Why I love this game . . .

Time for a repost of an old fav with some updated comments and thoughts since it is Valentine's day.

All of us come from different backgrounds. Our love of the game is different in each of us. In our game we talk a lot about relationships: being a good teammate, quality passes to improve relationship, and do you care enough? I'm a big reader of sports science, coaching, brain research but thankfully everything I read re-enforces what I believe. They use different language (10000 hours, sacrifice,tolerating failure, deliberate practice, etc.) but in a nutshell it all means: Do You Care Enough? I feel that everything in your life that you want, is good and is worthwhile can be yours if you care enough. Now caring can mean enough to work, enough to sacrifice, enough to humble yourself, but it is still all caring. I don't believe in overachieving (my wife and kids being the notable exception that proves the rule); you get exactly what you deserve through being the best you can.


So for caring and love and just because its Valentine's Day: Why I love this game!

For me basketball is not a series of events or actions. It is the sum total of moments that go beyond good or bad, right or wrong, it stems all the way down into purity of thought, emotion and action. For me all the hard work is worth it if it leads to those moments. Let me share a couple of those moments, with you, that make basketball important to me:

1) Have you ever stood in a school gym in the dark.

In those moments, a peace is created by the absence of life and activity. As you breath, your own soft echoes reverberating you will inhale and absorb the sensation of those places. The potential energy is electric. The smells, dents, banners, worn flooring, nicks and markings are not just wear and tear; these are a legacy of years, of lives lived, blood, sweat, tears, passion expressed and of success and failure.

Sports are a topic of nostalgia. Whether good or bad everyone seems to have had an experience that translates into a story. These are stories of heroes, embarrassments, fond memories and painful ones. An all-American backing out of the spotlight so their team-mate can get a win. Thousands of fans screaming and crying, faces coloured as much by their passion as by school colours. The roar of improbably victory and joy earned through hours of prior effort. The meeting of adversity and the growth of a team to overcome it. Young men and women enjoying the only success they might find in life, and a lifetime of memories built out of a uniform and a moment.

There are stories of heartache and of suffering. A young man sitting on the floor with tears streaming down his face, a childhood dream lost to him forever. Young women collapsing from illness, or exhaustion related to too hard, too much, or not enough. It could be the story of the girl that didn't want to do pushups in gym class , or of a teenage sensation turning professional and falling victim to adolescent maturity in a adult world.

For every story of joy there is one of suffering. Good or bad, anguish or elation, sports hold a tradition of passion and emotion. Fire and fury, found at a time in young people's lives when emotional attachment is at a premium, sports are a major source of concern. When people of all ages are brought together by sport changes in noise, energy, meaning, potential learning, and danger found with randomness ensues.

Sports builds moments. It can make heroes or victims. Spots helps to shape and create identity by making success and failure more concrete. In doing so it makes winners, losers, and all the variants in between. It forces the guilt, ego, frustration and triumph of life to be brought out in rivers of cascading moments.

All of this from an empty gymnasium. That which came before, allows voice to that which comes after. Those four walls and that floor have held a plethora of dreams, hopes, wins, losses, successes and failures. Hundreds of thousands of tears, hurt feelings, hugs, handshakes, drops of sweat and blood have mixed with years of effort and a million personal victories and epiphanies to make it that way. These places are a tribute to the power of sport, the potential of individuals and the test of the human condition. When you stand and breathe your breathing legacy.

2) Next time your in a huddle look up.

Look into someone's eyes and see if you can see beyond. See if you can see past the moment, past the frustration, past the emotion. Look and find that feeling that you would do anything, go anywhere and that nothing else in the world matters, because all you can see is who you each really are inside. Feeling your body aching, but putting it aside instantly to push forward. The sudden certainty that you are part of something bigger then yourself. A sense of team and fraternity that makes you want to push yourself beyond pain, beyond illness, beyond healthy sacrifice without care because of what you can prove to yourself and those around you.

Look and see the unbridled passion of youth doing something it loves. Witness desire to a point of utter frustration melt behind passion, belief in ones invincibility, and refusal to ever stand down. Feel the wholesomeness of soundless feeling, lungs burning, adrenaline flowing, muscles aching but all leading to clarity of thought and certainty of purpose.

