As I start to gear up for the last stretch of the season, and start preparing for the AAU season, I looked to step up our practices with hopes that by getting more reps that we'd start getting more consistent play and just be better prepared for pressure.
The boys responded very well. Surprisingly, no complaints from anyone, we just got straight to work. Had to respect that - their willingness to keep working, even though we're having a rough season. When we got together before our Friday game, the meeting wasn't on what to focus on physically, but what to remember mentally.
We started the season, with a 2 - 9 record before we took a break for the Christmas holiday. Since then, we've gone 7 - 5. One of the guys did mention that we've lost a couple of games by a lot, but the fact is, if that doesn't show signs of improvement, what does. Before the break, the team didn't move the ball well. There was no bond, no trust, and it was really elementary basketball. Since then we've slowly transformed and made strides to look, play, and feel like a team. I also reminded them that I believed in all nine of them when I made the cuts after tryouts, and I still do. I knew it was going to be tough, I knew we were going to have our struggles, but I felt like there was plenty of room to grow. I felt like we could put together a team where we'd all learn from each other and come out with a winning record and lots of great memories. I still had that feeling, even with our 10 - 14 record. The problem was that not enough of them had that same feeling.
It's easy as a coach, especially me, when you are never "satisfied" (not in a bad way, but in a Coach Popovich from the San Antonio Spurs way), to get too caught up in what your team doesn't do well. When your team is doing well, they tend to take that criticism better. But we had a very tough loss still fresh on our minds, so I just felt like they needed to know that they still had my support. I even admitted that the last loss was expected. I can admit when I'm beat - it was a better team. I am okay when we lose to good teams IF we play our best, and we didn't which is why I was mad. The moment I said that, I could just see a lot of pressure come off these kids. We played two great games this weekend. Sure we lost one, but the team is 8 - 1 in our league and very good. We pressured them the whole game and gave them a serious challenge. Our second game of the weekend was also a great game, and all the guys just seemed to work together and play hard to get a solid win.
Sometimes the only thing you need to say to motivate someone is the simplest thing - "I believe in you."
Monday, January 28, 2013
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Earned Respect
So a few weeks ago, one of my more experienced guys went down and had to get his appendix removed. You would think he'd be out for a good while recovering from surgery. I didn't really expect to see him back trying to move around on the court for probably two more weeks. But then sometimes, that hunger just takes control...
Last Monday, I walk into practice and he's on the court dribbling. He's not really dressed to do a ton of running or anything, but he showed up. I didn't ask him to show up - didn't say anything about it at all. Then we start doing some shooting work and he's helping pass the ball back in to shooters. Finding ways to be at practice and involved. So I talk to his mom and she tells me he's cleared to practice, but just keep an eye on him. I figure I'll let him do some light conditioning, give him extra breaks, let him sit out reps the next practice.
We show up to the next practice and we do some sprints to start after stretching. I'm expecting this guy to be last, and I'm okay with that. He's two weeks out of surgery. He's finishing in the middle of the group! Whoa. I had to call out the other players on it. "This guy is two weeks out of surgery and at 100% he wasn't beating most of you. HE JUST HAD SURGERY! I expected him to be a little rusty and out of shape, but he's crushing some of you." I turned to him, shook his hand, and said, "You sir, have earned my respect." Even after calling them out, I think he outworked his teammates that practice by far.
I gave him spotty minutes during games last weekend just to help gauge his progress. He still has some work to do to get back to full strength, but he was so determined- you couldn't tell him he wasn't supposed to be playing at this level. He was not going to quit. Even when the pace got a little too fast for him, he gave everything to keep up and be in position to help his team. If he was 100%, I'm pretty sure I'd have let him play every minute of every game with that attitude. I missed it. That pure, innocent, "I just want to play ball" mindset. The attitude where I just want to help my team do better no matter what and even though I'm a little tired and sore, I'm going to dig deeper. While I'm not wishing appendicitis on anyone, but maybe that brief time where he couldn't play was the difference maker. They say sometimes you don't realize how important something is until you can't have it. Maybe that's what's happening here. Closest I could get is benching a kid for a whole game, but that's generally frowned upon with 5th grade, or anyone not in high school apparently (borderline soft if you ask me). All I know is that hunger, desire, determination brings a smile to my face. To any athletes out there, trust me when I tell you - your coach will absolutely have more respect for you if you just go and give it your all for every second that you are on the court.
