X's and O's by Mike Mackay - International Coaching Clinic

Thanks go out to the Germany Basketball Federation and the local organizing committee. They did a wonderful job in running the inaugural Cadet World Championship. One of the best ideas they had was to run an international coaching clinic at the same time. Ettore Messina, Sergio Scariolo, Dick Bauermann and Lindsay Ansley were the clinicians.

Ettore Messina
The idea of basketball is teaching rather than coaching. This relationship of teaching with the players lasts their entire lifetime. When attending a clinic it is important to evaluate what can be useful to you in your teaching. When Coach Messina first began coaching in 1977 there were no DVD’s, no clinics and no internet. Information was difficult to obtain. You had to attend practices and games to learn. Now we are overloaded with information. People have shelves full of books and DVD’s. Knowledge opens our mind but we cannot transfer everything we know to our players. One of the most important tasks a coach has is to select what information to transfer to his/her players. What is the most important information and how will I present it? How can this new information make my system better? Here are some things to consider when looking at new information:

• Clear teaching progressions – the teaching needs to read like a book; A-B-C-D-….Z. You cannot jump around F-X-H-P-…A. This is too confusing for the players. A good teacher is clear in his/her message. From the first to last step, it makes sense. The steps are challenging that the player can climb, but not so high that the player may stumble or become frustrated with the difficulty. If it is too easy it is superficial; too hard, the player becomes frustrated.
• Teach Whole –Part- Whole. When teaching shooting you cannot just teach this with set plays or with breakdown drills. You need to have a balance or combination. Coach Messina learned this balance when coaching National teams where he had only a short time to teach. He could not waste time.

How do you implement a new concept or skill? Show the players and then have them try at their own pace. They learn through making mistakes. The relationship the coach has with the mistakes of his/her players is one of the most important in the development of the players. We as coaches must find a way to accept mistakes. Coach Messina admitted that his biggest weakness as a coach and one he has struggled with to improve is his relationship with his players on making mistakes. He is constantly working to become more patient with mistakes, especially in the learning stages.

The three main things he watches for from his team when learning:
• Balance is more important than moving quickly. Get balance first. We need to teach players how to find balance when they run, stop, pivot, jump, turn etc… Always play on balance. If you pursue quickness first, you will struggle with balance and therefore the player’s performance will suffer.
• Spacing can be defined as the distance between a player and his/her teammate and or the basket. You must position yourself in a position where one defender cannot disturb you and your teammate. Spacing can change with the age of players. In the pro’s they can cover large spaces in a short period of time.
• Timing. Every action starts when the previous action is about to finish. There can be no lag time between each action.



For example: If a player runs a v-cut to catch a wing pass there can be lag time between catching the ball and the next action, which could be a drive or pass. This is because the player could not anticipate his/her next action. The player had to catch, pivot, then scan to see what option is available. Contrast this with the player who has scanned the court before making the catch. He/she can anticipate his/her next move.

Defence wants to break the flow of the offence by forcing more lag time between each action. One important thing to watch for on defence is if the defender and the ball arrive at the offensive player at the same time. If you always close out to a stationary player who has the ball facing the basket your defence is not causing disruptions.

When playing 3 on 3 pass cut fill, what do you watch as a coach? You should see the defence and ball arrive at the next offensive player at the same time. This means they are very close to disrupting the offence. As the game progresses problems will begin to occur for the offence.















Defensive spacing
If the lane is empty on defence you are not moving with proper spacing and timing. You need someone in the lane on defence when the ball is on the side of the court.

How you watch for timing and spacing as a coach is crucial for your team to be successful. You cannot control everything but you need to learn to pick your priorities. For Coach Messina they are; balance, spacing and timing.










Teaching the Young Big Player
It is important how we teach them. There are three directions in which a player may grow: physically, mentally and technically. Growth in one area helps the player develop confidence. If you become stronger, you can do your skills better; this in turn helps you gain confidence. If there is no growth, the player becomes frustrated and loses confidence. As a coach you must constantly be checking how the player is doing in all three areas, especially mentally. You may have to slow down growth in one part to let the other two catch up. For example; low post moves with defence may be okay, but as soon as you add defence, because the player has no strength, balance or coordination, they become frustrated. Slow down teaching the technical to allow the physical to improve. Work on developing athleticism; stop coaching the technical for a while. This will reduce the frustration by building confidence.


Outside in Jump Stop
The player passes the ball to the coach and then runs to the basket. The coach makes the return pass and lands with his/her outside foot (Right) and then inside foot (Left). The shoulders are parallel to the baseline. It can be very difficult to coordinate the feet in the traffic of a confined space. It also prevents the player from taking an offensive foul.

Shoot with the right hand, protect with the left, shoot with the left hand, protect with the right.

The first passes the coach makes are on time and on target. As the player progresses the coach throws passes that make the player react in different ways: high, low in front, behind. Always land with outside- in power.

We need to give the players three or four things that he/she can do on offence and defence that allow them to play immediately. They need to be able to score and to contribute to the teams defence. At young ages guards dominate the sport. This can be difficult for young big players to find a role on, or even make a team.




1-2 power as a trailer
We now work on the lay up when the pass comes from the wing. As the player learns to catch the ball and land with the 1-2, he/she can now focus on catching the ball and not worry about coordinating his/her feet for a layup.
























There are other situations when the young big player can make use of the outside in power stop. The first is on the layup, especially when there is traffic that may be waiting to take the charge. The second situation is on offensive rebounding on the weak side. The offensive rebounder uses an outside inside footwork to seal the defensive rebounder and get better position. The third time is when making a cut behind a defender. The last two steps are the outside inside as this seals the defender and gives the offensive player great positioning. We never want to cut parallel to the baseline when cutting.

Finishing strong and on balance
The offensive player starts with the ball and tosses it off the backboard. He/she jumps to grab the rebound with two hands at the peak of his/her jump. The rebounder must land on balance. As soon as he/she lands (for safety reasons, make sure the players land on balance and have proper landing form before doing this drill) the guided defender uses his/her
hips to push the rebounder. Take the contact, keep the ball under the chin, maintain balance and then finish strong protecting the ball. We do not want the post player to collapse when pushed. This may require that the coach goes back and works on building core strength first.




Neutralize the defender
The young post player needs to learn to neutralize the defender by pushing back with his body to regain the cylinder. This cannot be a push, as the defender will often draw an offensive foul if it is a sudden violent action. By regaining the cylinder it puts the player back on balance and in a position of control.

From this position the player can now fake. If the defender jumps, go under the defence. Be in control; there is no rush. Never shoot when under contact. Absorb the contact and then shoot.

This gives the player tools so he/she will not be embarrassed. They are usually playing against quicker, faster smaller players in the game.













Add a second defender

Once the player’s confidence grows handling the contact of one defender, we add a second. The rebounder lands the first defender, still pushes with his/her hips, the second defender rushes in and tries to steal the ball with hands only. This forces the offensive player to keep the ball protected and up.













Three movement speeds when learning

1. Go through the movements at a slow speed. The player is putting into his/her brain a new message.
2. Repetition with no stress. For example; 15 shots in a row.
3. Coach adds stress. For example, keep track of makes and misses, shooting %, winners, cannot move to the next spot until you make so many shots from the first spot.

You cannot add goals until they reach phase three. When you add stress to a player is a crucial decision by a coach; too soon they will lose confidence, too late no development will occur. When we add stress for example: if you score you keep it; you only have the player focusing on the outcome and not the process. Keep the same player on offence three or four times in a row; can focus on the process.

Teaching the young big player to shoot

Start with the foul shot. There is no pressure on the player and it is like their jump shot in the post. Help the player in building confidence. Make 1 of 2 foul shots. If the player is constantly missing foul shots, his/her teammates will not pass him/her the ball.

If the player can make one fast break basket in transition using the outside in jump stop, two points off an offensive rebound and put back and finally two points from the foul line. The player now has six points and the confidence starts to grow.

Three defensive ideas for the young big player

We have to help the young big player to stay on the floor without fouling.

1. Learn to challenge the shooting shoulder. The tendency of the big player is to go to the big target, which is the body. Need to help the player focus on the small target of the shooting shoulder.



A drill to practice this has an offensive player with the ball in one elbow. The post player is defending another offensive player in the opposite elbow. The player with the ball takes one hard dribble to the middle and then crosses over to attack the basket. The post defender stunts and then works to get position on the shooting shoulder of the offensive player. If the player goes after the big target of the body, it usually becomes a foul.

They must understand the shooting shoulder concept. It gives the player the ability to understand what is happening next. It leads to anticipation because there is understanding. They must look at other players and see the detail in the defence. They are learning to concentrate on why as well as how. The why should come first.

2. Help Cover

The player must learn to help recover to the shooting shoulder and then recover on balance. Very often it is the change of direction where the body will collapse and the player becomes slow. Work on moving laterally is a priority.

On the recovery the defender should fake a jump. This throws some indecision into the offensive player. What we don’t want is the player to jump on the recovery. This most often leads to a foul. It is about learning to handle your body. Coach Messina does not recommend a cross over step on the recovery. It puts the body off balance; move the foot that is closest to the offensive player first.










3. Defend the low post. Don’t stay behind your teammate on defence. When you are three in a row it gives the offensive player with the ball a clear look at the basket. Position yourself where you are visible. If the wing defender is forcing the ball baseline you need to be lower. If the ball is being forced middle you need to be higher.



You will notice by now that we have not talked yet about low post moves. Too often this is what coaches want to do with the young big player. These moves take time. Remember the premise of what we are trying to do. We want to build the confidence of the young big player so that he will be able to play. We also want to build the confidence of his teammates in his/her ability to play. Finally it is to build the confidence of you as the coach to play the young big player.

Post Position

It starts by gaining position. Absorb the contact and get in balance first.

Too often the young post player will try to split the feet of the defender. He/she then puts his/her forearm on the chest. This allows a good defender to spin over the top.

We need to teach the young post player to attack the top foot. Know when the player turns to the post, he/she is sitting on the thigh of the defender and has made it extremely difficult to get around.

Attack top feet, not split feet. This is crucial to inside play. This is the first progression in learning to score inside; does not have to work the ball to score. Don’t start with a back down dribble move. Again this takes a lot of skill and confidence.

In closing, balance is the key. The players must be taught to play in balance and the coach must learn how to balance the learning of the player between the physical, technical and the mental. What do you watch as a coach to evaluate the effectiveness of what you are doing? You need to know what to watch.

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X's and O's by Mike Mackay - Short Race Theory of Basketball

Renato Pasquali introduced me to the concept of the short race. Ever since that time I have expanded on the idea. I have found it makes an often difficult concept of the game easier to explain to players. It gives them a deeper understanding of getting open. What follows is my version of the short race theory of basketball.

Basketball is made up of a number of races. Whoever wins the race therefore has better position. The offence is trying to get to a spot on the floor before the defence prevents the offence from gaining the advantage of superior positioning. This high quality of the position makes it easier:
• to see
• to score
• to create better angles from which to attack the basket, be it with the pass or drive.

For a race to occur there needs to be a starting point, two contestants and a finish line. Let’s use the example to the left, of a wing entry pass. The offensive and defensive players create the starting line. Unlike a race in athletics this is not a static spot with only one defined spot. The offensive player generally gets to decide where and when the race will start. He/she also get to decide where the finish line will be. This gives the offence a tremendous benefit if they make use of this advantage.

Where the player starts from has an impact on :
• How open the basket is for other players to attack
• The angle from which he/she will head to the finish line.

The offensive player can stay wide or move in towards the basket to start his move to get open. When starting wide it keeps the basket open for the ball handler to penetrate and the other players to cut. It is also for better vision to anticipate the next action. Also, if a backdoor cut is preformed it is a 90 ° angle cut as opposed to a 180° cut when the angle to get open comes from the basket out.

It is easier to put the defender on your back when cutting out from the basket, like a v-cut. Your vision for anticipating your next action is limited.

The defence does not have to wait for the race to start to cross the finish line. He/she may start above, below or on the line. If this happens the offence must enlarge the space. This makes the distance to the finish line a little longer, but makes the timing of the pass easier. There is not such a small window into which the pass must be made.

The race starts when:
• The finish line is clear
• The passer is able to make the pass
• The passer is looking at you ( this does not have to be a stare)
Too many players start the race without seeing if the passer is ready. This means they reach the finish line and the ball is not available. This means they either stop and wait or they have to go past the desired finish line to receive the ball. The first usually leads to a deflection or steal; the latter leads to poor scoring position or angles to attack.

The finish line is a point that the offence wants to catch the ball. In our example it is the attack spot (45° angle foul line extended). This may not be the only finish line, as catching the ball at the basket is always an option. An offensive player who has only one finish line is a player who is easy to defend since the defence can go and deny that spot.

The offensive player never runs parallel to the sideline when cutting backdoor. He shortens the race and takes a short cut, which also cuts off the defender.

If the offensive player arrives at the finish line and stops before the ball, this can often lead to a turnover as the defender is continuing to run through and can steal the ball.

One way to guarantee you can win the race is to KOB (keep on back) your defender. This way the offensive player prevents the defender from reaching the finish line. This can be done on the wing by locking down the defender and popping out when the pass is made.

The ball will be stolen in this situation if the offensive starts the race to soon. If he/she moves before the ball is passed the defender can slip, catch up and steal the ball.

This same situation presents itself when a offensive player is sealing inside. Too often the offensive player starts the race too soon by releasing his/her seal early. This allows the defender to get to the finish line as the ball arrives.

Often when cutting inside, players will run past the first finish line, the front of the rim to get to the second finish line, the low post. The smart player understands that it is not always the fastest player who wins the race, it is the player who understands where the finish line is and that he/she needs to arrive at the open spot at the same time as the ball. The smart cutter shortens the distance between him/her self and the ball. Never run parallel to the baseline.

Defensively we want to limit the offensive player from reaching the finish line at the same time as the ball. Make the offensive player have to change his/her finish line by moving to catch the ball further away from the desired spot.

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X's and O's by Mike Mackay - Vision Means Anticipation

While attending the Cadet World Championships in Hamburg Germany I was also fortunate enough to attend the Nike International Coaching Clinic. The first presenter was Ettore Messina. I have heard Coach Messina speak before and was very excited that he was going to share with us his vast knowledge of the game. One of his topics was on passing. A comment he made really hit home. Too often the passer and receiver act like young lovers. Once their eyes meet they cannot take their eyes off each other. They become oblivious to anyone else in the room.

Here is an example of the lovers’ eyes meeting. The wing and the guard become infatuated with this pass. When the pass is not open the lovers keep their eyes fixed and run to meet each other. The guard pivots to protect the ball, but refuses to break the gaze.

Coach Messina suggested that we need to teach players to have a more mature relationship when passing. We are allowed to look at other players in the room.

How players position themselves on the court improves their vision. With enhanced vision the players’ anticipation of the next action improves. By increasing our ability to predict the next action, decision making improves. The speed at which the game is played today makes this very important to maintain flow within your offence.

How players position themselves on the court determines what they see. If they stand facing their lover (the ball handler) all they generally see is their lover. When the player does catch the ball, he/she was not in a position to anticipate the next action. The pass receiver must pivot on the catch and now look to determine his/her next action. No anticipation has taken place. If defence moves on the air time of the pass, they will be in proper position when the player pivots.

Here the wing player is watching the guard. On the catch, by the time the wing player pivots to face the basket, the defence is able to establish new position. No one is open for an easy score.

In this situation the wing player is more mature. He/she does not have to stare at his/her lover. There is a trust. By scanning he/she knows when the guard looks and is ready to pass, but is also seeing what is happening on the rest of the court.

This time, on the catch, the player quickly makes a touch pass to the side opposite the defence of the low post before the post
defender can establish position. This occurred because the player had the vision to anticipate the action.

The same poor position also occurs in the post. Many post players start with their backs to the basket. This again limits their ability to anticipate. Here the post ducks to the high post to catch a pass. Again the positioning on the catch means the player must pivot before scanning. The defence is able to react on the pivot to be in proper position.

This time the post player starts by facing into the basket. He/she is again able to see more than his/her lover. When the duck in occurs the post is able to make a touch pass to his/her teammate before the defence could react.

Again the positioning improved the vision, which allowed for anticipation, which led to a better decision.

Poor position often occurs in a zone offence also. All of the offensive players often get caught staring at the ball. Because of this they are not able to anticipate the next action as quickly. The defence also has a tendency to stare at the ball in this situation.

Here the offensive players have positioned themselves where they can scan. They know what the ball is doing but more importantly they can see their teammates and the defence. This subtle little adjustment in positioning allows the offence to improve its anticipation which leads to improved decision making.

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X's and O's by Mike Mackay - Adjusting to the New FIBA Rules

Whenever change occurs there is a continuum of action; from those who immediately embrace the change to those who never accept the change. This phenomenon is very prevalent when it comes to rule changes in the game of basketball. Some factors why associations/ coaches are often reluctant to rule changes:
• The economics factor. We cannot afford to paint lines or buy shot clocks.
• The control factor. Since we are not aligned we do not have to follow what they say; we can do our own thing.
• The disagreement factor. We don’t agree with the rule so we are not going to change. This one can be for developmental reasons or a personal opinion.

Where do rule changes fall within the LTAD model? How important is it that everyone follows the same rules? Starting in the summer of 2011 all National teams will be using the new FIBA rules (see the bottom of this piece for a quick overview of the new rule changes). These teams find themselves placed to the far left of the LTAD model. Within our development system both the cadet (early T2C athletes) and junior (early L2W athletes) will be competing in major events using the new rule set. This is the highest level of play for players at these stages of development. Obviously, players and coaches who wish to be involved in these competitions need to be familiar and have trained using these new rules. I will contend that one of the reasons that our athletes and coaches did so well at the inaugural boys cadet world championship was that our coaches and players were very familiar with the rules and concepts of the game. FIBA is the rule set with which our entire coaching staff coached with full time.

As we move horizontally across the model from left to right, the further to the right we move the less that associations /coaches follow the new rules. For example; two people going to the park to play pick up, in the Active for Life stage, can use any rules they wish since they are far removed from national team programming. When you move vertically up the model, the higher and closer you get to the Train to Win stage, the more important compliance becomes. It is accepted for developmental purposes that younger players should not play the adult game. The contentious issue is always when developmental athletes should begin to play the full adult game. If you move too quickly to the adult game it does not help the younger players develop the skills and concepts they need at older ages. Also, players want to have success at younger ages. The adult game does not always ensure that players can score at a rate that maintains their interest.



Associations need to decide where they fit in the model. The more they see themselves on the elite side and part of the elite pathway for players, the more they should conform to the rules.

Some problems are:
• Very often the groups that work with the most elite athletes are the ones who do not accept the new rules. The players and coaches in these associations are the ones who suffer since they are not prepared to play at their highest level of performance because they have been playing a different game.
• Many coaches in the elite stream are not trying to prepare the athletes to play at the highest level of competition; they only want the players to play at their current stage. They do not see their role as one of preparing the athletes for the next stage. This kind of thinking often traps all players in that system from being able to move forward. The coach/ association become the limiting factor, not the athlete.
• When coaches disagree with a rule, they often limit player’s development. The rules determine the skills of the game. Every time a rule changes it will have an impact on how the game is played. The longer we take to change, the longer we must play catch up.

I found it interesting to note that the gyms in Germany, that I visited, already have the new lines on the floor so that the players could already be practicing for the upcoming season. Change is difficult for most people, but as we all know change is inevitable. Can you imagine what it was like for basketball coaches in the early 1920’s when the rules committee decided to not restart play after every basket with a jump ball? The ball was passed in from out of bounds by the team that was scored upon. What if I did not change how I coached? What if I still spent the same amount of time in practice on securing jump balls? I remember when the three point line was introduced to the NCAA. A famous coach stated that he did not agree with the rule and was not going to change how he played. Needless to say, when his team underachieved, the next year he went out and recruited a great shooter. He adjusted his coaching to the three point line and eventually won his third NCAA Championship. The game changes as the rules change. The game teaches us how to adjust.

One of the clinicians at the Nike International Coaching Clinic, here in Hamburg, was Sergio Scariolo, who is the coach of the Spanish National team. His talk was on the adjustment we must make as coaches to the new FIBA rules. His information comes from a study done in Spain where one second division team used the rules this past season. Below is a brief summary of the rules that come into effect in October of this year at the international level.

Note: Domestic implementation does not take effect immediately for the rules regarding lines on the court. The non-court marking rules can be applied starting in October.

For high level competitions/Level 1 (main FIBA official competitions: i.e. Olympic Tournaments, World Championships for Men and Women, U19 and U17 World Championships for Men and Women and Zone/Continental Championships for Men and Women): as of 1st October 2010,i.e. after the 2010 FIBA World Championship.
For medium level competitions/Level 2 (i.e. all other FIBA official competitions and the high level competitions of the national federations): as of 1st October 2012, i.e. after the London 2012 Olympic Games.
Free-throw lines and restricted areas
The restricted areas shall be the floor rectangle areas marked on the playing court.
The restricted (three-second) area shall be a rectangle (not anymore a trapezoid)
Three-point field goal area
The distance of the three-point line shall be 6,75m (and not 6,25m as present).

Throw-in side lines
The two (2) small lines shall be marked outside the court, on the opposite side of the scorer's table and the team bench areas, with the outer edge at the distance of 8,325 m from the inside edge of the end lines; in other words, level to the top of the three-point line.
During the last two (2) minutes of the game and of the extra period, following the time-out granted to the team that has been entitled to the possession of the ball from its backcourt, the subsequent throw-in will be taken on the opposite side of the scorer's table from the "throw-in side line" and not as presently from the centre line extended.
No-charge semicircles
The no-charge semicircles shall be marked on the playing court, under the baskets. The distance of the inner edge of the semicircles shall be 1,25 m from the centre of the basket (on the floor).
A charging (offensive) foul should never be called if the contact by the offensive player is with the defensive player standing within the no-charge semicircle.
Twenty-four seconds
If the throw-in is to be administered in the backcourt, if required by the respective rules, the 24-second device shall be reset to 24 seconds.
If the throw-in is to be administered in the frontcourt, if required by the respective rules, the 24-second device shall be reset as follows:
If 14 seconds or more are displayed on the 24-second device at the time the game was stopped, the 24-second device shall not be reset and shall remain the same.
If 13 seconds or less are displayed on the 24-second device at the time the game was stopped, the 24-second device shall be reset to 14 seconds.

Note: the full FIBA rules can be downloaded from http://www.fiba.com


Coach Scariolo commented that it is important that coaches take part in discussions concerning the future of the game. Too often we as coaches only want to coach our team. We need to take some responsibility for the direction the game is taking. This means attending committee meetings.

What follows are the lessons learned from the Spanish league:

Throw in from the sideline

There are two spots, in line with the three point line, that will be used to inbound the ball when a time out is called in the last two minutes of the game. The ball is advanced to these spots to be inbounded. The advantage to the offence is that there is a better angle and closer distance to attack the basket to score, especially with back picks and lob passes. The disadvantage is that the ball must be inbounded in the front court only. There is now limited space to get open. This makes it easier for the defence to deny and also foul upon the catch.

Rectangular Key

	Since it is a shorter distance to the basket on the baseline side than the old trapezoid it was found that more players were making spin moves baseline. This was frowned upon with the old key. Picture Tim Duncan turning to the baseline for his bank shot. The ability to pass to and from the post will multiply as there is more sagging defence. The length of the three point shot means not as many offensive players can effectively shoot the shot therefore the defence can help in on the post. More passes will be made in traffic.
	Low to low pass It is much easier to pass form low post to low post when there is post to post help. The distance is shorter than with the trapezoid key. This shorter distance also makes it easier to rebound the ball offensively from the weak side low post. It was easier to pin in the defensive rebounder. There was an increase in double low post play.
	High post play Since it was very difficult for the post player to step out to shoot the longer three point shot, the return of a high post player was very prevalent. This player needed to be able to score from this area but also make high precision passes against sagging defence.
	Boxing out on the foul shot Although it became easier to box out offensive players trying to go to the middle, it became more difficult in boxing out offensive rebounders attacking the baseline side of the defensive rebounder. There may also be an increase in stunting and screening actions on the offensive rebound since offensive rebounders will not be able to overpower as easily to create a rebounding advantage. The players coming from the outside now have one more step which means it will take a longer time to get into rebound position either offensively or defensively.

Resetting the 24 second shot clock
Teams will have a greater opportunity on offence to get a quality shot. You do not have to worry about a quick score out of bounds play accept at the end of quarters. You will always have at least 14 seconds to flow into your offence. On the defensive side you may see more fouls late in the game as teams cannot allow the 14 more seconds to be played.

3 point
The statics from the Spanish league have shown that the overall percentage of the three point shooting remained the same, but there was a drastic reduction in the number of three point shots taken. In general the specialists took the threes. The post position was the one who took fewer threes.

An alarming trend was the failure to make use of the corners. Even though this was the closest three point shot, coaches found that there were too many turnovers committed by players trying to negotiate the tight space with their feet. Coach Scariolo suggested instead of abandoning these areas that coaches must either: • Look at keeping the player stationary in this area to shoot instead of trying to move , catch and shoot all at once • Shoot two point shots instead of threes • Look at changing the footwork to allow the players to shoot in limited space.

Because fewer three point shots will be taken the close out will change. Defenders can close out with the idea of containing. Because of this, defences will not have to worry about rotation as much. More help and recover will be used.

No charge circle
This is a positive rule that actually helps the defensive players understand proper positioning for help. They learn not to stay too deep but, just as important, not to go too far.

The new three point line is coming whether we want to use it or not. Understand the developmental reasons for not wanting to use it, but we must be promoting shot form that can eventually lead to success at the highest level of play.

Three point shot
Maybe not everyone will take it. One problem of keeping the short line is that coaches do not work on the new lessons the game has taught us.

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X's and O's by Mike Mackay - Taking Short Cuts

It’s All Relative

There are many situations in coaching where we need to consider the long term rather than the short term. When we focus solely on a short term outcome of trying to win the game we often short change the development of the players and can hinder winning in the long term. This also can seriously hurt players chances to fully participate in other areas of the LTAD model at a later date. This short term approach is detrimental as we move up the LTAD model vertically, but also when you move horizontally across the model. As a coach it is easy to rationalize why I should try to win games now. Our logical side speaks to us and it often seems to make sense:
• Why should I not play zone at younger ages if it helps my team win?
• Why pick that tall gangly awkward youngster when I can have a whole team of quick coordinated players who can run and press? They are the better players- isn’t that what I am supposed to do?
• Why should I not set a ball screen so my best player can continually drive right to score a right hand layup?
• Why should I play more aggressive defence when my players just get beat on penetration? The other team can’t shoot, so let’s just sag.
• Why should I not let my biggest player just guard the front of the rim? If he/she guards someone away from the basket he/she always gets beat.
• Why do we need to practice fundamental movement and basketball skills when my players just like to scrimmage? It takes up too much of my already limited time.
• Why should I change my players shot form when it is working now?

The great coach at all levels understands that the answer to these questions is all relative to the current context at which you are playing. The way in which you win games early in the season may not be enough to win games later in the season. The skills and concepts that a player uses early in his/her career/season may not work later on in their career/season. Being a great player or coach at one stage or place on the LTAD model does not guarantee success at another spot.

Vertically (The Players’ Career)

At the L2T stage, the game is often won by the team that can score the most layups and put backs. If the players are using lower baskets this is often magnified. Interesting as you move up the LTAD model the team that scores the most closest to the basket still wins a lot of the time, but it cannot be the only way you score. This means that players, as they move up the LTAD model, must develop other ways to score the ball. I vividly remember seeing a player in Junior high who was a scoring phenom. Everyone was predicting this player to be the greatest player in high school. The player’s teams sat in a 2 -3 zone. The scoring phenom played in the top of the zone. This meant the player could shoot the gap on a pass or leak out early on shots. The player was very fast and no one could ever catch the player before scoring the uncontested layup. When the player moved on to the high school level this method of scoring did not present itself very often. It was not that scoring right hand break away layups was no longer a scoring option, it is just that the sophistication of the defence, the lack of turning the ball over and the players inability to use the left hand prevented it from happening at the next level. Having never experienced failure before, the player had not developed the coping skills to work through frustration. Tragically the player did not even finish playing high school basketball.

At each stage of the model, as a player moves up the ladder, refinement to existing skills or the addition of new skills must occur.

Horizontally (The Players’ Season(s))

It is all relative as you move horizontally across the model in the course of a season. When playing in the backyard by yourself, it can be very easy to score the ball. As you move on to play a game of pick up with a bunch of friends it becomes more difficult because there is now a defender, but since there are no referees you might be able to get away with a few things to help you to score. In your own local league you may be able to get away with making soft passes with the ball over your head since you are the tallest player and the other teams play very passive defence. As you move on to a provincial competition this might still work. It might even happen at the National level, but most likely you will eventually run into a situation where this no longer works. The players will be taller and the defence becomes more assertive. At less competitive levels when you beat your check, you often face little or poor help defence. The more organized and competitive the play, the bigger and quicker the help becomes. The speed and intensity of the play is accelerated. (Note this is also as you move vertically up the LTAD model). It may also be in certain concepts of play. At a local level players may not shoot the ball from the three point line, but when you progress through your season you may find this not to be the case. Teams at lower levels often do not use their bodies. The physicality of the game becomes enhanced. Higher level teams often are initiating the contact. This is done on both offence and defence. I once took a team to an AAU tournament in Nebraska. Although our team was small in size, we more than made up for it in our physical play. The AAU teams were not used to someone fronting a cut, making contact on a box out, setting solid screens, taking charges or initiating the contact on drives and layups. They constantly complained to the officials that we were playing hockey and not basketball. Although this worked to our advantage we were not used to playing against tall, athletic players. We had not seen this in the Maritimes provinces. When we got to the semi-finals of the tournament we struggled to score as our shots and passes continued to be blocked. Instead of learning to play low and using fakes and pivots, we got tall and extended, playing right into the other team’s strengths. I did not properly prepare my players for this style of play. I learned my lesson for the future. A great coach must know what the game will look like at the highest level that his/her players will see that season. It is our job to ensure they are prepared.

It is difficult as a coach or player to prepare for something if you have never seen what it is going to be like. Very often players trying out for provincial teams or national teams are overwhelmed the first time they try out. They are unprepared for the differences in the game. As a coach, if you plan to have a player or team play at the highest level of your stage, you need to simulate the skills, concepts, speed and intensity that will be played when you get there. You have to go and see. This is why I am currently attending the World Championships for the Cadet players (boys in Germany, girls in France). I need to see it firsthand. Watching on a DVD is good, but it does not completely capture the entire picture. After seeing it one has to be willing to change. This often means practicing differently than you are used to.

Often the whole issue of facts and true facts rears its ugly head when rumors get to fill in the spaces for people who have not actually seen what the next level is really like. A player goes to a try out or off to a competition away from the one he/she is comfortable with. Since no one else has really seen the competition it is easy for a “fact” to materialize as to why this player did not get to play or played so poorly. The “true fact” is that the player was not prepared for the level of competition. Who starts the rumor:

• It can be the player in a need to protect his/her ego
• A parent in their blind devotion
• A coach who may not have actually seen the competition, but out of loyalty to his/her player

For players to grow they need to be able to deal with the true facts of the situation. This is not always easy.

What about the player who is playing on multiple teams, or a player who plays on a club and/or a high school team and then tries out for a provincial/national or select team, who will now compete against better competition? Who is responsible for preparing the player for the increased intensity and speed of play? Most would say it is the provincial /national coach who is coaching that team. The problem is that too often these teams do not have enough training time to have an impact. Too often the player is trying to work on these concepts through a skill development program, like Centre for Performance or Regional Training Centre, but they never get to apply these skills in a competitive situation. Just as important is the amount of time the player puts into individualized training. This cannot be at the same pace. The player needs to work at the new speed and intensity. Parents also have to accept some responsibility. If they continually put their son/daughters in programs that just play games they must accept the fact that the lack of training will catch up.

Let’s relook at the previous questions as they reflect some of the most common situations with a short, rather than a long term, view:

• Why should I not play zone at younger ages if it helps my team win?
o Players do not develop the deep understanding and mastery of the skills required to play the game at higher levels when all they do is play zone at younger ages. The zone works with young players because of a lack of strength and skill rather than the effectiveness of the defence.

• Why pick that tall gangly awkward youngster when I can have a whole team of quick coordinated players who can run and press?
o This is still one of the hardest notions for coaches of elite teams at the developmental ages to accept and apply. Shouldn’t the “best “players make the team? The argument I often hear is that this is the only time for the small player to shine; later on the tall players will dominate. I would agree with this statement if the tall players were staying in the game. Since they often do not get a chance to play when they are young, the vast majority lose confidence and move on to another sport that is more accepting of their future potential. Basketball is a game for tall people at the elite stage. This does not mean that small players cannot play, but we need to make sure future tall players have a chance to play young so they can be around when they are old. When they do not make the elite level team they often do not get the perks that go with this level of team; more coaching, compete against better players every day in practice, and a level of competition that challenges them to improve.

• Why should I not set a ball screen so my best player can continually drive right to score a right hand layup?
o Similar to zones, ball screens work at younger ages because the defence is not ready to defend them. Once the defence learns to switch, trap or properly defend the offensive players usually do not have the skills to make the adjustments. They only have a surface understanding. Also, usually only two players are involved in the offence. The rest of the players become spectators, hindering their development.

• Why should I play more aggressive defence when my players just get beat on penetration? The other player can’t shoot so let’s just sag.
o This is another one that is often hard to grasp. Shouldn’t I play a defence that gives my team the greatest chance to win? Win when? By not applying ball pressure the offensive players never have to learn valuable skills that they will eventually need. This usually comes in the “big” game sometime in the future. If you learn to stand straight with the ball over your head and make simple passes, sometime, somewhere there will be someone in your face. Sometime, somewhere there will be a team that can shoot the ball from the outside as your team is sagging to protect against penetration.

• Why should I not let my biggest player just guard the front of the rim? If he/she guards someone away from the basket he/she always gets beat.
o The term big is relative. As you move vertically and horizontally through the LTAD model, size becomes relative to where you are. The so called big player on your high school team now becomes tiny when trying out at a higher level. More often than not it is the inability to guard their new position that will do them in.

• Why do we need to practice fundamental movement and basketball skills when my players just like to scrimmage? It takes up too much of my already limited time.
o Eventually the lack of skill work will catch up with your team. There is always slippage in skills when you just play. You constantly must be refining the skills and loading your skills repertoire. You don’t all of a sudden start dribbling with your left hand in a game. You needed to have tried this out in practice first. Lack of fundamental movement skills can also lead to injuries over time. Agility, balance, coordination and speed are the foundation of your basketball skills.

• Why should I change my players shot form when it is working now?
o Players who look under the ball or have a two piece shot (more than one motion in their shot) will eventually be limited in their shooting as the defence becomes better. They will no longer have the one second advantage needed to get their shot off.

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X's and O's by Mike Mackay - Typing

The other day I decided to have a typing contest with Kelly, my assistant. I consider myself a fast typist. Anyone who has ever seen me type will realize that I never received any coaching in the past. I have developed my own unique style. My first real exposure to typing was from a gentleman named Steve Taylor, who worked in the office at Taylor's Transfer. My job was to assist in loading the delivery trucks at night so that in the morning they could deliver the freight. Mr. Taylor was responsible for typing up the shipping invoices. Before we could begin loading the trucks we would wait in the office for him to type up the invoices. I had never seen someone move two fingers so fast. I was mesmerized by the fluidity of the movement. So when I started typing, my model of ideal typing was using your two index fingers as fast as you can. By the way, I did not start to seriously type until I was in my mid twenties and got my first computer, an Apple II e. There was no need to type when I was in high school or university.

Typing to me was always about achieving an outcome; just get the paper done. I once tried to use all five fingers on each hand, but found it very slow and awkward. It would take too long to get my report done. Besides, I was fast with two fingers.

Kelly has taken typing lessons and was coached by someone who was concerned about her learning the process of typing. Kelly’s coach, when she was first learning, was concerned that she learned to use all ten fingers. This meant that Kelly went through a time when she was not very fast at typing. She made mistakes and had to deliberately and purposefully practice using the proper key strokes. It required not only time, but a lot of concentration on the details. She had to spend time working on her weaknesses, not just repeating her successes. Having gone through this learning process she now types like a professional, but was she as fast as me?

If this competition had occurred early in the development of both of our typing careers there is no way she could have won. By specializing on just two fingers instead of ten, it made it easier to achieve the outcome of getting the paper done. While she was struggling to get her left pinkie to hit the letter “Q” at the proper time, I eliminated moving my left pinkie by letting my specialized index finger do all the work. In the short term, I would win.

Back to the race. The contest consisted of typing; “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.” Needless to say it was no contest. I was obliterated. My confidence as a typist was shattered. I realized then and there that I had no future as a professional typist.

After a few days I reflected on what had just happened. Here are the lessons I learned from the devastating experience:

1. In order to learn we need to have a model of what the outcome should look like done correctly. If we do not provide a good model, we can lead the learner down a path that may lead to short term success, but create a ceiling for future development.

2. My developmental pathway means I will always be a competitive recreational typist. I will never be elite unless I take the time to learn the proper process. Kelly, on the other hand, was taught a process that allows her to have options. She can stay in the competitive recreational stage or pursue elite typing. Nowhere in my development did I have the crucial ingredient to be elite; deliberate purposeful practice. My practice was only to achieve an outcome of getting a report or paper done. I never practiced with the purpose of getting better. This meant I had to risk losing at some time in my development; I had to give up on the outcome and focus on the process.

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X's and O's by Mike Mackay - Congrats! We won the bronze!

It is quite the feeling to watch your country win a medal in a world championship. The emotions that you go through can be overwhelming. You realize that your team is one of the top three countries in the world. Congratulations go out to the players who worked so hard under adverse conditions. The humidity in the gym and the hotel was, at times, unbearable. Eating the same food everyday for two weeks can also be challenging. Through it all the players persevered. It would have been so easy at times to pack it in when they got down, but each and every game they were able to rally and get back into the games. Even in their semi-final loss to the USA, the team was done by 22 points, but was able to rally back to cut it to four points. No other team was able to mount such a comeback. Beating Lithuania, who was one of the toughest teams in the tournament, was no easy matter. They were relentless in attacking the basket and had players step up and make big shots. It was our balanced attack that was crucial in deciding the game. We had six players in double figures. Having Kevin Pangos named outstanding point guard of the tournament was quite an honor. He led the team in scoring and was second in rebounding.

