PARTICIPATION, ENGAGEMENT, REPETITIONS

In the dribbling drill below I love that all the young athletes are participating in the drill.  No players are siting.  This approach to coach helps with focus and provides all players with more repetitions to improve their skills.  

The shooting drill below shows the other side of the coin where everyone is involved in the shooting drill, but only one player at a time is actively participating in the drill.  This approach leads to dis-engaged players, and lack of skill development due to low repetitions.

We can improve the reps and engagement in the second example by splitting the group into smaller teams and have them work at multiple hoops in the gym.  If you only have one hoop, another approach is to split this group into two lines and have the players shoot at the backboard instead of the hoop (Point of emphasis being form, not the ball going in).  Another approach would be to split the group into 3.  Each group with a ball.  One group doing "Back Shooting" lying on the floor.  The second group doing seated shooting using one of the benches in the gym, or sitting up on the floor.  The last group shooting at the rim.  Rotate the groups through each station. Take any combination of these options with a mindset of participation, engagement and maximum repetitions for all.

Coaches with a mindset of inclusion and participation in practice keep players engaged and wanting to come back because they are having fun and improving. 

Rethink your practices.  Are there opportunities for better engagement and participation?

SPEED DATING

"What do you do?" is a common question asked when people first meet.  This question is asked because it is socially safe and is not too personal. However, if we really want to get to know someone, a better question would be "What energizes you?" or "What drains you of energy".  The answer to this question provides insight into passions, dreams, sources of happiness, joy and activities and practices that put a person in the zone or in flow.

I facilitated a "Speed Dating" activity to support the forming stage of team development for the North Toronto JUEL Basketball Team.  It was a fun an engaging opportunity for players to get better acquainted.  The activity took about 10 minutes and the returns were great.  Each "Speed Date" was 1 minute long.  Players sat across from a partner; kept eye contact; introduced themselves and each player had 30 seconds to share the things that energize them. 
After one minute one line of players would rotate and a new "Speed Date" would start.  Players who had been training together for several months, learned new interesting important information about their teammates.  

This activity honours the "forming" stage of team development by helping to create connection between athletes and encourages athletes to tell something positive, but revealing about themselves. The load of eye contact was added to challenge players to take the connection further and even demonstrate some trust with their teammates.  

The players really enjoyed the activity and were excited about what they'd learned about each other throughout the process.  They found that they have a lot in common.  They also learned some interesting things about a fellow teammate that peaked curiosity and will encourage players to learn more about each other outside of this activity.

DEFENSIVE SITUATIONAL THEORY

Situational Theory basically supports the idea that there we should follow the approach, process, behavior, actions that are best suited to the needs of the situation.

Let's take 1 on 1 defense for example. How close should the defender be to the offensive player with the ball on the perimeter?  An arms length away?  Two arms lengths away? Inside an arms length away?

Where should the defenders hands be?  Both up?  Both down? Both by the sides of the defender? An integration of the hand positions mentioned?

Basically the question is, what is proper defensive position?  My answer is "it depends".  Defensive position depends on the needs of the situation.  Situational theory is an important theory for basketball coaches because the needs of the situation are so dynamic in the game of basketball, coaches and players must be prepared to adapt on the fly.

So how close should the defender be to the offensive player with the ball on the perimeter?  Well, where's is
the ball. In the caption on the right the ball is above the offensive players head.  The offensive player is out of stance and is not in a loaded position for them to quickly attack and beat the defender off the dribble.  In this situation, my answer would the defender should take a step inside of one arms length away (inside the bubble), crowding the offensive player and possible even forcing them out of their cylinder or off balance to affect the pass quality.



If the offensive player brings the ball into a triple threat position, then defender should move to at least an
arms length away (on the bubble).  Further to this point, if the offensive player has demonstrated an excellent first step then the defender may want to play more than one arms length away (outside the bubble).






The same rationale applies to hand position, there is no one hand position that makes sense for every situation.  Hands down leaves the defender susceptible to the shot.  Hands up reduces the possibility for steals on cross over and compromises balance.  One hand up and one hand down also compromises balance, so what's right?  Hands in relation to what the offensive player is doing.





Think of when you drive your car.  Do you drive with the right turn signal on all the time?  Do you drive with your foot on the brake all the time?  (Maybe some. LOL).  The point is that you us the correct action for the needs of the situation.

Help to create a tool belt for your players of different basketball skills (what and how).  Then help them to understand when to use each tool (when and why).

If you'd like to discuss situational theory as it relates to basketball with you or if you would like me to come to a practice to demonstrate, please connect with me at sealyja@gmail.com.

