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Coach's Corner

“It never ceases to surprise me at the infinite capacity of the human mind to resist the introduction of useful knowledge.”
- Thomas Raynesford Lounsbury

Do Coaches Play Favorites?

6/27/2017

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Have you ever thought your coach or your child’s coach was playing favorites? In the coaching profession you often hear many complaints. In basketball, one complaint that particularly sticks out is playing favorites. Do coaches play favorites? Yes they do.

Coaches do play favorites. I play my favorite players and am not ashamed to admit it. You might be surprised to hear that, but I hope you understand after reading. As coaches, we play the players who possess the best (and often our favorite) traits. Here are 10 traits that make a player a coach’s favorite.

Be a hard worker.
Coaches love players who show up for everything. We love the players who are the first ones in the gym and the last ones to leave. A hard-working player gives their best effort every time they take the court, whether it’s a practice or a game.

Be a leader.
Coaches love players who lead in action and through words. Leaders inspire their teammates to reach another level. They inspire their teammates to give it their all through their example. Leaders are an extension of the coach on the floor. They buy into the program’s philosophy and get their teammates to as well.

Be a great teammate.
Coaches love players who support their fellow teammates. Great teammates are accepting of all team members and help others to get better. Coaches love it when an upperclassman goes out of their way to help the underclassmen learn. A great teammate embraces their role no matter what it is and does it to the best of their ability. Great teammates are all about “we” and whatever is best for the team.

Be a competitor.
Coaches love players who do the little things it takes to win. We love players who treat practice like it’s a game. Great competitors never go through the motions. They want to win every drill, game, and contest. Through their desire to win, and more importantly their preparation to win; great competitors inspire their teammates to give more.

Be a good citizen.
Coaches love players who represent the program well on and off the court. We love players who give back to the game and their community. Being a good citizen means doing the right thing even when it’s the most difficult thing to do. Good citizens behave in school, get good grades, and support the entire school community.

Be a playmaker.
Coaches love players who not only know what to do but can do it. Playmakers step up and make the big plays when the team needs it most. They are always making plays. Coaches love players who ask questions that will make them better. Playmakers know “why” because it gives them the confidence to go out and perform.

Be coachable.
Coaches love players who can take constructive criticism. We want players who want to be coached and who want to be told what they need to do to get better. Coachable players never roll their eyes at the coach. They make eye contact with their coaches, and aren’t afraid to ask questions. Coachable athletes listen to their coach and not the stands.
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Have pride
Coaches love players who consistently wear and represent the program’s gear. We want players that help promote our programs. Players who exemplify pride express it through their words and actions. They act like being a part of the program is a big deal and means something. Coaches love players who take pride in the little things and doing them well.

Be dependable.
Coaches love players who are always on time. Don’t be late. Don’t miss practices, events, or games. We love players who offer no excuses and no explanations. Coaches want players they can depend on both on and off the court to make the right decisions. Being dependable also means you’re always there for a teammate in need.
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Have heart.
​Coaches love players who play with enthusiasm, courage, and spirit. Having heart means having and playing for a purpose beyond the scoreboard. When the score’s out of reach, players with heart continue to play hard to honor the game. They play for purpose that means something to them. We love players who never give up or give in. Having heart means getting back up and going again, even when it seems the most difficult.
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If a player has these traits, they will quickly become a coach’s favorite and earn more playing time. It’s not always about talent. It’s about what you do with that talent. It doesn’t take the most athletically gifted person to have any of these traits. It doesn’t require skill. However, it’s not easy. It requires a lot of mental and physical fortitude and it’s not for everyone. That’s why the few who are able to do it become Coach’s favorite.
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Being Flexible

6/24/2017

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One of the most important qualities of a good player or coach is the ability to be flexible.  I believe the best coaching philosophies are flexible.  You can play multiple defenses or a singular defense, but within that concept there needs to be some flexibility.  The same can be true in all phases of your life.

Highly creative people tend to have fluid, flexible, adaptive minds. Here are three statements that creative people can make easily and which you learn by regular practice.


Admit It When You Are Wrong
The first is simply, "I was wrong." Many people are so concerned with being right that all their mental energy is consumed by stonewalling, bluffing, blaming and denying. If you're wrong, admit it and get on to the solution or the next step.

Face Up to Mistakes
Second, non-creative people think that it is a sign of weakness to say, "I made a mistake." On the contrary, it is actually a sign of mental maturity, personal strength and individual character. Remember, everybody makes mistakes every single day.

Be Flexible With New Information
The third statement that creative people use easily is, "I changed my mind." It is amazing how many uncomfortable situations people get into and stay in because they are unwilling or afraid to admit that they've changed their minds. 

