What does a coach do during a game? There are very few if any coaching resources available to help coaches grow in this area. The purpose is to get coaches to think about what they do in a game. Reflect on what you do and how you may make changes to improve your performance as a coach. It is by no means the authority on the subject, but a first attempt to try and catalog what coaches do during a game. This document is a result of three summers of listening and video taping coaches at our national championships followed by discuss and reflection with many respected coaches. Thank you to those coaches who allowed me the unique opportunity to learn from you and to share the findings with others.
We will look at the activities that a coach does once the game begins.
Coach Time Management - How do you spend your time during the game?
1. Strategist – calling out plays, defence, inbound plays
2. Cheerleader – “Way to go”; “great job”, motivating the team
3. Reminder –remind players of actions they should be taking. “Help”, “box out”, and “move” are often heard examples. This can often be taken to the extreme where the coach sounds like a play by play announcer. Coaches are often reminding the referee as well as the players on the floor.
4. Corrector –catch the mistakes made by the players. “You can’t give up penetration”; “Were getting killed on the boards”; are examples of negative statements often made by coaches. “You need to box out” is an example of an action that a player can take to correct a mistake. Some coaches also find it important to correct the officials as well as their players.
These first four roles dominate the time of a many coaches. This is what they believe coaching is all about. Their total focus is on the five players playing the game and the two or three officials. There comes a time when we need to take the training wheels off the bicycle and let the player ride on their own. Most successful coaches did not see the need to clutter the player’s mind with constant chatter. The key is to know when it is beneficial to each of these roles. By limiting their use to the “right time” they will be much more effective in their use. Also it frees up time to make use of other roles that can provide great benefit to the team.
5. Teacher – the teacher is similar to the corrector, but does so in a positive way. Instead of “We have to stop penetration” the coach say’s; “John, he is always driving to your left side, anticipate”. Two things have happened: the coach put a name on it and he/she has given a solution to the problem not just restate the mistake. Instead of being a cheerleader, “well done”, the coach describes to the athlete exactly what he/she has done well. “Betty, you anticipated the drive and cut her off, great job!” Taking it to an even higher level the teacher ensures that the information is shared with others who can benefit. The coach turns to the bench and tells the bench exactly what Betty has done. More importantly he/she may point out to Suzie that she must remember this when she shortly enters the game and will be guarding the same player. In summary:
§ Use the players name when possible
§ Paint a positive picture – give specific detail on what the player just did / or what the solution is to solve a problem
§ Echo the information to those who can benefit in the future
6. Debriefer – here the coach asks questions of the athlete to help gather positive information for future use. When we just tell the athlete what we as a coach saw we become the corrector again.
7. Consultant – the coach shares his/her thoughts with his coaching team and players. He/she seeks input as to possible actions. The head coach honours the input from others by recognizing that he/she has heard the comment. If he/she decides not to make use of the information he lets the person know why.
8. Observer –the coach takes time to see what is going on. Coaches must train their eyes to watch things other than their own teams and the ball. Advanced coaches also train their assistants and players to watch specific things during the game.
9. Reflector – The coach takes time to remember the plan and to think about possible future actions: subs, time outs, offensive and defensive strategies. This cannot be done if the coach is overly engaged in the play on the floor. Top coaches often have a cue card or assign assistants to remind him/ her of the plan or possible actions.
10. Disciplinarian – especially with developing players the coach must often discipline players to learn from their actions. This is not a negative connotation of the word but rather a positive way of teaching an athlete the consequences of his/her actions. Coaches cannot allow the actions of one player to hold the team hostage. Failure to discipline often means the entire team will suffer for the inappropriate actions of one. An example is a player who is subbed out of the game, pulls out his shirt tail and saunters to the end of the bench in a defiant manner. Failure to address this issue “now” will lead to greater problems in the future.
Coaches need to know which roles they should investment the greatest amount of time during the game. The answer is those roles that help improve the performance of the team the greatest. Only through practicing and experimenting with the different roles and monitoring the outcome will a coach discover what works best. Continuing to coach in the same way will produce the same results.
Coaches’ concentration
Concentration is a time and place. When you are concentrating on time your mind is either in the past, present or future. There are positive and negative benefits of being in each time zone:
· Past – Positive – Reflecting on past experiences, drawing from your toolbox to find a solution to a problem. Use past positive experiences to motivate. Refer to your plan.
