This article touches on one of the real challenges in coaching. How can coaches demand respect and accountability, when that environment is not mirrored in the world around the athletes? How does a coach establish reality, without damaging feelings? Here are some interesting numbers from the article.
“According to a 2016 NCAA survey, 76 percent of all Division I female athletes said they would like to go home to their moms and dads more often, and 64 percent said they communicate with their parents at least once a day, a number that rises to 73 percent among women’s basketball players. And nearly a third reported feeling overwhelmed.”
“At the same time, accompanying this anxiety, iGens have unrealistic expectations and exaggerated opinions of themselves. Nearly 60 percent of high school students say they expect to get a graduate degree — when just 9 to 10 percent actually will. And 47 percent of Division I women’s basketball players think it’s at least “somewhat likely” they will play professional or Olympic ball, but the reality? The WNBA drafts just 36 players, 0.9 percent.”
This is a fantastic article, which references this Geno Auriemma video, and also how Pat Summit would fit into modern day coaching.
CLICK HERE for the full article
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TELLING vs TEACHING | Being a Great Teammate
We all want our players to be great teammates. We are constantly telling our players to put the team first, but are we intentional about teaching players how to do it? If you are teaching players how to be a great teammate, then it should be explained, players should learn how it sounds, as well as what it looks like to put the team first. Below are five steps to create great teammates in your program.
EXPLAIN WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A GOOD TEAMMATE
If this is important to your program, then it needs to be outlined within your core values. For example, two of our core values connect to being a great teammate. The first is RELATIONSHIPS. We talk about what it means to develop relationships and how it connects everyone within our program. The second is SERVANT LEADERSHIP. The purpose is to seek ways to serve others, which includes our teammates. By connecting being a great teammate to two of our core values, it empowers the fact that being a great teammate is more than an expectation. It is who we are and what we do.
TEACH PLAYERS WHAT IT SOUNDS LIKE TO BE A GREAT TEAMMATE
One of our favorite activities to do is the “Rock, Paper, Scissors Challenge.” In this activity, players do a best of three series of the game Rock, Paper, Scissors. The winner finds another teammate to play against. The loser becomes a “HYPE GUY” for the winner. You continue this until you have two players remaining in the Championship. At that point, they have a team of “HYPE GUYS” behind them. It creates a fun environment. At the conclusion of the Championship, we let our players know that we expect our bench to be full of “HYPE GUYS.” Now that we have taught our players what it sounds like to be a great teammate, it can be an expectation for the players.
Is your bench quiet/lacks enthusiasm? Stop complaing & TEACH THEM!
Great Exercise: You lose = cheer for teammate who beat you.#CultureWins pic.twitter.com/M0GBsQJaWE
— Doug Brotherton (@CoachBrotherton) June 10, 2017
TEACH PLAYERS WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE TO BE A GREAT TEAMMATE
Similar to teaching players what it sounds like to be a great teammate, this lesson allows us to hold players accountable. The best tool for teaching players what it looks like to be a great teammate is film. We will use clips from other teams at the beginning of the season. As the season continues, we will use clips of our own team. It could be all four players sprinting to help up a teammate who has gotten on the floor. It might be our bench celebrating a positive play. It could be a teammate giving positive reinforcement to a frustrated teammate. Too many coaches want to point out the negative behavior on the bench. While this is a form of accountability, it is also highlighting the behavior that we do not want. It can be much more powerful to show positive examples, and then find a way to reward that behavior. Another way to teach players what it looks like to be a great teammate is to meet them on their level. In this case, we are talking about social media. A tweet or instagram post that promotes being a good teammate will reach some of your players better than a lecture. A social media post is a great way to utilize messaging that players want to absorb.
A senior captain giving an hour of her free time to tutor/help a teammate! #Leadership #Proud #LadyVikingsHoops pic.twitter.com/080zXPk6j3
— Doug Brotherton (@CoachBrotherton) November 18, 2014
SHARPEN THE SWORD
Like a fundamental skill, being a great teammate requires repetition. If you want your players to be great teammates, you must continue to “sharpen the sword,” to avoid the message becoming dull. Like any fundamental skill that we teach, you should be constantly looking for positive examples to reinforce your expectations.
ACCOUNTABILITY
After you have taken the steps to teach and reinforce the expectations of being a great teammate, it is time to hold your players accountable. One common mistake is that coaches hold their bench players more accountable for this behavior. While all players must be held accountable, your best players must be held to the highest standard. This will resonate with your players and it highlights the importance of being a great teammate.
Go Follow Dynamic Coaching Tools on Social Media: @DynamicCoaches
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PROGRAM BUILDING | 3 Areas to Improve
In our last blog post, we shared our PROGRAM BUILDING MODEL. When trying to build a program, there are countless areas that need your attention. We encourage coaches to filter through this information and make it a priority to get to the W.I.N.
W.I.N. = What’s Important Now
It is our belief that there are three main areas that a coach must focus on improvement.
TALENT
Our next blog post will take a deep dive into the TALENT GAP. Coaches must evaluate and have a clear understanding of how the talent in their program compares to the other program’s that they are competing against. The quickest way to win more games is to improve the talent on the roster. A talented roster will have some success, based on the advantage created by a positive talent gap. Depending on the level of the program, talent can be improved through player development or recruiting.
COACHING STAFF
We recently ran a poll on our twitter page, asking “What is the biggest separating factor between the best team in your league and everyone else?”
What is the biggest separating factor between the best team in your league and everyone else?#ProgramBuilding#GrowTheGame🏀
— Dynamic Coaching Tools (@DynamicCoaches) June 23, 2020
As you can see, coaching only got about 4% of the vote. Coaching will take a talent gap and shrink or expand the advantage created by that talent. Due to that, we believe that improving the coaching in your program will help you win close games, and can help your program find consistent success. Improving your coaching staff can be about finding experienced coaches, aligning the skills of your coaches with the program needs, or even focusing on improving as a head coach. The best coaching staffs are full of “learn it alls,” who are constantly finding ways to improve.
CULTURE
We define culture as, “how we do things here.” The most important thing to understand about the culture of your program is that every single person around the program is going to make an impact. A strong culture can also impact the talent gap. Your culture can help you win big games and gives your program a chance to have sustainable success. How can you start the process of establishing and improving your culture? We will address that in an upcoming blog post. You can start with these two exercises and take a look at the example below.
CORE VALUES
What are the 3-4 things that will define your program. If you can’t limit it to 3-4, then you are spreading your attention too thin. One suggestion is to pick things that go beyond basketball and have a broad spectrum.
“THIS IS US” (25 Words or Less)
Describe your program in 25 words or less.
As you jump into the process of improving your program, these three areas will make the biggest impact on your program. This type of narrow, focused vision will help a coach block out distractions and focus on the W.I.N. that we described earlier in the post. Want more PROGRAM BUILDING information? Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook ( @DynamicCoaches ).
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DCT Podcast – Episode 1 – Doug Brotherton
Episode 1 of the Dynamic Coaching Tools Podcast is an introduction to what listeners can expect from future episodes.
Take a listen and find us on Social Media, YouTube, and visit our website.
If you have any questions, or suggestions, please contact us at:
INFO@DynamicCoachingTools.com