ASSISTANCE PLEASE

As Head Coach your use of Assistant coaches can add tremendous value to your program and to the experience of your athletes.  Just like in the corporate world it's important to delegate tasks and responsibilities to ensure that more get done and that you are not overworked as a Head Coach. Also delegation ensures the growth of your assistant coaches.

I've attached a short video of a recent NT Bantam Girls Team practice where the assistant coach is working in with a group of athletes to ensure the flow of the drill.  If this coach did not participate in this drill, the two players in his group would have to join another group.  What's the big deal?  The big deal is less reps for each player!  When we break the team into small groups like the one in the video one of the main reasons is to get each player more touches.  This is an important point of emphasis when running breakdown drills with players.  REPETITION!  The Assistant coach in this drill facilitated more reps for all the players on the team.

I've delegated the following responsibilities/tasks to my awesome assistant coaches over the years:

Work in with Drills - Participate in drills when we don't have enough players due to injury or absence

Work in with Scrimmages - Participate in scrimmages when we don't have enough players due to injury or absence

Team Administration - Team budgeting, hotel bookings, tournament registrations, etc

Player Advisors - Meet bi weekly with a group of 3 or 4 players for goal setting and performance evals.

Create our special situation playbook - Playbook we created for special situations in the last 2 minutes of games.

Brief Players - Pre-brief players prior to going on the court in games; debrief players when they come off the court in games; brief players in drills

Supervise team warmup - ensure pregame warm-ups are at an acceptable standard

Coach games - When I have been absent, suspended, or with an injured player

Run practice - When I have been absent;

Run Part of Practice - Have assistant coaches run a segment of practice

The Head Coach is the leader of the program.  Doesn't mean you have to do everything.  Create the vision for your program.  Connect with the strengths of your staff/volunteers/assistants let them help you to offer the best program for the athletes you serve.

If you'd like some ideas about how to use your volunteers/assistants to support the needs of your program please drop me an email at sealyja@gmail.com and I'd be happy to chat about it or come out to one of your practices to demonstrate.

TELL ME ABOUT YOUR GYM

Tell me about your gym.  Tell me about the things in your gym and around your gym that support you offering a great practice for your players.  Here are some examples.

Outdoor Space
All the NT practice gyms have outside space for players to run and do some aerobic work before or after practice.  When I coached Major Bantam through to Major Midget our players jogged several laps of the block where Northern Secondary School sits before their dynamic stretch and before getting on the court.  Some sites have a track, others just have a good safe neighbourhood block for players aerobic work.

Hallways
It's important to be efficient with your time in the gymnasium.  Whenever possible arrive at the gym
early and have your players get changed and do their dynamic stretch in the hallway.  For seven seasons wherever possible our team would stretch in the hallways before our time on the court.  Our practice time at York Mills started at 8:15pm, but our team practice started at 7:30pm.  20 minutes of the time before 8:15pm was allotted to warm up before getting on the court so that we could maximize court time.  Players ran laps of the hallways, performed movement prep and dynamic stretch.

Hallways are also great spaces for team meetings.  When we arrived at York Mills at 7:30pm we would meet to mentally prepare players for practice, watch some game tape, perform team building activities, or have players update their basketball binders.  This is a practice we employed from Major Bantam through to JUEL.

Gym Walls
Look at the walls in your gym.  Are they bare or padded.  Bare gym walls are great for players to work
on passing, ball handling and shooting drills as part of their warm up or movement prep.  I also like to incorporate dribbling with the wall passing, ball handling and shooting drills.  Each player has a ball and as such gets more reps and work on proper form using the wall as a target and to return the ball to the player.

When gym walls are padded, the padding is often removable.  Removable padding can be placed on the floor to offer a soft, protected landing zone for players so that you can work on hustle drills like diving for balls or teaching players to take charges without fear of getting hurt.

Some gyms have blackboards or dry-erase boards.  These resources are great for coaches to list the points of emphasis for practice and even the practice plan for the session. Such resources can also be used to breakdown plays, strategy or drills for visual learners.

Chairs, garbage cans, recycle bins and benches
Chairs, garbage cans and recycle bins can be used as pylons, a screening player, a ball rack or a prop in
an obstacle course.  Chairs can also be used for chair shooting drills.  Benches can be used for leg work like step ups, 3rd stage push ups, dips, or a clever item in an obstacle course.  We do this a lot during high rep skill sessions and when we're working with younger athletes to create fun competitive obstacle courses.

Lines on the floor
Some gyms offer convenient lines on the floor that separate the court into smaller sections.  This "griding" of the court can be used as boundaries for modified games like 2 on 2 in the key, king/queen of the ring (game where you must force opponent out of a small circle), line tag, etc.