Negative – Bring up past negative experiences. “Here we go again making the same old mistakes”. Continue to bring up a mistake from a past possession, be it by a player or a perceived error by an official.
· Present – Positive – Playing in the moment, in tune with the ebb and flow of the game. Involved with the tasks at hand.
Negative – Locked into the five players on the floor. Not able to reflect on what is happening and project to the future. Get distracted by officials call or action.
· Future – Positive – Project what is happening now to what will occur in the future. If the current situations continues what possible adjustment need to be made, planning future actions.
Negative – Clock watching or “Seeing the party” – this is when you start to see the celebration or misery after the game before the game has been completed.
The place your mind can be is best defined by the graph below.
Narrow Internal – This is a place of healing. It is very important in the grieving process. It is a dangerous place to go in a game. Thoughts about oneself control this area; “why me”, “what have I done to deserve this”, “I am not doing a very good job”.
Broad Internal – This is a place for reflection and planning. Visualization takes place here. Spending too much time here can be seen as day dreaming.
Broad External – Here one is aware of the whole game. If concentration is too broad it tends to roam into the crowd. The coach does not see the detail that is often required.
Narrow External – Here the coach can focus on a specific detail of the game. Staying too long on that detail can be dangerous as miss important information.
Some of the roles apply in more than one quadrant (observer, strategist, and consultant). The coach must be very careful not to let one quadrant dominate his/her concentration. As you can see this is not hard to do since the majority fall into external narrow. The great coach has the ability to constantly shift from one to the other at the appropriate time.
Suggestion: Early in the season monitor what you do. I highly recommend having someone video tape you with a microphone. At your own leisure make note of what you are doing. You my also be able to remember what you were thinking and feeling at specific times. Ask yourself some critical questions.
- What roles to do spend the majority of my time? Is this to the benefit or detriment of the team?
- Where is my concentration? Where should it be at specific points during the game?
- What triggers me to lose focus?
- How can I regain my concentration?
Develop an action plan for the next game. Pick one or two key things to focus on. I strongly recommend enlisting someone to help remind and monitor with you. After the game follow up to see how you did.
Developing a coaching team
The days of one head coach out coaching another head coach are gone. There is too much information available to all coaches, the use of video tape and the speed, pace of the game make it impossible for one individual to see and know everything that is going on. Problems can occur when the following happens:
· Problem: Teams allow only one set of eyes to make all the decisions. The game is viewed through only one person’s perspective. Usually this is the head coach. No one else is consulted for their opinion. The player’s observations are some of the most important and often ignored.
Solution: The head coach must consult participants or assign someone the role of seeking out information that will improve performance. This needs to start day one in the first practice or try out.
· Problem: Teams where all eyes are observing the same thing, usually the ball. Who watches the other team, who watches the offense, who watches the defense? Who watches the other team
Solution: The head coach develops an organizational chart assigning roles and responsibilities for what should be observed and by whom.
· Problem: No flow of information between the observers to allow the team to make use of the information.
Solution: The head coach must ensure that all relevant information that will improve performance is relayed to the people who need to know. Participants need to feel that relevant observations are wanted.
· Problem: When suggestions or observations are offered they are often ignored.
· Solution: Coaches must honour input from others by letting the person know that they have heard them. If the information is used, give credit to the person who made the observation. If it is not used immediately let the person know you heard them and a quick reason why you are not acting on the information. People can not take it personal when their observations are not acted upon.
Example1: “Hey! John just had a great observation; they are not sprinting back on defence. We can look to throw long.”
Example 2: “Tim, I heard what you said, but I am not going to take a time out now, I want to let them play through it.”
· Problem: No mechanism to help individuals refocus to the plan if distractions occur. Very often it is the most important person who gets the most distracted, the head coach. When this person starts watching the officials, “the other game” as I call it, the team suffers dramatically. Other people on the team must adjust to the moods and emotions of the head coach. The head coach often assumes that the smooth flow of information will occur even if the coach has threatened a player, used aggressive body language, used inappropriate touching, invaded person space, made harmful personal remarks and failed to communicate clearly. Coaches often claim that in the heat of the battle players must understand and accept this as part of the game.
Solution: Someone needs to be assigned the job of keeping the “team” focused on their roles. An assistant coach may have to remind the head coach when he/she loses focus.
Information flow It is important that there is a constant flow of information between all people on the team. These do not have to be long discussions, but pertinent information that impacts the decision making. The head coaches needs to be involved in all of this information. If the trainer has a player who is injured and cannot play the coach must know. If a court player subs and is debriefed by an assistant, the head coach needs a heads up on any information that came out of that debrief? Is the player ready to go or does he/she need a little time.
