Tool of the Day Archive October 2008

OCTOBER 31 PRE-GAME AND HALFTIME WARMUP I have always given the captains input as to whether or not we should change last year's pre-game warmup.  I ask them to represent the whole team and find out what tweaks will be good for everyone.  I have always made the final decision, but feel that if you put trust in someone to make him or her a captain, you should be able to value their opinions when you ask for input. I have always felt that it is important to get in a few good minutes of warmup rather than keep the team in the locker room for additional halftime instructions.  That is just my philosophy, but I think it is important to have a plan for how much warmup time you feel is necessary prior to starting the second half because that decision is clouded by emotion during a game.  I think halftime is different than coming out of a game, sittiing on the bench for a few minutes, and then going back in because all five players need to get their energy level back up, not just one or two players who are going back in the game. A final thought for Halloween.   I always remind the players to use good judgement as to any "pranks" they might get involoved in.  Usually our team rules, athletic department rules, and law enforcement will see pranks as more than that.  I always try to do some prevention ahead of time to hopefully avoid having to sort through an incident that might involve suspensions.

OCTOBER 30 2-3 ZONE ATTACK I borrowed this play to run against a 2-3 zone from Creighton Burns' Newsletter.  It might take a few seconds for the diagrams to load.3-Rover.

OCTOBER 29 TOM IZZO ON REBOUNDING If you have seen Tom Izzo speak on rebounding, you know that he does not teach the traditional blockout technique.  He teaches to "hit, find, and go."  One of our e-mails a few days back was our belief that you should experiment with different ideas for a few minutes in practice.  His technique might be an idea to try out.  Here is a short clip of Coach Izzo running a rebounding drill: Tom Izzo on Rebounding

OCTOBER 28 CARE OF THEIR FEET Regardless of what a player has done in the pre-season to prepare him or herself physically for basketball, it is tough to prepare their feet for the two plus hours of cutting, closing out, and all of the other quick cutting and starting and stopping they will experience in practice. In order to do some prevention rather than have missed or ineffective practice time due to blisters and raw feet, we stress to our players care of the feet with two pairs of socks, skin lubricant, and rubbing ice on their hot spots on their feet at the end of each practice for the first few weeks. I also think it is important for the players to break in new shoes gradually at home or by wearing them around school and in PE.  We allow our players to bring old (clean) shoes and go change into them the first few days as they feel their feet getting hot from the friction of new shoes. We post these suggestions in the locker room, give them verbally, and put them in their notebooks.  We want to do all we can to avoid the downtime caused by unattended blisters and raw feet.

OCTOBER 27 END OF QUARTER PLAY IDEA Here is an idea for an end of the quarter play to get the last shot of the quarter.  It was run very successfully for many years by Plymouth (Indiana) High School and Hall of Fame Coach Jack Edison.  It fit their personnel very well over the years and hopefully it might fit yours. Plymouth End of Quarter Play

OCTOBER 24 HABIT I am your constant companion.  I am your greatest helper or heaviest burden.  I will push you onward or drag you down to failure.  I am completely at your command.  Half the things you do you might just as well turn over to me and I will be able to do them quickly and correctly.  I am easily managed-you must merely be firm with me.  Show me exactly how you want something done and after a few lessons, I will do it automatically.  I am the servant of all great men; and alas, of all failures as well.  Those who are great, I have made great.  Those who are failures, I have made failures.  I am not a machine, though I work with all the precision of a machine plus the intelligence of a man.  You may run me for profit or run me for ruin-it makes no difference to me.  Take me, train me, be firm with me, and I will place the world at your feet.  Be easy with me and I will destroy you.  Who am I? I am habit! Author Unknown

