This was a unique season for me. The last couple of winter seasons gave me plenty of talent and experience, which allowed us to dominate most teams with minimal effort. I didn't allow them to settle, and they were already familiar with what it took to win games, the agony of defeat, and were prepared for what a winter season is like. Most of those players were familiar with how to dribble while looking up, were comfortable handling the ball with both hands, and could finish at the rim on either side. The knew what I wanted from a good, solid ball screen or a back door cut. So I walked into it expected a similar situation. Needless to say, I need to spend a couple of practices just evaluating the IQ of my team next season. I wasted so much time before I realized just how far behind this group was in comparison to my previous teams, and had I taken a few days to make that evaluation, perhaps we would have won more games at the start of the season.
Another thing the season taught me is that while there are different ways that people react to motivating, there are also different ways to motivate. This season, after the experience in the spring and fall seasons, I decided to try to adopt some of the other coaching styles from coaches I'd worked with or against, and one big thing was to try to be more stern. Well, not only did it not work for the players, it didn't work for me. It made me more negative and made it harder to stay energized (hence my post a few weeks ago : Growth Experiment: Energy) and it actually started to be more work than fun. When I relaxed and went back to being where I felt comfortable, we saw more energy, fight and determination, and it was just more fun coaching.
The last big thing that the season taught me is that I'm a coach, not a player. While my competitive side helps to keep me constantly looking for things to improve, I have to keep it in check. Ultimately my job is to develop talent and winning games is a bonus. While I would have loved to go 49 - 0 as a competitor, the growth we saw as a team en route to our 17 - 32 record made me proud. I'm not satisfied, but I'm also not destroying myself over it because of my understanding that my job is to create these kinds of things. Like I said earlier, the team was so new to the game that many people wondered how we would do, if we'd even get 10 wins, and the like. Our first few games were shocking - defeats by large margins, struggles to do basic things - but so were our last. We looked better, we were able to beat presses that suffocated us before, able to run some offenses, and were competitive in most of our games in the final month. There's still plenty to do, but everyone agrees that the boys had improved, which means I did what I was asked to do.
These are just a few of the things I'm thinking about during my little intermission. It's an important part of my off-season, but I can't stay on it for too long. I have a new challenge about to start with the spring AAU 14U team coming up very soon. A team that looks to be very competitive, with high expectations, and at a level I'm not familiar with. I have to focus, I have to prepare, and I have to believe. This last season provided me with several lessons that will help build on what I've been through the last 2 years and this new challenge will need me to put them all together. These boys from the winter were determined to work hard and find success, and that shall be my inspiration to do the same in the spring.
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