Our coaching staff of Roy Rana, Kirby Schepp and Nathan Schellenberg did a gold medal job. They always had the players prepared and did not let the players lose focus. It is a marathon for the coaches at a world championship. People often think that the coaches get to go on holiday in these foreign countries, staying in five star hotels. Well, your vacation exists of running practices for your team, scouting opponents, breaking down tape to all hours, eating the same food everyday and sleeping in conditions that make a sauna seem cool. Through all of this, you need to remain upbeat and positive so that the players mirror your attitude. It takes master motivators.

Our support staff played a crucial role. Manager Madhav Trivedi and athletic therapist Krisjon Vargas chipped in and did their part. Just keeping the players hydrated is essential and the importance of having clean laundry cannot be over estimated. Thanks goes to the organizers of the tournament, the German Basketball Federation and all of the many volunteers. It takes a tremendous amount of people behind the scene to make a tournament of this magnitude run smoothly.

All of the people back at Canada Basketball should feel proud of their contribution. The booking of flights, organizing practice times, packing the gear etc. is very time consuming and often a thankless task, but is critical in having a team perform well. The Provincial Basketball Associations that had players and coaches represented on the team should feel very proud at this time. It is your development system that helped produce these players/ coaches. The same is true for the local high school, club and provincial team coaches. Your contribution to the player’s development cannot go unnoticed.

A final congrats goes to the families of the players. Not everyone was able to make the trip, but I know that they were changing sleeping patterns to stay current with the games. A lot goes into developing an elite basketball player. One of the key roles is a supportive family. Thank you!
It was truly a team effort.

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X's and O's By Mike Mackay - Competitive Recreational Sport

One of the most difficult things to explain in the Canadian Sport for Life model is the difference between elite sport and competitive recreational sport. Most claim it revolves around the ratio of practices to games. Although this is a big part, it does not capture the idea of deliberate, purposeful practice. Matthew Syed in his excellent book about elite performers called Bounce, uses the analogy about driving a car to explain deliberate, purposeful practice. By expanding on his comparison we can describe in detail the difference between elite and competitive recreational sport.

At some point in time when people are learning to drive they have to make use of deliberate, purposeful practice. They have to focus on learning certain skills and concepts. They cannot just focus on the things they do well, they also have to practice the skills in which they are not competent. No one jumps into a car and can parallel park for the first time! It requires practice. People need time to wobble when learning. For many, this stage causes a time of great frustration. Many a father has given up on coaching his son or daughter because of this frustration. Because of this, many parents opt to have a professional train their son/daughter. After some formal practice by the professional they may then assist in the training by taking their child out for extra practice. It is all about building confidence and acquiring the skills necessary to drive. Through perseverance and being able to see the long term dream goal of having ones license, most make it through the learning process. The final step is to show competency: the potential driver has to pass a test. This ensures that they have reached a minimum standard that allows them to drive safely on the road. The professional coach takes the training driver through the route that the driver will be tested on. This familiarizes the driver with the intricate details that may trip up the unexpecting driver on the test. Most of us can remember the stress of taking this test. I can vividly remember drawing a blank on how to turn on the parking lights! Luckily, I calmed down enough to remember and proceeded with the rest of the test.

By passing the test, the driver shows that he/she has the ability to drive. Now comes the big decision: do I continue to make use of deliberate, purposeful practice and improve my driving skills or do I just keep my skills where they are and become a competitive recreational driver? The vast majority of us have chosen to stay recreational in our driving. When I drive I do not focus on my skills. I especially do not focus on improving my weaknesses. In fact, many people's driving skills deteriorate the longer they drive. One of the most frightening experiences for a middle aged driver is to have to retake a driver's test. Deep down we know that we no longer drive to the same standard as the test, but we don't want someone pointing that out to us.

To become a professional driver one would need to continue to focus on deliberate, purposeful practice. This means owning up to one's weaknesses and working to improve them. This means focused practice on little details. One also needs to focus on refining and maintaining his/her current strengths. If we ignore them, slippage takes over and soon we are on the slippery slope to losing the quality of execution.

Now let us relate this to sports. To play on a competitive team all players at some time had to go through a period of deliberate, purposeful practice. The extent of the period varies from person to person, but at some time they had to learn the rules, basic skills and concepts of the game in order to make the team. Prior to this competitive experience the children may have been in a situation where everyone got to play. There were no formal try outs per se and children did not get cut. These types of teams are recommended for children at the Learn to Train Stage of the LTAD model. Everyone plays and everyone gets to work on the skills and concepts required to play the game.

Once the child reaches the Train to Train Stage and tries out for a team, the decision is made as to the type of team it is going to be; a development team or a competitive recreational team. On a development team the focal point is on deliberate, purposeful practice where the players and team are focused on Kaizen, getting a little bit better each and every day. The wise parent allows the trained coach to work with his/her child; just because I have played the game does not mean I am an expert at teaching it to others. The trained coach understands the stages of learning that a child goes through and how to help the child to embrace adversity while maintaining their confidence. On the competitive recreational team the players are not challenged to improve to the same extent. The focus is on the outcome: play the game. The players make use of their strengths and avoid their weaknesses. The team may still practice, but the main focus of the practice is on the tactics and strategies needed for the team to achieve the outcome of winning the next game. The drills are familiar and rarely change from practice to practice. They allow the players to keep the rust off their game and maintain their skill and fitness level. Players are often asked to avoid weaknesses by being restricted in what they do; don't dribble, don't pass, don't shoot in these situations.

There is nothing wrong with competitive recreational sport. Players can play in competitive recreational sport for a long time. It benefits them in so many positive ways; staying active, building camaraderie of being with a group and a chance to keep engaged in sport. The problem is when people think that you can move directly from competitive recreational sport into high level elite sport. The only way this can happen is with deliberate, purposeful practice, be it to obtain the required fitness and/or the skills and concepts needed to play at this higher level of competition. A more dangerous concern is when coaches or league administrators advertise their program as an elite development program and then proceed to set up a competition/practice schedule that does not allow the athlete to have deliberate, purposeful practice. Practices that allow the players to play to their strengths and do not force them to focus on improving weaknesses or polishing up current skills will lead to slippage in performance over time. This is compounded by playing game after game interspersed with practice that focuses on more tactics and strategies. These coaches and administrators are limiting the options of the players in their programs. The player thinks they are becoming elite but unbeknown to them, they are not. To be an elite development program, individual player development must exist within the program.

If you want to be good at something you have to practice to improve.

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X's and O's By Mike Mackay - Learning the process not following the cookbook

Here is a piece from Vern Gambetta's blog site (http://functionalpathtraining.blogspot.com/)

The Recipe or the Cook

I will use a cooking analogy to illustrate the training process. I can take a recipe from one of the finest chefs in the world and try to make an elaborate thanksgiving dinner. Unfortunately no matter how hard I try, even with the exact ingredients my meal will not be the same, probably not five star qualities. Why? Very simply, if it was just about the recipe I could obtain a book with champions workouts go out to the field, track or weight room, give the workout and magic instant champions! It's not that simple. The secret is not in the recipe it is in the chef. In our world the coach is the key, we all have our own recipes, I can give you my recipe book, in fact I have on my web site, but I doubt if the results will be exactly the same. For me the coach is the key – the feeling the intuition of when to push, when to cut back, that is not written in the recipe. You acquire that by practice, by watching and learning. It is almost a sixth sense that you develop. Each individual and each team is different. You must start with a good recipe, but you must have the highest quality ingredients, the oven at the correct temperature, you must cook it for the exact amount of time, you must stand over the stove and pay close attention to what you are doing. Building an athlete is not a microwave meal.

Vern Gambetta

Beginning coaches often want templates of practices and drills that they can follow. This is an excellent way to get started into coaching when you have no experience. As you progress in coaching you eventually need to move away from templates and start to build your own coaching skills. The problem with the template is that the person who developed the template does not know your athletes and where they are in their development. If the book says you should go hard today, but the athletes are all coming down with the flu, who do you listen too, the book or your athletes? Eventually the coach must learn the art of accessing the athletes and what skills and concept they have mastered. They must also be able to judge the athletes physical, mental and social/emotional state of readiness. A template can guide you, but the coach has to learn the skills and make the decisions. It is the same dilemma we have with player development; as coaches we need to teach players how to play the game not how to run plays. The same for coaches; we need to teach coaches how to coach, not just to run a collection of drills and strategies.

I still vividly remember being asked by a coach to come and assist him in putting in a zone offence. He had taken an offence from the Medalists coaching clinic review. Medalist was a manufacture of uniforms and their clinics were similar to the Nike clinics we have today. Each year they would publish a review of the entire clinics that were done that season. This coach had chosen the zone offence that was run by the NCAA national champions the previous season, but he was having trouble getting his players to run it. During a scrimmage the coached stopped the players and was upset with his centre since he was not running the offence as it was described in the book. As the ball was reversed from the wing to the top, the centre was supposed to cut to the high post. On the reversal pass to the opposite wing he was to drop to the low post on the ball side. The centre was adamant that the book was crazy, why would he not just cut from low post to low post. A heated debate ensued with both players and coaches losing respect for each other. The problem was that the ball was being skipped from wing to wing without being passed through the top. The book had no diagram or instructions for this option, since it was only Readers Digest version of the offence. The coach was not able to adapt on the fly since he was trying to follow a template.

One of the most important coaching tools in the coaching toolbox is the ability to apply the stages of skill development to designing appropriate training and team strategies. Can the coach:
• Observe his/her athletes and know what stage they are at?
• Choose appropriate drills or activities that will take the athlete to the next stage?
• Individualize the learning to allow for the differences within a team?
• Adapt on the fly to situations that arise?

Initiation / Introduction drills
What is it?
The first contact the athlete has with the skill/concept. The athlete may have no idea of what to do in order to perform the skill/concept.

What does the athlete need?
To have a clear mental image of what a correct execution looks like (Whole-part-whole). Understand the fundamental positions, stances, and patterns of the skill or concept. Feel safe when performing the skill/concept. If necessary, reach a comfort level with some movements or feelings that may be unfamiliar, and that are part of the skill/concept to be learned. They need to know why the skill/concept is performed, what is its purpose?

What does this mean for the coach?
1. Have a good demonstration
A picture is worth a thousand words. This is more important than telling the athletes what to do. This demonstration needs to show why the skill is needed. Very often showing the whole lets the athletes understand the small part they are going to work on.
2. Keep it simple
Only have one or two key points. Enough to get them started. These points should be concerned with the big picture first, not the small details. Remember they need to know why they are doing the skill first.
3. Let them wobble
Players need time to try the skill at their own pace. Think of a young child learning to walk. The child has a clear mental picture because he/she sees adults walking all the time. They feel safe because they get to go slow and at their pace. Mom or Dad is there to catch them if they fall. I suggest you go to Youtube and watch baby Elijah walking. I think his mother is a great coach! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLC1Js5y-po
4. Reinforce with positive feedback
Feedback at this stage is very positive and encouraging. You are more concerned with the athlete getting the big picture movements and the willingness to try. Save the details for later. This is the first steps in building confidence. It will allow the athlete to be willing to accept the challenge of more detail and intensity.

What does this look like?

Example: Initiation stage for a L2T player being introduced to a crossover dribble
The coach explains that a crossover dribble is used when we want to change the ball from the right to left hand. This is because the defence is guarding me on my right side of my body I have to change the ball to the left. The coach shows the players a low dribble that is moved from one hand to the other with a ‘V’ dribble action. He/she gives the player chance to practice on his/her own.


We now want to start to move into acquisition.

Acquisition or polishing drills
What is it?
The athlete becomes capable of:
• Coordinating the key components of the movements
• Executing them in the correct order, thus performing a rough form of the skill.
The movements are not well synchronized or under control, and they lack rhythm and flow. The execution is inconsistent and lacks precision. The athlete has to think about what he or she is doing during the execution. Both form and performance tend to deteriorate markedly when the athlete tries to execute the movements quickly, or is under some pressure, as may be the case in a competitive situation.

What does the athlete need?
Understand clearly what they have to do, and have a good mental representation of the task. Perform a lot of repetitions at their own pace and under conditions that are stable, easy, and safe. Practice on both sides, if appropriate. Find some solutions by themselves through trial and error, based on some feedback from the coach. The athlete needs to be aware of the key component that will help them improve their performance.

What does this mean for the coach?
1. Error detection and correction
It is important that the coach at this stage can detect the key details. Choose the error that the correction of, will have the biggest impact on improving performance.
2. Slowly load in speed of execution. As the players feel safer and more confident add in speed. Eventually working up to game speed. This can often be accomplished by reducing the number of dribbles, or steps involved.
3. Use guides and aids that will help with the mental picture and bring awareness to proper execution
• Lines on the floor
o shooting a ball to hit the line,
o dribbling over a line to show change of direction,
o jumping and landing on a line to show balance
• Pylons, chairs
o to define a area
o simulate a defender
o show pathway for footwork
• Others - coach uses his/her imagination to help in the learning process. Basketball has a myriad of teaching aids for shooting, dribbling and passing.
4. Individualize practice – not everyone will progress at the same rate. The coach may bunch players up by their stage of development.

What does this look like?

Example; L2T change of direction dribble
Going back to our change of direction dribbling; the coach gives another demonstration. This time he has the players move starting by dribbling with the right. When the defence appears he switches hands. He may now have the players get a pylon/chair and pretend the defence is the pylon/chair. Again, at their own pace! As they get better the coach encourages them to go faster. Lots of repetition! He/she keeps adding in more details to polish the skill. Keep the eyes up!

Consolidation or guiding the decision making
What is it?
The athlete can execute the movements or the skill/concept in the correct form. Movement control, synchronization, and rhythm are good when performing the skill/concept under easy and stable conditions. The movements can be repeated consistently and with precision under easy and stable conditions. Some elements of performance can be maintained when the (1) athlete is under pressure, (2) conditions change, or (3) demands increase, but performance remains inconsistent. The athlete begins to develop a more personal style.

What does the athlete need?
To be exposed to a variety of situations, and perform a lot of repetitions under varied conditions. Be challenged by more complex and demanding tasks or conditions, and find more solutions through trial and error, based on less frequent feedback from the coach. Have the opportunity to practice the movements or the skill in conditions where fatigue prevails or that replicate competitive demands, and do so by having to deal with the consequences of errors.

What does this mean for the coach?
1. Make use of guides – if teaching offence the coach slowly adds a guided defender. Below are a number of ways you can guide defenders on the ball:
• Stationary body – The defender is acting as a pylon. The offensive player is getting use to going by the defenders body. It is important that they brush the defender not avoid completely in big wide circles.
• Stationary body with arms – We often call this tree defence. The arms are branches. The offensive player must learn to avoid the truck of the tree, the body, but go through the limbs.
• Play live in one direction only – Here the defence plays aggressive on one side of the offensive player, forcing the offensive player to use a certain hand.
• Play aggressive with no hands – This allows the offence to get used to body contact but not have to worry about the ball being stolen.
• Play overly aggressive – Here the defence is actually fouling reaching or using controlled pushes on the offensive player.
• Play aggressive in a small space - The defender only guard in a designated area.
• Play live but mixing up the defence – This forces the offensive player to read.
2. Decision making – To consolidate the offensive player must understand the proper time to use the skill. As a coach you must often shift your focus to helping the athlete with the decision making process and not the perfect execution of the skill. Did they make the right decision?

What does this look like?
Example; L2T change of direction dribble
The coach puts a guided defender into play. At first it may be the coach. He/she goes to the players who are ready and stands in front of them. When the players see the chest they cross the ball. The coach now begins to make it competitive. He may set up drills where the players get multiple chances to use the skill; a games approach such as dribble knockout.


Refinement or using the skill in competition
What is it?
The athlete can execute the movements in a way that is very close to the ideal model in terms of form and speed. The performance is very consistent and precision is high, even under very demanding conditions and in situations that are both complex and varied. Only minor fine-tuning may be necessary to achieve optimal execution, and a fairly definitive personal style is established. All components of the movement have been automated, which enables the athlete to focus on the environment during the execution and to make rapid adjustments as necessary. The athlete can reflect critically on his or her performance to bring about corrective measures.

What does the athlete need?
Be exposed to complex or demanding competitive situations that require the skill to be executed at a very high level. Be trained on how to develop solutions to the problems encountered entirely on their own.

What does this mean for the coach?
1. Create small sided competitions where the skill can be used. The problem with playing 5 on 5 is that there are 10 people and only one ball. The players do not get attempts to use the skills to refine them. By playing games like 3 on 3 the ball to player ratio is vastly increased.
2. Modify the game – Change the rules or the size of the court to ensure that the desired skill must be used in the game.
3. Give all players an opportunity to use the skill in competition – often by defining positions we eliminate players from using the skill in competition.

What does it look like?
Example; L2T change of direction dribble
The coach now has the player’s play 3 on 3 full court. Whoever gains possession of the ball must dribble it over half. The defence must pick up full court.

Creative
What is it?
The movements can be performed according to the ideal model, and the athlete has developed a personal style that is efficient. Personal interpretation of movements or personal movements can be combined into unique patterns in response to specific competitive situations.

What does the athlete need?
Be exposed to complex or demanding competitive situations that require the skill to be executed perfectly. Develop his/her own solutions.

What does it mean for the coach?
1. Encourage your athletes to play on their own. This stage will not be developed within your team practices. In hockey this is the player who plays on the ponds or the backyard rink, in basketball it is the hours spent on the out door court or getting into the gym on their own.
2. Show examples of players who have developed their own unique style. They need role models.
3. Allow for mistakes to occur.

What does it look like?
Example; L2T change of direction dribble
The coach opens up the gym for the players to play in the summer or on weekends in the off-season. The coach also helps make sure there are outdoor courts available in the neighbourhood that have lights and are safe for the children to play at.


Reference: Stages of skill development and needs of athletes at each stage, modified games: reference material reference version 1.1, 2007  Coaching Association of Canada and Canada Basketball

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X's and O's By Mike Mackay - Create and maintain the one second advantage.

I want to share some drills and concepts used by our Senior Men's team. Coach Leo Rautins and his staff did a wonderful job of preparing the players to play international basketball. This lead to the eventual qualification for the World Championships this summer in Turkey. These are some of the drills used to prepare the players. The attention to detail was very refreshing. Each day as part of the skill break down, Coach Renato Pasquali did these drills to work on creating the one second advantage. Also, because they were competitive and a little different they sparked the interest of the players. As usual for me, I have already loaded some various other components into the drills. They are drills that can be used at the Learn to Train through Train to Win stages of our LTAD.


Explosive layups
The defensive player starts facing the basket somewhere inside the three point line. As a coach you can vary the distance and spots based on the player’s abilities. The offensive player lines up behind the defender with a basketball. The offensive player starts in a good triple threat stance with the ball. The offensive player drives to score a layup. The defender plays defense when he/she detects the offensive player with his/her peripheral vision. This gives the offensive player a distinct advantage if he/she:
&bull Makes use of proper footwork,
&bull Goes by the hip of the defender,
&bull Cuts the defender off so he/she cannot recover and force a contested shot.

The defender may start to peak. As a coach you must decide if you want to allow this to happen. It does mean the offense has to be quicker and work on a fake first. The development men were working on using a crossover step to start their drive. When playing internationally North American players very often get called for traveling when taking the long first step. The ball and foot must hit at the same time. As a coach you must be a stickler on the little details in these sort of drills. Allowing them to travel now means they will travel in the game.



Loading the drill
This is also a great way to start a 2 on 2 drill where you are working on help defense or penetration principles. The driver has the one second advantage and must now make the right decision; continue for the l, 2 power layup or to make the pass. It also works for 3 on 3. The offense can chooses to go middle or baseline, the defense cannot anticipate.

Outside, inside power lay up
A lot of emphasis is placed on using the outside, inside power layup. It puts the defender on the back of the offensive player. It also helps the offensive player be on balance and strong when there is contact around the rim. By back pivoting the player can make space to operate for a pass or an up and under counter move.

Contested lay ups
The players start in two lines on the baseline. One player has a ball the other has a ball sitting on the floor at a designated spot in front of him/her. The player with the ball starts by dribbling the ball out and setting it on the floor (it is the same spot as the other ball, except on the other side of the floor). Once setting the ball down this player sprints to recover and play defense. The player without the ball runs out when he/she sees the dribble by the other player. Picking up the ball this player is on offense and attacks the basket to score. The offensive player has a brief one second advantage

The players switch lines. The player with the ball on the floor is on offense, the player who dribbles out will be on defense.

Key points:
• The players must work on proper footwork to change direction after picking up or setting down the ball. Watch out for travels.
• The offensive player must decide what type of finishing move to use; pull up jump shot, power layup etc.
• The defense must attempt to recover, but not foul.

Being unprotected
The coach must observe how the players are positioned when stopping. Many players will have their shoulders perpendicular to the backboard. This means that the ball is exposed to the defense. To compound the problem, the player may also stop with the ball extended. This can make it difficult to raise the ball for the shot. A good defender can jam the offensive player with his/her body. This forces the offensive player to turn away.

Stopping protected
The offensive player wants to stop with his/her body parallel to the backboard. Use the width of the body to shield the defender from the ball.

Use different starting positions. It works on scoring and defensive recovery from different angles.

Dynamic 1 on 1
There are two lines on the baseline with a ball at the front of each line. A coach (eventually this can be another player once they learn how to do the drill) stands on the wing. The player with the ball passes the ball to the coach and sprints out like making a blast cut out of the corner. If the coach holds the ball out to the side, the player (#4) takes the ball from the coach and sweeps and goes baseline for the 1, 2 power layup.

If the coach holds the ball behind his body the player (#3) curls behind the coach, taking a dribble jump shot at the foul line.

The coach as always must pay attention to details:
• Proper footwork on the sweep baseline. The ball and foot must hit at the same time.
• Ideally the player needs to plant the outside foot when taking the ball on the curl. This allows for the next inside step to be attacking and not drifting away.
• Two dribble maximum. Over dribbling makes the player slow.

Load the drill
As the player’s confidence grows add in a guided defender. This ensures that the player is protecting the ball properly, coming under control and not floating on his/her shot.

The coach controls the read by the manner in which he/she holds the ball.

Loading in defense
We now make the drill competitive. The coach (or another player) stands at the three point line. The offensive and defensive players line up beside each other on the baseline. The defender is closest to the basket. The offensive player has a ball. The offensive player passes the ball to the coach when the coach shows “ten fingers”. The offensive player runs out and reads:

• If the ball is to the side (blue) the offensive player takes the ball from the coach, rips it across his/her body and attacks the basket for a score. The defender (red) must come out and slap the hand of the coach before recovering to play defence.

• If the ball is held behind the coach (green), the offensive player (light blue) will curl for the dribble jump shot at the foul line. The defender (dark blue) will trail to contest the shot.

This drill is great for:
- Making a quick cut to get the ball,
- Changing direction under control with proper footwork,
- Ripping the ball hard with a cross over step,
- Driving to the basket and cutting off the defender.
The defence is working on a quick change of direction and choosing an angle in which he/she can cut off the driver or at best contest the shot without fouling.

Different angles
The drill is also effective for practicing the one second advantage from different positions on the floor. Here the players are working on the cut from the wing to the top.

Baseline
Here the players are working on the cut to the baseline corner.

Loading the drill
This drill is excellent to teach help defence and penetration principles. The coach can create the type of penetration by calling for the sweep or the curl. Here is a dynamic start into 2 on 2.

Notice that the player who penetrates and passes escapes the paint after passing. It is crucial that we teach players to move after passing. Too often the players will treat this as drill and stop moving to create space.

Dynamic start into 3 on 3
Here the coach calls for the middle penetration to start the drill. These are excellent drills to focus on defence and offence vs. penetration.

Penetration shooting
As mentioned above one of my pet peeves in penetration shooting drills is players who stand after penetration. This is an excellent drill to teach the concept of moving after passing. Every player has a ball except the one player in front of the red line. The first player in the blue line drives baseline. The opposite red player moves in conjunction to the penetration. A pass is made for the shot. Immediately after passing the blue player who penetrated moves to receive a pass and shot from the second player in the red line.

The players who shot get their own rebounds and go to the end of the opposite lines. The second player in the blue line now starts the drill by penetrating middle. Again the opposite red player moves off penetration. The pass is made and a shot is taken. The passers cuts to space to receive a pass and shot.

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X's and O's By Mike Mackay - Short Snappers

Here are a couple quick thoughts that were spurred on by conversations with Renato Pasquali.

How can someone who is slow win a race against someone who is fast?

There are two things that need to happen:

1) Make sure that the slow person gets to decide when to start
2) Make sure the race is short and not long

When the slow person gets to decide when to start, he/she can create a one second advantage over the faster person because of reaction time. The fast person is reacting to the slow person. The longer the race, the longer the time for the faster person to make up the disadvantage caused from the slow start. In a short race the fast player does not have time to recover or make up the disadvantage caused from the slow start.

The game of basketball is composed of many races between the offence and the defence. The offensive player has the option of turning these races into short races rather than long races. When doing this, the player can negate the impact of pure speed on the execution of a skill or concept. Getting open on a cut to the ball is a short race that the cutter knows when he/she is starting. By timing the cut to the exact moment when the passer is ready to pass, the receiver can ensure that it is a short race that he/she can always win.

1+1=2
Imagine going to school to visit your son’s math teacher. The teacher informs you that your son does a very good job with addition, but does not handle subtraction very well. As a result the teacher has decided that your son will not do any more subtraction for the rest of the year. He will just focus on the things he does well. His poor scores on subtraction are hurting the class average. The teacher also informs you that since he will not be doing subtraction it will make no sense to introduce multiplication and division. So you need to resign yourself to the fact that your son will only be able to do addition.

How would you respond as a parent? What would you think about the ability of this teacher to teach math?

Take the same situation to the basketball court. The coach informs you that your son is not going to be allowed to shoot the ball. His poor shooting percentage is hurting the team’s average. He will only be allowed to play defence. The coach will not be introducing any advanced skills with the ball because your son will always be a role player. The team is going to run plays that highlight only those players who can shoot.

Some will say that it is not the same. You are not playing to win a game in math, we are trying to ensure that all children have the basic skills needed for future use in society. They won’t go on to use higher level math, but everyone needs the basic skills. What is so different about basketball? ALL children need the basic skills. Not everyone will go on to use them at the highest level, but by restricting the use at younger levels we are not giving children the opportunity to decide. The coach is making the decision at a time when it is not always fair to compare.

The same argument is made by coaches who say; “I understand this conceptual offensive stuff, but my team can’t shoot the ball very well. I need a play to ensure my best players shoot.”

These coaches are rationalizing the situation to justify the fact that they want to restrict some players from shooting the ball. You cannot allow these rationalizations to enter the discussion. If you are a development coach you need to develop all of your player’s abilities to use the basic skills in the game. In the long term, improving everyone’s ability to shoot increases the overall performance of the team.

Driving in a new city
When you first move to a new city the drive home can be very draining. You must pay attention to every street sign, looking for the ones that correspond to your directions. You often get caught in the wrong lane since you are driving for the first time in the new city. You sense that you are causing grief to the other drivers since you are constantly slowing down to check if this is the street you need to take. When you finally arrive, you give a big sigh of relief.

Eventually, as you drive the route more often, you begin to relax and take notice of stores along the street. You find yourself saying; "I never noticed that before". As the weeks go on, you drive home and you don't even remember how you got there; the route has become part of your subconscious.

GPS systems help in the short term, but in an emergency they can cause problems. What happens if all of a sudden there is a construction or a detour? Also, the focus is on the GPS and not what is sometimes happening to the cars around you.

This is the same for players when learning an offensive system. Each time the coach puts in a new "set" or play, it is like driving in a new city for the first time. The player has to concentrate on the directions and he/she cannot see what else is happening around him/her. When you teach by concepts, the players will take time to learn the route, but once it is part of their subconscious, they can focus on others things as they play, such as reading the defence.

Coaches who think they can put something new in for every opponent are mistaken. Your players are driving in the new city each and every game. You can make adjustments to your concepts since the players have developed a deeper understanding.
“On your drive to work today keep an eye out for a Thai restaurant.” If you know the route by heart this is much easier to do. In basketball, if you have the concepts down pat, you can watch for when the defence overplays and go back door.

Coaches like to operate as a GPS, telling players what to do. The problem is that there are five players on the floor needing to know what to do. You cannot direct all players at once. Let them learn a deeper understanding.

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X's and O's By Mike Mackay - Defending the dead ball in full court defence

I have used the following baseball terms to help players understand the different ways we can defend the ball when it is being inbounded. It is great to use when playing three on three in the full court. I have found over the years by using these concepts it has helped our players become much better at attack and applying pressure. They learn the strengths and weakness of each method. When we get into time and score situations players are able to simulate different late game situations easily. These concepts are the foundation of building all man to man and zone presses. These various presses can all start with one of these concepts.

Note: The same concepts can be used when defending a front court inbounds situation. You just have to practice the various concepts.

Catcher


The player inbounding the ball represents home plate. The defender closest to the plate is designated the catcher (red #1). We want pressure on the inbounder, but are slightly angled to encourage the pass to the corner. The other defenders deny any cuts to the middle and do not let their check go long. We will allow the pass into the corner below the foul line extended.

If the catcher can get to the first pass in one or two slides we will look to trap. The other defender prevents the ball handler from going up the slide line. We allow the pass backwards to the inbounder.

Catcher works very well against teams that have one dominate ball handler. It also effective when teams put a none ball handler as the inbounder.

On the return pass we want the player guarding the ball handler to belly cut. prevent the quick dribble up the middle. It is important not to allow the player who was doubled to get the ball back. This is the player they want to dribble. force the inbounde to bring it on the dribble and make the decision.

They best way to beat is to is throw long over the top or to have the inbounder be a ball handler who can take the ball vs. pressure.

Shortstop


In shortstop the defender of the inbounder face guards the best ball handler of the of the opponent. The other defenders prevent the ball going long or to the middle.

We want to force someone else to have to catch the ball and bring it up the floor.

The best way to beat shortstop is to throw over the top long or to have the inbounder pass the ball in quickly and sprint up the floor for a return pass before his/her check can recover.

Right Field


In right field the defender of the inbounder plays behind the best ball handler. The other players prevent the cut long or to the middle.

We allow this player to cut to the corner to catch the ball. If the ball handler tries to dribble quickly up the floor the defender is there to slow him/her down.

This is a good way to slow down the opponent who wants to go quickly after inbounding. As long as the inbounder stays behind the ball the his/her defender can shadow the ball and slow down its progress.

The best way to beat this is to have the inbounder clear up the floor ASAP after inbounding.

Centre Field


In this situation the defender of the inbounder plays behind the players who are the primary receivers. The other players guard the belly button and deny the cuts to the ball.

If the inbounder tries to go long the centre fielder is there to intercept.

This works best when trying to get a five second count or you know the other team cannot throw long.

The best way to beat is to use a formation where more than one player can go long.

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X's and O's By Mike Mackay - Dribbling vs. Pressure

Many players have developed the ability to do many tricks and stunts while dribbling the ball. These skills build the ball handler’s confidence, but often do not carry over to being able to handle the ball under the pressures of the game and a real defender. What follows is a progression that can be used to help the players build towards being able to handle the ball against an aggressive defender. They also show how to make use of TLC. (Teaching, learning and competing drills or games).


Wobble stage
Players need to learn new skills in isolation and at their own pace. It is like a baby learning to walk. Give players the opportunity to dribble on their own in a stationary manner.
Key points:
• Be in an athletic stance – the knees and hips are bent
• Dribble the ball at knee height just outside the foot
• The ball is pushed and absorbed not slapped
• The eyes are up scanning the surroundings
Load:
• Have a defender do a grizzly bear stare. This adds pressure to keeps the eyes up. It also makes the dribbler comfortable with someone in his/her
personal space. (you can have both players dribbling at the same time)
• Move the ball with different dribbles; front to back, side to side, cross over

Mirror
One player is the leader. The other player must mirror the leader’s movements. Do this in a confined space. We often do this while facing each other. Also have the players do it while moving forward. The dribble uses hesitations and changes of speed. The closer the players can be to one another the better it is for feeling comfortable dribbling in a confined space.


Contact
This can take two forms;
• Dribble while staying in contact with each other,
• Dribble in a straight line and then coordinated bumping each other after a certain number of dribbles.
It is important that players learn to handle little bumps that occur when dribbling. Ideally they should have the weight on the outside foot when the contact occurs. They are able to absorb the contact by bracing themselves and pushing back.

Defender run beside
The ball handler dribbles in a straight line while a defender runs beside as close as possible. Be sure that the dribbler is keeping the eyes up. Using 10 fingers for passing is one way to ensure that scanning is occurring. Often the ball handler will want to start to slide instead of run. We want the ball handler to go at speed and eventually lean into the defender.


Defender pushing and bumping
When the ball handler is ready we want to add more contact. Now the defender can apply a steady push or random bumps. The ball handler does not want to get pushed of the line. Stay low and lean into the defender by getting your head and shoulder into front of the defenders chest. These are fouls that often do not get called.

Protected dribble
Eventually the ball handler must learn when to get into a protected or crab dribble stance. Here the ball handler is perpendicular to the defender. The ball is dribbled by the back foot to keep it protected. The other arm is up to prevent the reach. If the reach occurs do not extend the arm, this will often lead to an offensive foul call. It is much more effective to turn the shoulder.

Pullback crossover (Two forward)
Vs. tough defense all ball handlers need a pullback dribble. Practice in isolation first by moving forward with two dribbles from your crab dribble stance.

Two back
Then go back for two dribbles with the ball in the same hand. The ball is by the back foot the whole time to keep it protected.

Back pivot to a backward cross over
The key move is to back pivot and cross the ball backward at the same time. This way the ball is protected from the defense.

Explode forward with other hand
The dribbler now wants to explode past the defender moving forward. Go through any arms.

Add guided defense
After the players have practiced in isolation they need to go against a guided defender. This helps them polish the key components and work on the decision making of when to use the move.
The defender runs beside the dribbler. If the defender:
• Places his/her chest in front of the ball handler or,
• Angles the ball handler dangerously close to the sideline;
he/she must pull back and cross over to get to the middle of the floor. The players can work in pair’s spread out around the gym. Be sure to work on going right and left.

1 vs. 2
Another time to use this dribble is when faced with a double team. The ball handler is working to get the ball over the half court line vs. to defenders. This can be used as a teaching or learning drill.

2 on 2
By making it 2 on 2 the ball handler must decide when to pass and when to dribbler. The defenders are working on directing the ball into the tap and the timing of when to et a good trap.

This is an excellent learning drill. Players need to learn to play through the mistakes.

Competing
Here the players compete in a 2 on 2 game with an in bounder. By restricting the size of the court you make the challenge more difficult for the offence.

Competing off the rebound
Another way to start the game is to have the players' box out on a shot attempt. If the ball goes in it must be in-bounded. On a miss an outlet pass or break out dribble is used.

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X's and O's By Mike Mackay - Being Strong

In working with coaches of players just entering the Train to Train Stage, I often hear them use terms such as; soft, weak, lacking toughness, and wimp to describe the players. The first thing I always remind the coaches that this is normal. As adults we have often pushed these painful recollections from our memory banks. This is the age when puberty becomes prevalent. We often mistake physical maturity for strength. Too often no one has taken the time to show the players how to be strong. There is also a social/emotional element that comes into play. We often equate strength with being able to withstand physical contact. The assumption is that players should enjoy the feeling of bumping into and roughing it up with someone else in the spirit of competition. As with learning any skill, we cannot assume that players naturally go from being introduced to physical contact to being able to use it in competition. We need to go through the proper stages.

One of the keys to the initiation and acquisition stages of skill development is that players understand why they are doing what they are doing and that they feel safe. Without these two factors players will be hesitant. Below is a little progression we can use with players to help them discover a position that makes them stronger.

Partner the players up with someone of equal size if possible. The two player stand shoulder to shoulder beside a line on the floor. The desired outcome is to try to push the other player away from the line using the instructions given by the coach.



Activity 1: Both players stand tall. They are not allowed to bend their knees. Just lean into each other.

Activity 2: One players gets small by bending down low, the other player stands tall. Be sure to allow both players the opportunity to fulfill both roles.



Activity 3: Both players bend down low, but one player raises his/her inside leg while the other raises his/her outside leg. Again, allow both players the opportunity to fulfill both roles.

Activity 4: The player who is tall has his/her inside leg raised and pushes with his/her outside leg. The player who is small has his/her outside leg raised and pushes with his/her inside leg.

Activity 5: Based on what they have learned, allow the player to push shoulder to shoulder in the way they think will be the most effective.

One factor that must be taken into consideration is the assertiveness of the players. If one player is very assertive and the other is passive, no matter what you do the assertive player will push the other player. This needs to be brought out in your debrief.

Ask the players what they discovered in each of the activities. here are some of the leanings:
• When you stand tall you have to push with your arms, it is hard to use your legs
• The person who is low will be able to hold or push the tall person
• It is easier to generate more push from your outside leg rather than your inside leg
• Being low is the most important, even when you push with the wrong leg

With this knowledge in hand it is crucial that the coach remind the players of these leanings when doing skills where strength seems to be the problem. Instead of calling a player a wimp because they are getting pushed around, ask "What did you learn about being strong from our pushing activity?"

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X's and O's by Mike MacKay - Understanding

I have been in Vancouver on numerous occasions, but normally rely on public transportation or friends to drive me to and from my destination. Sitting in the passenger’s seat you develop a false confidence about your knowledge of the city. You don’t make any decisions on the route being taken, you just enjoy the ride. On a recent trip I decided to rent a car. Being male, I felt I could rely on my innate sense of direction, developed when my ancestors were hunter gathers, to guide me to my destination. Needless to say, sitting in the passenger's seat on all of those previous trips, did not help my deep understanding of Vancouver streets, where I was now forced to seat in the driver's seat. I was required to make decisions that I wasn’t prepared to make. It wasn’t until I reached the border to the USA that I realized I needed to stop and ask for direction, acknowledging that I was lost.

David Perkins in his book Making Learning Whole; describes understanding as either shallow or deep. When we do not engage students in their learning experience it is like being the passenger and their understanding will be very shallow. It is concerned with getting the facts and skills straight and looking good. By putting the students in the driver’s seat they develop a deep understanding by being involved in planning, making decisions. This leads to more intrinsic motivation.

As I mentioned in one of my previous blogs, shallow understanding this is often done when the coach skips stages of skill development. The lack of a good introduction, that explains the why and the lack of using guided defence, to consolidate the decision making, are the two biggest short cuts coaches seem to take.