OCTOBER 23 PLAYERS AND OFFICIALS I am working to get more posts on the blog, so when some of these e-mails get longer, I am adding them as blog posts. If you would rather not visit the blog, here is something for you as well.  I like to put this quote from Coach K on the chalk board in our locker room for the first week of practice: "Every season is a journey, every journey is a lifetime."  It says to me that last year is over and we really have no idea what is in store for our team as we begin this new journey together.  To me, that is a big part of the excitement of a new season. I have always attempted to find a way to get a local official or two to come in and work a Saturday pre-season scrimmage during one of our practices.  It really doesn't have to be a Saturday practice, I just found that it was easier for many officials to come in on a Saturday than a week night.  I also like to use Saturday's for pre-season scrimmages.  Here is the rest of the blog entry: Basketball Players and Officials

OCTOBER 22 MAKING CUTS IS TOUGH Regardless of what level you coach, if you have to make cuts, it is tough on both the coach and the athlete.  But, to paraphrase businessman Harvey Mackay: "It's not the players that you don't cut who make your season miserable, it is the players that you don't cut and should have who make your season miserable." In my opinion, no matter how tough it is to cut someone, it is even worse for the team to keep someone who does not fit in and who is going to be unhappy with his or her role.  It is better to get it over with at the beginning of the season, rather than battling with the player and possibly parents all season. My last thought on making cuts is that I believe it should be done face to face rather than with a posted list or an announcement of who made the team.  Those conversations are always difficult as well.  It is hard to know what to say and how to say it because each situation is different and each kid is going to react differently.  When I have interviewed for jobs and did not get them, I have always appreciated a phone call rather than reading on the Internet that someone else was hired.  I feel that I owe the same courtesy, but in person, to players that we have to cut. I do think that it is important to choose your words wisely and not say something that the player can use against you or that is going to cause you to have to defend your selves in administrative and parent meetings.  It boils down to that same John Maxwell concept, we don't want to poor gasoline on a fire when we should be pouring water.

OCTOBER 21 TRY IT, YOU'LL LIKE IT I have written a blog entry about experimenting in practice.  I am having trouble fixing the spacing on the blog.  I do apologize, I know it is more difficult to read and am working on it. I have always believed in experimenting with something new in basketball practice a couple of times a week for no more than 10 minutes of practice time. Early in the season we usually try something new every day. I am not suggesting that you experiment with revamping your philosophies and core values of your program, but am suggesting to think about experimenting with your personnel early in the season to be able to get the right players in the right situations, and as a way to add some variety to keep the players interest and attention late in the season. Click here to read the rest of the post...

OCTOBER 20 TRYOUT DRILL SUGGESTION I have always found two on one dribbling to be an excellent way to evaluate dribbling ability in perimeter players and helpful in selecting your primary ballhandlers.  There are times when I have been pleasantly surprised by younger players in this drill.  You can evaluate strength with the ball, dribbling with their head up, and decision making in this drill.  I like to just give them the ball in one of the four corners to put them in a tough position, trap them before they dribble, and have them try to score at the basket on the opposite end.  You can make a scoring system to have some objective numbers for determining cuts if that is helpful to you.  I do not base cuts on data from drills, but it does give you one more tool in helping to make your selections. I continue to use the drill in practices throughout the entire season to use to improve our perimeter play. I have never used this version, but here is a link to a version of the drill that simulates what you might see against a run and jump style defense: Two on One Trap Drill

OCTOBER 17 A NEW THANK YOU I have always found inspirational quotes to be helpful to my frame of mind and have passed them on to our teams in the form of a "Quote of the Day."  My belief is that just as the body needs nutritious food on a daily basis for peak performance, our minds also needs positive daily input to be at its best.  I have put together 100 that are meaningful to me and am offering it as a download for new subscribers to our e-mail service.  I want to make this available to all of you since it wasn't available when you subscribed. I hope that several of these quotes will have meaning for you as well. Click on the link below and you can save the pdf.  Feel free to copy it and pass it on or use it in any way that is helpful to you and your program. Toolbox Quotes Volume I

