theory of basketball "You need 8 kids who can play and 4 who a great at waving towels and cheering." I don't find that sort of noise or rah-rah cheering particularly meaningful and effective. Besides of you are on my bench you are there because you are going to be useful to us in the game not as moral support. So instead we need to create a soundscape that: 1) brings and maintains energy in the group; 2) increases efficiency and anticipations; 3) disrupts/dissects what other teams are trying to do; 4) allows us to maintain and regain focus on key elements.
So lets look at the role sound plays from the three key times players have control over the soundscape.
Noise on Offense
Noise on offense primarily increases our focus, helps simplify things and maintains positive energy. Their is an adage in sports about teams who communicate being faster. They are not in fact physically faster but the communication allows them to anticipate and mentally "chunk" the next series of actions easier. Their pathways move to familiar reads and more confidently and quickly process the options in front of them. Noise on offense should communicate options, opportunities, and instill confidence. If you can communicate what you are or will be doing you must be in control of the situation. Positive communication eliminates fear, feelings of isolation and improves decision making.
What are some things we can do to control the offensive soundscape:
- Have calls. Every action has a trigger or call that informs the passer or ball carrier what their reads are going to be. If you want to catch and shoot/attack call "ball". We just need to get them the ball in position to attack. If they read curl/cut call "curl" so the passer knows you are going to be a target in the paint and where support will come from to replace you. They only need to focus on those two areas. We also call "twist" for a back screen or "exit" on a post screen for similar reasons. When we run lanes and you are open call for the sort of pass you need to complete the play "flip" the ball up the sideline, "diagonal"ly cut the pass across court, or throw it to the "rim" if we are open and running there.
- No negative response. Eliminate panic or frustration language. No yelling for "help" or calling "someone". We communicate directly to people and what we need them to do. "Bobby - Ball Cut!"
- Eliminate sorry. We didn't make a mistake, we made a decision. Be accountable to yourself and move on to the next play. If during the next dead ball your teammates or coaches need to hold you accountable agree and move on.
Noise on Defense
Defensive communication needs to do multiple things. It must increase our awareness, anticipation and energy. It must also disrupt and dissect the offensive confidence and execution. Our communication must trigger reactions in both us and opponent.
How we control the soundscape on defense:
-Communicate your action. As the ball moves everyone is shifting defensively. Communicate your shifts so your teammates can know you are doing your job. If you are moving into a passing lane or shooting a drive gap "deny" / "gap". If you are protecting the paint or getting ready to rotate from the help line call "wall". This lets your teammate locked into the ball carrier know exactly where you are without checking.
- Reminders. Remind teammates about what you see as threats. As you rotate you leave a post and must communicate to your teammate that you are coming and leaving a threat. "Jump" and "Drop". If you see a shooter or screening action taking place remind the appropriate teammates. "Switching", "Corner Shooter". Teammates want to do the right thing reminding keeps them focused on their next job and reduces confusion and indecision.
- Boss the ball. People want to avoid being threatened, confronted and uncomfortable. People also inherently want to follow directions because it negates responsibility. Be the boss on defense. If you want the ball to dribble, get up in a tight stance reducing options and start screaming "dribble, dribble, dribble". To avoid the uncomfortable noise and because of a lack of options the ball with sooner, rather then later take off dribbling. This also has the benefit of informing the whole gym what action will be coming next and being able to defend it.
- Take away senses. We make the best decision possible when we are comfortable, contact and have time to process context. Take away time, space, and ability to process information and we are in a panic. We then have too much blood rushing to the wrong parts of our brains to make reasonable decisions. As a defender you must take away senses: the ability to move, the ability to see and even the ability to communicate to teammates. Be louder, more active and make them unable to communicate. Turn them into an island with limited options.
Noise from the Bench
Bench noise must promote execution, increase player awareness and confidence and must always focus us on the next best action. Bench noise comes in two forms coach noise and player noise is serves the common purpose but in drastically different ways.
- Coaches coaching. Coaches noise must be focused on bringing/maintaining needed energies to the group (excitement, calm, short memory, etc). They must constantly be communicating to players on the floor with short cues and triggers that keep the movement, energy and action moving in the direction we want. Short phrases and key terms only, for players on the floor during action. During dead balls or free time you can communicate longer or complicated concepts to key players on the floor who can then accept or pass on the message as required. Coaches coaching bench players must be focusing them on their next task required and making sure they understand the purpose and execution points of that action.
