A Coach's Diary

Two athletes transferred to a new school and new team.  The parents of both athletes asked their new coach if he thought their kids would like the new team. The coach responded to both parents with a question:  ‘How did they like their old team?’ Player A’s parents’ response:  He didn’t like the coach, he didn’t get along with his teammates, and they didn’t get along with the other parents. The coach’s response:  ‘Then there is a good chance he won’t like it here either.’ Player B’s parents’ response:  ‘He didn’t want to leave!  He loved his coach, he got along great with his teammates, and they loved the other parents.  We HATED to leave!’ The coach’s response:  Then he will probably love it here as well! Not every team is great, not every coach is great, and parents won’t always be best friends with other parents, but your attitude about the situation is the biggest predictor of success and enjoyment.

Question: What does 'basketball is mental' mean? Answer:  So as you think, so will it be .   Your thinking affects your behavior and you have to have the right mindset.  Making the decision that this is what you want to do is the first step.  From there, you develop a strategy, and it has to include working harder than anyone else is working.  Working harder and smarter.  Don't put yourself in a box - play with the game and think outside the box.  The fundamentals are building blocks for the advanced stuff, but use your creativity to take your game to the next level.  The mental influences those decisions that you make and how you see the game. Then you have to have the effort, the stamina and the strength to handle the competition.  There is a difference between wanting to be mediocre and wanting to be great.  If you are training, and you aren't contemplating quitting or you are close to death - you aren't pushing yourself hard en...

Notes from one of the best shooters of all time - Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf teaching how he shoots! 1 - Follow Through 2 - The arc of the shot 3 - The feel of the shot - Hand is not too close; fingers comfortable and natural, not too spread out - Finger tip control - have a gap so you aren't palming it - Off hand guides the ball; not too close and not underneath; be comfortably strong so it feels good but they can't knock the ball away - Its good at the beginning to line up the seams to help with your follow-thru - The follow through softens up the shot and lets it hang around the rim - Legs shoulder width apart to create a balance - Elbows in so your elbow and follow-thru is aligned with the basket - Index finger to the basketball and the rim - Backspin on the follow-thru - Focus on a target - right over the front of the rim Find what is comfortable for you and repetition.  Do it over and over again and pay attention to details.  The best shooters shoot the same s...

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...