What do you hope to accomplish at Halftime???

1. Tighten up our half-court defensive schemes now that we know how they are attacking us, with extra attention on their most successful plays. 

2. Add a twist to each press based on how they attempted to break it. 

3. Get feedback from staff and players as to what offensive actions they liked best and what we need to run if we have to get a bucket. 

4. Laser in on our best plans for each end-who are we targeting in pick and rolls, who has foul issues on each side, who is hurting us on the glass and why, what are we going to do to fix what is hurting us the most. 

5. Inspire the team to believe we can play our best half of basketball to date.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/HerbonHoops/permalink/1735886693134556/

Bob Hurley Spring Off-Season

This is my Spring Off Season for the Team Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday:

Bob Hurley Open Gym Rules and I added to it

1-5 on 5 No Dribble
2-5 on 5 Zone On Makes Man On Misses
3-5 on 5 Hockey
4-5 on 5 run an Action
5-5 on 5 Beep Beep
6-5 on 5 Everyone must Touch before you can score
7-5 on 5 Post must touch
8-Weak-hand Layup is worth 3 Points
9-NBA Three is worth 4 Points
10-Everyone must cross Half Court if not the Offense Keeps the Ball,  vice versa Offense doesn’t cross everyone the Basket doesn’t count
11-10 Minute Games
12-Games to 1, 3, 5, 7 Points
13-21 players 3 Teams Of 7

Hockey - Rebounder has to dribble across half-court

Beep-Beep - 10 second shot clock

Run and Action - Run a play

Villanova Post Entry Passes

The video above is a compilation of post feeds from the Villanova Wildcats.  Jay Wright is known for his player development, and post play and post feeds are a skill that is sometimes overlooked but is important to master.

- All players can make sharp accurate passes with both hands
- Post players do a great job of shielding their man, meet the pass, and catch with both hands
- The passers always relocate on the pass to make the double team hard
- The post players take their time on the catch and read the defense before attacking

They don't always score, but the action is always sound and solid which is part of what makes Villanova so tough every year.

The video was taken from Zak Boisfert's YouTube channel.  He is a great resource for anything you need on the court.

Appreciation | What Drives Winning

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The following excerpt comes from the book What Drives Winning by Brett Ledbetter.  Its a GREAT resource for character development.

The thing I talk about most is appreciation.  That is the number-one core value in our program.  I feel like appreciation is the foundation for anyone that is successful over a long period of time, on or off the court.

I believe in an appreciation-to-entitlement ratio.  Appreciation should be high.  Entitlement should be low.  If someone feels like when they take the floor they deserve something because of who they are or because of what they’ve done, they automatically are not going to be in the right frame of mind to make their team win at the highest level.

Entitlement = Think you deserve something based on who you are or what you’ve done.

Appreciation: To recognize the good in someone or something.

Teach and develop that character skill in your athletes.  Teach them to even express gratitude and show appreciation for setbacks.  Everything in life is balanced.  Even in really bad situations, there are great things that come out of them.

When you look at things from this prospective, you realize that every moment you encounter is a moment to make you better.  Appreciate the moment and how it contributes to the person that you want to become.

As said in the movie Fences, “You gotta take the crooked with the straights.”  Learn to appreciate the good and the bad in life.

Loyola-Chicago Basketball's 'Wall of Culture'

Many coaches have great ideas, but how you communicate those ideas and how the players receive and buy-in to those ideas are what is really important.  Its always good to see how different coaches present their ideas/thoughts/philosophy and how the players receive it.

Here, Coach Porter Moser talks about the “Wall of Culture” that he had made for the Loyola-Chicago basketball locker room.

This was the cultural impact Moser hoped for when he came up with the idea for the wall shortly after arriving at Loyola in 2011. Four seasons on the staff of late coach Rick Majerus at St. Louis taught Moser to fixate on fundamentals. Majerus could have written a dissertation on a jump stop.

“When I got the job and was writing down all these things I wanted to do philosophically, all these details from notes when I worked for Rick, I was like, ‘Let’s just put it up there so they see it every day and buy in,’ ’’ said Moser, 49. “This was a blank wall when I got here.’’

Read the original article in full here: http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/college/ct-spt-loyola-basketball-porter-moser-haugh-20180216-story.html

The Importance of Building Trust

Reference: What Drives Winning by Brett Ledbetter

The value of winning a championship comes in understanding that anything in life that's worth achieving cannot be done on your own.

- Billy Donovan 

Having the message is one thing - what is important is how you deliver it and even more important- how the players receive and act on the message.

Great team's are built on great relationships, and great relationships are built on trust.  Trust is built when trustwilling meets trustworthy.

Trust is built every day and every day that we practice, we prove to our teammates and coaches that we are worthy of their trust.

Everybody has been on team's where some of the players aren't always on the same page.  You have to pour energy into putting them in shared experiences where they have to learn to depend on each other.

The key to gaining trust is being consistent and matching your actions with your words.  

One way to help build trust is seeing a playing struggling as an opportunity to build trust.  A lot of coaches find value in fixing problems.  Instead of the coach fixing every problems, teach and empower teammates to fix problems.  The player struggling has to be trustwilling to accept the information from their teammate, and the teammate teaching has to prove that her or she is trustworthy by delivering good information.