Coaches must remember that there are major differences between coaching a school /club team and a provincial team. One of the biggest challenges is the short time frame under which summer programs operate. Also you are dealing with players who are used to being the stars on their own teams. This means they usually have positive relationships with their own coach. Coaches do not often have the time to build these relationships with every player that they could over the course of a long season. Very often the coach has never had the opportunity to have a personal one on one meeting. Coaches don’t have the time to experiment with which buttons to push with a player. This is why debriefs are crucial.
Often coaches assume that the player knows why he/she has been subbed. If a player is used to playing 40 minutes a game and responsible for shooting every time he/she has the ball that player might not understand why he/she has now been subbed after four minutes and asked to pass to other teammates. There is a big difference between telling players roles and responsibilities and teaching these players to accept them. It does not have to be the head coach. Any coach on the staff can do this job.
These do not have to be long drawn out discussions. It works best when the player is asked what they think first. “What are you seeing?” is a good question to ask. Attention should be drawn to what he/she did well. Accurately describe in detail what the player did well. “You were making hard cuts to the front of the rim, at the right time and sealing your check inside” is a much better statement than “You’re doing a good job on offense”. You communicated the who, what, when, where, why and how. This now allows you to come back with something that they can focus on for next time. Again give it descriptive details. “Now you need to take three strong strides when your running back on transition defense, protect the basket if you see a perimeter player back. Shadow the ball at half if the other big has got the basket.” This is better than saying; “You’re not working hard enough in transition defense”.
Debriefing during the game
Coaches need to develop a plan for how to debrief each athlete as they come to the bench. This can range from a simple comment from the head coach to an assistant sitting with each sub. Telling still dominates many debriefs. Using questions have a powerful impact on the athlete’s willingness to share meaningful information. Example:
Coach: “Do you feel you can make use of a break out dribble?” (This is a yes or no question which is not always the best)
Athlete: “Yes I think I can, the big girl is right up on me when I get the rebound.”
Coach: “That’s great; once you break clear you can really push the ball up to the wing. I want you to do that.”
Athlete: “Ok! Coach!” pause, “I think #6 is left handed. She is always going left to score.”
Coach: “Really! I never noticed that, we must make sure to tell the other post players who might be guarding her. If you notice anything else let me know!”
This is the beauty of asking questions. You gain insight into things that add to the collective knowledge of the team. No one had pointed out the fact that the player was left handed. I do not believe the athlete would have volunteered the information if the exchange had of gone as follows:
Coach: “I need you to use your break out dribble; once you get in the clear you can push it to the wing. Do you understand?
Athlete; “Yes”
“Do you understand?” is not a question that is very effective in gathering information on what a player really understands. In the heat of the battle it usually means do what I tell you? If we are going to improve the decision making ability of the players, a must in the FIBA game, it is crucial that we use questions to inquire what they are thinking, feel and doing. When coaches first use this technique they are often frustrated with the results;
a) The player gives the wrong answer – wrong it is not the answer the coach wants. Coaches need to honour the athletes answer.
Example:
Coach: What happened on that screen?
Athlete: “I got tripped up by the screener.”
Coach: That’s not what I saw, you’re supposed to under the screen. Make sure it doesn’t happen again!”
A better response would be to honour the answer.
Coach: “What do you mean by tripped up? Describe what happened?”
This allows the coach to see through the eyes of his/her athlete.
b) “I don’t know” – this answer frustrates coaches because he/she cannot comprehend how an athlete just completed a task and cannot explain how or what they did. Athletes often do not have the vocabulary to describe their thoughts, feelings and actions. It is up to us as coaches to assist them in learn how to express these things.
Example;
Coach: “What did you see when you dribbled off that pick?”
Athlete; “I don’t know?”
Coach: “What do you mean you don’t know? How can you not know it just happened?”
A better response is to honour the answer and probe for understanding.
Athlete: “I don’t know?”
Coach: Which defender picked you up?
Athlete; ‘I think it was post?”
Coach: “Did he stay you or did he switch back?”
Athlete: “I am pretty sure he switched back.”
Coach: ”What do we call this action?”
Athlete: “High hedge?”
