I ask myself, "am I watching or am I just looking?"
1. Basketball is not a democracy. Get your best scorers the most chances. When I see a team stop passing, I wonder what they're thinking. Coach Wooden remarked, "Happiness begins when selfishness ends." There's a difference between missing shots, rushing shots, and forcing shots.
2. It's never "your turn". I want my best shooters to shoot, but I die a little every time someone takes a "My Turn" shot. The clock in their head says, "gotta shoot, gotta shoot." Turn that mental shot clock off.
3. Progress is an illusion. I sometimes end practice by lining up the girls on the baseline, and calling out individuals for a free throw. A miss earns a half-court and back trip. I won't call it a sprint, because once sprinting meant full effort. Last night the girls (8th grade) made 10 of 14...not much running and no sprinting.
4. "Don't cheat the drill." Cheat the drill, cheat yourself and cheat your teammates. Kids have a lot going on in their life. I have one player who rarely cheats the drill. She's off to a concert this weekend...YOLO.
5. Can you handle the truth? If you want to succeed, find enough players who want success as badly as you do. Those players go on the floor, get the 50-50 balls, set great screens, take charges, fight through screens, show their hands to avoid stupid fouls, block out, come to the ball, find the open man, don't force shots, and serve their teammates.
