WHICH COACH ARE YOU? DEVIL OR ANGEL?

[Image source unknown. I discovered this one on the net some years ago. Sorry. I always like to 'thank the passer.']

WHAT'S YOUR COACHING COMMUNICATION STYLE?

There are a lot of different styles of coaching/teaching. Yet, how aware are you of your communication style when you coach?

Take a look at the chart below and personally assess your communication style. Where would you place yourself on this spectrum?

In having the opportunity to coach coaches over the years, I've found that use of questions is the most difficult for coaches to incorporate. Often, the only technique used is the "tell and repeat" approach.

The truly great teacher-coaches move seamlessly between the different types of communication: tell & repeat, question & listen; and, collaborate. This is the art of coaching rather than a science.

None of the styles above, when examined in isolation, is better or worse than the other, necessarily. The challenge is when the only communication tool you have as a coach in your arsenal is one - especially if that one tool is the tell and repeat... tell and repeat... tell and repeat... tell. (You get my drift. It gets tired after a while. Now, imagine how your athletes feel after 4-months of that!).

Having a chance the opportunity to watch Coach K in live action this past week, I was so thoroughly impressed with who is is as a communicator. Truly masterful teacher.

He moved skillfully and intuitively between the different styles. And, at two separate points in the practice, he stopped the group to ask an athlete this one, very powerful question: "How do you feel right now?"

1st Ask:

• Athlete Response: "Great."
• Coach K (emphatic retort): "Hey... [-----] great!"

2nd Ask (toward the end of practice):

• Athlete Response: "Tired."
• Coach K: 'Tired... you look it. Don't underestimate the importance of being in shape. Not just physically, but mentally in shape. When you step on this court you have to be ready to but your *ss out there.' [SB: He then went on to briefly speak to each athlete's approach to every possession.]

Two different athlete responses both ending with the athletes feeling good about themselves. You could see a demonstrable increased commitment to the task at hand on their subsequent reps.

There's a time for telling. A time for questioning. And, a time to collaborate. Become a master communicator and you'll be well rewarded with how much more you'll be able to yield from your athletes.

//SB

DUKE, COACH K PRACTICE NOTES

I had the privilege this past week to travel with the PGC directors through the 'research triangle' in North Carolina. We called it the Tobacco Road Tour. And, covered Durham (Duke), Chapel Hill (Univ of North Carolina), Winston-Salem (Wake Forest) and Raleigh (NC State).

Here are some thoughts from our time at the Duke Men's Basketball practice we attended:

• Coach K started the practice with a brief talk to the team about remembering to acknowledge and thank the people around you that help make their experience possible. "When someone does something good, give a handshake... say thank you." [SB: I need to write a separate blog on how extraordinarily different the Duke culture is from any other I've seen.]
• "A smart player is a better player. Be smart and help each other be smart."
• All players echoed commands (e.g. play calls from teammates or coaches)
• "If you pass slow, you run slow. Our (fast break) begins with the pass. Strong pass will lead to a strong break."
• Keywords offensively = SPACING & BALANCE.
• "Think as a scorer" Can't afford wasted opportunities.

//SB

COACHING CLINIC NOTES: EUROPEAN COACH JASMIN REPEŠA

Two weeks (or so) ago, I attended a clinic that featured Jasmin Repeša. Coach Repeša has risen through the ranks of European basketball, first as a player and now as a coach.

Aside from being the Croatian National team coach, Repeša has also recently worked with Euroleague contender Lottomatica Roma and previously won two Turkish Cups and two Turkish Championships with Tofas S.K.

The theme of his 2-hour clinic was BALANCE: (1) Team balance, (2) Defensive balance and (3) Personal body balance - defensively and offensively.

(Before I give a dump of some nuggets from the clinic, I have to say that I enjoy sitting in on clinics done by people for whom English is not their first language. Yes, some things are lost translation. But, other things are said in such a direct and succinct way.)