- Players remind. Players on the bench not being coached must be engaged. We know teammates need reminders and that communication improves results. Just like off ball defenders on the floor players on the bench need to be reminding teammates of what the reads and actions are they need to worry about: shooters, screens, shot clocks, tactics, etc.
- Communicating Tactical Changes. There are lots of ways to do this, but the import issue is that two things take place. Everyone on the floor be informed of a tactical change. Everyone on the floor understand what changes to their role or reads happen with the tactical change. My personal preference is to make a tactical change at a substitution. Send in multiple players who are already aware of the tactical change and their roles. Who inform the players remaining on the floor as they come in about the change, meanwhile coaches focus on making sure the remaining players on the floor are aware of the tactical change and their roles.
How do we go about creating a soundscape for positive play. I'm not a big fan of the Tarkanian theory of basketball "You need 8 kids who can play and 4 who a great at waving towels and cheering." I don't find that sort of noise or rah-rah cheering particularly meaningful and effective. Besides of you are on my bench you are there because you are going to be useful to us in the game not as moral support. So instead we need to create a soundscape that: 1) brings and maintains energy in the group; 2) increases efficiency and anticipations; 3) disrupts/dissects what other teams are trying to do; 4) allows us to maintain and regain focus on key elements.
So lets look at the role sound plays from the three key times players have control over the soundscape.
Noise on Offense
Noise on offense primarily increases our focus, helps simplify things and maintains positive energy. Their is an adage in sports about teams who communicate being faster. They are not in fact physically faster but the communication allows them to anticipate and mentally "chunk" the next series of actions easier. Their pathways move to familiar reads and more confidently and quickly process the options in front of them. Noise on offense should communicate options, opportunities, and instill confidence. If you can communicate what you are or will be doing you must be in control of the situation. Positive communication eliminates fear, feelings of isolation and improves decision making.
What are some things we can do to control the offensive soundscape:
- Have calls. Every action has a trigger or call that informs the passer or ball carrier what their reads are going to be. If you want to catch and shoot/attack call "ball". We just need to get them the ball in position to attack. If they read curl/cut call "curl" so the passer knows you are going to be a target in the paint and where support will come from to replace you. They only need to focus on those two areas. We also call "twist" for a back screen or "exit" on a post screen for similar reasons. When we run lanes and you are open call for the sort of pass you need to complete the play "flip" the ball up the sideline, "diagonal"ly cut the pass across court, or throw it to the "rim" if we are open and running there.
- No negative response. Eliminate panic or frustration language. No yelling for "help" or calling "someone". We communicate directly to people and what we need them to do. "Bobby - Ball Cut!"
- Eliminate sorry. We didn't make a mistake, we made a decision. Be accountable to yourself and move on to the next play. If during the next dead ball your teammates or coaches need to hold you accountable agree and move on.
Noise on Defense
Defensive communication needs to do multiple things. It must increase our awareness, anticipation and energy. It must also disrupt and dissect the offensive confidence and execution. Our communication must trigger reactions in both us and opponent.
How we control the soundscape on defense:
-Communicate your action. As the ball moves everyone is shifting defensively. Communicate your shifts so your teammates can know you are doing your job. If you are moving into a passing lane or shooting a drive gap "deny" / "gap". If you are protecting the paint or getting ready to rotate from the help line call "wall". This lets your teammate locked into the ball carrier know exactly where you are without checking.
- Reminders. Remind teammates about what you see as threats. As you rotate you leave a post and must communicate to your teammate that you are coming and leaving a threat. "Jump" and "Drop". If you see a shooter or screening action taking place remind the appropriate teammates. "Switching", "Corner Shooter". Teammates want to do the right thing reminding keeps them focused on their next job and reduces confusion and indecision.
- Boss the ball. People want to avoid being threatened, confronted and uncomfortable. People also inherently want to follow directions because it negates responsibility. Be the boss on defense. If you want the ball to dribble, get up in a tight stance reducing options and start screaming "dribble, dribble, dribble". To avoid the uncomfortable noise and because of a lack of options the ball with sooner, rather then later take off dribbling. This also has the benefit of informing the whole gym what action will be coming next and being able to defend it.
