Here I am sitting in my office reflecting about the past season where we won less games than we have since the first season I coached at the University of Charleston, yet I don't feel depression, disappointment perhaps but not despair. We were young and inexperienced which led to a host of complications which all came from the same seed--insecurity. We did not have a single player on the floor who felt complete and utter confidence in herself. We lacked the thing which makes great players great--belief in self.
We found we could play with other teams who were young or struggling but when we faced seniors and players who knew their strengths, we reverted back to the mental state of questioning ourselves. With all the mental toughness teaching I emphasize, it holds no grip on the young mind who has not yet seen results. We are still thinking that we must see it in order to believe it rather than believing it first. The real secret here is to see it in the mind, to believe it before it actually occurs, but we are taught in so many different arenas that the opposite is true.
I know the players have more inside themselves. They do. The problem is most people have more inside themselves and most of them never reach it, because of the fear that exists. Fear prevents us from trying, from reaching, from going forward and it becomes our biggest enemy. Whatever we fear and we give our attention to, we then create it. The more time we spend thinking about losing or being a failure, the more it becomes foremost in our mind. We become what we think about most of the time.
So how do I get these players to see themselves differently when I can't reach into their minds and turn a switch? Since I cannot get into their minds and extract what needs to be extracted and they don't recognize the power of the mind, then we have to do it the old fashion way--work and work and work. They must get back on the court and spend hours shooting so they will believe in their abilities. I have told them they need to shoot each shot 10,000 times and if they do, they will become an expert at it.
This season is done and over and we have survived and grown. This is the true tale when it is all said and done--we have grown and learned and become somebody different.
PLAY HARD. PLAY TOGETHER.
Monday, March 5, 2012
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Consistency and Confidence
With only one regular season game remaining, we are sitting at .500 with less wins than the Golden Eagles have had since 2002. We could end on a winning record or a losing one depending on the final away game. In the big scheme of things, I suppose the outcome of the final game is just not that important. What is important is how we finish the game. Do we come together and play hard, giving our best effort, or do we simply throw in the towel believing next year will be better?
My intention is for the players to fight, to battle, and to discover another piece of themselves they did not know they possessed. What I mean by this is I hope for them to use this last game, this last challenge as a means to improve themselves, to push through one more self-imposed barrier. It is, after all, what collegiate basketball at the Division II level is really about--growth. At our level, it is not about the money, the big time television contracts, the gate receipts, or even the opportunity to play pro ball. It is about using the modem of sports as a means of education.
I have several young players who have not shown their talent this season. I keep waiting for them to recognize what they possess. There is Nichole Perry, a player who is in the gym every day shooting 500-600 shots. She has made her release quicker and developed a better jumper and increased her range. Kali Cuttaia is an athlete who is quick, has great hands, a shot blocker, who can really sky on a rebound. Kayla Dozier is exceptionally quick, a player who blasts by defenders leaving a trail of smoke in her wake. LeAnne Ross can shoot the deep three pointer, stop and pop the jumper or finish a lay-up with a double pump. All of these freshmen have shown bits and pieces of their brilliance at times, but none of them have allowed their talents to be on display consistently.
This has been our problem all year--consistency. Without a go-to player, we seem to falter when we need a basket as not a single player on the team knows who wants the ball as nobody consistently asks for it. Every team needs that player who wants the ball and is willing to take the tough shots and who believes in her heart she can make them. We have players who will show talent and desire on a single night, but not one player has determined she has the talent to affect the outcome of the game.
Oh, I believe we have some players next year who will step up, who will think of themselves differently after they become a sophomore or a junior, but that thinking does not help us finish this season well and they need to finish this season well in order to start the next one with more confidence.
Confidence is a frail thing. It seems to only come after a player has seen results but she needs confidence to make the results. Ironic, isn't it?
I hope my freshmen will realize their talents and allow them to flow through them in our last game.
PLAY HARD. PLAY TOGETHER.
My intention is for the players to fight, to battle, and to discover another piece of themselves they did not know they possessed. What I mean by this is I hope for them to use this last game, this last challenge as a means to improve themselves, to push through one more self-imposed barrier. It is, after all, what collegiate basketball at the Division II level is really about--growth. At our level, it is not about the money, the big time television contracts, the gate receipts, or even the opportunity to play pro ball. It is about using the modem of sports as a means of education.
I have several young players who have not shown their talent this season. I keep waiting for them to recognize what they possess. There is Nichole Perry, a player who is in the gym every day shooting 500-600 shots. She has made her release quicker and developed a better jumper and increased her range. Kali Cuttaia is an athlete who is quick, has great hands, a shot blocker, who can really sky on a rebound. Kayla Dozier is exceptionally quick, a player who blasts by defenders leaving a trail of smoke in her wake. LeAnne Ross can shoot the deep three pointer, stop and pop the jumper or finish a lay-up with a double pump. All of these freshmen have shown bits and pieces of their brilliance at times, but none of them have allowed their talents to be on display consistently.
This has been our problem all year--consistency. Without a go-to player, we seem to falter when we need a basket as not a single player on the team knows who wants the ball as nobody consistently asks for it. Every team needs that player who wants the ball and is willing to take the tough shots and who believes in her heart she can make them. We have players who will show talent and desire on a single night, but not one player has determined she has the talent to affect the outcome of the game.
Oh, I believe we have some players next year who will step up, who will think of themselves differently after they become a sophomore or a junior, but that thinking does not help us finish this season well and they need to finish this season well in order to start the next one with more confidence.
Confidence is a frail thing. It seems to only come after a player has seen results but she needs confidence to make the results. Ironic, isn't it?
I hope my freshmen will realize their talents and allow them to flow through them in our last game.
PLAY HARD. PLAY TOGETHER.
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Recovering From A Blowout
So how does a team recover from a thirty point blowout? How does a team think it can play again after a game where nothing seemed to go right? How do players find their way back to self confidence when it was eroded and erased by a team who simply wiped the floor with our efforts?
I think the questions have to be answered with character. If our players are built more of the character of years rather than the outcome of a game or games, they can recover. If all their self-esteem is based on a performance rather than years of learning and growing, then we cannot find our way back to playing hard, to competing, or to making opponents fight against us. It is not a question of what the coaching staff says or does; it now becomes a question of who each individual is.
I no longer base my self-worth on a game or the outcome of a game. When I was a player, I certainly did this and I hate to admit this, but as a young coach I was also guilty of this judgment. Now I know through years of self-reflection, reading and meditating that I am not better or worse because we won or lost a game. I have enough confidence and faith in who I am I no longer need to reassure myself through a contest I am good enough. I hope I can pass this onto my players--that they know they are still worthy and loved if they lose.
I hope they way they judge themselves is on effort, persistence, dedication, and willingness to learn from adversity. I hope they can see their growth throughout the season and know they have traveled a great distance. I want them to understand they are getting better; they are growing; they are expanding in ways and means they cannot yet understand and even more that this experience is not a bad experience. It is neither good or bad. It becomes whatever they want it to become--that they attach the emotion to the experience. In other words, they can feel great about how they handled the adversity or they can be angry about the number of losses in the season. They can find the good about the games we've lost or they can beat themselves up feeling totally unworthy.
It is not the judgment of others which hurt us the most; it is our internal judgment for nobody else can hurt us without our consent. This season may not been deemed a year for championships but maybe, just maybe, it was meant to be more. It was meant as an opportunity for expansion and for players to learn to love themselves no matter what the numbers on the scoreboard read.
PLAY HARD. PLAY TOGETHER.
I think the questions have to be answered with character. If our players are built more of the character of years rather than the outcome of a game or games, they can recover. If all their self-esteem is based on a performance rather than years of learning and growing, then we cannot find our way back to playing hard, to competing, or to making opponents fight against us. It is not a question of what the coaching staff says or does; it now becomes a question of who each individual is.
