Your Resource for Basketball Success!
“I am not a strategic coach, I am a practice coach.”
John Wooden
Basketball Practice is the factor that the coach
has the most control over
Your Resource for Basketball Success!
“I am not a strategic coach, I am a practice coach.”
John Wooden
Here are 12 ideas to help you improve each basketball practice:
Principle #1 Mindset
Practice with the mindset and manner of a champion
"I have no individual goals. We play for one reason
and that's to win the title. Practice is more important than the games, and I
will practice when I'm hurt, when 95 percent of the players in this league
would sit out. I expect all of you to do the same thing. You will follow my
lead."...to the
--Michael Jordan
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H
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aving the right frame of mind is
what separates the programs with great practices from all of the others. By whatever means you can, indelibly etch the
following saying into the minds of your players:
EVERY TIME WE TAKE
THE FLOOR, WE PRACTICE AND PLAY WITH THE TECHNIQUE, INTENSITY, TOUGHNESS, AND
TOGETHERNESS OF A STATE (OR NATIONAL) CHAMPION.
1. Everyone in the program must believe that championship
level practices every single day of the season are the key to success on game
day. If they do not demonstrate that
belief, then you must continue working to convince them that is true. Then collectively,
the team members must roll up their sleeves daily and make that vision a
reality. For practice to impact your
win-loss record, the players must agree to be and want to be held accountable to
and be coached to the highest standards in your class. Certainly, there is no way to measure what
your competition is doing in practice. However,
if the coach and the players have the mindset that your program’s standards for
intensity, execution, toughness, and togetherness are those of a state champion, and you
go to work every day to earn the right to feel that you are succeeding, your
practices will be exceptionally productive. Your players must believe that the coaches are not helping them if they
allow anything less than the championship level.
2.
Hard work is merely the price of admission into the
competitive arena; it is no guarantee of success. If it is not present, then you can’t even
think about competing. But, consistently
doing the right things, in the right way, and in the right frame of mind—all
while working very hard—over an extended period of time, can lead to
success. Hard work is not a victory in and
of itself; it must be accompanied by technique and toughness. It is possible to be a hard worker with poor technique
and no toughness.
"My passion
is to coach and do things to the best of my ability. I want our team to get
better every day at practice. If we can do that, the other stuff will take
care of itself."
-- Coach Mike Krzyzewski
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3. Players must see and believe that the coaching staff is
eager and excited for practice every day. A coach’s enthusiasm for practice
should be obvious to the players and assistant coaches. The coach’s enthusiasm
should be contagious. For practice to be great everyone needs to be
enthusiastically involved. As classroom teachers, it always amazes us when we
see and hear athletes cheering in response to an announcement that their
practice has been cancelled. That is not
the type of response that demonstrates an understanding of the importance of
high quality practices.
4. Players will do in the games by habit what they learn,
rehearse, and are held accountable for in practice. If a coach allows cutting corners in
practice, that is what s/he will get in games. Don Meyer says that coaches can be demanding without being demeaning. We believe that type of interaction with
players is imperative to success. For
example, we believe that placing the ball under your chin after a rebound is an
important fundamental. Therefore, in practice situations we blow the whistle
and call a turnover if a player falls to chin a rebound. By consistently
demanding that this fundamental be executed, you will begin to see it occur
more frequently. We want to create the mindset that doing things properly leads
to increased success.
5.
The players’ goal for each practice should be to
improve themselves for the good of the team. A coach’s goal should be to instill that goal in the players and plan
practice to make it happen. Spend time
making sure that your players see that as their goal.
6.
Everyone involved in your practices must know the
expectations that you have as a coach for the level of performance and
effort. Frustration and conflict which
lead to team turmoil are always present when players individually and the team
collectively are being coached to a higher standard than they are currently
able to reach. The tension can be
reduced greatly when everyone knows what the expectations are and why those
expectations are so high.
7.
The practice court is a classroom. Practice is one of
several classes that students attend each day. Like all classes, the students should expect to be taught something each
day. Coaches should have clear objectives for the day and a well planned lesson
designed to help the players achieve those objectives.
“Stop yelling,
and start teaching.”
