Sunday, April 29, 2018

Timing And Rotation


The longer I coach, the more I like rethinking methods of teaching basketball to my players. I came to WCS in 1998 and we still run the same offenses against man and zone, the same three inbounds plays, and the same press break. What has changed is the way I teach it. My estimation is that we only do about 5 % of the same drills we did when I arrived twenty years ago. My adjustment from coaching high school to middle school came in basically starting at the beginning, the way you do with little kids in summer camps. Most coaches do things the way their high school or college coaches did them or perhaps they adapt what they see at clinics/camps. You also borrow from colleagues you coach with or against. It's really a fraternity if that's permissible to say with female counterparts! The Internet has changed how information is circulated in the coaching ranks. I have coaching videos and e-mails sent to me on a daily basis. I discard what is not applicable to our team/style/level of play/philosophy and tweak what I can apply to make us better. I find great enjoyment in constantly updating the processes we employ. And there is this: the boredom factor. Repetition is good but it doesn't take long to lose its effectiveness, to where the kids can do a drill without any focus. Changing up practice keeps all of us on our toes. 

One thing I learned when I first started coaching is that standing around is the enemy of a good practice. Another truth I've gleaned is that when you change practices up, the kids have to think and figure it out. I try to have them make as many decisions daily as possible and to try to get them to think like coaches. We add at least one new drill per week and usually more. In the Spring, we don't work on defense except when we play. My belief is that it's easier and less time consuming to teach defense but offensive skills can require years of work. We do some breakdown work for post and perimeter players but mainly, we try to teach them how to play basketball. 

That brings us to the diagram at the top of the page which incidentally, took several hours to draw on my photo-shop device- hard making straight lines on the laptop! It's a passing/cutting/catching/shooting drill we added last week, one that I picked up from a college coach and modified to our needs. That's not always easy because you have to gauge distances of college males versus thirteen year old young ladies. In this drill, we emphasize hard cuts, appropriate passes, meeting the ball, and making shots. The girls picked it up quickly; we always teach it going to the right. A good drill can be run both directions but as we are all right handed, changing directions causes some hiccups. I like it and the kids like it so it will stay in our library of drills for future reference!

I talked to my 8th period 8th grade Bible class about this drill because Hayden and Aspen, two of my players, are in that section. This drill is like life in two ways.  The first is timing. Four kids have to move together and if one messes up, the sequence breaks down. It's easier for the more experienced girls because they have a better ability to see how it plays out. One late cut and all four players on the court are affected. Timing is so important in life. You like someone and they like you back but not concurrently. You want a job and they are interested in you but in separate windows of opportunity. Fortunately, God's timing is not ours! What's disappointing to us in the moment is beneficial in the long run- it may take years to come to that realization. But along with the importance of timing goes rotation, which is sometimes even harder for players this age to grasp. Where do I go next after I make this pass? In this particular drill, three kids stay and one, the shooter, moves on while another player comes in. Isn't that life? What do I do next? Where do I go next? Who is left behind? Sometimes, we get stuck in a bad situation and we struggle to leave it. I've moved a number of times since high school, never without prayer, and it's never worked out the way I thought it would or even should. But the Lord, in His infinite wisdom, has worked through my mistakes and led me each step along the highway of life. You can't draw it on a coaching clip board- too many stops/starts/turns. (My tribute to Don Meyer!) But as these drills are preparing these girls how to step on the court on a higher level, our daily lives are, hopefully, preparing us to make a difference in the much more important arena of life. One of my favorite hymns on this topic is Johnson Oatman's marvelous Higher Ground. It begins with the beloved line, "I'm pressing on the upward way....." Pressing- that's a basketball term. See what I mean? Court is in session.



Applicable quote of the day # 1:
“Coaches win practices, players win games”
Pete Carril



Applicable quote of the day # 2:
“Professional coaches measure success in rings. College coaches measure success in championships. High School coaches measure success to titles. Youth coaches measure success in smiles” 

Paul McAllister

God bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1

www.hawleybooks.com
E-mail me at steve@hawleybooks.com

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