I no longer base my self-worth on a game or the outcome of a game. When I was a player, I certainly did this and I hate to admit this, but as a young coach I was also guilty of this judgment. Now I know through years of self-reflection, reading and meditating that I am not better or worse because we won or lost a game. I have enough confidence and faith in who I am I no longer need to reassure myself through a contest I am good enough. I hope I can pass this onto my players--that they know they are still worthy and loved if they lose.
I hope they way they judge themselves is on effort, persistence, dedication, and willingness to learn from adversity. I hope they can see their growth throughout the season and know they have traveled a great distance. I want them to understand they are getting better; they are growing; they are expanding in ways and means they cannot yet understand and even more that this experience is not a bad experience. It is neither good or bad. It becomes whatever they want it to become--that they attach the emotion to the experience. In other words, they can feel great about how they handled the adversity or they can be angry about the number of losses in the season. They can find the good about the games we've lost or they can beat themselves up feeling totally unworthy.
It is not the judgment of others which hurt us the most; it is our internal judgment for nobody else can hurt us without our consent. This season may not been deemed a year for championships but maybe, just maybe, it was meant to be more. It was meant as an opportunity for expansion and for players to learn to love themselves no matter what the numbers on the scoreboard read.
PLAY HARD. PLAY TOGETHER.
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
When Your Attitude is Right, The Facts Don't Matter
I am not certain about how this team accomplishes some of the things it does. Sometimes we look so lost that we couldn't find the direction down a way one street and other times, when we have that spark, that look in our eyes which implies a don't-mess-with-me attitude, we can achieve remarkable things. After a two game losing streak where we fought with our hearts but not our heads, we came back to win two in a row. That, however, is not the remarkable thing I'm talking about.
What I am talking about is that we won those games with one and a half healthy post players. The one healthy post is freshman Kali Cuttaia and the half is 5'7'' guard turned post, Marilene LaPierre. Ericka Rousculp, the leading rebounder in the nation, was playing on an injured ankle and Shelby Stokes was out with another injury. In the game against Ohio Valley, we started with Tiffany Scott, but lost her to a head injury in the first two minutes of the game. So we played two games with one and half healthy posts. Now this is a daunting task for a good team to overcome, but for a young team, it should have been almost impossible.
I'm still not quite certain how we pulled it off, but this team has some never-say-die quality about them which makes them think they can do anything even if they have never done it before. In our last game, we set a school record for the highest second half shooting percentage in a game netting a blistering 74% from the field. This was after a rather disgusting first half where we looked as if the game was simply too fast for us and we couldn't find a way to put the ball in the basket even if it was a uncontested lay-up. How does a team who normally shoots below 40% pull that one off? And how does it pull it off when another starter goes down in the first half after plowing into the wall leaving a trail of blood in her wake? Oh, Nichole did come back and play in the second half. In fact, she played her best half of basketball in her young career scoring all 17 of her points in the last 20 minutes of play. (From this lesson, the coaching staff has deduced if she is not playing well, we should slam her head against the wall.)
Most teams would have quit in the circumstances above. They would have bought into the belief that all was going against them, but this team didn't. Nope. They just kept playing. Maybe it is their innocence, the freshmen naivete, which kept them from thinking the sky was falling, but maybe, just maybe, they have been listening to us tell them that when your attitude is right, the facts don't matter.
PLAY HARD. PLAY TOGETHER.
What I am talking about is that we won those games with one and a half healthy post players. The one healthy post is freshman Kali Cuttaia and the half is 5'7'' guard turned post, Marilene LaPierre. Ericka Rousculp, the leading rebounder in the nation, was playing on an injured ankle and Shelby Stokes was out with another injury. In the game against Ohio Valley, we started with Tiffany Scott, but lost her to a head injury in the first two minutes of the game. So we played two games with one and half healthy posts. Now this is a daunting task for a good team to overcome, but for a young team, it should have been almost impossible.
I'm still not quite certain how we pulled it off, but this team has some never-say-die quality about them which makes them think they can do anything even if they have never done it before. In our last game, we set a school record for the highest second half shooting percentage in a game netting a blistering 74% from the field. This was after a rather disgusting first half where we looked as if the game was simply too fast for us and we couldn't find a way to put the ball in the basket even if it was a uncontested lay-up. How does a team who normally shoots below 40% pull that one off? And how does it pull it off when another starter goes down in the first half after plowing into the wall leaving a trail of blood in her wake? Oh, Nichole did come back and play in the second half. In fact, she played her best half of basketball in her young career scoring all 17 of her points in the last 20 minutes of play. (From this lesson, the coaching staff has deduced if she is not playing well, we should slam her head against the wall.)
Most teams would have quit in the circumstances above. They would have bought into the belief that all was going against them, but this team didn't. Nope. They just kept playing. Maybe it is their innocence, the freshmen naivete, which kept them from thinking the sky was falling, but maybe, just maybe, they have been listening to us tell them that when your attitude is right, the facts don't matter.
PLAY HARD. PLAY TOGETHER.
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Surviving A Challenging Year
Two days ago as I was talking with my assistant coach and discussing the basketball season and what had transpired up to this point, we both agreed our team had two serious issues in front of them: 1) feeling as if they were failures, and 2) not having any confidence in their abilities. We know as coaches it is tough for a young team without a senior to feel confident. The truth is one individual who is a go-to player, who has complete and utter confidence in her skills makes those around her better, because she takes the pressure off everybody else. But when you don't have that player and all the players on the team feel enormous pressure to perform when they don't yet feel they can assume that role, their confidence wanes with each miss of the basket, each turnover and every defensive misstep.
In the world of athletics, having a losing season is never seen in a positive light. People don't talk about effort or growth when talking about a game; they talk about the score. I can't imagine what Thomas Edison would have been like as an athlete. When working on his inventions, he always believed he had not failed but through his efforts he had figured out 10,000 ways something did not work. He always believed he was one step closer to success. Would he have under the microscope of fans and the media kept his positive attitude? Or would he have succumbed to the feeling of not being good enough?
So here we are in the battle of wills, of fighting the internal dialogue of our players trying to get them to see something good in the midst of a challenging season. On Monday, we had each of them write a definition of failure and then read the definition out loud. Most of their definitions included something like failure means unwillingness to grow or giving up or not giving your best effort. Then I asked them to write down as many physical skills and intangible lessons they had learned through the past six months. When they had completed their lists, I asked if anybody had less than ten things. Not one of them raised their hand. I then told them they were not failures if they grown and learned so much--that they must feel good about how much they had evolved in a six month time frame.
On Tuesday, we tried to tackle the lack of confidence issue we had been having. I bought sandwich baggies and placed each players name on a baggie and told the team these were To-Go-Confidence Baggies. We had each player and coach write down on a piece of paper something amazing they saw in each teammate. When we were done with this task, each player had 17 confidence builders in their baggie. These were baggies to take with them and to pull out a slip of paper whenever they needed a confidence boost.
I am not angry or upset about this season; I understand this season is an opportunity for me as an individual to grow and to become someone better. My hope is I can provide that lesson to my players as well.
PLAY HARD. PLAY TOGETHER.
In the world of athletics, having a losing season is never seen in a positive light. People don't talk about effort or growth when talking about a game; they talk about the score. I can't imagine what Thomas Edison would have been like as an athlete. When working on his inventions, he always believed he had not failed but through his efforts he had figured out 10,000 ways something did not work. He always believed he was one step closer to success. Would he have under the microscope of fans and the media kept his positive attitude? Or would he have succumbed to the feeling of not being good enough?