After watching a number of NCAA games I also tend to believe that the rules you play can have a vast difference on the level of deep understanding required by the players. With the number of timeouts that the coach can call, anytime the team has possession of the ball or the ball is dead, the NCAA coach is almost always able to tell players what to do. In FIBA, with fewer timeouts, the shorter length of the timeouts and the inability to call timeouts to stop play, the FIBA coach is not guaranteed that he/she can tell the players what to do in time and score situations at the end of the game.

I have watched coaches practice these situations at the end of practice. The coach usually does all of the talking. Telling the players what to do. The situation is played out. The players are told what they did right or wrong and the team move on to the next situation. This is like being in the passenger's seat. No deep understanding is being developed. Players can treat each situations as a separate entity., because the coach is in the driver seat and the player just has to enjoy the ride.
Author David Perkins in his book calls it the heart-and-mind theory. A student writes a test and on the paper the teacher writes a comment; "Next time be sure to ...". The teacher is making a big assumption that the student will take the mistakes to heart and keep it in mind next time. The chances of the student review his/her work and truly reflecting on the mistakes are slim and nil. As coaches we do this all the time when we do not do a proper debrief with the players. When you just tell you assume that what you told has been learned. Not only that you assume that they can apply it.

For example when doing a time and score scenario the coaches tells the players to foul as soon as the ball comes in as the clock is now the opponent. When the ball is inbounded by the opponent, Billy, who is guarding the player who receives the pass, is hesitant and does not foul. The clock runs out and the scenario is complete. The coach bring the players in and tells Billy; "Next time foul right away. (Take this to heart and keep in mind for next time). In the next scenario the same situation occurs, but now there is a little more time on the clock. The ball is inbounded and Billy's player takes one dribble over half and picks the ball up. Just as the five second count is about to happen Billy fouls. When the scenario ends the coach tells Billy; "You did not need to foul, we had the turnover. Remember this for next time?" (Take this to heart and keep in mind for next time). You can see the frustration on poor Billy's face.

Let's look at the same situation where a coach is trying to develop deep understanding. Early in the season the coach allows the players to decide what to do in the time and score scenarios. The team that was down decided to foul right away. Once the ball is inbounded Billy still did not foul. Once the scenario finishes the coach leads a debrief.
"Billy, how could we have stopped the clock and prevented time from elapsing?"
From his hesitation the coach can tell that Billy is confused?
"Billy, explain what you were thinking? asks the coach.
"Coach, I couldn't foul I had four fouls", explained Billy.
As you can see Billy only had surface understanding of the game. No one had ever explained to him that the clock was the opponent and by him fouling out he was helping his team. By asking questions and allowing the players to sit in the driver's seat (where they get to plan the trip) deeper understanding is gained.

The coach then turns to the players; "What could you have done to make sure that Billy was not put in the situation where he would foul out?".
One of the younger players speaks up;"Could we have subbed someone into the game just to foul? "
"Yes! That is a great idea", exclaims the coach.
Continuing the coach says, "Can you see how that player may only be in the game for one second, but his fouling gives the team a chance to win. When would we not have to foul right away", asks the coach since he can see how interested the players are in the topic.
"Coach, should we foul if the player is going to get called for five seconds? " asks one of the senior players. "If we still had time on the clock, it doesn't seem like we have too."
"Good point Tom!", says the coach. "Are there any other time when something similar might happen? "
"What about a eight second backcourt count?", chimes in another player.
"Excellent, now you guys are really thinking?" Replies the coach, proud that his players are starting to deeply understand the concept of fouling late in a game.
"Coach, what about fouling before the ball is inbounded? Wouldn't that be a good idea? No time would run off the clock and we would not have to worry about anybody being hesitant once the ball comes in." says one of the players.
"I like your thought process, but there is a problem with fouling when the clock is stopped", says the coach.
"Isn't that called an intentional foul coach? Don't they get two shots plus the ball back at half court?"exclaims the captain of the team.
"Your correct Steve" replies the coach. "Are there any other times in these situations when the referee may call an intentional foul?"
"If we foul and the referee thinks we are not trying to get the ball", answers Billy.
"Correct Billy! You now know why it is important to practice these situation when the clock is the opponent. Do we always want to foul the first person who catches the ball?"
"Coach! Shouldn't we foul their worst foul shooter?", asks Tom.
"That is true Tom if the clock is not our opponent. If we have time we can be selective, but when we don't have the luxury we must foul right away"; answers the coach.

We need to be able to:
• know if the clock is the opponent, this determines if we can be selective in fouling
• defend the inbounds without fouling,
• defend to have a chance for the turnover
• be in position to foul right away
• make it look like we are going for the ball

There is no question it takes less time just to tell players what to do, but I think you would agree that only surface understanding usually comes from this approach. It is players who have a deep understanding of the game that will have the ability to drive the car.

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X's and O's by Mike MacKay - Building Intensity While Learning a New Skill

I remember when I first started out in coaching attending a Nike Basketball clinic in Springfield, Massachusetts. One of the presenting coaches brought up the idea of peer pressure punishment as away to solve all of your intensity problems in practice. The basis theory behind the idea was that whenever someone made a mistake the entire team would run. If one player was late the entire team was punished. If people were not working to the coach’s standard, everyone ran. By using the power of peer pressure you built a team that would constantly push each other and police their own behavior. I remember my former football coach using this selectively at Acadia University in the late 1970’s. He used it with university aged males who at times were lacking effort and responsibility. He never used it to teach a new skill. Being young I tried it with my team, but soon realized it did not create the desired effect. Used too much it created fearful players who played not to make mistakes. It took a student in my leadership class to teach me why. We were discussing various ways coaches can make players compete harder in practice. She related a story about playing for the NS provincial volleyball team. The coach was trying to introduce for the first time a new type of spike that none of the players had seen before. Being a smart coach he introduced it on air and gave the players plenty of reps to get a feel for the new skill. They then went to a competition where he wanted the players to apply the new skills. The teams played three-on-three volleyball. His final words were; “the losers will have to do lines.” Lines were a grueling punishment consisting of diving and getting back up quickly at various lines on the floor. No one liked to do this drill. In the three on three games no team used the new skill. When it was over and the losers finished the lines the coach asked why no team had tried the new skill. The answer was obvious; they did not want to lose and have to face the punishment. Stay with what you know when faced with pressure.

As a coach we must understand where are players are in the learning curve of a new skill. In the introduction or initiation stage you cannot force intensity. Players need to learn to wobble. They need to practice at a pace that makes sense to them. They are experimenting with the feel of the skill. Can you imagine teaching a young child to walk by peer pressure punishment? Every time the child falls all of his brothers or sisters have to do lines. Yelling at the child to walk faster does not speed the learning. We do the exact opposite, we praise the child for his/her effort and give them lot of practice at his/her own pace.

Jumping too quickly into competition is another way that we slow the learning process. If a player has not developed confidence with a skill in a paced supportive atmosphere he/she will not use the skill when faced with pressure of a game. If I am not confident dribbling with my left hand I will not dribble with my left hand when faced with pressure defense in a game. This leads to a problem for many coaches. How do I get my players to execute a skill at a higher intensity level, especially when no one on my team can create that intensity?

I see this problem quite often when working with players just entering the T2T stage. Coming from L2T where playing time is regulated by rule and there is not full court pick up, these players are often not prepared for an aggressive defensive player. Also the speed and contact of the game increases as they move up a level.
At this age you often find that players are more comfortable working with the same friend in drills. As coach you must be alert to break up and forming the groupings that will give the desired intensity in the drill. This is also a life skill of learning to work with other.

As in any learning situation self-awareness is the first point of learning. Players need to recognize what intensity looks like. Coaches need to be able to model what the various stages of intensity look like with each skill. This is easier when you have someone on the team who can do this, If not what does a coach do?
•The coach can model.
-Demonstrate just a part of the skill. As a coach I can no longer play full court one on one defence, but I can demonstrate in slow motion the one thing I want the players to improve on.
-Demonstrate without the ball. When modeling offensive skills the coach often loses credibility when he/she loses control of the ball or the shot does not go in. By doing the demonstration without the ball the coach places the focus on the speed and correct movement. You never miss the shot or turn the ball over. It is like an air guitar!
-The downside to the coach demonstrating intensity is that younger players do not always see a demonstration by an adult in the same light as someone their own size and age. It is sometimes hard to relate.
•Show a video. The problem here is that it is often not someone of their age and gender demonstrating the skill. Also, for the kinestic learning, those who need to feel the activity, it does not help them.
•Bring in other who can demonstrate. This could be:
-Previous players from your program
-Players from another team. This is a great opportunity to share. It also can also show your players how others work harder in drills. Be careful not to rub it in.
-Boys to practice with girls. Most successful NCAA programs have a boys team that trains with the players.

What follows are some ideas a coach can use to helping player’s progress to becoming a more confident aggressive player.

1.Make sure it is something they can achieve.
-Can they physically do the skill? Remember if it is a new skill players need time to wobble.
-Do they mentally understand the skill? If there is any hesitation in doing a drill or skill they will not be able to do the activity with intensity. This often happens when we make drills to complex. The first thing the players will want to know is the rotation or patterns in the drill.
-Are they in a social/emotional state right now to handle the intensity level? If a player does not feel safe they will not go hard. If there is a problem outside of basketball that is weighing on their mind they will not be able to go hard. The coach must help the player deal with these before increasing the intensity.
If the answer is no to anyone of these question, the coach must address the issue.

2.It starts by defining intensity. Players need to be able to clearly understand what intensity looks like, sounds like and feel like. Mark Walton, with the NEDA girls, last year was great at stooping the girls after a grueling drill and telling the players that they were now seeing, feeling and hearing the sound of success. (They could feel their heart rates and the fatigue in the legs, they could see each other breathing hard and they could hear the sound of heavy breathing.) He wanted them to understand that this was the proper intensity that they had to practice.

Stopping players and telling them that they are doing things right is just as important as pointing out mistakes. I remember practicing with my Canada Games team in a hot sticky gym in Halifax in the middle of the summer, just before we left for Saskatoon. They were expecting me to give them a blast for something they were doing wrong. I paused for a long time and then said., “I have never seen a group of players work so hard and concentrate on all the right things under such adverse conditions, We are ready, Practice is done.” They were floored, but also proud. They carried that confidence into our play at the tournament. We could always relate back to that practice as to the intensity we knew we could strive for, it was our benchmark.

3.I.C.E. check – I have mentioned on numerous occasions the importance of I.C. E. The ‘I’ stands for intensity, ‘C’ stands for concentration and ‘E’ stands for enthusiasm or energy. An I.C.E. check occurs when a coach stops the players in a drill and asks them to self-evaluate where the intensity is right now. If they agree it is too low you now ask them what action they can take to get the intensity to the desired level. The coach’s job now becomes ensuring that the players keep their commitment to their commitment. If the players With T2C athletes and higher I do not think there is anything wrong with working on conditioning if players have not kept their commitment to their commitment of intensity after you have done an I.C. E. check.

4.Stance and pivot - I cannot express enough the importance of a good stance and proper pivoting in being able to play against strong and aggressive defence. Some of this will be a core and leg strength issue. Also, it is easier to stay extended (straight legs and arms) than to play compact. You need to work on having players get use to this compact stance. The players need to recognize when they are in or out of stance. Make it a challenge! See if they cannot beat their own person record for staying in stance. It is something you can ask them to do at home. Get in front of a big mirror and see if you are in stance.

The second key is being able to pivot while staying in stance. A major problem is how players are taught to pivot. They actually step rather than pivot.
An analogy that Coach Renato Pasquali uses is that of a skier. When descending the hill, the skier initiates a turn by twisting the hips rather than stepping with the feet.

The same is true in pivoting. The movement is initiated by twisting the hips. I actually get players to do the old dance “the twist” at first. Once the hips are twisting then the feet follow. By twisting the hips stay on the same plane and the knee and foot are aligned. When players step the hips raise up, the twist now occurs at the toot, This causes a torque at the knee. This often puts the player in an unbalanced position. Adding contact or repeated poor technique can lead to injury.

5.Pushing players out of their comfort zone – great coaches and teachers prepare players for the best players and the highest level of competition they will see in a season. This pushing is progressive over the year. Let’s use teaching math as an analogy. When a student enters school in September the teacher does not start with the skills and concepts that will be done on the June exam. The teacher will usually start with a review, making sure the students are up to speed. He/she will then progress the students throughout the entire year. The same is true in coaching developmental teams. You cannot start with everything you want to do at the final game of the season. You must slowly build up all of the pieces that make up that performance. Too often in youth sport we expect players to be at the June level in September.



Grizzly bear stare
One technique I have used is called the grizzly bear stare. I found this in a book called Beyond the Absolute Limit with Basketball Cybernetics by Stan Kellner. It starts off with the players facing each other like a grizzly bear. The players growl and groan trying to make the other player laugh or break eye contact. It is about pushing out of comfort zones. Next the players perform the stare while dribbling. Finally have one player perform a skill while the defender is staring the player down. This helps young players get comfortable with feeling uncomfortable.

We also have to make sure players feel comfortable with using both sides of their body. Using both feet and both hands is very important in skill development. Players also have to be gradually introduced to contact. Start by having someone close. Then the players run near them, finally adding little controlled bumps and pushes. As they reach the highest level of confidence we want to use controlled contact that is greater than what they would see in the real competition.

Count the number of dribbles or steps. By progressively having the players reduce the number of steps or dribbles you can increase the speed at which the player moves.

6.Games approach - by adapting the rules, number of players, court size and scoring a coach can manipulate the intensity of a drill or activity.
-Change the rules – change the rules on passing and dribbling.
-Number of player – adding one extra defender can increase the defensive pressure placed on the offence; 1 vs. 2 dribbling, 5 on 4 or 6 on 5 press break.
-Court size – by reducing the size in which a small sided competition or drill is played, the intensity is increased. Playing 3 on 3 keep away in the ½ court is easy for the offence. Playing 3 on 3 keep away in the key is difficult.
-Scoring – reward the defence for being assertive. Call violation on the offence when they do not handle pressure. On the catch if the player put the ball above his/her head in an extended stance it is a violation.

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X's and O's By Mike MacKay - Learning the Process

Here is a piece from Vern Gambetta's blog site functionalpathtraining.blogspot.com

The Recipe or the Cook

I will use a cooking analogy to illustrate the training process. I can take a recipe from one of the finest chefs in the world and try to make an elaborate thanksgiving dinner. Unfortunately no matter how hard I try, even with the exact ingredients my meal will not be the same, probably not five star qualities. Why? Very simply, if it was just about the recipe I could obtain a book with champions workouts go out to the field, track or weight room, give the workout and magic instant champions! It's not that simple. The secret is not in the recipe it is in the chef. In our world the coach is the key, we all have our own recipes, I can give you my recipe book, in fact I have on my web site, but I doubt if the results will be exactly the same. For me the coach is the key – the feeling the intuition of when to push, when to cut back, that is not written in the recipe. You acquire that by practice, by watching and learning. It is almost a sixth sense that you develop. Each individual and each team is different. You must start with a good recipe, but you must have the highest quality ingredients, the oven at the correct temperature, you must cook it for the exact amount of time, you must stand over the stove and pay close attention to what you are doing. Building an athlete is not a microwave meal.

Vern Gambetta

Beginning coaches often want templates of practices and drills that they can follow. This is an excellent way to get started into coaching when you have no experience. As you progress in coaching you eventually need to move away from templates and start to build your own coaching skills. The problem with the template is that the person who developed the template does not know your athletes and where they are in their development. If the book says you should go hard today, but the athletes are all coming down with the flu, who do you listen too, the book or your athletes? Eventually the coach must learn the art of accessing the athletes and what skills and concept they have mastered. They must also be able to judge the athletes physical, mental and social/emotional state of readiness. A template can guide you, but the coach has to learn the skills and make the decisions. It is the same dilemma we have with player development; as coaches we need to teach players how to play the game not how to run plays. The same for coaches; we need to teach coaches how to coach, not just to run a collection of drills and strategies.

I still vividly remember being asked by a coach to come and assist him in putting in a zone offence. He had taken an offence from the Medalists coaching clinic review. Medalist was a manufacture of uniforms and their clinics were similar to the Nike clinics we have today. Each year they would publish a review of the entire clinics that were done that season. This coach had chosen the zone offence that was run by the NCAA national champions the previous season, but he was having trouble getting his players to run it. During a scrimmage the coached stopped the players and was upset with his centre since he was not running the offence as it was described in the book. As the ball was reversed from the wing to the top, the centre was supposed to cut to the high post. On the reversal pass to the opposite wing he was to drop to the low post on the ball side. The centre was adamant that the book was crazy, why would he not just cut from low post to low post. A heated debate ensued with both players and coaches losing respect for each other. The problem was that the ball was being skipped from wing to wing without being passed through the top. The book had no diagram or instructions for this option, since it was only Readers Digest version of the offence. The coach was not able to adapt on the fly since he was trying to follow a template.

One of the most important coaching tools in the coaching toolbox is the ability to apply the stages of skill development to designing appropriate training and team strategies. Can the coach:
•Observe his/her athletes and know what stage they are at?
•Choose appropriate drills or activities that will take the athlete to the next stage?
•Individualize the learning to allow for the differences within a team?
•Adapt on the fly to situations that arise?

Initiation / Introduction drills
What is it?
The first contact the athlete has with the skill/concept. The athlete may have no idea of what to do in order to perform the skill/concept.

What does the athlete need?
To have a clear mental image of what a correct execution looks like (Whole-part-whole). Understand the fundamental positions, stances, and patterns of the skill or concept. Feel safe when performing the skill/concept. If necessary, reach a comfort level with some movements or feelings that may be unfamiliar, and that are part of the skill/concept to be learned. They need to know why the skill/concept is performed, what is its purpose?

What does this mean for the coach?
1. Have a good demonstration
A picture is worth a thousand words. This is more important than telling the athletes what to do. This demonstration needs to show why the skill is needed. Very often showing the whole lets the athletes understand the small part they are going to work on.
2. Keep it simple
Only have one or two key points. Enough to get them started. These points should be concerned with the big picture first, not the small details. Remember they need to know why they are doing the skill first.
3. Let them wobble
Players need time to try the skill at their own pace. Think of a young child learning to walk. The child has a clear mental picture because he/she sees adults walking all the time. They feel safe because they get to go slow and at their pace. Mom or Dad is there to catch them if they fall. I suggest you go to Youtube and watch baby Elijah walking. I think his mother is a great coach!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLC1Js5y-po
4. Reinforce with positive feedback
Feedback at this stage is very positive and encouraging. You are more concerned with the athlete getting the big picture movements and the willingness to try. Save the details for later. This is the first steps in building confidence. It will allow the athlete to be willing to accept the challenge of more detail and intensity.

What does this look like?

Example: Initiation stage for a L2T player being introduced to a crossover dribble
The coach explains that a crossover dribble is used when we want to change the ball from the right to left hand. This is because the defence is guarding me on my right side of my body I have to change the ball to the left. The coach shows the players a low dribble that is moved from one hand to the other with a ‘V’ dribble action. He/she gives the player chance to practice on his/her own.


We now want to start to move into acquisition.
Acquisition or polishing drills
What is it?
The athlete becomes capable of:
•Coordinating the key components of the movements
•Executing them in the correct order, thus performing a rough form of the skill.
The movements are not well synchronized or under control, and they lack rhythm and flow. The execution is inconsistent and lacks precision. The athlete has to think about what he or she is doing during the execution. Both form and performance tend to deteriorate markedly when the athlete tries to execute the movements quickly, or is under some pressure, as may be the case in a competitive situation.

What does the athlete need?
Understand clearly what they have to do, and have a good mental representation of the task. Perform a lot of repetitions at their own pace and under conditions that are stable, easy, and safe. Practice on both sides, if appropriate. Find some solutions by themselves through trial and error, based on some feedback from the coach. The athlete needs to be aware of the key component that will help them improve their performance.

What does this mean for the coach?
1.Error detection and correction
It is important that the coach at this stage can detect the key details. Choose the error that the correction of, will have the biggest impact on improving performance.
2.Slowly load in speed of execution. As the players feel safer and more confident add in speed. Eventually working up to game speed. This can often be accomplished by reducing the number of dribbles, or steps involved.
3.Use guides and aids that will help with the mental picture and bring awareness to proper execution
•Lines on the floor
-shooting a ball to hit the line,
-dribbling over a line to show change of direction,
-jumping and landing on a line to show balance
•Pylons, chairs
-to define a area
-simulate a defender
-show pathway for footwork
•Others - coach uses his/her imagination to help in the learning process. Basketball has a myriad of teaching aids for shooting, dribbling and passing.
4.Individualize practice – not everyone will progress at the same rate. The coach may bunch players up by their stage of development.

What does this look like?

Example; L2T change of direction dribble
Going back to our change of direction dribbling; the coach gives another demonstration. This time he has the players move starting by dribbling with the right. When the defence appears he switches hands. He may now have the players get a pylon/chair and pretend the defence is the pylon/chair. Again, at their own pace! As they get better the coach encourages them to go faster. Lots of repetition! He/she keeps adding in more details to polish the skill. Keep the eyes up!


Consolidation or guiding the decision making
What is it?
The athlete can execute the movements or the skill/concept in the correct form. Movement control, synchronization, and rhythm are good when performing the skill/concept under easy and stable conditions. The movements can be repeated consistently and with precision under easy and stable conditions. Some elements of performance can be maintained when the (1) athlete is under pressure, (2) conditions change, or (3) demands increase, but performance remains inconsistent. The athlete begins to develop a more personal style.

What does the athlete need?
To be exposed to a variety of situations, and perform a lot of repetitions under varied conditions. Be challenged by more complex and demanding tasks or conditions, and find more solutions through trial and error, based on less frequent feedback from the coach. Have the opportunity to practice the movements or the skill in conditions where fatigue prevails or that replicate competitive demands, and do so by having to deal with the consequences of errors.

What does this mean for the coach?
1.Make use of guides – if teaching offence the coach slowly adds a guided defender. Below are a number of ways you can guide defenders on the ball:
•Stationary body – The defender is acting as a pylon. The offensive player is getting use to going by the defenders body. It is important that they brush the defender not avoid completely in big wide circles.
•Stationary body with arms – We often call this tree defence. The arms are branches. The offensive player must learn to avoid the truck of the tree, the body, but go through the limbs.
•Play live in one direction only – Here the defence plays aggressive on one side of the offensive player, forcing the offensive player to use a certain hand.
•Play aggressive with no hands – This allows the offence to get used to body contact but not have to worry about the ball being stolen.
•Play overly aggressive – Here the defence is actually fouling reaching or using controlled pushes on the offensive player.
•Play aggressive in a small space - The defender only guard in a designated area.
•Play live but mixing up the defence – This forces the offensive player to read.
2.Decision making – To consolidate the offensive player must understand the proper time to use the skill. As a coach you must often shift your focus to helping the athlete with the decision making process and not the perfect execution of the skill. Did they make the right decision?

What does this look like?
Example; L2T change of direction dribble
The coach puts a guided defender into play. At first it may be the coach. He/she goes to the players who are ready and stands in front of them. When the players see the chest they cross the ball. The coach now begins to make it competitive. He may set up drills where the players get multiple chances to use the skill; a games approach such as dribble knockout.


Refinement or using the skill in competition
What is it?
The athlete can execute the movements in a way that is very close to the ideal model in terms of form and speed. The performance is very consistent and precision is high, even under very demanding conditions and in situations that are both complex and varied. Only minor fine-tuning may be necessary to achieve optimal execution, and a fairly definitive personal style is established. All components of the movement have been automated, which enables the athlete to focus on the environment during the execution and to make rapid adjustments as necessary. The athlete can reflect critically on his or her performance to bring about corrective measures.

What does the athlete need?
Be exposed to complex or demanding competitive situations that require the skill to be executed at a very high level. Be trained on how to develop solutions to the problems encountered entirely on their own.

What does this mean for the coach?
1.Create small sided competitions where the skill can be used. The problem with playing 5 on 5 is that there are 10 people and only one ball. The players do not get attempts to use the skills to refine them. By playing games like 3 on 3 the ball to player ratio is vastly increased.
2.Modify the game – Change the rules or the size of the court to ensure that the desired skill must be used in the game.
3.Give all players an opportunity to use the skill in competition – often by defining positions we eliminate players from using the skill in competition.

What does it look like?
Example; L2T change of direction dribble
The coach now has the player’s play 3 on 3 full court. Whoever gains possession of the ball must dribble it over half. The defence must pick up full court.

Creative
What is it?
The movements can be performed according to the ideal model, and the athlete has developed a personal style that is efficient. Personal interpretation of movements or personal movements can be combined into unique patterns in response to specific competitive situations.

What does the athlete need?
Be exposed to complex or demanding competitive situations that require the skill to be executed perfectly. Develop his/her own solutions.

What does it mean for the coach?
1.Encourage your athletes to play on their own. This stage will not be developed within your team practices. In hockey this is the player who plays on the ponds or the backyard rink, in basketball it is the hours spent on the out door court or getting into the gym on their own.
2.Show examples of players who have developed their own unique style. They need role models.
3.Allow for mistakes to occur.

What does it look like?
Example; L2T change of direction dribble
The coach opens up the gym for the players to play in the summer or on weekends in the off-season. The coach also helps make sure there are outdoor courts available in the neighborhood that have lights and are safe for the children to play at.


Reference: Stages of skill development and needs of athletes at each stage, modified games: reference material reference version 1.1, 2007  Coaching Association of Canada and Canada Basketball

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X's and O's By Mike MacKay - Plan

This past Sunday I had the pleasure of travelling to Sudbury to work with the Regional Training Centre in the Northern region of Ontario. Part of my presentation was on the importance of mental training and how important it is in all areas of our life. I asked the players if they had watched the Olympics, especially the interviews after the competition. What sort of language did you hear the athletes use?
"I focused on my breathing"
"I stuck to my routine "
"It started with a plan four years ago."
These were some common responses. You could tell that they athletes had a plan.

We also shared some moments from the Olympic where athletes displayed mental toughness. The things that intrigues me the most about the Olympics is the ability of athletes to overcome incredible mental strain and distraction and still have electrifying performances. In any book I have every read or presentation I have heard on performing well in a big event, it has always been stressed not to change your plan. Stick to your routine. For Joannie Rochette to overcome the death of her mother and to change the music for her routine was absolutely incredible. Her inner belief and confidence in who she is and what she is about make this one of the most outstanding performances I have ever witnessed. That was mental toughness.

After my presentation one of the girls asked; "What is the most important thing in being mentally tough?"

My answer was planning!

No one can accurately predict the future. Thorough experience and research we can have a pretty good idea of what might happen, but we can never be 100% sure. Planning is bringing the future to the present so we can do something about it now. The more detailed the plan becomes and the more you practice the plan, the more prepared you will be. Great plans help athletes deal with the unknown. Here is the analogy I used with the players.



The plan is to get to the other side of a darkened room. All the player has is a flashlight that shines a very short beam. One athletes has no plan on how to get to the other side. He enters the room and starts to make his way when suddenly a chair appears in his flashlight's beam. He is now aware of the chair.



The athlete has not planned to meet a chair and has no idea what to do. This chair is a distraction to him in achieving his plan. The heart rate quickens, frustration builds as the player begins to think what he is going to do about this chair. He cannot ignore it because it is in his pathway. He gives up and returns to the start. He complains to his coach; "No one told me there might be a chair in there! What do you expect me to do". No plan was in place. His coach, frustrated that the athlete wasn't mentally tough, tells the boy to; "Get back in there and be a man!"

The boy returns to the darken room and meets the chair again. Still unsure what to do he tries to charge around the chair, but trips and falls. He now has lost total confidence. He returns to the outside and tells the coach he doesn't ever want to enter the room again.

The second athletes, along with her coach, has prepared a plan before entering the room. The plan that takes into account everything she might see while inside. "In the room here are some things you might see; a chair, a bench, a couch, a table and a book shelf."
The plan takes into account not only what she will see, but what actions she should take when she sees the object. "If you see the chair, just move it to your right."
To ensure that this will happen the coach makes the athlete practice it ahead of time. They don't just talk about the chair they make sure the actions for how to deal with the chair has become a habit. They have even simulated in a darken practice environment. Now when she is under pressure in the darkened room she can rely on her plan.

Part of the plan is to practice dealing with things she does not anticipate; for whatever the flashlight reveals you must deal with it. The coach lets the athlete know that no matter how much we plan things will happen that we have no control over. Part of our plan is learning how to adapted to these events. They develop a routine. A main part of this routine is to learn to use centered breathing to relax. They practice visualizing what they will do when they meet the various distractions. The player begins to imagine other distractions that may occur.
"What will I do if the battery in my flashlight goes out?"
The more and more she does this the more and more her confidence grows. She now uses positive self talk about what she can do , not what she can't do.
After her first experience in the room she debriefs the experience with her coach. The coach does not tell her what she has done because he was not in the room. he asks questions to draw from the players the lessons learned. From this experience they make positive adjustments to the plan.

Relate this to sport. A great coach helps the athlete plan for everything he/she might encounter in competition. All learning starts with awareness. Only when the athlete becomes aware of something can he/she begin to work on changing how he/she responds to that distraction. When the athlete enter the field of competition they have entered the darken room with the flashlight. You cannot focus on exiting the room or the outcome, you must deal with the things that get illuminated in your path, the present.

All of a sudden the opposing team is pressing. You cannot ignore this, you must deal with it. What was the plan for when this happened. Did you just talk about it in a pregame talk or did you actually practice this very situation. The more simulation, visualization and positive self talk that has occurred, the more the athlete will be able to deal with the press.

There is a delay in the start of the game. You cannot ignore it, you have to go to your plan for when things like this happen. Did you plan a way to pause you warm up so the players do not waste a lot of emotional energy in the wait or do you add to the problem by getting stressed about the delay.

A player has missed his first four shots. You cannot ignore it! It is what is being illuminate in the athletes mind right now. As a coach you tell the player to "let it go". If you have not planned for this and practiced this skill it is not going to happen in the heat of battle. If you have built this into your plan and the athlete has used "let it go" as a cue word to signal an positive action in response to a distraction it will help the athlete because you have practiced and simulated this before. It is a part of the plan.

Each game you play needs to be a learning opportunity to improve on the plan. Part of each practice needs to be spent on working on the plan. What is your plan? Do you use simulations? Do you spend time having the athletes visualize the plan? Do you have cue words to remind the athletes of the plan. Have you developed positive routines? Do you practice it? Do you debrief it?

Too often our plan only involves the strategies and tactics. If we can learn anything from Olympic sports it is the importance of the mental plan. Without this the tactics and strategies are secondary.

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X's and O's By Mike MacKay - That was your tryout

As I travel around the country I often get asked by players, coaches and parents when tryouts are for our age group National Teams. In a county the size of Canada having a one day tryout is a very difficult thing to do. I try to explain that you never know when and where the tryout is occurring.

This past summer our Junior National team was having a shoot around in preparation for an exhibition game with another country. It was early in the morning and many of the players were not too excited about having to be up that early. The shoot around took place and it was not one of the better performances by the players. After the shoot around the coach pulled the players together and told them that they he was disappointed in their performance. He also asked if any of them knew who the gentlemen were, that were sitting off to the side when practice was taking place. The answer was no. Coach proceeded to tell them that they were all scouts for the NBA and they had just had their first tryout for the NBA and first impressions are hard to change. Needless to say we never had another poor shoot around. Anytime a stranger walked in the gym; the players assumed he must be another NBA scout and did not want to have another bad tryout.

Too much stock is put into the one day formal tryout. If a player scores some points in a tryout everyone assumes he should be on the team. Players, coaches and parents need to understand that every time a player walks on to the court eyes are watching and conducting a tryout. Tryouts also occur off the court. The behavior of a player before and after the game is just as important as the performance on the court. How a player handles being subbed. How he sits with his teammates on the bench. When a player shows up late for a training session, this is part of the tryout. When a player decides to sub him/her self out of a drill this is part of a tryout. When a player does not touch the lines in a conditioning drill, this is part of a tryout. When a player misbehaves in a hotel room on the road, this is part of the tryout. All of these little details go in to a tryout.

Players must take responsibility for their actions at all times. I know from experience that I would never pick a team, that I was going to travel over night with, if I did not first have those players stay overnight in a residence situation, over which I had supervision. I wanted to know how they handled meal time, bed time, meeting time, practice time and all the time in between. They had to know that tryout time was all the time.

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X's and O's By Mike MacKay - FITS

On Sunday I attended a presentation at FITS. (www.fitstoronto.com).They are a Toronto based group dedicated to athletic excellence. They reached out to the basketball community here in Toronto and offered presentations by three speakers followed by a round table. The talk was; Complete Basketball Development The speakers had some very interesting points. I applaud them in their effort to spread the gospel of LTAD and what it takes to develop a complete player to parents, players and coaches.

Luke Wilson was the first speaker and he is originally from Australia and is very familiar with their sport development system. One of the main reasons for the development of athletes in Australia is the quality of the competition and planned training. By playing and training against better players you are by its very nature, forced to play better or else you get embarrassed. One of the problems he pointed out here in Canada is that very often our best players play down, not up to the level of competition. Our best developmental players are often involved in competition and training with players who do not have the same goals and aspirations.

Wayne Dawkins was the next speaker. He is know in Toronto as someone who works on training players. Wayne made the point to the parents and coaches about how we continually invest in the USA when we send teams to AAU tournament. To improve our product we need to invest in our own resources. We may not think about it, but when you spend money on hotels, restaurants, registration fees and gear you are taking that money out of the Canadian system. How can we expect hotels, restaurants, equipment suppliers to cuts us a deal or become a sponsor of Canadian sport when we continually move our business south of the border. We need to make sure we invest in Canada.

He had some very interesting comments about what makes a good work out.
Wayne's Tips:

1.Attention to detail – he learned this from watching Steve Nash at national team training camps. Pay attention to the little details. A great work out and skill development are not always the same thing. Just because you sweat does not mean your skills are getting better.
2.Put a time and measure on everything. Create benchmarks to monitor the intensity and improvement of your skills.
3.Making shots vs. taking shots. Count the number of makes, this improves the quality of your work.
4.Trainers use equipment.
a.Increases the difficulty of the exercise (bungee cords)
b.Accelerates development by improving focus or awareness (shooting gun)
Be sure to test before you use with players. It must be safe.
5.Team mentality. Constantly working to improve
6.Good demos, if not find someone who can.
7.Good reps vs. mass reps- proper technique. The coach needs to be able to error detect and correct.
8.Build a better athlete first then a better basketball player (agility, balance, coordination speed).
9.The way you view them and the way you treat them . Every child is different. Each child deserves your attention and best effort as a trainer. Develop a positive working relationship with your athletes.

Some of the problems Wayne has observed:
•Players are overworked through too many games and not enough focused training
•low back problems
•high centre of gravity - off balance
•weak ankles - cannot cut at speed
•weak shoulders - cannot hold the ball strong inside
•Coaches get help if you do not know something. Your players deserve the right information
•Parents are investing too much money in competition and not on training. Take a look at how much money you spent on your child's sport. If the majority is going to competition there is something wrong.

Dr. Thomas Lam was the final speaker. He used the Canadian Sport for Life, LTAD model to show the players, coaches and parents in attendance why they need to reconsider their current approach to training. He raised the question; Is being an elite athlete more about nature or nurture? In the past we often gave more validity to the nature side of the question. great athletes were born that way. The more and more we look at it the more nurture is the more important factor. Too often when we are rating players we give a exorbitant amount of weight to the obvious. The classic example is vertical jump. If we see a player who has hops, this person moves to the top of the list as a "talented" player. The less obvious, but equally important skills may not be considered or do not get weighted the same. Skills such as: mental toughness, focus, willingness to learn, hand eye coordination, agility, balance core strength etc.

Dr. Lam then brought out an interesting stat. Who has a higher average vertical jump, an NFL defensive lineman or NBA players. It is not what you think! NBA players average 28" while the NFL defensive lineman is 35". Dr. Lam explained it this way;"NFL defensive lineman only have 16 regular season games a year. The rest of the time they are training to be a better athlete. NBA players have 84 regular season games. What do basketball players have a tendency to do in the off season? Many just play. Have you ever seen football players putting on the gear and playing games in the off season? This is the problem when you only develop through play you sometimes are not becoming a better athlete.

Sticking with vertical jump Dr. Lam brought up the point about how decision making effects power output. If you ask an athlete to do a vertical jump, where a red light means, don't jump and a green light means, jump, there is up to a 30% loss in the overall maximum height the athlete can jump. When we are hesitant we are not as powerful. Going back to our rating of talent. We have given this athlete a high rating because of a dunk we saw in warm up. What will happen to this explosiveness when decision making occurs in the game. I have seen this time and time again with so called "talented players". They often excel in situation where there is little defence being played. Once the opponent becomes more sophisticated the player struggles.

Players, coaches and parents need to ensure that the athlete is diversifying his/her investment in time. In general players are currently spending the bulk of their time in competition. In the few practices that take place, the majority of time is invested in strategies. Little or no time is spent on athletic development, mental training and prehabilitation. Figure 1 represents how many athletes at the development stage are investing their time. Figure 2 represents a more ideal planned approach to how time could be invested. This will vary by stage and what time in the season.



Figure 1 Investing in competition only



Figure 2 Investing in a diversify approach

It is like investing in the stock market. So many players, coaches and parents are putting all of their time and financial resources into the competition. We all ready know that this is a risky venture. What happens when that stock crashes. We need to have a more diversify portfolio. I challenge you to see where you are investing your time and financial resources.

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X's and O's By Mike MacKay - Good Parenting Is Good Coaching

One of my favourite things to do when travelling is to people watch. I especially enjoy seeing parents with children and how they are teaching and coaching the young ones. Recently, I made an international trip and was standing in line with two families, both with a number of young children. When passing through security I was intrigued by two different approaches to the whole process of being scanned by airport security.

In the first family the father was in control. All decisions and actions came from him. He held on to the passports and the boarding passes for everyone in the family. He never took the time to explain the process to the children. He was like a sheep dog herding sheep. He just kept barking and nipping at their heels to get them to stay in line. Obviously he was under a lot of stress to have his family perform. When the time came to get scanned he never explained the procedure, he just sternly told the children what to do. When the youngest child, who was at the front of the line, did not respond he became louder and firmer in his directions; “Just walk through, now!!!” You could tell the child was apprehensive and this only made the situation worse. She did not understand why she had to leave her family. Soon the child was crying. This only made the father more upset. The mother now entered the situation and was able to calm the child down. She went though first and then the child was able to follow. I am not sure how pleasant the rest of the trip was, but I suspect the family was on pins and needs the rest of the trip not wanting to upset the already stressed father.

