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Saturday, August 29, 2026

Basketball - Setting Standards

Everyone sets standards in our lives. For example, coaches have non-negotiable standards:

  • Punctuality - be on time for practice, the bus
  • Preparedness - know the playbook 
  • Conditioning - meet conditioning standards (set by coaches)
  • Academics - set individual and team goals - I was proud that our daughters' high school team had all six seniors earn Honor Roll selection
  • Behavior - teamwork, encouragement, social media, substances
Other intangible standards exist too:
  • Sleep (get eight hours minimum)
  • Hydration (athletes need more) - the first sign of dehydration is fatigue not thirst
  • Nutrition (e.g. protein) - 1.0 g/kg/day is a reasonable simple minimum target for an average high-school athlete, but I would teach 1.2–1.5 g/kg/day as a practical target for an athlete training regularly.
Coaches might set analytic targets for their teams as well:
  • No more than three transition hoops 
  • At least 75 percent defensive rebounding percentage
  • Kills (three consecutive stops) seven per half
  • Turnovers (depends on level)... reinforce that they are "zero percent possessions" and live-ball turnovers become high points/possession for opponents
  • Winning quarters. My coach, Ellis Lane, believed that winning quarters led to winning games. That helped him into the New England Basketball Hall of Fame. 
Lagniappe. Coach DeMarco shares what he calls "Green Light, Red Light shooting." It's a high volume, timed shooting drill. 

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