So here we are in the battle of wills, of fighting the internal dialogue of our players trying to get them to see something good in the midst of a challenging season. On Monday, we had each of them write a definition of failure and then read the definition out loud. Most of their definitions included something like failure means unwillingness to grow or giving up or not giving your best effort. Then I asked them to write down as many physical skills and intangible lessons they had learned through the past six months. When they had completed their lists, I asked if anybody had less than ten things. Not one of them raised their hand. I then told them they were not failures if they grown and learned so much--that they must feel good about how much they had evolved in a six month time frame.
On Tuesday, we tried to tackle the lack of confidence issue we had been having. I bought sandwich baggies and placed each players name on a baggie and told the team these were To-Go-Confidence Baggies. We had each player and coach write down on a piece of paper something amazing they saw in each teammate. When we were done with this task, each player had 17 confidence builders in their baggie. These were baggies to take with them and to pull out a slip of paper whenever they needed a confidence boost.
I am not angry or upset about this season; I understand this season is an opportunity for me as an individual to grow and to become someone better. My hope is I can provide that lesson to my players as well.
PLAY HARD. PLAY TOGETHER.
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Remembering Nothing is Ever Good Or Bad
As we began our trip to Shepherd University things starting seemingly falling apart. Before we departed, we almost left our practice gear in the locker room and then once we arrived, we found we have left the Blueberry (our nickname for the DVD player). This created quite a ruckus among the athletes as I queried them about who was supposed to bring it as none of them wanted to face my wrath. Of course, I knew what they didn't. I wasn't going to go crazy. Nope. Instead I was going to find a way to make things work without it.
Once we got to the hotel, we discovered our gym time we had reserved with the hotel's gym had been usurped by the government. I didn't know the government had imminent domain over hotel gyms! Since we had been denied practice time at Shepherd University, my wonderful staff started working on finding us a place to have a morning practice. When it was discovered our men's team had a practice time at Shepherd while we were not afforded one, we begged for a time there. After calling local schools, churches and fitness centers, we finally resorted to asking if we could use the upstairs gymnasium at SU. When we got an affirmation, we hurriedly assembled the team and got on the bus before we somehow missed our golden opportunity to prepare for the game.
Once we got upstairs to their practice facility, a class had taken over the gym. Without even batting an eye or letting a curse world slide off my lips, I led the team across the facility to the other side which looked like it was used as purgatory for wayward athletic teams and decided it would have to suffice for us. So with our men's team on the real court and a class on the next best court, we were stuffed in a makeshift rectangular hellhole with a blue rubber floor and no basketball hoops. As the team started to make comments about how everything seemed to be going wrong, I stopped them with one of my infamous stares and told them, "This is not bad or good. It is what we make of it. We can decide to use this as an excuse and tell our sad story or we can find a way to make it work. It is our choice to decide what we want to do."
I know when I was younger I would have taken every misstep as a sign things were going badly and I would have plummeted to despair and hopelessness believing the game was already lost before we had even stepped on the court. Good thing I am no longer that youngster and know better than to attach an emotion to a series of events. I now know that events happen and they are neither good nor bad; they just are. We are responsible for the emotions. And in this situation, our choice was to find a way rather than to find an excuse.
I don't yet know the outcome of the game as I am writing this before the game has occurred, but I do know this--we will not allow the events which transpired before the game to affect our thoughts about our abilities to win the game.
PLAY HARD. PLAY TOGETHER.
Once we got to the hotel, we discovered our gym time we had reserved with the hotel's gym had been usurped by the government. I didn't know the government had imminent domain over hotel gyms! Since we had been denied practice time at Shepherd University, my wonderful staff started working on finding us a place to have a morning practice. When it was discovered our men's team had a practice time at Shepherd while we were not afforded one, we begged for a time there. After calling local schools, churches and fitness centers, we finally resorted to asking if we could use the upstairs gymnasium at SU. When we got an affirmation, we hurriedly assembled the team and got on the bus before we somehow missed our golden opportunity to prepare for the game.
Once we got upstairs to their practice facility, a class had taken over the gym. Without even batting an eye or letting a curse world slide off my lips, I led the team across the facility to the other side which looked like it was used as purgatory for wayward athletic teams and decided it would have to suffice for us. So with our men's team on the real court and a class on the next best court, we were stuffed in a makeshift rectangular hellhole with a blue rubber floor and no basketball hoops. As the team started to make comments about how everything seemed to be going wrong, I stopped them with one of my infamous stares and told them, "This is not bad or good. It is what we make of it. We can decide to use this as an excuse and tell our sad story or we can find a way to make it work. It is our choice to decide what we want to do."
I know when I was younger I would have taken every misstep as a sign things were going badly and I would have plummeted to despair and hopelessness believing the game was already lost before we had even stepped on the court. Good thing I am no longer that youngster and know better than to attach an emotion to a series of events. I now know that events happen and they are neither good nor bad; they just are. We are responsible for the emotions. And in this situation, our choice was to find a way rather than to find an excuse.
I don't yet know the outcome of the game as I am writing this before the game has occurred, but I do know this--we will not allow the events which transpired before the game to affect our thoughts about our abilities to win the game.
PLAY HARD. PLAY TOGETHER.
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Passion is The Only Way To Play
I'll be the first one to admit I haven't done a consistent job of posting blogs this year. I could use many reasons but in the end the reasons are just excuses and don't work. The truth is I've been reluctant to write about this team and the journey they have taken. It is not a journey of power and courage, not one of strength, but one of insecurity and a lack of confidence. I understand they are young, one of the youngest teams in the league. I get that in my system, there is a tremendous amount of learning which translates into a difficult freshmen year. Not very many freshmen in my system have done well.
I can only recall three freshmen who were outstanding in the eleven years I've coached at the University of Charleston: Sarah Batchelder, Lisa Lee and Courtney Thomas. All three of those players made significant contributions their freshmen years, but they also were emotionally immature and made many errors. There have been others who came through in their freshmen season and we wondered if they would ever make good players like Jihan Williams, Kika Carman, Rachel Pike, Lindsey Kentner, Tiana Beatty and Tarenna Dixon. None of those players were outstanding their freshmen season and most of them came off the bench for 10-15 minutes a game but by the time they were juniors, they were amazing.
So I sit here wondering who will grow up and become an All-Conference player and who will sink into a vat of nothingness, who can step up and become a leader and what players will never find their voices. I always want to have hope, to have this belief every player can develop into something special, but I also know after years of doing this that there are some players who have the heart, the passion and the work ethic to make it happen, and then there are others who simply fade away never allowing themselves the opportunity for greatness.
I think we have several who can be great but I haven't seen the passion, the consistent fire in them I want to see. I love passion, the thing inside players which makes them scream after a big shot or pump their fist after taking a charge. I'd rather have to tame an angry player than try to pull a small bit of fire from an apathetic one. Apathy drives me crazy, makes me want to spit and foam at the mouth. I've never understood giving less than 100% believing the giving is the part which makes the person and the player.
I want to believe in this group of players and I have tried everything in my bag of tricks to make them motivated. I have been positive, shown encouragement, yelled, screamed, thrown fits, talked circles around them, and even tried the silent treatment. At some point, it has to mean something to them; it has to come from them. I cannot carry them all with my passion and heart. So I have decided to put it back on them hoping they will see the light, hoping they will step up and want to be good, hoping they will want to put on the maroon and gold jersey of the Golden Eagles and feel what others felt inside it. I can only hope.
PLAY HARD. PLAY TOGETHER.
I can only recall three freshmen who were outstanding in the eleven years I've coached at the University of Charleston: Sarah Batchelder, Lisa Lee and Courtney Thomas. All three of those players made significant contributions their freshmen years, but they also were emotionally immature and made many errors. There have been others who came through in their freshmen season and we wondered if they would ever make good players like Jihan Williams, Kika Carman, Rachel Pike, Lindsey Kentner, Tiana Beatty and Tarenna Dixon. None of those players were outstanding their freshmen season and most of them came off the bench for 10-15 minutes a game but by the time they were juniors, they were amazing.
