What youth coaches get wrong about “Fundamentals”
Youth coaches have a responsibility to help young players learn how to play the game. One way to do this is through teaching and emphasising the FUNDAMENTALS. However, it is difficult to teach players the fundamentals when most coaches haven’t defined what a FUNDAMENTAL really is. Most youth coaches think of fundamentals as the following…. Continue Reading →
How We Use Tennessee Transition to help us Play Fast
The core pillars of how we want to play the game are race, flow and attack. This means that we are looking to push the ball as quickly as we can and attack the opposition early. In order to support our pillars, we pay attention to these principles: pace and space advantage based shot selection… Continue Reading →
Duplicate Game Intensity within Practice Sessions
Coaches are architects of the practice environment. In building the perfect practice session, every aspect of practice enhance game performance. It is the coaches job to identify, select and design activities that help athletes improve their performance. In searching for ways that this can be done, research indicates that the more a practice environment looks… Continue Reading →
Increase Variability in your Next Practice by Using “Four Card Triggers”
This week’s practice idea was inspired by an Instagram post by Coach Paul Kelleher. The point of practice is to create an environment that best allows the skills being taught to be replicated on gameday. Research tells us that random and variable practices are better for long-term retention and transfer when compared to the more… Continue Reading →
5 Reasons that Tagging Up is a better Transition Defense System for Youth Development
A huge part of the game is played in transition. It is estimated that 25% of baskets scored are in transition. Of course, this depends on the level and the team. Teams that tend to push the ball and play fast generally score a higher percentage in transition. Teams that play a slow, structured game… Continue Reading →
X & O Series | How “10 Straight Passing” can help coaches get players focused in practice
The “10 Straight Passing” drill is a simple team activity that helps players get focused and ready ahead of practice. It gets players moving, communicating and making passes under pressure. Skill development is made up of three separate and distinct stages – movement mechanics, perceptual elements, and conceptual elements. Coaches mostly see the movement mechanics… Continue Reading →
X & O Series – 3/0 Line String Shooting
3/0 Line String Shooting is a simple team warm-up drill that we adapted from Brian McCormick. Doing it early on in the practice allows our players to get warm, go through our dribble penetration principles and get some shots up. The setup is relatively simple with one line with basketballs on the slot and two… Continue Reading →
X & O Series – Sideline Out of Bounds
We tend to teach 2-3 sets from our out-of-bound series. The idea behind this is that we don’t want to spend a lot of time on breaking down and teaching out-of-bound separately from our half-court actions. As such, most of our actions are the same and we can run them both as out of bounds… Continue Reading →
Practice Idea Series: Address Individual Player Needs within Team Practices
“We cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future” A quick search online for “equality” will present you with a dozen contradictory statements or definitions surrounding what it is or what it should be. For the purpose of this post, we are going to define what… Continue Reading →
Weekly X’s & O’s – Chaser Lay Ups Build Up
On this week’s edition of our X’s & O’s, we decided to look at a practice from last week. This is an example of how we can use one start to structure our entire practice. From this, we were able to work on various concepts and things that we wanted to emphasise. Our primary objectives… Continue Reading →
Weekly X’s & O’s – Practice Drill | Better than 11 Man Break
In this edition of our weekly X’s and O’s, we’re going to look at one of our favourite practice games – the 12 Man Rotation. This is a drill that we do twice a week in practice to really develop some of the habits we believe are necessary to be successful in the game. 12… Continue Reading →
Improve basketball players IQ by teaching AND States of Play and Shot Selection
I first heard of the idea of advantages in the book, SABA (Small Advantage, Big Advantage). Brian McCormick does a great job in breaking down the concepts of play in a simplified manner. These concepts come together during play to help strengthen the team’s offense and make it anti-fragile. Antifragility is the idea that things… Continue Reading →
How the BIG3 creates alignment and consistency across our youth program
If everything is a priority, then nothing is a priority The most successful programs and organisations excel at specific things. They do not get caught up in trying to be great at everything, rather they double down on their identity and continuously improve on the other aspects. Jim Boeheim’s Syracuse teams are known for their… Continue Reading →
Weekly X’s & O’s – Dribble Penetration Principles
This week, we’re taking a look at our Dribble Penetration Principles and sharing a few ideas of how we work on building the habits and teaching the decision-making components through the use of shooting and small-sided games. Regardless of what set or action that we run, there will inevitably be a moment when the play… Continue Reading →
Creating Engagement in Youth Sports
Part IV — Interesting and Challenging is a Key Feature In our previous post, we discussed two features (Goals and Feedback) that video games have which create engagement and excite players. The third feature that is different between video games and youth practice environments is that video games are interesting and challenging. Regardless of what game you play,… Continue Reading →
Weekly X’s & O’s – Stationary Advantage Starts
In a previous post, we highlighted some of the things that we include in each of our practices. Through 1vs1, 3vs3 and SSG, we are able to teach the decision-making components, including highlighting the various cues that players need to recognise in order to make a decision. In this post, we share our favourite stationary advantage… Continue Reading →