Last Monday, I walk into practice and he's on the court dribbling. He's not really dressed to do a ton of running or anything, but he showed up. I didn't ask him to show up - didn't say anything about it at all. Then we start doing some shooting work and he's helping pass the ball back in to shooters. Finding ways to be at practice and involved. So I talk to his mom and she tells me he's cleared to practice, but just keep an eye on him. I figure I'll let him do some light conditioning, give him extra breaks, let him sit out reps the next practice.
We show up to the next practice and we do some sprints to start after stretching. I'm expecting this guy to be last, and I'm okay with that. He's two weeks out of surgery. He's finishing in the middle of the group! Whoa. I had to call out the other players on it. "This guy is two weeks out of surgery and at 100% he wasn't beating most of you. HE JUST HAD SURGERY! I expected him to be a little rusty and out of shape, but he's crushing some of you." I turned to him, shook his hand, and said, "You sir, have earned my respect." Even after calling them out, I think he outworked his teammates that practice by far.
I gave him spotty minutes during games last weekend just to help gauge his progress. He still has some work to do to get back to full strength, but he was so determined- you couldn't tell him he wasn't supposed to be playing at this level. He was not going to quit. Even when the pace got a little too fast for him, he gave everything to keep up and be in position to help his team. If he was 100%, I'm pretty sure I'd have let him play every minute of every game with that attitude. I missed it. That pure, innocent, "I just want to play ball" mindset. The attitude where I just want to help my team do better no matter what and even though I'm a little tired and sore, I'm going to dig deeper. While I'm not wishing appendicitis on anyone, but maybe that brief time where he couldn't play was the difference maker. They say sometimes you don't realize how important something is until you can't have it. Maybe that's what's happening here. Closest I could get is benching a kid for a whole game, but that's generally frowned upon with 5th grade, or anyone not in high school apparently (borderline soft if you ask me). All I know is that hunger, desire, determination brings a smile to my face. To any athletes out there, trust me when I tell you - your coach will absolutely have more respect for you if you just go and give it your all for every second that you are on the court.
Monday, January 14, 2013
A Tale of Two Games
Interesting weekend for me to say the least...
As a coach you spend time looking at each game looking for where you can improve, what the "next level" is for your team, and that's a tough enough task as it is. Then you have weekends like mine where one team shows up one day and a totally different team the next. It's like a case of stolen identity or something that makes you wonder if 9 guys got abducted and replaced by alien copies or something.
Friday night we had a game, and we couldn't have played any more aggressive. We had our share of mistakes, forgotten rotations, and poor shot choices, but they were minimal and generally we recovered well. If a guy entered a zone, he was met with ball pressure, most shots were contested, rebounds were ripped out of the air. All the stuff we had preached since November was starting to settle into a semblance of a great game of basketball. Add to that an electrifying energy from all the players and we were unstoppable. I even got on Twitter, Facebook, and texted other coaches about how they missed something special. It was crazy. I stayed up until like 2 in the morning just hyped up from that game and thinking of how far we've come and how we can really shake our leagues up if we keep going strong. Never did it cross my mind that two days would be a totally different story...