Coach; “That’s right”
b) Coaches do not want to distract his/her attention from the game – Too many coaches feel it is important to constantly watch the action on the court. (See the note on Coaching Time Management). By taking time to talk to a bench player they might miss out on the game. In those situations the role should be delegated to an assistant coach or the coach must position him /her self in a manner where he/she can multi-task.
In Fig.1 the assistant coach keeps an open chair beside him/her self. When an athlete comes off the floor he/she knows to sit in the chair for a quick debrief. The head coach should try to greet each athlete as he/she comes off the floor. Look the athlete in the eye ands give them a quick comment. By looking the player in the eye you can judge the emotion of the player. The eyes do not lie. It is important that the players knows why they are being subbed.
In Fig. 2 the subbed player goes to the end of the bench. The head coach kneels by the player and does the debrief. By taking this position the head coach can look through the bench to see the bench players as well as the players on the floor. If the coach wants the whole bench to hear he/she can speak louder. If it is a private conversation whisper in the players ear.
Delegating roles
It is imperative that the team trains itself to scan the floor to watch different aspects of the game. If no specific assignments are given everyone will watch the ball. Players on the bench will often watch the stands. This means valuable information can be lost. It also means players coming off the bench do not have access to valuable information that will assist them in their decision making. The days of playing strictly five players are gone.
Preparing bench players is a crucial component of the coaching team’s job. Many coaches claim that this is covered in practice and in the pre-game talk. That is an important part of the process, but no game plan ever goes exactly as planned. There are too many situations that constantly change. Keeping everyone informed of these subtle changes is key for the team to play as a unit. It starts with the head coach delegating to each person within the teams their observation roles as to what to watch. Some examples might be:
- One assistant watches offense other defense
- One assistant watches perimeter players other watches posts
- One assistant watches what the other team is doing the other watches or monitors the team bench
- The bench players watch the player they might guard if they go in
- The bench players watch for how the other team is defending certain plays
Keeping people on task
The head coach must ask questions of his players and assistants. What are you seeing?
Positive things can happen from this:
· You make sure the people are staying on task and paying attention to their roles
· You gain valuable information that aids you in your and others decision making
· You enable others to feel like they are part of the game. Their input has value.
Failure to share information is one of the biggest problems. Great coaches are constant giving their team information. A beginning coach calls a play, "blue" and expects the players to properly execute the play. A more experienced coach would be sure to prepare his/her players as to why they want to run "blue" and making sure the players understand what to look for when the play is being run. A great coach reminds his/her players on the bench why they are running blue and “lets watch to see how the team is defending it”. The master coach would ask the players for their input on what the players saw. Knowing this gives him/her input into their understanding and observation skills and therefore the basketball smarts of the players. When we tell we never know what is comprehended.
What does the head coach watch?
Most beginning coaches watch the ball or their own team. It takes practice to learn to watch for other things. It starts with making a plan. If the coach has had the luxury of scouting an opponent he/she can compile a list of cues that indicate action he/she wants to take. For example:
· When I see that no one follows my cutter I know the other team is in a zone
· When I see their best ball handler go off the floor we will put on our press
· When I see that the other team helps off the ball side post we will drive the ball and look to pass to the post
It is important to share the most important points with your players and assistant coaches. It helps them understand why you are doing certain things and they can remind you when you forget. As coaches we often get caught up in the flow of the game and forget the big picture items we discussed in the calm of preparation.
Coaching on the fly
As players are running up and down the floor you can alert players to observations you or your coaching team have made. These need to be short descriptive comments that aid the player in improving performance.
"Look to go under the ball screen if the player is not a shooter.”
"Read the switch on the fare screen"
These allow the player to improve their performance the next time.
Also catch the players doing things right. Point out movements and decisions that the players have done that you want repeated.
"Great cut". "
“That screen set up the shot, keep doing that.”
This is probably one of the biggest weaknesses in our coaches today. Most of our praise tends to be of a general nature; Great job, way to work hard, your really shooting well.” It is very easy for a player to shrug this kind of praise off. Descriptively describe what the player just did. “you had your hands ready and your feet set on that shot, great job”. The player is much more likely to agree with the coach and will begin feel better about his/her shot. The amazing thing is that the player will also begin to talk about other areas that they may need to improve. This is especially important when your team is struggling. Too many coaches get quiet or upset and focus on the negative things.
