As the calendar turns over, basketball coaches begin conference play, and hope to have the answer to how their team can win. Through the experiences gained from October to December, most teams have had an opportunity to be challenged, learn from adversity, and establish an identity. Below are three questions that you had better know the answer to, if you want a chance to win your league:
✔ What does your team do better than anyone else in your league?
✔ What is your team’s biggest weakness, and how can you help your team overcome it?
✔ Do your players know and accept their roles?
These three questions are guiding thoughts, which will give your team a chance to play their best basketball. We hope this helps your coaching staff evaluate where your team is at, as you prepare for the most important stretch of the season.
You can follow Dynamic Coaching Tools on Twitter at @DynamicCoaches
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ARTICLE: Women’s college athletes don’t need another coddling parent. They need a coach.
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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PROGRAM BUILDING | The Talent Gap
As we continue to explain our Program Building Model , it is important for coaches to understand how to evaluate the TALENT GAP within a program. A talent gap is the cumulative attributes of the personnel within a program, as they relate to winning games. Here is a break down each of these attributes.
ATHLETICISMAthleticism is the first thing that jumps out to people when evaluating a talent gap. We define athleticism as a combination between size, speed, and strength. We show a bias towards athleticism whenever we walk into a gym, during warmups, and pass judgement during layup lines. In most cases, we predict that the team with better athletes is “more talented.” The team with better athleticism might be more naturally talented, but that does not mean that they are automatically more talented. Below is the definition of TALENT.
Natural aptitude refers to natural ability, but the definition clearly includes “or skill.”
SKILL
Skill is the part of talent, which can improve the most rapidly with development. There are countless skills within basketball, but the skills that have the greatest impact on the talent gap are ball handling, decision making, and finishing. For the sake of simplicity, we include shooting within the finishing category. If a team is exceptionally skilled, they might actually be more talented than an athletically superior team. We ran a poll last month asking the question, “what is the biggest separating factor between the best team in your league and everyone else?” Athleticism and Skill tied with 44.9% each. This shows the increased value that coaches are putting on skill. It is time to also count skill towards the way that we judge talent.
DEPTH
The final category in our talent gap is specific to a team. Depth is an important factor within the talent gap. Throughout the season, teams will face foul trouble, fatigue, and injuries. We measure depth in two different ways. The number of capable players and the versatility of your players. A team with eight interchangeable pieces might actually be “deeper” than a team with twelve different players. Depth is an important part of the talent gap, because it stresses the collection of the entire group. Below is a look at the talent gap.
In our last blog post, we talked about the three things that a coach must improve when taking over a program. Once a coach evaluates the TALENT GAP within the program, the next step is to work hard to either increase a positive talent gap or decrease a negative gap. In the coming weeks, we will share a Development Model, which will give coaches a plan to increase the talent within their programs.
For more information, you can contact us on social media (@DynamicCoaches) or via email (info@dynamiccoachingtools.com).
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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