I could go on forever.  I like to really look at my gym and let my imagination go wild.  Instead of thinking of the deficits of the gym, really try to connect with all the benefits your gym can offer to the development of your athletes.  You will get more bang for your buck from every practice and develop better basketball players.

Not sure about something I've mentioned above or want me to run it with your team?  Email me at sealyja@gmail.com and I'll be happy to run everything above with your team.

HUMBER DRILL - OFFENSE IN FLOW

I've been out to a few NT practices over the past week.  Great to see our coaches working so diligently and
passionately with our young athletes and great to see the talent within our club.  Thank you coaches for all you do for NT athletes.

One of the things that all teams must do is to practice their half court offense.  It's one of those things that takes countless repetitions and debriefs for your team to execute effectively.  Almost everytime I see teams rehearse their half-court offense the play starts statically with the ball already just outside the 3pt line.  In games, the offense never sets up this way.  In games, teams flow into their offense dynamically from the backcourt into the frontcourt.  I thought I would offer a couple drills for coaches to review and rehearse your halfcourt set, while flowing into the frontcourt from the backcourt.

One of the drills I use regularly is called the Humber Drill (because I took it from Darryl Glenn, former Men's Basketball Head Coach at Humber College).  Start with 5 players in the key, coach tosses the ball off the backboard.  The team rebounds the ball, and players fill their lanes as the team transitions into their primary break to the other end of the floor and score a lay-up.

After the layup, the same team of 5 inbound the ball and starts primary break back to the hoop where the team first started (where coach tossed ball off glass).  Once ball is inbounded another 5 players (defensive team) steps onto the court (in the key) prepared to defend the offensive team.  This gives the offensive team a chance to flow into their offense and meet the defensive team in the offensive front court.

You can play out the possession in different ways.  Play to a score with the defensive team transitioning directly from a rebound or inbounding on a score, or give each team a number of consecutive possessions (eg. 5 consecutive possessions each team).

To make it competitive, keep track of score for the 5 possession and see who wins at the end.

Modifications:
When the defensive team comes onto the court and the position on the court where the defense starts.  For example, the defensive team can come on the court, right on the heels of the offensive teams first primary break to the other end of the court or once the offensive team scores at the other end (or any other time you can think of that creates the desired situation).  This gets them on the court earlier and prepared earlier.

The next modification is the spot on the court where the defense starts.  When I want to emulate offensive transition against defensive transition, I'll have the defensive team sprint out to the 3 pt line on the opposite side of the court so that the offensive transition coming back to the original hoop against a transitioning defense.  For a little less defense in transition have your defensive team sprint to mid court to start to defend, and for the least amount of pressure in transition just have the defensive team step into the key at the original hoop.

Benefits:
The first benefit as mentioned at the outset is that you practice your offense dynamically in flow and not statically (which does not emulated how you transition into offense in a real game).

As teams of 5 transition from offense to defense the coaching staff has an opportunity debrief the team of 5 on particular points of emphasis immediately prior to their next offensive possession.  This is one of the true nuggets of this drill.

More:
If you want more, contact me at sealyja@gmail.com and I'll run the drill at your practice to show you how it works and how you can modify it to best suit your needs.

POINTS OF EMPHASIS

Points of emphasis can be the single most important aspect of your drill.  They offer clarity and focus to
both coaches and athletes.  It is important that you are clear on the reason you are running a particular drill.  Another way to frame clarity is "What do I want the athletes to take from this drill?"  When you debrief with your athletes after the drill they should be able to recite to you the focus, importance and reason you've planned this drill into their practice.

Once you set a point of emphasis it is the most important aspect of the drill and trumps all else as you observe and assess.  If athletes lose focus on the POE then we stop the drill and bring them back to focus on the reason we are running the drill and what they should get out of it.  We re-demonstrate the essential pieces, check for understanding and then get back at it.

Coaches often run drills that they like, especially when you get a cool drill form another coach.  Drills are only as valuable as their ability to facilitate the purpose.  No drill on it own has value.  Keep these things in mind when planning your next practice.  Ask yourself "What do I want my athletes to take from this drill?"  Start with one POE for each drill.  Depending on the focus level of your athletes you can add POEs or integrate them.  However we never want one POE to compromise another.  Prioritize your POEs.  When coaching younger athletes (Novice, Atom, Major Atom, Bantam) focus on one POE in each drill.  A drill can have other positive by-products, but only one POE for younger players.  As athlete move to different stages, you might have two POEs with your drills, again keeping in mind that drills can deliver positive by-products without them being POEs.