The Cross Over Movement Blog

Vern Gambetta returned from his week of hibernation and wrote a blog titled, “Intellectual Imbreeding.” While he writes about the field of athletic development, I think the same is true of any sport, especially basketball:

I always strive to go outside my field to learn, get outside my intellectual comfort zone and challenge myself with new ideas. That does not mean I have to adopt those ideas, but by being challenged, I find the challenge either makes me stronger in my beliefs or it forces me to modify or change beliefs if I find them lacking…To meet the challenges ahead we all need to look at some different paradigms.

I spoke to former NBA player Bob Bigelow a couple weeks ago and he said he became a “youth basketball expert” when he stopped talking to basketball coaches and looked at soccer programs.

As coaches, we challenge our players to go beyond their comfort zone in training. However, do we do the same as coaches? I wrote Cross Over: The New Model of Youth Basketball Development as a book which forced readers to examine their coaching mthods and preconceived notions of what is and is not the best training protocol. I did not write it as a “How to” manual, as several groups have requested since its publication because I think it is more valuable for a coach to think about his own situation, style and philosophy rather than copying verbatim something that I write.

I use as many examples from other sports as I can find when I research basketball topics. When I read basketball boards, the same arguments circulate and different opinions are usually shot down as incorrect. How does the game and the teaching of the game move forward if the majority stays within its own circles and dispels any novel or different idea on the basis that it is different? The best coaches in any sport search for the best answers, whether they are found in their own sport or elsewhere.