Search for that gleam in the eye of those performing or desperate to perform the impossible. Every ounce of their being will vibrate with the need and want, but they will know that they can never be in over their head, frightened of possible consequences or trying and failing. They will know this because in that same moment they will be looking for that same thing in you and finding that same certainty, that same life, that same belief shining through in your eyes.


I hope there are moments that bring you passion and joy. In the journey of basketball and life you need only hold the same thought in mind: "There is no such thing as can I, can't I, will or won't it happen. There is only - Do I care enough?"

Simple Truth

Looking to get back to basics and what is important in the game. I really need our kids to buy into loving the game and embracing training. Youth is only an asset if you see it as realized potential hours of deliberate practice.

So here are some simple truths I shared with my Canada Games Team a few years ago that anyone can learn from:

The truth is it doesn’t matter if you win or if you lose. You can be an undefeated champion and if it turns you into an egotistical bitch it was a waste. You could lose every game, but if it teaches you the humility and need for work ethic to overcome every life obstacle you face then it was all worth it. How you respond to the results will be more important then the result it self.

The truth is found in the moment. These moments, once lived, will be the same in your memory forever. That truth will be the one you need to live with.

The truth is that you will be alone with your thoughts and know whether or not your effort was heroic. Did you overcome your fear or did it overcome you? Did you play with heart or with excuses? Did you try for a dream or did you play for yourself? Did you shoot for the stars or aim lower to know you would reach? Only you will know these answers.

The truth is, in moments later in life when you look back and wonder; you will never worry that you should have been less physical, dove on fewer loose balls, encouraged your teammates less often or taken less shots. You’ll never wish you had gone home less tired. You won’t be sad that you were too passionate for too long and trusted too much.

The truth is that as people you are and will continue to be amazing. The truth of these next moments is yours.

That truth will be yours in your private moments, and only you will know.

What will your truth be?

Things that make sense to me defensively.

Its exam week so I have a few days off to recharge my basketball battery and refocus my thought process. I have not been happy with our defensive effort and execution so far this high school season. As a result I need to look at what I do, what we do, and any other contributing factors.

It would be really easy for me to point to the following:
- We are JV aged in a varsity league so physically we struggle to win matchups.
- We have 9 of 10 players who had never played in a varsity level game before this year so we have to learn how to compete at this level.
- We have only 10 players and because of schedules/injuries/illness haven't had a high turnout to some practices at times making it difficult compete and implement.
- Defense is about commitment, hustle and heart; so young kids with less time invested just aren't battle tested enough.

It would be easy but its also mostly crap. This stuff may help keep our frustrations in perspective or difuse responsibilty, but the truth is defense is all about responsibility. To ourselves, to our team, to our goals. We need to be able to defend better.

So bottom line we need to refocus on what it is we want to do. In order for me to relay that message and focus teaching points I need to reclarify what I want to get across. So what makes sense defensively.

1 - Everyone has a skill set. Every opponent we play has a skill set and good or bad it is limited some how! Generally those limitations fall to some degree in three categories: ability to execute skills better with one hand, ability to execute skills a pace, ability to execute skills vs different levels of defense (primary defender, secondary, team rotation). So it makes sense to me to challenge the skill set of the player. Make them do things with their bad hand, at a pace where they are in less control, vs. multiple layers and looks of defenders.

2 - You don't slide the 100m dash. If basketball is an explosive game, then why when we look at the most explosive athletic endeavours on the planet do you never see people sliding to win? I understand the need for a good athletic stance to be ready to move and squaring up the ballhandler to limit vision and space. After that though why would we slide when offense can sprint. Unless we are superior athletically we just won't beat people to spots. Other than intial on ball defense as the ball is held or moving east west, we must sprint everywhere.

