BASKETBALL THEORY

You need to be flexible with your basketball coaching strategies.  Your basketball team actually dictates the type of basketball games you play from season to season.  As individual players' skills develop so will your underlying basketball theory.  Your opponents also dictate your basketball coaching strategies from game to game, half to half, and quarter to quarter.

Ultimately a basketball team decides its own destiny.  Peer pressure is one of the strongest motivators human beings experience.  If you're coaching basketball you have a responsibility to teach, organize, and motivate; but athletes respond to peer motivation and peer pressure at a much deeper level than any ever achieved by a basketball coaching staff.  Some players are better motivators (communicators?) than others; those special players become team captains.  A properly prepared team is self policed, self coached, and create their own basketball goals.  The role of a coach, besides teaching basketball history and basketball rules, on a properly prepared basketball team is that of an overseer, a teacher, and a guide; great coaches frequently find themselves, sometimes unintentionally, in this position.  Some coaches are insightful enough to recruit third parties (parent, girlfriend, boyfriend, teacher, counselor, friend, wife, partner, etc.) to help a future team captain realize that is actually the role that player is destined to play while playing basketball on his/her basketball team.

Through out the history of basketball, team captains and coaches have forged a special bond.  When you're coaching basketball you need to help team captains develop.  Leadership may seem to come naturally but dealing with unique individuals in a team atmosphere, sometimes under pressure situations imposed by basketball games, are learned behaviors a coach must anticipate and prepare team captains to handle.  This preparation includes life lessons other players may not need.  Team captains must be educated in carefully choosing words before speaking; the weight of their words exemplifies the gravity of peer pressure more than any other situation.  A coach is responsible to lend wisdom to team captains which in turn make team captains wise beyond their years.  It is no coincidence that most championship teams are led by the wisest of team captains which are students of the game and know the history of basketball.  Of course there are exceptions to the rule, but basketball history says don't bet against the math.

Team captains become liaisons between a coach and the team.  When coaching basketball we are sometimes flabbergasted at the breadth of problems players need to work through in order to be 100% into playing basketball.  Frequently players will not divulge these life situations to a coach, but will discuss them with other players.  Sometimes, if these players respect the wisdom of the team captain, they will bring these situations forward in hopes the team captain will intuitively know the best way to guide a fellow teammate and ultimately the entire basketball team.

All basketball teams are a hodge-podge of players from differing backgrounds, life experiences, and heritages with varying skill levels, abilities, mental and emotional capacities, desires and drives, wants and needs, strengths and weaknesses, and personalities.  Basketball theory says the more players learn from, learn about, and understand each other, the more players understand about themselves and about their basketball goal.  As players grow and learn about themselves the more capable they are of communicating with and assisting their teammates in growing; and the circle of life goes around and around and around.  As individual teammates grow, transformations take place and a basketball team develops... and basketball theory says a team will beat a collection of ‘super-stars'.  Of course there are exceptions to the rule, but basketball history says don't bet against the math.

Basketball's history is weighed down with ‘super' players that do not have ‘championship' attached to their name.  This means at any level of play; AAU basketball, high school basketball, college basketball, even professional basketball, they never experienced feeling like a champion; some of the greatest basketball players ever to lace up basketball shoes have never felt like a champion! 

TEAM.  Actually that's all there is to basketball theory.  There are volumes upon volumes written on basketball rules, passing the basketball, dribbling the basketball, shooting the basketball, and basketball plays.  There are volumes upon volumes upon volumes written on basketball offense and basketball defense.  However there is not, nor will there ever be enough information written on the theory of basketball as a team sport.  Life is about learning.  Teamwork teaches life.  The more we know about life the better citizens we become.  Good and thoughtful citizens ultimately, by design, are the best teammates.  So the theory of living a happy healthy life and basketball theory are distilled down to a common denominator.  TEAM.  Actually that's all there is.

MUSINGS FOR COACHES, TEAM CAPTAINS, AND PLAYERS 

Coaches:  Rules to follow for developing a wonderful team to coach.
Team Captains:  Rules to follow for developing wonderful teammates.
Players:  Rules to follow for becoming a wonderful teammate.

No answers are right or wrong, these are exploratory questions for you to find out about your team, teammates, and yourself; the more we know about one another the more we can help one another grow and excel.

