Basketball concentration

Hello Coach, What I do for my players regarding concentration is play a lot of mental games where the players have to focus on what is going on. I also try not to do much explaining at first and have the players just watch what is going on while it happens instead of speaking the whole drill out. Sometimes this can get a bit frustrating and sloppy, but what i've found is the players tend to focus a bit more. I also let my players coach and explain the drills as well, so they can see it from my perspective. Another strategy I use is to have my players stand by me and point out to me what they see. All of these strategies has helped my players concentrate and focus a bit more. I must admit, it does get frustrating sometimes, but in the long run it will help. I Hope this helps you out.

Most great athletes and coaches will tell you the game slows down as you gain more experience.  This occurs because the brain through practice of individual and team skills starts to put sequences into "programs" that essentially run free of "active attention" and are only monitored for key "frames" to make adjustments or changes to the execution of these skills.  The less experienced one is the more they have to attend to "all the frames" of a basketball sequence.  The game slows down because these experiened athletes and  coaches are able to attend only to relevant cues necessary to the situation or action upcoming or in process.  You only get to this through repetition and practice as a player.  As a coach is has more to do with continuing to gain court experience, your study of the game to focus on key strageties, tempo changes, and player match-ups.  But critical to getting to this point is to continue to study the game at all levels to add to the library of information upon which to draw at critical times.  If you have little experience in late game situations, spend some added time looking at a variety of options you have.  There are numerous resources for specific aspects of the game including books like Giorgio Gandalfi's complication of NBA Coaches Playbook through Human Kinetics, or the Jerry Krause's excellent work for the NABC in the three book series Lesson from the Legends (Coaches Choice).  I often will sit down and watch NBA, College or International Pro Games and think through end of game decisions with some of these great coaches and compare if my decisions match theirs.  Of course end of game is only one small aspect of growing in your decision making and "slowing the game down". 

I was fortunate in my coaching career to have had some great mentors.  Find an older coach and discuss with them over dinner how they make decisions and why?  Somewhere along the line I learned to think more conceptually in making game decisions than to focus on too many specifics.  For example, is the game too slow, or do we need to speed up the tempo to our advantages?  Are we having trouble stopping their man offense.  Go zone, not so much because you might love Zone defense but simply because change, forces other teams to adapt.  A zone might take the ball (percentage wise) out of the hands of their best player for longer periods of a ball possession for example.  As you gain experience, the game will slow down, and you will more quickly be able to focus on key elements of the game.

In terms of focus, for my players I can see their focus by their execution.  If a good shooter is missing shots, it's normally concentration.  Ask them where did their forefinger finish?  I don't want them to over analyze what they did, but asking them a key question can assist them in focusing on a key element of a team or individual skill.  For example, were you at the right spot in our secondary break?   Did you go attack the boards for a rebound?   As for coaches focusing, I think blocking out distractions well prior to the game, and thinking through various game situations ahead of time can help you bring your focus to the moment.  Sometime I will ask an assistant coach what they saw to generate feedback to which I can react in game situations.  When you are having trouble reading a situation, think "broader" in terms of how you can change the game situation; a time out, a player substitution to better handle player match-ups, a specific play, a change of defenses, changes of tempo, etc.  The coach is essentially one of the key elements to seeing the game outside the court and making adjustments to affect the game.  Hopefully you have experienced players who can make some of those adjustments as individuals been when they can't the coach should.