Here are some highlights from my notes:

• Balance lets you have the 'first step.' The first step gives you the advantage. Doesn't matter what the age of the athlete. In fact, balance is just as, in not more, important for a senior national team athlete than for a younger athlete. "Basketball IS first step."
• Good defensive balance makes you quick (defensively). Players must develop controlled balance.
• Catch (on balance) by getting "under' the ball."
• Catching, cutting, running, sliding, the "next game" (i.e. transition from OFF to DEF or DEF to OFF)... must all be done on balance.
• Very few players catch thinking about the next play. [SB: This is a mentality - skill - that must/can be taught.]
• Be on balance on the catch, after the pass, on the shot, after the shot
• Shoulders need to be relaxed (to optimize first step) ... [SB Note: Repeša spent a *LOT* of time correcting the demo athletes on their shoulders. "Relaxed!" his voice would boom. This was one of those things that you could tell was very important to him, but oft not discussed in North American basketball. Track coaches make this a point of emphasis for their sprinters. Something to give thought to.]
• Defensively, don't elevate your body or extend your arms (to lunge or reach) - even on close outs. Just adjust the distance between your body and the offensive player.
• "No balance, no possibility of quick recovery."
• Wish, desire, concentration is a requirement that players need to have for help defense. Helping on the ball must be practiced everyday. "Move together with the ball" on the air time of the ball. New ball position = new defensive position. "Quick help... quicker recovery."
• In Euroleague/International basketball, 80% of set offense starts or finishes with the pick and roll.
• When teaching defense, start with... (1) individual responsibility, (2) help-recovery, (3) communication and (4) your system.

//SB

BEEN SOME TIME

I know... It’s been some time. At least 3-weeks give or take. Man, I miss writing, but things have been so hectic with me being on the road, that I’ve sold some of my soul to Twitter. Good news is that I can share in bite sized chunks. The bad news... Brevity is not necessarily my strength so staying within 140 characters is a stretch.

You can also follow me at http://twitter.com/thellabb

I finally have a little time to take a breath. I write this one from the airport in MIA (en route to Raleigh). Airport layovers are a great way to getaway crack open a book or watch a flick with minimal distraction.

So, to give quick recap on all that’s gone down in the past few weeks.

• Attended the Leadership Retreat & Fall Retreat with the PGC team in Tampa ... Strategic planning and good times mixed in.
• Led national meetings for Canada Basketball’s Centre for Performance ... Coaching the coaches, superb idea exchanges and moved another step closer to ensuring that all national team targeted athletes are being developed using the same concepts/approach across the country.
• Participated in technical summit on men’s basketball with leaders men’s sport at Canada Basketball and their Council of Excellence.
• Spent a few days back at the ol’ stomping ground at Air Canada Centre in Toronto ... Caught up with all the guys and my past colleagues with the Raptors. Had chance to help work out Bosh. (Injured players don’t travel for Toronto... Just my luck!)
• Met with one of my mentors at ACC and had an intensive session as he takes me through his executive leadership development program.
• Attended a (great!) basketball clinic featuring legendary European and Croatian National Team Coach Jasmin Repeša. (Had dinner with Repeša, Ontario Basketball ED, Ms O’Keefe, and Maurizio Gherardini at a tantalizing italian resto. Lip smacking good! And, I learned so much. Almost turned that invite down to prep for an on-court session the next day, but remembered the advice of another mentor to always pick up or drop off the clinician if you really want to learn something. Glad I didn’t get too caught up in myself.)
• Finally, got back on court (my haven!) at the women’s Ontario Centre for Performance session in T.O. for a weekend.
• Picked up my visa to get me into India from their consulate. Taking some time in November and will be doing some travelling. (Yay!!!)
  

After all that... I hauled tail back home. Stayed just long enough for the clothes to make it out of the dryer and back out the door to North Carolina.

More to come as I do a dump of some of what I’ve picked up along the way. /sEf.

HOW DO YOU LEARN BEST?