Be Willing to Cut Your Losses
If you get new information or if you find that you feel differently about a previous decision, accept that you have changed your mind and don't let anyone or anything back you into a corner. If a decision does not serve your best interests as you see them now, have the ego-strength and the courage to "cut your losses," to change your mind and then get on to better things.

Action Exercises
Here are two ways you can break out of narrow thinking patterns and become more creative.

First, be willing to admit that you are not perfect, you make mistakes, you are wrong on a regular basis. This is a mark of intelligence and courage.

Second, with new information, be willing to change your mind. Most of what you know about basketball, coaching, teaching, or business today will change completely in the coming years so be the first to recognize it. 
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Other-Aware

6/22/2017

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Recently, I discussed that the concept of being self-aware is important for young athletes to help them better understand their role on their team and the impact they have on their teammates. If athletes have a “conscious knowledge of (their) own character and feelings” (Oxford Dictionary) they know who they are. They are comfortable with themselves, their skills, and what they bring to the team. They know what they are capable of, and they know how best to use their capabilities. They also know the right way to behave for the various settings in which they find themselves.

They also understand how their own abilities impact others on their team and how others impact them. They work within the construct of the team to be the most successful they can be in helping the team be the most successful it can be. They also handle the behavioral aspects of being part of a team the best way they know how. While everyone is not a great teammate in the exact same way, self-aware athletes work to be great teammates in the ways that they know best.

Unfortunately, too often we find athletes who are not self-aware. Many athletes are either oblivious to their own situations, feelings, & character, or they are only into themselves and what they do individually without any regard for their impact on their teams. These players’ lack of self-awareness can have a negative impact on their teams. It is always best for players to have a self-awareness, so they know exactly who they are and how they impact their teams.
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However, the best players are also what I call “Other-Aware.” Players who are other-aware are just like the term sounds. They are aware of the other people around them, and they are tuned in to those people’s strengths, weaknesses, mindsets, and emotions. They consider everyone and even everything in their surroundings and in a variety of situations.

Being Other-Aware in Practices & Games
Other-aware players see and hear everything. They play their games with their heads up and their eyes and ears open. They are constantly processing information that is hitting them from all sources. More importantly, they are seeking out all the sources they can to better understand what is going on all around them.

However, there is more to being “other-aware” than just processing the sensory details that present themselves to these players.  These players actively seek out sources to help them perform better. They are constantly “thinking the game” that they play, analyzing what would be the best option for success on any given play. They are looking out to see who has the best chance to create a successful play for their team, and they do all they can to get those players into the most advantageous position to take advantage of their chance for success.

While any player can be other-aware and can be successful because of it, certain positions in certain sports are especially important to have players who are both self-aware and other-aware. Quarterback in football and point guard in basketball come to mind immediately. These positions require people to make decisions in short amounts of time that benefit the team in a variety of ways.

Quarterbacks and point guards who have self-awareness and other-awareness will make the right decisions by putting the ball into the right place to the right people at the right time. They have enough awareness of themselves to know their own capabilities to make the right plays. At the same time, they are aware of their teammates’ capabilities so as to put them into the best position for success as well. Their team-first attitudes and awareness of their surroundings help maximize the team’s chances for success.

Consider the players in these key positions who lack self-awareness or other-awareness. They can be detrimental to team success, for they will often put themselves and the team into difficult situations that are not conducive to success. They often try to do things that are out of their skill sets or out of their teammates’ skill sets, leading to difficult moments that could have been avoided if they had self-awareness and other-awareness to know better and to make the right decision.
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Self-Awareness

6/19/2017

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Lately I have heard the term “self-aware” a lot more than I ever used to. In fact, I really had not heard the term used all that much until the last 5-10 years. It seems the concept has sprouted up in a bigger way recently. I won’t get into a whole sociological debate on why we suddenly are dealing with the idea of being self-aware. However, I do want to look at how the word has come to be part of our athletic landscape and what it means for our sports.

Interestingly enough, when I Googled the term, the first two dictionaries I looked in (Dictionary.com and Merriam-Webster’s) didn’t even have a definition for it. They listed “self-aware” as an alternative form of the word “aware.” They also gave a couple of examples of how it could be used in a sentence.

That, in and of itself, is an interesting statement. Maybe my observation that I have only recently started hearing people using the term and the fact that it is not even defined in the first two dictionaries listed on a Google search shows that the term has not been very popular until only recently.

I finally found a definition specifically for the word “self-aware” in the Oxford Dictionary. They defined self-aware as “having conscious knowledge of one's own character and feelings.” That is fitting with the way I have heard it used.

Self-Awareness for Athletes
Most often the people who I have been hearing use the word self-aware were using it to illustrate a comparison between two or more athletes. The point was that some players lack self-awareness, which ultimately affects their team’s performance, while the self-aware players are able to positively impact their own and their team’s performance. But let’s look a little more closely at the concept and why it has become important in the sports world.