3 - Why help recover? The more I watch basketball, coach basketball, teach basketball  (other than for simplicities sake) I have no idea why people would play help and recover. Its not like you are never going to send an extra defender. Its not like you are never going to get individual defense broken down. There is no way I can help and track the movement of the player I left so when I recover vs good offense I'm lost and disadvantaged. Good offense will react to any attack to make it difficult to both help and recover with reactionary movement and rotation. Instead of saying my teams individual defense can bust up what they want to do on offense (and then need to adapt to each opponent) why wouldn't we come with a defensive rotational game plan of our own. Now its not us adapting to them its hopefully them needing to adapt to us. More importantly we now are in a position where defensively we can focus on what we're doing not what they other team is doing. Why not create a defensive competition with the offense to see whose attack, reaction, and rotation is better trained and practiced then hoping we win enough mathcups to bust up their initial attack and reactions.

So what do we have to do (focus on in practice):
- Play in a stance ready to attack and be moving constantly.
- On the ball force the ball to play at speed with their bad hand through multiple players and rotations.
- Work on team rotations for the angles and actions we force so its our stuff vs theirs. Not our players trying to stop their stuff.
- Bring energy and communication in every situation so we are competing 5 vs 1 ball every possesion.

Toughest Pass in Basketball - Continued

In the last entry I discussed the benefits of making a quick extra pass following the penetration and getting more quality shots and movement. One of the other places we encourage the pass-pass is in our transition break out to offense. This allows us to not only get down the floor quickly but handle pressure effectively.

I should probably preface this discussion by saying we run a break out looking to get the ball from the outlet to up a sideline to get an rim attack either with a rim runner or take on. I find that regardless of your actual speed ball movement and players sprinting makes you look faster then you might actually be. Using anticipation, skills and teammwork can (in many ways) make up for a lack raw athleticism.

So lets get back to looking at the idea of the pass-pass or "extra pass" in transition. (We prefer the term pass - pass because of immediacy.)

Anytime any player catches they should immediately (if not before) have decided whether they are shooting this catch. In places like the backcourt this is generally not the case. IN this situation and any other where we don't shoot it our next read should be to look to attack with a pass. If nothing is there then we are attacking on the bounce scanning (left-right-centre) counting bodies, recognizing where our offensive players should be/are and drawing defense to pass to one of them or scoring.

In transition this all starts with the rebound. Without getting too much into rebounding philosophy or footwork, we love when our rebounders can land in quarter back position. This means everyone else can know peel sideline get above the foul line extended while pushing our teammates who arrive first surther up the sideline. Now the rebounder should be able to throw a shoulder pass (or take an attack dribble or two past the d to make a power push pass) to someone open on a sideline.

We are know almost always in a pass pass situation. Defense is transitioning back. Poor transition defense is sprinting with their back to you trying to all protect the rim. Quality defense is taking away the rim runner while trying to contain the ball and set up everyone else defensively. As the ball carrier (our rule is if you have the ball you are the PG)  you should have. A give and go up the middle, a sideline flip, a lateral pressure release or a short/long diagonal. This second pass is what makes transition work.

Regardless of where is goes it does two things: a) gets us on top of defense faster ie. at or over half in under 4 seconds attacking. b) makes it more difficult for them to defend in transition as they can't match up with ball to stop it if they can't get to where its going/ find the "pg".

Now we are over half and attacking. Either the diagonal has read open rim and caught to run. Or the strongside is attacking with a take on supported by the weakside runner and the middle runner. Again with pass-pass or give and go options.

Pass- pass is life in movement passed basketball. Now I just need to get my kids to be able to do it regularly and with quality.

Toughest Pass in Basketball.

One of my focuses this past summer (and hopefully now moving forward) was increasing our ball movement. I've tried to establish in my players the idea of not just quality passes (see Passing as a relationship. ) but passes and movement that are hard to guard. In my mind the toughest pass in basketball to defend is the: 2nd pass.

Following up action with action not only keeps defense occupied but requires them to anticipate, chase and overplay in ways that makes reads easier. In this case the action we focused on was the 2nd pass or what we refer to as pass-pass. This isn't a new or revolutionary concept but one that players often don't understand as a concept. If you look at something as simple as the give and go it is basically a pass followed up by an immediate second pass. The extra movement of the ball and need for extra defensive reaction to the ball is what makes it tough.

