GNASH
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Help - How to Play with an Edge - 2008/04/14 19:16
My 14 yr old just got cut from his provincial (Canada) team tryouts. Afterward he asked the coach for advice as to areas to work on. This was the response:
I think he has to play with an edge. He is a quite kid so his game has to make a statement to get noticed. Lateral movement is a big one! Lots of kids need to work on it. He played aggresive the other night which I thought was good. I Laugh when I say this but a lot of kids need a summer of rugby to just get tougher. He has the offensive game, he just needs to find that edge to separate himself. He is coming along very well.
I am looking for any advice or resources on the above. I just bought "Hard2Guard" a few minutes ago and am looking forward to reading it along with my son. Thanks
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coachmccormick
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Re:Help - How to Play with an Edge - 2008/04/16 15:02
Without having seen the situation, I was thinking about a similar situation with a player I used to train and also my experience.
When I was a sophomore, I was convinced I was the best PG in my class. But, the HC started my friend. My friend and I had played together since 5th grade. His dad played me as the PG. As I wrote about in newsletter #16, I had the personality of a PG. He did not. He was a soccer player and was a bruising, punishing fullback. In elementary school, he played power forward, even though he was smaller, because he just liked to bang with people and grabbed every rebound. But, the hs head coach thought he was a PG because he was quick.
A kid I train has the same problem. He plays a couple minutes a game and scored 7-8 points on 3-4 shots with several assists and the rare turnover. But, then the HC plays another kid most of the game even though he shoots about 30% and commits 3 times as many turnovers as assists.
In each case, the coaches violate John Wooden's "Do not mistake activity with achievement." While coaches always say they want unselfish, smart players, I think they have a hard time identifying these players. However, they see activity. They see fast. They see the guy who always seems to be in the middle of the play, even if that's a negative. And, they play activity.
So, this may or may not relate to your son. However, by "edge" I would imagine he means more confidence, aggressiveness and activity. Unfortunately, that's what coaches notice over good, solid play.
Now, how to develop it? Part of it, I think, comes from playing a lot and playing with older, tougher kids. Part of it is a challenge to go outside one's personality. I spent all year working with my quiet setter/point guard on her vocal leadership, trying to get her to be more aggressive and willing to make mistakes. It's tough and it's a process, not a quick solution thing. With her, we spoke after every game about what she needed to do, how she improved and where she could have done more. It was a learning experience for a quiet perfectionist to try and do something outside her character.
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newrm
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Re:Help - How to Play with an Edge - 2008/04/16 15:35
The number one enemy of a basketball player is shyness.
If you only lead by example than you aren't a very good leader.
Additionally, some coaches not only mistake activity with achievement, but they also get distracted by noise. Meaning the loudest players get the most attention, even of they are raving idiots.
I think this means that if a player can not only be loud, but know how to communicate with their teammates, they will not only garner the attention of the coach, but actually help the team play better. This aspect is something that doesn't take much practice, but it takes a lot got guts for a naturally shy player to open up, but it is a great lesson that applies off the court too.
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GNASH
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Re:Help - How to Play with an Edge - 2008/04/16 17:55
I never heard that saying about mistaking activity for achievement before, but you gents are spot on with your observations. Shyness is a factor here.
He rarely turns the ball over (we use Intelligym by the way), has a solid assist to turnover ratio and sets more screens than most of his teammates. The shyness prevents him from vocalizing and being agressive however. I'd say he quietly goes about his business which is not necessarily a good thing on the court I guess.
His coach also wants him to shoot more, instead of passing to "less talented" players, so maybe confidence is a factor as well or at least a fear of being seen as selfish or a ball hog. Frankly I've always admired the tendency to distribute the ball to a "lesser" player with an open shot but perhaps we need to rethink this.
He is currently playing in the 14-16 age group so hopefully that will help. Going outside of his comfort zone will be more of a challenge I suspect.
Thanks for the advice, gents. Anyone have a good resource for working on the coaches other observation, "lateral speed" ?
Thanks again
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newrm
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Re:Help - How to Play with an Edge - 2008/04/16 18:10
Brian is better qualified to answer the lateral speed question, but here are some things that have helped me, both in playing and coaching.
The first is practicing lateral movements. Lane slides are good where you get in a defensive stance and slide back and forth from side to side in the free throw lane, time yourself look for improvements. Also you can add another player facing you who is faking back and forth and you try to stay in front of him (mirror drill).
One of the best and quickest ways to improve is to learn the crossover step on defense. I think of it as a great equalizer for defenders. the crossover step is basically a half carioce where the trail leg always stays in front of the lead leg and the shoulders are square to the offense. All the great defenders do it, but many coaches hate it so you might have to sell the coach on it. Watch Bruce Bowen in the playoffs to see what I mean. Brian also endorses this in his book BLITZ. I really recommend it, I think it is like 12 or 18 dollars to download it. There are more good ideas and diagrams in the book.
I also got this from Brian that is great in practice. Use a reaction ball for your closeouts. Have a coach hold a reaction ball while a player sprints toward him. As soon as the coach drops the ball the player breaks down in a closeout and tries to catch the reaction ball off the first bounce. I almost teaches the player the correct position for a closeout without any instruction from the coach, its that good.
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coachmccormick
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Re:Help - How to Play with an Edge - 2008/04/16 19:24
here is a thread on lateral speed:
http://www.thecrossovermovement.com/component/option,com_joomlaboard/Itemid,30/func,view/id,616/
catid,4/
There are a couple threads in the "Training" section.
newrm covers the drills I use most frequently.
As for getting more aggressive, I played for a summer league coach in a recreation league when I was in 8th grade. We were the team that signed up late and just got grouped together. My coach was a pro player in Asia home for the summer. The second day, he took me out. I had just passed up a three-pointer to pass to our uncoordinated center under the basket and he missed the lay-up. My coach told me that if I ever passed up another open shot he was going to bench me. We lost our first 3 games and then went undefeated the rest of the summer. He was the best coach I had. Every other coach told me hey wanted me to pass the ball and run the team and yada-yada. He's the only one who challenged me to play and be the best player I could be, regardless of the perceived right play. That league was the best experience of my playing career. I entered high school knowing that nobody could stop me and wound up with a coach with a mandated 5-pass rule. First game of the year, I miss an open three against a 2-3-zone and he takes me out of the game for taking the shot. We had 3 very good shooters on the team and none of us shot well that year because we never knew which shot was acceptable and we second-guessed ourselves all season. He killed the confidence I had developed going into high school and I never truly got it back.
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