Great coaches repeat to the bench the key points told to the players on the floor. This allows the bench players access to information that will assist them when it is their turn to play. "I just told our guards to keep looking to push the ball. That is what we want and we will get rewarded for that as the game goes on"
Too often coaches tell the bench the negative things. "Why are we continually turning the ball over? Too much of this can lead to the bench questioning the coach internally with thoughts like; “Why does he/she keep telling us that, were not on the floor” or “What’s the sense of telling us, you never let us play.”
Coaching during stoppages
During dead ball situation is a time to you can gain players attention and communicate. Longer stoppages such as foul shots allow a coach to call players over. Train players to sprint as to not waste time. You have to decide to call one or more over. Many teams like to huddle during these times. In FIBA you will not be given leeway in allowing the players time to return to the floor. A point of emphasis with officials is to not allow huddles in the key. They must be ready to return immediately to their positions. It is not the official responsibility to wait. Coaches cannot be upset with the officials; they cannot allow coaches to gain an advantage by disrupting the flow of the game.
Mentoring assistant coaches
“He is just helping out you can’t expect him to do anything different!” is often heard from a head coach about an assistant who will not change. We would not accept this from a player and should not accept this from assistant coaches. If an action is hurting the performance of the team it needs to be stopped. If a new behaviour or action can improve performance it needs to be started. This needs to be discussed away from the court. The head coach is responsible to develop, monitor and follow up with the plan.
Define the level of authority in the plan
With you assistant coaches you need to define the level of authority the coach has to use the observed information.
- Observation - at this level the assistant tells the head coach what he/she saw. Often with beginning coaches the head coach may have to prompt the assistant with a question. What did you see?
- Recommend - What did you see and give me a recommendation as too what to do with the information. If you see certain things recommend to a coach or teammate and action. This is a great step in mentoring assistant coaches. It gets them to start to think of adjustments. “I see that they have gone to a zone. I suggest we try the ‘Blue’ offense because it gets our shooters open on the wing. “
- Initiate – the assistant has observed something and therefore is going to take the following action. It allows for the head coach to veto the proposal if he/she wants. The assistant coach has seen the other team put a particular player back in the game; therefore he/she is going to sub someone back to check this player. In these situations the head coach wants to be reminded of what was usually discussed ahead of time.
- Take action - see something and do it. In these situations there is full trust that the assistant coach will act according to the plan for the team. The head coach has complete trust. Often this is things like talking to a player, delegate roles such as offense and defense or interior and perimeter players, with subs and match ups. When teams have co- coaches all areas of philosophy must be discussed ahead of time. The biggest problems arise when co-coaches have different philosophies on things like playing time.
Suggestions:
- Give specific not general tasks – example: general - watch the defence; specific - watch how they are defending our ball screens. Not everyone is the head coach. Too many assistant coaches act as head coaches, watching and saying the same things. Many assistant coaches were assigned the role of watching the opponent on defence. Yet when asked the question of how a certain screen was being defended the answer was not readily available.
- What is the level of authority to act on the information – see above
- Keep stats not anecdotal evidence – the coach who assigned to watch offence is asked what is working. The anecdotal coach says, “I think the #2 play is working”. The coach keeping stats can tell the head coach exactly what is happening. “In the last 5 possessions we have run #2 three times and scored twice and got fouled the other time”. Someone has to do the “grunt work”. If you ever watch assistant coaches in the NBA they usually are taking notes. It amazed me the number of staffs that did not keep simple stats on the bench. If the head coach asks how many fouls does “player X” have, there should be an answer. Saying that the assistant doesn’t want to do it is not a good answer. We need to start keeping more advanced stats on the bench. To improve on offence we need to know what is happening. Possession charts is one way to monitor offensive efficiency.
- Ask for information to confirm the job is being done – if you have assigned a task to a player or coach make use of the information. If not eventually they will figure it out that it is not important to you.
- Truth over harmony – keep emotion out of the mix. If people are not doing the job to the level you expect you have to let them know. Have them tell you what they think their job curtails. This does not have to be done in a way that demeans them as a person.
- debrief after the game with assistant coaches
- Increasing the collective knowledge of the team – one of the most important concepts I have learned is that the more important information is collected, shared and applied the more a team can make tactical adjustments during the game. Too often, as stated above, only the head coach is allowed to observe and distribute information. A slight improvement is when the assistant coaches are allowed to add to the collective knowledge. The great teams also welcome and seek information from the players.
