"You are the architect of your own life." - Yo-Yo Ma
"Am I a good coach?" Submit testimonials from players who thought we walked on water and others who wanted to drown us. Neither are all right or wrong.
How do we measure coaching ability? It depends.
- What's our metric, winning or something else?
- What was the 'basketball experience' for players? "Never be a child's last coach."
- Did individual players improve?
- Did the team improve?
- Did I promote personal growth of everyone (person > player)?
What's the metric? Winning depends on talent, distribution of minutes and shots, scheduling, coaching, health, luck, and combinations.
If you've won championships, I salute you. My goal was to create a positive experience with individual and team growth by teaching fundamentals and teamwork. Preparing players to win spots and compete early at the varsity level was an important secondary goal.
What was the basketball experience? In addition to twice-weekly practice and league play, I conducted twice weekly off-season voluntary workouts from Memorial Day through September. The players who invested the most time got the most results.
The players got a 'survey course' in basketball and leadership.
Did individual players improve? Raw sixth graders have moved along to become four year varsity players, All-League high school players, State Champions in private school, and Samantha earned a Division 1 scholarship to a Big Ten school. As a high school sophomore, Cecilia earned a "Triple Crown" of Salem News North Shore Player of the Year, Boston Herald All-Scholastic, and Boston Globe All-Scholastic. Players deserve the lions share of the credit.
Did the team improve? We lost a hard-fought game early in the season to a small, scrappy, competitive team early in the season. They played harder, tougher, and deserved to win. In the second meeting of the season, we led by eighteen points at the half and coasted to a decisive win. My wife was in the stands. Opposing parents said, "they got new players but it's the same coach." My wife explained, "no, but my husband is the coach." We improved both skill and toughness.
In my last season coaching, we won a playoff game against a team we had lost to seven consecutive times. The players executed the game plan and made free throws down the stretch.
Did players grow as people? Brett Ledbetter emphasizes that the person is greater than the player. I'm proud to have written letters of recommendation to help a former player earn entry to Veterinary School and another to earn a Congressional nomination and degree from Annapolis. I've coached valedictorians and many National Honor Society students. Numerous former players have advanced degrees or success in business.
Maybe those aren't the right questions. "What am I doing to become a better coach?"
- Samuel L. Jackson tells us, "if there's source material, read it."
- Zak Boisvert commits to watching an hour of film daily.
- Werner Herzog says, "Read, read, read, read, read."
- Be open to other's ideas.
- Learn by listening not talking.
Have a hype video. It can't hurt.
Bottom line, I volunteered a lot of time and resources and feel blessed to have coached a lot of terrific young women. Seek understanding not validation.
Lagniappe (something extra). What would pros say about your skill set?
Lagniappe 2. Here are a couple of Box and 1 actions. Make the 'star defender' work through screens.
Lagniappe 3. Review reading screens.
Some people call the third read, "bump." Also, if the defender tries to cheat under the screen and anticipate, the cutter has a back cut.