OCTOBER 16 AN IDEA FOR SCHOOL COACHES In keeping with providing some tryout related tools, I have posted a sample of a letter that I have e-mailed to all staff members (certified and non certified) once we have made our final cuts.  I think it is especially helpful during the first year at a new school, but also found that as the teaching staff changes from year to year, it is good for new staff members to see. I used the same letter when I started my career as a middle school coach and continued to use it after becoming a head coach. Letter to Staff

OCTOBER 15 WORDS, WORDS, WORDS The six most important words:  "I admit I made a mistake." The five most important words:  "I am proud of you."
The four most important words:  "What is your opinion?" The three most important words:  "If you please." The two most important words:  "Thank you."
The most important word:  "We" The least important word of all:  "I"

OCTOBER 14 CONTINUITY 3-2 ZONE OFFENSE This 3-2 zone attack is a continuity that comes from legendary High School Coach Bill Harrell, who passed away a few years ago.  He had incredible success in both Kentucky and Indiana. Please let me know if you have trouble viewing this.   I am working on getting things formatted so that everyone is able to view every video. Popout

OCTOBER 13 A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE I have posted my beliefs as to the best way to handle the always difficult situation of dealing with fall athletes whose seasons overlap or end a day or two before basketball practice starts: Basketball Players in Fall Sports

OCTOBER 10 JAY WRIGHT'S DRIVE AND SPACE I have been looking for some drive and space principles for the past few weeks and found another from Jay Wright.  I look at his stuff any time I get the chance.  This is a part of a presentation on spacing for a baseline drive as a part of his end of game plays. Jay Wright's Drive and Space

OCTOBER 9 DON'T QUIT Today's Tool is a Poem entitled: Don't Quit I hope you can find some use for it as you are working on your notebooks and bulletin board materials.

October 8 D-1 ASSOCIATE HEAD COACH'S BLOG Coach Bob Starkey is the Associate Head Coach for the LSU women.  His blog has links to some coaching sites and contains some other really good resources too that he has written and assembled. Coach Starkey has a great deal of coaching experience and has worked in both the men's and women's programs at LSU. Click here to read the blog: Hoop Thoughts

October 7 LONG AND SHORT This is a fast break drill from Geno Auriemma that is a good conditioning drill that utilizes the ball.  I like to handle the basketball as much as possible when doing in-season conditioning.  You will need to scroll down the page to see the video. Long and Short

October 6 Set Play vs. a 2-3 Zone I found this play on Tommy's Playbook.  The site is designed for coaches of younger levels, but is worth a look for everyone.  Here is the play that I have posted on The Coaching Toolbox.  I  hope it sparks an idea to use with what you already do, even if you don't run this specific play.Rotation vs. 2-3 Zone.

October 3 10 Points for Influencing Your Team Here is an article from Greg Shelley of the Janssen Sports Leadership Center.  It provides some good thoughts to keep in mind as we work to improve our leadership skills.  If you look around the site that it is on, you will more than likely be able to find some other leadership and team building tools that will be useful. 10 Powerful "People Points" for Influencing Your Team

October 2 A PRE-SEASON TASK The weather here in Indiana is definitely starting to feel like the start of basketball practice! I have found it helpful to use the pre-season time to assemble and update "resumes" for returning players with their awards and accomplishments.   That way if they receive an honor such as player of the game, of the week, etc.. or if I nominate them for an award during the season, I have the information ready, rather than having to dig for it when it happens and time is at a premium. It has also been my experience that media members appreciate having the information for their pre-season articles. I have always submitted these instead of filling out forms and whenever a form has a question or request that is not on the resume, I just add that information and keep it updated as things change.

October 1 THE SIMPLE TRUTHS OF APPRECIATION We strive to offer something for everyone from Xs and Os to philosophy and hopefully as much in between as we can. Today's tool is one that is a good reminder that it's all about relationships.  Please make sure that your speakers are on. The Simple Truths of Appreciation Here is  a link to the previous Simple Truths Videos that we have sent out.  You will need to click on the "Inspiration" Tab.