So I wake up this morning and for whatever reason start to rethink about my last post. And it hit me - that was not very good. In fact, that probably wouldn't even get looked at by most teachers. So I reread it, and yeah...we're going to make those two half-posts I made a poor attempt at combining into two legitimate posts.
I'll leave it up as a reminder not to do it again, and I'll get to work on a more cohesive and complete post.
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Monday, May 28, 2012
Silence Is NOT Golden
During a lunch break last week, a co worker and I were discussing how hard it is to keep the silent treatment going. That got me thinking - why is it so hard to do it with some people and really easy for others? Why can't adults keep it up for days, but I've seen youth teams go stretches of games where the only person talking is the coach. Well, after a few days of thinking about it - I may have an answer. Whether you are an introvert or an extrovert, it essentially comes down to this: How much do you care about the other person?
Since I love when I can piggy back on my own stuff, we'll start there first. When you are committed to someone or something, you want to see it succeed. Very rarely can two or more people succeed at anything consistently without some form of communication. Think about your personal relationships. How many of the ones you care to maintain would last if neither of you said a word to each other. How much would you get done? How frustrated would you be? How hard would it be to keep it going and not say something? I challenge you to try it. See how long it lasts, especially my married readers. Silence just makes it considerably harder to be successful, even on the hardwood. On the occasions that I've participated with my players in drills, it's weird that just me talking to them letting them know what's going on, who is doing what makes things more fluid. It takes so much more work or me to be in these drills and say nothing, and I think that's just because I'm committed to the concept I'm trying to get across and committed to my players.
If you do any reading of business books, you should look into Patrick Lencioni's The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. With no communication happening, you are nothing but dysfunctional. You obviously aren't paying attention to results - if you win, you cheer and celebrate. You lose, and you want to try to figure out what happened. Everyone is avoiding accountability - no one is apologizing for blowing the coverage or holding people accountable for defensive assignments. But maybe that's just the fear of conflict rearing it's head because your teammates don't trust that you really want them to get better and are trying to help you. (Already touched on commitment, so didn't need to rehash it...) Unless you are a rare exception, your dysfunctional team will get exposed, dominated, and beaten.
There's a reason trust and conflict are at the bottom - they are the keys to avoiding those embarrassing moments and going home feeling like a complete loser. But you have to talk. You can't build trust, without talking. Talk about school, what you did over the weekend, whatever. Remind your teammates that you are human. Show them you care to get to know their off-the-court side. You need that trust so when it "gets real" (and it should) everyone can walk out of the gym and still be friends and willing to work together. Healthy conflict never hurt anyone - it will make you stronger. Coaches won't see everything, and sometime players tune you out. But you usually don't tune out your good friends, even when they are telling you to stop letting that guy box you out or to stop being afraid of defending a player, and that's why teammates sometimes need to step up and tell each other to get it together. There's a right and wrong way to do it obviously, but it's absolutely necessary.
Of course, if you read the book, you'll see that there's more to the pyramid than being able to communicate, but communication is a very big part of it. Historically, dysfunctional teams, whether its in the workplace, the home, or basketball court, will eventually fail and its usually epic. It's okay to laugh, cry, cheer, criticize (constructively) - it all lends itself to success, which is what we all want. Don't give your teammates the silent treatment. And as an added bonus, practice is more productive and fun, and hopefully you'll get a few good ticks in the win column.
Since I love when I can piggy back on my own stuff, we'll start there first. When you are committed to someone or something, you want to see it succeed. Very rarely can two or more people succeed at anything consistently without some form of communication. Think about your personal relationships. How many of the ones you care to maintain would last if neither of you said a word to each other. How much would you get done? How frustrated would you be? How hard would it be to keep it going and not say something? I challenge you to try it. See how long it lasts, especially my married readers. Silence just makes it considerably harder to be successful, even on the hardwood. On the occasions that I've participated with my players in drills, it's weird that just me talking to them letting them know what's going on, who is doing what makes things more fluid. It takes so much more work or me to be in these drills and say nothing, and I think that's just because I'm committed to the concept I'm trying to get across and committed to my players.