Contrast this with family number two. Here the father gave each child their own passport and boarding pass. As the family was snaking through the long line he explained what each document was for and that they were important papers. This took a bit of time as there were questions that had to be answered. When he they got to security he calmly explained what was happening and what was the reason for each step. Of course the younger children had lots of questions: “Why do we have to take our boots off? Will the X-ray hurt my teddy?” He was patient in answering each question. The security people also joined in and added to the learning experience. The children all proceeded through the security in an orderly fashion. When the mother, the last to go through security, beeped, the youngest child wanted to know if her mother was going to jail. As the mother was being scanned with the wand the father explained the process. This only brought up more questions that were duly answered. In the end they all had a laugh and as the father collected the important papers from each child, he praised them for how well they had done. They acted like seasoned travelers and he was so proud of how well they handled the situation. They then proceeded on to the next learning opportunity.

Let’s relate this to coaching a team. Father/coach one was able to quickly get his children to appear orderly and ready by just telling them what to do. The entire lead up to the game was about following his instructions, with no time for questions. The problem arose when it was time to perform. The children/team had no idea of what the expected outcome was and what things had to be done. All they had to go on was the directions of their father/coach. When the pressure was on this was not enough. They had not been equipped with the ability to make decisions for themselves. To achieve the outcome it took a greater amount of time and lots of stress. In the end, even though they made it to the intended outcome the entire team was on edge. The coach/father was disappointed and frustrated with the team’s performance and carried this with him after the competition was over. The team’s impression of competition was a not a pleasant one and no one was looking forward to the next encounter with the opponent. The outcome could only be achieved by the intervention of the mother. I see this type of coaching happening all of the time in youth basketball. Well meaning coaches just tell the younger children what to do. Once the competition starts conflicting messages arrive. Also, the player does not often understand why they are doing what they are doing. This is compounded when the officials at the games do not explain the calls to the players. If the coach becomes louder and more demanding it frightens the children. Very often the coach does not understand that it takes the intervention of the parent away from the court to convince the child to continue in basketball. A old study done by Ken Charles, of England, showed at over 90 % of the children who started playing basketball at under age 10 were quitting before the age of 13. The main reason was the coach.

When you raise the tone of your voice to young child they often feel that you as a coach are angry with them. Combined this with assertive body language, raised arms and closing personal space, it is difficult to not think the coach is upset.

As a coach we need to let player know that in a competitive environment we will speak in a louder voice to be heard and we will often use short quick phrases. This is because of the acoustics in the gym, it is often loud and we do not have a lot of time for polite pleasantries. Do not assume players and parents know this, it has to be explained. I used to tell my players that I would yell, to get their attention, once this was achieved tried to talk calmly and with a lower tone. I remember over hearing one of my veteran players tell the grade 10’s; “Look, when he yells your name, just look at him and nod your head. That is all you have to do.! “She was right.

Father/coach number two took the time to explain. The children were able to understand and therefore execute under pressure. It takes time to teach, but by doing so the performance will be much smoother. The father/coach was always positive. He praised them for a job well done. He never once said,” Don’t lose the papers”. It is similar to watching a child pour a glass of mike for the first time. If you say, “don’t spill it” you put a whole different spin on the process. The outcome now becomes not to spill the milk rather than pouring a glass of milk. Telling players not to turn the ball over, don’t foul and don’t miss, creates the same problem. Father /coach number two also created a positive learning environment. The process of competing became an opportunity to learn. Everyone was looking forward to the next opportunity. Contrast this with the first family/team who dreaded the next competition, remembering the stress it caused.

I have often hear coaches of younger children tell me this stuff is ok for house league, but not my team or my son since they are elite. A coach needs to “get after” his players at the level if he is going to have any success. This myth is perpetuated by the media. Watching games on TV we often hear the announcer saying that the coach “gave it to his team at half time” or the coach is “getting after” his players right now. It may appear to be the case, but in reality it is often not true. This may work in the short term, but in the long term it does not produce the desired result. In fact it probably can get the coach fired.

I suggest you listen to this audio interview by Jim Thompson, of the Positive Coaching Alliance, with Doc Rivers, the coach of the Boston Celtics.
responsiblesports.com

In it he talks about filling player’s emotional tank. One of the worst things you can do is tear down a player’s confidence by draining the emotional tank. This is a coach working with elite players. He is constantly striving to improve as a coach in how is language and body language help not hurt his players. He is just one of many high level coaches who admits that tearing players down does not work.

If now know it does not work with young children and the highest level of pro athletes, what makes us think it works with all the players in between?

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X's and O's By Mike MacKay - Playing Strong

Playing Under Control
The first snowfall of the winter is always a reminder to us that we have to pay a little more attention to the road conditions: This is especially true for new or younger drivers who do not have lot of experience driving under these conditions. Drivers in slippery conditions need to:
• Control their speed when they approach an intersection or other traffic. No sharp turns or breaking at high speeds.
• Be prepared for the other vehicles to stop or turn in front of them at any time.
• Be alert; constantly scan anticipating what is going to happen.
Watching some basketball over the break I noticed that many younger and inexperienced players need to play basketball with the same caution as driving on icy road. Many players try to play at speeds which they cannot control. This leads to poor decisions, travels, poor shot selection, charges, turnovers and in some cases injury. As their strength, skill and size improve they will be able to play at faster seed. The faster their operational speed becomes the better they will be able to play, but when learning too much speed kills!

What follows is a progression for younger players on learning how to play under control and yet still be effective in attacking the basket. We often have to simplify the options to make decisions and execution easier. As the players confidence grows more speeds and options can be added. It will also illustrated how to take players through TLC (Teaching, Learning , Competing)

When first introducing a skill, the initiation stage, it is important to allow the players to practice at their own speed. They require a good demonstration of what the skill should look, feel and sound like. Allow them to process the information in his/her own way before you provide too much feedback. It is also important that they understand why the skill is being done in a certain way. This will help them in formulating the skill in their mind. This is why the old idea of whole-part-whole is important. The whole shows the why. Using a games approach can also be effective in showing the why.

Self-toss to 1,2 power lay-up or dribble jump shot
The players toss the ball with back spin to a perimeter position somewhere outside the three point line. Upon catching the ball and scanning the basket, the player drives to the basket for a 1-2 power lay-up. If attacking the foul line the player does a dribble jump shot. These should be accomplished with a maximum of two dribbles. The foot work on the layup is a 1, 2 count, with the outside foot hitting first closely followed by the inside foot.

The quick 1, 2 pull up jump shot is preferred over the hop to a jump stop when going for the dribble jump shot. It is quicker and does not allow the defense to recover.


Stopping
The first bike I had a child had only breaks on the rear wheel. You applied them by pedaling backwards. When travelling at speed and applying your back breaks you would go into a slide that you could learn to control. I had great fun in speeding along the drive way and slamming on the back break. My older brother go a hand me down bike from a cousin. This bike had hand breaks, one for the back and one for the front. I found out the hard way that when you were traveling at speed and slammed on the front break you lost your balance as your momentum carried you up and over the handle bars.

This same concepts applies to players when running at speed. If they try to stop quickly using the front of their feet. they will continue to rotate forward. They will either fall over or take an extra step to maintain their balance.

If they learn to stop by sitting down and using their back break they can remain on balance.

Being strong with the ball
When coming to a stop with the ball players need to quickly get into a strong position.
• Their vision is up,
• Their weight is over the top of their feet
• Their elbows are under the ball, the wrist is flexed and the ball is tight to the body. They are a spring ready to uncoil.
This allows them to:
• absorb contact and remain on balance
• to pivot in any direction
• to make a strong, high percentage shot attempt
The player who stops in a weak position will often
• Have his/her eyes looking down.
• The arms are extended with the ball down low
• The weight is on the front of their feet. They often will have taken an extra step to catch his/her balance.

Twisting with the ball
Players will often need to twist to protect the ball. This may not be a full pivot. Players who move the upper body, but not the lower body often get in caught in an off balanced position.

Renato Pasquali, from our Senior Men’s coaching staff, uses the analogy of the movement a skier makes when transferring weight from one ski to the other. There is a weight shift and the feet and hips both turn. Picture most sports where power is being generate. It is the twisting of the hips that produces this power. This keeps the player in a strong position from which he/she is still explosive. This is NOT a travel.

Too often when players pivot they are focusing on twisting their foot and swinging the other leg around. This often leads to dangerous twisting of the knee and the player ending up in a poor biomechanical position. They have no balance or power.

A pivot generates from the hips, The same skier twisting starts the motion of the pivot. The only thing is that one foot slides forward or back. This keeps the player in a strong position and safe since the knee and the toe are pointing in the same direction.

From this strong position players need to be able to pivot and fake. Often when faking players will put their body off balance or weak by extending the ball, arms and legs.

To stay strong when faking players need to disassociate the action of the upper body from their lower body. When the ball is being raised the lower body is lowering or sitting down. The faking with the eyes and shoulders is often more effective than raising the ball too high. Don’t lose the C formed by the bicep, forearm and wrist. This keeps the player strong to shoot at any time.


1,2 Power lay-up
This lay-up is very important skill for players to learn who are driving into traffic. The footwork is the same as the regular lay-up starting with the outside foot followed quickly by the inside foot. The only difference is that the player does not continue to drive the outside foot up. He/she takes off on both feet.

Pivot Away
If trouble occurs the player can use the outside foot to pivot away. As they become more adept they can also develop a little baby hook from this position.

Step through
If the defense moves up the player can step through by continuing to pivot. Throughout the whole process the player stays strong and on balance.

Why the outside pivot foot?
• It allows the players to carry a little more speed. A straight two foot jump stop requires a lot of strength to come to a complete balanced stop.
• The player is stepping into the contact. If a bump occurs they can push into it. If the inside foot is used they often have to step back to gain their balance and power. This puts them in a weaker position.
• They can KOB (keep on back) the defender by cutting him/her off on the second step.


Applying the skill vs. imaginary defenders
After having time to practice the skill at their own pace players are ready to apply the skill in a game like situation vs. imaginary defenders. This is an excellent drill to work on these the middle jump shot and baseline 1, 2 power lay-up off a dynamic 1on 1 from a wing catch.

The player starts on the baseline and passes the ball to the coach. Depending on the how the coach hold the ball the player either takes the ball baseline or middle. The coach controls the move. Mix it up.

If the coach holds the ball out to the side the player rips the ball and goes baseline. It is important to work on proper footwork to prevent traveling. A little skier hip turn put the player in a strong athletic position before the dribble.

If the coach holds the ball behind him/her the offensive player curls, takes the ball for the middle dribble jump shot. Try to take the ball from the coach with the outside foot down. This allows for a stronger and tighter curl. If the inside foot is used the next step will lead to wide turn since it is with the outside foot.

Coach as a guided defender
Once the players have the correct technique it is important that they apply the skill against a guided defender. Often the coach is the best person to do this at first as the other players may not have the body control to prevent rough or dangerous play. Eventually they will be able to assume this role if you instruct them the proper way to do it.

Apply the skill against a live defender
The offensive and defensive player line up on the baseline. When the ball is passed to the coach both players run to the coach. The offensive player must read if it is the lay-up or curl. The defender must slap the coaches other hand if it is the lay-up, and chase the offensive player if it is the curl. In both situations the offensive player has a brief one second advantage on the defender. If the player executes properly he/she should not lose this one second advantage and make the basket.

Dynamic start to 2 on 2
The players must now read what to do when the defense rotates to take away the one second advantage. By passing the ball to the open player the advantage is maintained. It is important that after passing the passer exit the key to open space. Too often players who penetrate stand after passing and clog the key.

This pass does not have to be a fast pass. This is where the player can come to a 1, 2 stop and pivot if need be. The accuracy and strength is more important when first learning than the speed of release.

The same is true when penetrating to the middle. If need be come to a balanced stop.
Dynamic start to 3 on 3/en/hm/imageDisplay.php?sid=113&id=1614
By adding another pair the offensive player who gains the one second advantage must read who is open when the defense helps. The coach controls if it is a baseline or middle penetration. We are working on defense and offense at the same time. These can be teaching or learning drills depending on
where the coach feels the players are in their development. Be sure to work from both ides of the court. It is also a good idea to let the players transition out of this drill. To turn it into a competing drill the coach can have the players keep score. Use a games approach.

Deload - 3 on 2 secondary cuts
Often as a coach we must deload and activity rather than continue to load it. Here we have eliminated one defender. The player who drives pretends that help has come and he/she must come to a 1, 2 stop. The other offensive players have moved on penetration. Once the offensive player pivots the other offensive players must make a secondary cut based on what their defenders have done on the original cut. By eliminating the on ball defender it gives the offensive players a chance to have some success early. Load the third defender back into the drill when ready. These are good learning drills. Allow the players to play through mistakes. To compete allow transition. Scoring occurs for making use of the desired skills and concepts.

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X's and O's By Mike MacKay - Athletic Stance

Mike MacKay - Manager of Coach Education and Development


In working with younger players one of the most important concepts that they need to learn is an athletic stance. This is a balanced position from which the player can move in a powerful and quick manner. Many players struggle to find this position. This may be due to poor strength or flexibility, but it is often because we confuse the players with instructions such as, bend your legs and keep your back straight. Here is a progressive way to help players discover an athletic defensive stance.


Head - the head must be up with the eyes scanning forward. If the head tips forward the player will be off balance in a forward direction.
Back – the back has a slight arch in the lumbar region. The shoulders are back pushing the chest slightly forward.
Elbows – the elbows should be bent and over top of the knees. When we straighten the arms we move our centre of gravity away from the centre.
Hips – the butt is back behind the heels. The hips are inside the knees.
Knees – the knees are flexed and inside the big toe of the feet.
Feet – the ankle is flexed. The weight of the body is on the ball of the foot.
When you look for the side a straight line is formed by the ball of the foot, knee and shoulder.


Pylon squat
Each player starts with two pylons. It works best with the cone type. If not, use empty pop bottles or milk jugs. Have the player assume a defensive stance (have a partner checks from the side). Taking one cone in each hand the player sits down in his/her stance and places the cones out to each side, reaching as far as he/she can without coming out of a good stance. We do not want the player to sway to place the pylons. The knees should not end up outside the feet. The key is to sit down on the leg. This way the player can still push off. Have the player move back and forth without moving the feet and touch the top of the cone 10 times. This is building strength , flexibility and muscle memory.


The next step is to have the players move the pylons out a little further than they can reach. Now we want the player to work on pushing to touch the top of the pylon. Return to a balanced position in the middle before moving to the next pylon on the other side.

Add two more pylons behind the original two. Now the players work on a quick hip turn and a push to touch the pylons. Again, return to a balanced position each time before going to touch the next cone.

These age good drills to do as part of a movement prep in warm up, especially if you are going to be doing defense that day.
We are building strength and flexibility in the core, legs ankles and hips. It is very important to watch for players losing the good athletic position. If they lose their good form they will not receive the training effect you desire.


Load in a guided offensive player
Have the player tart in the good stance. It is important that the defender moves off the line of the pylons to cut off the angles.

Load in a ball

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X's and O's By Mike MacKay - Asking the right questions

I recently completed the book, Starting With Why, by Simon Sinek. It got me to thinking about how I have used questions in coaching. In the past I have suggested to coaches that when asking questions of your players in a debrief, you should focus on 'how' and 'what' questions and limit using 'why' and 'who' questions. 'Why' and 'who' questions can often be seen as excuses and blaming by the athletes. This often has to do with the tone of voice used when asking the question;
"Who is responsible for helping on that drive?" "Why are we not rotating to help".
Said with a tone that implies punishment or guilt the players will be reluctant to answer sincerely. Once you have establish a positive relationship with the players, where they accept the fact that you are truly listening and want to know their honest answer, you need to ask the 'why' and 'who' questions to dig towards a deeper understanding.

When dealing with coaches and organizations, Mr. Sinek makes a strong case for asking "why" and "who" questions first. Too often we get caught up in the 'how' and 'what' questions and we lose track of the real purpose of the program. Who are we dealing with and why are we doing things this way? Would you like a doctor who jumps to diagnosing your aliment, telling you what and how to cure it without first finding out whom you are and why you are having the problem?

Why + Who = What + How
It is very important that your words match your actions. When why you do something, matches equally with what and how you do things people believe in you. You are a person of your word.

Why + Who < What + How
When what and how you do things is stronger than why you do things, your action are not congruent This leads to a lack of trust. The classic example is the coach who expounds on building character in his young athletes. When in the games his/her actions show he/she is only about winning the game. Athletes need to know that the coach trust them. This is especially true in skill development. Mr. Sinek used the analogy that trust is like the safety net for the trapeze artist. By using a safety net the athlete has no fear in trying to extend him/her self to push out of comfort zones. When no net is present the trapeze artist will stay with the safe routine, not willing to risk injury. If a coaches actions and word are equal we can act as a safety net for the athletes. In practice a coach preaches that it is ok to make mistakes and push out of your comfort zone. The same coach has to have the same safety net when the athlete attempts to use that skill in competition. Subbing the athlete out for the mistake means the player will no longer trust the coach and try to expand his/her game in competition.

Why + Who > What + How
Lots of talk, but no action. These people are often called dreamers who have a great idea, but there is no structure. I am reminded of the story of the building of the Panama canal. It was started by the French who had a great vision of a short cut to the Pacific. They clearly articulated why and for whom the canal needed to be built. When it came to the how and the what the solution was to just dig! Dig they did, fueling off the passion of the dream. After many years, high costs and many deaths the dream was abandon. Before the Americans came in they took a number of years to develop a plan. They still had the same dream, but needed to ensure that the how and the what matched. Coaches and players often have elaborate dreams of their future potential. When a realistic plan of action does not follow, the dream comes crashing down when the work required to achieve the dream fails to materialize.

I have always tried to take the time when answering questions to thing why and who first. It is not always easy as these examples below will show.

Question: How should I teach my players to pivot? Should it be a permanent pivot foot?
The easy thing to do is start giving a detailed description of how to pivot, but the first thing I need to do is ask Who and Why?
Who are the athletes? What stage of development are they playing at? How many years have they been playing the game? How many practices have you worked on the skill? Have you allowed them the proper amount of time to develop this skill? Is this a player with aspirations to play at a higher level or just a recreational basketball?
Why are the players having trouble pivoting? Is it because they are off balance or is it a coordination problem? Is core strength an issue? Is it because of the way the coach has taught them to pivot? Are they having trouble pivoting off a catch or to avoid pressure upon stopping?
Only after asking these questions can the coach properly address the 'what' and the 'how'.
Answer: (After finding out that the players are developmental athletes who have aspirations of playing at the next level) Pivoting to me is like shooting. When close to the basket, shooting layups, a good player needs to use both hands. The more that you can use both feet the more effective you can be, especially when playing inside and playing dynamic 1 on 1 on the perimeter. Dynamic means the offensive player makes a decision before the catching the ball. Upon catching the ball the player initiates an action without hesitation or delay. The player is already attacking before he/she completely squares to the basket. You need to use both feet when moving to attack the basket dynamically.
Having said that, if a player is shooting a shot from distance it is better to practice with only one hand. The player will develop more accuracy. The same can be said if playing static 1 on 1, most players have more success using one pivot foot when playing on the perimeter. They can be more accurate or efficient.
Questions: What rotations do you recommend for my team who is having trouble stopping penetration?

Again, can you see the trap! At first we want to start suggesting various strategies and schemes that have been used by coaches over the years, when what we need to do is ask 'who' and 'why'. The problem behind the problem is giving up penetration not the rotations used to stop it. Who are the players? What stage of development? Why are they giving up penetration? What part of the season is it? Has sufficient time been spent on teaching a proper stance?

If your team is not defending penetration very well do you go and work on your help rotations or stance and on ball defense? In general coaches seem to want to solve this problem strategically. Look at the issue another way. Ask yourself this question; if your team is not shooting the ball very well, what do you do when you go to practice the next day? How many of you said practice shooting? How many people said they would practice offensive rebounding? By practicing shooting you are getting at the skill that needs to be improved for future development. You may receive no benefit for the next immediate game. By practicing offensive rebounding you are conceding that shooting will not improve and looking at an immediate solution. Reality is that you need to practice both. The art of coaching is determining how much of each.

I have always believed that using questions is one of the higher levels of teaching/coaching. I know I will now pay more attention to making sure that who and why I am working with someone will match how and what I do.

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X's and O's by Mike MacKay - Act Locally, Think Globally

It was with a sad heart that I heard of the death of David Pecaut this morning. It was through his work with Canada Basketball's Board of Directors that I met him. Reading the many stories today in the newspapers made me realize what a legacy he has left. Building a strong community was one of his great passions. Reading this got me thinking about the slogan I heard on the CBC last night, in reference to the global warming conference in Copenhagen. Act locally, think globally. David Pecaut wanted to see the city of Toronto as one of the leading cities in the world. This would only happen if it started locally. This lead me to thinking about global warming and what we in the basketball community can do to help reduce global warming. The more I thought about it, the more “green basketball” fell in line with many of the issues we have been discussing in Canadian Sport for Life. In most cases, the green solution was also cheaper and built on the sense of community.

Act locally

One of the biggest ways we can reduce green house gases is by reducing the uses of cars and airplanes to travel to games and practice, especially at the Fundamental and L2T stages. At these stages there is no reason for children to be traveling long distances to play games and practice. Playing in the gym or play ground where the child could walk or take public transportation (with proper adult proper supervision) would solve many of societal problems:
o It builds a sense of community; you get to know the people who live in your community. You get to meet people in the gym, on the walk or in public transportation.
o It gets people active. By walking we promote activity that may reduce obesity in our children and the parents who walk with the child. Walking also give time to talk with your child.
o It reduces the need for cars to take children to activity.

If driving was needed it could be done in a car pool. There is no need for each parent to individually drive their child too and from practices and games. When children are developing into independent adults they go through many phases:
o At first it is all about “me”.
o Next they come to recognize that they exist in a “family”.
o Finally they need to learn that “me” and the “family” also fit into something called a “community”.

Too often we shelter children on this journey from being dependent to independent. It is ok as a parent to miss practices and games. As the old African proverbs says;"It takes a village to raise a child." My parents never saw me play basketball and only saw me play high school football once. It was the provincial championship game at the old Wanders Grounds in Halifax. My mother had no idea what was going on and had to keep asking my brothers where I was and what I was doing. My father didn’t like the crowd and skipped out from the game to go to the Nova Scotia Museum. I never once felt that they did not love me. They showed it in many other ways. They also allowed my teachers and coaches to have a hand in raising me.

At the physical literacy stages we should eliminate the adult 5 on 5 game. By playing 3 on 3 or 4 on 4 many positive things occur:
o The players actually get to touch the ball. This is how they develop the basketball and decision making skills they require.
o Individually each child is more active and therefore receiving a bigger fitness benefit.
o You can have more children active at one time. This raises the efficiency level of the facility.
o You do not require parents and fans to come and cheer them on. Since you are playing cross court there is no room for spectators. The children can learn in a safe positive environment. Each parent does not have to drive.
o You do not require officials. The players learn to officiate their own games or have the coaches teach/coach and officiate at the same time.
o When you practice you can learn to share the gym. Why only have one “team” of 12 players in a gym at one time. By changing the definition of a team to a group of players you can have more players being active at one time.

All of the above also reduce the number of cars required to drive people to the gym. It also makes more efficient use of the gym. You also build community because people get to know the other parents who will be involved in their child's life.

Building the Canadian basketball community

The myth exist that:
o I will have a better experience in basketball if I leave Canada
o The further the game is from my home the more valuable the experience;
o The more games we play at the tournament the better the games;
o The more “stuff” we are given the better the tournament or team we play on.

It is not a myth that we have seen a steady increase in the number of players who feel they have to be exported to play the game of basketball. It used to be only at the L2W (university) stage. Now we are seeing it happen at the T2C (High school) stage. If we do not solve this issue it will soon be down into the T2T (junior and middle school) stages. Should we export our raw materials to other countries so they can build the finished product? We don't want to do it in manufacturing so why should we do it with our most valuable resource, our children. We need to build a basketball community where all players feel welcomed and that they can achieve their needs. The amount of money invested by parents who have children making these trips is incredible. It is not a free ride as many are lead to believe. I am waiting for someone to show me the positive numbers on how this current method of exporting players is working.

Reduce the number of games

At the T2T, T2C and L2T stages reducing the number of games will reduce the number of planes trains and automobiles required to transport players, parents, fans and referees This is mostly because of the lack of practices and over abundance of games. The elite player in theses stages often goes year round without a single break. Simply by reducing games we greatly reduce the number of cars needed to transport people to the gym.

Some other things to consider at the Develop the Game stages of CS4L:
o League vs. tournament
Leagues mean local. Local means less travel. Also the dollars being spent are local. The amount of money being spent on gas, hotels and meals on weekends on youth sport is staggering. What if this money could be invested back into developing more local community facilities. These facilities are a legacy for the community.
o Tiering
Done on a local level, communities can help find the niche for each and every participant. Children who do not make a high level team can be directed to the local community league that provides an opportunity for the child to continue to grow and develop and not be excluded. Also those who may not be able to participate can become involved in helping out. This is one of the great strengths of the European club system. It is the local place where adults and children alike grow up.
o Billets vs. hotels
When I was a player in High school we used to be billeted rather than stay in hotels. Not every experience was great, but we learned a lot about the other players and came to see them in a different light. Somewhere in growing up children need to get out of comfort zones. Where do they get to experience cultural growth. If it is not with a billet what about sleeping together in the gym with sleeping bags. Anyone who has ever attended the Coal Bowl in New Waterford, Cape Breton know what I speak about. It is a cultural building experience.

The purpose here was not to have all of the solutions, but to get people to think. Change is inevitable. Why not be a leading sporting nation that builds a truly green basketball community. I know it is something of which David Pecaut would be proud.

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X's and O's By Mike MacKay - Coach Donohue

I was able to watch a lot of high level basketball this summer at world and national championships. Since only one team can win the championship, I often found myself talking with coaches and players after the teams had been eliminated. Many players and coaches often feel discouraged at this point in the season. So much energy goes into preparing to win the championship. Players and coaches alike often feel totally drained physical and mental. Anyone who is competitive wants to win. What surprised me was the number of players and coaches who did they not feel that they had learned or grew from the experience. Some even questioned if this was a worthwhile use of their time and energy.
This floored me! How could someone, who had just represented their province or country, not feel that it was a worthwhile experience? It started me to pondering; What can we do to help athletes feel inspired to continue to compete and learn after losing. If they don't learn this lesson their life expectancy in sport will be short lived.

I spent a good part of the fall thinking, talking and reflecting on this issue. It was a conversation I had with Coach Steve Knochalski (former National team coach and current head coach of St. FX University in Antigonish, N.S.) that strated to help me think of ways to help coaches on how to address this issue. Coach K was the assistant coach with Jack Donohue, our long time national team coach. He knew coach Donohue better than most.
I asked Coach K, "What was the best thing that Coach Donohue did, that made him special as a coach."
He thought for a while and replied; "The long walks."
My first thought was that these walks allowed Coach Donohue to reflect or spend quiet time alone, but this was not the case.
Coach K. filled in the blank; "Coach would take a player with him and they would go on these long walks and talk. Things always seemed to be better for the player after these walks." Having known Coach Donohue myself I remembered that it was never about the offensive or defensive systems. It wasn't his ability to scount and break down tape, it was about his relationship with his players. He got to know what they were thinking or feeling, he understood them.

This lead me to review my vast library of books on leadership. One I came across was called Quiet Leadership by David Rock. In it he used two models that can help us understand people;
• Iceberg model
• The Ask/Tell quadrants

The Iceberg

There is a visible part of the iceberg above the waterline, but the greater mass of an iceberg is below the water line and therefore invisible. When coaching athletes we often fall into the trap of directing our energies to what is visible. What we see are the players behaviours and the results of these behaviours (outcome). What remains invisible to us is what the player is thinking and feeling.




The problem with focusing all of our energies on the visible is that it is the invisible that controls the visible. In order to positively change the outcome we need to help the athlete change what they are thinking and feeling first.

The Ask-Tell Quadrants

The only way to find out what someone is thinking or feeling is by asking.




High level coaching usually takes place in (quadrant #4), this is where we ask the athlete about how to solve the problem. There are times when we need to be in the other quadrants. When an athlete has little experience you may need to tell them a solution (quadrant #2). Asking what the problem is can help find out what an athlete is thinking or feeling (quadrant #3). This should be converted into solution thinking where we allow them to take ownership and learn to think for themselves. Telling players what they are doing wrong (quadrant#1) is one we have to be careful not to dominate with our coaching, especially if we do not supply a solution with it.
Example:
• Tell the problem - "You're not hustling!"
• Tell the solution - "You need to sprint back on defense!"
• Ask the problem - "What's wrong with you?"
• Ask the solution - "What can we do to help you get back and stop your check in transition?"

The problem for coaches is that we often tend to dominate in the one quadrant. Like athletes, it is when we are under pressure that we revert back to our comfort zones. If your comfort zone is telling you, will do this most often in the heat of the battle. Now remember, no one is perfect! The key is awareness of what style you use and making a conscious effort to improve.

How does all of this relate to motivating players to work hard and continue to grow and learn after facing adversity? When we complete in the big games or the big tournaments we too often focus on the outcome. As coaches we fall into the trap of not taking into account what the players are thinking or feeling. A turnover is made, a player is not playing good defense we make a sub. During the heat of the battle we often do not have time to ask questions. We start to dominate with telling. After the game, we often need personal time to recovery from the stress of the game. The last thing we want to do is go and talk to a player who performed poorly. Especially if emotions are involved. It becomes easy to isolate ourselves from the players. We assume we know what the players are thinking and feeling. We go and spend countless hours watching tape or scouting the next opponent. We tell our players all about the tendencies of the opponent, but we have ignore the most important people, our own players. Over time this can have a decimating affect on a player. Young players especially, need to learn how to express their feeling and emotions in a positive way to enable them to grow. When we do not allow this to happen we are missing out on a valuable life lesson.

Like most lessons, I had to learn this the hard way. Early in my coaching career I was frustrated with the play of my team. My body language showed this to everyone in the gym. After the game I was approached by the mother of one of the players. Luckily I respected her and her knowledge. She told me that she could sense my frustration. I told her that I didn't think the players wanted it bad enough. I told them I had an open door policy and they should come to talk to me. Not one of them did. This just proved my point.
She looked me in the eye and told me "Mike, these young ladies do not know how to talk to you. They so much want to do the right thing, but are afraid of you." I was flabbergasted! but knew she was right. I immediate knew that it was me that had to change, not them. I had to learn how to become approachable and learn how to listen. I was the teacher, they were the student. I could not expect them to make the first step, I had to approach them.

Getting back to Coach Donohue. The art of his coaching came from how to ask, when to ask and where to ask. He could sense the right time and place for having a talk with an athlete. One of the best pieces of advice I ever got from him was to watch the players eyes when you first talk to them before practice. Try to sense what they are thinking or feeling. If you see someone who looks out of sorts talk to them right away. These talks could occur in a bus, in a hotel, at a restaurant or in the corner of a gym. Most often they were done in private. Often, to save time we try to cover off on issues by discussing them with the entire team. "Some of us are not hustling, we need to do a better job of getting back on defense." Sometimes we try to get to the team by calling a player out in front of his/her teammates. "John, if you don't start hustling back on defense you can just sit yourself down on the bench. "If you know how your players think or feel this strategy can work. If you don't it can explode in your face.

The key is to take the time to get to know what your players are thinking and feeling. This usually occurs by asking questions. Think about how you ask, when you ask and where you ask. The more caring and candor you show, the more sincere and effective you will be.

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X's and O's by Mike MacKay - Loading

One of my most asked questions is; “How do you load various games a drills to keep the players interest and development progressing.” What I want to do is show you a game and a drill and the types of progression s that can be used to load the activity.

10 passes



The basic game starts by dividing the group into two separate teams. Note: A way to add leadership is to allow one of the players to pick the teams.

Define the boundary lines for the game. The larger the boundary the more the advantage goes to the offence. In this example it is the ½ court. The object of the game is to successfully complete 10 passes in a row without a fumble or travel. Players without the ball can move. If the ball goes out of bounds, is incomplete or there is a violation the ball immediately turns over to the other team.

Vary the number of successful passes. With younger players you may want to use a softer ball that is easy to catch.

Move After Passing



The first load added is a mental and physical challenge. After passing the player must immediately run and touch a sideline or end line before being allowed back into the game. This promotes moving after passing and also encourages more players to be involved in passing and receiving.

Use of Colors



I have purchased a ball designed just for younger players (Rookie Gear by Spalding, it is 25% lighter than a regular size 5 ball. The children shoot it higher and pass and receive it better). There are four bright colours on the ball; red, yellow, blue, and green. Four pylons of matching colours are placed around the boundary lines. When the ball is received the players must call out the colour that the tips of his/her right (left) fingers are touching. This encourages the player to watch the ball into his/her hands. After passing the player runs and touches the pylon of the colour called. This encourages scanning and moving with a purpose.You can also mark numbers on a rubber ball and have them call out the number and touch a corresponding numbered pylon.

Call Out The Number of Passes



A mental load that encourages communication is having the player who makes the pass call out the number of the pass. We want everyone to have a voice. Very often only the loudest players will talk. Each player needs to learn when it is his/her time to lead with a leadership voice. If the number is not called with a leadership voice, it is a violation and the other team takes over possession.

Pass Off The Dribble



The physical load is added that the player who receives the pass must immediately dribble within one second of catching the ball. The player must also pass the ball within one second of picking it up. This encourages scanning while dribbling and making passes off the dribble. The other players must move in space in relation to the dribble.

Everyone Dribble



Every player is dribbling a basketball. The team must still complete the ten passes without a fumble or travel. At first use a ball that is easy to catch with one hand. As the skill improves move up to a real basketball.

You can load the passer by making him/her have to dribble both balls at the same time.

Four Pylon Drills

.

I will use this simple agility drill to show how you can load one activity to the point of working on advanced basketball concepts.

Line up four pylons as shown in the diagram. One player starts at the front of the line near the sideline. A partner has a ball somewhere on the court ready to pass. The player without the ball zigzags through the pylons. Once exiting the pylons he/she receives a pass and goes and scores a layup. The partners switch places.

You may want to start by deloading the drill. You may find that you have to isolate the exact footwork required to manoeuvre through the pylons. I prefer to have the players work on sharp v-cuts or icky shuffles. You can use any footwork that you want to emphasize. The same is true of the finishing move. You can use various types of lay ups, shots or creative finishes. This is how a coach can individually challenges each player to met his/her stage of development or learning.

Keeping The Eyes Up



Once the player has reached the consolidation stage of learning the footwork you can begin to load the player mentally and physically. In order to force the player to keep the eyes up make random passes. After receiving the ball the player passes it immediately back to his/her teammate.

You could have the player dribble through the pylons after receiving the pass.

Find The Ball



Now instead of a pass, the partner tosses the ball to some place on the court. The player doing the footwork must explode from the pylons and get to the ball before the second bounce. In this example the player scores a layup after receiving the ball.

You could require a pass and cut before scoring.

Hustle



One common theme I hear from coaches is that they want their players to give effort. Often we do not define it for the players or make it a verb, an action.

In this example we have loaded in the ball being rolled on the floor. The player must break off his/her footwork and dive to regain the ball. It is immediately passed to the partner. The diving player must now quickly regain his/her feet and cut to score the basket.

Rebound



Here the partner shoots the ball at the basket. The player must go and jump to get the ball at its highest point.

Notice that the partner has moved to a new position. By having the partner vary his/her position you crate different load for the player.

Dribble Through The Pylons



Now we load in the ball. Can the player’s keep the same crisp footwork while dribbling? It is best to deload the other options when first adding the ball.

Show 10 Fingers



Here the dribble passes the ball to the partner when a target hand is shown.

Dribble Pass Cut



As the player is dribbling the ball is passed when 10 fingers are shown. The player continues to execute the good footwork until the end of the pylons. He/she receives a pass back for a score.

Note: for advanced players the partner could dribble at the cutter. This would initiate circle movement of penetration.

All we are using the pylons for is a way to begin a two player action. It allows us to teach a fundamental movement, basketball skill and basketball concept at the me time. Have fun and be creative.

Lateral Dribble



We now use the same set u to teach a specific basketball skill, the lateral dribble. By using the same set up the players do not waste time in learning the format of the drill. They are able to concentrate on the key learning points of emphasis.

The dribbler uses a bouncing lateral dribble. At anytime he/she explodes through one of the holes to score a layup. Note the dribble should be practiced with the ball in either hand.

Load The Finish



Here the partner stands in the most direct drive line to the basket. The player driving must execute a inside outside power lay up or a creative finish (zigzag). This is also a good position to watch the eyes of the dribbler.

Ensure Vision



The partner calls for the pass by showing 10 fingers. The lateral dribble must throw a pass and then cut.

Guided Defender



Now the partner slides along with the offensive player. The guided defender gives a read by stepping up into one of the holes. The dribbler must read this action and chose the open space to attack.

Two Guided Defenders



Here the dribbler must read and beat the first guided defender and then read and beat the simulated help defender.

Sometimes you want to have an offensive player with the help defender. We do not want to encourage bad shots. The driver must decide to score, draw a foul or make the pass to an open teammate.

Live One-on-One



We know let the players play live in a confined space. You can always load in the other players for decision making purposes. This may also be the way you initiate your 5 on 5 or 4 on 4 play.

Attacking Off The Curl



We can also use the same four pylons to work on another basketball concept. An offensive player and defensive player star in front of the middle two pylons. To unguarded offensive players are ready to receive pass.

On the pass the offensive player must touch the first pylon away from the direction of the pass. The defender must touch the second pylon. As the offensive player cuts back he/she must decide if a one second advantage has been created. Should he/she curl or straight cut for a shot.

Notice that the other perimeter player is also working on filling space after the cut occurred.

Initiate With a Lateral Dribble



Here the same action is started with the lateral dribble. After passing the offense touches the first pylon opposite the pass the defence touches the second.

Reading Help



Here we have placed another offensive pair in the low post position. The player who decides to curl must read the help and make the pass to the open teammate.