How to Create Engagement and Fun in Youth Sports — Goals & Feedback
Video Games have three key features that engage participants and youth sports tend to miss out on these features. . . 1. OBVIOUS GOALS Regardless of what video game you are playing, there is always a clear objective. Take Super Mario for example — the objective is to rescue Princess Toadstool from Bowser. In order… Continue Reading →
How to Create Engagement in Youth Sports II
LEARNING FROM THE BIG BOYS Part II — What Everyone else has figured out that we haven’t! In understanding the emotional aspect, I shared some of my thoughts about why practices need to be engaging and fun. In order to be fun and engaging, we need to understand the motives behind those players showing up. After… Continue Reading →
How to create engagement and fun in youth sports practices
PART I — UNDERSTANDING THE EMOTIONAL ASPECT “How do you handle a situation where you have two players who are focused on the drill/activity and everyone else is messing around?” This was a question that was posed to me a couple of days ago after one of our youth team practices (U12). Our coaches wanted… Continue Reading →
Teaching Kids to Love the Game
“You can’t fill a cup that is already full; likewise, you can’t pour from an empty cup either” The two main problems that I often encounter in relation to youth practices, especially, at the under 12 level are: Kids don’t seem to be engaged and attentive to the coaches; and The skills being practiced seldom… Continue Reading →
Weekly X’s & O’s – Motion Offense Breakdown | DHO Actions
We’re still staying with our Motion Offense this week and discussing the X’s and O’s. In terms of getting the basketball from one player to another, there is only two possible ways to do this. The first is passing, and the second is handing the ball off (which technically may also be a pass). We… Continue Reading →
Weekly X’s and O’s – Motion Offense Breakdown | Screen Away
This week we are breaking down our motion offense and building it up with some basic skills breakdown. Before launching into the X’s and O’s, it is worth mentioning that the “skills” we are referring to are the perceptions involved in executing the technical details. Whilst the technical details and micro skills are important, we… Continue Reading →
Weekly X’s and O’s – McCormick Finishing
Last week we introduced our practice drill Loaded Shooting. As we build up on that drill and players get comfortable, we want to incorporate it into a team finishing or shooting drill. I’m not really a fan of the two line lay-ups lines in the pre-game warm-ups and here’s how we have used McCormick Finishing… Continue Reading →
Drill of the Week – Loaded Shooting
This is a new drill that we have introduced in our practices to help replace the traditional form shooting. There is nothing wrong with form shooting, but this adds a couple of elements that I would like to incorporate. We want our guys using the “hop” to catch the ball as it helps them load… Continue Reading →
Drill of the Week – Post Introduction & Build Up
This week in practice, we started introducing post concepts to our younger players. Here’s how we broke it down and then built it up into a scripted game. Our initial set-up was relatively simple and with three players to a basket, we could get more repetitions. Perimeter player passes into the post and post player… Continue Reading →
The Butterfly that never learned to fly
“There was once a young man, who loved observing nature. He would hide in gardens and the woods, watching and admiring the beauty of it. One day, he found a cocoon of a butterfly. He observed and watched it over a couple of days curious to see what would happen. Eventually after a couple of… Continue Reading →
Game of the Week – Rondo 3v1
Rondo 3v1 – One of our teaching points when it comes to passing is that we want to pass through the windows. This game allows us to replicate those situations within the play, in addition to helping players recognise and create passing windows. Once the players get the hang of it, there are several ways… Continue Reading →
Snipers don’t use Shotguns and neither should Coaches
When I was younger, my dad used to take me and my brother out hunting. This was years before we moved to Ireland. We were still living in East Africa at this stage. Every second or third weekend, my dad would take me and my older brother out to hunt. Our prey were either wild… Continue Reading →
Coaching Tips and Wisdom from Austria Men’s Head Coach Raoul Korner (featured on The Basketball Podcast with Chris Oliver)
“development happens outside your comfort zone“ If you want to develop as a player or a coach, you have to be willing to get outside of your comfort zone. This means being willing to leave a good situation for an unknown situation. “you have to outperform where ever you coach“ Regardless of what situation you… Continue Reading →
Number 12: Artists are Creative and Elicit Emotions; Science is Factual and Dull
Ask any coach who has coached for a considerable time period about how much of the game is mental. Most coaches would say that the game is 80% Mental and 20% Physical. What does this actually mean? Personally, it means that the technical and tactical elements of coaching are not the ones that make the… Continue Reading →
Number 11: Know Your Players and How it can help Energise Your Practices
Not everyone is the same. Treating all your players the same way is the quickest way to alienate your players and team. Each one of your players is there for a different reason, each one is motivated differently, each one has a different personality, a different skill level, a different relative age, chronological age and… Continue Reading →
Number 10: Importance of Enjoyment in the Learning Process
Regardless of what research you look at, when it comes to learning, the number one important factor is are you having fun? This can be phrased differently, but the premise is the same. Learning should be fun. Learners should want to explore. Learners should want to spend more time on the activity. Let’s not correlate… Continue Reading →
