No New Post Today

While I am very pleased with the turnout we had at the workout sessions last week, and excited about tryouts next week - I can't seem to compose myself enough to actually put together a coherent post.  My mind has been all over the place the last couple of days - craziness at work, confusing situations at home, and various internal conflicts have me a little preoccupied.  I started two posts trying to get one together, but its a no go.  Sorry folks, I will try to get my head straight and crank one out later this week - I hope.

Caoch's Dilemma - The Practice Player

As I get my equipment together, wash the pinnies, re-number my cones, put air in the balls, draw out plays, and all the other things coaches do (or make someone else do) to prepare for the season, there is no doubt that I am excited to start the Fall season.  If I don't end up with a team of my own, I must have really made the ruling power(s) of the universe mad somehow.  I can't wait and I'm sure the other coaches and returning players are just as excited.  For some, it will have been a year since playing together - different towns, different seasonal sports preferences and the like have kept these guys apart since last November in some cases.  I'm anxious to see old faces and what they've done in the time off, they're anxious to see what new stuff the coaches have prepared to add to their level of play, and parents are anxious to cheer on some really competitive basketball.  It's all gravy...almost.

With all this excitement, for me, comes a small, but difficult problem.  It's one thing that I try my hardest to be mindful of, and this season may make that a little tougher.  I prefer to carry a roster of 10 players - makes practices easier and game management less of a concern.  But I learned this spring that the level of competition may impact minutes awarded to players (we strive to put the players in situations that play to their strengths to reduce unnecessary stress, which hopefully should reduce mistakes), some people don't realize that AAU may require more travel than the local travel teams did, and the next thing you know you are struggling to put a team on the floor about half way through.  Fortunately, the other coaches anticipated this and carried more guys to compensate.  I am really considering doing the same depending on which players return.  Fortunately, I had really reliable parents last season and they were ride or die for their sons, the team, and were supportive of the program as a whole.  If I get another group like that I'll have nothing to worry about.  But when you carry 12 or more guys, you have to rethink some things, and one thing that was surprising, albeit valid, is that you can't always determine playing time based on practice.

In the past I tried to use practice as the basis for playing time.  I guess I just got really lucky that it worked out that way.  But thinking back, this last year I've broken that rule but never really noticed it or given it a thought.  Broken...such a strong word, let's go with bent instead.  The general idea was if you want to play a lot of minutes you have to go hard in practice.  Good practice meant good amount of playing time assuming you stayed out of foul trouble or weren't building houses with bad shots.  But in some cases, some players got minutes even though they had a less than stellar week of practice.  Like I said, I never really noticed it until this season when I noticed it happening on the other teams.  One day, I just decided to ask why. Names have been changed for obvious reasons.

Coach A:  Tony's dad keeps telling me his kid should play more, maybe even start.  I just can't do it though.
Me: Why not?  Look at this kid.  Diving on the floor, running hard.  Even picking up this new press pretty well.  Maybe not a starter, but could be decent defensive help off the bench. He hasn't been turning the ball over so he wouldn't hurt on offense unless you needed points. 
Coach A: That does me no good if he only does it in practice though.  You have the stats, he's not the same kid come game time.  He's a good player, but he's scared.  I can't teach him swagger, but until he gets it, I can't really put him in tight games either.   
Me: Fair enough.  What about Travis.  He is only going 75% in practice every day, no matter how much you, me, or even Coach D talk to him.
Coach A:  He's the opposite of Tony.  He's slacking now, but same story - look at the stats.  He's a rebounding machine and is tough to score on in the post.  And if I take him out, who do I put in his place.  I can't go small and give up all those rebounds. 

At that point, I was beat.  He was right.  Unfortunately for Tony, he wasn't better than the alternatives, and while he would get some minutes for his efforts during practice, his confidence level minimized the reward.  Some would argue that the confidence to perform would come had he been given opportunities, but this is AAU basketball we're talking and the competition would have destroyed him and the bond with his teammates, which poses the risk of destroying the team.  The last thing I want to do is have a kid despised by his teammates - it's a tough season as it is, why make it tougher by spending it with nine guys that can't stand you.  So maybe I hold back some minutes and just keep praising the kid for the good play on the floor hopefully helping to boost his confidence so that one day he'll get the minutes he deserves.

