Andy
User
Platinum Boarder
| Posts: 52 |   |
Karma: 0
|
Re:Getting whipped, & questioning myself - 2008/01/13 18:27
I have a question that has a slight twist. Lately we have been getting whipped and slaughtered. Two days ago we lost by 25 points and the other day we lost by 40. Its really embarassing and its just horrible. I feel as if the coach does not really care. He has not yelled at us when we were in trouble, he just lightly says some mistakes we've made. I mean i take it in seriously, but my teammates don't have any respect for the coach because they never get yelled at and they think everything is allright. Personally im extremely frustrated. Now during game time my teammates are standing around and not helping me out. None of them have really stepped their game up. So yesterday i decided to step it up and i hit 2 shots in the beginning. Right then coach tells me to hit the big man. So i run the point and i start passing the ball giving the big man the ball, but he gets it ripped or stolen. I work it to the wings but none of them are willing to make a move or even shoot the ball when they're open. And whats worse is coach keeps telling us to run the play but it doesn't work. So my Godbro he just told me what i just told you guys. He also told me that if this is happening i just need to stop running the plays or passing because none of it is working and start looking for my own shot and scoring. I can get my own shot and lately my confidence has been building because ive been scoring more in games. I have been willing to take more shots. The first game compared to 1 shot ive taken 5. And that was still little i felt like i could have taken a lot more shots if i didn't pass as much and my teammates got me the ball more. So my question is, in a coach's perspective what would you do? My teammates aren't stepping up, and my coach isn't stepping up. I have to be the one that arises to the challenge right? And as a coach if you tell a player to run the play and it just isn't working would you mind if a player just disregards it and starts working for his own shot? All opinions are welcomed.
|
|
|
| | The administrator has disabled public write access. |
coachmccormick
Admin
Admin
| Posts: 643 | |
Karma: 1
|
Re:Getting whipped, & questioning myself - 2008/01/13 20:01
First, he might not be yelling because your team might not be very good, so yelling won't really create a better talent level in the middle of a game. Not being there, I don't know. But, just because a coach doesn't yell does not mean he doesn't care. I don't yell very much at all (except at bad officials who are too lazy to get in position to make calls).
Second, I'm not the one to ask because I don't run plays. Just running a play to run a play makes little sense to me, unless you are comfortably ahead and running out the clock.
|
|
|
| | The administrator has disabled public write access. |
nlamothe
User
Senior Boarder
| Posts: 12 | |
Karma: 1
|
Re:Getting whipped, & questioning myself - 2008/01/14 08:06
Some thoughts -
I don't yell at kids.
I don't blame players for errors if I haven't taught, walked through and drilled the correct choice/movement/etc.
I'm never disappointed with a game in which my girls play to the best of their ability. Two best games so far this year we lost by more than 30 points. But both were to schools a category larger, with tradition, where our school hasn't had a competitive basketball team in more than 20 years. My girls played their hearts out both times, came out banged up, tired out, and elated.
I expect my girls to learn something and get better in every practice, and in every game. If I ask them to execute a play, and they don't do it properly, I'm likely to have them repeat it until they can do it right. Obviously it won't work very well until they all work together and do it right.
I really don't care if we win games right now. Not sure how your system works there, but here the win/loss doesn't really matter until March - every team plays in their school division against the other schools in the same size. The division winner moves on to zones, and the zone winner on to provincials. win loss and rankings are only taken into account in seeding the provincial tournament. I have intentionally booked tournaments that tend to larger schools - my girls have to earn every point at these games. Our local league, we play largely for fun and practice, as we are a stronger team than any of the rest... and if we lose a game there, it might be embarrassing, but it'll have been fun.
I'd bench, and possibly cut if the behaviour continued, any one of my players who thought they were more important than the team. (I already have two more than I can dress, so it's an easy decision for me.)
On a more positive note, if you're really all that, ask to be let in on the plan. Talk to your coach after practice sometime (soon) and ask why he runs the plays that are not working - what is it that your team is supposed to be learning from each of them. Ask what he is looking for from the team, the players, and you - and even the season. Figure out how to help that vision.