The Rules in a very loose order: 

Confidential talks with athletes:           
Why are you playing basketball?           
What is your perceived ability?                       
What are your expectations?           
What are your goals?                       
   Long terrm?                       
   Short term? 
What do you expect to do in games?
What do you expect to do in practice?
What are your off court basketball related activities?           
Do you want practices to be challenging?           
   Are you a player that gives 100%?                       
   Are you a player that wants to give 100%?                       
   Are you a player that gives 1%?           
Do you want to work hard and have fun?                        
   Do you want to coast and have fun?           
Do you want to play on any sporting team in college?                       
   Do you need a scholarship in order to attend college?                       
   What kind of student are you?
           
Is it important that every team member gets at least ten minutes of game time at the expense of possibly losing a game, or have a 7 to 9 player rotation and play only to win? 

Although this is after school and we’re playing a sport this is also a classroom.           
   Unlike most other classrooms, we will be teaching each other.           
   You will mostly be teaching me how and what to teach you, directly and indirectly, by what you say and by your actions.           

85% of communication is nonverbal.           
   It is therefore important that we expand our nonverbal communication. 

Use your teammates name before passing the ball. 

Everyone can learn to play at a high performance level.            
   Some sooner than others.           
   Everyone will be better at one aspect of the game than another.
 
Everyone can learn to:           
Shoot and make lay-ups; right handed and left handed - without looking back to see if it went in.           
Shoot and make baby-hook lay-ups; right handed and left handed.           
Box out.           
Execute the pick-and-roll.           
Execute the give-and-go.           
Know what your teammates are prone to do, good and bad.           
Give 100% attention and effort.           
Dribble well with both hands.           
Know all plays; Be able to execute all plays without error.           
Spin the basketball on your finger.           
Juggle.           
Karate.                        
   Chi-gong is optional. 

10 guidelines to follow unless you want to warm the bench:
Sprint back on defense; keep your hands hands above your hips; box out, or if there is no one to box find an open spot on the floor where a rebound is likely to go; know where all ten players are; fill the lanes on fast breaks or get the ball to the middle; set smart picks and be prepared to roll; look to participate in give-and-go opportunities; think… what are we doing?.. where should I be? 

Everyone can learn when to use which type of pass. 

I’m going to tell you what I’m going to teach you.
Then I’m going to tell you what you’re learning. 
Then I’m going to tell you what you just learned, how you learned it, and when and where you are going to apply it! 
This works like “wax on, wax off.” 

I don’t care why you are here.  That you are here for some reason is all that’s important to me.  I will be giving homework assignments, they are as important as your other assignments, and just like your other assignments I expect them to be completed. 

I’m going to train you to be basketball players, but you are simultaneously being trained to be athletes, so you can excel at any sport you wish to play. 
Only one in four players rated as ‘a star’ in middle school maintain that status three or four tears later in high school for varied reasons, the least of which is other children caught up to their skill level. 
My goal is to assist you in becoming better people and better athletes. I can be very effective doing that if we’re on a two way street, i.e., you’re being completely truthful and honest with yourself and then letting me know, in strictest confidence, what you think needs extra attention from me.  Then and only then can we decide on a plan to get us where we both want to be. 
You and I must accept responsibilities for our own behavior.  

Persistence and God are the only omnipotents in this universe. 

“Inner Winners”
Only an athlete trained to look beyond personal glory can begin to see that a champion’s strength is measured by the virtues of the heart; that challenge is within; that your opponent is yourself; reward is deeply personal and private. 

Through sports one can create a new level of awareness, an awareness of one’s self that transcends sports.  When athletes focus on results-oriented outcomes they have no control over, they build up anxieties and tension, however when their thoughts shift to things they can control – desire, commitment, persistence, courage and confidence – they perform at their personal best more consistently. 
When an athlete is focused on the moment, on the joy of the event, he has all the confidence; an athlete focused on the outcome loses that confidence.
 
Pursue victory in the context of cooperation, friendship, support, mutual respect, and compassion.  This is total truth, learned through sports.  This is also a wonderful life strategy. 

Treat everyone as you expect and wish to be treated.  

Practices define the attitude of a team. 
This attitude becomes ingrained in the player’s minds and hearts and becomes the definition of the team’s games.  Players and teams play what and how they practice.  Practices become a learned behavior. 