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| Lencioni's Five Dysfunctions |
There's a reason trust and conflict are at the bottom - they are the keys to avoiding those embarrassing moments and going home feeling like a complete loser. But you have to talk. You can't build trust, without talking. Talk about school, what you did over the weekend, whatever. Remind your teammates that you are human. Show them you care to get to know their off-the-court side. You need that trust so when it "gets real" (and it should) everyone can walk out of the gym and still be friends and willing to work together. Healthy conflict never hurt anyone - it will make you stronger. Coaches won't see everything, and sometime players tune you out. But you usually don't tune out your good friends, even when they are telling you to stop letting that guy box you out or to stop being afraid of defending a player, and that's why teammates sometimes need to step up and tell each other to get it together. There's a right and wrong way to do it obviously, but it's absolutely necessary.
Of course, if you read the book, you'll see that there's more to the pyramid than being able to communicate, but communication is a very big part of it. Historically, dysfunctional teams, whether its in the workplace, the home, or basketball court, will eventually fail and its usually epic. It's okay to laugh, cry, cheer, criticize (constructively) - it all lends itself to success, which is what we all want. Don't give your teammates the silent treatment. And as an added bonus, practice is more productive and fun, and hopefully you'll get a few good ticks in the win column.
Monday, May 21, 2012
A Deeper Look at Commitment
Evening like tonight's - where I have a "night off" and actually find myself at home in MY kitchen cooking rather than one of many drive thru's on the way home after practice - only remind me of how much commitment is required to make a season successful. But it takes so much more than just showing up, which I think may be forgotten in a time where people are trying to be everywhere and doing everything.
To be successful takes work, and I don't think everyone will argue that. It takes showing up to every possible practice and giving it your all for the entire practice, whether you are a player or coach. It means showing up to games and tournaments (you'd think that would be obvious...). For a good team though, there's a lot that has to happen outside of the aforementioned items. In this entry, I hope to shed some light on a few of those things.
For a player, they'd need to be committed to their coaches ideals, schemes, and philosophy. I've seen too many times where players talk back to their coach, or get frustrated and question their coaches ability simply because they don't understand why they were substituted out. If they were committed to their coach, there would be no way they would think their coach was an idiot or didn't have a legitimate reason to sit them. Once they take the time to learn and comprehend their coaches way of doing things, the players usually better understand their roles, which just helps with chemistry and game plan execution - two things that can make a huge impact on a record. Players also need to take time outside of practice to make sure they are reviewing the plays and skills focused on during the practices. When you only practice a few hours a week, there will be times where you'll get a lot of information put before you. Most coaches will try to give you reps to help ingrain the play into your head, but sometimes there just isn't enough time, so you may need to grab some cups, coins, or other odds and ends and review at home. Ten minutes off the court may make the difference between a bewildered look when a play is called and flawless execution. Lastly, players have to be committed to one another. Working to help build up your fellow teammate - challenge them to get tougher, stronger, faster, and smarter - is not just just the responsibility of the coach, but the other players on the team. At the risk of being cliche - you are only as strong as your weakest link.
For a coach, you have to be willing to make that personal sacrifice of time - the late nights putting together upcoming practice plans, watching film, planning tournament itineraries, and communicating schedules. Just as I said players have to commit to their coaches philosophy and strategy, a coach needs to commit to his/her players and find ways to incorporate the skills of the team into his/her philosophy. There has to be a level of trust from a coach that believes that the players can get it done if you've given them the proper tools for the job. He also has to be committed to his philosophy even when things get rough. I honestly believe that because I have yet to establish a philosophy to build of of, that is a big factor in why I have yet to see the kind of success I would like. You can't build a house on sand, and that is why I am working to develop a philosophy that I can explain and stand behind.
Lastly, there has to be a commitment from parents. This is the one I think that gets the most overlooked. As obnoxious as they may be, I envy the support that teams like Hackensack and P.W.C. get from their parents (although they have way to many backseat drivers) because they show up in FULL FORCE to every game and cheer from start to finish no matter what the score is (I've seen P.W.C. down by 40 and the parents went wild on every basket as if they had just tied the game or taken a late lead). I know it's tough to cheer when the deficit looks enormous, but don't you think your son or daughter no matter how old, would love nothing more than to hear the crowd erupt when they do something well? I've seen first hand, when the parents get behind the players, they go after more loose balls, they play harder, smarter, faster and its just more fun even when we lose a close game. As a parent, why wouldn't you want that feeling for your child? But before all of that happens, parents really need to commit to getting their child to practice and games and encouraging them to give it their all every time the step on the court, help build the trust in the coach and his philosophy. Lastly, parents should be willing to commit to realistic expectations and open lines of communication with the coach. Many of our players in the program are too young to articulate their problems and if the coach and parent can work together to resolve the kid's problems, then the end result is usually much better than one trying to do it on their own. I had the pleasure of such a parent - coach meeting and I think it served everyone better and that player had a new feeling of purpose on the team which helped him to contribute as we closed out the season.
