Coaching Seminar

COACHING WORKSHOP

1. How to create practice methods and a practice menu

  • Evaluate your team’s abilities (shooting, dribbling, scoring 1 vs 1, passing, ability to make reads, 1 vs 1 defense, ability to play help defense, rebound, etc.)

  • Create vocabulary/verbage that you want to use for your team (ex. Ice screen, drop screen, pin screen, ucla cut, etc.), which helps create a sense of understanding/growth

  • Have an offensive, defensive, and team philosophy

  • Set your drills and how much time you want to practice those drills

  • What are your priorities? Make sure to set goals, evaluate, and set new goals when you need to

  • Research what you need to work on and implement it, it’s never perfect and will be a trial and error process

  • Learning comes through time, effort, and repetition

  • Kobe Story- Kobe woke up at 3 am to get more time to practice while others would wake up at 6 or 7 am. He would have training every 3-4 hours

  • Cast vision continually at practice, especially at the beginning and the end of practice

2. Working on individual weaknesses in team practices

  • Teams that aren’t very skilled or experienced need a lot of help to develop

  • Setting aside some time is important to help in the development of the team

  • Students can be divided by experts and beginners so they won’t feel bored or overwhelmed

  • Drills shouldn’t last more than 15 minutes. If you want to work on the same skill or ability than you should find another drill to build upon the first drill

  • You don’t have to invent new drills; search for specific drills on the internet, basketball websites, and youtube

  • Even speeding up a drill, making it a competition, or adding a new layer will refresh the drill to help it not get boring or monotonous

3. Building a good team

  • Good teams are good at offense, defense, execution, and they have good camaraderie (aka strong team culture)

  • “A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way!” John Maxwell

  • Rotten apples will affect the team negatively and are better off the team then on it because they will affect your team negatively (students with bad attitudes who are a cancer to the team and will ruin the hard work that you have done)

  • Building a good team stems from a good leader. You don’t have to be the most experienced, a great former player, or have an amazing education to be a great leader.

  • “Success is peace of mind, which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to become the best of which you are capable.” – John Wooden

  • Communication with your team is very important. Defining roles, playing time, and expectations helps in any frustration that might arise during the season

  • When roles change, it’s best to communicate the change early so that it doesn’t affect the team negatively (some players might lose playing time because others have improved, etc.)

  • “I believe one of the requirements of good leadership is the ability to listen – really listen – to those in your organization. An effective leader is very good at listening, and it’s difficult to listen when you are talking.” John Wooden

  • Students attitudes, personalities, and character are all different. Sometimes their can be conflicts with students because of a difference of an opinion. However, as a leader it is important that they know you care for them because that will help them to understand that your decisions don’t come from you hating them, being biased towards others, or any other reason other than that you think that your decision is what’s best for the team

  • “Everyone can be great… because anybody can serve.” Martin Luther King Jr.

  • As a leader, setting a good example of serving helps win the trust of players and makes them feel like they should follow your lead.

4. Building a Team Strategy

  • Most coaches fall into 2 categories (Set Coaching Style or Flexible Coaching Style)

  • A Set Coaching Style involves a coach who has a strategy and philosophy that players need to adhere to no matter what kind of skills, talents, abilities, or capabilities they have. This style gives everyone a firm foundation and there is a lot of clarity because everyone understands the strategy because it never changes. Returning players only need to be reminded of the strategy because they already know it. New players will be able to understand quickly.

  • A Flexible Coaching Style involves a coach who will create a strategy or philosophy that will revolve around the skills, talents, abilities, or capabilities that students have to maximize their potential. This style allows for the abilities of players to standout. The strategy can change from year to year or even within the season. By having this philosophy, teams can change their style often to adjust to their opponents.

  • Their’s a possibility to have a combination of both styles, which would give teams an identity but also some flexibility when needed.

  • Once a strategy is chosen, you need to implement it daily with drills, reminders, watching film, education

5. Teaching Individual Skills

  • Be specific in details

  • Try the drills yourself before implementing them

  • Make sure the drills are practical and not too lofty

  • Add intensity to the drill by making it a competition versus other students, time, beating a previous record, or adding a punishment

  • Individual skills should only go for about 5-10 minutes before switching to a new drill or another level of the drill

  • “Seek opportunities to show you care. The smallest gestures often make the biggest difference.” John Wooden

  • Basketball skills are important but making sure that your team feels cared for is just as important

Michael Acuna