The team bench
The typical set up for most team benches in the FIBA game is as follows:
- head coach, the only person who may stand, although he/she has a chair reserved
- two assistant coaches
- seven subs
- manager
- trainer
In total there can be 14 chairs available on the FIBA bench. (Be aware that local leagues may have rules regarding this number. It is one of the secondary rules that can be changed) Counting the 5 court players this makes for 19 people in the official team. In the situation described above there is still room for two more people. They are usually a team doctor, another coach, team delegate or video technician. The bench area extends 5 m past the centre line all the way to the baseline.
Position of the coaching team Where the head coach positions him/her self is a major contributor to the flow of information with a team. The coaching team should think through where everyone will be positioned so the observation roles and flow of information works effectively.
A coach can stand, sit or move constantly between these different positions. It is my opinion that coaches should understand the advantages and disadvantages of each position. Also understand how your positioning can impact:
- the dynamics of the team on the floor
- the players on the bench
- the flow of information between the coaching team
- the interaction with the referees and minor officials
Sitting (see below)
Fig.1 -The chair closest to the scorer's table is usually used by the head coach.
Advantages
· This allows the coach to communicate with the minor officials for timeouts and subs. The coach also hears the referee when addressing the table with fouls.
· The coaches can talk with assistant coaches without the bench players hearing.
· Can prepare and debrief subs as the walk on and off the court.
Disadvantages
· Often unaware of the bench dynamics
· Often cannot be heard by the players
· Often difficult to coach on the fly or during stoppages
· If a coach who stands sits, it often gives the impression that the coach has given up.
Other coaches will surround themselves with their assistants. This makes it easier to communicate with all of the coaches. Very often the person who sits closest to the score table is the manager /coach responsible for keeping track of scores and fouls.
Fig. 2 - Coaches sit in the middle of the team to keep the bench focused and to assist in teaching. This is especially important with younger players.
Fig. 3 - Place one assistant or staff member at the end of the bench to contain all of the players between the coaching staff. This helps the bench keep its focus and prevents the bench from developing gaps that can lead to poor body language and disharmony on the bench. Very often players when subbed will saunter to the furthest available chair. This helps young athletes learn how to regain their focus and not distances themselves from their teammates. It does make communication with the rest of the staff more difficult, especially if the information is not for everyone to hear.
Standing Coaches who stand must remember that only the head coach will stand. Often the officials will ask before the game who is going to stand. If you say it is the assistant this is the person that they will talk to during the game.
Advantages
- Visible for the players
- Easier to coach on the fly
- Can be heard by the players
- Often gives the appearance that the coach is ‘into’ the game
Disadvantages
- Harder for the bench to communicate with the head coach
- Can become isolated from the bench
- Often get caught up in the "other game" (working the officials)
There are different places to stand. Know how each positions impacts your view and ability to communicate.
Fig. 1 – Standing or kneeling near the score table. This allows for easy communication with the minor officials. During the last 2 minutes this is key when time outs must be quickly made or cancelled. If the assistant coaches sit at this end it allows for consultation. Players who are subbed can be prepared and debriefed quickly by the coach. Many coaches stand here when the play is at the far end of the court. Be aware of the bench area. Constantly creeping past the line can bring undue attention from the officials. This can create an unnecessary distraction later on. Also you may block the sight lines of the other players on the bench. You are allowed to move they cannot.
Fig. 2 – Standing or kneeling at the far end. This position is often taken by coaches when the play is in front of the bench, especially when the team is on defence. It is a great place to meet with a player in private. Coaches need a place to reflect. If a coach needs to communicate with the score table or bench this can be a difficult position.
Fig. 3 – Kneeling or standing in the middle. If the coach is going to stay in this position for any length of time it is preferred that he/she kneel. The view is blocked for the people behind the coach. It does allow easy communication with the majority of the players on the bench.
While standing the coach must be aware of the players and officials on the court. Both are instructed to run wide. If you creep on to the sideline you may find yourself in a collision. Some coahes do like to work from behind the bench similar to a hockey coach.
Moving
Advantages
- Allows the coach to position him/her self in the proper position to take advantage of what is needed by the team. If you need to talk to a player you can move to talk.
- Can be easier to observe various aspect of the games
Disadvantages
- Can be hard for communication if you are inconsistent in your movements
- It can be distracting
- It can fatigue you
- If you stop moving it is often seen by the team that you have given up
Suggestions: Experiment with diiferent positions for yourself and your coaching team. Remember it is not about what you or your staff is comfortable with, it is finding a formation that will have the greatest impact on the performance of your team. What works in one situation may not work in another.
Effective timing of time outs and substitutions.