If athletes have a “conscious knowledge of (their) own character and feelings,” they know who they are. They are comfortable with themselves, their skills, and what they bring to the team. They know what they are capable of, and they know how best to use their capabilities. They also know the right way to behave for the various settings in which they find themselves.

In the athletic arena, self-aware players know their strengths and weaknesses within their sport. They know what they are capable of doing, and they then do those things. They may try to stretch themselves and their limits (as any good athlete is always trying to do), but generally speaking, when it comes to performing in competitions, they seek to maximize their strengths while limiting the impact their weaknesses may have on their performance.

They also understand how their own abilities impact others on their team and how others impact them. They work within the construct of the team to be the most successful they can be in helping the team be the most successful it can be. They also handle the behavioral aspects of being part of a team the best way they know how. While everyone is not a great teammate in the exact same way, self-aware athletes work to be great teammates in the ways that they know best.
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Here Is Why Guards Should Practice Post Play...

6/16/2017

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There are only a handful of players in the world that won't run into a defensive player quick enough to stop them on the perimeter.

So there is a good chance that you'll face a lockdown defender. A defender that seems impossible to get by.

So how can you counter that?

It's quite simple...

Become a good post player.

Just like most post players have trouble defending players on the perimeter, most guards have trouble defending in the post.

This is part of the reason why Michael Jordan became unstoppable and the GOAT.

This is why players like Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade, Gary Payton, Chauncey Billups, Andre Miller, and Sam Cassell extended their playing career into their late 30s...

Now if you can't shoot at a high percentage, handle it, or finish, you should get really good at those things first. This is geared towards serious high school, college, & pro players with a solid skill set.

Besides guards being poor defenders, here are three more reasons why you should consider improving your post play... even if your defender is a good post defender.


3 More Reasons Why You Might Want To Practice Post Play
1 - It's one of the most efficient shots in basketball.
Depending on what you look at, shooting in the low post is either the 1st or 2nd most efficient shot in NBA basketball. This is excluding free throws.
So at the youth, high school, and college level, it is probably the most efficient shot.

2 - You get more free throws... An even better shot!
When you shoot closer to the basket, you tend to get more fouls called which leads to more free throws. This happens via post play or driving to the basket.
If you include free throws, this is the most efficient shot in basketball. Even if you're only a 55% FT shooter, this is a highly effective shot.
That means you score 1.1 points every possession.
There was only one team in 2015-16 that averaged better than... The Golden State Warriors. In 2016-17, there were only five teams.
And this is why you have to be an AWFUL free throw shooter in order for coaches to employ the "Hack-A-Shaq" strategy... I'm talking less than 50%. Maybe even less than 45% at the high school level.

3 - It leads to more foul trouble for your opponent and even more scoring for you.
Getting your opponent in foul trouble can have a tremendous impact on the game.
It allows you to become more aggressive because they become more tentative.
It takes their best players off the court.
Late in the game, you get more free throws. And as mentioned in #2, even if you're a poor free throw shooter, you are still highly efficient. This means late in the game, you will tend to outscore your opponent
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A Short Manifesto on Disconnecting

6/7/2017

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May I have your attention, please?

Not some small sliver of your already too-divided attention, but your full focus and attention.
You are too distracted. We are too distracted.

We aren’t paying enough attention to WHAT really matters, and what’s worse, we aren’t paying enough attention to WHO really matters.

Instead of living in the present moment, we have allowed our focus and attention to be spread too thinly and across too many things at once.

We pride ourselves on our ability to do many things at once, even though the results we produce across the whole range of activities are far less than they would be were we to have given ourselves over to one activity, one outcome. We pride ourselves on our ability to multi-task, as if it’s a positive attribute. It is anything but. And our results prove it.

We sit across the table from the most important people in our lives, and instead of being engaged with them for the short time that we have them, we stare into the small screen and divide our attention among people who aren’t even there, most of them strangers. LOST are the shared moments that make up intimate human relationships, lifelong friendships, and LOVE, as our screens demand that we pay attention to the trivial, the novel.

And we pay for giving the small screens our attention with lives that are less than they might be because our relationships are less than they might be.

We have allowed the tools that allow us to improve some aspects of the way communicate and connect with others to destroy our ability to communicate with the people that are closest to us, the people we care most about.

By being always connected, we are always truly disconnected.

In the future, the most successful of us will be those of us with the ability to disconnect from the small screens, and to give our full focus and attention instead to the people next to us and standing in front of us. The most successful of us in life will be those of us that are fully connected to the people we care about because we are fully disconnected from the small screens.