In order to win at life we must feel free to fail. We must feel free to take those risks which allow us to discover our greatness.  It’s easy taking risks if we know we cannot fail.  If we take a risk and it doesn't work out as planned but that risk serves as a learning experience, then we didn’t fail.  But, we must be honest with ourselves and ask why and how it was the risk did not go as planned.  Only then will it truly become a learning experience. 
Failure is not failure if it is a learning experience. 

Heart = the willingness to take risks to improve, even in the face of potential failure; the courage to go all out and discover your capability at the moment.  Having the freedom to lose, learn from it and forge ahead, playing with fearlessness and tenacity and audacity; being bold as you look at your opponents and dare them to match your intensity. 

Confidence = one who lays it all on the line; has the courage to risk, to suffer, and to feel fear.

A quality common in championship level teams is the team’s unrelenting willingness to serve one another for the greater good of the team.  They (all people associated with the team) ask, “How can I give more?” as opposed to “How can I get more?”  This service to team effort translates to well defined individual roles and ‘team’ basketball. 

The Chinese have a unique perspective on the difference between Heaven and hell.  Each is an enormous banquet of delectable dishes at huge round tables.  Everyone at the banquet is given 5’ long chopsticks.  At the banquet in hell, people struggle to manipulate these awkward utensils; give up out of frustration and starve.  In Heaven, everyone serves the person across the table and each becomes abundantly full. 

Athletes lead by serving their teammates in practices and always working in a way that helps their teammates improve.  Athletes not doing this are not being leaders and are actually sabotaging their team. 

Who is our partner in play, in training and learning, causing us to utilize more of ourselves than we could under any other circumstances?  Our opponent!  When we are playing together; as they teach I learn, and as I teach they learn.  Without our opponent our practices have all been for naught. 

We only win when we are able to handle loss.  We must tolerate and accept failure, then we can relax, learn, and forge ahead.  This is truly the success of defeat. 

All significant gain is preceded by loss.
Losses, setbacks, and failures are natural valuable teachers on the path to success.  Failure is part of the process of successful living. 
Real failure, perhaps the only failure that exists, is your unwillingness to understand the role of setbacks in creating success.

There are only two types of athletes, those who have failed and those that will. 
We can’t avoid failure, for we need to take risks in order to improve.  Only in an environment such as this is there freedom to fail. 
If we have the courage for risk and the compassion for failure we have created success.
All skills are perfected through the process of failure. 
Embrace failure as a necessary part of improvement. 

What is lost by not trying and what is lost by not succeeding are two entirely different things.  If you try and you fail, ultimately you will succeed. 
Victories over self-doubt and victories over fear, failure, and ego are prerequisites for triumphs on the basketball court.

Traditional victories are transitory; outstanding performances last a lifetime! 

Hard work, diligent effort, and commitment to high standards are all pathways to winning.  Used in conjunction with one another they pave a roadway to victory. 

BE BOLD, FEARLESS, TENACIOUS, PREPARED, RELAXED, FLUID, and ENTHUSIASTIC. 

Can you demonstrate what “going all out” looks like?  For 5 minutes? 

Identify 10 traits, behaviors, or actions demonstrated by champions.
Now, select 4 of these to adopt into your style of play and execute all four of them every time you step out on the court. 

All athletes experience a drop in confidence from time to time.  How can you possibly have confidence in something you cannot control? 
NOW, let’s focus on something you can control.:
Thoughts are things, like fatigue is a thing, like self-talk is a thing, like positive self-talk is a thing, like fear or pain are things.
Deal with negative mind chatter by acknowledging that it’s happening and deciding to deal with it later, after the competition is over. 
The words an athlete uses internally and externally are the seeds of future realities, a self-fulfilling prophecy.  Your words create your world, your reality, so use them wisely. 

Winning is not necessarily outscoring your opponent.  The guaranteed dividend is the complete peace of mind gained in knowing you did everything within your power – physically, mentally, and emotionally – to bring forth the potential of your game. 
If you go out on the court and make the maximum effort with out being afraid to fail, you are a winner, no matter what’s on the scoreboard!

It’s completely alright to be disappointed when you don’t win, but don’t let a loss keep you from being proud of the effort you put out.

It’s all so very simple.  Figure out what your best can be then do and be the best you can.