Quick hits at the UDM clinic

Some brief insights from featured coaches at Saturday's University of Detroit Mercy clinic (thanks again to Coach McCallum and his staff for hosting our coaches, plus allowing our players to work with coaches Sullivan, Sampson, and Coles):

• "on out of bounds plays, Coach Dean Smith taught that action was initiated by the ref handing the ball to our player - slapping the ball was a loss of valuable time" (Pat Sullivan, Detroit Pistons Asst. Coach)
• "bringing energy to practice, and never having an 'off day', three people need to be on the same page - point guard, best player, head coach" (Kelvin Sampson, Milwaukee Bucks Asst. Coach)
• "always have cutters finish their cuts beyond the 3 point line - don't live in 'no man's land', don't clog up middle" (Fran Fraschilla, ESPN analyst)
• "positive body language is essential - show coaches you are ready to play, show teammates you want the ball, give others energy from your energy" (John Kuester, Detroit Pistons Head Coach)
• "do you use assistants to track different stats such as ball touches - not simply a tip or deflection of pass, also a hand on an offensive rebound?" (Kelvin Sampson, Milwaukee Bucks Asst. Coach)
  

Quotes from Coach Knight

Some quotes from Bob Knight, accomplished coach, current analyst, passionate teacher - they may have been spoken years ago, but they still apply today:

• you build winning teams on character, NOT characters
• victory favours the team that makes the fewest mistakes
• my goal with any player who's ever come here, is to have their parent come up to me after our last game and say "thank you"
• I try to win basketball games and, at the same time, prepare my players for the rest of their lives
• a coach must remember that he is a teacher, and therefore must prepare his team for every possible situation that may develop
• the will to prepare to win is more important than the will to win
  

Playoff strategies - apply them all season

On March 16th, thoughts were provided regarding tournament strategies and how they should really be applied all season. The same can be said of the NBA playoffs. The lessons and messages from the coaches of the four semi-final teams have likely been stressed repeatedly. Even though the playoffs seem to provide the bigger spotlight and microscope, if the concepts below aren't addressed in the regular season then a team will not even make the playoffs. Some recent quotes to ponder:

• "Most disappointing to me was I didn't have our team better ready to play," (Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy)
• "It's my job. I'm the coach of this team. It starts with me and I'm not happy with where we had our team tonight or anything I did." (Orlando Magic coach Stan Van Gundy)
• "He's leading the team. He's playing with great focus. He's giving an amazing effort, never giving up on any possession." (Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers commenting on the play of his point guard, Rajon Rondo)
• "We've found a number of ways to score." (Lakers coach Phil Jackson commenting on his team's unselfishness and every player being involved)
• "Every time we tried to make an adjustment to slow them down.......they go somewhere else" (Suns coach Alvin Gentry regarding the Lakers having many players that attack, the sharing of the ball, and the subsequent difficulty to defend)
• "It was a defensive game, and we like those.......everyone is healthy, everyone's listening, and everyone's buying into our defensive schemes." (Celtics coach Doc Rivers)
• "As a coach you try to look at situations and try to put them in the best positions to see if they can execute and do some things that would help us defensively. Didn’t work, so we’ll try something else." (Suns coach Alvin Gentry on defensive game-planning, using his defenders, trying to exploit a team's weakness)
  

Quotes - leadership

Plenty of discussion usually takes place when somebody says "that player deserves to be the captain of the team, they are a true leader." If you find yourself in one of those discussions, step up and be Socrates - ask the pertinent questions of "what is leadership" and "what makes a good leader?" Some thought-provoking quotes concerning leadership:

• "Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it." (Dwight D. Eisenhower)
• "As a leader, you should always start with where people ARE before you try to take them to where you want them to GO." (Jim Rohn)
• "Leaders make decisions that create the future they desire." (Mike Murdock)
• "The ability to summon positive emotions during periods of intense stress lies at the heart of effective leadership." (Jim Loehr)
• "To be able to lead others, you must be willing to go forward alone." (Harry Truman)
• "The best example of leadership is leadership by example." (Jerry McClain)
• "I start with the premise that the function of leadership is to produce more leaders, NOT more followers." (Ralph Nader)
• "No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself, or to get all the credit for doing it." (Andrew Carnegie)
  

Quotes

Many successful coaches use quotes to emphasize a point, inspire, motivate, focus, or pick up their teams. Some coaches post a daily quote on their board or practice plan. If using a quote, coaches need to ensure they pay proper respect to it's author. Some popular quotes are:

• "Choose to be a fountain, not a drain. A fountain is a giver, a drain is the opposite" (Mike Trapasso, University of Hawaii)
• "The greatest difficulty with the world is not it's ability to produce but rather the unwillingness to share - promote sharing" (unknown)
• "You may forget how you behaved when the going got tough, but others won't forget" (Mark Burnett)
• "Only those who can see the invisible can do the impossible" (Frank Gaines)
• "A life is not important except for the impact it has on other lives" (Jackie Robinson)
• "It's surprising how much you can accomplish if you don't care who gets the credit" (Abraham Lincoln)
• "If you want to go fast then go alone. If you want to go far then go with others" (Dale Brown)
• "Don't settle for style. Succeed in substance" (Wynton Marsalis)
  

Coaches Toolbox - Twitter

There are many terrific sources of information for coaches - books, dvd's, clinics, other coaches, watching games, online resources, blogs, etc. Add Twitter to that long list. Twitter is yet another avenue where coaches who want to learn can connect with coaches and leaders that like to share.

Getting started is easy. Finding resources is easy. Staying connected is easy. The rest is then up to you. If you wish, simply follow people that offer material that interests you - whether on nutrition, quotes and phrases, physical development, mental training, x's and o's, motivation, leadership, coaching resources, the list is endless. If you want to share, then that is available too - who knows, you may develop a list of learners that want to follow you.

Regardless, it is yet another great tool in your box. The best part of all is that the information comes to you - after you set up the list of people from who you'd like to learn, they automatically teach and share with you on a regular basis. Unlike books, dvd's, and watching games, you don't have to go looking for this information - it comes to you. Going to http://twitter.com/ will get you started.

Quotes to use with teams

With their teams, many successful coaches use quotes to emphasize a point, inspire, motivate, focus, or pick up their teams. Some coaches post a daily quote on their board or practice plan. There are tens of thousands of terrific quotes that are applicable to basketball. Over time, many quotes will be offered in this blog. If using a quote, coaches need to ensure they pay proper respect to it's author (which also encourages players to do the same, and may provide a spark to a player that inspires them to learn even more). Some popular quotes are:

• "Morale is when your hands and feet keep on working when your head says it can't be done." (Benjamin Morrell)
• "Dreams are what get you started. Discipline is what keeps you going." (Jim Ryun)
• "Competing is like wrestling a gorilla. You don't quit when you are tired, you quit when the gorilla is tired." (unknown)
• "I want to know what I don't know." (Kevin Eastman, Boston Celtics)
• "What really counts is not the number of hours you put in - it's what you put in those hours." (unknown)
• "Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm." (Sir Winston Churchill)
• "Things work out best for those who make the best of how things work out." (John Wooden)
• "The four destructive behaviours of athletes are criticizing, complaining, comparing, and condemning." (Eric Musselman)