I worked on stationary dribbling drills and split up groups for shooting. This helped to move through multiple drills more efficiently. When scrimmaging today I tried to teach them a screen play; much more successful than other plays. They seemed to understand this concept more easily, I think due to its more basic nature. We all ran a suicide at the end and if anyone beat me they won a prize; no one beat me :). As we were circling up after the suicide, I had a revelation. They came over and were panting hard with red faces (I could tell they were exhausted) and I realized that they didn't truly know what working hard felt like. I told them 'do you see how tired you all are, this is what working hard feels like'. I think that often people get tired during practice but many never learn how to push themselves past the wall of exhaustion. And with the enticement of a prize my team pushed past this exhaustion barrier. Many never really learn how to push themselves and are always relying on their coach or parent to force them to work hard. But through this drill I figured out how to show them the important life lesson of working hard. I realized that my job as a coach is to make them better people. For me sports have always been a way to deal with difficult situations, difficult people, and learn important life lessons (working hard, focus, respect, dedication, etc.). My parents said that we do sports because we don't have a dairy farm in the back yard (my mom worked on a dairy farm growing up). Sports at a young age should be less about players specific talents, and should be more about becoming making the players better people and showing them the enjoyment of the game.
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About blogThis blog explains my experience coaching a youth optimist basketball team, while following me through an interesting season of high school basketball. I coached girls ages 8-10, from November 2014 to February 2015. |