Sunday we played another team, and the boys showed up with a little extra in their walk. Fair enough, we did ball on a whole new level a few days ago, and they needed the confidence. I was okay with that. We talked about some of the blown rotations on defense, took a little time to focus on the task at hand and took the court. Our opponent came out in a man to man press. Nothing new, we know how to beat this. Turnover, layup. Um, okay. Let's settle in, but it's early and that's just 2 points. We're good. Couple of possessions later - press, turnover, layup. Turnover, layup. Turnover, layup. What in the world is going on here. This press isn't that good. We're beating ourselves. Timeout. Maybe we just have to settle. Let's go back to basic fundamental passes. Dribble with our heads up. Yeah - needless to say that went nowhere and the first quarter is over with a score of 21 - 3. Where did my team go? We've beaten this defensive scheme before. Why are we struggling? There's no energy, we're blowing simple assignments, people aren't talking, we aren't rebounding, we're playing scared. The list goes on and on. And I'm not exaggerating or being overly negative - you watch the video and you'll see I'm just being honest. Let's just say the final score was a little embarrassing...
As a coach, what do you do with this? These games were on such opposite extremes, you can't even say, "Well in both games we did A, B, and C," and go off that. Night and day. And the parent reaction was the same. Friday night and Saturday I'm a genius. "The boys are really improving!" "Great job with the team coach." Then after Sunday's game, there was "Coach, you know that defense [that we've been in all season long but is the best defense we have so far] doesn't work against good teams because we are slow to rotate." "You know, the guys on the floor [that played really well together Friday] aren't the right 5 to generate offense." Really? I kind of know how Avery Johnson felt. "You know, you give me praise for these last few weeks, then we hit a rough spot, and now I'm terrible."
I refuse to let it kill my spirit though. Parents are your average fan. Many of them are fickle and only want to see their child on the court scoring every possible point. I just wish they'd do their talking away from me where their kids and I can't hear it. For the players, well I've got a few hours to figure out something, all I know is that there will be lots of conditioning, drills, and intensity in practice. Players will have to realize that it's that time of the season where you put up or shut up, and that we've worked too hard to have nightmarish performances like Sunday's. We will find delight in any and all forward progress, but cannot stand for any (further) backwards steps by anyone. This upcoming week gives us plenty of opportunity to bounce back, let's see if we can make the most of it.
As a coach you spend time looking at each game looking for where you can improve, what the "next level" is for your team, and that's a tough enough task as it is. Then you have weekends like mine where one team shows up one day and a totally different team the next. It's like a case of stolen identity or something that makes you wonder if 9 guys got abducted and replaced by alien copies or something.
Friday night we had a game, and we couldn't have played any more aggressive. We had our share of mistakes, forgotten rotations, and poor shot choices, but they were minimal and generally we recovered well. If a guy entered a zone, he was met with ball pressure, most shots were contested, rebounds were ripped out of the air. All the stuff we had preached since November was starting to settle into a semblance of a great game of basketball. Add to that an electrifying energy from all the players and we were unstoppable. I even got on Twitter, Facebook, and texted other coaches about how they missed something special. It was crazy. I stayed up until like 2 in the morning just hyped up from that game and thinking of how far we've come and how we can really shake our leagues up if we keep going strong. Never did it cross my mind that two days would be a totally different story...
Sunday we played another team, and the boys showed up with a little extra in their walk. Fair enough, we did ball on a whole new level a few days ago, and they needed the confidence. I was okay with that. We talked about some of the blown rotations on defense, took a little time to focus on the task at hand and took the court. Our opponent came out in a man to man press. Nothing new, we know how to beat this. Turnover, layup. Um, okay. Let's settle in, but it's early and that's just 2 points. We're good. Couple of possessions later - press, turnover, layup. Turnover, layup. Turnover, layup. What in the world is going on here. This press isn't that good. We're beating ourselves. Timeout. Maybe we just have to settle. Let's go back to basic fundamental passes. Dribble with our heads up. Yeah - needless to say that went nowhere and the first quarter is over with a score of 21 - 3. Where did my team go? We've beaten this defensive scheme before. Why are we struggling? There's no energy, we're blowing simple assignments, people aren't talking, we aren't rebounding, we're playing scared. The list goes on and on. And I'm not exaggerating or being overly negative - you watch the video and you'll see I'm just being honest. Let's just say the final score was a little embarrassing...
