coachmccormick
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Problems in Coaching - 2006/08/21 14:49
I'm working at a couple clinics this week and I see a problem:
Today, there was some discussion about the way to teach individual defense. I was using some of Lee Taft's stuff and principles and some pro players working the clinic said it was wrong.
There rationale was that it ws not the way they were taught and they had never seen it taught that way before.
And, I hear this a lot. Why are coaches scared to try something new? How will coaching, playing and basketball improve if nothing ever changes from generation to generation and coaches simply teach everything exactly like their coach did, without any thought as to why they teach something or what the best method is?
Is, "that's what I was taught" really a good answer for teaching a skill in a particular manner?
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coachronn
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Re:Problems in Coaching - 2006/08/22 02:04
Coach Mc:
Change is the hardest thing we do!
One of the biggest problems I have seen in working with coaches, especially those attempting to coach youth basketball, is that's all they know. So many times coaches on the youth level have little or no playing experience, and consequently little or no coaching experience or skill. Those who may have played some high school ball are usually running drills, etc.,the way they remember doing them in school. They may not even be remembering well. Most of us in high school didn't pay attention to 'what' or 'why' when we did things, we just did what we were told to do. We almost certainly didn't pay much attention to 'how' we were being taught.
There is such a wealth of information available today, one could almost teach oneself how to passably coach(at the youth level), by studying and then applying. Most of us, though, who have been around awhile, learned as we coached (and paid attention to the gurus of our time), even if we started out using what we had been taught. Few of us today could rely on the way we used to do things to be successful.
We used to have jump ball plays, because we had so many toss ups. We had no 3-point line. We couldn't dunk, much less hang on the rim. Reverse-and between-the-legs dribbles were not encouraged--to say the least. We also used to wear our hair short, had discipline and were respectful of our teachers, coaches and parents.
That's so much nostalgia. The fact remains, however, that how we used to do things isn't necessarily going to get the job done today--unless it's that we are instilling discipline in our youth; we are teaching (not just showing or telling) fundamentals at every level, so that we use the basics as building blocks, then reviewing and adding to them at each new level of play (we don't just get math and reading in primary school--we continue to use and build on those fundamentals forever); or unless we are teaching man-to-man defense as the basis for all defensive strategies.
The basics for basketball, I have believed since I began teaching the game in 1962, and which I still believe when I lecture coaches and teach players now, are discipline, fundamentals and defense. Leave one out and the results will probably not be satisfying.
I encourage coaches to be innovative and at the same time to be great borrowers. Find your own style--don't try to mimick what isn't yours--be who you are best and most comfortable at being--and at the bottom line, be a teacher of the game.
Yours in Sport & Spirit,
Coach Ronn
Post edited by: coachronn, at: 2006/08/22 02:07
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Brianna
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Re:Problems in Coaching - 2006/08/22 06:17
I definitely agree with the fact that many coaches just coach by "what they were taught"--oftentimes not even knowing why they do what they do. I believe that is one of the main reasons why there are far fewer good coaches than bad.
I think some of the best coaches are those that have never actually played the game on a competitive team or collegiate level. Since they were never actually "coached" then they have to look for information and learn the game for themselves, develop their own ideas and ways of teaching. It forces them to understand why they do what they do, and why they teach things a certain way; much in the same way we should strive for these same characteristics in our players. As a coach, I want my players to be able to understand why they do a certain skill or why they made a mistake and how to correct it (without me helping hopefully); the more they understand the "why" of the game, the more likely they can correct and problem solve on their own--let the player's make plays.
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Coach
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Re:Problems in Coaching - 2006/08/22 13:34
The one thing about basketball and teaching the greatest game in the world is that there are many ways to teach it. Sure everyone has their own way, the way they were taught, what they saw or heard at a clinic, etc.
I think as coaches, we need to be respectful of other coaches methods of teaching. There's a few different ways to skin a cat, as the old saying goes. I see too many coaches rip and disrespect the way a coach does things. I was working my ass off at a camp one hot summer and I was running a defensive station at 9:15 AM. I was teaching the defender who was in the "help" position to keep his head on a swivel. It's a technique they perform at Michigan State, so you can see the ball and your man. The guy who was running the stations was walking around observing the players and made a point to tell me that they don't teach it like that so I shouldn't teach it that way.
So I was like, "ok, fine."
I know of a very big time college head coach who does not like it when the defender on the ball not only gets beat, but calls for "HELP!"
How many times were you taught to call for help, or if you're on the help-side, to let your teammate know they got help?
I was reading some material written by Pete Carril last night and some of the things he teaches and belives in totally clash with what other coaches teach.
So there's really no one way to teach something. It's like in the classroom, school teachers all explain things differently.
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coachmccormick
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Re:Problems in Coaching - 2006/08/22 14:11
Of course, to be a contrarion, there is also a saying that says there are many ways do do something; the right way and a lot of wrong ways.
I'm not criticizing the way it was taught or even what was taught; that's why I left out the particulars of the skill.
My point is simply that many coaches do not think about what they are doing. They blindly teach what they were taught without any investigation as to what might be the best way. To me, that is a problem because the more we learn about movement and science, the more our coaching should progress. However, if we simply copy what was done in past generations without looking at what is the best way, we fail as coaches because our players are not receiving the best possible coaching.
Now, I change things about what I teach and how I teach every year. Its evolution. As Andy Dufrense says in Shawshank Redemption: "Either get busy living ot get busy dying."
Keep evoloving and improving or get left behind...after all, that's kind of the whole point of the site.
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Coach
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Re:Problems in Coaching - 2006/08/22 16:26
Sure there are right ways and wrong ways to do things;.
But when it comes to coaching, there are more ways then one, to teach something. Some young coaches feel they should pass along the wisdom they learned under their head coach or a guy they played for.
Maybe you should explain what you were teaching on defense and what the pro guys were saying about your way being wrong? Or, just do it the way they have been taught.
Pete Carril says he never messed with a player's shooting form; he said reps were the way to get better whether it was the right way or wrong way.
Now, I'll dive into shooting form. No two players shoot alike. Because one guy has a higher shooting pct. then another, is that to say the one with the higher pct. shoots the ball the right way and the one with the lower FG pct. shoots it wrong?
I think as coaches we have to stop making the game so complex. Too many coaches try to prove they are worthy of being some "great" coach by trying to take ownership of drills, plays, recruiting, etc. Support each other and stop trying to make the game so complex.
Teach it the way you feel comfortable. Be motivated, work hard, have passion and get in the trenches with the players, and things will work out fine.
Jerry Sloan runs four plays with the Utah Jazz. Every team runs the lay-up drill to warm up before games, etc. Sometimes leaving things the way they are, is the best way.
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