I know this post is a bit lengthy, but hopefully it shed's some light on just how much commitment is needed to have a truly successful season. Some of it is obvious, but there's a lot that I think people on all sides - players, coaches and parents - may overlook, myself included. At the end of the day its all about the kids, so parents coaches, lets step it up, the kids will follow.
To be successful takes work, and I don't think everyone will argue that. It takes showing up to every possible practice and giving it your all for the entire practice, whether you are a player or coach. It means showing up to games and tournaments (you'd think that would be obvious...). For a good team though, there's a lot that has to happen outside of the aforementioned items. In this entry, I hope to shed some light on a few of those things.
For a player, they'd need to be committed to their coaches ideals, schemes, and philosophy. I've seen too many times where players talk back to their coach, or get frustrated and question their coaches ability simply because they don't understand why they were substituted out. If they were committed to their coach, there would be no way they would think their coach was an idiot or didn't have a legitimate reason to sit them. Once they take the time to learn and comprehend their coaches way of doing things, the players usually better understand their roles, which just helps with chemistry and game plan execution - two things that can make a huge impact on a record. Players also need to take time outside of practice to make sure they are reviewing the plays and skills focused on during the practices. When you only practice a few hours a week, there will be times where you'll get a lot of information put before you. Most coaches will try to give you reps to help ingrain the play into your head, but sometimes there just isn't enough time, so you may need to grab some cups, coins, or other odds and ends and review at home. Ten minutes off the court may make the difference between a bewildered look when a play is called and flawless execution. Lastly, players have to be committed to one another. Working to help build up your fellow teammate - challenge them to get tougher, stronger, faster, and smarter - is not just just the responsibility of the coach, but the other players on the team. At the risk of being cliche - you are only as strong as your weakest link.
For a coach, you have to be willing to make that personal sacrifice of time - the late nights putting together upcoming practice plans, watching film, planning tournament itineraries, and communicating schedules. Just as I said players have to commit to their coaches philosophy and strategy, a coach needs to commit to his/her players and find ways to incorporate the skills of the team into his/her philosophy. There has to be a level of trust from a coach that believes that the players can get it done if you've given them the proper tools for the job. He also has to be committed to his philosophy even when things get rough. I honestly believe that because I have yet to establish a philosophy to build of of, that is a big factor in why I have yet to see the kind of success I would like. You can't build a house on sand, and that is why I am working to develop a philosophy that I can explain and stand behind.
Lastly, there has to be a commitment from parents. This is the one I think that gets the most overlooked. As obnoxious as they may be, I envy the support that teams like Hackensack and P.W.C. get from their parents (although they have way to many backseat drivers) because they show up in FULL FORCE to every game and cheer from start to finish no matter what the score is (I've seen P.W.C. down by 40 and the parents went wild on every basket as if they had just tied the game or taken a late lead). I know it's tough to cheer when the deficit looks enormous, but don't you think your son or daughter no matter how old, would love nothing more than to hear the crowd erupt when they do something well? I've seen first hand, when the parents get behind the players, they go after more loose balls, they play harder, smarter, faster and its just more fun even when we lose a close game. As a parent, why wouldn't you want that feeling for your child? But before all of that happens, parents really need to commit to getting their child to practice and games and encouraging them to give it their all every time the step on the court, help build the trust in the coach and his philosophy. Lastly, parents should be willing to commit to realistic expectations and open lines of communication with the coach. Many of our players in the program are too young to articulate their problems and if the coach and parent can work together to resolve the kid's problems, then the end result is usually much better than one trying to do it on their own. I had the pleasure of such a parent - coach meeting and I think it served everyone better and that player had a new feeling of purpose on the team which helped him to contribute as we closed out the season.
I know this post is a bit lengthy, but hopefully it shed's some light on just how much commitment is needed to have a truly successful season. Some of it is obvious, but there's a lot that I think people on all sides - players, coaches and parents - may overlook, myself included. At the end of the day its all about the kids, so parents coaches, lets step it up, the kids will follow.
