Your Coaching Clinic - Make a Difference with Humor, Knowledge, and Truth (and Xs and Os)

Invited to speak at a clinic? What's next?  Rule number one, "don't be boring." Your audience wants help and entertainment. 

Use stories. Abe Lemons shared this, "We went to Alaska once and they made us honorary Alaskans. Then we went to Hawaii and they made us honorary Hawaiians. We're going to the Virgin Islands this year."

What is our audience thinking? "Who is this nobody?" Give us something. Content is king.

Give us something. ABCs...always be concrete. 

1. "Make practice harder so games are easier." - Don Meyer 
2. "Play harder for longer than your opponent." - Dave Smart
3. Use constraints. During an intrasquad scrimmage, make all shots start in the paint. Warmup dribble tag inside the arc, dribble with the non-dominant hand. Play 4 on 4 half court without dribbling to teach spacing, cutting, and passing. 
4. Make drills competitive. "Winners" confirm with a made free throw. 
5. Practice special situations using three possession games/O-D-O (offense-defense-offense) starting with a BOB, SLOB, free throw, or ATO.
6. Share from the legends. Bob Knight preached 'advantage-disadvantage'.
7. Coach and trainer Don Kelbick reminds us, "think shot first." 
8. Dean Smith tried to save three time outs for the final four minutes. If it's good enough for Coach Smith... 
9. Use a quotation. "Make every day your masterpiece." - John Wooden 
10. Share something new. Doug Brotherton had the clock call out-of-bounds plays, even-odd-zero. If there were 2:14 on the clock, the play call was "even." 

Make them want more. Pat Summitt's Lady Vols were staying out late and drinking. She brought them in for 6 A.M. running, deploying a trash can at each corner. That was her version of "four corners." 

BOB versus 2-3 zone (Across) second option is ball reversal back to 3. 

SLOB - staggered backscreens  "Boomerang"

Score off a tap play...easiest assist ever...off the lonesome end. 

Key Takeaways:

• Don't be boring. 
• Make practice competitive. 
• Use constraints. Make the rules in your world. 
• Practice special situations. 
• Share something new. 
• Steal from great coaches. 
• Use the clock in creative ways.

Lagniappe (something extra). "Great offense is multiple actions." Video from Pascal Meurs.

Lagniappe 2. Why should a player want to play for me? Do more of that. Why should a player not want to play for me? Do less of that. 

Lagniappe 3. Give and get feedback. Players are not mind readers. Neither are we. 

Lagniappe 4. Reminder from author David Mamet. "Each day do something for your craft and something for your business."