Monday, August 31, 2009

"Pick Up" Basketball-a girls basketball dilemma

"My emphasis is not on running an offense...it is on teaching my team offense. We want players who can play offense, not run an offense." (Mike Krzyyzewski)

Honestly, one of my favorite basketball quotes. I've been preaching for awhile that not enough girls enjoy freelance or pick-up ball. Women are great with structure, usually more than men. They are great at listening and doing exactly what you tell them, almost too much. It is very easy to coach or teach the 'play' out of a young lady. They will follow so much instruction to the 't' that they rarely learn or feel the game for themselves, and therefore can lack creativity, or play-ability. I also believe because young ladies listen so well that many young coaches get caught up in over teaching them set plays and things of that nature which stifle their games own maturation.

What actually prompted me to write this was when I was in the gym with my 13yr old daughter last week. We were doing some individual stuff on one side of the court, and on the other half were some grown men playing 'pick up ball'. With out any prompting, she said to me, "Dad, you know why I think us girls are hesitant to play using our crossover dribbles, spins, behind the back, are not aggressive all the time, things of that nature? Because we don't play enough pick up ball, 1/1, things like that."

How do we fix this problem? "Pick up ball", encourage your young ladies to get in the gym and just play some 1/1, 2/2, 3/3,/4/4,/5/5 where there is little obligation to run plays. Teach them the fundamentals of spacing, cutting, use of the dribble, passing, transition, positions, and defense. Then, let them play! If there is not many opportunities where your at for them to find pick up games, then provide the atmosphere for them. Break them into stations of 1/1, 2/2, &3/3, then finish off the day with some 5/5. Provide them some instruction, like the above mentioned fundamentals, but let them play. You can film if you like, and show them later where the fundamentals where performed well or not performed well, but try not to interrupt the games that much.

LET THEM PLAY!

Sunday, August 30, 2009

"Be Creative"

Being Creative is what's behind evolution. It's putting to use valuable assets like empowerment. Although this applies to many facets of life, because I coach basketball, I'm going to make it specific to the game.


"The key to success is often the ability to adapt."
Many of the drills we use in basketball, the different offensive and defensive schemes, were created by someone. Most have evolved by other coaches taking ownership, improving on what already existed, and adapting what was given to them to their teams, & players. Many times coaches have to adapt and be flexible with what they do by how different teams play them. The bottom line is that we must remain flexible, and seek where we can make improvements. This takes a level of create ability, a sound understanding of the game, and intuit. Don't get me wrong. You can't just go out there and do whatever on the grounds of creativity and be successful. You must adhere to the fundamentals of the game. Good intuitiveness comes from experience, watching others, and having an understanding. You must be willing to make mistakes.


"Any change, even a change for the better is always accompanied by drawbacks & discomforts."
(Arnold Bennet)
Sometimes, you might have a great idea, that just doesn't get executed great by your team, or is well played by another. Don't necessarily give up on it. Maybe another team with other players might fit it better, or another opponent can be very vulnerable to it. Keep working, playing, and adjusting.



Often in youth sports you will see this lack of creativeness. Young coaches, or parent coaches will take something right out of a textbook, or something they learned in their playing days but can't adapt it to their team or teach a team how to play withing the play. The players look like robots, the coach gets frustrated, and parents say 'the offense doesn't work'. It's not that. It's the lack of teaching and creativity within the elements. You can't teach a play if you don't know how the fundamentals of angles, deployment, and match ups work.


(i.e)
I like to use different entries to flow into different offenses if we don't get what we want out of our quick or secondary offense. For example I might use a dribble @ back-cut move to set up a pick&roll on the wing rather than just a pass entry. The back cut will balance the floor into a triangle set. Once we are there and didn't get the shot or roll we have a sideline triangle we can work out of or motion. I often like to use a split high post action to get into the high post UCLA offense, triangle, or motion.



Don't be afraid to mix it up & have fun learning.

"When your finished changing, your finished." (Benjamin Franklin)

Final thought: Don't just do things the way the last person did. Emphasise different points. Put your own style and twist on the things. PUT A SIGNATURE ON EVERYTHING YOU DO.