Number 9: Understanding Pareto Principle’s Relation to Youth Player Development
In a previous article, I highlighted Paretos Principle. The idea that 80% of the results usually comes from about 20% of the work. This is also quite evident in sport. Alex Sarama discussed how coaches spend so much time focusing on the 80% of the skills that are not as effective or will only be used… Continue Reading →
Number 8: Using the Sweet Spot to Create a Motivational Practice
Coach Michael MacKay affirms that during the learning process, learners need to wobble and have elements of failure. Along the learning spectrum, there is an area, which Brian McCormick refers to as the sweet spot. This is where the learner needs to be most of the time. If the learner is experiencing success too much,… Continue Reading →
Successful Youth Practices 7: Scanning and Improving Your Coaching
Scanning is one of the most difficult skills that there is for a coach. The ability to observe the athlete perform the skill and assess where the problem lies. Often, as coaches, we already have pre-defined teaching points and regardless of where the athlete is lacking, we are giving them the feedback we have prepared…. Continue Reading →
Number 6: Recognising Perceptions to Boost Your Coaching
The issue with the clip mentioned in the previous post, as it relates to Ja Morant shooting, is that some coaches will see that clip and assume that is a really important way to develop shooters. Have them stay after a game and get shots up or run drills like that in practice to help… Continue Reading →
Number 5: Understanding Context to Teach Skill Transference
At the time of writing this post, I received a text from a friend showing a video of Ja Morant getting some shots up following the game against the Charlotte Hornets. The question that inevitably came up was, “Is Ja Morant getting better?” There is so much to unpack from such a simple question followed with a… Continue Reading →
Number 4: Using Regressions to Enhance Development
Inevitably, there are times in practice that an athlete will struggle to grasp a concept or the mechanics of a technical skill. Our job as coaches is to facilitate that athletes development, hence we need to adapt the environment. Coach MacKay’s progressions of drills provides a nice way of being able to do this. Whilst… Continue Reading →
Number 3: Practice Methodology to Create Transfer
Somehow against all odds, in the year 2021, there is still an unhealthy amount of reliance on blocked and constant practice within the practice environment. Research has continuously provided evidence that randomised, variable practice is more beneficial for the learning process than constant or blocked practice. Learning may have various definitions depending on who you… Continue Reading →
Number 2: Adding Context to Snapshots to Increase Understanding
On Snapshots It is worth remembering that we are only glancing through the window when it comes to what we see online. We are exposed to a brief snapshot of what is often a single moment in practice. A drill or a thirty second clip does not contain the full context of the situation, so… Continue Reading →
Successful Youth Practices: 10 Key Lessons that will boost your Coaching
Over the last number of weeks, as part of a coach development series within our organisation, I have had an opportunity to connect with coaches from around the world. The topic of choice was Skill Development and Youth Basketball. There were so many interesting ideas and topics that emerged, so I thought I would put some… Continue Reading →
Increase Your Productivity by Using these Simple Time Management Principles
Time Management Time is more valuable than money. You can always get more money, but you cannot get more time. Jim Rohn Contrary to what most people may think, time management is not an attempt at managing time. Time is in constant flow. It cannot be slowed down, stopped or managed. It will pass whether… Continue Reading →
LIVE YOUR VALUES
We’ve just wrapped up our third Rend Sports Summer Camp, and following a tough week behind the scenes that can only be described as a frustratingly, challengingly rewarding experience. In what has now become the most looked forward to event of our coaching team every summer, this year was different. All our plans, ideas and… Continue Reading →
PREPARING FOR TOMORROW
We all want to achieve a certain objective. We want to bring to life a certain vision that we may have for ourselves of for others.As a player, you may want to be ready to attack practices with tenacity as soon as the pandemic is over. As a coach, you may want to be ready… Continue Reading →
Measure to Improve
Something that I personally have been struggling with lately is the concept of becoming a better person, a better coach, and a better leader. I’ve consistently been reflecting and actively trying to get rid of what I consider negative habits whilst adding positive habits into my lifestyle. This has been challenging for me as I… Continue Reading →
imPACTT coaching – When less means more!
Is coaching less more effective in the long run? We’ve all seen coaches who have a presence on the court. A certain aura as they move around demanding, controlling, roaring instructions, giving feedback, constantly correcting skills and directing players from drill to drill. On the outset, it looks amazing. The coach seems to be in constant… Continue Reading →
Making an imPACTT!
WHY DO I COACH BASKETBALL? I coach basketball for a living and have dedicated the last number of years of my life to the sport and all that it brings. Late nights, early mornings, long weekends, emotional players, demanding administrations, over involved parents and uneven working hours. Oh, and did I mention low wages? Of course, I’m… Continue Reading →
Elusive Confidence
When it comes to sporting success, confidence has been shown to account for the differences between successful and unsuccessful performances. Sports psychologists and elite athletes have consistently stated that confidence is a crucial currency in their performances and success. But, what is confidence? Are there different types of confidence? How do we develop confidence? What impacts… Continue Reading →
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