Clinic notes - Renato Pasquali

Renato Pasquali, known for his coaching expertise and international experience, is a passionate coach, especially in a clinic setting. At present, through promotion by Ontario Basketball, Canada Basketball, and the on-court help of Mike MacKay, the successful EuroLeague coach is on a clinic tour and is well worth the price of admission. Renato is one of those coaches that make you pause and think about the terms you use when coaching (such as, how do you describe the concept of 'balance'?), as well as the way in which you teach - all with great attention to detail. Here are the six points of emphasis from one of his recent sessions:

• good offense is based on spacing, cut and replace principles, making eye contact with ball and teammates
• teams need to exploit the "one second advantage" - need to create it then take advantage of it (in order to keep the defense "a second too late" all the time)
• teach the concept of attacking 2 on 1 in the half court and full court, make sure players have the attack mentality of score first, pass second
• playing 1 on 1 as a team of 5 players - play properly as a team and know how to finish a 1 on 1 matchup on your own as well as how to deliver a pass for another player's 1 on 1 opportunity
• don't stop the ball - read the defense and know what to do with the ball BEFORE catching it, concept of "anticipation is better than action/reaction"
• teach using progression - teach the skill (1 on 0), teach the read (add a guided defense), teach in active setting (go "live" with the action), teach when to use the skill (1 on 1 in a game situation)