So I sit here wondering who will grow up and become an All-Conference player and who will sink into a vat of nothingness, who can step up and become a leader and what players will never find their voices. I always want to have hope, to have this belief every player can develop into something special, but I also know after years of doing this that there are some players who have the heart, the passion and the work ethic to make it happen, and then there are others who simply fade away never allowing themselves the opportunity for greatness.
I think we have several who can be great but I haven't seen the passion, the consistent fire in them I want to see. I love passion, the thing inside players which makes them scream after a big shot or pump their fist after taking a charge. I'd rather have to tame an angry player than try to pull a small bit of fire from an apathetic one. Apathy drives me crazy, makes me want to spit and foam at the mouth. I've never understood giving less than 100% believing the giving is the part which makes the person and the player.
I want to believe in this group of players and I have tried everything in my bag of tricks to make them motivated. I have been positive, shown encouragement, yelled, screamed, thrown fits, talked circles around them, and even tried the silent treatment. At some point, it has to mean something to them; it has to come from them. I cannot carry them all with my passion and heart. So I have decided to put it back on them hoping they will see the light, hoping they will step up and want to be good, hoping they will want to put on the maroon and gold jersey of the Golden Eagles and feel what others felt inside it. I can only hope.
PLAY HARD. PLAY TOGETHER.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
An Oxymoron--Patient Aggressive Offense?
December was a weird and unusual month for us as we played only four games in a five week period. For the players, it meant never-ending practices where the coaches could push them with high intensity and force them to go hard day after day without worrying about tapering off for games. After enduring six weeks of conditioning in the fall, what player would want another month of perceived conditioning?
Personally, the opportunity to work long practice hours, to get in the gym twice a day over the winter break, is a slice of heaven. With such a young team, it is necessary to teach, to do high numbers of repetitions of the same skill, to demand the right execution of offense, and to get them to buy into team defense. This past week we've been spending hours and hours on the concept of side to side and back on offense. When we broke down the game tapes of our last two games and noted the number of times we took bad shots, we knew things had to drastically change.
Most coaches don't mess with teaching the motion offense because it requires so much time, patience and structure. I bought into it because it provides freedom within structure and it teaches the players how to actually play the game not just run from spot to spot. The problem with teaching players how to set a screen and use a screen is that most of them have never been taught how to do either. In fact when I watch basketball on television at the Division I level, I am often surprised at how many elite players do run-by screens or how they screen only air.
Some of the hardest concepts about motion offense are letting the ball take care of itself meaning each player has to trust the person with the ball taking her eyes off the ball while she sets a screen or uses a screen. The next most difficult concept is to learn what a good shot is within the offense and when to take that shot which is where the side to side and back concept arises. If we can teach the team to be patient enough while still being aggressive with the ball, we will make better shots but to most players the idea of being patient aggressive sounds like an oxymoron.
It is a lengthy process but one I believe in because I have witnessed the growth of players over the years. So many of our freshmen come in averaging four or five points but by their senior year are closing in on a thousand points. I know it works but the process of teaching and learning it is very challenging.
My hope is by the time the winter break is over, our players will have caught on and our shooting percentage will be on the rise.
PLAY HARD. PLAY TOGETHER.
Personally, the opportunity to work long practice hours, to get in the gym twice a day over the winter break, is a slice of heaven. With such a young team, it is necessary to teach, to do high numbers of repetitions of the same skill, to demand the right execution of offense, and to get them to buy into team defense. This past week we've been spending hours and hours on the concept of side to side and back on offense. When we broke down the game tapes of our last two games and noted the number of times we took bad shots, we knew things had to drastically change.
Most coaches don't mess with teaching the motion offense because it requires so much time, patience and structure. I bought into it because it provides freedom within structure and it teaches the players how to actually play the game not just run from spot to spot. The problem with teaching players how to set a screen and use a screen is that most of them have never been taught how to do either. In fact when I watch basketball on television at the Division I level, I am often surprised at how many elite players do run-by screens or how they screen only air.
Some of the hardest concepts about motion offense are letting the ball take care of itself meaning each player has to trust the person with the ball taking her eyes off the ball while she sets a screen or uses a screen. The next most difficult concept is to learn what a good shot is within the offense and when to take that shot which is where the side to side and back concept arises. If we can teach the team to be patient enough while still being aggressive with the ball, we will make better shots but to most players the idea of being patient aggressive sounds like an oxymoron.
It is a lengthy process but one I believe in because I have witnessed the growth of players over the years. So many of our freshmen come in averaging four or five points but by their senior year are closing in on a thousand points. I know it works but the process of teaching and learning it is very challenging.
My hope is by the time the winter break is over, our players will have caught on and our shooting percentage will be on the rise.
PLAY HARD. PLAY TOGETHER.
Friday, December 16, 2011
Loving The Life Of A Coach
Most people have no clue what goes on behind the doors of the gymnasium. Some people have this concept the coaches spend their day hanging out, talking to peers, working out in the fitness center and waiting around until practice begins as if practice time is when our day really starts. The truth is the day sometimes begins at 10:00 a.m. and sometimes at 5:30 a.m. Sometimes it ends at 6:30 in the evening and sometimes earlier but on away trips, it usually lasts until 2:00 a.m. We don't get the holidays the other staff members at the university receive as our season rolls right through Thanksgiving, Christmas and spring break. Oh it is true, we now receive a seven day recovery time during the Christmas holidays because of the NCAA Division II Life in The Balance Initiative, but our peers get a four week vacation.
So what do coaches do in a normal day? Well, first of all there is no such thing as normal. Nope. Not in the world of coaching. Every day brings a hotbed of new challenges to the table. Sometimes we have to stop everything for a "crisis" of one of our players. I put the word in quotation marks because I rarely see things as a crisis. I mostly see events now as opportunities, as doorways, and as the marker for something better to come, but most of our players have not yet gotten to that philosophy of life. They still think there are good days and bad days and evil lurking around every corner waiting to grab them up and insert its nastiness. It is our job to help them see the good and the light at then end of their perceived tunnel.
When we are not dealing with academic or personal issues of our players, we are preparing for practices, doing the much dreaded NCAA compliance paper work, and recruiting which entails writing emails, making phone calls and watching tons of games. During the season, we are mostly breaking down game film pausing the film, rewinding it, taking notes and watching, watching, watching. The preparation for a single game takes hours. We have to discover through game film how to defeat our opponents and what are the keys to winning the game, and then we must sell that to our players in a way they understand it.
The life of a coach is hectic, stressful but oh-so-rewarding. It is not the wins which feel so good; it is witnessing the growth of the players, watching them as they transition to better people. It is getting an email from Ali Tobias saying thank you and telling me how I touched her life, and hearing from Mr. Carmen how Kika is now attending law school because she learned so much from playing at UC. It is watching Jihan who we literally had to babysit through classes to make certain she graduated now bring her books and computer to study for graduate school while she is visiting her boyfriend. It is knowing I have so many former players who are now extremely successful in their chosen careers.
Coaching is a crazy profession. It requires a dedication beyond the ordinary; it requires people who live with a passion for the teaching of the game. I know I am blessed to have been a coach for 22 years, and I am so grateful for each player who passed through the gyms where I coached for each one of them taught me something valuable and made me a better person.
PLAY HARD. PLAY TOGETHER.
So what do coaches do in a normal day? Well, first of all there is no such thing as normal. Nope. Not in the world of coaching. Every day brings a hotbed of new challenges to the table. Sometimes we have to stop everything for a "crisis" of one of our players. I put the word in quotation marks because I rarely see things as a crisis. I mostly see events now as opportunities, as doorways, and as the marker for something better to come, but most of our players have not yet gotten to that philosophy of life. They still think there are good days and bad days and evil lurking around every corner waiting to grab them up and insert its nastiness. It is our job to help them see the good and the light at then end of their perceived tunnel.
