Chef Thomas Keller forged a pair of Michelin 3-star restaurants, the more famous is The French Laundry.
Keller absorbed training as a dishwasher in his mother's restaurant. His six core concepts have broad application. Here's how they work for us:
Organization
- Effective coaches convey a clear program philosophy
- They prepare practices to implement their approach
- They get everyone "on the same page"
Efficiency
- Effective coaches maximize resources of people and time
- They invest time instead of spending it. Skill development is king.
- They operate at the highest tempo possible. I have never seen a practice better executed that Coach Auriemma's UCONN women's practice.
- Effective coaches are performance-focused, feedback-rich.
- They do more of what works and less of what doesn't (editing).
- They track key items that impact outcomes like effective field goal percentage, rebounding differential and turnovers.
Repetition
- Wooden's EDIR5 - explanation, demonstration, imitation, repetition x 5
- "Repetition makes reputations."
- Never tire of repeating keystone techniques like footwork and shooting.
Routine (habits)
- Effective coaches have winning routines of practice, study
- Readers are learners
- They pick, stick with, and track habits
Teamwork
- Effective coaches emphasize accountability to the team.
- "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one."
- They preach shared vision, shared sacrifice, and shared rewards.
Drills. Shell drill variants.
Advance the shell drill through aggressive offense. Defenses don't improve against passive offense. Learn to defend pass-and-cut, pass-and-screen, and dribble drive action against the shell.
Vary the number of players in the drill.
Set play. "Great offense is multiple actions" from Adam Spinella's Daily ATO.
SLOB with "zipper away" entry followed by a "ghost screen" with penetrate and pitch action compromising the sagging defense.
Lagniappe (something extra).
TVD with backdoor layup drill. "Basketball is a game of cutting and passing." Trivia. Coach VanDerveer was born in Melrose, MA where I live and coach.
The video applies the drill during games.