Monday, May 14, 2012
Big News!
Ok, so I have an announcement to make - a couple actually.
1. I have decided that Mondays will be my official posting day. Since I can send posts via texts, there may be the occasional quote added mid-week, and of course there's the possibility of something pressing to post on. You can mark your calendars for Tuesday mornings to stop by my blog and be assured that you'll find a new post.
2. For those that didn't know, the Wayne PAL AAU program I coach for has a newsletter detailing recent events, highlights, players an other things of note. In the latest issue, you will find an edited version of my last post! Please feel free to read the newsletter, and stay abreast on upcoming events and if you find time, come out and support.
Wayne PAL AAU Newsletter - May 14, 2012
A few posts ago, I mentioned a few decisions I needed to make in the near future. Over this last weekend I did some thinking and got some feedback from a fellow coach and some close friends. While I haven't made a decision yet, I did get some interesting things that I now am considering with more weight. One thing it seems that I need to do is develop a coaching philosophy. Educators have it, companies have it (they just call it a mission statement), and provides them with a baseline for the decisions they make.
I had delayed coming up with one before simply because I thought that the different skill sets that would appear at each season's tryout would limit the effectiveness of my philosophy, especially with younger teams. This is true, but the remedy may be one word: communication. With the older kids, you can talk to them directly and often times that is sufficient enough to keep them engaged. With younger kids you may need to go through the parents. As I've gotten to deal with more parents, talking to them doesn't feel like such a daunting task, so it only feels like the right thing to develop as I grow as a coach. I'm hoping to get this all figured out by June as it could very well impact my decision about the Winter Travel season and possibly even the Fall. As I was told over the weekend, "Once I developed my philosophy, it made coaching so much easier." That's the result I'm looking for.
1. I have decided that Mondays will be my official posting day. Since I can send posts via texts, there may be the occasional quote added mid-week, and of course there's the possibility of something pressing to post on. You can mark your calendars for Tuesday mornings to stop by my blog and be assured that you'll find a new post.
2. For those that didn't know, the Wayne PAL AAU program I coach for has a newsletter detailing recent events, highlights, players an other things of note. In the latest issue, you will find an edited version of my last post! Please feel free to read the newsletter, and stay abreast on upcoming events and if you find time, come out and support.
Wayne PAL AAU Newsletter - May 14, 2012
A few posts ago, I mentioned a few decisions I needed to make in the near future. Over this last weekend I did some thinking and got some feedback from a fellow coach and some close friends. While I haven't made a decision yet, I did get some interesting things that I now am considering with more weight. One thing it seems that I need to do is develop a coaching philosophy. Educators have it, companies have it (they just call it a mission statement), and provides them with a baseline for the decisions they make.
I had delayed coming up with one before simply because I thought that the different skill sets that would appear at each season's tryout would limit the effectiveness of my philosophy, especially with younger teams. This is true, but the remedy may be one word: communication. With the older kids, you can talk to them directly and often times that is sufficient enough to keep them engaged. With younger kids you may need to go through the parents. As I've gotten to deal with more parents, talking to them doesn't feel like such a daunting task, so it only feels like the right thing to develop as I grow as a coach. I'm hoping to get this all figured out by June as it could very well impact my decision about the Winter Travel season and possibly even the Fall. As I was told over the weekend, "Once I developed my philosophy, it made coaching so much easier." That's the result I'm looking for.
Monday, May 7, 2012
You Made A Believer Out Of Me...
While this isn't my first AAU season, it is my first season being involved with the older players. The difference is tremendous. The difference in focus, understanding, and drive that the players had compared to my normal age group had my impressed with the teams the minute I walked into their first practices. Not that my normal 12U teams weren't decent basketball players, but when you see people who've made the transition from multi-sport (3-4 sports) athletes to more focused (1-2 sport) athletes, it's like night and day. That feeling has only been compounded by the trust these guys have put into their coach's schemes and strategies against top notch competition. We've done a lot of traveling, many times departing before 7 am, and it's been an absolute pleasure for me because I'm just waiting to see what these guys will do next (if only I was that excited to be on the road that early for my real job).
