Episode 4 of the Dynamic Coaching Tools Podcast features Coach Greg White, the Head Coach of West High School (Northwest Arkansas). Coach White is also a speaker for USA Basketball, at their Coaches Academy. His topics include building a program, as well as offensive systems. Coach White also has a website, www.3fromthecorner.com
Coach White spent time talking to us about his ball screen offensive system, the foundations of building a program, establishing a culture, and the impact of AAU basketball on the future of our game. There were countless takeaways from our conversation, but here are a few of them.
3 C’s of a Program
- Community
- Classroom
- Court
Foundations of Building a Program
- CULTURE = Blueprint
- IMPACT = Thumb Print
- Must DEFINE SUCCESS
Program > Team > Player
You can reach Coach White via Twitter:
You can also find great resources at his website:
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20 & 10 CHALLENGE
Successful coaches are creatures of habit. They create systems and processes that allow them to attack each day in an organized way. While reading the book “The 5AM Club,” by Robin Sharma, we were introduced to the “20/20/20 Formula.” This formula offers a simple way to get a great start to your day. The 20/20/20 Formula includes:
20 minutes of exercise
20 minutes of meditation or in-depth reflection
20 minutes of learning or reading
We have been using this formula with our team. Our players receive off-season points, if they post their 20/20/20 Formula before 9:00AM. We made a couple of minor adjustments, so our program 20/20/20 includes:
20 minutes of exercise
20 minutes of reading or listening to a podcast
20 minutes of meditation or writing out a schedule for your day
Lastly, we are going to use this to start an exciting new Challenge for coaches! It is going to be the DCT 20 & 10 Challenge.
This challenge will be the 20/20/20 Formula, with a basketball twist, and it will last 10 days. The first group will go from August 12 – 21.
Dynamic Coaching Tools (DCT) 20 & 10 Challenge
- We will have 10 coaches in the initial group.
- Each morning, coaches will exercise for 20 minutes, read for 20 minutes, and will meet on a scheduled Zoom call for 20 minutes. We will meet at 6:30AM (CT) | 7:30AM (ET).
- The 20 minutes zoom call will be a web clinic. This short web clinics will be led by the coaches in the 20 & 10 challenge. Each day, a new coach will present, based on a schedule that will be shared with the group. Coaches can pick any topic that they want to present about, as long as they can present for 20 minutes.
- At the end of 10 days, every coach who completes the challenge, will have a chance to launch their own group.
Are you interested in joining us to create better habits, optimize your mornings, and network with other coaches?
Fill out the form HERE. We have limited spots. If you miss out on the first 20 & 10 Challenge, we will offer you an opportunity to join us when we “run it back” at the end of the August. -
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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A Coach’s Best Friend: Film
Throughout this season, I have come across multiple coaches who are not filming games. Every time this happens, I respond with an e-mail, encouraging coaches to stop ignoring the opportunity to improve their coaching staff, team, and individual players. It is our belief that all varsity coaches should be filming every game. This is part of your job, and you owe it to your players. Furthermore, filming practices can also be very beneficial. Below are the reasons that we believe that Film is a coach’s best friend:
1- It is the best teaching tool!
As the saying goes, “the eye in the sky don’t lie.” Film allows players to watch their mistakes and these teaching moments are very beneficial to player development. Film can help a team better understand areas for improvement, challenges from opponents, and it provides clarity for everyone in the program. There is no better teaching tool than an organized, well planned film session.
2- Players need film for college coaches.Most high school coaches have players that are interested in playing at the college level. Your players will need film, so college coaches can evaluate them. By providing film to college coaches, you are doing your part to help your players have an opportunity to continue their careers.
3- You can exchange film to scout opponents
One of the worst phrases that coaches say is, “We don’t scout, because we are just worried about us.” This is code for, “I am too lazy to prepare my team to win.” As a varsity basketball coach, you should be scouting your opponents. This is especially important in league play. Scouting provides an opportunity to steal points for your team. It is very impactful, against good teams, if you can prevent 4-6 points for your opponent, and generate 4-6 easy points for your team. If you are not filming and sharing film, other coaches will be less likely to help you with film.
4- Film helps ensure accurate stats
Filming games will help your staff ensure that you have accurate stats. Depending on a student manager to take stats during the game is fine, but there is a strong chance that those stats are not accurate. Film can be used with services like Krossover or Hudl, which will provide statistical breakdowns of your team. Stats are also important for recognizing and rewarding your players for big achievements. It might be scoring 1,000 career points, or providing proof that a player should receive all-league or all-state honors. The stats also allow coaches to provide a program record book, which is a great way to honor the best players throughout the history of your program.
5- What you see during games is only part of the picture. Film fills in the gaps.
When you see post game interviews with the best coaches, you will regularly hear them answer questions with, “it is hard to answer that without looking at the film.” This is because the best coaches know that the film will provide valuable information. You can look at a box score and see the results. It might be a lack of offensive rebounding, too many turnovers, or poor shooting. Film fills in the gaps, and answers the question of WHY those results happened. If you do not watch film, then you are taking an educated guess, as opposed to finding the undeniable answers that can help your team improve.
If you are a high school coach, make sure that you are filming games. Film is your best friend, and will help you maximize the development of your team.
You can follow Dynamic Coaching Tools on Twitter or Instagram at @DynamicCoaches