As a coach, what do you do with this? These games were on such opposite extremes, you can't even say, "Well in both games we did A, B, and C," and go off that. Night and day. And the parent reaction was the same. Friday night and Saturday I'm a genius. "The boys are really improving!" "Great job with the team coach." Then after Sunday's game, there was "Coach, you know that defense [that we've been in all season long but is the best defense we have so far] doesn't work against good teams because we are slow to rotate." "You know, the guys on the floor [that played really well together Friday] aren't the right 5 to generate offense." Really? I kind of know how Avery Johnson felt. "You know, you give me praise for these last few weeks, then we hit a rough spot, and now I'm terrible."
I refuse to let it kill my spirit though. Parents are your average fan. Many of them are fickle and only want to see their child on the court scoring every possible point. I just wish they'd do their talking away from me where their kids and I can't hear it. For the players, well I've got a few hours to figure out something, all I know is that there will be lots of conditioning, drills, and intensity in practice. Players will have to realize that it's that time of the season where you put up or shut up, and that we've worked too hard to have nightmarish performances like Sunday's. We will find delight in any and all forward progress, but cannot stand for any (further) backwards steps by anyone. This upcoming week gives us plenty of opportunity to bounce back, let's see if we can make the most of it.
Monday, January 7, 2013
Big Wins (Literally and Figuratively)
Every coach has to adjust to the situation. Sometimes you get to prepare, sometimes you get blindsided. But at the end of the day, you've got to find a way to overcome and get out of the game with a victory.
After the great steps forward during the Holiday Slamfest tournament, we ran into yet another obstacle. Two of the starters were out of action this past weekend. One kid was on vacation, while the other caught a stroke of bad luck and ended up with Appendicitis. The team averages somewhere around 26 points (that average is skewed as we didn't score much initially) and the two guys who were out average 14 points a game. They also brought some leadership and height to the team. To sum it up - we had the potential to have a terrible, demoralizing weekend.
My guys knew that the loss was going to be big - you can't hide an elephant behind a toothpick. I refused to believe it though. I absolutely felt that we could run with the teams we were matched up with. I believed in my team enough that I was a little offended that one of the coaches made comments after our last meeting that made me feel like his only threat were these two guys. It motivated me to make it a point of emphasis that the team as a whole is growing, improving, and not to be taken lightly. I shared my frustration and told the players that not only should we look to beat this one team again, but to beat them worse than we did the first time. We probably had the best practices we've had all season as we worked hard to make sure that everyone was ready. People were going to have to step up, they were going to get more chances to shine, and the opportunity to earn the respect of their parents, teammates, and coaches was waiting for them to seize it.
It was a slow start, but as the confidence of the guys who were just getting used to the extra time on the court grew, we began to roll. Once we settled in at halftime, the score jumped from 16 - 10 to 30 - 13 in about 3 minutes. From then on we never looked back. The defense forced bad shots, we moved the ball well against the zone without some of our top guys. That game was big for the team - the first half you could tell some of the guys weren't really convinced that we could win or even compete. But then it was like a light clicked on and we were rolling. The next game was a tough one, and although we didn't get the W, we were in it up until the very end when our short bench got the best of us. But we were able to claw back from down 12 to draw within 4 in the final quarter. It was a little frustrating to be so close and then fall short, but all in all I'm proud of the boys for stepping up.
This weekend was a huge morale booster, and I can tell by the body language that some of the guys who were hesitant are now more confident which has helped their game. I was pleasantly surprised and now have to reconsider my rotation a little. And the opportunity is still there as my player recovers from his surgery. Hopefully people will continue to step up and understand that the misfortune of one player is a great opportunity for them. All I can say is that some of these guys that really came through will be pleasantly surprised when they suit up this weekend. It's just as they say, good fortune/luck is what happens when opportunity meets hard work. They've earned it.