To be completely honest, when I heard from one of the coaches during a tryout that we were going to be aiming for bids to the AAU National tournament, a part of me laughed and said, "No way." Nothing against the players, but could we keep it together against faster stronger teams and not get embarrassed? Could we endure runs that would threaten a victory during the last few minutes of a game without panicking and making it worse? Could we keep our cool when physical teams "got in our grill?" Shame on me for doubting... But when the coaches told the players what the goal was that first week of practice, it made a believer out of me. I was waiting to see the look of doubt when the coaches said "Nationals" to their teams. Not even a blink. Just a general consensus of "Okay coach. What do we need to do?" If you can look a 14 year old kid in the eyes, tell him/her a goal like that, and see no signs of doubt - it makes you rethink a lot of things, and I was a believer from then on.
To prepare for the Super Regional Tournament where bids would be awarded, the program was put into a lot of tournaments that pitted the teams against big time power houses in AAU basketball. Nothing tests your will like playing the #1 ranked team in the country during your first tournament (14U faced DC Assault their second game of the season). But the guys were not phased at all. All the teams stepped up to the challenge very well, in most cases even frustrating these elite teams and playing them close for most of the game. That was not enough to shake the boys. They learned from it; those losses fueled them and explained what coaches were trying to teach that just had yet to sink in, and most importantly, brought them together. They took it all in stride; the players grew, adjusted, and corrected several of the issues exposed in those games.
Last weekend was the first view of payoff from the tough schedule we put in front of our players. Leaning on games where we played good basketball against teams like Maryland 3D, Cecil Kirk Basketball, and tournament wins against some stiff competition in the other tournaments we've been in, I watched out guys dominate early, endure runs that would make other teams panic and fold, and claw out of deficits to secure wins. The confidence the boys had through it all wasn't even close to cocky - but you just felt like they understood and believed every word coming from their teammates and coaches without a shade of doubt that they could get the win. It was an amazing feeling - and one heck of a birthday present for me. While not every team was able to come away champions, I am sure I can speak for all the coaches when I say that we're proud of and impressed by what has taken place this season throughout the program. While the job's not done just yet, there may just be a bad moon rising for anyone who doesn't come ready to play against the Wolfpack.
To be completely honest, when I heard from one of the coaches during a tryout that we were going to be aiming for bids to the AAU National tournament, a part of me laughed and said, "No way." Nothing against the players, but could we keep it together against faster stronger teams and not get embarrassed? Could we endure runs that would threaten a victory during the last few minutes of a game without panicking and making it worse? Could we keep our cool when physical teams "got in our grill?" Shame on me for doubting... But when the coaches told the players what the goal was that first week of practice, it made a believer out of me. I was waiting to see the look of doubt when the coaches said "Nationals" to their teams. Not even a blink. Just a general consensus of "Okay coach. What do we need to do?" If you can look a 14 year old kid in the eyes, tell him/her a goal like that, and see no signs of doubt - it makes you rethink a lot of things, and I was a believer from then on.
To prepare for the Super Regional Tournament where bids would be awarded, the program was put into a lot of tournaments that pitted the teams against big time power houses in AAU basketball. Nothing tests your will like playing the #1 ranked team in the country during your first tournament (14U faced DC Assault their second game of the season). But the guys were not phased at all. All the teams stepped up to the challenge very well, in most cases even frustrating these elite teams and playing them close for most of the game. That was not enough to shake the boys. They learned from it; those losses fueled them and explained what coaches were trying to teach that just had yet to sink in, and most importantly, brought them together. They took it all in stride; the players grew, adjusted, and corrected several of the issues exposed in those games.
Last weekend was the first view of payoff from the tough schedule we put in front of our players. Leaning on games where we played good basketball against teams like Maryland 3D, Cecil Kirk Basketball, and tournament wins against some stiff competition in the other tournaments we've been in, I watched out guys dominate early, endure runs that would make other teams panic and fold, and claw out of deficits to secure wins. The confidence the boys had through it all wasn't even close to cocky - but you just felt like they understood and believed every word coming from their teammates and coaches without a shade of doubt that they could get the win. It was an amazing feeling - and one heck of a birthday present for me. While not every team was able to come away champions, I am sure I can speak for all the coaches when I say that we're proud of and impressed by what has taken place this season throughout the program. While the job's not done just yet, there may just be a bad moon rising for anyone who doesn't come ready to play against the Wolfpack.
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| 14U Lehigh Valley Super Regional Champions |
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| 15U Lehigh Valley Super Regional Champions |
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