Most coaches have a plan for time outs and subs.
Time outs
Red flags – called immediate with out hesitation – Usually a major run by the other team, frustration or lack of execution. In the last 2 minutes to advance the ball to half. We have to rethink our timeouts to coincide with the FIBA rules. Some coaches have learned that they must let players play through runs and certain frustrations. You cannot take time outs to solve every problem. I call these;
Yellow flags – a time out alert. We will attempt to play through the situation. I also think you need to consider;
Green flags – this is where you cancel a called time out. As often happens in a FIBA game you go for a while without a stoppage. I have seen teams turn a run around and then have it stopped because the coach did not cancel the time out.
Last two minutes of the game
Many coaches also call their time out with the opponent shooting a foul shot before the first foul shot. This means if the 2nd shot is successful the ball cannot be advanced to half court. Coaches must decide what is more important; the time out before the shot or the possibility of moving the ball to half.
Who calls the time out
1) Called by you – you should not have to do a lot of consultation with your staff as you know the reason why it was called.
2) Called by your opponent – this is a bonus time out. Very often you should have a “ready list” prepared of things you want to discuss. This is a time for consultation with players and coaches.
3) ¼ time – this is where you may have more time to have a big discussion with cozches and players
Points to ponder
· Coaches are very often late going into the time out. You only have 50 seconds. Officials all across the country are being instructed to get players out of the time outs on time.
· Effective time outs have one or two major points.
· The last information given is usually the action the players are going to immediate do. If you’re on defence talk about the defence last. It always amazes me the number of coaches who do not discuss the jump ball just before the game starts. It is the only one of the game. If you take it for granted you can get burned.
· If you use a board have it ready. You need to practice your board skills with the team ahead of time in apractice situation or pre-game. Ask your players to show you what you have drawn up. Don’t wait for the big game to find out that most of your team does not understand.
· Anticipate your opponent – the more you know your opponent the more you need to anticipate his/her actions. Are they the type of coach who changes defences coming out of time outs? Does he/she run a certain play in these situations?
· Use pressure to force a time out. If a coach calls an early time out many coaches will come back with a press trying to force a 2nd time out immediately. The same is true if the coach calls the 2nd time out in the first half. Force them to use half time to talk about the press.
· Listen to what you say – have you ever taken the time to listen to what you say in a time out? It is amazing what we say in the heat of the battle. More importantly it is the thoughts or actions it creates in the players.
Example: The coach calls time out with six seconds left in the game. The team is down one point. The coaches say;”We are going to run special to get the ball to John, he will shoot it and score the winning basket. Not like the last game where he missed.”
We need to create a positive image in the minds of our players. We don’t motivate by telling people what not to do.
Substitutions
Red flags – two fouls in the 1st quarter, lack of effort, numerous mistakes, and fatigue
Yellow flag – often the head coach warns an assistant coach to watch “so and so”
Green flag – a player makes a recover and has a positive contribution to the team. The end of ¼ or period is close and it does not make sense to sub a player in for such a brief period of time.
Points to Ponder
- As previous discussed in is important to prepare subs to enter the game. Create a positive picture of what they will be doing. Often it is advisable to have them tell you certain things:
· who they will be guarding or where they will be positioned on the zone or press
· what role / position they have on offence
· what are the keys or points of emphasis
By asking you clarify if the player understands.
· How many players do you plan to play in the game? Is this information communicated to the players before the game? No other area will create as much tension or problems for a coach as playing time. Honest communication is the key. Problems occur when:
o A coach promise playing time and does not deliver
o Rewarding players with meaningless playing time i.e. the last 10 seconds of a game which has been decided long before that time.
o Inconsistency in playing time without an explanation
· The FIBA games means you need to play more players. The pace of the game is at a higher level. This is especially true in tournament play. When coaches enter into tournaments they must consider the big picture. I have witnessed too many teams looking very completive at the start of a tournament, playing only a select number of players, only to fold late in latter games due to fatigue. Coaches must search for situations where they can play more of their “bench players”. Some possible suggestions:
· Develop a special unit that goes on the floor for a short period of time with specific style of play – very often this is a pressing unit that changes the tempo of the game
· Use a number of players to defend a star player for the other team.
· Match the subs of the other team
· Use a sub for the last minutes of the ¼. This gives your starting players a longer rest as they benefit from the ¼ time break.
· Trust the players will learn and improve if given a chance to play. This is especially true at the younger levels.