After the great steps forward during the Holiday Slamfest tournament, we ran into yet another obstacle. Two of the starters were out of action this past weekend. One kid was on vacation, while the other caught a stroke of bad luck and ended up with Appendicitis. The team averages somewhere around 26 points (that average is skewed as we didn't score much initially) and the two guys who were out average 14 points a game. They also brought some leadership and height to the team. To sum it up - we had the potential to have a terrible, demoralizing weekend.
My guys knew that the loss was going to be big - you can't hide an elephant behind a toothpick. I refused to believe it though. I absolutely felt that we could run with the teams we were matched up with. I believed in my team enough that I was a little offended that one of the coaches made comments after our last meeting that made me feel like his only threat were these two guys. It motivated me to make it a point of emphasis that the team as a whole is growing, improving, and not to be taken lightly. I shared my frustration and told the players that not only should we look to beat this one team again, but to beat them worse than we did the first time. We probably had the best practices we've had all season as we worked hard to make sure that everyone was ready. People were going to have to step up, they were going to get more chances to shine, and the opportunity to earn the respect of their parents, teammates, and coaches was waiting for them to seize it.
It was a slow start, but as the confidence of the guys who were just getting used to the extra time on the court grew, we began to roll. Once we settled in at halftime, the score jumped from 16 - 10 to 30 - 13 in about 3 minutes. From then on we never looked back. The defense forced bad shots, we moved the ball well against the zone without some of our top guys. That game was big for the team - the first half you could tell some of the guys weren't really convinced that we could win or even compete. But then it was like a light clicked on and we were rolling. The next game was a tough one, and although we didn't get the W, we were in it up until the very end when our short bench got the best of us. But we were able to claw back from down 12 to draw within 4 in the final quarter. It was a little frustrating to be so close and then fall short, but all in all I'm proud of the boys for stepping up.
This weekend was a huge morale booster, and I can tell by the body language that some of the guys who were hesitant are now more confident which has helped their game. I was pleasantly surprised and now have to reconsider my rotation a little. And the opportunity is still there as my player recovers from his surgery. Hopefully people will continue to step up and understand that the misfortune of one player is a great opportunity for them. All I can say is that some of these guys that really came through will be pleasantly surprised when they suit up this weekend. It's just as they say, good fortune/luck is what happens when opportunity meets hard work. They've earned it.
Thursday, January 3, 2013
Finish Strong
So due to user error, this did not actually auto-post when I wanted to (I hit the save button instead of publish) this is late. Had my coworker not asked me how my boys did, I probably wouldn't have even thought to check. My apologies. No edits, so just pretend it's still Dec. 31, 2012 while you read this.
--
So the trip back to New Jersey was interesting. After my last post I hopped on the second leg of my return flight and then was stuck on the runway for about an hour and a half waiting on a mechanic to fix a part of the plane. Obviously, most people would be happy such an issue was discovered prior to take off - except when you find out that the broken part of the plane was a seat that wouldn't stay in the fully upright position. And to make it worse, a member of the cockpit came back, looked at it, put some makeshift thing in place to solve the problem in about 5 minutes. The remaining hour and 25 minutes was spent waiting on the mechanic to answer his radio and confirm that the fix was sufficient to meet regulations and let us leave. Then once the plane gets to Newark Airport, we have to sit on the tarmac another 45 minutes because they didn't have a gate for us. Did I mention I had a game to be at. I got off the plane as fast as I could, made a couple of quick texts to Coach HH to find some basketballs, and made my way straight from the airport to the gym. I'm so glad I put just about everything I'd need to coach in my car before I left.