Finally, I'd suggest you show some real leadership and bring your team around - if you show you are determined to run the system and learn the things your coach wants, you will do your teammates more good than looking for your own shot will - and basketball is a team sport - I'd recommend archery or bowling if you want to work on your own shot.
|
|
|
| | The administrator has disabled public write access. |
coachvargas
User
Platinum Boarder
| Posts: 74 | |
Karma: 2
|
Re:Getting whipped, & questioning myself - 2008/01/14 14:58
I agree with the coaches above. As a coach, sure I'll yell a bit when we're not executing, but honestly, there are going to be games when the other team is just THAT much better than you. Also, it's worth noting that I try not to yell at them regarding what they're not doing, and it's never personal..it's always "what you/we need to be doing."
I still expect my girls to play as hard as they can, but understand that when playing against more experienced, more talented teams, sometimes the best thing you can do is use it as a teaching opportunity.
While you try to adjust while the game is in reach, sometimes you have to just go with what you do best and try to execute to the best of your ability...this is key because with most teams, you can't recreate the level of competition you're currently seeing in practice.
As to the plays, I think one very tough thing for a point guard is to understand when to "run the play" and when to look to score. This is something to discuss with your coach, though I think you'll find that if you bring the ball up the court and look to score every time before trying to move the ball, that you'll quickly "lose" your teammates. Not many players want to play defense and rebound to come back down the other end of the floor and watch someone play 1 on 5.
|
|
|
| | The administrator has disabled public write access. |
GAtwood
User
Platinum Boarder
| Posts: 85 | |
Karma: 0
|
Re:Getting whipped, & questioning myself - 2008/01/15 20:45
coachvargas wrote:
Coach, you're certainly not alone.
Since then, we've suffered back-to-back blowout losses, and while we show that we can play with the teams we're competing against in spurts, we just can not compete with these teams. We execute on defense, create turnovers, but do not execute on the break. We execute our offense, get wide open shots and lay-ups, but do not finish these shots. We get to the foul line about 20 times per game, but shoot less than 50% from the line. We break pressure, we make the right pass, make hard cuts to the ball, then fail to take advantage of numbers, or turn the ball over unforced, due to indecision.
This sounds just like my team. Last Friday our opponent played us M2M the entire game. In practice we'd been doing real well at executing a very simple M2M offense. ---my original plan to run the secondary break as my offense hasn't been working because if we can't make any shots from outside 6-8 feet, it's too easy to defend because there's not enough movement--- In practice we've been running a continuous pass-cut-then screen on one side (3 players) out of a 1-4 high (f/t line extended)set, very simple. And we run a simple pass & cut to the basket out of a spread (open post) set. And from that same spread set we will pass & 2 closest to the ball screen away. We look to ball screen if the shot clock gets below 10 seconds in both spread sets. And we have a very simple "flat" (1-4 low) call where my point guard looks to beat her defender and either score or dish off to where ever the help comes from. In Fridays game we ran all of it real well- we didn't get pushed way out on the perimeter, we screened well, we cut hard. But our passes were often late or off target, and we couldn't finish the layup opportunities we created.
I've come to believe it's a waste of practice time to install offense if your team can't shoot & make layups. That's time better spent working on finishing layups & shooting so that an offense will have a chance to create scoring. But I had to do something to get us shots closer to the basket. And... varsity runs plays and I have a responsibility to prepare these JV kids to be ready to learn continuity, or set plays. My girls picked it up real fast (I kept it simple) and they execute better than I expected, but it doesn't matter because they are doing a horrible job finishing the plays. However- the kids feel like we have a better chance when we actually run something, and they are learning more in depth about the game. The varsity coach was starting to put a little pressure on me to install something other than my secondary break offense, so he's happy. And now I can hear parents in the stands yelling, "Nice play!" Usually followed by a groan of dissapointment as we miss a good look at the basket. I don't feel the need to answer to those voices in the stands, but as a new HS coach, I feel it's important they see that I'm competent enough to teach an offense, and that I'm trying everything I can to help make the team better.
coachvargas wrote:
Of course, I am frustrated, and of course, I take the blame...am I not preparing properly? Am I not running the right things offensively? Should I take a different defensive tact? Are my practices ineffective?
Yeah, I'm frustrated. As a player I hated losing very badly, I took it personal. It wasn't healthy. That attitude continued into my early 20's playing rec league ball. Finally after hurting a couple guys in fast pitch softball by sliding into bases too hard (sprained neck & seperated elbow) I had to take a look at myself and I realized I had to tone it down. It's one thing to play hard, but it's another to play so hard you're sliding thru bases to try to knock the ball loose. I'm lucky I never got my ass kicked on the diamond.