I'm sure no coach likes having to make that decision, but it has to get made in competitive basketball.  It helps to have open lines of communication and positive reinforcement, but it's still a very delicate situation.  Add more players to juggle minutes between, and an expectation to be competitive in every game, and you've got serious work on your hands.  But, as coaches, we wanted that.  Maybe we're a little crazy.  I'm probably really crazy, because I'm actually looking forward to overcoming this challenge of managing more guys, instilling confidence in guys like "Tony", and getting game level participation from "Travis".  It all starts in 48 hours...

August Newsletter

Check out the latest edition of the Wolfpack AAU Newsletter!

August Newsletter


For the full posts adapted for the newsletter, check out Welcome to Orlando and A Job Well Done.

Back to Work

So now that the trip to Orlando is complete and the Spring season at a close, I now turn towards the Fall season.  For those interested, here's a link to information on the tryouts -

Tryouts Info

All the work, time, and effort put into the Spring season would be for naught if I didn't take anything away from it to better myself as a coach.  I figured I might as well talk about some of those things here to help cement the ideas, share them with any future players should they be bored enough to dig through the archive, and to look back on when I make it big like Coach K and win the Olympic Gold Medal Game.  Okay, so maybe that last one is a bit of a stretch, but if you don't reach, what are you doing?

One thing I learned in the Spring is that you need an identity.  In the past, I figured that I didn't need to have an identity - I'd let the players form it on their own.  I don't get to pick from the best players that match my style, that's reserved for private schools and colleges.  So I'll get the best that walks through tryout and just figure it out.  While I had some minor success with that approach, I have to admit I didn't meet my own expectations and I was my own obstacle.  While the other teams may have still beaten us, I can't help but feel that if my teams had established an identity maybe we would have pulled through with the win.  I saw it several times this past season, and in the couple of games I stepped in as coach it made it that much easier.

The Spring also confirmed that I need to put more of an emphasis on man-to-man principles.  I had been going back and forth on this leading into the Spring - do I sacrifice instant competitiveness for future growth?  Obviously the answer is yes, but I wasn't sure how to make it work.  Playing basketball isn't really cheap, and parents expect wins in exchange for all the time and money they put into their child's time on the team.  We may lose a couple of games, but I've been convinced that I need to do more man-to-man work and use it in games.  In addition to that, I will be a bit more aggressive on the court.    Normally I would settle into a half court defense, and slowly bring the ball up the court.  This spring made me want to speed all that up.  Full court defensive pressure, up tempo offensive attack - it's on like Donkey Kong!!

But all of this means nothing if I end up without a team again.  I decided to personally reach out to all the people I've coached in the past, people I've met, and all that to try to make sure we get a good turnout.  I had already established an email address for all things related to coaching, and I've recently set up up a Twitter account (Follow me!) - Facebook is next once I figure out how to post to my personal account and my coaching one from my phone.  Why?  Perhaps I am biting on Coach D - he has all of those to keep in touch with his players and he manages to get so much out of them as a result of that relationship (mentioned in this post from a few weeks back).  It also gives me another medium to reach their friends, winter teammates, as well as give me some insight to their mental state coming into games.  Sounds like nothing but good can come of it if managed correctly... Only time will tell.  I'm also considering getting some kind of card or something (cards seem to equal legit in the human mind) to hand out at tournaments and other events so that the word gets out about our program and me as a coach.  Networking is very important, more important than I thought when I started or I would have done more about that earlier.

Like I said, changes are happening and I have a few weeks to get all the things lined up before the next tryouts.  I just hope it's all beneficial for the teams and my future and not just perceptual improvements.  I'm looking forward to seeing where it takes me and the success that it brings. 

Doers and Watchers

So I had contemplated writing about Nationals again, but decided that two posts would be enough as I'd only end up repeating the same things over and over.  It was a good trip, and although I'll never tire of revisiting those days, I'll give you all a pass.  But, since I lost my camera, I will borrow a pic of the team outside of ESPN's Wide World of Sports -

And that brings us into today's post....