When we are not dealing with academic or personal issues of our players, we are preparing for practices, doing the much dreaded NCAA compliance paper work, and recruiting which entails writing emails, making phone calls and watching tons of games. During the season, we are mostly breaking down game film pausing the film, rewinding it, taking notes and watching, watching, watching. The preparation for a single game takes hours. We have to discover through game film how to defeat our opponents and what are the keys to winning the game, and then we must sell that to our players in a way they understand it.
The life of a coach is hectic, stressful but oh-so-rewarding. It is not the wins which feel so good; it is witnessing the growth of the players, watching them as they transition to better people. It is getting an email from Ali Tobias saying thank you and telling me how I touched her life, and hearing from Mr. Carmen how Kika is now attending law school because she learned so much from playing at UC. It is watching Jihan who we literally had to babysit through classes to make certain she graduated now bring her books and computer to study for graduate school while she is visiting her boyfriend. It is knowing I have so many former players who are now extremely successful in their chosen careers.
Coaching is a crazy profession. It requires a dedication beyond the ordinary; it requires people who live with a passion for the teaching of the game. I know I am blessed to have been a coach for 22 years, and I am so grateful for each player who passed through the gyms where I coached for each one of them taught me something valuable and made me a better person.
PLAY HARD. PLAY TOGETHER.
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Firing From The Hip With Chrissy Keir
There are probably not many coaches who would have recruited Chrissy Keir as she stands about 5'2" on a good day with extra padding in her high top shoes. In fact, I clearly remember the day we were recruiting her. It was in a gym on the outskirts of Washington, D.C. where teams were playing on ten courts. We happened to be sitting at her court because we were watching the point guard from the other team.
As we sat and observed, we became more and more enamored with her ability to squeeze a ball between two defenders, to see the floor, and to monitor the tempo of the game. There were many coaches sitting around us all lamenting her size commenting if she were only taller they would recruit her. I wasn't in on those discussions. What I kept coming back to was the height she played not the height she was.
So now after two years of playing experience where she has shown small bits of her game, letting passes fly from the hip on occasion, holding back just a little, letting the senior starting point guard have the glory, she has finally decided to step up and be a player. During our last two games, she was the floor general fully in command supporting her troops in the way only a general could.
In the game against West Liberty, she did all the little things that only a discerning eye could see--playing position defense, calling out screens, tracing the ball on the dribbler, recognizing the play and calling it out to teammates. None of these are in the stat column, none of these are noted by reporters or even fans, but her coaches and teammates know they all make a difference in the outcome of the game.
Not only has she been playing amazing defense, but she has begun feeling when to push the ball and when to slow down the tempo recognizing the pace of the game we want. She knows when to hold the ball and allow her teammates to get into place or when to push it for the transition basket.
But what I really adore are her passes--the ones she pulls out of her trick cap, the ones nobody sees coming except for her teammates who have learned to keep their hands up and ready. She has this ability to put a spin on the ball which makes the ball travel one way and then back to a teammate. I'm not certain how this works but I do love it when a defender tries to get to the ball and thinks she has a hand on it and then it slides away from her. There is the behind the back pass and the no look pass, the passes that graze defenders' ears as they whistle by their heads on way to the posts in the low block. When she makes one of her amazing passes, it dazzles the crowds and gets her teammates off the bench in excitement creating momentum for the team.
I am thrilled to see the floor general in complete confidence, playing in the zone, commanding her teammates to play harder and faster. If no other coach or opponent notes her importance to this team, I want her to recognize the coaches do. Thanks Chrissy for stepping up and being the player you were meant to be.
PLAY HARD. PLAY TOGETHER.
As we sat and observed, we became more and more enamored with her ability to squeeze a ball between two defenders, to see the floor, and to monitor the tempo of the game. There were many coaches sitting around us all lamenting her size commenting if she were only taller they would recruit her. I wasn't in on those discussions. What I kept coming back to was the height she played not the height she was.
So now after two years of playing experience where she has shown small bits of her game, letting passes fly from the hip on occasion, holding back just a little, letting the senior starting point guard have the glory, she has finally decided to step up and be a player. During our last two games, she was the floor general fully in command supporting her troops in the way only a general could.
In the game against West Liberty, she did all the little things that only a discerning eye could see--playing position defense, calling out screens, tracing the ball on the dribbler, recognizing the play and calling it out to teammates. None of these are in the stat column, none of these are noted by reporters or even fans, but her coaches and teammates know they all make a difference in the outcome of the game.
Not only has she been playing amazing defense, but she has begun feeling when to push the ball and when to slow down the tempo recognizing the pace of the game we want. She knows when to hold the ball and allow her teammates to get into place or when to push it for the transition basket.
But what I really adore are her passes--the ones she pulls out of her trick cap, the ones nobody sees coming except for her teammates who have learned to keep their hands up and ready. She has this ability to put a spin on the ball which makes the ball travel one way and then back to a teammate. I'm not certain how this works but I do love it when a defender tries to get to the ball and thinks she has a hand on it and then it slides away from her. There is the behind the back pass and the no look pass, the passes that graze defenders' ears as they whistle by their heads on way to the posts in the low block. When she makes one of her amazing passes, it dazzles the crowds and gets her teammates off the bench in excitement creating momentum for the team.
I am thrilled to see the floor general in complete confidence, playing in the zone, commanding her teammates to play harder and faster. If no other coach or opponent notes her importance to this team, I want her to recognize the coaches do. Thanks Chrissy for stepping up and being the player you were meant to be.
PLAY HARD. PLAY TOGETHER.
Friday, December 2, 2011
Living In Optimism
When I was younger, in my twenties, I considered myself a realist. Most people who knew me would have called me a pessimist but I thought I called things as they were and lived in reality. I had no idea reality is something which is made up in one's mind so I spent much of my time looking at things and seeing the worst possibility and believing in the "facts" other people gave me as truth. Lucky for me I dropped being a realist and signed up for optimism because now I believe in all possibilities and I seek in the best in things.
Take for instance this basketball season. Had I been coaching this team full of youngsters and inexperience in my twenties and early thirties, I'm certain I would have listened to the wisdom of all those who would have offered their belief that youth cannot win big games. I would have bought into this hook, line and sinker thinking like most people do that young players don't have the experience to play in tight situations. I would have coached the team with the mindset we would be a good team the next year and take our lumps for the season.
We started the season 0-3 losing to teams which we could have beaten, looking rather raw and incapable of doing anything remotely close to resembling solid basketball fundamentals. The coaches watched from the sideline as we boinked the ball off the backboard on easy put backs, fumbled passes, threw the ball directly to the players who were not on our team, shot a measly 60% from the free throw line and generally looked like a sandlot group of athletes who were playing basketball for the first time in our lives. It was dreadful and I could have believed we were going to drown in this ugliness, swallowing too much of the missed cues, but I chose to believe in what I knew to be this team's potential.
We have speed and more speed, players who are lightening quick and appear like shadows on the court, coming in and out of a play before the opponents can see them. We have rebounders who can jump up with with great hands grab the ball right out of the air and we have this thing called "passion" which flows through so many team members it is like electricity on the court. Because I now believe in miracles, in the creation of great events in our minds, I didn't panic early in the season; I kept the faith knowing these young women would eventually come to see in themselves what the coaching staff saw in them.
Oh, it is still a work in progress and they are still trying to see the best in themselves, but they have improved from November 12th, our first game, to last night in what only could be called an amazing miracle of sorts. In our first contest, we only scored 46 points. Last night we had 44 points at half time. We have won three straight games and totally changed the pace of the way we play. In my old mind, I would have determined this was a fluke, a one time thing, but in my new mindset, I know it is only the beginning of amazing things to come. These young women will get better and better rising to the occasion, learning to see with their dreams rather than with the "facts" other people might try to sell them.