- Take away senses. We make the best decision possible when we are comfortable, contact and have time to process context. Take away time, space, and ability to process information and we are in a panic. We then have too much blood rushing to the wrong parts of our brains to make reasonable decisions. As a defender you must take away senses: the ability to move, the ability to see and even the ability to communicate to teammates. Be louder, more active and make them unable to communicate. Turn them into an island with limited options.
Noise from the Bench
Bench noise must promote execution, increase player awareness and confidence and must always focus us on the next best action. Bench noise comes in two forms coach noise and player noise is serves the common purpose but in drastically different ways.
- Coaches coaching. Coaches noise must be focused on bringing/maintaining needed energies to the group (excitement, calm, short memory, etc). They must constantly be communicating to players on the floor with short cues and triggers that keep the movement, energy and action moving in the direction we want. Short phrases and key terms only, for players on the floor during action. During dead balls or free time you can communicate longer or complicated concepts to key players on the floor who can then accept or pass on the message as required. Coaches coaching bench players must be focusing them on their next task required and making sure they understand the purpose and execution points of that action.
- Players remind. Players on the bench not being coached must be engaged. We know teammates need reminders and that communication improves results. Just like off ball defenders on the floor players on the bench need to be reminding teammates of what the reads and actions are they need to worry about: shooters, screens, shot clocks, tactics, etc.
- Communicating Tactical Changes. There are lots of ways to do this, but the import issue is that two things take place. Everyone on the floor be informed of a tactical change. Everyone on the floor understand what changes to their role or reads happen with the tactical change. My personal preference is to make a tactical change at a substitution. Send in multiple players who are already aware of the tactical change and their roles. Who inform the players remaining on the floor as they come in about the change, meanwhile coaches focus on making sure the remaining players on the floor are aware of the tactical change and their roles.
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Advice to young basketball players (of all ages)!
Like most basketball coaches, I'm a bit of a basketball junkie. Like most former stage performers, I'm a bit of talker when you get me going. So when you combine these things you end with someone that will go and talk/coach basketball anywhere, anytime. If you give a kid who wants to learn, a 1 armed monkey and some chairs then we'll be in the gym doing skills work, small sided games and 3 person action by the time we're done. So when I was asked to speak to some younger teams in our school and association before they went off to provincials you better believe that I was all over it.
In a nut shell my talk revolved around how impressed I was at the time and improvements that they had already made this season and that hopefully they would continue to improve once off season rolled around. I focused primarily on things that they could start doing tonight and do for their rest of their careers that would make them immediately better players.
Without further ado the 3 ways to make yourself a better basketball player right now:
1) When you play talk more, when you are being coached talk less!
The human relationship with noise is a bizarre one. (If really want your mind warped watch Ted Talk: Julian Treasure - 4 Ways Sound Affects us.) In basketball context the soundscape we want when playing is one that inspires energy and confidence. When was the last time you were surronded by people and not saying anything that you felt energetic and confident? On the floor you must communicate. The noise brings energy to yourself and the group, the communication inspires confidence in your own actions and decisions of your teammates, and if nothing else it will be very different for an opponent probably not used to playing against a team constantly chattering. On the flip side when you are being coached you need to listen. Not hear, but listen actively. You can't actively listen when your mouth is moving. Trust that your coach knows what they are on about and try to process how to do what they are asking. If at all possible even shut off the part of your brain that is talking inside your head telling you that "you can't", or "you don't understand", or "it will be too hard" or " hey he's cute - I could really go for a ham sandwich". Listen to what your coach is telling you without judgement comment or reaction. Be coached and then go try to execute. Talk more when playing, talk less when being coached.
2) When you don't have the ball and its not being passed to you, still move as fast and aggressively as you would to get the ball or when you have it.
It is a movement game. The hardest part for players to learn and become great at is moving without the ball. The easiest first step is learn to play at game speed without your reward. Thinking, supporting, talking, reacting, sprinting and exploding is what we do in basketball. It is a complex combination of athletic acceleration and deceleration combined with simultaneous social and cognitive function. Its not just repetitive motion. You cannot have the carrot movitivate you to haul the cart. Being a great basketball player and teammate requires pursuit of excellence in all things at all times. You must learn to move with the belief that movement helps the team, not helps you get the ball or helps you score. Defense, rebounding, cutting and spacing all too important for the ball to dictate your activity level. Once you've mastered constant movement (hands, feet and mouth) then work constant movement and execution at game speed. Your teammates don't become competent ball carriers playing against defense that isn't game intensity. You don't learn to cut and read screens standing or jogging. Learn to move as hard and fast properly without the ball as you do to get it or with it.