Initiate Penetration



Here we use the same four pylons to initiate a drill to work on penetration principles. The player behind the pylons passes the ball and cuts. He or she only goes until inside the pylons. The others players fill the open spaces.

Cutter Penetrates



The player who cut receives a return pass and immediately reads the first cutter, who is acting as a guided defender. The other two offensive players must respond to the penetration with the appropriate circle action.

Post Penetration Principles



We begin with the same action. The first passer becomes a guided defender.



We now feed the post player. The other players must make their appropriate movements off post penetration. The player at the pylon gets to work on secondary cuts based on the read of the guided defender.

You can load in as many defenders as you wish.

To summarize, the idea behind loading is to match the skill to the challenge. By continually loading the athlete mentally, physically and social/emotionally we can continue to set the appropriate challenge without wasting time in building new drills.

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X's and O's By Mike MacKay - Book Review: Basketball Basics - How To Play Like The Pros

When I was a youngster growing up in Cole Harbour, N.S., one of my fondest memories was when the bookmobile would arrive. This was an old school bus converted into a portable library. Once a month the bookmobile would journey out Caldwell Road and stop near our house. It was during one of these visits that I remember looking at book about basketball. For some reason this book sparked an interest in me. I had never played the game up to that point in time. In fact the only basketball I had seen was the Harlem Globetrotters, on Wide World of Sports.

Around the same time, my elementary school teacher gave us a flyer from Scholastic Books, where we could order little paperback books. I convinced my Mother to let me order a book called “How to Star in Basketball.” I loved that book! I practiced the skills using a playground ball and a toy can. When we moved to Truro, I attended North River Elementary school. It was here that I finally got to shoot on a real basket with a real ball. It amazed me that I actually knew quite a bit about the skills because I had practiced on my own from the drills described in my book. Over the ensuing years I have not seen many books that were written for the player.

That is until I read “Basketball Basics - How to Play Like the Pros” by Jay Triano. It made me want to go out and practice again. The book is written for players at the Learn 2 Train, Train 2 Train, and early Train to Compete stages.

What makes it player friendly?

· The ratio of words to pictures;
· It builds dreams
· The activities are stage appropriate and demonstrated by people players can relate too
· It promotes the idea that, working on your game is the key to success.

Every page has excellent colour pictures and each chapter starts with an image and quote from a pro. The pros are international stars (it even has a female pro!). This is part of building dreams goals for the players. Other pictures are of stage/age appropriate players demonstrating the skills. There are boys and girls of different body sizes and ethnic groups. Each player is introduced with his/her name. These are real people. This makes it realistic for the player; "I can visualize myself doing this activity". This builds internal motivation.

The descriptions are written in bullet form so that the player can quickly read the material and grasp the important key points. By reading the bullet and looking at the picture the player understands the key points of the skill. Players learn to coach themselves. Each page also has a pro tip that challenges the player or emphasizes the importance of the concept or activity being described.

The activities that were chosen are excellent for these athletes. They learn the basic skills, but are also challenged by some more advanced applications. For example in passing the last pass shown is the behind the back pass. This adds a bit of fun and adventure to the learning. It gives me something to work towards. The players learn about loading.

I like the fact that the players are also shown the proper way to warm up and work on conditioning. The players are shown some basic fundamental movement skills such as a lunge. The idea of core strength is also introduced to the players.

Finally and most importantly, the book addresses the number one problem we have with player development - the lack of INDIVIDUAL SKILL DEVELOPMENT. It starts with Steve Nash's forward and is reiterated constantly throughout the book, you need to practice these skills on your own, but it does so in a way that makes it seem fun. It does not promote joining a travel team and playing six games on a weekend. It talks about you getting better by loving to work on your game.

Great job Jay! I hope that all players, parents and coaches read this book and learn this lesson.


Canada Basketball is pleased to offer “Basketball Basics – How To Play Like The Pros” to the basketball community, just in time for the holiday season – shop online at shop.basketball.ca/. Only $17.95 (plus taxes/shipping), with 10% to benefit the Canadian Basketball Foundation. It’s the gift that keeps on giving!


About Jay Triano:


A native of Niagara Falls, Ontario, Triano has had a long career in basketball at both the amateur and professional level. At Simon Fraser University Triano set 11 school records, including the career scoring mark of 2,616 points. Triano was drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers in the eighth round of the 1981 NBA Draft and played for the Canadian national team for 11 years (1978-88). He was team captain from 1981-88.

Triano began his basketball coaching career as an assistant at Simon Fraser and was the team’s head coach from 1988-1995. In 1993-94 he was as the head coach of the Canadian men’s junior national team, before serving as an assistant coach on the Canadian men’s national team. Triano was the head coach of the Canadian men’s national team from 1998-2004 and is currently the head coach for the Toronto Raptors; the NBA’s only Canadian born coach. Triano was recently was appointed to Canada Basketball’s new Council of Excellence, a nine-member group developed to support the national team program’s strategic objectives.

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X's and O's By Mike MacKay - Teaching Conceptual Offence

In working with athletes at the Learn to Train and early Train to Train stages we need to continually review the basic offensive concepts. I have found through repetition that the use of a grid has been very helpful in teaching court spacing. I like it better than a spot marker since it is not an absolute. The court is divided into 12 spaces. They are not of equal size.

Use of the grid for spacing



I have found that when doing drills with these younger players they need to be able to quickly react to what the ball is doing. What follows are a number of drills that enhance the players ability to read the ball first and then there teammates and the defenders. At first the drills start in a static positioning. Once the players have mastered this we would quickly move into flowing into these spots from a non-static start. For easy of presentation I am starting all of the drills statically.

1/2 Court Teaching Drill



Two different groups of 6 players each can be working at both ends of the floor. The players fill the six spaces with the player under the basket having a ball.

It is this players turn to lead. He/she must use a strong leadership voice to communicate to his/her teammates the action of the drill.

For this drill I am using a group of boys.

Shot



In this example, the player with the ball (player #6) would call out; "Bill, shot! (I am assuming player #3's name is Bill). Bill steps into his shooting range to receive the pass. The other players must react to what the ball does. Those below the foul line extended go for the rebound, those above become safeties.

Note: in the diagram I have shown player #2 going for a rebound. I have tried to teach players at Train to Train that we want duck and dive on the weak side for a rebound. #3, the shooter would go back as safety.

The players rotate to different spots. You can also have the players make a number of passes before the shot occurs.

Pass, Cut, Fill



Here the player with the ball would call out; "Bill, pass and cut." Upon receiving the ball Bill makes an immediate pass and cuts to the basket. The other players must read this action and move appropriately.

The original passer, #6 can act as a guided defender. When Bill cuts he must decide if he has an advantage and stay with a good seal or should he exit to open space. We do not want to freeze the ball.

Dribble Penetration



Here the call is; "Bill, drive!" Player #3 drives the ball and the other players work on their penetration principles.

Again #6 can act as a guided defender. If he steps into a drive line the dribbler should think pass. You can also encourage multiple passes off the penetration.

Diagonal Cuts



Another load is diagonal cuts. I would never add these all at once. I would start with the first three only. The call here is "Diagonal Cuts". player #5 must realize that he has an open basket and cut to the front of the rim. Notice that player #1 and #2 are moving into the open spaces. This is especially effective if the pass is made to #5 on the cut. The other reason is that #5 can exit to the open space at the top vacated by #2 if no pass is made.

Load in #6 as a defender.

Pass, Cut, Fill to Post Up



At the Train to Train stage we add in a post up. The call is; "Bill, pass and cut to post up!" After passing Bill precedes to post on the other side . The remaining players must get the ball inside. They are learning who has the best angle for the pass.

Movement Off Pass to a Post



This allows us to work on our penetration movement off a post pass. The players must vacate the corner on the side of the post up.

Four Around One



The same concepts can be practiced from a four around one. Player #5 starts at the rim. Here the call was; "Tom (#2 )two passes for a perimeter shot!". The players move the ball for the shot and work on movement for rebounding coverage.

Penetration



Here the call was for penetration. Since we have an interior player he gets to work on his circle movement in the post on penetration.

Pass, Cut, Fill None Permanent Post



The call was for pass cut fill. Since we are not having a permanent post player, #5 exits to the perimeter as the new cutter goes to the rim.

Load The Drills

• No verbal call. The player who receives the pass can do what he/she wants. This means the other players must react to the action of the ball .
• Add in guided defenders. I have the defenders start in a line down the middle of the key. At first we play advantage where the offence has one open player. Eventually we play 5 on 5.
• Flow into the spaces
• Transition the other way. This is important because you want to see if the players can replicate the concepts done at one end to the other.

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X's and O's By Mike MacKay - Having A Ball

Here are a bunch of games that were inspired by reading the book; Having a Ball: Stability Ball Games by John Byl. I adapted and invented games to fit a basketball context. I also loaded the games in various ways. These are excellent for players at the Fundamental and Learn to Train stages. I would suggest that some could be used with Train to Train and Train to Compete. Remember when ever you use a games aproach it is important to ask what the saftey concerns are for the game. Also, debrief what the learnings are that can be applied to the game of basketball in the future.

Pressure Tag



The players partner up with a team mate. They place a ball on their backs and must keep it there with pressure. This does not have to be a basketball. Each player also has a ball that they dribble.

At first let them practice moving about, working together. When the tag game starts, one pair is given pool noodles. They are moving about trying to tag the other pairs. If tagged with the noodle, that pair now becomes “it”. No re-tags allowed.

Excellent game for leadership, who leads? Who follows?

Knock Out



Two players roll a stabilty ball across the floor. Other players practice chest passes or bounce passes to hit the moving ball. As they get better reduce the size of the ball and increase the speed. They could also pass off the dribble.

You could start with the ball being stationary in the middle of the floor and have the players try to knock the ball out of the court.

Safety is a concern with the looses balls. Have a way to deal with this issue.

Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars



The sun is the centre circle. You radiate planets (pylons) away from the centre circle. It helps if they are different colours. Each player (team) has a ball and lines up behind one line of pylons.



(Note: I am only showing one player for ease of understanding). On the signal to begin the player starts to dribble around the solar system (yellow pylons). The sceond time around he/she circles the green pylons. Finally the player reaches the sun. Since the sun is hot he/she cannot stay there for long and must retrace his/her path, dribbling with the opposite hand.



Another option is to have the player weave back to the starting point where the ball is given to the next player in line.

Players need to keep their heads up when doing this game as there are three other players going at the same time.

You can add in as many planets as you wish. The bigger the space the more it becomes conditioning.

All "it"



The players spread out around the gym and each player has a ball. On the signal to begin the players dribble trying to tag as many people as they can without being tagged. When you tag someone you must call out the number of tags you have. If two players tag at the same time a quick rock, paper, scissor to decide who gets the point. No one can tag these players when the rock, paper, scissors is occuring.

Some players will not try to score and take a totally defensive approach. You need to encourage them to take risks. By changing the size of the space you change the difficulty of the game.

This is a game where you could play three games at once:
- All "it"
- Dribble knock out
- Normal tag

The coach uses a visual signal to change the game on the fly. In dribble knock out the players knock the opponents ball out of the designated area. Call out the number of balls you knock out.When the ball is knocked out the player returns immediately.

In normal tag one or more players are designated “it”. They keep track of the number of players they can tag. No one gets eliminated. By changing from one game to the other it loads the players mentally. They must be able to quickly change their focus to the rules or concepts of the new game.

Help



Form a small diamond with four pylons. You want them close enough that the player in the middle can deflect the passes. One player has a ball and the other two players are at the plyons closest to the player with the ball.



The player in the middle is attempting to steal or deflect the pass. If this occurs, trade places with the passer. When the ball is passed the players must learn to fill the pylons closest to the the player with the ball.

Load this drill by adding a second defender. Increase the space.

Cat and Mouse



This is a quick passing game. The players partner up and stand in a circle beside their partner. You now have two teams the “cats” and the “mice”. The object of the game is for one of the teams to quickly pass the ball before the other team can pass the ball to the partner of the same player, who has the ball. Have the team count how many passs they make before the other team can catch them. The other way is to have a time limit.

You are not allowed to interfere with the other teams passes.

Load the game:
- Allow them to pass to other people in any order (not in a circle)
- Make them call the name to load it mentally
- The receivers can move and the person with the ball can dribble
- Start with a toss off the back board for a rebound

Fitness



Here is a fun way to add some core strength to a practice. Have the players lie on the floor in a group of four in circle (it can be more or less you decide) with their heads next to the players feet. One player has a ball. This player does a sit up and passes the ball to the next player. The ball moves around the cirlce.

Load
- It can be a race vs. other groups.
- Add a medicine ball
- Have them do a back plank to move the ball under their body followed by a sit up.
- Do a reverse sit up by placing the ball between the feet.

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X's and O's By Mike MacKay - Why We Do What We Do

When I took this job with Canada Basketball the hardest part was losing contact with the players. I always felt my mission was to teach children life lessons through sport. The fear was that when I did not have a team I could no longer impact the lives of our youth in a positive way. Today, I received an email that validates why I do what I do. Through coaching education I can indirectly impact the lives of our youth through the positive coaching of others. I am going to let Coach Mark Baker tell you his story with the grade eight girls from St. Peter's Junior High, Mount Pearl, Newfoundland.


Hello Coach MacKay

I wanted to let you know that last night I had a chance to apply some of the things you taught me during the try-outs for the Grade 8 Girls Basketball Squad at, St. Peter's Junior High Mount Pearl.

This is a new squad to me and I was asked to Coach as they have not been having a good time the past few years, underachieving and losing their love of the game.

At this school I am given a 1.5 hour slot and it is important that time is not wasted! However, I called everyone in when the learning session started and, like you suggested, told them to take 10 minutes to shoot around, chat with each other, catch up or do whatever they wanted.

Well, they obviously had never had anything like that happen before because they all smiled from ear to ear and the gym was full of “happy sounds” while they all enjoyed their 10 minutes.

Great advice! It made a difference in the level of fun and energy that carried through the whole learning session. There was “no” negative impact. I didn’t feel like I lost time I could be using to teach but rather felt like I was investing time into team chemistry & bonding.

The next thing I did that you taught me was to keep the introduction short. Even though this is a new team and many of the players didn’t know me, I stuck to your advice & resisted my temptations to drone on about all the things I just "had" to cover.

I got to the point and then got started. I could tell they really reacted well to this. Yes, there are important things to go over and I do need to speak to them to teach them, however, they learn “lecture style” in school all day and these kids really wanted to get their bodies moving and have some fun!

One of the parents of a child I coach from a different team was present and even came to me to tell me that something about my coaching style had changed and that she could really tell the kids were having fun because they were smiling and laughing and making lots of fun noises. Moral of the story, teaching with less talk and more movement is crucial to keeping the players wanting to come back next time!

I could go on and on and on about all the things I was able to employ that you taught me but this e-mail would get even longer than it is already. With that said, there are two more things you taught that were crucial to what I believe was one of the most successful learning sessions I have ever held.

The first was being creative on the drills and using props. I cut up an old purple curtain, red towel and paisley pillow case and made ribbons and we “played” a game called ribbon dribble. The team had a blast and I still had key times I was able to take advantage of a situation to “teach” certain skills. They were having fun and learning fundamental basketball skills all at the same time! What more could a Coach want!

Finally, I used the concept of loading with the drills. I found that I had great success using this technique versus the “old” way of explaining how to do a drill from beginning to end (to bored eyes), going through all the learning points and what was expected, so on and so on. Instead I set the drill up quickly and kept it really simple. The team got started right away and were happy to be moving their bodies.

I watched as they had fun and when the right moment presented itself I “loaded” the drill by adding a rule. It went over really well and I was able to stop the drill and ask them a question regarding what had just happened (another technique you taught me) and then ask how they might be able to avoid that. All their answers were good and they were really close to getting the point. I stayed positive and validated their answers (like you did when you taught us at the Coach course) and then showed the a jump stop and asked them questions about a jump stop. Next I added the jump stop as a rule for the game when they caught the ball.

Next a player was crowded and I had a chance to teach them to pivot to create space using the same method of asking questions, etc. The drill progressed like that and I could not believe all I was able to teach them while still keeping the drill going and the flow good. I got a good feeling that what I taught them is really going to stick!

This particular Grade 8 Squad lost their love of the game and are at the drop out stage and have never had that special feeling you get when you belong to something special so next Tuesday after school we are meeting at the home economics room to bake muffins for the schools breakfast program. I am hoping it builds chemistry and is just fun. Also, hopefully teach some community/social responsibility. I am going to take some pics and maybe you might consider a post on the Canada Basketball website somehow. Also, I'm going to send the pics to the paper and the school board and maybe this will help them to feel special and get them off to a great start.

Thanks you on behalf of the Grade 8 Girls Basketball Team at St. Peter’s Junior High because I think they had the best time this particular team had at basketball in a long long time and thank you from me because I too had the best time I had Coaching in a long time too. I could tell the team was excited about the next learning session and that they can't wait to come back, which is the exact way I feel too!

Sincerely

Mark Baker

Well done Mark! You have made a positive influence on the lives of these young ladies. No one knows where basketball will take them, but they are all better people for the experience.

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X's and O's by Mike MacKay - Three Point Shot

One of the major things that stood out at the Junior World Championships, in Auckland, New Zealand, was the importance of the three point shot. The USA team that won the championship was one of the best at making use of this long distance weapon. All perimeter players need to be able to shoot the three. In fact on many teams all five players were capable of shooting the three point shot. We could see the evolution of the multi-skilled forward from a back to the basket scorer, screener and rebounder into a player who can:
• stretch the defense with his ability to shoot the three
• take a player to the hoop off the dribble
• post up an score the tough basket inside if necessary
• handle the ball vs. pressure

The four teams that made the semi-finals were the USA, Greece, Croatia and Australia. Their four man was often the best three point shooter on the team.

USA – 6’8” - shot 41.4% from the three point line
Greece – 6’7” - 3pt FG%- 47.1%
Croatia – 6’11” – 3pt FG% -45.1%
Australia – 6’8” – 3 pt FG%-56.5%

Many key games were decided in the late stages of the game by the ability of these players to make a big three. One must remember that this is the junior level and what happens here does not always apply at the senior level, but this trend is already seen at the highest level of the game. Dirk Nowitzki with the Dallas Mavericks is the best example. In order for us to stay competitive on an international level and to give our players a chance to play at the highest levels of the game we need to do a better job of developing this multi-skilled big man. Just as importantly your big player has to be able to defend this player. If you are use to sagging into the key to clog up the lane your check is out at the three point line nailing the game breaking three.

Is very difficult to play as a perimeter player at the elite level if you cannot shoot and defend the three point shot. Teams very quickly figure out who can and cannot shoot the three and do not guard you if you can’t. If you cannot defend the three there is no help defense in the world that can prevent it.

What follows are some observations about the three point shot.


Shot ready
In order to shoot this shot the player must be both physically and mentally ready to shoot. The hands have to be up and the hips down. I like to say that the ten fingers, the ten toes and the eyes have to be ready. You have to be thinking shot. When players think pass or drive first and then shoots as an afterthought, their shooting percentage goes down.

Just as important was the ability of the other players to find this player when he was open and ready to shoot. The good teams had a knack of always finding the man when his defender cheated on help. The psychological lift given to teams by nailing a big three point shot cannot be mentioned enough. A team could be struggling for the longest time on offence. Allow them to hit the three and it was if life had been restored.


Hop vs. set up
The majority of the top shooters hopped into their three point shot as opposed to the inside pivot step. They often start with the feet in a stagger position. As the pass is in the air they hop on both feet to catch the ball. This allowed them to drive upward into a jump shot as opposed to a pushing action which often comes from stepping into the shot. Also, they were much more able to react to a bad pass and maintain their rhythm into their shot. The players who anchor one foot into the ground sometimes refuse to give up their position to maintain possession. This leads often to one handed catches and a loss of rhythm in their shot.
The other benefit was that they could use either foot as a pivot foot if they decided to drive.


Jump shot vs. set shot
The ability to rise up over the defence had a tremendous impact on the number of uncontested three point shot a player could take. The traditional close out, with your hands up to the three point line, had no bearing on these players ability to get an open look; where as the player who wanted to step into his shot, with a low release would not even consider shooting the ball.

The three point jump shot forced very long close outs by the defence. This had a huge impact on how far off a help defender could sag.


Spacing
The majority of teams ended up with four perimeter players in a late clock situation. By spacing four players who could all shoot the three point shot at the three point line it made it next to impossible to build the traditional ‘I” on defence. Teams were too good at making the cross court pass and forcing a long close out. If you got up and applied extreme ball pressure all perimeter players could also put the ball on the floor and force help rotations. Once teams started chasing in rotation it usually led to an open uncontested three.


When using the traditional defensive “I” on defence, where the bottom player on the help side rotated over to help on the drive and the top player dropped to cover the basket, teams were very vulnerable. The defenders had too long of a distance to recover once the ball was passed.


Many teams modified their help side defender by playing with a wider defensive “I”. This allowed for an easier close out when the skip pass was made.


No help by the perimeter players
One solution that teams used was to not help off the perimeter players. The help came from the post player. The post players were very good at protecting the front of the rim and forcing the player to score over or around the help. They would also fake help by stunting into the drive line and recovering back to their own check. They never wanted their check to be more than an arm’s length away.

This brings out the importance of perimeter defence. The teams that played the best defence were the once that did not have to help. They did not get beat and allow penetration.


Modified “I”
Another solution was to modify the way in which the teams rotated to help. If a perimeter player did help the person who was at the top of the defensive “I” dropped pick up the next perimeter player and not to the basket. The other perimeter player rotated to the top. This meant that for brief moment these two players were responsible for three perimeter players. This method worked very well against teams that stayed static on the perimeter. If a perimeter player dove to the rim when he saw the basket unprotected it caused problems.


Sag on the ball side
Instead of the traditional, deny the ball one pass away, many teams would sag the ball side wing defender. By being in the drive line it discouraged penetration. It is also much easier to help close out on the pass. You do not have to help in and then recover back out.

These short close outs to take away the three point shot are a crucial defensive skill.


Long rebounds
With the long shot comes the long rebound. This creates some interesting situations for the coach. Many teams do a great job of sealing in the help defenders on the weak side. Forwards need to be mobile and go get the rebound. Very few missed three point shots rebound by just falling of the rim. Defensive rebounders need to work to escape the paint and to push the offensive players further out to make space.

Defensively your perimeter players need to be involved in defensive rebounding. In a game with a lot of three point shots your perimeter players may have to be your leading rebounders.


The tip rebound
An over the back call was a very rare call in the tournament. Offensive rebounders have developed the technique of tipping the ball out to another offensive player. Very often the player takes off on one foot, this allows him to jump and reach higher with one hand than the defensive rebounder who is trying to secure the ball with two hands.

How are the three point shots created?
The majority of the three point shots came from the following situations:
• pick and pop –off the side or top
• pick and roll – hit the perimeter shooter when his check helped in on the roller
• pass out of the post when double team occurred
• penetration and perimeter player helped
• trailer walking into a three point as the defence flatten out to stop transition
• one on one late clock, when a switch created a mismatch or at the end of quarter.
Although a lot of teams ran stagger screens these were rarely used to shoot the three point shot. Staggers were mostly used as a way to create a mismatch or penetration.

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X's and O's by Mike MacKay - Pre-game/Post-game

At the recent Junior World Championships in Auckland, New Zealand, I was fortunate enough to watch 16 different teams from 16 different countries. I always watch for similarities and differences between the teams. I also look for skills and concepts that we can use within our development system. What teams do pre-game and post game is crucial to their success during the game.

Warm up
I was pleased to see that every country made use of fundamental movement skills in their warm up. Even the USA had a full regimen of form running, balance, coordination and dynamic stretching. In fact you could see the players improve over the two weeks. From the first exhibition scrimmage we played against the USA, to the final gold medal game there was a big difference in the quality of their warm up. One of the main reasons, a coach led the warm up that made the players pay attention to detail. At this age, if left up to the players, warm up usually becomes dunking lines and bad shots. Every team had a coach monitor warm up. Too often I find warm up is the time when coaches letdown their guard. I have heard coaches say; “I let the players figure out their own warm up. They let me know when they are ready.” What players figure out is that the coach does not put much stock in warm up. They put the same amount of attention to the detail in warm up as the coach does. Attention to detail is magnified when you only have a short warm up and limited practice time. In youth programs where you may one have one practice a week, the10-15 minute warm up is an excellent teaching time.

Coach Fabian Mackenzie, who was an assistant with our FISU games team, had the following observations about warm ups:

Before we played Japan they had a very structured dynamic warm up, but also did a few specific mental exercises during the 30 minutes before game time. After the game they also went to the crowd and bowed to their supporters and applauded them. Most teams thanked the fans in this manner.

During our game vs. Turkey, the power went out with 45 seconds left in the first half. The ref didn’t let us go to half time and the players waited. A few of our players mulled around the bench and then went out to shoot in a typical North American warm up. 2 or 3 balls with 2 or 3 people shooting. Make it, keep shooting, miss it and battle for the ball so you can shoot; like a high school halftime show. The players from Turkey did a section of their warm up which was very spirited. They did a number of exercises and then did a unique part of their dynamic warm up that had them paired up in a line. Lots of energy and they continued to play that way when the lights came back on. We, on the other hand, weren’t very energetic and we noted the difference.

I watched Russia do their warm up and it was very specific and climbed in energy as the horn approached. I noted this with a few other teams as well.

Watching the Serbian men play was a treat and a half. Partly because they were pretty to watch on the court, but mostly because of the passion displayed in the stands. At the time I noted how positive they were. Not many were calling for subs or going crazy at the refs. A few showed disappointment but not in an overly bad manner. (I asked someone who was with us that spoke Serbian to verify this for me). The songs and chants were amazing. The pride they displayed in their basketball team was incredible. The fans in the NBA are not this passionate. We went to the 9PM tip-off at 7:45 and it was filling up. By 8PM the lower bowl was pretty much full in a 20,000 seat arena. For the last six minutes or so of warm up everyone was on their feet singing along to Serbian songs and chanting. I filmed it because I couldn’t believe it. I can only hope that someday our players could experience that.

I enjoyed watching the teams in the village and in the gyms. Wherever we went there were Ipods, but I didn’t see a ton of them with other teams. I certainly didn’t see the other teams wearing them in the pre-game shooting warm up like our team and the Americans. Heck the American men didn’t eat with the rest of the village for the most part. They wanted the comforts of KFC and McDonald’s in the food court in the mall. It was so clear that we had a different mentality. The Aussies even took it further off the court as they had a team ice bath after one game.

Post game recovery
For the first time recovery was actually visible by a number of teams. In the past I would have to sneak around in the back hallways to see what the teams were doing. This year teams actually did recovery activities on the court when time permitted. Teams did some light jogging and static stretching. I was very proud of Canadian boys as they bought completely into the concept of recovery from training camp right though to the final game. They were very good at static stretching, having a snack, rehydrating and icing. This did not happen by accident. We did not suggest it, we made them do it. It is like getting in a defensive stance. No players does it by suggest it, you must demand it and make it a habit. Eventually they saw the importance of doing it. Our FISU boys’ team made use of ice baths for their legs after training sessions. You would see them putting their legs in plastic garbage containers that the trainer had filled with ice water. The key is if they continue to do it on their own when they go back to their home programs or are training on their own. In the past we saw our teams break down over the course of the two weeks. This year it was not so. Now, you never have the same amount of energy as when you started the tournament, but we were not visibly fatigued in comparison to the other teams. This has been major hurdle to overcome in male basketball. Too often the boys don’t want to do it because it does not look cool. Younger players do not get to see the pro players doing recovery so they do not know it exists.

Debriefing
This is another area in which there was a vast improvement. Teams always took the time to meet and go over the game before coming out. Now granted teams like Croatia would go to the crowd and thank them first before going to the locker room, but no team allowed the parents and fans access to the team before the team met to debrief. This is a dangerous trend I see creeping into our youth basketball. As soon as the game is over the parents want access to their child. They want to be the first one to plant the seed of how the child played and to add their analysis on the game. Some parents are making use of text messages and cell phones. As soon as the game is over the parents are text messaging the child! The first one to debrief should be the players themselves. Players need to learn how to analyze their own play without the filters from others. The coach can encourage this by asking questions. The players are allowed to think for themselves on how they played. The coach can then add anything that may have been missed.

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X's and O's by Mike MacKay - Taking the Initiative

I was very fortunate to attend the 2009 FIBA U19 World Championship, in Auckland New Zealand. Over the next couple of weeks I will share some of my observations and learnings from the event. The people of Auckland did an excellent job in hosting the event. Lubomir
Kotleba, the technical director for FIBA, said at the first technical meeting; “Many people want to play, but few want to host.” To look after the accommodations, meals and transportation of 16 teams is not an easy task.

I was very impressed with how the teams took the initiative to win games. They were the ones that took it to the opposition. They determine the tempo of the game. The players acted with confidence and this allowed them to dictate play. No one won a game hoping that the opposition would make a mistake so that they could win.

How do you gain the initiative?

Pre-game preparation
In order to play with confidence players need a good warm up that looks after the physical, mental and social/emotional aspects of the game.
Physical
– the body needs to be warm.
- Dynamic flexibility.
- Nervous system – fully excited and ready to go. At some point in the warm up you need to do something with speed. This fully excites the nervous system. Too often players walk through the warm up saving themselves for the game. It then takes them the first part of the game to be ready to play. The USA did just this in their semi-final game. They players looked like they were warming up for an NBA game. It seemed like they were trying to let on that it wasn’t a big deal. Their opponent, Croatia, on the other was both physically and mental warmed up. It didn’t hurt to have a strong contingent of fans cheering and singing for them as they warmed up. Croatia quickly went up six nothing and the USA had to call time out. It still took them another few minutes to be ready to play.
- Basketball skills – simulate the skills you are going to use. Dunking a basketball for the complete warm up does not prepare you to shoot, dribble pass or play defence.

Mental
– Establish pre-game routines that funnel down to the tip off. This helps ensure the proper focus and arousal level. I would say that the biggest weakness of players at this age is focus. They get easily distracted, losing focus at key times.

Emotional / social
- Team bonding was important. Most of the teams had some sort of cheer or chant that they did before coming on the court. Also, during the national anthem the majority of the teams locked arms to feel bonded. Many sung their anthem as the music played.

Strategies and tactics
A number of the parents from team Canada made the trip to New Zealand. Some were bold enough to rent a car. One evening at super they were commenting on the experience of driving on the left-hand side of the road. The comment was “I had to think about what I was doing. I also made a number of mistakes. Especially when I was turning on the wind shield wipers instead of the signal light.” The same is true for coaches who change the strategies and tactics of the team just before the big game. The players need to play instinctive. If your systems of play are new and do not fit the skills and concepts of the players they will be thinking and therefore bound to make some mistakes.

The pattern needs to fit the players
• Does the coach choose players to fit his/her style of play or do you build a style of play that fits your players? As in most things it is usually a combination of the two. One of the NBA scouts answered, when asked what was the main thing he looked for in a player; “Does he have a natural position.” This points out that in the NBA they look for players who can fit their style of play. This makes sense since they can choose from a pool of all the best players in the entire world. When drawing from a smaller pool of athletes you often do not have this luxury.

Taking the game to the opposition
• Imposing your style on the opponent –stay with what works; know your point of attack.
• Having a defined pattern of play so the players can focus on playing the game.
• Speed of play – The teams that could execute at a higher speed changed the game. Sometimes you could see this when teams came out of a time out. Knowing when to speed up or slow down the game shows initiative.
• Attitude of the players
o Offensive vs. defence – an attack mentality vs. playing not to lose
o Not afraid to make mistakes. If the Bill Packer or any analyst for an NCAA game had been present they would have been floored by the number of passes made by jumping in the air and the number of rebounds that were tipped and not secured with two hands. I can hear them saying; “You should not leave your feet to pass the ball.” The type of cross court passes the players were making in penetration could never be made by staying on the ground. For every ten times they through this pass they would have one mistake. They did not fear the mistake because the reward for making the pass was usually a good open shot.
• Getting your opponent to hesitate – vary your offence and defence. Mix in some pressure. A press often takes the focus from score and puts it on not turning the ball over. Coach Steve Konchalski made the comment that if you are changing defences or offences you should chart their effectiveness on the bench. This way you have immediate feedback. If the opponent scores or stops your team three consecutive times you should consider a change.
• On the court – taking care of the ball. The other team cannot score if they do not have the ball.
• Increased physical play - disrupt or bump cutters, increased ball pressure.
• Make tactical adjustments to how the opponent is playing i.e. slip screens if the defences hedges too soon, switch a screen defensively.

Concentration
Coach Dave Deviro made the comment to the players. “You have done all of the right things to make it to the top eight, are you now going to have the discipline to do the little things required to take you to the top.” In talking with the coach from Australia he made a similar comment. What separates the players and teams at this age is the ability to concentrate. The missed box out on the foul line because the player is thinking about the foul call. The missed rotation in your defence because the player is still thinking about the turnover at the offensive end. The poor close out on the shooter who nails a three because the player forgot the new sub came into the game.

Transfer of Responsibility
In order to perform well on the court you need to perform well off the court. It is not the team that has the most elaborate rules in place that does well in this regard, it is the team where the players take ownership for their actions off the court. Age group athletes are used to having things done for them. Mum and Dad cook the food, tell them when to get up, make all of their appointments etc. As these athletes move into adulthood one of the main things that happens is the transfer of responsibility to the child to become an independent self-reliant adult. The same is true in coaching. There needs to be a shift in coach dominated environment into an athlete responsible environment. This allows for a partnership to occur. At the junior level is where this really occurs. Athletes want to be independent, but many have not gained the maturity to be responsible.
• Nutrition - when presented with an all you can eat buffet do you take a meal consisting entirely meats and deserts or do they take responsibility to get some fruits and vegetables.
• Sleep – do they get the required amount of rest?
• Use of down time – do they partake in actives that enhance recovery and team building or hinder it.

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X's and O's by Mike MacKay - Teaching Close Outs With a Game Approach

Here is a little progression I have used for teaching players the concepts of closing out and protecting the basket. The players start in a group of three with one ball (Fig. 1). Two players pass the ball back and forth. When the third player shows “ten fingers” the ball is immediately passed. The player who did not make the pass must run and square up in a defensive stance to the player who now has the ball. The player with the ball does a few fakes moving back and forth. The defender mirrors this movement. Don’t worry about traveling at this point. The key is to get the player who is closing out to come under control so he/she can move. Load it by having the players move around as they are passing it back and forth.



Box Tag (Fig 2)
Each group of three has a defined safety area. Be sure to stay away from the walls or too close to another group for this one. The ball is again passed back and forth between the two players. When ‘ten fingers” is shown the ball is passed to the third player. The player who did not make the pass must try and tag the player with the ball before he/she can run through the end of the zone. The player with the ball must run through the zone the passer has his /her back too (Fig. 3).

Load this by making the player with the ball dribble through the end of the zone. The defender works to turn and contain the ball handler. Load it a second time to have the other passer become a second defender who is working on trapping or shadowing.




Now apply the concept on the court. Two players pass the ball back and forth (Fig. 4). When the “ten finger” signal is made the ball is passed. The non-passer must now close out to the player who received the pass (Fig.5). Note that the player closing out belly’s into the drive line of the player with the ball. This is to prevent the open basket (Fig. 6).





Now start the drill with a penetration pass pass. The first player drives the ball to the basket (Fig. 7). The other two must react with proper penetration principles movement. The pass is made to one of the two players. The second pass is immediately made. Note that the player receiving the second pass had to move to shorten this pass (Fig. 8). The player who made the original penetration has to close out to defend the player who received the second pass (Fig. 9). To load the drill even more:
- Have the player who made the second pass become a help defender. This overloads the offensive player.
- Have the player call for a return pass. This makes the defender work on jumping to the ball and defending cuts.





The same concept can be used in the full court. It starts with the ball being passed back and forth.



On the pass the player who did not make the pass must contain the ball (short safety) The passer becomes shadow (long safety).



Full Court Contain
The players line up on the sideline and number off, 1, 2, 3. Notice that the #1’s for each team are not directly across from each other (Fig. 12). The coach has a ball in the middle and turning pylons are set up at either end. The coach calls out a number. In this case #1. Both #1’s must sprint around the designated pylon and into the middle. The coach will pass to one of the two players. The player who does not receive the pass must contain the ball and play defence. In the second example (Fig.13) the coach called two numbers, #1 and #2. The players now play 2 on 2. You could also call all three out.




Remember, when using the games approach it is important that you the coach emphasize the key teaching points;
- Protect the basket first,
- Run at the player with the ball under control,
- Contain the ball.

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X's and O's By Mike MacKay - Improvement Stairs

The other day I was watching Christine Stapleton¡¦s daughter playing in the gym. I am always fascinated by young children and what activities catch their interest. She now has a tennis ball that has become her favorite toy. So much for those expensive stores bought ones! She loves to throw the ball, run, stop and pick it up. Now, when I say throw it is her version of throwing. A baseball coach would not pick her as a pitcher for his/her team. The same can be said for the running, stopping and the picking up. They are very rough version of what we would expect an adult to do. Her throw is more like a push with a drop of the ball. The running is a side to side waddle. The stopping is sometimes a fall down to ground. She is so engaged in this activity. She is totally oblivious to anything else that is going on. She is totally in the present. What caught my eye was how she changed direction. This was a new experience. She was facing forward and in attempting to throw the ball forward it went behind her. She did not do a pivot to change direction she started by pushing and stepping backwards. This was followed by a number of small choppy steps to turn herself around. Even at a young age she naturally understands the importance of pushing to move rather than pulling.

What does this all have to do with playing basketball? As coaches we must understand that when players are first learning a skill it will not look like the final adult version. In fact it might not be close to it at all. The key is that:
- The child¡¦s rough version will lead eventually to the adult version.
- They need to have some success.
- It should be fun so that the child will stay engaged in the activity long enough to improve.
- Give them time!

Too often we make the skill impossible for the child to achieve success. Shooting an adult sized basketball into a 10 foot hoop is a good example. If we expect a child to use the form of a Lebron James it will not happen. We need to give the child a basic form that he/she can be successful at for his/her stage of development. Also by having some success the child is more likely to stay engaged and work at the skill to improve.

I want to return to my improvement staircase. I have had a number of coaches ask me to expand on the concept. Basically it starts at the bottom of the stairs with the starting point. What is the athlete capable of doing now? Somewhere in the future is the desired outcome; this is what the athlete wants to accomplish. In between are various steps that must be taken to achieve the outcome.