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8. Coaches should enter practice with the mindset that if players
are making mistakes, the reason they are making mistakes is that the coach has
not taught them properly. Coaches need to make adjustments in how they are
communicating their ideas. Yelling the same instruction
louder does not facilitate the teaching process. Coaches must believe that
everything that happens on the court happens as a result of their actions. A good coach is like a
good teacher. If the student is not learning, the teacher must change the
teaching methods.
9.
Coaches must believe that they can win with their team,
regardless of the team’s shortcomings or perceived shortcomings. It does not
matter whether the team is too short, too slow, too inexperienced or lacking in
basic skills. Coaches must believe that they can overcome all obstacles placed
in front of them. There are ways to play when your team is too slow and too
short. Young players can be taught and skills can be practiced. If you do not
believe that you can win, you will not.
10.
Coaches must not accept excuses from themselves, their staff,
or team members. By making excuses for player or team failures, one relinquishes
control of their influence over the outcome.
11.
Coaches should take pride in the design of their
practices and players need to develop pride in the way they practice. Pride is
an attitude that separates excellence from mediocrity. Mediocre practices
produce mediocre results.
12.
Plan your practice as if your career depends on it,
because it does.
“Prepare for
every practice like you just lost your last game.”
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The entire e-book has 130 ideas and 4 appendices to help you improve your practices...
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"This is a great resource for coaches of any age. I got some great ideas from the book and was reminded of some things that we had gotten away from, that we are going back to doing!" Pat Rady
"I've read many books to help me be a more effective coach. The Coaching Toolbox's Practice e-Book is a must in any successful coach's library. This resource will remind you to take care of the small details that sometimes are overlooked in our fast paced vocation. It will be a book that you and all of your assistants will utilize, draw from, and reference. Most importantly, it will help your players be more successful." Joshua Kendrick |
We believe that the one area of your program that makes the biggest difference in the games is the way you plan and direct basketball practice. We have assembled our best ideas for practice planning guide e-book.
for $19 and download the e-book immediately!
The rest of the book...
#2 Efficiency--Planning for the most efficient use of limited time and facilities.
#3 Habits--Motivate players to habitually do the right things right.
#4 Competition--Making basketball practice as competitive as possible.
#5 Team Building--Incorporating team and chemistry building.
#6 Game Planning--Incorporating game planning
#7 Thoroughness--Be meticulous in covering everything you do in games.
The four appendices...
| Appendix A--24 questions with examples to help develop your master basketball practice plan |
| Appendix B--Player practice Evaluation Form |
| Appendix C--Playing hard checklist |
| Appendix D--Sample master practice plan |
We are making 130 ways to make your practices better than last year available for $12.95 USD.
We want to provide you with more value than you pay for so, we are making it available with:
a 100% money back guarantee (no questions asked) if you do not feel that we have provided you with more ideas than you paid for.
a promise that we will more send you all revisions and updated versions that we put out at no additional cost.
as always, if you experience any problems during the process, contact us at [email protected] and we will help solve your problem immediately.
You can pay for the book via Pay Pal or with a credit card.
Please contact us if you are interested in working out another payment arrangement.
for $19 and download the e-book immediately!
What some of our other readers have said...
"WOW! This is great and certainly worth the price..."--Coach Zimmerman, Goshen High School
"It's making me think a lot more deepy about preparing for this AAU season." Coach Leon White"This book is a must read for any coach who is serious about improving his or her practice organization, practice effectiveness, and getting the most our of each minute of practice time. Brian and Kevin have hit the nail on the head when it comes to effective practice planning and player and system development. Written by coaches, they have connected with not only the basic needs of coaches, but more importantly have laid out an excellent plan of implementation of their ideas."--Wes Peek Boys Varsity Coach, Milan High School Milan was the real life inspiration for the movie "Hoosiers" when they won the One-Class 1954 Indiana Boys State Basketball Championship.
"Just want to say that I read your e-book and I think you have done a fantastic job! The content is brilliant and I have no doubt that coaches at any level will be able to find nuggets of gold information to improve their trainings which will improve their programs. Well done and keep it up!"--Heath Millar, Australian Professional Coach
"What you have put together is great - thanks for helping our coaches!!"-- Brent Deckert (High School Coach in South Dakota)
"It makes me want to go out and find any basketball team and start coaching them!"-- Kevin G (Sixth Grade Coach)