We focused in two particular areas this summer but it can be applied to many aspects of the game. In the next few entries, I'll give some examples that worked for us:

PASS-PASS out of Penetration


When we make a penetrating play (ie. dribble attack or penetrating pass) like most teams we have reactionary movement. Regardless of what this movement is for your team the real key is what happens on the kick out. Without getting into our penetration movement (I'll get to that in another blog) once we've attacked, come to two feet and realize that we need to pass out support should already moving/moved into place. This then should result in a kick out.

Where most teams struggle at this point is they want to kick and fire. The issue being that a player choosing to pass out of penetration has done so because they are in trouble. They've been stopped, doubled, are in amongst the trees etc. They are also facing a 3 second call in the paint. Their priority is to get the ball out of trouble and back into the offense. This pressure doesn't always lead to an ideal pass to catch and shoot.

Now you've got a rushed/ questionable pass out to someone who wants to catch and shoot. This generally results in a bobble, extra step, or maybe even a pass to a non shooter. Regardless it is generally not a clean catch and shoot scenario. Combine this with the fact that defense is pre-occupied with the ball has worked to stop it and will now chase it out hard to recover. You don't often get a clean unchallenged catch and shoot on these kick outs vs a good defensive team.

When we add in a belt pass or relay pass (catch on one shoulder and without stopping the balls momentum swing it through at out the other side) suddenly you will find yourself getting cleaner looks for multiple reasons:
- The primary objective of this pass is to move the ball to a shooter not to escape defense.
- The defense has collapsed and is sprinting out. They cannot change direction mid sprint without stopping first giving the recipient more time before they are closed out.
- The pass-pass leads to another pass-pass opportunity getting us into ball reversal and longer and longer closeouts.
- The emphasis on pass-pass allows you to avoid re-attacking back into defense and a catch drive.
- Shooting off an unguarded relay pass to an unguarded shooter resembles shots more like what most kids have practiced since they were small.
- It allows non-shooters or players out of the their range to find a better option without feeling they are killing the offense.

This is one of many applications the 2nd pass can be used to help. In my next entry we'll look at the extra pass in transition!

Back again.

After a busy basketball season and summer, I've fallen behind on my blogging. I will be back now with some thoughts and ideas I've had.

Passing as a relationship.

This is the next installment of posting activites and readings I give the girls this season. The one is snipet from the LLABB (a great blog for those who do not know) followed by questions asking you to think about passing in terms of a relationship.

According to renowned Italian and EuroLeague coach, Renato Pasquali, passing is a relationship formed with others. When you do not pass to an open teammate, you are send them a message: "I did not trust you with our team's advantage."



Here's a look at the different types of passes and what message they send:


• NO PASS = No relationship. I don't trust you to do the right thing with the ball.


• FORCED PASS = A forced relationship. It is never completed or never whole.


• "DIRTY" PASS = A pass made after holding onto the ball for a long time. It's an afterthought that says, "I've exhausted all other options and my time with the ball. Here... take what's left."


• "CLEAN" PASS = A pass made on time and on target. This pass builds a relationship of trust. It says: "I'm thinking about you and what's needed for the team (in this moment)."


It's important to develop an understanding in players that when you do make a pass to a teammate, a sense of trust develops.”

(LLABB.blogspot.com)

Think about passing in terms of a relationship:

- If the person you are supposed to meet is not on time or does not ever show up? What does that say about the relationship? What about if they show up but how they are dressed, or when they arrive doesn’t allow you to do what you had planned?

- If the person you are in a relationship with only gives you a chance or lets you spend time with them when it is convenient/easy/they’ve got nothing else to do – How does that make you feel? How are they showing they feel?

- IF the person you are in a relationship with doesn’t trust you: follows you around, only lets you do certain things, will not trust you certain places or certain times – How does that effect your relationship?

- What if the person you are trying to be friends with does things that hurt you, hurts them or does things in a way that holds either of you back? Do you bring it up? When does it have to change?

- If the person in the relationship is always willing to look to you, give you a chance, believes and trusts you to do the right thing – What is the relationship like then?

- If your teammate tells you to “F%^& off, I’m better than you!” How does that make you feel? How about if they say “Your good. I trust you! Here take this and help the team.”?