As a basketball coach, this kind of failure makes it not fun for me. But I remind myself that I coached Jr High for 6 seasons, and my team went 9-12 my first year, then we never had a losing season after that. Maybe I can repeat that success at this level. I know I left good players down there who will be coming into HS starting next year.
Also- This has caused me to really come to terms with how I define success. As a player I wanted to win, and for whatever reasons most teams I was on won more than they lost. As a coach I've never believed that the pursuit of wins should be the primary goal; not if HS sports is about teaching kids life lessons. This is a small town that's never been known for a strong basketball program on either the boys or girls side. There's no pressure like in a big city to win. Do I want to win? Hell yes. Would it be more fun for the players and me if we won more? Yes of course. But it's just not going to happen this season.
MAybe my job is the same win or lose- to teach basketball skills, to take advantage of opportunities for the kids to learn life lessons, and to do what I can to make their HS basketball experience fun. I think those are my parameters for success. If I can do those things, and if we have talent and skills, winning will take care of its self. Keeping it fun while consistently losing isn't easy, but I'm doing it. For me to feel like I'm doing a good job this season, I need to see them continue to play hard- to never give up even though we're losing again, and I need to see smiles and laughter. So far so good.
We talk about LTAD in here, and I'm certainly a big proponent of the long term over "peak by Friday." For me there's also LTHD- long term human development. In 10 years, or 20 years when these kids reflect back on their HS Jr Varsity basketball experience, I want them to remember that it was fun in spite of the losing. It was fun even though they didn't win much. I want them to learn that they can duplicate that kind of experience as the leader, whether as a boss, or as a coach if they follow that route.
ANd in the nearer long term, I want them to show up in the off season so we can get better. If I yell and scream at them, it will kill the fun and there wil be little incentive for them to show up for camp, or open gym, or summer league, etc. I want them to enjoy their time in the gym so they want to come back after the season is over. My assistannt is beginning to have difficulty staying positive. This is our 5th season coaching together, so we know eachother well. I only gave him one rule- to always stay positive at practice and in games. I told him if anyone is going to do any yelling, it will be me. But recently he's been very frustrated and is beginning to bend my rule, so I'm going to have to sit down with him.
I have more to say, but I have to get going- game tonite. 
Post edited by: coach7, at: 2008/01/15 20:46
Post edited by: coach7, at: 2008/01/15 20:51
|
|
|
| | The administrator has disabled public write access. |
coachmccormick
Admin
Admin
| Posts: 643 | |
Karma: 1
|
Re:Getting whipped, & questioning myself - 2008/01/15 23:08
I agree. THe JV volleyball players I coached won like 2 games and didn't want the season to end. They learned to love playing during the season.
In hs, most of the time teams are not fair. One team is better than the other. I have not had a game this year that was against an equal opponent, maybe 1. I have an idea before tip-off if we will win or not.
You can't make talent. I'm in the process of convincing girls that running plays all day long is not really playing. Sure, we make mistakes and we look ugly sometimes, but almost every player has learned to dribble the ball, every player has the confidence to shoot and almost every player can make a left-handed lay-up at full speed, where most couldn't make a right-handed lay-up at full speed when the season started.
Sure, it's tough on the ego when the team looks bad. And, parents cheer what they see, which is a well-executed play, rather than real skills, like a cut that goes unnoticed but frees another girl against a zone defense. I always hear "nice shot!" when we score. I always tell the passer "nice pass" or the screener "nice screen" to reinforce the good plays beyond the shot. it's important for them to realize when something they did works.
As I tell a friend, it's a matter of keeping focuses on the reasons why you coach. If you coach jv girls to win, you're at the wrong level. coaching isn't about the coach; the sport is for the players and the coach's job is to enhance the experience, not detract from it, which is what many coaches eventually do. at higher levels, coaching becomes more about wins and losses and less about creating an experience, but not jv basketball. jv basketball is still a preparatory level. my attitude toward jv has always been that if they were that good, they'd be on varsity. so, it's more imporant to help them become better than to worry about won-loss record.
|
|
|
| | The administrator has disabled public write access. |
|