PLAY HARD. PLAY TOGETHER.
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Coaching Is An Art
It is always interesting to me how the older players always believe I was tougher on them their freshmen year. Every year I hear the same tale--I'm getting softer. It is a story I've heard for the past 21 years. At this rate I should have been a marsh mellow by now.
So I listen to the upper class players and I get tougher for a few days, making them run for not hustling, perform frozen push-ups for not boxing out, jump on the heavy ropes for not using a screen. I yell louder, act tougher and everybody is happy thinking I'm back to my "normal" self. The truth of the matter is I'm a demanding coach year after year and sometimes I do get a little off kilter but never as much as the players claim. The thing is they don't put it in perspective. When they first arrive here, it feels tougher because they have never lived through the experience. First year players always feel targeted, feel they are getting the brunt of the criticism, and are certain I am on their case more than any other player. After the first year, the norm for players is the demanding practice so they don't believe I am being hard enough.
I often alternate between being extremely hard on players and giving them love. It is not uncommon for me to hug a player or slap them playfully on the back. I often tell them they are amazing or awesome or incredible. I believe all people need to hear this regardless of their age. Then there are days when I push and demand and ride them as if they have never done anything right on the court. There is a thin line which a coach must always walk; this line is between allowing a player to remain in her comfort zone and pushing her to a new awakening of her potential. It has to be done with tough love, giving praise and then demanding more.
I know they must feel as if my praise is real and valid so I give it only when they do well. I also know if they hear constant criticism even if it is meant to improve their skills they hear that they are not good enough preventing them from performing at a higher level. It is a thin rope to walk and I try to keep the balance but sometimes I fail and they falter because I haven't been positive enough.
About a week and a half ago I blasted two of my leaders in front of the team yelling at them for a lack of effort, taking them out of their leadership roles, making them run instead of doing drills. This was a calculated plan on my part. If I lost them for the season, we were not going to win a game, but I knew if they heard me and made an adjustment, it could mean success. Both of them were angry at me, refusing to look at me, wanting nothing to do with me believing I was being unfair to them and targeting them. I did target them as they were my leaders; they had to work at a different level.
Now they are playing better and being more vocal leading both through effort and voice. They will forget the practice where they were "targeted" as they play better and the team wins more. Eventually they will know I did this out of love as I wanted them to get to the next level, to be the players hidden inside of themselves.
Coaching is an art and sometimes I do well at it and sometimes I miscalculate. Hopefully, the players know my intentions are always the same--to make them the best possible players they can be.
PLAY HARD. PLAY TOGETHER.
So I listen to the upper class players and I get tougher for a few days, making them run for not hustling, perform frozen push-ups for not boxing out, jump on the heavy ropes for not using a screen. I yell louder, act tougher and everybody is happy thinking I'm back to my "normal" self. The truth of the matter is I'm a demanding coach year after year and sometimes I do get a little off kilter but never as much as the players claim. The thing is they don't put it in perspective. When they first arrive here, it feels tougher because they have never lived through the experience. First year players always feel targeted, feel they are getting the brunt of the criticism, and are certain I am on their case more than any other player. After the first year, the norm for players is the demanding practice so they don't believe I am being hard enough.
I often alternate between being extremely hard on players and giving them love. It is not uncommon for me to hug a player or slap them playfully on the back. I often tell them they are amazing or awesome or incredible. I believe all people need to hear this regardless of their age. Then there are days when I push and demand and ride them as if they have never done anything right on the court. There is a thin line which a coach must always walk; this line is between allowing a player to remain in her comfort zone and pushing her to a new awakening of her potential. It has to be done with tough love, giving praise and then demanding more.
I know they must feel as if my praise is real and valid so I give it only when they do well. I also know if they hear constant criticism even if it is meant to improve their skills they hear that they are not good enough preventing them from performing at a higher level. It is a thin rope to walk and I try to keep the balance but sometimes I fail and they falter because I haven't been positive enough.
About a week and a half ago I blasted two of my leaders in front of the team yelling at them for a lack of effort, taking them out of their leadership roles, making them run instead of doing drills. This was a calculated plan on my part. If I lost them for the season, we were not going to win a game, but I knew if they heard me and made an adjustment, it could mean success. Both of them were angry at me, refusing to look at me, wanting nothing to do with me believing I was being unfair to them and targeting them. I did target them as they were my leaders; they had to work at a different level.
Now they are playing better and being more vocal leading both through effort and voice. They will forget the practice where they were "targeted" as they play better and the team wins more. Eventually they will know I did this out of love as I wanted them to get to the next level, to be the players hidden inside of themselves.
Coaching is an art and sometimes I do well at it and sometimes I miscalculate. Hopefully, the players know my intentions are always the same--to make them the best possible players they can be.
PLAY HARD. PLAY TOGETHER.
Friday, November 18, 2011
Losing Is Only the First Step To Winning
After our third loss in a row and a loss to Bluefield State, I've had people calling me, consoling me as if a family member had died. It is interesting to me in the world of athletics how a loss or a losing season makes people get depressed and think less of themselves. I'm not angry or depressed or in a state where I have lost faith in the team or myself.
I know this group of players will figure it out. My teams historically start off slow because I teach so much. I have this philosophy about the game of basketball which includes breaking each part of the game down into a very small portion, teaching each skill exactly how it should be done, demanding the players execute everything correctly. This can result in a type of paralysis where players start to doubt their abilities and initially it hinders their talents, but when they get it, they become three times the player others thought they could be.
I have seen this occur so often that I don't panic over losing games or freshmen not playing to their potential. After all, I've witnessed players evolve from substitutes off the bench to All-Americans. I watched Jihan Williams grow from her freshmen year where I couldn't play her because she wouldn't adhere to our defensive principles to an All-American her senior year. I observed Tarenna Dixon expand from a player who couldn't score consistently to averaging a double-double her senior year. I witnessed Lisa Lee develop from high school where she barely averaged 10 points a game to becoming UC's career leading scorer.
I've watched so many freshmen struggle with our system and with their confidence that I am acutely aware of how we affect them. I've even had parents angry with me after watching their child in their freshmen year, telling me I was ruining their child only to later tell me after their child's senior year they were amazed at how good they had become.
Being a teacher means I have to have patience, to push the team when I think they ought to be pushed, but to love and hug them when they are distraught and in despair. I alternate between being incredibly demanding to being patient hopefully giving the players the feeling of confidence they need to be successful.
If I chose to put them in a system where they ran to spots and had the freedom of not having to think so much, we might be more successful earlier but I am in this for the long haul, wanting them to intimately know and understand the game. Every one of the players at UC will know why each play works, how to correctly defend it, how to read the defense and improve their individual skills. They will be smarter than many coaches and this added game intelligence will give them power; they will feel they can defeat anybody with their brains.
So when people call to console me, they must first know I am okay. I understand we are in the teaching mode and our young players are learning. What I am absolutely confident in is the faith we will discover a way to win and we will get better. We will win some games and defeat some very tough opponents before the season is over. Those who are laughing at us now and doubting us will soon become aware that we don't give up at the University of Charleston. Instead we use each game to get better, each loss as an opportunity for growth.
I am proud of how far we have come this year in only three games and I know with our hard workers and passion, we will continue to grow at an amazing rate.
PLAY HARD. PLAY TOGETHER.
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Change is Good!
On Saturday night I dressed up as a good friend of mine putting on a dress with full accessories of matching earrings, bracelets, a necklace, five inch heels and then went the entire enchilada wearing make-up and pink nail polish. For those of you who don't know me that was a long stretch from who I normally am. My normal attire consists of sweats and t-shirts and occasional jeans. If I get really dressed up, I put on a nice pant suit and a shirt which I pray matches.