While at the Field House of ESPN's Wide World of Sports, I noticed that along the walls are little banners, defining the term "doer".  Obviously, its not a dictionary type definition, but just a few things that doers would do.  For instance, "Doers play to the whistle.  Doers practice as hard as they play the game. Doers get stronger as the game goes on.  Doers deliver in the clutch."  Everyone wants to be a doer - at least you'd hope so - and if the team does these things consistently, then there's a pretty good chance we'll see some form of success.  Makes sense.

Just the night before making the trip to the WWS complex, I decided to download a free book from Amazon (thanks to lifeonthejtrain for telling me about that).  In this book the villains are called "Watchers" because, well they are lazy and just, um...watch things happen.  They just watch the victim, staying out of the way, patiently waiting on the sidelines until a large enough window of opportunity appears before they make a move.  Essentially, the less work, the better for the watcher.

I've seen my share of both doers and watchers in my short time coaching,  and the crazy thing is that all teams need a some of both.  I know, you are probably wondering what coach wants a "watcher" on their team.  I do - remember there's a time and place for everything.

Teams obviously need doers on the court.   In a perfect world, you've got 10-12 (sometimes more but I'm still not sure why) doers that every time they step on a court, they come with the intent to put in work.  Not that half way, "I had a long day at school, coach" work either.  Focused, determined, inspired to become better than they are, and if that means someone on the other side gets a loss - so be it.  Putting it all on the line from the start of practice to the meeting prior to dismissal, from tip to final buzzer, anything less that 100% just doesn't exist.  But you've also got a coaching staff that is locked in ready to go.  They have work to do, too.  Whether its keeping stats, helping the head coach reemphasize a point, or managing personnel, coaches have to be doers to.  Maybe it starts a little earlier than the players and last a little longer - such is the life of a doer.  Just as players have to come to practice ready to work, coaches have to come to practice ready to lead the work and help channel the energy in the right direction.   Everyone wants referees who are doers - they'll call the game right, utilize proper mechanics, maintain control of the game, etc.  We've all had that one game that came down to a referee who either did or didn't blow the whistle on a clear foul...  Lastly, you need fans that are doers.  They'll cheer their team on the whole way and afterwards show their support for the team's efforts.  Doers are only good though when they stick to their roles.

Fans, and bench players, when they aren't cheering, need to be watchers.  I already talked about that in April (if you missed it - click here), so I'll just say that you don't need to be coaching, and you put your team in danger of a technical foul if you are bothering the referee too much with obscenities and the like.  They also don't need to be on the court during halftime or time outs, as that's distracting and rude.  All they need to do is cheer and show support.  If you aren't doing that, you are watching - waiting for your opportunity to cheer again.  The players on the floor, when they aren't playing need to also watch.  No trying to referee the game, no talking back to fans - just play the game.  If you think you got a foul, but there was no whistle, you aren't allowed to stop and beg for a call - doers play to the whistle, remember.  When there is a whistle, you become a watcher - waiting for your opportunity to strike, whether its a rebound on a missed free throw or executing an inbounds play.  Coaches, being tasked with the responsibility of the team, get to blur the lines a little, but being a doer, they'd know how far they can push the limit.  But generally, they don't do a lot of officiating, they leave the scoring to the players, and you can't always cheer - sometimes you just have to get in some one's face and tell them to wake up.   If it's not your role, don't be a doer.  Be patient and your time will come...

I really got to appreciate this at Nationals.  I saw some games where there were a lot of Doers staying in their lanes - fulfilling their, and only their, roles. There were some games with a little of both, and some games felt like the Watchers had taken over.  I definitely didn't like those games of the latter type.  I know sometimes I don't live up to the "doer" standards - I am human, after all - but this trip and, for whatever reason, the signs around the building about what a doer is just makes me want to push harder to live up to it, because the one thing that I didn't see on the wall that day is that "A doers job is never actually finished.  Doers are never satisfied."