The first thing that needs to happen to begin to climb the stairs to improvement is some action. This is the process or how the goal is going to be achieved. I have always gotten players when first beginning to write goal statements to use one of the following actions:
- Start / Stop ¡V This is where the risers and treads meet on the staircase. The player stops a behaviour and starts another. For example; ¡§I will start to dribble with my left hand.¡¨ ¡§I am going to stop missing workouts¡¨. We prefer that they are started in the positive but sometimes it is less confusing and fewer grey areas when stated in the negative.
- Increase / Decrease ¡V This represents the risers on the staircase. By increasing one¡¦s action it usually decreases something else. For example; ¡§I want to increase the speed at which I can dribble the ball under control with my head up.¡¨ ¡§I want to decrease the number of dribbles I use when going for a full court lay up.¡¨
- Maintain ¡V This represents the treads on the staircase. This is the time needed to complete the repetitions needed to move the skills from the conscious incomplete state to the unconscious competed state. The size of this tread will vary with the athlete and the skill being learned. The more the athlete is:
„X Engaged and having fun in the activity,
„X Focused on the proper details,
„X Matched to his/her learning style,
„X Loaded mentally, physically and emotional as required,
the quicker the athlete will move up to the next step.



The improvement staircase is not only for the physical side of the person. It also can include the mental and social emotional. We often say that the only things athletes can control in a workout are their effort and attitude. The effort reflects the physical side while attitude falls under the mental / emotional.



Finally, an athletes concentration plays a big part in their improvement. As with Christine¡¦s daughter, the more she stays in the presnt the more focused she can be on the detials that will lead her to the next step. We learn from the past, prepare or plan for the future, but we must play and train in the present.

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X's and O's by Mike MacKay - Lateral Dribble Moves

Rich Chambers our Junior Women’s coach did an excellent progression with the players at try outs on the use of the lateral dribble. It is something we have been working on with our NEDA players also. The lateral dribble is excellent for moving the defender while keeping the eyes on the basket. Once you put the defence in motion you often have an easier time beating him/her to the basket. As an old football coach who taught running backs how to avoid tackles, we often wanted the running back to move the defender laterally and then either cut back or explode the outside. The same action applies to dribbling.


Static Dribble

Key teaching points
- The eyes are up scanning the floor
- Bent athletic stance, on balance
- The ball is being absorbed into the hand as it is dribbled. This keeps the hand in contact with the ball. No slapping or carrying the ball. The shoulder joint is involved in the dribble.
- The ball is being dribbled outside the toe.

Add some rhythm to the bounce
Add some “shimmy shakes” (little stutters)
Break the rhythm by varying the height of the dribble



Mini Inside / Outs

From a static position the ball is dribbled the same as above only the hand rolls over the ball from the outside to the inside.
- Add in a step with the opposite foot and shifting of your weight as you dribble
- Do the same action only in a more front to back movement.

This is a key dribble in performing effective lateral dribble moves. You will need these when you want to fake or explode vertically.



Lateral dribbles

The player dribbles sideways rhythmically in a skip like motion. This needs to be done four different ways so that the player learns to push and pull the ball while going left and right.

The final time the player goes, he/she breaks the rhythm. Add little stops and starts. High and low dribbles. Good defenders will start to time the rhythm of the dribbler. Learn to off-speed the defender.



Lateral dribble to forward

Using a line as a guide, the player starts with the ball in the right hand and lateral dribbles to the left. When he/she reaches the line the left foot is planted over the line, a mini inside out dribble is used and the player explodes forward straight down the right side of the line.

The same dribble must be done moving left with the ball in the left hand.



The player also does it with the broken rhythm dribble.

This time the ball is in the left hand. The player lateral dribbles moving left. When the left foot crosses the line the player exaggerates the step pushes back to the right. The ball is crossed over and pushed forward up the right side of the line.

The same dribble must be done moving right with the ball in the right hand.

The player also does it with the broken rhythm dribble.



Another progression is to use a chair and two pylons. The player starts outside the width of the pylons and begins to lateral dribble. Using one of the moves he/she explodes vertically between the chair and the pylon. The shoulder should be low and brushing the chair as the player goes by. As I coach you should stand where you can see the eyes of the dribbler. Show ten fingers for a pass.

The drill is loaded by having someone stand behind the chair. The defender shows on one side or the other of the chair as the dribble reaches the middle. The dribble must explode to the open hole.

The final load is to remove the chair and have the players work on the lateral dribbles to beat the defender.




Using lateral dribbles in the game

These dribbles are used most often when the offensive players is moving with the ball to create better spacing. Often the wing player may catch the ball too deep or too high to be in a good passing position. A player at the top is moving to a wing area. As the defender is being moved laterally it sets up opportunities to explode to the basket.



2 on 2

Here is a drill we have used at NEDA that gives players an opportunity to practice their lateral dribbles. There are four lines on the baseline with four pylons set up as shown in the diagram. The coach passes the ball to one of the players in the outside line. The two outside players must circle their pylons and they become the offence. The two inside players circle their pylons and become the defence. The offence very rarely has an advantage. It is an excellent time to lateral dribble for timing and spacing. If an opening appears the ball handler attacks.

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X's and O's by Mike MacKay - Development

I had the opportunity to attend the development men’s training session the other night. Coach Leo Rautins and his staff, Sam Gibbs, Renato Pasquali and Steve Mix, are doing a wonderful job of preparing the players to play international basketball. The attention to detail is very refreshing. As part of the skill break down work coach Pasquali did some great drills to work on quickness, proper footwork, contested lay ups and recovery on defence. Also, because they were competitive and a little different they sparked the interest of the players. They are drills that can be used at the Learn to Train through Train to Win stages of our LTAD.

Sam Gibbs, who is the strength and condition coach for the Senior National team, started with a warm up game. The players played ball tag. Basically two players are “it”. These two players can only move by passing the ball back and forth. It is this way they attempt to tag the other players with the ball, while the ball is still in their hands. Once tagged that player becomes part of the group that is “it”. Eventually you work it down to one player left. The players love it! It basically works to increase the body temperature, but importantly it is FUN! This was then followed by a movement prep warm up which was a combination of form running and dynamic stretching. Sam ended the practice with a proper cool down stretch. It brought a tear to my eye. For some of these players it was the first time they were involved in a proper warm up and cool down.

Contested lay ups
The defensive player starts facing the basket somewhere inside the three point line. As a coach you can vary the distance and spots based on the player’s abilities. The offensive players lines up behind the defender with a basketball. The offensive player starts in a good triple threat stance with the ball. The offensive player drives to score a lay up. The defender plays defense when he/she detects the offensive player with his or her peripheral vision. This gives the offensive player a distinct advantage if he/she
- Makes use of proper footwork,
- Goes by the hip of the defender,
- Cuts the defender off so he/she cannot recover and force a contested shot.

The defender may start to peak. As a coach you must decide if you want to allow this to happen. It does mean the offense has to be quicker and work on a fake first.

The development men were working on using a crossover step to start their drive. When playing internationally North American players very often get called for traveling when taking the long first step.




Attack the basket
This drill was great for:
- Making a quick cut to get the ball,
- Changing direction under control with proper footwork,
- Ripping the ball hard with a cross over step,
- Driving to the basket and cutting off the defender.

The defence is working on a quick change of direction and choosing an angle in which he/she can cut off the driver or at best contest the shot without fouling.

The coach (or another player) stands at the three point line. The offensive and defensive players line up beside each other on the baseline. The defender is closest to the basket. The offensive player has a ball. The offensive player passes the ball to the coach when the coach shows “ten fingers”. The offensive player runs out and takes the ball from the coach, rips it across his/her body and attacks the basket for a score. The defender must come out and slap the hand of the coach before recovering to play defence.








In closing, I want to send out a congrats to coaches Roy Rana and Kirby Shepp for the great job they did in having our Cadet men qualify for the World Championship next summer. I was privy to seeing the team practice and know the short time frame in which they had to prepare the team to compete. As those invovled with basketball development in this country know, the success of the team also has a lot to do with those coaches in our Centres of Performance, Provincial teams, clubs and schools who have worked with these players. We are starting to see the results of an integrated system of player development that is focusing on athlete development rather than syetems of play. We leave this week to head off to the Junior World Championship in New Zealand. Lets us hope for more success. The players and coaches are work smart!

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X's and O's by Mike MacKay - Speed vs. Quickness

I recently was in Victoria training learning facilitators in the new Introduction to Competition modules of the new National Coaching Certification Program (NCCP). When doing the section on fundamental movement skills we had a great discussion about the difference between speed and quickness and the importance of each in the game of basketball. I also had a number of coaches ask about speed development after my last blog, where I shared some of the speed work Christine Stapleton has been doing with our NEDA players. There seems to be confusion around the relationship of speed vs. quickness and how this relates to training for basketball.

Let us look first at an athlete who is starting from a static position. The athlete must push off to accelerate the body. This acceleration is often what is called quickness. As the athlete continues to accelerate he/she reaches their operational speed. This is a speed at which the athlete can operate; i.e. change direction, dribble a ball etc. The changes of direction under control are referred to as agility. If the athlete keeps accelerating he/she will eventually reach their maximum speed.




Speed is described in the new NCCP reference material as the highest rate at which a movement or series of movements can be executed or the ability to cover a given distance in the shortest possible time during an all-out effort of very short duration (8 seconds or less). For basketball players we are usually dealing with very short distances and most often the acceleration phases. Basketball players very rarely use maximum speed:

- The court is not long enough for a player to reach the highest rate of movement.

- When moving at this rate the players cannot change direction quickly. It is impossible to react to another player when moving at this speed.

- It is near impossible to involve the ball when moving at this rate.

The only time a player may use maximum speed is when chasing down a player from behind in a full court sprint. If we do not use it why should we train it? This was the point one coach made to me. “Why waste my time on something I will never use in a game?” The example I use is strength training. No professional athlete is out on the court carry 100 kg weights on his/her back, but we acknowledge the fact that doing weight training improves an athlete’s performance. By training with a heavier weight the athlete is more explosive with lower weights; i.e. body weight. The same holds true for speed training. By training to improve maximum speed we push all of the nerves and muscles of our body that produce speed to greater heights. Therefore the athletes can accelerate quicker and push their operational speed to a higher level. This helps them with their quickness and agility.

Quickness is a combination of speed-strength (power), coordination and attentional control.

- Speed-Strength: The ability to perform a muscle contraction or overcome a resistance as fast as possible (normally, very brief efforts of 1-2 seconds).
- Coordination: The ability to perform movements in the correct order, and with the right timing.
- Attentional Control: The ability to pay attention to what is important in a given situation and avoid negative influences or distractions.

Obviously some athletes have superior quickness because of genetics, but like anything it can be improved with training. Genetics helps mostly in the area of power. The greater the quantity of fast twitch muscle fibers, the quicker the athlete will be. By improving strength, coordination (which involves technique and the proper sequencing of movement) proper body position and attention to the proper cues to initiate movement, any athlete can improve their quickness.

Let’s use a close out as an example. The athlete is in a static position on the help line in the middle of the key. In order to start quickly the athlete must be ready both physically and mentally.

Start


Mentally – Is the player scanning the floor for the proper visual cues that will signal when he/she should move? Is it the movement of an offensive player or is it sighting the ball in the air? Players can become quicker by anticipation. This can often come from knowing the tendencies of an opponent. If the passer starts to bring the ball up to a passing position the defender can anticipate the pass and start to close out sooner.

Physically – The ready defender is in a bent athletic stance. This is a stance from which you can push in any direction? The ability to stay in a stance is one of the biggest things you can do to become quicker. This requires strength in the legs, butt and core. It also requires endurance to be able to stay in this position over an extended period of time. If the player is out of stance he/she will have to lower or shift their centre of gravity first, before he/she can move. If off balance he/she will have to shift to a balanced position, getting their centre of gravity under control, before being able to push in the desired direction.




Operational Speed



Players need to accelerate quickly into their operational speed. Often you will hear coaches tell the athlete to coast or maintaining their speed. A relaxed and proper running form is crucial. From this speed the player can control his/her body when cutting or decelerating. The faster you can make cuts/ decelerate at speed the bigger the advantage you will have. You are considered to be more agile. This increased operational speed is one of the markers of an elite player.

Going back to the close out, the player who get to the defender quicker, but also in a good balanced stance, ready to move again will be the best. Some coaches focus on the being able to move again once you arrive. These coaches tend to teach a slower operational speed, but emphasize proper position and anticipation when arriving to defend. They may even teach sliding over running as it makes the player better able to change direction or stop. Other coaches focus on getting their as quick as possible. This involves sprinting action. These coaches are more concerned about the open three-point shot. They are not as concerned about the offensive player driving.



In a close out players never reach their maximum speed. They would never be able to stop and change direction under control at the end of the close out. In transition defence there may be a time when a defender is sprinting all out to get back and cover an open player or protect the open basket.
In summary:
- We need to train maximum speed since it improves our quickness and operational speed.
- Players need to be taught a proper balanced athlete stance.
- Strength training improves a player’s ability to be quick and agile since it allows for body control and the generation of more power.
- By improving a player attenional control we can assist him/her in anticipating movements and thereby making him/her quicker.

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X's and O's by Mike MacKay - Christine Stapleton

Over the last five years I have had the distinct pleasure of working closely with Coach Christine Stapleton. This past week was the last time she will be coaching for awhile. She is moving on to a job with the University of Waterloo, where she will be helping coaches instead of coaching athletes. She has been a great role model for many young women and has done an excellent job in preparing them for a future in basketball and life. Over the time I have known here I have learned a lot from Christine. As a tribute to here I thought I would share one of her greatest strengths as a coach, her ability to train through the energy systems and not the basketball systems.

These last few weeks the players in our NEDA program have been getting prepared for the try outs with their respective national teams. Coach Stapleton has done an outstanding job in preparing these athletes. Christine understands that peaking is more about the energy systems, than the basketball systems. Too often coaches make the assumption that to be ready means spending extra time on ensuring that the players have their tactics and strategies down pat. I am not saying that this is not important, but I have seen more players fail at try outs and big games from the lack of proper conditioning than from not knowing some pattern of a play. What good is it to know your plays if you are fatigued after the first couple of trips up and down the floor? There is a high positive correlation between fatigue, anxiety and concentration. When focusing on fitness Christine has also been able to talk to the players about the mental side of the game. What better way to talk about pushing through adversity than after training your anaerobic lactate system. Your body is full of lactic acid and your lungs are screaming for air. You cannot achieve this sensation running your plays 5 on 0. Now, I am not talking about running suicides at the end of practice. I am talking about integrating the concept of training the energy systems throughout the entire practice.

What follows is an example of a speed practice that Christine has done with the players. We have seen the results of this type of training as the players are able to now apply the speed into the basketball part of the game. This would never have happened without this concentrated training.

Practice starts with some activity to raise the body temperature. Christine often uses hurdles or an agility ladder to accomplish task. There are lots of websites that can explain these routines to you. Christine has the players do a layup after going through the hurdles or ladder. With younger players I suggest you use some fun low organized game. Dribble tag or twenty passes are good examples.

After the players have warmed their bodies they move into the movement prep work. This is a series of dynamic stretches and balances. These build core strength, balance and dynamic flexibility in a number of planes. We always finish the warm with speed. This ensures that the muscles and nervous system are completely firing on all cylinders.

Arm Action
Have the players sit on the ground. Work on pulling the elbows back as they run. The elbows should stay bent at 90°. When pulling back the elbow stays high and the hand comes through to the hip. On the forward movement the hand should come to head height while the elbow stays bent. Too many player run like they are beating a drum. The arms go up and down in front of the body. For the legs to move faster the arms must work.



Fall into sprint
Players need to learn to feel the lean need to accelerate when sprinting. One way to practice is by having the players stand straight. Start to bend forward from the ankles. When the body falls over they will know when it is time to put the legs out to run. The eyes should be scanning to gradually look up down the floor. Use your arms also.

We work on starting from various positions. This helps the athletes’ learn how to generate speed in many different ways. It is also not as boring!



• Sitting straight ahead with the legs straight.
• Lying down on the stomach (can also go from lying on the back)
• Sitting with knees back facing backward.



• Starting in a defensive stance facing sideways. The player can start with a crossover step, hip turn or an open step pivot with the lead foot. Experiment!
• Jump with back to the court, like getting a rebound. Land and sprint. They can land and then turn or turn in the air and land facing up court.



• Power hops. Bring the knees to the chest. Do these three times, land and sprint. Hop quietly! Have them face different directions.


Speed not endurance

When we are doing these drills we begin by working on the first three strides. We want the players to learn to explode. We emphasize acceleration to half, carry your speed to the three point line at the far end and then coast to a stop. It is important to give the players rest when working on speed. If it takes 5 seconds to go the length of the floor they need about 15 seconds rest (1/3 work to rest ratio). Put them in a group of four is one way to do this, you work once, rest three times. After doing a set, usually about 5-10 sprints they will need a about a two minute rest before you start another set. Shoot foul shots for an active rest.



Lee Taft, of Basketball Speed fame is a big fan of using low energy activities to develop skills during the rest period between sets. Here is a list he recently suggested from his electronic news letter:

1. Tennis ball catches and tosses with non dominant hand. Also can be while balancing on one foot.

2. Hand slaps- one partner places his or her hands on top of the partner’s palms. The bottom partner tries to slap the top of the hands of the partner before they can pull away

3. Ball drop and snag- one partner holds a ball in the middle of a partners hands that are at chest level. When the ball is dropped the second partner must catch it with one hand before it hits the ground.

4. Partner balance challenges- partners face each other and try to knock the other off balance by pushing against or giving with the hands. Great for teaching balance and control.

With the NEDA girls we have also done foul shooting as a great way to actively recover when resting between sets.

Speed in drills

We now want to see the speed we have worked on carry over into our basketball skills. One drill we like to do is Korean passing into small space 2 -1. The players line up as shown in the diagram. The ball starts in the corner. The player starts with a high shoulder football pass. This player now uses speed to sprint to the centre circle. The middle player makes a pass to the player at half and sprints to the foul line to play defense. The player at half passes to the player who sprinted to centre. This player now sprints to the wing after passing.

Note: The speed is not only in the running, it is in the passes. The pass to the player at half should be made as he /she turns.



The next most important pass is the return pass back to the last passer. We do not want a dribble here; we want a quick crisp pass at speed.

We time the players on how long it takes to score. They should be able to do it under 6 seconds. Remember these players are getting ready for try outs at a high level. You must judge where your players are in their development.

The defender is trying to slow the offence down by stunting into the drive lines.



The second drill we do is partner passing to 1 on 1. Two players partner pass while running at speed. When the player in the corner shows “ten fingers” the player who has the ball passes ahead. This player continues at speed getting a return pass for a layup. The other partner sprints to retrieve the ball off the make or miss.



The ball is passed to the player stationed out of bounds at the foul line extended, then to the player at centre and finally to the player at the far foul line extended. The player who shot the ball must sprint back to guard this player 1 on 1.

This is a great drill because it makes players use speed in running and passing and transition defense. The player must also come under control when he/she gets there.




By constructing this kind of training session one can very quickly see the improvement in the player’s use of speed over a very short period of time. As their skill improves their confidence also increases. What better way to go into a try out than being fit, confident and fast.

Thanks Christine and all the best.

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X's and O's by Mike MacKay - Sweat Equity

When I was growing up my favorite sports was baseball. It was and still is a great sport for youngsters. You learn many fundamental skills that can be easily transferred to other sports. Hand eye coordination is paramount. I also like the fact that you have time to think ahead. While waiting for the ball you could plan your next move; “If the ball is hit to me on the ground I will throw to first, if it is in the air I will throw it home”. Sports that flow often are too fast for younger players to plan their actions. You also learned that it was ok to make a mistake. You got another chance. You had three strikes get a hit. If you messed up the first time you still got another chance to bat later on. I also loved the fact that I could play by myself or with another person. One of my favorite pass times was to throw the ball up on the roof and catching it as it rolled off. It was challenge not to throw it too hard so that it would roll off the other side. My father got a load of gravel for the driveway and I proceeded to hit the rocks with my old bat. Needless to say I often got myself in trouble when some of the rocks would go astray.

The one disappointment I had was my glove. I had an older cousin who handed down his old glove. I am sure he had gotten it from a friend of Babe Ruth. It was a three fingered glove that looked more like a hockey goalie’s glove than a baseball glove. It was an embarrassment as far as I was concerned. I would try to lose it by leaving it at the ball field. I hoped my father would by me a new glove. This never worked as he would just tell me to go back to the ball field and look for it. It was always there because no one would steal it. When we would go to town on Friday night, often we would go by the Dartmouth Sports store. Inside was the glove of my dreams. It was a Cooper Weeks glove that fit my hand perfectly. The cost was $14.95. On a 25¢ a week allowance I was never going to be able to afford it. Actually, it would have taken me over a year of saving, but you could not ask a young boy to go a whole year with out buying some comic books and baseball cards.

That summer we were going to spend some time at my grandmothers. My father suggested I could earn some money picking strawberries for my uncle. Here was my chance to earn the money to buy the glove. The problem was picking strawberries was hard work. We were paid 5¢ a box. It was hot, backbreaking work. I also tended to use the pick one, eat two picking method. This meant it took me longer than most to fill my box. The other problem was the idea of delayed gratification. With a little pocket money in hand it was very tempting to spend it. My uncle would take us to town at the end of the day to sell his berries. The thought of a cold pop and ice cream was very tempting. Somehow I persevered and saved the money. When we got back to home I could not wait to buy the glove. It was one of the happiest days of my life when we went to the store and bought the glove. I would spend hours oiling the glove, (that was what you had to do back then to break in a glove). I would wrap it with a ball over night forming the pocket. I would sit with a ball and pound it into the glove making sure the pocket was just right. I would not let anyone else use the glove. That glove served me for many a year. When I moved to Truro I was often made fun of because of the small glove that I used. They played softball in Truro while I grew up playing baseball. I continued to use it until one game the webbing in the pocket exploded on a line drive. It was time to move on. I could not part with that glove. In fact I still have it today. One of the only times in my life when I was upset with my mother was when she loaned the old glove to a cousin who had signed up to play ladies business league softball. My mother said I never used the glove and could not understand why I would be upset. It reminded me of my childhood, but more importantly it reminded me of the sweat equity I invested into the glove. I worked long, hot hours to earn that glove. I did nothing to earn my old glove; therefore I mistreated it and took it for granted. Not so with the new glove.

I relate this concept of investment in sport to youth sport today. With many children no investment is made into the sport. It is like my old glove. They do not treat it with respect because they have not had to work for it. They show up when they want, often missing practices or not investing in their own training. The other investment is of a monetary value. Parents sign their children up to play on a club. Many junior high and middle schools have a no cut policy. Parents feel that since their tax dollar supports the school the child has the right to play. With this monetary investment comes the expectation of playing time. Players and parents assume that they are entitled to playing time. The parents want the outcome without the process. I also see players who feel that since they become a year older they are entitled to now be the best player on the team the next year. The amount of work put into the sport is not important in their eyes.

No sweat equity was invested into the sport. If players just want to play the games this is ok. That was what intramurals were for; we never practiced for these games. We played for the sheer fun of it. The problem is when parents and players expect they will improve as players and move on to an elite level with this type of investment.

I do not remember playing on teams where you showed up and got to play. This only occurred in intramurals at lunch time. We had to make the team and we had to practice. Games were a rare occurrence. With the plethora of games played today players often do not learn the concepts of delayed gratification and perseverance through the sport. If we are going to use sport to teach life lessons, we need some sweat equity involved. Just because you are on a team does not mean you will improve, You have to make the investment with sweat.



I often use this diagram above to explain to athletes the concept of sweat equity. The athletes start with a current skill set. This is their starting point. The athletes have an outcome in mind; it might be a team goal like winning the championship or an individual performance goal like becoming a better dribbler. Both of these are a type of outcome goal. What we need to get the athletes to focus on is the process that will lead them to the goal. These are the tiny steps the athletes take each day to move one step closer to the outcome. These processes or steps involve the athletes attitude and or effort since is the only thing within their control. It requires work because you must challenge yourself to move out of your comfort zone to the next level. When an athlete decides to skip a day all it does is make the effort required the next day a little bigger. If you take too much time off you eventually get to the point where you run out of time or the steps needed to reach the outcome are too big.

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X's and O's by Mike MacKay - Who Designed Our Sport System?

For the last five years I have been faced with looking at the Canadian sport system, in particular basketball. Because of the Canadian Sport for Life (LTAD) initiative all sports have been put under the microscope. We have had to ask ourselves, what is the purpose of our sport? In general, sport can have different goals:

o Provide opportunities to compete at varying levels of competition;
o Provide an avenue in which people can be active for life;
o Provide opportunities for development – physically, mentally, and socially/emotionally.

Strides have been made in achieving these goals, but the configuration of our competitions continues to cause major problem for the entire system. If we do not change our competition structure, the sport of basketball will never be able to achieve the three goals through planned success. Success will be sporadic and in spite of the system.

Currently the statistics support the fact that our current system is not achieving the above goals:

o We have a large enough number of players playing basketball, but we have yet to have a significant number be able to play at the highest level. Statically, with the basketball population we have playing the game (compared to other countries and cities in the USA) and the amount of resources, time and effort we devote to the game; more players should be making it to the top. Something must be preventing this from happening? I would suggest that our lack of a comprehensive development system and the number of games we play has a lot to do with this fact.
o More children are playing organized basketball then at any other time in the history of the sport, yet childhood, adolescent and adult obesity is at its greatest level. Obviously we are not active enough.

How did we get where we are today? It was not by designed. No one person sat down and came up with the plan. No one person or organization is to blame. A lack of system alignment and integration has allowed our sport to morph into its present form.

Red dot
Stare at a red dot on a blank piece of paper for thirty seconds. Immediately after doing this look at a white wall. What do you see? You will still see the red dot. Even though it is no longer there, subconsciously we cannot let it go. This is the same for most of us when we are faced with new or different ideas. Since we are used to seeing things from our own perspective when presented with another view point the red dot impacts our acceptance. If we are going to work together to fix the competitive basketball system we have to stop seeing the red dot of how we currently do things. We need to look at things with a clear and open mind. This way when the right idea presents itself we recognize it. Listen to understand, not to defend.

For now I want to look at the system of competition for our developmental players in the Train to Train (T2T) stage (junior high/midget) and Train to Compete (T2C) stage (high school/juvenile).

How many legs does the dog have?
If we call the tail a leg, how many legs does the dog have?

FOUR!
Calling a tail a leg doesn’t make it a leg.


Very often when we get into discussions about competition and youth basketball people will call a tail a leg. We must be clear on our definitions:
o Elite sport – this means when we have cut players from participation. We usually travel to play other elite teams outside of our immediate area.
o Elite developmental sport – The major goal is to improve the player for the next stage. Competition is used as a test to see where players are in their developmental pathway. The coach ensures that the players have a season that includes: general prep, specific prep, pre-competitive, competitive, transitional and an off-season. There is a premium placed on training the physical, mental, social/emotional and technical tactical skills of the player. They are more practices than games.


Note:
• General prep – minimum of four to five weeks, with no games. The focus is on building the capacity to train. This can occur by playing another sport such as soccer or cross country running. High volume, low intensity.
• Specific prep – minimum of two to three weeks with no games. Building the power of the energy systems. The intensity is increased.
• Pre- competitive – exhibition season – the goals is to test out the systems of play and to gauge all players abilities, not just the starting five.
• Competitive – league games. This can not go on indefinitely. Players will break down.
• Transition – one week where we move from the competitive season to the off- season.
• Off season – should include minimum of three weeks active rest. The players need to be active. It may be in another sport or it can be working on specific deficiencies in his/her game.

Recreational sport
The goal is to be active. The player takes his/her own initiative in setting up the opportunity to play; i.e. shooting hoops in the backyard.
Competitive Recreation – This has a little more structure. No one is cut from participation. The structure and commitment levels are at a reduced level.
Elite Competitive Recreational sport – Players are cut. The premium is on playing games. The number of practices do not allow for development, usually a one practice a week with competition during the week or on the weekend. If the ratio of practices to games drops below 3/1 you are not even maintaining what the players already have. The majority of organized basketball in this country falls under this definition.

I will argue that they are very few elite developmental basketball programs being run at the T2T and T2C stages. The reason is because the athletes are playing on too many different programs; therefore the athletes do not have the proper time to go through a general prep, specific prep, pre-competitive, competitive, transitional and off season.

My favorite Pizza
My favorite pizza was a pepperoni pizza made by Louie’s Pizza in Wolfville, Nova Scotia (The Wheel in Antigonish was a close second). One of the students on my floor in Crowell Tower, at Acadia University, used to order one every night at around 11:00 PM. It always took 50 minutes to make. We all loved this pizza! What would happen if we could have pizza everyday for breakfast, lunch and supper?

Eventually:
• You would grow tired of this menu choice.
• You would become lethargic and your immune system would be less effective.
• Your performance would go down because of the lack proper nutrients and poor psychological readiness.
This same analogy holds true for children in sport. We are feeding them too much pizza, which is the number of games they are playing. Especially, if we expect the players to peak for every single game. Because very few athletes play for the same coach for the entire year (With our elite players they may play on four or five different teams over the course of a year) each individual coach does not see the accumulative effect of the number of games. Each coach just keeps feeding the players more pizza. As a result:
• They get bored
• Their bodies start to break down (overuse, injuries, do not heal from old injuries)
• Missing some essential nutrients – skills, rest, and recovery.
I have heard many coaches argue that the best way to get in shape and learn is by playing the game. I will agree if it is pick up, but not an official game with referees and a coach who’s only goal is trying to win.
• You do not develop a new skill within a game. In a 40 minute game how many times do you get to shoot the ball? What if your coach does not allow you to dribble? When does this skill develop? What if you are unfortunate enough not to be a starter, maybe you are a late maturing athlete and are not strong enough yet. Your coach says you will learn from watching. What does this do to your fitness level? Your confidence? Your love of the game? Will you be ready when your time comes?
• Without proper training you do not maintain your existing skills. They break down.
• It is impossible to properly overload the body and developed the movement patterns, strength, flexibility and energy systems of all players on your team by playing only organized games. You cannot control the volume and intensity of the work outs.
• You do not get to experiment in a new position and learn from mistakes if the goal is for the team to win.
• If you took the hours you spent in the car driving to the game and used it to work on developing your skills or fitness, you would be far better off in the future.
Children want to play, just as children love to eat pizza. We as caring adults are smart enough to realize that too much of a good thing is bad for you. We must look out for and teach children what the right amount of play is for them. We want them to enjoy pizza for the rest of their lives.


Catch the cheat
Many of the rules of competition that are in place, whether it be at the school level or club level, were put there to catch someone or a team that was perceived to have gotten an unfair advantage. The impact of the rule often had an impact dramatically different than what was anticipated. In Nova Scotia in the early 1990’s it was thought that too many graduates where coming back for an extra year and taking away the opportunity for younger players to play. The championship teams, especially in boys’ basketball and football were dominated with returning players. No team won a championship without this phenomenon. The new rule stated that graduating players could not play. This rule was passed in the spring. That June there was a huge influx of athletes failing grade 12 English. The students had figured it out. Fail grade twelve and you get to play. It had no impact on the number of returning players. All it did was promote failure.

Many school districts also have seasons of play. This was often brought in to prevent overzealous coaches from dominating the athletes and facilities within a school. The impact in many provinces has meant a loss of developmental sport. When the seasons were shortened coaches did not cut down on the number of games, they removed training. Very often teams play a game on the first day of the season.

Seasons of play was also designed to promote a well rounded student athlete. I agree with this idea, but I am not sure mediocre well roundedness is a good thing. Average means the best of the worst and the worst of the best. In a school of 100 students a core of 10 boys and girls can make up the core of all sports if the school follows the seasons of play. This means that 10% of the student population is involved. The top athletes will move seamlessly from one sport to the other. If we now move to a school of 1000, seasons of play means that the top 10 can still dominate. This is only 1% of the student population. What does this do for participation and creating a well rounded student athlete? I would also argue that no one is getting to experience true development. Since the students jump form one sport to the other in artificially shortened seasons the players never get a chance to do the various preparation phases. All they do is compete. My argument has always been that larger schools should be able to enter more than one team, if the coaches and facilities can be found. This was rarely allowed to happen because the play- off structure was set up for one school, one team. The argument was that you were taking away opportunities from other schools to win. I was looking at it from purely participation and giving more students a meaningful sport experience.

The other problem is when the financial models that are in place dictate competition. We need look no further than Sport Canada. To receive excellences funding you must be able to win medals. It forces sport to focus on the outcome and not the process. Too often this same model is repeated by the provincial sport organizations. I call this the consumer model of sport. Everyone is willing to play for competition, but no one wants to give money for development. At a local level I could always find sponsors for tournaments. I could never find someone to sponsor my practices. Parents who pay registration fees want to see a return on the investment. This means playing time in games.


High Performance Car
Many organizations feel they have invested in the development of the athletes and they now need that athlete to pay back by playing in the games. This is true, but we must be careful in what we are asking. If you invest in a high performance car you expect it to perform. If you drive it into the ground by going at high speeds all the time and never do any maintenance you are taking a huge gamble as to when it will break down. It might be at the moment when you want it to perform at its’ peak. Before you bought the car you would want to know what the previous owner had done. I suspect you would inspect the car and fix any problems.

The same is true with the athletes under our charge. They can perform at a high level, but not with out proper care and maintenance. You must be aware of what the previous coach had done with the athlete. You cannot look at your program in isolation. It pains me to think of the number of elite basketball players in this country who have suffered serious injuries because coaches will not consider what the athlete had done with a previous coach or program. This summer we have Canada Games being played in late August.

For most of these players they will have been playing basketball without a significant break for up to three years. (Two years of U15, one year of U17). If their high school or club coaches refuse to honor this fact we will have a significant number of tired athletes moving into the new school year.


P+I+T=PE (P+I+T+PE)E =NP
Planning + Implementation of the plan + Training = Performance
(Planning + Implementation of the plan + Training + Performance) Evaluation = the new plan for next year.
Imagine you have three coaches with 10 years of coaching under their belt.
• Coach #1 = has one year of experience repeated ten times. Does the same thing over an over.
• Coach #2 – has ten different experiences – does what ever is new and hot that year.
• Coach #3 – has tens years of experience by reflective and evaluating all facets of the program. This coach has adapted ideas from other coaches, sports and also his/her own learning’s. We consider his coach a life long learner. He/she has adapted the plan each and every year.
We cannot just keep repeating what we have done in the past. We must ensure that what is effective is maintained, but implement any good ideas when presented.


Getting lost
When driving my car and I get lost, which often happens in Toronto, I have had to learn the hard way that you will not solve the problem by continuing to drive. When faced with this situation the first thing to do is stop making a bad decision. Stop the car! Eventually I will solve the problem by reading my map or asking for directions. The same is true with our competitive structure. I do not think any one person has the right answer. We are all lost, but we can all stop making bad decisions. Stop playing so many games without considering the accumulative effect on the athletes! Eventually we will find the map that will lead us to the chosen destination. Let us hope that we are not too far away and we still have enough athletes able to play when that time comes.

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X's and O's by Mike MacKay - Mental Toughness Part II

This past weekend was one of the best examples of why mental toughness is so important in sport. On Easter Sunday I took time out to watch two major sporting events, the Masters and the men’s World Curling Championship.

What happened down the stretch of each event solidified for me the importance of mental training. In both sports you get close up cameras of the player’s expressions, before, during and after a shot. With today’s technology we also get to listen in on a lot of the players talk. In case you did not see either event , here is a brief recap.

The Masters
Kenny Perry, who is 49 years old, was leading the tournament going into # 17. He had a bogey free round up to that point and a two stoke lead. All he had to do was finish, at worst 1 over par, and he becomes the oldest player to ever win the Masters. He proceeded to bogey the next two holes. The change in his demeanor was astonishing. No one else really stepped up to win the tournament it was more a comedy of errors. The tournament finished with three players tied at the end of regulation.

Angel Cabrera, from Argentina, now stood on the first tee of the first play-off hole. He hit his worst tee shot of the entire tournament; a slice into the trees. It reminded me of a shot that I would hit when the pressure is on. The other two players found the fairway. His next shot out of the trees Cabrera, benefited from a fortunate bounce off a tree while trying to hit the green. He was now hitting his third shot form roughly the same spot as the other two players were hitting their second shots. He collected himself and hit a great shot on the green and made the putt for an extraordinary par. In the next play-off hole he won the hole outright and with it the green jacket.

Play in the moment
It is so hard in major events like this to stay focused on the task at hand. Our mind becomes filled with all of the wrong thoughts. We magnify mistakes and start thinking about the outcome. Simple skills that we execute everyday with precision become flawed.

On #18 all Kenny Perry needed to do was hit his 8 iron on to the green and two putt for par to win the tournament. His 8 iron had been his go to club all tournament. It was his favorite club to hit. What did he do, pulled it into a spot that was next to impossible to get up and down from in two. If he hit that shot 100 times on the practice range he would make 100 of them.

All of the top golfers have mental coaches. Very often one of the main roles of the caddy is to assist them in making positive self-statements and to visualize a positive result. You could hear theses discussions going on constantly during the tournament. Even with all of this knowledge and planning of what it takes to be mentally tough it is so easy to succumb to the pressure and allow our negative thoughts and body language to take over.

Cabrera was an excellent example of how you are never out of it if you can let go of your past mistakes and stay in the present. If you can maintain your focus at the most important times amazing things can happen. I am sure after hitting his two terrible shots on the first play-off hole it was easy to say it is over. He somehow found a way to regain his focus and make two incredible shots at the right time.

Sometimes you just have to grind it out to be in contention to win. You are never out of it, if you can rebound and play in the moment, often all it takes is one great shot or play.


World Curling Championship
In the World Curling final Kevin Martin of Canada had a two rock lead going into the ninth end. He proceeded to give up two points to Scotland to allow a tie heading home in the tenth end. He still had last rock which is a huge advantage.

With only three rocks left to play, Canada was had shot stone, but Scotland had the angles for a raise. After a lengthy discussion, Martin decided to throw his stone through the house. His logic was that he didn’t think there were any shot that he could make that would give him the advantage, or inhibit Scotland’s chances. I have never seen this before. Especially in last end of the world championships.

It would be similar in basketball to your team having the ball with 40 seconds on the clock and a one point lead. Coming out of the time out, you the coach, decide to have your team roll the ball out of bounds. You want to ensure you have the last possession of the game. Your reasoning is that you want to force the other team to make a play. You will then decide what to do on your last possession based on the result of what your opponent did.

