Brand New Program!
Submitted by deno59 on Tue, 08/19/2008 - 12:13
I have been asked to coach a boys high school basketball team at a small private school. This will be the first year that this school will compete in basketball. I see this opportunity as a huge chance to build a great program. It is almost certain that the talent level of most of the players will be rather low or raw in form. What suggestions could you provide to lead this program off in the right direction? Even if this year isn't a "success" in most people's eyes, I want it to be the building block of a great program!
Thanks for all you do!
Keys for Building a Program
Coach,
First thing is to determine the strengths and weaknesses of your program. Do you have a good feeder program, lack athleticism, lack of participation and focus your efforts on those areas. I would pick one area to make a major point of development each season with the goal of improving 3-4 over the same number of years. While you will certainly practice all aspects of the game throughout your season, make something like "rebounding" or "shooting percentage" a point for the first year. Pro players and coaches do this often where they pick a weakness and put extra emphasis on this area through the course of the season and in competition.
Work to add to your staff qualified coaches who know the game and can assist you in getting more practice reps and increase your court perspective, and don't overlook the importance of spending time at the Elementary School and Jr. High level to develop a feeder program which increases your pool of players and allows you to get the most important elements to your program ingrained and automated at younger age levels allowing you to work at the varsity level on more advanced technical and tactical individual and team elements.
While this is a bit of an oversimplification the point is you can't change many things rapidly. Another very important task for you is focusing your team on goals, steps to achieving them (practicing specifics each day, week and month). Goals are simply the guidance system for when you, your staff, and player get discouraged and feeling like you are making little or no progress. I think it is important to assess your program accurately in terms of your capabilities and potential. This will help you to set proper goals. Teams that have struggled often look only at the W-L and scoreboard which isn't always the best indicator or progress when you are rebuilding a program. Just like a student who may not score high on tests, but is still learning (catching up), steady progress is what you are seeking. I like goal boards because they focus teams on both team offensive and defensive goals and can serve as more internal indicators of success while your team is chasing the Wins. The more goals your teams accomplishes came by game, the more likely you will start putting wins on the board. Maybe the most important thing toward success is giving your players a mental and physical "image or picture" of what is the right way and wrong way to do things. Too many teams accept mediocrity and the results mirror that attitude. Good luck and post back on the forum if you have other questions. I hope other coaches will chime in with their perspectives as well. Great ideas come from many sources.
What do you think a freshmen
What do you think a freshmen needs to know by June 1 before their freshmen year? sophomore year? before playing varsity? Sit down and create standards and benchmarks and hold your coaching staff and yourself accountable for teaching those standards just like you would in the classroom lesson planning. Start at camp the first year with the School Name way. Just e-mail me and I can attach what I have.
Where can I find how to teach the Run and Jump along with 2-2-1 defenses? I would like to see how I can infuse this into my 5-12 system with skills and techniques taught at the various levels before the sophomore year.
Adam Lane
Skills by Age Heading Into the Season
Coach Lane,
If we're working our Highway Feature Press Clinic with animations back up and should resolve it soon. Thanks for your patience as we essentially rebuild the site with most of our 3000 plus pages of content on a new platform.
Regarding benchmarks for different ages, I think that what is most critical is assessing your program and what skills kids have coming into their freshman year. If you are working on having to construct a correct shot, or defensive footwork, you are probably missing some youth development work through your junior high and elementary feeder school programs. I think to say specifically what should occur at a given age is more relavant to the biological age of a player than their chronological age. For example some 14 year old, are physically much more mature than others. When I was in High School I played against former NBA Player Lonnie Shelton from Bakersfield, CA. Lonnie was a man at age 14 and his challenges and skill level were different than someone like myself who didn't start to physically mature until about 16-17. I do however think you can provide benchmark's for certain ages. For example in shooting, an unguarded player should have a consistent and repeatable shooting form that gives them confidence to make a shot by age 14-15. That shot will mature as their strength matures, but if you are correcting form in their junior/senior year you are probably missing the boat back down the development ladder. I think all freshman should have the basics of defensive footwork to stop, contain and control a dribbler. I think they should have a basic understanding of team defense and help situations, and I think they should all have rebound fundamentals. Without writing a dissertation here I believe by the freshman year all players should be exposed to and reasonably proficient at all the basic basketball skills. When these skills are automated it allows the players to add or expand upon their skill levels throughout the remainder of their varsity years and allow enough freedom in their mind to better read and react to game situations as they develop. Probably one of the resources you might consider to help you get a grip on this area of development is Dr. Jerry Krause book called Basketball Skills Produce along with Curtis Janz and James Conn. It is by far the best book I have seen on the market for giving benchmark's for specific ages from elementary up through varsity.
http://www.coachjerrykrauseonline.com/Books.htm