· Keep track of time and score – A simple stat sheet that records who is on the floor, what was the time and score when subs were made goes a long way to helping the coach with playing time. It allows coaches to:
· Accurately know the amount of minutes each player played
· See the point differential for each line up on the floor
· See runs and drought by each team and who were the participants
· Predict when subs may be need by seeing how long someone has been on or off the floor.
· Use statistical information to explain to players about team and individual playing time
Half time
Point to ponder:
- Going to the locker room is not always the best idea – you need to consider:
- The distance from the playing court
- The temperature
- Distractions – shared with other teams, parents, fans
- Amount of space
· Give the players time to do their thing, go to the washroom, fill water bottles, eat a snack. This gives you time to look at stats, if you kept them, and discuss what you want to say or do
· Write it down. This is a good use of your white board, it prevents you from forgetting things or rambling.
· Address the issues that will improve the team performance the most. Too often we get side tracked, what is it exactly that you need to do.
· Staying the same is not a good option. Telling a team that they just have to keep doing what they have been doing is underestimating your opponent. Usually your team will relax, which is not the same. It is important to point out the positives we want to maintain but also anticipate what the opponent will do.
· Give the players time to warm up. Have some one keep track of time.
Working with officials
Points to ponder
- Get to know who the officials by their first name. Use it in a friendly professional manner.
- Avoid sarcasm or body actions that show aggression. Such things as moving into the personal space of the official or demonstrative arm actions are danger signs. Inciting the crowd is a area that coaches must avoid.
- Work together with the official to resolve and problems.
- Ask questions that allow you to instructor your players. This should occur during a stoppage in play. “Did she change her pivot foot or drag it on that travel call?” This is not done to question the call but used to assist the player to learn form the mistake.
- Officials do not have to stop and discuss every rule or call with a coach. It is like the little boy who cried wolf. If you question every call you will never get officials to take you seriously. It is better to talk to them only when there is a realistic concern.
- The more you get caught up in the “other game” the more your players and assistant coaches will.
- Know which minor official controls the clock. This is the person who calls time outs.
- Players should also know this person because his is the person through whom the subs are made. The person at the end of the scorers table usually doe not have this responsibility.
Age appropriate
The coaching we observe at the professional and university level is not always what works best at the developmental stages. It is recommended that coaches look at the LTAD model and the characteristics of the children they are coaching. Reflect on how you take these qualities into consideration. For example:
Younger or more inexperienced players may not have the visual skills or the verbal lingo to describe what they see. It is important that the coaching team helps these players develop these important skills. Just telling somebody something is not enough.
A coach observes that the opponent is running a ball screen. He/she informs his team, "When we see the ball screen we will switch. Does everybody understand?" No one answers. The first time the screen occurs no switch takes place and the opponent scores. The coach gets mad and yells at his team for being so stupid for not doing what he told them to do. Who is the stupid one here? Even at the professional level this happens. Players do not make the proper observation quick enough and react slowly. This coach made some huge assumptions:
· that players knew what a ball screen looked like
· the players knew when and why a ball screen would be used
· the player knew what a switch meant
· that the players could properly execute the complex maneuver at the proper time
This begins in the practice environment. Teach the players what to watch for and what language is used to describe this action. Ask the players questions to confirm their knowledge. These questions should not be of a yes and no nature. “Does everyone understand?” is not a good question. Ask questions like; “What is the reason that the other team would use a ball screen? What does the person guarding the ball need to know? What is the job of the person guarding the screener?”
If this is not done you will get a lot of, “I don't know answers”. This frustrates coaches who cannot believe that a player could not know what just happened. It is not that the player did not see what happen; the player does not have the verbal skills to describe it.
In games coaches of younger players, (I would content that this is just as important with older players) needs to be constantly teaching players by describing what is happening and putting words to it. Be careful to communicate these to players on the floor at times that does not distract them. The coach who acts like a radio play by play announcer is very distracting for players. Coach during stoppages by calling a player over or getting their attention and alerting them to a specific situation.
Be very careful with younger players not to label them. Saying things like;
- Your not supposed to dribble
- Why did you shoot that shot, you can’t shoot
- Only our point guard can make that pass
- Why are you always forgetting the plays
Players pick up on these subtle phrases and will fulfill your prophecy. Players will also take what you say to the absolute. You meant not to dribble in one particular situation, the player assumes you meant every time.
Points of emphasis can be the single most important aspect of your drill. They offer clarity and focus to