Teach your players how to look for opportunities to build trust when teammates are struggling by investing in helping them.

Alternating Shots

If you have two players that aren't completely getting along, before each player can leave practice they have to hit 6 3-pointers in a roe taking turns alternating shots.  

A tennis coach could have two players do ralley-share - give them a certain number of consecutive rallies they have to complete (like 150) in order before they can leave practice.

Drills that create codependency - or what some call peer pressure drills - force teammates to achieve a certain goal in a certain amount of time and put them in situations where they learn how to work together and to build trust in eachother.   

Building Youth Athletes - Skill-set | Mindset | Athleticism

When teaching, coaching and developing a youth athlete, it's important to build both skill-set and mindset.  You can't have a complete athlete without intentionally developing both.  You also need to focus on building a complete athlete who's athleticism can cross all sports and will lead to an active and healthy lifestyle for later in life.

Athleticism
They have to have the strength and coordination to be able to perform all the movements that it takes to have success in their sport.

Skill-set
They have to have skills needed to have success in their sport.

Mindset
They have to have the mindset needed to commit and have the grit to work to build up their athleticism and skill-set, and the grit to overcome the many setbacks that they will encounter.

It is a Marathon - Not A Sprint

It takes years - really a lifetime - to fully grow and develop our skill-set and mindset completely, so be patient, consistent and diligent.

Use others as a healthy gauge on progress, but don't compare your youth athletes to others because it's an unhealthy headache.  Kids grow and develop at different stages, and sports development is no different.  Success in sports is a marathon and not a sprint.  You want to establish a healthy relationship with sports and a solid foundation early so that they keep with it and don't burn out or quit too early.

Know what characteristics you want to see and start to emphasize and encourage it.  Get out with your athlete and work with them, teaching skill but always emphasizing the correct mindset.  Talk to them and model for them what they should see, do and think, but do so in a way that they are in as much control of their learning as possible - you don't want robots.  

Teach and model what their thought process should be - help them humbly receive success and graciously accept failure.  Teach them that it takes practice to master something and to be good.  Encourage them to appreciate the process that it takes to be good over the end results because the love of the process will allow them to have consistent, sustainable success.  The love of results might keep them from getting out of their comfort zone in fear of failure.

Ask them questions like what do you see, what should you do next, and then just let them play! The best way to learn is by doing.  You are just a facilitator.  You can't make someone a pro or college athlete - they have to have the heart for it and the commitment level for it - you can only be a guide on their journey.  The lessons you teach will never go in vain - whether they make it to the pros, college, or quit sports altogether like so many when they get to high school.  The lessons of grit, teamwork, goal setting, servant leadership, etc will last a lifetime!

Never underestimate the importance of teaching certain athletic characteristics that are universal to all sports.  How to run correctly, how to sink your hips and chop your feet to stop and change directions, how to push off the correct foot when changing direction, how to jump and land on the balls of your feet while activating your quads, hamstrings, and glutes are all things that all athletes need to be able to do efficiently to have athletic success.  Stop/go.  Accelerate and decclerate.  Change of speed/change of direction.  Quick and active feet.  These are all skills that all athletes, regardless of sport, need to have success.  Teaching them how to squat, lunge, do push-ups and pull-ups are all great strength building exercises that are the basics to being a quality athlete.  Teach your athletes how to be athletes, and not only will be they be able to play sports at a higher level, but it will help them live active, healthy lifestyles their entire lives.

Most importantly, enjoy the journey!  You only get one go'round with your youth athletes - take pictures, make videos, and cherish each moment.  Tell them after every practice and game how much you LOVE watching them play, because one day soon, they won't be playing anymore.  Don't let the bright lights and the allure of prestigious select teams, Instagram fame, and dreams of playing for National Teams cloud why we really do this!  To share our love of sports and the health of physical activity with our kids.

Never Forget Why You Coach

It is easy to become discouraged as a coach.  But every time you start to get discouraged, go back to why you chose this profession in the first place.  You love the kids, you love the game and you love to teach.  Let it show.  Your kids will follow your lead.

Encouraging Unselfishness

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Reference: What Drives Winning by Brett Ledbetter

Pay For Points

A couple of players went to their coach and said that they have an issue with a teammate.  They feel that their teammate is playing selfish and that it is hurting the team.

When the coach asked, “Why do you say that,” the players responded, “her parents are paying her to score points.”

What signal does it send to the player when his/her parents are paying them to score? 

Don’t pass.  Your points mean more than wins. 

What will that player value?  Individual success over team success.

When we pay our athletes for scoring, or we celebrate our athletes individual performance over team performance, we emphasize the wrong thing and they value the wrong thing. 

Ledbetter’s 42 points wasn’t enough.

Headlines like this show that when you score a lot of points, you get a lot of attention.  Celebrating individual success over team success teaches athletes to chase the applause, to seek the attention, and grow to like and even addicted to the attention because it feels great.

Be careful about what you are encouraging and celebrating.  When the games are over, do you just want the accolades, or do you also want the meaningful connections with coaches and teammates.

Be the kind of athlete that brings athletes with you.

The Unselfish Scorer

Kevin Durant sends signals to everybody around him that the team is his number one priority.  Yet he still led the NBA in scoring multiple years.

Be the kind of athlete that brings your teammates with you.