3) Only take good shots! Bad shots are contagious. Put your bad shot germs on the ball and everyone needs to take ones to get a shot.
You know what a good shot is, and contrary to a former players firm belief it is not a shot you can get off. I can toss some orangutans the ball and they can get shots off. I wouldn't consider that a good shot for the team. If you only ever take shots you can make, when you are open, ready and on balance. Not only will you make more (good for us) you eliminate misses and bad plays (good for us). As a bonus when you only take good shots you are passing up bad shots to get teammates better ones. That means they don't have to take bad shots to get their turn. Bad shot germs on a ball are contagious once you do it, now everyone on your team has to just to get shots or to make up for your bad shots. If you want to be a better basketball player fall in love with easy plays and good shots. You'll score more, you'll be more efficient, the team will play better and be more efficient.
In a nut shell my talk revolved around how impressed I was at the time and improvements that they had already made this season and that hopefully they would continue to improve once off season rolled around. I focused primarily on things that they could start doing tonight and do for their rest of their careers that would make them immediately better players.
Without further ado the 3 ways to make yourself a better basketball player right now:
1) When you play talk more, when you are being coached talk less!
The human relationship with noise is a bizarre one. (If really want your mind warped watch Ted Talk: Julian Treasure - 4 Ways Sound Affects us.) In basketball context the soundscape we want when playing is one that inspires energy and confidence. When was the last time you were surronded by people and not saying anything that you felt energetic and confident? On the floor you must communicate. The noise brings energy to yourself and the group, the communication inspires confidence in your own actions and decisions of your teammates, and if nothing else it will be very different for an opponent probably not used to playing against a team constantly chattering. On the flip side when you are being coached you need to listen. Not hear, but listen actively. You can't actively listen when your mouth is moving. Trust that your coach knows what they are on about and try to process how to do what they are asking. If at all possible even shut off the part of your brain that is talking inside your head telling you that "you can't", or "you don't understand", or "it will be too hard" or " hey he's cute - I could really go for a ham sandwich". Listen to what your coach is telling you without judgement comment or reaction. Be coached and then go try to execute. Talk more when playing, talk less when being coached.
2) When you don't have the ball and its not being passed to you, still move as fast and aggressively as you would to get the ball or when you have it.
It is a movement game. The hardest part for players to learn and become great at is moving without the ball. The easiest first step is learn to play at game speed without your reward. Thinking, supporting, talking, reacting, sprinting and exploding is what we do in basketball. It is a complex combination of athletic acceleration and deceleration combined with simultaneous social and cognitive function. Its not just repetitive motion. You cannot have the carrot movitivate you to haul the cart. Being a great basketball player and teammate requires pursuit of excellence in all things at all times. You must learn to move with the belief that movement helps the team, not helps you get the ball or helps you score. Defense, rebounding, cutting and spacing all too important for the ball to dictate your activity level. Once you've mastered constant movement (hands, feet and mouth) then work constant movement and execution at game speed. Your teammates don't become competent ball carriers playing against defense that isn't game intensity. You don't learn to cut and read screens standing or jogging. Learn to move as hard and fast properly without the ball as you do to get it or with it.
3) Only take good shots! Bad shots are contagious. Put your bad shot germs on the ball and everyone needs to take ones to get a shot.
You know what a good shot is, and contrary to a former players firm belief it is not a shot you can get off. I can toss some orangutans the ball and they can get shots off. I wouldn't consider that a good shot for the team. If you only ever take shots you can make, when you are open, ready and on balance. Not only will you make more (good for us) you eliminate misses and bad plays (good for us). As a bonus when you only take good shots you are passing up bad shots to get teammates better ones. That means they don't have to take bad shots to get their turn. Bad shot germs on a ball are contagious once you do it, now everyone on your team has to just to get shots or to make up for your bad shots. If you want to be a better basketball player fall in love with easy plays and good shots. You'll score more, you'll be more efficient, the team will play better and be more efficient.
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