I know that this video is getting a lot of play and is enjoying a second lease on life... for a lot of good reasons. For starters, it's ABSOLUTELY hilarious!

But as I watched it a second time, it served as a reminder to me (for athletes): Some of our best learning comes from watching others.

Athletes spend a lot of time in lines. Could be on the sideline during a game, in the back of the line in a drill; and so on. If you watch most athletes, they have a real sloppy and shoddy approach when they're 'on deck.' This is a BIG mistake. A missed opportunity for growth and learning.

As coaches, we must draw attention to it. Bring awareness to heighten concentration.

Sometimes we learn best from watching others.

That said, our folks were on to something when they said: "Learn from my mistakes."

To that I often responded... "I have to make my own mistakes."

Perhaps our dancing baby is a reminder that we can watch and learn; while also putting our own spin on a good old fashioned booty shake. The results, surprisingly, can be just as good. /sEf.

Ben Zander is on to something with "Rule 6."

MYTH BUSTERS ON FOOTWORK

Oh, this is a goodie (via twitter.com/brianmccormick). It's a video overlay of lateral slide with what the author calls a "trail leg as the power leg" contrasted with the "lead leg as the power leg" ... or what I'd call a cross over step. Which is faster?

Just because we've always taught it a certain way, doesn't make it right.

Assess. Innovate. Apply. Improve. //SB

OBAMA: BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU POST

I'm not endeavouring to get into the post-Obama-speech hoopla (pardon the pun!); although, I must say that I don't quite understand the rationale for parents not allowing their kids to what or listen to The President's message to America's students. (Save the politicized comments please. I'm a de facto neutral entity by nationality... just an observation.)

One thing that caught my eye online though, that I think that more coaches, educators, parents and influencers need to make a point of discussion is, online etiquette (for lack of better words).

--

From mashable.com:

"...Prior to his live Internet broadcast to students across the country earlier today, President Obama answered questions at a Virginia high school.

Asked by one student how he could become President someday, Obama issued a warning about Facebook. “I want everybody here to be careful about what you post on Facebook, because in the YouTube age whatever you do, it will be pulled up again later somewhere in your life. That’s number one,” he said.

Poignant advice for aspiring politicians in the 21st century? Absolutely. It’s actually hard to imagine how someone who grows up with social media will be able to run for President one day without exercising extreme caution. That’s not to mention how wildly one’s views may change from the time they’re 15 to the when they’re 45, giving cables news channels decade’s worth of fodder to opine about.

Meanwhile, even for many of those with slightly lower ambitions, social media is proving to be an obstacle. Recent research showed that nearly half of companies now screen social media profiles in the hiring process, with content including provocative photos, alcohol, or bad-mouthing of former employers being frequently cited as a reason for not considering candidates. ..."
--

While working in the NBA, there was a lot of discussion about etiquette -- both on and off the court. Your seeing these challenges infiltrate into the business world now with the tightening of standards by ESPN on twittering by its employees; while the NBA is reviewing policy too.

Bigger than that, and just as insidious, is how the larger population of young people are using the various online forums. What legacy are they creating? Is it a positive reflection of them now and how others may interpret it later?

Like Hansel & Gretel, the pics and posts put online are bread crumbs that create a traceable e-trail. The question is, is what they're leaving behind closing doors to future opportunities? And, who's actively making a conversation of this issue with them an educating them?

There's never been a time in human history, I'd argue, where youth's understanding of technology exceeds their parents (and educators).

In business, it's said: 'Long-term success relies on staying relevant to the consumer.' The focus is on understanding and using technology to drive efficiency.

We, as teacher-coaches, have a responsibility to stay relevant to our consumers: athletes.

Off to figure out this tweeting thing... /sEf. (Follow me at http://twitter.com/thellabb)

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FAV OBAMA LINES FROM HIS SPEECH:

• "You can't let your failures define you. You have to let your failures teach you. Let them teach you what to do differently the next time."