Kevin Martin has vast more experience at curling then I have or will, but I find it a bizarre call. As a football coach I used to hate when my defensive coordinator would go into his prevent defence. All it every seemed to do was prevent us from winning. To win you need to make plays. Hoping that the other players will make mistakes and mess up is not a good strategy.

Great players make great plays under pressure. Needless to say Scotland made a great shot and left Kevin Martin with a near impossible shot to win. His team’s body language and bearing on this shot was entirely different than they were throughout the entire tournament. A steal of one by Scotland gave them the championship.

These are the mental skills that I have used with athletes over the years I have coached.

The Mental Skills
1. Composure (Relaxation / Arousal level)
o How to relax – centered breathing, imagery
o Dealing with stress
o Knowing the proper arousal level at which to compete
o Emotional control

2. Concentration - time and place
o Visualization – knowing which TV camera to watch - the five senses (smell, sight, hearing, touch, taste), imagination (past or present), self talk (positive or negative)
o Dealing with distractions / adversity

3. Confidence
o Self talk - Positive vs. negative talk
o Body language
o Build confidence through skill work
o Communication

4. Commitment
o Motivation
o Love of the game
o Willingness to train
o Routines – practice / training
o Pre game
o Games
o Down time
o Other areas of their lives

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X's and O's by Mike MacKay - Renovations - April 8, 2009

One of my favorite shows to watch on HGTV is Holmes on Homes. The basic premise behind the show is the same every week. A home owner has a dream of building a new part, making an improvement or upgrading an already existing piece of their home. A contractor is hired to do the job. Shortly there after, the dream comes crashing down. The workmanship was either shoddy; the project ran over budget or after a short period of time problems started to appear. This is when Mike Holmes comes into the seen.

His job is to do it right and make the dream come true. They then proceed to tear apart the part of the home needed to be repaired. Finally they show the care and dedication to detail that is required to do the job right. All of the workers take pride in gong the extra mile to make sure it is a quality job. At some point in the show he has a rant. The message is always the same; he just says it in different ways. If you have a dream home in mind here are some things to consider when doing renovations:

Start with the dream. Have a picture of what you want it to look like.

You have to analyze the situation – look behind the walls under the tiles, you can’t just look at the exterior to solve the problem.

It starts with the foundation; you cannot build on top of something that will not support it.

It takes time, hard work and dedication to the small details.

If you don’t know how to do it yourself find someone who does.

Ask question

Build dreams
Of course by now you know I am going to relate this to coaching. This is the time of year for many athletes to renovate their game for the next season. It starts with a dream or the desire to become a better player. They need to have a vision of what they are capable of becoming in the future. This is why I always liked to take players to watch games or have them over to watch games on TV. Simple statements like; “You know if you worked at your shot you could be like… “


Analyze the Situation
Players are looking to build on their existing game or improve some details of what they already have. For this reason I get many coaches who ask me to send them an off-season workout for their athletes. I am very hesitant to do this for a number of reasons:

What are the players involved in besides basketball: school. Provincial teams, camps, other sports, other activities? These need to be considered when planning a program.

Individual vs. team approach – do they plan to work out on their own, do they have a training partner or are all 12 players going to train at the same time (in my experience this rarely works)?

What injuries did they have during the season? Where are they in their rehab?

What are the results of a fitness test? Has a kinetic chain assessment been done? This is testing basic movement pattern such as squats and lunges. Very often the same deficiency that were present when the athlete was 12 years old is still present when the athlete turns 18 if it has not been addressed. For example; the inability to get low in stance is because of hip, hamstring, or calf inflexibility.

What equipment, space, time does the player have available?

When or what is the athlete peaking for?

What about the mental, social emotional side of the game? Has an assessment been done in these areas?

And most important of all, is the athlete motivated to work on his/her game. We are deceiving ourselves if we think that by handing out an elaborate off-season workout plan our players get better. All self improvement starts with self-awareness. The athlete has to be aware of what it is he/she is trying to improve. The next step is for the athlete to take responsibility for this improvement. They have to work the plan.

It is recommended that you begin with some form of self-assessment sheet. Let the athletes rate themselves on how well they are doing. Here is example for defensive fundamentals from Dave Malowski from Manitoba.

Rating Scale:
1 – Below Average Skill Level
2 – Average Skill Level
3 – Above Average Skill Level
4 - Highest Level in the Province


DEFENSIVE FUNDAMENTALS
Rating Comments
1. Stance / Footwork _____
2. Closeouts _____
3. Defending the Ball Handler _____
4. Defensive Rotation/Jump to Ball _____
5. Rebounding Contact _____
Ball Pursuit _____
6. Transition Defense _____
7. Communication on Defense _____

It is best to meet with the players after to discuss their rating. Ask questions or look for specific examples to make the athlete dig deep. Remember we need to look under the walls and floors to see what is really going on. The next step is for the athletes to choose which areas they are going to maintain or develop. From this an action plan for workouts can be developed. The key is to get a “commitment to the commitment”. It is easy to say all of the wonderful things we are going to do to improve. The important step is keeping that commitment. Your job is to keep the athlete to his/her commitment.

It Starts With the Foundation
If you build something on top of a weak foundation eventually the structure will fail. What is true for a house holds true for a player. Giving a player a workout that involves jumping up and down with a weighted vest is asking for disaster if the player has poor jumping form (the knees bend in on landing). All you are doing is speeding up the time before the major injury. The same is true for basketball skills. If the player has poor shot form and spends hours working on a poor shot this does not improve their ability to shoot in a game.

It Takes Time, Hard Work and Dedication to the Small Details
I have always used the idea with my players that it takes 21 days to change a habit. If the truth be known we are not changing a habit we are replacing one with another. This again emphasizes the need for awareness. In working with a player on improving shot form I will often ask the player what the detail is that they are focusing on. They should be able to describe it in detail. For example:

Player: “I want to maintain a low, loaded stance when I catch the ball so I can explode into my shot.”

Coach: “I want you to rate your self after each shot on how well you did on staying low and loaded.”

What does this do? To be a great athlete you need to take a skill to the unconscious compete stage. This means that you do not have to think about it. In order to improve we need to become conscious of our actions (Awareness). By constantly rating the action the player is now in the conscious competent stage of learning. Over time the player will drift back into the unconscious competent stage with out even knowing it, but the skill will have improved.

As coaches we need to be careful of evaluative comments when working on skill improvement. So often we use words like good and bad when working with athletes. For example: The athlete is working on shooting. After the shot the coach says; “That was bad.” The athlete must now decipher what this means. What exactly was bad about the shot? More importantly can the athlete detect for him/her self what made it bad? If the athlete is having troubles with awareness it is better if the coach gives a description of what happened to the athlete. Let’s return to the athlete shooting. After each shot the coach gives a simple cue; “low or high”. Overtime the athlete will start to be able to feel the difference. Notice that you are not evaluating the shot.

If you don’t know how to do it yourself find someone who does.
The off-season is a great time to have other people work with your athletes. A fresh face or hearing something said a different way is always good. This can really help with motivation. If there is an area you are weak at in bring in someone who can teach both you and your players. Showing that you are still learning is important for your players to see. It makes it easier for them to see why they must continue to improve.

Ask Questions – Coach like your coaching bobsled
Don Watt, with the Coaching Association of Canada, shared with me this story from when he went out to evaluate a bobsled coach. They decided to stand at the second turn of the run. It is physically impossible to find one spot, where you can see the whole run. When the bobsled went by all they did was turn their head as it sped by at over 100 km/hour. When they final caught up with the athlete after the race the coach used questions. “How did you set up for turn number one?” “How was your line when you exited turn two?” “Describe for me the start?” Can you imagine the coach trying to tell the athletes what to do? “You should have leaned more to the right when you were in turn two?” It is impossible to see what is happening even when you see the sled go by. I would argue that it is impossible for basketball coaches to see all that is happening on the basketball court. Even when watching an athlete shoot in a training session you need to spend a lot of time to watch the shot. You need to look at the shot from a variety of angles. You then need to ask questions. This helps improve the athlete’s awareness and your awareness of the athlete’s awareness.

Good luck with your renovations!

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X's and O's by Mike MacKay - Good Strategy? - March 18, 2009

As Jim Thompson clearly states in his book the "Double Goal Coach¹" there are two purposes of youth sport. One is to win games and the second is to teach children life lessons through the sport. The key is to know which one is the most important. In too many situations adults have applied their definition of winning or competition to youth sport. Children do not see competition the same as adults. Having fun is the number one reason children play sports. Striving to win on the scoreboard ranked 11th².

Youth sport should be child centered. The most important thing is the well being and safety of the children. Parents of children in youth sport expect a coach to build self-esteem, make it fun and to teach skills to their child³. This is the youth coach’s most important role. When decisions are being made about youth sport this basic premise must always be at the forefront. “Is this what is best for the child?” is the question that should always be asked. It should not be based on what is easier for adults or to allow a select group of adults to satisfy their own needs.

Why do we make rules? Rules are to regulate human relationships. If we would all follow the golden rule, “do unto other as you would have others do unto you” we would probably need fewer rules. When rules are made in sport it is to allow the competition to take place in a fair and meaningful way. If we are to teach children lessons through sport it is important that everyone involved in a competition fully understand why the rules are there. It is not for people to make an arbitrary decision that the rule does not apply to them or that it is a stupid rule therefore I will not follow it. By making decisions like this, one is showing the utmost lack of respect for the other people involved in the game. If one disagrees with a rule there are proper channels to go through in order to change them. Coaches who like to play on the edges of the rules show an equal lack of respect. What lessons are being taught to athletes when a coach spends an excessive amount of time devising strategies that take advantage of loopholes or shades of grey in a rule? Do they not know that athletes see through their attempts to justify this as great coaching strategy? Again these coaches have applied a different value to the competition then the children have.

Let’s use a hockey example. Heading into the championship game Coach A, who considers himself the dean of youth hockey coaches because of the number of championships he has won over the years, realizes he must devise a strategy to stop Team B. Team B has steadily improved all year. Coach B is known as someone who prides herself on the ability to teach skills and prepare her players for the next level. She also focuses on developing the players to be well rounded people. Each player plays every position at some time during the year. She does not specialize by position at this age because she knows from coaching courses she has taken that we cannot determine a child’s future size and abilities at such a young age. In the practice leading up to the championship game Coach A spent the whole hour working on his strategy. He drilled the children in all variation of his strategy. He went to bed that night confident he had discovered the secret that would bring success in the championship game. The next day is one that Coach A will never forget. His team wins the game by the incredible score of 1 – 0 even though his team was out shot 50 – 4. In his own mind he sees himself as a coaching genius, who will shortly be elected to the hall of fame. What was this incredible strategy? Did he spend the hour to practice skills the players needed to refine or improve? Did he make each player a better person? Did he practice team building or mental training? No, he chose the biggest kid on the team and made him lie down so he completely covered the net. He spent the whole practice making players shoot the puck from all angles. No one scored. Why? Because none of the children at his level of hockey had the strength or ability to lift the puck!

His team was declared the champion, but did everyone go home happy? Remember children have different definitions of success. Parents also have different expectations. The children want to have fun. The child who was forced to lie in net was distraught. He was seen to be shaking with tears as he lay on the ice during the third period. In fact he was so embarrassed he decided not play hockey next year because of the severe scar it left on his self-esteem. Many of the other children felt so sorry for the goalie that they threw their medals away. Many left the sport. The parents of the goalie were furious. Other parents we also concerned and decide that they would not sign their children up again next season. The other team was very upset. In fact the police had to be called to prevent one furious parent from attacking Coach A during the game. Coach B, decided she would not coach next year because she was so frustrated with this type of behaviour in youth sport. At the league meeting many hours were wasted debating if this was good strategy or poor sportsmanship. The association dropped the issue when Coach A threatened with a lawsuit if the new rule passed (a tactic he used in the past). Coach A, who “won” the game, put an adult definition of winning ahead of learning life lessons. Did he really win? Did the sport of hockey win? Was hockey in that town better without Coach B? Another question we need to ask is, “Was the goalie learning how to be a good goalie?” They won the league championship and the child never let in a goal. Did the child learn the skills that will make him a hockey player at the next stage of development? Are the coaches of the next level of hockey jumping in anticipation of acquiring this great goaltender? NO, because they know at their level of play the children can lift the puck. They have acquired the skill set and strength that will allow them to defeat this strategy. One of a coach’s greatest jobs is to teach the skills of the game. The children who leave a coach’s program should have the skills necessary to play at the next level, if the child so chooses. The child should not be limited in their choices because a coach has decided to use a strategy that will limit skill development

What does this have to do with basketball?

All this has been a preamble to an age-old discussion. At what age should we allow athletes to play a zone defence? The answer to me is very simple once you have answered the simple question of which is more important; to win games or to teach life long lessons. If it is to win games then the answer is to allow zones at all age groups. There is no question that by playing a zone with younger children you will reduce the chances of the other team from scoring. The reason is the children do not have the skill set, the physical strength and fully developed cognitive abilities to attack a zone. It requires great strength and manual dexterity to shoot from a long distance. The number one score in youth basketball is the lay up. Zones prevent lay ups. Children do not have the strength and the 100,000s of repetitions to develop good shooting ability. Also a zone means there is usually someone in the child’s face upon receiving the ball close to the basket. Shooting vs. defence is a higher level skill.

Second it requires strength to skip pass a basketball or to quickly reverse it from one side of the floor to the other, two important skills in attacking a zone. Catching a ball that is thrown quickly or a long distance is also a difficult skill for beginning players. Many are afraid of the a ball coming at them with speed.

On the cognitive side children have a difficult time dealing with multiple stimuli. Children under the age of 12 -14 do not have the cognitive development to play continuous motion sports (hockey, basketball, soccer). This is because they must be able to process upwards of 2 to 5 pieces of information a second! The 5% who have developed this ability early get labeled athletically ‘gifted’. It is just that they have had a head start on others. Too often our youth sport systems are set up for this 5% rather than the 95%. To attack a person-to-person defence a child has simple decisions. When receiving the ball should I pass, dribble or shoot. This player only has to initially read one defender, the person guarding him/her. Once he/she beats this player there is usually only one other player to read; a help defender who is in their sight. Against a zone a child must initially read up to three defenders. Another reason children have problems with zones is that their peripheral vision is not fully developed. This makes it difficult to see teammates and the other zone defenders. It is also a reason why young children have problems playing help side defence in person-to-person defence. They cannot see both player and ball. A zone solves this problem. If you play zone the other team will struggle to score.

The use of zones reminds of the use of steroids. When I was first involved in coaching and steroids came on the seen we were advised to tell the athletes that they did not work. Steroids made your body retain water and therefore look big, but you did not get stronger. The problem with this approach was that it was a lie. Steroids worked and the athletes knew it. The medical and coaching community had to come to grips with this situation. Now we emphasis that they do work, but the long term effects on the athletes is not worth the risk. The same approach happens when discussing zones. You can try to appeal to coaches on the philosophical approach, but zones do work in preventing the other team from scoring at the younger ages. If I only have one practice a week and I can win by putting my players in a zone why would I not do it. The reason is that the long term development of the players can be impaired. Coaches need to be thinking of the process of development and not the outcome of winning. I have often said that coaches who do not think development, the basic principle of coaching at this stage of a young athlete’s career, should find another stage to coach. I am not saying that this person is a bad coach; I am saying he/she is in the wrong stage of coaching.

If youth sport is to be child centered, teach lessons through the sport and if we use a child’s definition of competition there is no discussions. We should not play zone defences until a child has the skill set, cognitive ability and physical maturity to do so.

It is not easy to enforce this rule sometimes, but when has teaching children been easy. It is easy to let children watch TV all day, but is that what is best? No, it requires the adults to work together to accomplish the goal. All people involved must understand the purpose of the rule. This means players, coaches, parents, officials and league administrators. It will have to be constantly monitored and adjusted. Careful attention must be paid to those coaches who flirt with the edges of the rule. Watch out for coaches who on the offensive side of the ball run clear outs to take advantage of the rule. These coaches need to be talked to about what is the underlying purpose of the rule.

Below is a list of associations who do not play zone with younger ages. The only organization I could find that had no restriction on zone defence was the AAU. When I contacted them about this the answer I received was that their organization was a competitive group that provided the highest level of competition in age group basketball. It is designed for teams who only want to play the best. They did admit that it was a somewhat controversial issue within the organization. Does the emphasis lie on winning the AAU Championship or the development of future players? That is one we can leave for the AAU to answer.

1. Canada Basketball’s Athlete Development Model (see our website for the complete document) recommends that zones should not be used until latter stages of the Train to Train Stage of development – 15-16 years old

2. FIBA – "Basketball for Young Players – Guidelines for Coaches"
Endorsed by: European Association of Basketball Coaches
World Association of Basketball Coaches
Recommends zones not be Introduce zone to 15-16 year old players

3. Basketball Australia – no zone until – 15-16 years old

4. Israel - introduce zones at the 16 years old

5. "Baffled Parents Guide to Coaching Youth basketball" – no zone defence 6-12 year old

6. "Coaching Youth Basketball" – American Sport Education program – no zone (6 – 14 year olds)

7. "Rookie Coaches Basketball Guide" – American Coaching Effectiveness Program (6-14 olds) – no zone

1. Thompson, Jim. "The Double Goal Coach" (HarperCollins Publishers. Inc. 2003).
2. Sport Parent Survey. Ministry of Government Services, Sport and Commonwealth Games Division, Government of BC. (1994)
3. Sport Parent Survey. Ministry of Government Services, Sport and Commonwealth Games Division, Government of BC. (1994)

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X's and O's by Mike MacKay - Mental Toughness - March 18, 2009

Congratulations go out to Coach Dave Smart, his staff and the players of the Carleton Ravens for winning the CIS Men’s Championship this past weekend. To win in front of the home crowd makes it special.

The last minute of the semi-final against Western Ontario was one of the best examples of mental toughness I have recently seen in basketball. With Carleton up one point and less than a minute to go, one of Carlton’s fifth year players was sent to the line for two foul shots. To the shock of everyone he missed both shots. In the pursuing possession Western’s fifth year guard was fouled with the chance to make two foul shots for the win. The problem was he was shooting under 50% for the year. Their team had also been struggling with consistency from the line for the entire game. With a wink in his eye he calmly knocked down both shot to give Western the lead with seven seconds. Shooting percentages go out the window in crunch time. Most people get worse; the mentally tough ones get better. Carlton used its last time out to advance the ball to half (Great job by Coach Smart to save those precious time outs!). Western did super job of forcing the inbounds pass deep into the back court. The ball was given back to same Carleton fifth year player, who had just missed the two crucial free throws. Was he thinking about the two missed fouls shots? How this would be his last game as a university player? Was he thinking about how agonizing it was to lose in last year’s semi-final? Déjà vu! All the work he and his team had put in this year to redeem for that painful memory. No! He was staying in the present. He pushed the ball up the floor gave a little hesitation and came to his left for a pull up jumper at the buzzer. Carlton wins and advances to the final. The ability to play in the present is so important for success in pressure situation. He doesn’t happen by accident.

If you were heading into the biggest game of the year, would you bring in a shooting specialist to do a presentation to your team about shooting, the week before the big game? This specialist would do a lecture for one hour on what a great shooter does. He would do a few activities with the players off the court. This would be the only time all year you ever talked about or worked on shooting. Do you think your players would shoot well if this was the only exposure they had to shooting all year? No I don’t think so! You would have started practicing shooting from day one of your season. Early in the season you may have made use of this professional’s knowledge, but you would have backed up it up with daily focused practice. Smart players and coaches also realize that you need to individualize this practice; working on maintaining strengths and polishing weaknesses. Some players/coaches log the number of shots attempted and made. This way they increase the awareness and responsibility for their own of improvement. The great shooters also spend time each day shooting on their own.

Would you bring in a trainer to talk to your team about fitness, the day before the big game? He could go over what was involved in being fit for basketball. He could give each player an individualize workout. This would be the only time you ever did any fitness work all season. Again, every coach realizes that to become physically fit you need to start from day one. Over time, by constantly overloading the athlete you gradually improve his/her fitness. The same as in skill development most coaches today realize that this fitness work needs to be individualized to have the greatest impact. Most athletes have logbooks of their workouts. Similar to skill work many athletes supplement the workouts done by the team with their own special workouts.

My question is this? Why is it that we start working on skills and fitness from day one, but often ignore or refuse to do anything about the mental / emotional until it is too late? For many coaches mental training involves having someone talk to the players about mental training. This could be the coach or a sport psychologist. This is usually done off the court in a classroom session. Often it is a former player who gives a motivational talk about being mentally tough in crunch time of a big game. This is usually done late in the season. Most often it is flowed up with watching a motivational sport movie like Hoosiers or Rudy (Please note: I am describing myself in my early years of coaching).When the team moves unto the basketball court there is rarely any follow up with the material discussed. The concepts have not been broken down into practicable skills. No logs are made to assist the athlete’s awareness and responsibility. Often this late attention to mental training magnifies the problem and brings out a poor performance because the athletes have not had sufficient time to practice their mental skills. The coach usually complains after the big game; “That mental stuff just doesn’t work. It was a waste of our time.” Next season when someone suggest he/she tries implementing a mental training program he/she complains; “We tried that stuff last year, it actually made us played worse.”

In order to create mentally tough athletes it must be addressed on day one just as we do skills, and fitness training. Players need to:
• Become aware of what is involved in mental toughness.
• Be given skills or drills to use in practice and in competition.
• Keeps logs. This assists them in being responsible and monitors effectiveness of the program.
• Practice on their own.

When I broached this subject with a coaching friend he said that most coaches don’t do anything about mental training because they don’t know enough about it. I agreed, but countered: “If your team is struggling with and you don’t know enough about attacking zone defence what do you do? Do you keep doing the same thing over and over or do you go and get more information?” Two books out on the market right now are excellent for coaches learning about the mental side of the sport. 10-Minute Toughness: The Mental-Training Program For Winning Before The Game Begins by Jason Selk is an excellent book for beginning coaches. It gives you practical skills and drills that can be used with athletes of all ages. Igniting the Third Factor: Lessons from a lifetime of working with Olympic athletes, coaches and business leaders by Dr. Peter Jensen is his second book on the subject of mental toughness. It is more philosophical in nature, stressing the importance of having a developmental bias. I will make you refect on your current coaching habits.

Getting back to Carleton, it was a pleasure to see their effective use of spacing and penetration principles on offence. The majority of their scores came from penetration into the key and a diagonal pass to the elbow area or a dump to the post in the short corner. (NOTE: The other way they scored was from their numerous offensive rebounds, especially by their guards, which gave them a tremendous advantage in second chances). Carleton used the post as a way to penetrate into the key. How often did we see the ball passed into the post? If the double came the pass was made on the diagonal. If not the post used his back down dribble to penetrate to the rim. What I especially liked was the use of the pass pass. By passing to the player on the diagonal he now had great options for the next pass or shot. He could pass to the top, to the corner or to the other post that often sealed in the help side defender. Very rarely did this player drive upon receiving the pass. There was no sense driving into an already collapsed defence. The movement by the post players on penetration into the key was crucial. By sliding to the short corners on penetration it made for easier passing angles. The Carleton players are always ready for this shot or the power move to the rim. Similar to SFU in the women’s championship game you rarely saw a Carleton player take a bad shot or one that he had not practiced. Each player understood his role within the team. More importantly than understanding it, he applied it. This doesn’t happen by accident. It is enforced from day one in practice.

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X's and O's by Mike MacKay - Peaks and Valleys - March 11, 2009

I want to say thanks to the host committee of the Women’s CIS Championship for putting on one of the best championships I have ever attended. The community of Regina went out of its way to make the teams and guests feel welcomed. The crowd was electric. I have never seen so many young girls in attendance at a women’s CIS game. The idea of having local youth teams adopt one of the university teams was brilliant. I was pleased to see the CIS teams embrace this idea. Also, the committee involved over 160 girls and 40 coaches in clinic over the weekend. These girls all attended the games.
I also want to congratulate the Simon Fraser Clan on winning the 2009 CIS Women’s National Championship. They proved that they deserved to be the National Champions with their solid play all weekend. What impressed me about SFU was:
• The skills of all of the players,
• Their understanding of roles,
• Their ability to handle the peaks and valleys.

Spencer Johnson has a new book out called "Peaks and Valleys: Making Good And Bad Times Work For You – At Work And In Life". I have always been a fan of his books. He collaborated with Ken Blanchard in writing the "One Minute Manager". He also wrote "Who Moved My Cheese" which is about dealing with change. All of these books are simple reads about simple principles that we can apply to all areas of our lives. I found it interesting to apply the principles of the Peaks and Valleys to the CIS Championship and coaching.

As coaches we know that a game is made up of peaks and valleys. When we are at the peak our team is performing well. Spencer Johnson says the peak is where we celebrate life. All of the things we have practices is paying off. As a coach there is no greater thrill than to see you team putting it all together. The valley is the opposite. Nothing we seem to do is working at the moment. The other team is on a run.

"The bad decisions made in good times are often the start of the slide in to the valley. The good decisions made in bad times are what start the climb out of the valley."
Spencer Johnson

There are two important points for coaches:
• What can I do to get out of the valley?
• What can I do to keep my team on the peak and not start the slide down the slope?

Preventing the slide into the valley
• Keep doing what we have been doing - We often talk about the difference between a veteran team and a young team. This is one place that we often see the difference. Sometimes when a player is inexperienced or subbed into the game they forget what has been working. They feel it is their turn to shoot or we should run this play because we haven’t tried it yet. They go away from what works. Simon Fraser was the best team at the CIS championship of doing what works. It was very rare for players to take shots that were not their shots. Their subs coming off the bench knew what shots they should take. The number of timely big shots hit by so called role players was uncanny. The only time I can remember Matteke Hutzler taking an outside shot was late in the shot clock, when all bets were off. She won the MVP award because she knew her role. Run the floor, rebound, defend and set screens. No one did it better. She also rarely came off the floor. You would see many SFU players passing up wide open shots early in the clock. Why? It was not their shot. They had the discipline to know that a shot is not an individuals shot, it is a shot for the team. In order to win we need to take the shots that we have shown we can make throughout the entire season. The championship tournament is not the place to experiment with shot selection. There is a reason why some players are open in the big games!

• Maintain our focus – When we get the lead we often lose concentration. We stop paying attention to the key points. We no longer call screens or shot, we no longer make note of when the three-point shooter subs into the game, we stop communicating with each other. We also start concentrating on the wrong things. We start thinking about the outcome and not the process. We start watching the scoreboard. The players on the bench start to talk about the party we are going to have after the game. More often than not the players or coach get caught up in the “other game”. They over react to the officials and forget to concentrate on what they can control. The players and coaches have to avoid getting too emotional over mistakes.

• Avoid Complacency – Players lower their intensity level. The players forget what got them to the peak. They start to relax. They no longer cut as hard to get open, they don’t work to get around the box out. Sometimes players get too intense. Often when starting the game the team comes out to excited and tries to hard. They force passes, take fouls. The players will often be fatigued two minutes into the game.

Start the climb out of the valley
The path out of the valley appears when we change how we see things. As a coach you need to take off the blinders and not let your emotions or your perfectionism blind you to reality. You may need to calm yourself and really watch what the other team is doing. One time I had a player not curling off the screen to the basket in a regional championship game. All season long it was a key to our success. During a timeout I was mad at the player and challenged her to cut harder. She quickly pointed out that the reason she could not curl was because the other team’s biggest and strongest player was stepping out and rocking her on the cut. I had not seen this, because I was so focus on being a perfectionist. I did not give the other team credit that they would take this away. Luckily I was willing to see things differently and not get caught up in the “do what I say attitude” that we sometimes take as a coach. Often we need to listen to understand and not listen to defend our opinions. We made a simple adjustment that we had practiced, and took advantage of the defender extending the screen.

This is why I always wanted stats being taken on the bench. It gave me an accurate picture of what was really happening. In times of stress I did not want to let my perception of reality to taint my decision. I always had my “ready card” handy to remind me of what was prepared in the unstressed time before the game or the night before. This was my plan for how to deal with the valley. It listed the entire offensive and defensive adjustments we would make based on what the other team did. It listed possible line ups for certain situations; if we saw zone, foul trouble, pressure, or best foul shooters for late in the game.

For most coaches we try to solve the valley through time outs and subs. In the FIBA game you cannot always use timeouts, there are not enough available. What happens when these don’t work? Very often it is because we are not addressing what is really needed to start the climb out of the valley.
• Paint a clear picture of what is actually happening. The coach must be able to describe to the players what is actually happening. We cannot talk in generalities at this time. “We are not working hard enough, were too soft, and were not moving” do not paint a picture. “They have taken 10 shots and have 6 offensive boards. All of their points have come from these offensive boards. We also have our two post players with two fouls each.” Truth over harmony.

• Describe the future – Use sensible goals not fearful goals. Build a clear visible path out of the valley.
o Fearful goal - If you don’t start boxing out we are going to lose this game. You will have more to worry about than simply losing if we don’t box out. You will have to deal with me.”
o Sensible goals (describe the future using all five senses: taste, touch, smell, sight and hearing). - “When the ball leaves the shooters hand we need to hear you call ‘shot’. When that happens everyone has to look and find their check. You then step and feel the contact of their solar plexus on your friendly forearm. You will be so close you can smell what they had for lunch. When you do that you will taste their fear to go after the rebound.” (Note: I was stretching on this last one; I hope you get the idea. It doesn’t always have to include all five senses. The more you make it come alive the more the players can believe in it happening.)

• Focus – Narrows your focus to what is important. Cut out the fluff. “Forget the crowd, forget the score, and forget the referees. All you have to do is what we said we were going to do. Take care of the ball, take our shots and rebound the ball at both ends.”

"The valley is where we learn. If you don’t learn from the valley you become bitter. If you learn you become better."
Spencer Johnson

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X's and O's by Mike MacKay - The Lessons Learned From Others and Experience - March 4, 2009

There are two basic ways that we learn things in life; through experience or from the lessons passed on to us by others. This could be through a conversation, by reading or watching a TV or a movie/ DVD. There is no question that the most meaningful and powerful lessons are the ones learned from direct experience. Especially if we take the time to reflect on the process we used to achieve the outcome. The problem with experiential learning is that we do not have enough time in our life to experience everything in order to learn about it. Also, some lessons only get taught once. You do not get a second chance or can be permanently scared from the experience. I used the example with my students that it was a bad idea to lie down in the middle of a dark road late at night. You can learn form me giving you this advice or you can try to learn from the experience. They could easily see that the experiential lesson would be too painful or permanent. It is easy to accept advice when the lesson is this harsh. Uncertainty on learning from other comes when we know the experience may not be harsh. I have always believed that it is better to combine both methods.

When I qualified for my first provincial championship as a young inexperienced coach I sought the advice of the most experienced coach in the province. I had no experience in coaching in a provincial championship. I asked him if I could take him out to supper and pick his brain about coaching at a provincial championship. He agreed and candidly shared with me many thoughts on how to be successful in the “Big Game”. My definition of the “Big Game” is the one you arrive at in your season that if you lose you go home, if you win you move on. What I want to share with you are my top ten lessons I have form coaching in the “Big Game”. They are a combination of the ones Coach Keith MacKenzie passed on to me, the ones I gained from my many conversations and reading with coaches over the years and finally the ones I learned from competing in “Big Games” in football, basketball, and track.

1. You cannot prepare for the “Big Game” the day before the “Big Game”
The habits and routines that you start to develop at the very first session of the seasons are the ones that will make and break you in the “Big Game”. When in high pressure situations, like the “Big Game”, you and your players will choose your comfort zone. Drawing up plays in the sand, using some pre- game pep talk, asking players to execute a skill they have never mastered will not cut it.

2. Play to your strengths
As a coach we are always working with players to develop their weaknesses. In order to improve the player must continue to grow. At some point you need to convince the player to play to his/her strength. The best example is shot selection. You know a player must develop his/her outside shot to improve. The “Big Game”, is not the time to start working on this weakness. Confidence to do this had to be demonstrated in practice and previous games. On the other hand players need to take their shot when it appears. I have always told players that a shot in basketball is not their shot, but the teams shot. You are expected to take the shots we know you can make. We will never be upset with you shooting your shot, even if it misses. Every player must have a shot. In today’s game you cannot put players on the floor that cannot score. Defence is too good if allowed to cheat off one or two players.

3. No Excuses
This starts when you receive your draw for the final tournament. Too often I see coaches complain to their players or worse, do it in public about how they have be robbed by being given such a difficult schedule. To me you are building in an excuse for failure. No matter what the schedule tells your players how lucky you are to receive such a great schedule. Start to build in them the picture of how it will all unfold. Build dreams. When times get tough in the “Big Game”, will you continue to fight and strive to play as a team or will you give in? If the excuse is already in place it is easier to quit. I have seen this happen so many times at all levels. Coaches warn their players that it is going to be hot or noisy in the gym. Soon as the players feel the first drop of sweat or hear the first trumpet play they start to play mind games with themselves. They miss the first shot and think it must be the heat or the noise. They lose control of their own actions and give it over to something they cannot control. The key is too in developing a distraction control plan. The earlier this is developed the better it will be since you can use it at all games as a way to practice the plan.

I would sit with my team and brainstorm all possible things that could affect our performance. Some may sound silly to you, but you must honor their suggestions. We would then divide the list to things we could control or not control. The key was we developed an action plan for each and every item on the list. My job as the coach was to create situations where theses distraction may occur. Also I would store up examples from the season where the players had successfully overcome these distractions. An example might be that a key player picks up three fouls in the first half. I would remind the team and player that we have been here before. In a previous game the player had sat for awhile and we were successful because we did not panic and stayed with the game plan. Other players had to step up and look for their shots.

4. Enjoy the day
On a trip to a football championship game one time our bus broke down half way to Halifax. My assistant coaches where very anxious. “We are going to be late; we won’t get a proper warm up.” They were spewing forth every possible negative factor or consequence of this unfortunate incident that was really beyond our control. The players on the other hand were very relaxed. They had remembered what I had taught and reminded them of the night before. Enjoy the day!

I wanted them to get a good sleep, awaken and have a great breakfast. Enjoy the taste of the food. Enjoy the time you spend with your mom and dad before heading off to the school. Enjoy the ride to the game with your teammates. Enjoy the experience of putting on the uniform, for many the last time in their career. Enjoy the feeling of running out on the field before a large crowd. What I was doing was getting the players to play in the moment. Being present is a very important concept in any endeavor in life. To sit around all day thinking about the “Big Game” is very draining. Yes, there were times we want to think about the game, but this is part of our planned routine (see below). I don’t know where I heard it first, but I always believed in the idea:
Learn from the past
Prepare for the future
Play in the present
By getting the players to focus on each moment of the entire game I found that it carried over to the game. We never got caught up in watching the scoreboard. We were able to focus on the process and not the outcome.
So, seating in the parking lot of the Irving Big Stop in Enfield, Nova Scotia 60 players and I had story time. I told them thrilling stories of past games and past heroic players. Some where actually disappointed when the new bus came to take us to the field.

5. Plan A vs. B
You must have a game plan. This is playing to your strengths or plan A. Every player and coach needs to know what this is; it cannot reside only in the mind of the head coach. Players need to know how they can demonstrate plan A.

A great coach or athlete though needs a plan B. What do you do when things go wrong? This is putting your distraction plan in action. Can you actually apply what you said you are going to do? It fascinated me listening to the debriefs of athletes and coaches coming home from Beijing. Very often the poor performance was the result of not being able to go to plan B when problems occurred. Often it is was the coach who forgot plan B or went to plan C which was never discussed or practiced.

6. Emotional control
I heard Chris Evert, the great female tennis player, being interviewed one time. She said that she had won championships when physically she was on her game, but not mentally sharp. She also won matches when she was under the weather physically, but mentally just right. She never won when emotionally she lost her control. This has been a credo of mine ever since. Emotions are a delicate thing to play with. The Goldilocks Effect is crucial to your success. Too little and your not “up” for the game, too much and you lose focus. Player need to know what is “just right” for them. This again is something that needs to be practiced through out the entire year.

I am very diligent in looking for “Charlie Browns”. These are the players who say; “Whoa is me, I just missed a shot.” They hang their head and show a dejected expression. We now have a generation of players who want to celebrate for making routine plays. I always liked the idea that when you score act like it is what you expected to do not some once in a lifetime experience. Even if you are upset you need to fake it until you make it. By pretending you are positive you eventually will. It is the reverse of this little cartoon that I have always enjoyed.



You also have to let sleeping dogs lie. Too often players do things to the opponent that wakes the sleeping giant. They will trash talk or taunt an opponent. This can backfire if it puts the opponent in the just right stage of emotional control. I still remember a player saying before a Big Game, “I want you”, at the jump circle. Well she got her, as the player had a career game. My greatest friend and rival in coaching was famous for trying to get me to make a casual statement before a game that she could then turn into a fiery locker room pep talk about how coach MacKay already thought he had the game won or he did not respect a certain player. By the end I am sure she just made them up because I had probably supplied her with enough ammo to last a lifetime.

We must also be in tune to the emotions of the people within the player’s circle of influence. I have seen assistant coaches, student managers, trainers and parents have a huge impact on the “Big Game” by losing it at the wrong time and place. Look for little warning signs as the season goes on. If you do not deal with it early, the “Big Game” is too late.

Finally, and most important of all emotional control is not just the players. It is us, the coaches. I knew that my poor emotional control could do more to upset my team than any signal factor. The best advice that Keith MacKenzie ever gave me in coaching was…

7. Be their friend
Early in the year I could be the bear. I would a perfectionist demanding that they focused on doing the little things right. I would use the pine slide. If you made a mistake, like missing a box out, you were going to get a sub. Being the bear in the “Big Game” did not work. There is already pressure placed on performance. You create hesitant players who are constantly looking over their shoulder. The focus is on coach not on playing. This may work in the sort term or in no pressure filled games, but very rarely in the ones that count. I was always very positive and encouraging. I would try not to sub players for mistakes. Especially if I knew they needed to play at some later time. I would be very upbeat in timeouts saying things like; “This is just like we thought it was going to be.” “Isn’t this fun!!!” “I love this.!!” “I am glad the other team is playing well so we get a chance to show what we are made of.”