I arrived in time to have a quick meeting with my team, and break down how important is was for us to finish strong. Finish the year with a sense of just how far we've come over the last six weeks. Finish with a sense of pride that would energize us to a great run in 2013. Finish strong because that is what the best of the best do. We jumped out of the gate well that night, outrebounding, outworking, and just outwilling the opposition. It was far from a great game, but considering how much better it was looking from our first games in November - it was amazing. The determination spoke volumes, and it was like a rite of passage getting that win, especially when the margin was over 20 points.
Many people would think that a fluke, and the other coaches and I refused to let it sink in. The next day, the message to the team during the pregame meeting was simply, "Don't repeat last night's performance - improve it." We talked about some of the areas we needed to focus on, and I tried to gear it towards the things we do well, our strengths would be what carried us to a second victory. Sure enough, we came out with more toughness, fire, and won a second game by over 20. We kept the formula the same thoughout the weekend and managed to go 3 - 1, advanced to our first semi-finals appearance, and improved our record to 5-11.
It may not look like much on paper, but to see the smiles, feel the confidence level triple, and hear the kids talk about how now they can really compete made those 3 wins probably the biggest of the year for me. It was a great way to close out the year. Sure we lost the last game, but the three wins outshine the loss by far. I look forward to getting more wins in 2013, and just getting more out of the team as I finally feel like we can move past some of the basic, low level type stuff in practice. It feels like we finally have a foundation to build on.
As the year comes to a close in these final minutes, I wish that everyone stays safe, makes at least one resolution they can keep, and remembers to finish strong. Happy New Year!
--
So the trip back to New Jersey was interesting. After my last post I hopped on the second leg of my return flight and then was stuck on the runway for about an hour and a half waiting on a mechanic to fix a part of the plane. Obviously, most people would be happy such an issue was discovered prior to take off - except when you find out that the broken part of the plane was a seat that wouldn't stay in the fully upright position. And to make it worse, a member of the cockpit came back, looked at it, put some makeshift thing in place to solve the problem in about 5 minutes. The remaining hour and 25 minutes was spent waiting on the mechanic to answer his radio and confirm that the fix was sufficient to meet regulations and let us leave. Then once the plane gets to Newark Airport, we have to sit on the tarmac another 45 minutes because they didn't have a gate for us. Did I mention I had a game to be at. I got off the plane as fast as I could, made a couple of quick texts to Coach HH to find some basketballs, and made my way straight from the airport to the gym. I'm so glad I put just about everything I'd need to coach in my car before I left.
I arrived in time to have a quick meeting with my team, and break down how important is was for us to finish strong. Finish the year with a sense of just how far we've come over the last six weeks. Finish with a sense of pride that would energize us to a great run in 2013. Finish strong because that is what the best of the best do. We jumped out of the gate well that night, outrebounding, outworking, and just outwilling the opposition. It was far from a great game, but considering how much better it was looking from our first games in November - it was amazing. The determination spoke volumes, and it was like a rite of passage getting that win, especially when the margin was over 20 points.
Many people would think that a fluke, and the other coaches and I refused to let it sink in. The next day, the message to the team during the pregame meeting was simply, "Don't repeat last night's performance - improve it." We talked about some of the areas we needed to focus on, and I tried to gear it towards the things we do well, our strengths would be what carried us to a second victory. Sure enough, we came out with more toughness, fire, and won a second game by over 20. We kept the formula the same thoughout the weekend and managed to go 3 - 1, advanced to our first semi-finals appearance, and improved our record to 5-11.
It may not look like much on paper, but to see the smiles, feel the confidence level triple, and hear the kids talk about how now they can really compete made those 3 wins probably the biggest of the year for me. It was a great way to close out the year. Sure we lost the last game, but the three wins outshine the loss by far. I look forward to getting more wins in 2013, and just getting more out of the team as I finally feel like we can move past some of the basic, low level type stuff in practice. It feels like we finally have a foundation to build on.
As the year comes to a close in these final minutes, I wish that everyone stays safe, makes at least one resolution they can keep, and remembers to finish strong. Happy New Year!
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