• "Don't be afraid to ask for help. Asking for help isn't a sign of weakness, it's a sign of strength. Because it shows you have strength to admit when you don't know something and that then allows you to learn something new."

• "At the end of the day, the circumstances of your life -- what you look like, where you come from, how much money you have, what you've got going on at home -- none of that is an excuse... There is no excuse for not trying. Where you are right now doesn't have to determine where you'll end up. No one's written your destiny for you... you write your own destiny. You make your own future."

MYTH BUSTERS ON GAMES vs. DEVELOPMENT

This is not my own. It comes from Mike MacKay, Manager of Coach Education & Development, Canada Basketball. I've been meaning to share it for some time.

"The greatest myth currently being perpetuated is the idea that players can improve their skills by playing numerous games. Many of our developmental athletes are sometimes playing up to six games on a weekend. This is often preceded by only one practice during the week.

Upon closer inspection we see that if the athlete played six games on weekend this is actually only 192 minutes of basketball, if they played every minute of every game [32 minute game x 6 = 192 minutes (a 32-minute game was chosen since many leagues at the train to train stage only play this length of time.)].

Let us now assume that there was an equal split between the time spent on offence and defence [192/2 = 96 minutes on offence]. Since there are five players on the floor we will estimate that an individual player would only have the ball for 1/5 of this time [96/5 = 19.2 minutes]. It is very difficult to develop your ball handling, passing, shooting, lay ups, movement without the ball and fitness in only 19.2 minutes.

By going to a well constructed practice of one hour in length, the athlete would have surpassed the amount of developmental basketball played in the entire six games on the weekend. If you want to develop a skill like shooting, it requires deliberate practice to accumulate the number of repetitions that the experts say you need in order to master the skill. If the athlete took on average 10 shots a game it would take over 10,000 games to get up 100,000 shots."

Food for thought. /sEf.

FOOTWORK: ARTFUL & EFFICIENT

This is a must see. This is not tennis, this is fundamental movement and a wonderful depiction/description of the basic physical literacy that any athlete must obtain to optimize performance.

Check out this NYtimes.com feature, "Federer's Footwork: Artful and Efficient." (http://bit.ly/13B3Bf)

Let me pull some examples out...

Forehand Section (of the video) - Coach Macdonald speaks to the exaggerated 'heel-to-toe' foot placement that allows Federer to maintain balance and slow the acceleration of his body. This action is the same movement pattern used by a basketball player dribbling into his/her jump shot stride stop (e.g. left-right or right-left). It's also the same action used by a high jumper as they attempt to transfer their horizontal momentum into vertical force.

Jab Step Section (of the video) - What in tennis Coach Macdonald refers to as a "jab step," is the same action taught by speed specialists (like Lee Taft) as a 'plyo step' and 'hip turn.' It is, in fact, the same action that a basketball player uses to change direction out of a defensive slide. Teaching a drop step is Old School basketball. (Just because we were taught it, doesn't mean that it's right.)

Backhand Section (of the video) - The action that's described as using "...his legs like a slalom skier" to "absorb the tremendous movement forces and maintain dynamic balance." First, without evening knowing of Coach Macdonald's pedigree, I'm assured in this sentence alone that he's an effective coach because he does what Mike MacKay calls "painting a picture" with words. Second, this action is the same in any sport where there's a lateral change of direction required. And last, do notice that as Federer explodes out of this direction change, he uses a crossover step (whereby his left foot crosses over his right to move laterally the other way). Again, in basketball, far too much time is spent in slides than what actually happens in live game action with an athletic offensive player. (My hypothesis!)

Got the link to this story via @ericmusselman on Twitter. Check out his tweets as he does a FANTASTIC job of sharing some great golden nuggets.

Also, I'm still blogging, but will also be doing more twittering and saving the blogs for my longer rambles. Follow me at http://twitter.com/theLLaBB.

/sEf.

AMAZING... absolutely amazing what technology can do nowadays!