Off the court we need to let go of games after we have completed our debrief. Making players think about the game for hours and hours is too emotional draining. In my misplaced youth as a coach I remember stopping the bus on a ride home and getting after the players because they were laughing after a loss. You must understand that this was after driving in complete silence for an hour. The embarrassing part was when a parent who was following the bus politely tapped on the door and asked if everything was alright. No it wasn’t. I was the problem. I was humbled and learned from that experience. Once we leave the locker room we need to let it go.

You will always have some game in your strive to become a champion where you have to win ugly. You win, but you struggled to do so. Maybe it was a team you have previously beaten. The key is to forget it. Don’t dwell and over analyze it. Move on.

8. Routines
In one of my previous blogs I talked about the funnel and routines. I cannot emphasize the importance of establishing positive routines early on in the season. Every game is a chance to practice your routines. Once you get to the “Big Game” you have it down pat. You need to plan meals, practice, meetings, travel to and from the gym (take into account rush hour), and down time. Players need to know what activities help and hurt performance.

9. Tournament Hotel
One of the most important points is the effective use of down time. If you are lucky enough to travel and stay overnight with your team when you compete for a championship you need to address this issue. Your choice of hotel and your rooming list is very important. All year, with my teams, we roomed with the idea of getting to know each other. I wanted the seniors to teach the younger players what was expected when we traveled. Rooms were for rest. Not a place to socialize with strangers. When the time came for provincials, this changed. First of all I wanted everyone to have their own bed. A good night sleep was important. We would raise the money to ensure this would happen. Second, they roomed with people that were compatible. I think it was Casey Stengel who said that a coaches job was too keep those players who play well and support the coach away from the ones who complain. Third, I tried to find a hotel that could guarantee quiet and had security. I wanted the rooms together on the same floor. When you get the cheapest hotel you sometimes get what you pay for. This is your home away from home. Fourth, I wanted good meals close by. If there was a restaurant I would have them prepare meals a head of time so we could eat on schedule. Nothing worse than waiting for a meal and you know you should be leaving for the gym. Finally I always let them know if they wanted to talk I was available. You never knew when stress would take hold. I can remember on of the best players I ever coached breaking down the night before the championship game. The pressure too perform was too much. After an hour of letting her unload she was fine. Be available. It is not about you it is about them.

10. Nervous vs. anxious
On the eve of a “Big Game” coach Dave Nutbrown was asked if he was nervous. His answer has stuck with me all these years. I paraphrase;
No, I am not nervous. Nervous means you are not prepared. I am anxious. Anxious means you have the butterflies of anticipation. You just can’t wait to play.
The old Celtic teams of the Red Aurebach era knew when Bill Russell was ready to play; they heard him throwing up in the washroom before the game.

If you have
o Prepared
o Developed a solid plan A and B
o Practiced your positive routines.
o Made proper use of downtime.

All you have to do now is go and play the game. Play for the moment and enjoy every second. No matter what happens we will end the season in tears of joy. Joy in having achieving our dreams or tears from having done everything possible to play our best. This is the last day that this group will compete together. Let’s make it special.

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X's and O's by Mike MacKay - The Relationship between Volume and Intensity - February 25, 2009

Coaches need to understanding the relationship between volume and intensity when developing season and daily practice plans. There are some basic principles that if applied, will aid the coach in enhancing the development of the athletes. When I recently attended the Canadian Sport for Life Conference in Ottawa and the Ontario Basketball Talent ID Sessions I was reminded of this fact.

Istvan Balyi, an expert in periodization, made a presentation on planning and tapering. He pointed out that the given workload of a practice session is made up of two essentials ingredients:
o intensity ¡V how hard the athlete pushes him/herself
o volume ¡V how long the athlete works



The key relationship that coaches must remember is that:
o Early - high volume / low intensity
o Late - low volume / high intensity

Season plan / weekly plan
Early volume
Length of practices - long
Build capacity of energy systems

Late intensity
Length of practice ¡V short
Build power of energy systems

Daily practice plan .
Early volume
Start with activation of the aerobic system (long slow activities).

Late intensity
Finish with higher intensity activities that use the anaerobic lactate system

Age of the athlete
Early volume
Young players need a high volume of activity in a variety of sport. This allows them to learn the fundamental movement skills such as, running, jumping, pushing, pulling, twisting, bending and coordination.
Young players cannot handle activities that produce lactic acid. They will stop and have to rest.

Late intensity
As players mature they do not need to spend as much time, or quantity, of practice on repetitive situation which they have already mastered. What they need are quality experiences at a high intensity.

Acquisition of a new skill / concept
Early volume
When first learning a skill/ concept players need lots of repetition at a slow pace.

Late intensity
Once a skill has been consolidated the challenge is to apply the skill with greater speed and variation (decision making).

Concentration
Early volume
Players need to be taught the importance of many different factors that may impact their performance.

Late intensity
To reach the high performance zone athletes need focused concentration on the key elements that are important to them.

Team building
Early volume
Players need to spend time together in order to get to know one another.

Late intensity
Players need to be able to honestly communicate with each other. Truth over harmony. Need time to him/her self.

Remember that this is not a pure science. We must always apply the Goldilocks Effect when dealing with people. This means is that too much or too little of something has the power to do harm. The key is to find what is just right. Be careful using principles as an absolute. Coaches must learn to pay attention to the subtle signals that their athletes will give, when making the final determination of what is just right. I do suggest that coaches log their practice plans and make use of field tests to judge the fatigue of the athletes. Some examples of things I have used or seen done:
o Always be alert to what is happening in their life outside of basketball. Exam time or monthly test week can be a time of more stress.
o Watch out for flu and colds on the team. Too many people at one time may indicate you have crossed the barrier. It is interesting to note that after you train your immune system is more vulnerable to disease. Athletes should be particularly alert to washing their hands and not sharing water bottles, or putting their hands in their mouth or nose. A basketball that has bounced on a dirty floor is a great way to spread germs.
o Jack Donohue taught me to watch the eyes and body language of your players when you bring them in at the start of practice. If you see a lot of tired people you may have fatigue on your hands.
o Record morning heart rates. If you notice a raised heart rate it can be an indication of fatigue.
o Talk to your players. Ask them how they feel.
o Field tests
o Istvan Balyi used to have players perform five consecutive long jumps at the end of the warm up. By comparing the distance covered with previous jumps in other practices he could judge the fatigue of individuals and the team. Note: You do not have to tell the players what you are doing. Some players can get very smart at figuring out how to get out of working hard.
o I had certain drills that I did where I could judge our fitness. One was called bursts. The player went for 30 seconds alternating right and left hand lay ups. One worked while the other rested.
-Dribbling from the foul line and back
-Mikan
-Block to block power
We recorded the makes and misses. I was primarily concerned with the number of attempts. If I saw a drop off I knew the players were fatigued.
o Mark Walton does and excellent drill, fastbreak shooting, with our NEDA girls that again, allows you as the coach to judge fatigue.

All the player line up at half with their own ball. On the signal to start the players dribble to one of the main baskets and shoot a shot. The players are working on their shots off the dribble.


The player gets his/her own rebound. If the ball went in the player can dribble to the other end in the middle lane. If the shot was missed the player must dribble to the other end on the outside of the court. Have a coach or a pylon at half to indicate where to dribble.

The players will go for back and forth for two minutes. Each player records the number of makes and misses. At the end of the two minutes the players rest. I suggest you do an active rest and shoot foul shots for one minute. They now go for one minute. The goal is to get half of the number of reps plus one that they did in two minutes. For example, if they had 14 attempts in two minutes they are trying to get 8 in the one minute {(1/2 of 14) +1=8}.
Variations:
o Go for one minute, rest 30 seconds and then shoot for 30 seconds.
o 30 seconds, 30 second rest, 10 seconds (two shots in ten seconds)



The easiest way to reduce volume is by lowering the length of time that an athlete practices. This can be done by:
o Shortening the length of a practice session
o Shortening the number of practices
o Shortening the length of time of a given drill

As basketball coaches we are often leery of giving up practice time. Basketball is a sport that requires teamwork and high levels of skills. If we stay away from practice for too long the fear is that we will lose our shooting touch or our team chemistry. I would tend to agree with this statement, but we do need to reduce the volume of practice late in the season or before the big game. For that reason it is best that we reduce the length of time at practice.

Increasing intensity is about practicing at game speed. As players learn skills and team concepts they need to be able to demonstrate the skills in a game like environment. This has to do with speed of execution and also the physicality that comes with game. Playing against defence means the intensity of decision making is also increased. The coach is constantly searching for ways to increase the intensity.

Too little intensity in practice
The athlete will not have success performing the skill in the game. When they try to use the skill at speed more errors will occur. Shooting is an example I see today. When I chart shots taken in games many are not the ones I see teams practicing. At a recent CIS game I charted the shots taken in the first quarter. The majority were dribble jump shots, bending and twisting to avoid defence and quick releases from odd angles. Most players never practice these shots in the traditional shooting drills we do as coaches.

Too much intensity in practice
We risk injury and fatigue. The energy systems needed to perform at high intensity are not infinite. Our aerobic capacity, the energy system used for volume, allows us to go all day, but at a slow pace. The anaerobic lactate and anaerobic alactic systems are short term energy providers. Therefore the body can only maintain a high intensity for so long. If we also go too fast too long we also risk injury. The more speed the more wear and tear on the body and greater the chance of collisions. Most injuries occur when we decelerate. The faster we go the more severe these decelerating forces on the body.

Don McRae, former women¡¦s national team coach, taught me the concept of planning my practice through the energy systems, not the basketball systems. I always found it a great way to plan practices. Warm up is about aerobic capacity (long and slow) we are increasing body temperature. If we start with high intensity, the players are vulnerable to injury. Also, if you produce lactic acid early in practice your players will not be able to perform later on. They become fatigued too early. Too often we get players warmed up and then have them sit while we talk. Introduce new items at the very beginning. In fact if there is a lot of talking, do this first before the warm up. We next move to speed activities, usually skill work; lay ups, dribbling etc. Finish the practice with the anaerobic lactate system. Your intensity can be high. Once you have produced lactic acid don¡¦t let the athletes sit for long periods of time and then expect them to perform at a high intensity again.

Some coaches have told me that this is not how a game is played. Sometimes you need to start hard and fast. I agree, but I hope you have warmed up before you play. If you jump out of the car and sprint onto the court you are risking serious injury and a poor performance. A proper warm up for a game works the same way with the energy systems. Start long and slow and finish with high intensity speed just before you play. You are now ready to play hard and fast as the game begins. If you do a NBA type warm up where the players never do speed they need the first few minutes to get ready.

Tapering
The amount of work that a given athlete is able to do is not infinite. There is a finite amount of energy that each player or team can give in a training session. As we all know, through proper training (overloading a given system) a coach can improve the output of the athletes. Done right the coach can ensure that the players will be at their peak at the proper time of the season. When a system is overloaded the benefit of that hard work is not seen immediately the next day. In fact performance will decrease for a short period of time before the improvement occurs. It takes time for the body to recover. Therefore, if you work too hard too close to a major competition you will not see the benefit until weeks later. In fact if you work too hard you will try to compete when the players are in the natural decreased performance stage. On the other side if you try to peak for every game, peaking for Friday, you never overload the system and therefore never improve performance over time. In team sports we sometimes have to learn to train through competition. This means you cannot taper for every game you play.
When there is no taper, the volume of practice remains the same or worse the coach increases the volume by lengthening amount of practice before the big game. It is a trap many coaches fall into; the bigger the game the longer they practice. You need to think of the extra energy used in the practice as lost energy for the game. Many a big game, especially at tournament time, has been lost by having fatigued athletes.

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X's and O's by Mike MacKay - Istvan Balvi - February 18, 2009

Istvan Balyi
I had the pleasure recently of spending some time with Istvan Balyi. He is one of the leading experts in the world on Long Term Athlete Development. Whenever I get to spend time with him my mind explodes with ideas. I want to share a couple of thoughts that I think apply to many of us who are coaching developmental players.

Performance
During his presentation he likened the performance of an athlete to a set of gears. In the middle is the performance gear. It is the outcome. What makes this gear turn are four big gears: basketball (sport) skills, physical, mental and the social/emotional gears.



Each of these four gears has many smaller gears attached to it. In the example below we see the physical gear. Making this gear turn is strength, suppleness, speed and stamina. These gears can be further broken down. In the diagram I have shown that stamina has sustenance and a sleep gear. The sustenance gear could be broken down further into food and hydration.


As a coach we must take into account all of these gears if we want a desirable performance to occur. Ultimately it is up to the athlete to learn to become self-reliant. One can imagine if a coach of a team of twelve players attempts to control each and every gear. The best way to do it is through educating the athletes about the importance of each gear. Sometimes we need to make them do it, call it tough love. If the athlete does not account for one small gear it can be the one that inhibits his/her performance. In this example it is lack of water.



This past weekend I was talking with a CIS assistant coach. He shared with me the story of one of their young players. He was having a career night, but with minutes remaining he had to take himself out of the game. He was cramping up. After the game the coach asked the player what he had to eat and drink that day. All he had was a pop and a burrito. All other gears were working efficiently, allowing the athlete to have a career performance. At the crucial time of the game the nutrients and the water gears got out of sync. There goes performance! As coaches of developmental athletes we have all had these types of incidents. It is important that we use these as lessons to help the athlete grow.

What often astounds me is how we as coaches put so much stock into the basketball gear when picking high performance or elite teams. It always amazed me when coaches pick teams from tryouts and base their entire selection on the performance in scrimmages. The upside is that in that particular moment the player performed at his /her best. The downside is how you played in that particular moment does not reflect the situation or style of basketball that the final team will play.

So often I have seen coaches ask players in the scrimmage to execute a simple offence or to play a simple man to man defence. The majority of the players go out and sacrifice their normal game to run the new offence. One player ignores the instructions and plays to his/her strengths. He/she disregards team defence and runs around stealing the ball from the weaker players. This player looks relaxed and dominates. The coaches quickly assume that he/she is the best player. The player moves to the top of the list and it is assumed that this play will continue in the future. Once the team comes together the player bombs. The reasons are usually something like:
o No consistency in performance over time.
o The player cannot play within a team structure.
o Lacked actual skills, only dominated because of physical maturity and intimidation.
o Performs poorly when you travel.
o Lack of focus or intensity in training.
o Have social/emotional issues that become draining on the team.
o Does not improve his/her skills and execution over time.
o Continues to make the same mistakes.
o Cannot or will not follow instructions.
o No one played solid defence in the scrimmage.

Coaches need to look at all four gears and the entire little sub gears when making selections. If I was picking an elite team that I was going to travel with, I always had the players stay in a residence situation sometime during the try out process. I needed to see what the players did off the floor. So many try outs today Mom and Dad drop the player off, take the player out for lunch and whisk the player away as soon as the practice is done. They is no interaction off the court.

If I ran scrimmages I would be sure to mix up the type of scrimmages:
o Straight scrimmage where the players did what they wanted. I was sure to mix up the teams regularly. If a player got stuck on a team with the point guard, who was the ball hog, no one else on that team would ever get a chance to shine offensively.
o Must be a post touch. I wanted to see who could post up, get the ball to the post and play off the post.
o One second basketball. Had to pass dribble or shoot within one second of catching the ball. This showed me how players could make quick decisions, especially off the dribble.
o Ultimate. No dribbling. This showed me who could pivot and move without the ball.
o Zone. I needed to see who had a basic understanding of playing and attacking zones.
o A couple of sets or concepts. I needed to see who could learn quickly and execute. One set highlighted the guards, another forwards and final one for the posts.
o Full court defence or pressure.
o Inform the player of what I specifically need him/her to do. Could he/she follow instructions? For example: I want you to guard #6 and take way his right hand.

Off the court I wanted to see who was and energy giver or taker. I would hold short meetings where I wanted to see:
o When the players showed up? Where did they sit? Who did they sit with?
o Did they bring their notebooks?
o Did they pay attention? Where were their eyes and ears?
o Were they engaged in the activities?
o Could they apply what we did in meetings to the court?


I paid attention too:
o Were the players doing proper recovery and cool down?
o Were they hydrating and eating properly?
o Did they get their sleep?
o How did they handle frustration? I would often do a drill that was impossible to achieve. For example; a simple continuous lay up drill. You alternated right and left hand lay ups while dribbling around a cone at the top of the three point line. You had to make something like 8 in twenty seconds. I would also do a team continuous passing and moving drill. What I wanted to see was how they handled failure? Who took energy and who gave energy?
o Who were the leaders, who were the followers?

I learned to pay attention to these off court dynamics from Coach John Huard at Acadia University. During the tryout process we used to go pick apples, together as a team. Coach used to tell me that he learned everything about the interactions of the players by watching this activity. Who were the leaders? Who slacked off? Who worked together as part of a team?

I would weight these areas as highly as the on court areas. Over my years of coaching I found out that those players who scored high on the basketball, but low in the other three gears could be a let down if we did not address the issue from the start. Time had to be spent on improving the other areas of the game. If the player had no desire to change or grow I would probably give another player with lesser basketball skills a chance to make the team. You could not have a whole team of these types of players. I required a mixture, you need players that are strong in other areas to help teach the weaker players.

In a game like basketball there is no question that the bigger stronger faster athlete will always get the first look. It is crucial that we do not
o Ignore the smaller player, especially before the end of puberty.
o Fail to teach the all players the other areas of the game. Eventually these can and will be just as big of limiting factor to performance.

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X's and O's by Mike MacKay - Pre-habilitation - February 11, 2009

Why do we wear seatbelts in a car? For the majority of my father’s driving career he never wore a seatbelt. Even now, if it wasn’t for the voice or bell ringing he probably would not put it on. He also knows that if ‘Johnny Law’ stops him he will receive a fine. For me it is different. From the first time a drove, I wore a seatbelt because I was told it would prevent serious injury. It is now a habit. I do not feel comfortable unless I have the seatbelt on. Wearing a seatbelt is pre-habilitation (pre-hab). It is something I do to prevent an injury. Pre-habilitation is much better than rehabilitation. For the little time taken to do something ahead of time we reduce the cost, time and severity of a possible injury. The more you drive the more likely an injury will occur. The more you buckle up the more likely you can prevent an injury when the accident does occur.
The same concept is true in sport. The little effort it takes to do pre-hab prevents a major loss of time, effort and money to do rehab later if the injury does occur. What do you do to prevent injury?

Pre-hab must become a habit for you and your players. So many players and coaches are just like my father when it comes to pre-hab. They only do it when the warning bell reminds them. Because of old habits it is usually forgotten or the first thing thrown out from a busy practice schedule. We need to train a generation of athletes and coaches who make pre-hab a habit. We need to get to the point where it feels uncomfortable not to do it. When I spent time in Australia I was amazed at how much detail was paid to pre-hab by the players. At the U15 championships I attended every player taped their own ankles before a game. Every team had an elaborate dynamic warm up and ever team did a thorough cool down and recovery. Watching their teams at World Championships and talking with their coaches and mission staffs it is something they pay great attention too. Over time they have come to know that if they skimp in this area a player or a team cannot perform on demand.

When I travel and do clinic one thing I always show the athletes is a proper warm up. When I ask players what is involved in a warm up they usually tell me three things: running, stretching and some skills. This is too general. It shows that they do not entirely understand what is involved in a proper warm up. We need to do a better job of educating players and coaches.

1. Increase body temperature – most players have been told that running is the way to do this. There are numerous ways in which this can be done. I prefer to mix it up with skipping rope, a low organized game or some light form running.
2. Dynamic movement – this is preferred over static stretching. Static stretching has a tendency to prepare the muscle to relax by elongating it. When we perform the muscles needs to contract and support at the same time. All static stretching needs to be done two hours prior to or two hours after training and competing. Leg swings is an example of dynamic stretching.
3. Skills – this is one the players get right. We do need to rehearse the skills we will be performing that day. It is also a way to prepare the nervous system.
4. Speed – the last thing we should do as part of a warm up is speed. This makes sure the nerves and muscles are firing on all cylinders.
5. Pre-hab – these are exercise, that if done properly will help the athlete prevent injuries in the future. They usually involve:
o Proper core activation – bridges, twists and bends.
o Balance – one leg, landing after jumping.
o Coordination – developing proper movement sequences when running, jumping.
o Proper squatting and lunging techniques. Many injuries to the knees and back can be prevented by teaching athletes how to land or stop properly. Deceleration is the main way injuries occur in basketball.

Some other areas that are important for pre-hab are:
o Nutrition
o Hydration
o Sleep
o Recovery – ice bath, contrast shower/ snack / hydrate
o Mental alertness / fatigue

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X's and O's by Mike MacKay - Long Term Participant Development - January 28, 2009

This past week I attended the Canadian Sport for Life (CS4L) conference in Ottawa. This conference started five years ago emphasising the term Long Term Athlete Development (LTAD). This made sense when the first attendees were the LTAD expert group, representatives from Sport Canada (who were funding the LTAD work) and people from the National Sport Organizations (NSO’s), charged with producing a LTAD overview document for their sport. As the LTAD movement started to branch into other groups the name LTAD caused problems. Many people did not like the word athlete. It took great effort to break down barriers to get people to see that Canadian Sport for Life considered everyone an athlete. As the Canadian Sport for Life movement continues to grow into education (physical education, not scholastic sport), municipalities and the health sector of Canadian society, the word sport is causing some problems. When the word sport is used, some people see signing up for a structured team or individual sport. They do not understand that CS4L implies a more generic approach. The message from the Active for Life Stage is lost. In developing a healthy nation going for a walk can be considered someone’s sport. Some like to argue that people are getting worked up over simple little words, but words can create obstructions that prevent the idea or concept from being accepted. Think of how you emotionally react to certain words. Once the word is spoken you’re past experiences with that word, cloud your ability to hear and think. As we continue to spread the word of Long Term Participant Development (this was suggested by someone in the health sector) we need to make sure that the important message is not lost in a fight over words. We need to remember in its simplest form LTAD, CS4L or LTPD is about ensuring that all Canadians have the opportunities and pathways ways to lead a long and healthy life. Some may choose a competitive sporting experience while some use more recreational activities.

In order for this goal to occur, there needs to be collaboration between all sectors of society. A simple example was shared by Mary Bluechardt (a member of the LTAD expert group). Mary is a professor in the school of Kinesiology, at Memorial University (MUN) in St. John’s, Newfoundland. MUN also has a school of nursing and medicine. One day Mary decided to walk across the road to see what was going on inside the Medical building. She was asked, “How did you get here?” Her answer was, “I simply walked.” What the person meant was that no one from her side of the road had ever been over to this side. What she discovered amazed her. The people where trying to fight the same battle that she was fighting on her side of the road, obesity in young adolescents. To Mary it made no sense to continue to work independently. By collaborating the strengths of each group they were able to provide a program that is having a bigger impact. Let us keep looking for ways to collaborate.

Assessment and Evaluation
One of the sessions I attended at the LTAD coference was titled Assessment and Evaluation in Physical Education. It was presented by Amada Stanec from St. FX University and David Chorney form the University of Alberta.

The reason I attended was that assessment and evaluation is a big part of our new NCCP coaching. In order to determine if a coach is competent we need to properly assess and evaluate. I was looking for ideas that might help me. It started with some definitions. I thought I was back in my old Bachelor of Education methods class.
Assesment is the process of gathering material or information about the student.
Measurement is the process of obtaining scores.
Evaluation is to judge the worth of something or to make a final judgment. This is usually done at the end of the process.
Formative evaluation is ongoing, used to instruct and inform the student about their areas for improvement.
Summative evaluation generally occurs at the end and is linked to evaluation. Often presented as a letter or number grade.
To be effective assessment needs to take place in the following domains:
Psychomotor – (doing) can the athlete do the skill or activity? In the past this is what dominated physical education testing. Very often it was based on how many shots you could make out of ten. This type of testing is based on the outcome not the process.
Cognitive – (thinking) does the student understand the when and the why of applying the skill or concept? This similar to technical component of our teaching pyramid in basketball.
Affective – (feeling) this deals with the social/emotional. Such things as fair play, respect responsibility, working with others etc.
Health related – (fitness) Understanding the components of health related fitness. Setting fitness goals and working to improve a particular area.

It was at this point that my brain started to explode with ideas. The same problem that I used to face as a PE teacher, when trying to develop a mark for my students, was the exact same problem that most coaches face when assessing the ability of their players. It is easier to give a mark based on the outcome. The ball went in or it did not. This does not take into account the process used to achieve the outcome. To learn what the athlete was thinking or feeling you need to have another way to assess.

Why does a coach need to do assessment?
o First of all I am not promoting the idea of making a formal grading period like schools where we hand out report cards. I am promoting the idea that assessment is about empowering the athlete to take ownership for his/her future. By developing all three domains the athlete is in a better position to apply the learning’s in the future. He/she will be able to adapt to situation and be able to accept or reject new ideas. The athlete will not be reliant on others to tell him/her what to do.
o Coaches do assessments all the time in determining who should get to play. The more complete this assessment the more likely the coach can clearly communicate to the athlete the reasons for his/her lack of playing time.
o Coaches use assessments to determine what to work on in the next practice, for the team and individual.

Some feel we should access on improvement. I have heard coaches say that they play the players who work hard and improve. There are flaws to this type of assessment:
o Maturation – was the improvement just because the student grew or was it because of something he/she actually improved.
o Fake the first test.
o Less room for improvement the better you become at something.

What follows are some ideas on how you can do other types of assessment so that a more accurate understanding of the whole child can be made. Not just on if the ball goes in the basket or not.

Psychomotor Domain
Authentic assessment – this type of assessment is done in a real like situation. As coaches we do this all the time. The key is picking the exact thing you are going to access. If we are looking at accessing shot form we usually do this in a static isolated situation like a foul shot. To know if the athlete really has mastered shot form we need to assess it when the athlete is in a game or game like situation. Remember we are accessing the process not the outcome. By improving the process the outcome will improve. Did the athlete keep both arms up on his/her follow through is an example of a specific detail we can assess in the process of shooting.

As a side bar, I was doing a coaching clinic and had a group of coaches tell me that they would never change a child’s shot form. The feeling was that each person has their own unique method of shooting. With practice they will improve. My response was would you change a child’s method of doing addition if it only involved counting their fingers and toes? My point being will this method of doing addition hold up as the child moves up the ladder of mathematics. No, it will hold them back form being able to do higher level math. Now for a very few this may be the only way they can do math. The same is true in shooting. Too many individual’s shot form will not allow the child to progress and have success at the next stage.

Reciprocal Assessment – this is an assessment done with a peer group. One of the player’s teammates acts as an observer. The observer is assigned the task of watching the specific detail we are assessing. Example: In partner shooting drill have one of the passer watch to see if the player keeps the arms up on the follow through. Instead of counting the number of made baskets count the number of times the player keeps the arms up. This is one way we can address process not outcome. Both players also improve their understanding of what makes good shot form. We are training the eye of the expert in our players.

Self video – Here the athlete/student watches a video of him/herself shooting. This could be from a game or in a drill situation. The athlete/student picks out one or two things that he/she needs to improve. This is brilliant! With the number of parents who video every game that is played and a video camera in every cell phone this is much easier than in the past. Think what this is forcing the child to do. He/she must learn to understand the mechanic of his or her shot. This information is theirs to store and work with on their time. It is not stored just inside the head of the coach. When only the coach is privy to this valuable information it can only be used when the athlete is in the presences of the coach.

Cognitive Domain
Exit slips – this is similar to a debrief. Instead of asking a question orally the coach has prepared slips of papers and a pencil for each athlete. On the paper is a simple question:
o What are your arms doing at the end of your shot?
o Where was the ball when you started your shot?
o What are some key points to remember when shooting?
o What is one way to defend a ball screen? (pick what ever you were just doing in the drill)
At the end of a drill the students are directed to the question. This takes one minute. By having everyone answer individually the coach can now access what the child really knows. When we do this verbally the athlete can fake it. They just repeat what the person previously said. It also gives the coach a quick check of what is happening and how effective his/her teaching of the concept. .

Likert-Type Survey – these are ratings of a statement. I have found it better to use an even number rather than an odd.
1. = strongly disagree
2. = disagree
3. = undecided
4. = agree
5. = strongly agree
When you use an odd number the player can always pick undecided which is in the middle. He/she does not have to commit one way or the other.
1. = strongly disagree
2. = disagree
3. = agree
4. = strongly agree
This way they still have to make a decision. It is a quick way to judge understanding. For example, the statement is, “The best way for us to defend a ball screen is too switch.”
1. = strongly disagree
2. = disagree
3. = agree
4. = strongly agree
You can again have the sheets prepared ahead of time. You can also have the players hold up the number of fingers signifying their choice. The peer effect comes into play when it is done in the open. Think of the discussion that now has to occur when a player must defend his/her statement.

Presentations - a single person or a group is responsible for presenting to the group a concept. Have the players teach a skills or a basketball concept. For example: one player will tell the team what is important in shooting. A group of players review the key scoring options of the offense.
As a coach you now get to:
o See the details that they think are important.
o Hear the language they use.
o Assess the depth and knowledge of their understand.

Written assignment – the players hand in a written report on some aspect of the game. I can still remember my high school coach doing this with me back in the 1975-76 season. He was so frustrated that no one knew the plays he made us diagram our offence. I was the only one who knew the roles of all the players on the team and could accurately diagram the plays. The other players could only describe some of their actions. This was one of those moments when I knew I might have a career in coaching. I have used this to have players to prepare scouts for our next opponent. I ways always surprised by what they came up with. I also found it effective in many team building activities. I would ask the players to hand in one page paper on what they thought the team could do to improve communication. Why do we as coaches think that we have to come up with all of the ideas? It is the players team as well, they should be given an opportunity to contribute.

Coaches spend hours in designing an offence or a scouting report. The coach tells the players at the next practice what is the plan. When it doesn’t work the coach will often remark, “I can’t believe it, I told them …” Telling does not equate to knowing. Other coaches will tell me that they know what the players think by watching what the players do. Again, this is making two assumptions:
o You can read your players minds.
o Through the outcome you can asses the thinking process of your athletes.
One of the smartest players I ever coached told me once that she figured out how to play the post by mirroring one of her teammates who happened to play on the other side of the floor. If I had asked her to describe what she did she would have answered, “I just follow what Jen does.” How do you access the basketball knowledge of your players?

Affective Domain
Focus group –Pick a topic to discuss with the team. for example;
How can someone give energy to the team?
What can someone do to take energy?
How can we better communicate?

I have always liked doing an effectiveness grid. The players brainstorm answers to the topic. We then pick the top five to ten answers, depending on the number of answers. The players now rate themselves on a scale of 1-10 on how effective they are at this particular answer. For example: An answer for giving energy might be to stand up and cheer for a teammate who has taken a charge. The player rates him/herself from 1-10 on how well they currently do this task. The final step is to pick your top three strengths and your three biggest areas for improvement. This is a way to start simple goal setting. Because it came from the players they are more likely to embrace the goal and work to achieve it.

Questions –ask the players how they feel about something is a sign of higher level coaching, especially if the coach honors the answer. I remember seeing Coach Steve Konchalski ask his team in a crucial time, out at the end of an important game, how they felt about the zone defence. The players responded that they liked it better than man to man, they would make it work. Contrast this with the final seen in the movie Hoosiers where the coach draws up the final play using best player Jimmy as a decoy. The looks the players give the coach relay their discouraged feelings. The coach realizes that if the players do not feel the play will work, it has little chance of success. He asks the players, “What’s wrong with you guys?” Jimmy answers. “I’ll make it.” I get a tear in my eye at this seen every time I watch it. Use good questions to determine what your players are feeling.

Check list – can be used for a quick assessment on how your players are feeling. I often used sheets at the end of practice to have the players make a quick assessment of what they were feeling. The most effective one had little faces with different expressions. Similar to the ones the kids use on MSN. The players could quickly relate to me their feelings. It helped me stay on top of how the team was doing.

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X's and O's by Mike MacKay - Groupthink - January 21, 2009

George Orwell, in his famous book 1984, coined the phrase groupthink. Over time it has come to reflect the bad decisions that are made by groups. Groups develop one directional thinking and critical thinking is often suspended, rendered ineffective or non-existent (This definition comes from the book Group Dynamics in Sport by Albert Carron and Heather A Hausenblas). Many organizations can be accused of groupthink. Most often it occurs when no one challenges the thinking or direction the group is heading.

It is my contention that basketball in North America went through a major case of groupthink over the past decades. In 1980 Canada was considered one of the top basketball nations in the World. If our men and women had of attended the Moscow Olympics there was a good chance that both teams would have medaled. This was the peak of North American basketball. By 1988, in Seoul, the Americans realized they could no longer win with a university all-star team. The pros arrived in 1992 in Barcelona with the first Dream team. We were full into groupthink by this point. The solution was not to fix the problems of development, but to take those already developed and provide them with more opportunities to succeed. In the short term this type of thinking works; for the Americans won the gold in 1996 and 2000 (Lithuania was one missed box out on a foul shot away from defeating the USA in Sydney). By 2004 in Athens the top countries in the world had caught up again by emphasizing development over glorifying those who already have the talent.. Even though the Americans won in 2008 in Beijing those in basketball recognize that problems do exist. Coach K had to spend three years developing a national team, with the top players in the world, in order to win that medal. When you fail to fix the problem at its source and invest in development of the base, the fall will come when the top players finally move on. In a country like the USA that can survive on population the problem will not be as prevalent. In Canada it hits home harder and quicker.

There can be many reasons for groupthink to occur:
o Stagnant or lack of turnover in leadership roles within the group.
o Lack of education or a pathway for new ideas to enter into the group.
o No sharing of information.
o Disagreement is seen as being disloyal.
o Society, usually through the media, portrays or glorifies old ways of doing things.
o Fear of change.
o Vocal minority often bullies the silent majority.
o Not able to read the signs and project the consequences of continued actions into the future.
o Short term pleasure vs. long term pain.
Let us look at a few of these reasons that apply to basketball.

Green Eggs and Ham
“I do not like green eggs and ham”. This is how many people react to change or ideas that are different from what they usually do. In the Dr. Seuss book Green Eggs and Ham, Sam I Am spend the majority of his time trying to convince the critic that he will like green eggs and ham. As we all know once the critic tries the breakfast he loves it. Think of the amount of time and energy wasted in our organizations on resistance to change. Not all change is progress, but we must be willing to try new ideas. I find that it is at the administrative level where changes take the longest to occur. Coaches will changes quickly if they think there is another win out there. Players will change if they see it will help their game. It is harder for administrators to see how change brings immediate improvement. Often change at the administrative level is not made by one person, it is a group of people that is bound by a constitution or by-laws. In order to change the system, lobbying must be done and the proper steps must be followed. Many people burn out or become frustrated when faced with this bureaucratic wall.

Success breeds myths
I first heard this term used by Rick Torbett. It is so true at all levels of the game. If we win it can become very easy to give credit to the wrong things. Very often we win in spite of this supposed action. Anyone who has attended coaching clinics or bought basketball instructional material has seen the plethora of material titled “The offence I used to win the championship.” My high school coaches often talked about how no one really full court pressed until the 1964 UCLA Bruins went undefeated. The Michigan State 3-2 zone became popular after the Magic Johnson team defeated Larry Bird’s Indiana State team in the 1979 NCAA Championship game. After Jim Valvano won at North Carolina there were many coaches who added the box and one and triangle and two to their arsenal. How many teams ran the triangle offence after Michael Jordan and the Bulls won all of those NBA championships? I know I did. The Memphis dribble drive offence is the latest in this groupthink approach we often take. There is nothing wrong with this type of approach. In fact I applaud the coaches who are will to try something new, but coaches must learn to decipher what is truly behind the reasons for a team’s success. Can these actions or concepts be applied to that coach’s level of play? My old mentor coach often reminded me that what works at one level will not necessarily work at another. Running the dribble drive with players who cannot dribble or shoot the outside shot may not be a good idea. I would argue in most cases it has more to do with the talent and skills of the players then the system that was used. In my past coaching it was amazing how much better my teams were when we had good talent and skills.

Uniformed criticism
Growing up in Nova Scotia in the 1970’s we had two channels on TV, CBC and CTV. We used to watch golf on Sunday afternoon hoping that the NBA basketball game ran overtime on the American channel feed. This way we might get to see a couple of minutes of basketball. Most of what we learned of the NBA we got from reading Sports Illustrated, as the local papers did not carry NBA on regular bases, or by listening to Johnny Most, of the Celtics, on the radio. Actually it was easier to listen to Marv Albert and the Knicks, as the New York signal was often clearer. It was very difficult to form opinions because we had so little information to go on. When talking about players we would repeat what we heard or read. Today we have an overabundance of media covering sport. I can watch every NBA game that is played. Most teams have their own channel. Sport talk radio is on 24/7. Each of these forms of media is looking for information to fill up their air time. We have come full circle. Because there is so much basketball information available people do not have to think. We assume that if it was said on a talk show or on TV it must be true. Very often the opinion of one person (often it a conversation that was stretched to fill in air time) becomes the headline at twenty minutes past the hour. The uniformed can become stars. If you have style and can sell what you say you might even get invited back. Statistical or even anecdotal evidence is not required. Those people who are informed and have something of value to say are often are lost in the sheer mass of information.



Camps
Basketball camps used to be the best place for learning how to coach. In each area of the country there was a camp that all of the best coaches went to work. This was where you learned the game. You would watch 10 different coaches teach a skill or a concept. At night you could sit around and discuss why they taught the way they did. No one was intimidated by this give and take banter. It was how you learned. You were expected to share your ideas. These types of camps are rare now of days for many reasons.

Note: not everything was great about these camps. They were expensive and usually exclusive to high school aged players. The cost of overnight residence camps became very high. As the cost for university went up the players were used as coaches instead of bringing in local high school coaches. Also, we had many children who wanted to attend camps, but could not afford the cost. These camps tended to be tailored to the elite older players. A group that does not attend camps any more.

Today many organizations run their own camps in conjunction with their club or school team. It is the big fund raiser for the team. It is also a way to pay local people for their work over the year. The problem is that new ideas often do not get inside the confides of the gym. It is the same people coaching the same kids with the same ideas. If you are not one of the family you are seen as “the enemy”. Any new ideas that you bring are dangerous to the players. Players start into the club /team at a very young age. Their whole development is done within that one organization. The lost opportunity to share ideas is what has hurt the development of the game. Recently I have attended many camps where coaches are still trying to share ideas. I applaud teams and organizations that are not afraid to bring outside people into the fold. By allowing others to work with your players and coaches you learn and grow.

Steal from the best and share with the rest
I was having a conversation with Greg Francis our boys NEDA and Junior National team coach. He commented that I was the only coach he knew who used other sports to describe basketball. I think this comes form my multi-spo