The only reason I mention the above is to illustrate how quickly change can occur if one has the desire. This is exactly what the Golden Eagles did on Sunday in our second scrimmage. In just a matter of five days, we shifted from a team who did not comprehend what help side defense was to a team who shut down an opponent. It was an amazing transformation--one that even I had did not expect.
On the very first team meeting, I told them there were two necessary ingredients to creating success. One was the willingness to learn and the other was the willingness to change. Many players want to keep doing the same thing and expect different results which is by the way the definition of insanity. This team, however, understands the need to change and to do it rapidly.
In order to prepare for our scrimmage on Sunday, we prepared differently. Coach Pike took the time to watch the game DVD with small groups of players, pointing out how they performed--the difference between what we wanted from them and what they were doing. We broke down the opponent's offense and worked on defending their pick on balls. We presented a scouting report depicting how to defend their plays and players. We walked through all of their out-of-bounds plays and offensive sets, taking the time to specifically coach the team on exactly how to defend each movement.
This was a lot of information in a short amount of time, yet the team swallowed it, let it digest and then spit it back it back out as if they had been doing these techniques for years. Oh, I know it was only a scrimmage but the implications of how quickly they learned and wanted to do better is the reason I'm so excited. If they are willing to change and grow, great things can happen.
When a victory occurs like that and I'm not simply talking about the scoreboard but the process of change, something goes off inside the team. It is a realization or recognition of potential, of the ability of greatness within themselves. This is what changes players--their belief systems. As much as we try to tell them they can do something, they have to internally believe it and once it becomes a belief, then they show their true talents.
In a matter of a five days we altered who we were. Granted we still have a long journey in front of us, but the future appears bright for players who are committed to learning.
PLAY HARD. PLAY TOGETHER.
Friday, October 28, 2011
Looking For The Go-To Player
Usually the first scrimmage game is ugly and our initial attempt at playing was not an exception to that rule at all. With only seven players returning and eight freshmen, we are experiencing some concept issues such as playing together. It is always challenging to mold players into a team but now with our youth and inexperience, it is double the challenge.
We have high school players coming in not knowing exactly what their role is, trying to discover what they can and can't do at the collegiate level. Beyond that we lost our top four scorers to graduation so our underclass players are trying to figure out who is going to step up and become the go-to player. At this point, the coaches don't have any answers. We have to wait and see who has the guts, the heart, the talent and the I.Q. to get it done.
This is probably the first time in several years I don't know who our go-to player is. I've got some ideas on who it could be but I'm waiting for that player to show me who she is. A player has to want to score and has to believe in herself. Confidence cannot come from the outside; it has to come from the inside. It might take a few games for somebody to step up. I can remember a few years ago when it took Lindsey Kentner a few games into the season to decide she could score. Heck, it took her two years to decide that when we knew it the first day she walked into the gym. When she finally decided that she was it, she became MVP of the conference.
Do we have another Lindsey Kentner lurking in our midst? I know nobody else will be exactly like her, and we will never have another Jihan Williams, Courtney Thomas, Lisa Lee, or Rachel Pike either. We could have another great player. In fact I'm certain we have several on the court right now. They just don't own that awareness yet.
I am hoping as we push them somebody will emerge as a great player or maybe several players will begin to get that feeling of accomplishment, of the inner knowing they are amazing. I am patiently waiting for greatness to emerge but I hope with my not so gentle prodding, it will be soon.
We have much to learn as a group. On the sideline as a coaching group, we couldn't even tell the team how to adjust in the scrimmage. The problem is with our youth they don't know that they don't know. So if we tell them the other team is running something which we as coaches know how to defend, but our players have no idea of what it really is we can't make adjustments. All we can do is to continue to coach, to continue to teach, to tell them little by little what they need to do. I know we will get there eventually and I truly believe in our talent but it may take a little time.
In the meantime as we are waiting for the go-to player to evolve and for others to find their strengths, we will just have to keep teaching, to continue to push and to keep believing.
PLAY HARD. PLAY TOGETHER.
We have high school players coming in not knowing exactly what their role is, trying to discover what they can and can't do at the collegiate level. Beyond that we lost our top four scorers to graduation so our underclass players are trying to figure out who is going to step up and become the go-to player. At this point, the coaches don't have any answers. We have to wait and see who has the guts, the heart, the talent and the I.Q. to get it done.
This is probably the first time in several years I don't know who our go-to player is. I've got some ideas on who it could be but I'm waiting for that player to show me who she is. A player has to want to score and has to believe in herself. Confidence cannot come from the outside; it has to come from the inside. It might take a few games for somebody to step up. I can remember a few years ago when it took Lindsey Kentner a few games into the season to decide she could score. Heck, it took her two years to decide that when we knew it the first day she walked into the gym. When she finally decided that she was it, she became MVP of the conference.
Do we have another Lindsey Kentner lurking in our midst? I know nobody else will be exactly like her, and we will never have another Jihan Williams, Courtney Thomas, Lisa Lee, or Rachel Pike either. We could have another great player. In fact I'm certain we have several on the court right now. They just don't own that awareness yet.
I am hoping as we push them somebody will emerge as a great player or maybe several players will begin to get that feeling of accomplishment, of the inner knowing they are amazing. I am patiently waiting for greatness to emerge but I hope with my not so gentle prodding, it will be soon.
We have much to learn as a group. On the sideline as a coaching group, we couldn't even tell the team how to adjust in the scrimmage. The problem is with our youth they don't know that they don't know. So if we tell them the other team is running something which we as coaches know how to defend, but our players have no idea of what it really is we can't make adjustments. All we can do is to continue to coach, to continue to teach, to tell them little by little what they need to do. I know we will get there eventually and I truly believe in our talent but it may take a little time.
In the meantime as we are waiting for the go-to player to evolve and for others to find their strengths, we will just have to keep teaching, to continue to push and to keep believing.
PLAY HARD. PLAY TOGETHER.
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
A Special Team
After our seventh practice in four days, I cannot predict the success of this team, but I can predict they will always give 100%. I am fascinated by the way they constantly put their bodies in jeopardy, diving into the chairs, the scorer's table and each other, wanting the ball so badly they will sacrifice their bodies just to grab it. They don't have to be coerced to take charges; they love taking them. It is an honor to be on the floor and to get their jersey dirty. What is amazing is it is not just one or two players doing this; it is the team.
I'm surprised by their capacity to train hard and then come back three hours later to train hard again. This is a group of players who possess a passion, a love for hustle, a determination that oozes out of their pores. They may not do the drills right or execute the technique the way I want it, but I find it so hard to get mad at them when they are doing it with every ounce of energy they possess.
This team doesn't take the criticism or discipline personally. They recognize it for what it is--the coaches' determination to make them the best they can be. If they are a second late and the team runs, they don't look at each other cross-eyed and curse; they encourage one another to get it done.
The first time we introduce a drill, I can barely stand watching it. We appear so disheveled, so out of sorts, all kind of body parts where they shouldn't be, and yet a day later when we do it again, they seem to have miraculously discovered the formula for running the drill correctly. I'm not certain how they achieve this overnight and want to ask them, but I'm afraid I'll mess up whatever they are doing.
After only six weeks of working with this group of players, I think they are special. I'm not talking necessarily about talent but about their emotional maturity, their willingness to be coached and their never-say-die attitude. They possess something which makes me want to be a better coach, which drives me to work harder to make them better. I think this is the greatest compliment a group of players can have--that they make their coaches want to be better.
PLAY HARD. PLAY TOGETHER.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Surviving The First Real Practice
The first day of official practices is coming closer and with this comes a different coaching staff. For the first six weeks, we are patient in teaching, slowing down our instruction, repeating ourselves often, showing compassion for those who struggle in the learning process. We want the best environment for learning where the players can feel comfortable.
All of that changes as soon as we step on the court for our first real training session. For the freshmen, it is as if the coaches have changed personality, as if some alien has taken over our bodies. It is written in their faces, the way their eyes widen the first time they are yelled at and in the way their cheeks fall and their mouths stay frozen in astonishment.
