A Coach's Diary

Doc Rivers talks about when one of his sons complained about playing time: No coach wants to lose.  If you do the right thing, minutes go up. Kids need to learn how to fight for it and need to hear the truth father than hearing you bash the coach.   "I support you and I know you can play.  But, you have to keep working and earning your spot [while respecting the coach and your teammates and while being a great friend and teammate].

If you want to be the best, start by being the best that YOU can be. You have to practice, you have to work on yourself and your game .... everyday.   There are always people out there better than you, so you have to work hard knowing that someday you will meet and play against them. Will you be ready? You also have to find someone that believes in you, someone who has a plan for how to help you be the best you can be - and then you have you trust them.  You have to accept constructive criticism as just coaching and helping you to be your best.  Be happy when you have a coach that yells at you when you start walking or jogging because you have someone that won't let you fail.  If left to ourselves, we might not work as hard as we need to.  But when we have the right coach, they won't let us settle.  So be appreciative and thankful when you get that coach that yells at you to get better. Finally, find the best and go play th...

In a Coaching U podcast , Villanova Men's Basketball Coach Jay Wright spoke about his leadership and how leadership drives the culture. The culture has to start with the leadership and when you are a leader, you have the chance to define: “How are we going to live?” Not just how we are going to play basketball or how we practice but how we are going to live, and that is the basis of your culture.   Once you define that and you bring in people who want to learn that and want to be a part of that, then you build from there: “How are we going to practice and how are we going to play in games?”   But it starts with how are we going to live, how are going to treat each other; how are we going to wake up every day. When we wake up every day, our most important characteristic is our attitude.   We try to teach that we control our attitude every day.   How we walk in the office and say hello to each other, how we treat the people who clean the offic...

This comes from a Coaching U Podcast interview with Jay Wright .  He talks about the type of player that they recruit and how they present their culture to the kid, his family, and his coaches.  The dynamics of recruiting and coaching kids are different, and here he talks about how he is honest and up-front early, and he talks about how important it is for him and his staff to recruit character and fit as much as talent. As a player or a parent, make sure that the fit - not just the level - is right, make sure that the coaches have yours our your child's best interest at heart, and that the program focuses on growth and development of the person, not just the player. Young athletes today are different and the way you have to recruit them has to be different.  You have to keep learning because the one thing that is definite in life is change, and things change.  Part of our challenge is we know what kids used to be like and what WE used to be like...

"You better be able to relate to the players.  You can be great with Xs and Os but if you can't relate to the players, you won't be able to get them to buy-in and execute it on the floor.  It doesn't matter how much you know, but what your players are able to do on the court.  If you can't relate to the players - and if you're not willing to spend time with the players away from the floor to build that relationship, then you won't be able to get the players to do what you need them to do for the team to have success." Coach Nate Oats Buffalo Bulls Head Coach by Coaching U Podcast with Coach Brendan Suhr https://player.fm/1qBzsH?t=2298

"If you go and you trace coaches, you'll see that even some of the best in the world struggle their first few years.  It takes time to establish yourself.  Very few people are lucky enough to come in and have instance success.  It takes time to evolve who you are as a person and your coaching style, personality, and philosophy." From:  Coaching U Podcast:  Coach Brendan Suhr, Recapping the 2018 Final Fours by Coaching U Podcast with Coach Brendan Suhr https://player.fm/1qGhUU?t=920

It's very easy to get caught up with trying to 'keep up with the Joneses' in youth sports.  At ridiculously earlier ages, we are pushing our kids to specialize in one sport in a rat race to nowhere , even to the detriment of what's best from and physical and mental standpoint for our young athletes.   The world of youth sports can be confusing, complicated and an emotional roller coaster for athletes and parents if you let it.  My recommendation for any parent getting lost in the struggle of what to do with their young athlete is to be lead by 3 questions: 1 - Is your athlete having fun? 2 - Is your athlete getting better? 3 - Is your athlete doing the best that they can? Is Your Athlete Having Fun We overthink and over-analyze this sports thing.  We play sports to stay in shape, have fun, and compete.  Fun and enjoyment and joy should drive their attendance at an early age while building up a healthy level of competition.  ...