The most successful of us in business will be those of us who have the ability to give our full focused attention to the what’s truly important, without dividing it among the trivial and unimportant.
To truly connect, you must truly disconnect. To give something or someone your full attention means that you must completely ignore everything else, everyone else.
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Disconnect. Connect.
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The Daily Dozen

6/6/2017

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TO STAY HERE:
BE COMMITTED TO YOUR ACADEMICS – Be on time each day. Sit up front. Take good notes. Do all extra work possible. Plan ahead and talk to your teachers when you are having a problem or have to be away. Get tutors when you need them ( especially peer tutors).

BE COMMITTED TO HAVING CLASS – Treat teachers, custodians, cafeteria workers, and all you meet with respect. Treat other people the way you want to be treated. Moody people are rude. Remember to smile, to say please, thank you, yes sir, and yes ma’am, and give people the benefit of the doubt.

BE COMMITTED TO DOING THE RIGHT THING – We have plenty of school rules … know them. Realize if you just try to do the right thing you will be OK. Try to do the next right thing right and you are as close to perfect as any person can be.

BE COMMITTED TO THE PROGRAM – We realize that our players are in a fish bowl. Every word and action will be watched. Our program’s reputation provides many opportunities yet brings many responsibilities. We must be committed to build on to the tradition of our program and respect those that have gone before us and paid the, price to build the program.

TO PLAY HERE:
BE COMMITTED TO HARD WORK – Our program is built on the concept that hard work pays off. We believe that we work harder than anyone else … and because of that we always deserve to win. There is a reason we are the best … we work at it.

BE COMMITTED TO BECOMING A SMART PLAYER – Our players must be ready to learn. We believe we work smarter than anyone else … We must develop players who understand the game. Our players must be good listeners and learn by watching. We must make good decisions, we must play with poise. We prepare mentally for practice and games.

BE COMMITTED TO OUR TEAM ATTITUDE CONCEPT – We must have players who believe in our team concept. Our program is built on the concept that the team/program is bigger than anyone player … We need unselfish players.

COMMIT YOURSELF TO A WINNING ATTITUDE – Our players must be committed to winning but understand we don’t measure our success by winning alone. Each time we play we evaluate ourselves on reaching our potential. The test for our team is to play against the game not just our opponent. We never quit. We always are looking for a way to win.

TO WIN HERE:
BELIEVE IN OUR SYSTEM – Commit yourself to our philosophy, to our system of play. Be a sponge and soak up the concepts of how we play. learn your role … then accept your role and do it the best you can.

BELIEVE IN YOURSELF – Play with confidence … think positive … realize you are a great player in a great program. Don’t get down when you play poorly … you were chosen to be here … be a leader. lead by example.

BELIEVE IN YOUR TEAMMATES – Communicate with each other … help each other. Remember the strength of the pack is the wolf and the strength of the wolf is the pack. Encourage each other and support each other. Don’t ever forget the importance of the shell around the team. Be a friend. We understand that we are all different – be tolerant of teammates and others.

BELIEVE IN YOUR COACHES – Understand that your coaches are trying to help make you better people and players. Ask questions … don’t whine and complain. learn to take tough coaching. You must believe that the coaches are doing what they think is right for the team and you.
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SUN TZU ON EXECUTION

6/5/2017

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Do you suppose that the side with the most troops wins? 

Then it is just a matter of going into battle based on head count. Do you suppose the wealthier side wins? That it is just a matter of going into battle based on measurement of grain. 

Do you think the side with sharper weapons and stronger armor wins? 

Then it would be easy to determine the victor. Therefore the rich are not necessarily secure, the poor are not necessarily insecure, the majority do not necessarily prevail, minorities do not necessarily fail. 

That which determines who will win and will lose, who is secure and who is in peril, is their science, their Way.


From "The Lost Art Of War" by Sun Tzu as translated by Thomas Cleary
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LOMBARDI ON LEADERSHIP, FUNDAMENTALS AND COMMITMENT

6/1/2017

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​"Leadership is not just one quality, but rather a blend of many qualities; and while no one individual possesses all of the needed talents that go into leadership, each man can develop a combination to make him a leader." 

"Fundamentals win it. Football is two things; it’s blocking and tackling. I don’t care about formations or new defenses or tricks on defense. If you block and tackle better than the team you’re playing, you’ll win." 

"Most important of all, to be successful in life demands that a man make a personal commitment to excellence and to victory, even though the ultimate victory can never be completely won. Yet that victory might be pursued and wooed with every fiber of your body, with every bit of our might and all our effort. And each week, there is a new encounter; each day, there is a new challenge." 
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    Author

    Dave Edinger has been coaching basketball for 37 years at the high school, middle school. and international levels. As a head coach, his teams have won 572 games.

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