I would love to be a fly on the wall listening to their rendition of their first practice experience. I'm certain they are all thinking I spent the entire practice yelling at them. At least they have upper class players to tell them all will be well. The juniors and sophomores are living proof of survival, of making it through the intensity, the demands, and the insanity of having to pay attention to every small detail.
A freshman might wonder why it is essential to do something exactly as the coaches preach but an upper class player gets it. She knows why there is such a push to make the little things perfect. She understands how one small detail like jumping to the ball on defense creates so many defensive stops. She gets how that one little detail stops a cutter to the basket, allows her to help and recover on a penetration, gets her through the screen on a back screen, and helps her hedge on a down screen.
The biggest thing the freshmen have to adjust to is not the running in practice but the mental drain of having to listen and to do all the little things. Before coming to the University of Charleston, the idea of having to talk on offense was unimaginable. Now they have call to call out everything they do: call out the person's name they are passing to, call out their screens, call out their pops and dives, call out the cut off a screen. Every freshmen usually only knows one cut off a screen and I allow them to yell "curl" for about a week before I take that away from them, and the moment I ask them to use a different read like straight, slip, fade, dive, their world falls apart.
It is the thinking that does them in. Most of them arrive believing they know basketball but as soon as we start teaching, they think they missed Basketball 101 and skipped to the advanced class. It probably doesn't help that I have rules for everything. What are the rules to be a great offensive rebounder? Number one--go for the rebound on every shot. Number two--think rebounding angles. Number three--get around a box out. What are the rules for a cutter? Number one--set your player up. Number two--wait for the screen. Number three--go off shoulder to shoulder. Number four--read your defender. Number five--call your cut. There are others. Many others. Past players could probably recite all of them. They are scripted in their brains and 20 years from now they would be able to write them down verbatim.
But for the freshmen, all of this sounds something like we are speaking in tongues. The language is new and seems weird on their lips. The court looks the same but all the rules have changed. I know it is a tough experience and their egos suffer from the constant reminder they are failing in some area, but they will get tougher and learn and eventually be thankful for the knowledge gained.
PLAY HARD. PLAY TOGETHER.
Monday, October 3, 2011
An Easy Week For The Weary
My parents taught me to work--that you couldn't get anywhere in life without working harder than the next person. We were a family who thought a weekend off meant going to the farm, cutting hay, fixing fence, and burning brush. Relaxation was kin to sin and so I never really learned how to simply sit and enjoy the moment as a youngster. I knew if I wanted to be successful I had to work while my opponent was resting.
I gave some personal background to assist you in understanding how challenging it is for me to provide the team with an active rest week. This is a week where we continue to train but we change the methods of our training. Instead of running timed sprint sets, we play games like Ultimate Frisbee, Gator Ball (an adapted form of soccer where you can use your hands), Hungarian Dodge Ball, Czechoslovakian Dodge Ball, and Russian Tag.
All of the games are running games involving strategies to win where I can legally watch under NCAA rules how players perform under pressure scenarios. We can determine if they grasp such concepts as ball pressure, spacing, screening, cutting and passing. We can also quickly analyze whether or not they are smart, how quickly they grasp tactics, and how competitive they are.
One of the things I love to do is to make horrible officiating calls to watch for negative reactions. I simply make up rules to the games as we go along, trying to bait a player to get angry. Whenever I am successful, I stop the game and the team runs sprints. This is meant to assist them with the idea we cannot control the officials and to focus instead on their reactions which are controllable. We believe yelling at the officials or showing anger or disbelief at a call not only angers the officials but it gives power to the opponents. Opponents can gain momentum when they feel the disruption in our belief system. We allow ourselves to be victims when we give our power away to the officials.
Active rest week is also meant to provide a mental break, to allow the players to recover from the intense work we've been doing, and to add the feeling of fun back into training. While it is true I enjoy watching them battle through timed sprint sets, I'm not so certain they feel the enjoyment as much as I do. I do know this, though, they love it when the sprints are over and feel as if they have achieved something remarkable, which they have.
This team is special and I know I say that every year, and it is because I believe it every year, but this team--there is something amazing about them. I think it is their energy; it is like they are bound together in a team energy which flows in and out of each one of them gaining power with every practice. I like the feel of being around them.
Last week was a good recovery week and now we are back to getting tougher and becoming stronger.
PLAY HARD. PLAY TOGETHER.
Monday, September 26, 2011
Journaling--The Way to Self-Awareness
Each week we spend a few minutes on a self-awareness question with the intent of helping our players know more about who they are. We believe you cannot change who you are if you are not first aware of your characteristics. Last week we asked them a three part series of questions.
1. Define mental toughness.
2. List the three players who you believe possess the best mental toughness on the team.
3. Rate your mental toughness on a scale from 1-5 with 1 being the lowest and five being the
highest and then explain why you gave yourself that ranking.
The definitions were right on target:
"Accepting Criticism and learning from it."
"Limiting negative reactions and thinking in a positive way."
"The ability to keep working hard even when things are not going your way."
"Digging deeper when you think you can't push any more."
"Staying strong in the mind no matter what obstacles you face."
Even though I loved their definitions and found them for the most part to be right on target, what I loved even more was their honesty in their self-ratings. We went around the room with each player explaining her rating. In settings like this, some players would be intimidated, not wanting to share their high rankings for fear of being considered conceited or on the opposite end of the spectrum, sharing a low ranking which might show incompetence.
These players, however, spoke without fear of judgment which proved to the coaching staff two important points--the team has already evolved to the place of unconditional acceptance and our players are willing to be vulnerable in front of one another. Many great things can be accomplished with a group of people who can accept each other for who they are but at the same time be willing to push each other to expand to a different level.
This is a team with a high level of mental toughness. It is evident in their timed sprints, when I am demanding they run faster, and instead of faltering, of feeling they cannot possibly do what I demand, they encourage one each other to get it done.
One of the best moments on the court came last week when we were running 1-80-1's which are a series of sprints building up to eight and going back down. This was after our 15 minutes of defensive slides. I was at the point where I was ready to provide them with an incentive for meeting the times when I offered to reduce the sprints sets if everybody made it. When a couple of people failed, I heard a player yell, "You have to keep running hard even if we didn't make it. It is not about the sprint sets; it is about getting better. Keep running hard."
Because she yelled that, I offered another incentive. This time they all made it.
PLAY HARD. PLAY TOGETHER.
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
The Eagles at Work Giving Back
I like the idea of community service, of giving back to people, of the gift of assisting others, and of the knowledge goodness exists in the world when you take a moment to look. We ask our players every year to donate some of their time to those around them. It is also keeping with the mission of the University of Charleston which is to prepare each student for a life time of productive work, enlightened living and community service.
The past weekend our players split up into two groups to assist with the American Heart Walk and the Capitol City Challenge. At the heart walk, Chrissy, Tianni, Lauren, LeAnne, Nichole, and Frenchy performed two ball dribbling and passing drills up on stage as entertainment and as part of the official warm-up. At the end of their exhibition, they walked around and gave their basketballs to some of the children in the audience. They also tried their skills at Zumba with Chrissy showing off her extraordinary dance steps.
By the way, if you wish to catch more of the Eagles dancing Zumba, you can catch it on the University of Charleston women's basketball facebook page.
The other group of players assisted with the Capitol City Challenge pulling kayaks out of the Kanawha River and loading them onto trucks. Apparently this group of players met some Golden Eagle fans who told them and I quote, "Your coach is really intense." Quite frankly, the freshmen have no idea what intense means yet.
This is only part of the good we hope to give back to the Charleston community this year. It is my wish that our players learn to give as part of the cycle of life, because I believe good comes to those who give goodness out.
PLAY HARD. PLAY TOGETHER.
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