Coach's Corner

Traits of a Successful Coach
The basic fundamentals involved in coaching are the same, whether an individual coach’s youth leagues, junior high, junior varsity, high school varsity or college. While each level has its own unique problems and rewards, certain skills and traits exist that are common among successful aches. At least three general basic skills are necessary to be an excellent it coach. As such, coaches who have the following skills are usually quite successful:

Characteristics of Successful Coaches
Successful coaches tend to possess and exhibit the following traits:

Reviewing each of these traits can enable coaches to better understand how and why each of these factors is essential to effective coaching.

Is Knowledgeable About the Game of Basketball
Being a good coach does not require that you were a great basketball player in your younger days, but it does require that you develop a thorough knowledge of the game and that on an on-going basis you keep building on your understanding of the game. In basketball, as in other sports, the best coaches may well be the ones who have studied the game of basketball in such detail that they are able to “get the edge’ and make up for their lesser natural athletic ability. A thorough knowledge of the game is essential if the coach is to properly teach every player the individual fundamentals and skills essential to prepare the team to per form in a cohesive, coordinated manner.

Possesses a Desire to Improve Each Player
The desire to fully develop each player on the team is the fire that motivates successful coaches. Success to a thoughtful coach is seeing a player accomplish feats the player never dreamed possible. The memory of the excitement and pride on the face of the player who has performed well is the fuel that kindles an individual’s desire to continue coaching and is proof of a job well done.

Is Organized, Prepared, and Disciplined
As the leader of the team, the coach must set the standard that he expects the players to maintain. If the coach has thoroughly prepared and organized each practice and is disciplined enough to follow through with the plan, he is demonstrating to the players that he is working hard to help them improve and is setting an example of the kind of effort need ed to be successful.

If practices are to be as productive as possible, the players must be ready to start practice on time. No time should be wasted during the practice. The practice schedule should be modified to meet the needs of the individual players and for the team based on the results of the previous day’s practice or game. An assistant coach or auxiliaries can be used extensively to observe the small group drills and to re-emphasize to the players when they perform the required exercises incorrectly and to praise them when the drills are done right. One assistant should be responsible for ensuring that the time allowed for each section of practice is followed. All factors considered, the teams that utilize practices to the maximum are better prepared to win. Winning teams, like winning coaches, are prepared and disciplined.

Emphasizes Fundamentals
Fundamentals must be stressed every day, starting the first day of practice until the last game of the year. The best designed offense or defense will not work properly if the players aren’t skilled in the fundamentals and aren’t confident of their abilities to perform the essential techniques and skills.

A skill is best developed through hard work, proper instruction (paying attention to detail and technique), and repetition until the skill becomes instinctive! Unfortunately, some coaches are so busy scrimmaging or working on the offense and defense that they devote relatively little time to fundamentals each day. Scrimmaging, while very important, is not an efficient way to quickly teach skills and develop the players’ confidence.

As a rule, all basic individual fundamentals can be taught more quickly and effectively in small group drills. Drills provide players the opportunity to work in small groups on basic individual skills, such as dribbling, shooting, passing, rebounding, and defense, as well as other techniques such as faking, spacing, timing, executing screens properly, and defending the screen. Other skills such as posting-up, entry passes, and help- defense can also be taught using small-group drills, as well as concepts such as quick-ball movement and the inside-outside game. Drills enable mistakes to be corrected immediately and proper techniques to be practiced and reinforced until they become natural. Any team—at the youth, interscholastic, collegiate, and professional levels—must emphasize fundamentals if they are to improve. Teams that do not will never develop to their fullest potential!

Drills can also be employed to teach the basic team concepts of offense and defense. For example, certain drills can be designed so they simulate various aspects of the offense. To teach the offense, the coach simply adds various drills together modifies them as necessary, and teaches concepts such as floor spacing and timing, keys to running the offense, and keeping the weak side defenders busy. During these drills, teammates can also be taught proper defensive technique and how to help each other defensively through communication and proper defensive position.

Sound Basic Teaching Skills
The basic tenets of teaching hold true for coaching. Teach simply. Establish a good foundation and build upon it, while developing the confidence of the student.

Pays Attention to Details
The ability to pay attention to small details is an attribute that many great coaches possess. The successful coach emphasizes and works on small details that other coaches often never consider. As a result, his teams always seem to have the advantage and are prepared for any circum stance.

Communicates Well With Players (and Parents)
An individual can have all of the other skills necessary to be a great coach, but if the coach cannot effectively communicate, he will have innumerable problems.

Adjusts Style of Play to the Strength of the Players
Coaches have a style of play they prefer. Most coaches understand that the natural talent and athletic ability of their team varies from year to year. There are years when the players do not have the skills or athletic ability to execute the coach’s preferred style of offense or defense effectively. In those instances, the coach must be flexible enough to adjust the team’s style of play to what the players can do best. The coach must be able to accurately evaluate the abilities of his team. For example, the primary objective of defense is to prevent or make it difficult for the other team to score; it doesn’t matter how it is done. If a coach prefers a full- court, pressing defense, but he has one or two players who aren’t very quick and are often out of position, his preferred defense will be ineffective, resulting in easy lay-ups for the opponents. In that situation, his players might play better in a conventional half-court defense starting just outside of the three-point line.

During the course of a game, the coach may want to consider utilizing the offensive and defensive schemes that best fit the athletic ability skills, and confidence levels of the five players who are on the court. The team may play differently when one or two substitutes are in the game. The coach’s flexibility will allow the players the best chance of playing up to their potential while developing confidence. Isn’t that success?

Teaches Players to “Get the Edge”
“Getting the edge” means learning the little things that are necessary to gain an advantage over another player. Basketball is not a game played only by the fastest and highest leaping players. There are opportunities for players who are less athletic, but who possess sound basketball fundamentals and are willing to work and to do whatever it takes to get the edge. Such a combination of factors can allow a less athletic player to compete with and beat a more athletic opponent

Desires to Improve as a Coach
A strong desire to improve is one of the most motivating factors for a successful coach, as well as players who excel. Great coaches have the willingness to work extra, doing the little things that other people are not usually willing to do. Do you have that desire?

Offers Constructive, Not Destructive, Criticism
Criticism must be constructive not destructive! The manner in which the criticism is delivered may be as important as what is said. Always criticize the action, never the individual. Every player must hear several positives everyday; positives should outnumber negatives by at least five to one. Early in the year, it may be difficult to attain that goal since the players are learning what is expected of them each day along with the fundamentals. However, no player should ever leave practice without hearing something positive from the coach that day.

Develops an Offense That Allows Every Player the Chance to Score
Every player expects to have a chance to score when the offense is run to completion. If a particular offense doesn’t offer that opportunity the coach should make sure another offense the team runs will allow the player to have the chance to score. Everyone wants his name in the box score.

Encourages Teamwork and Unselfishness
The coach should encourage teamwork everyday in everything the team does, whether in games, drills, or scrimmages. The coach teaches team work by:

Summary
No individual coach naturally has all of the aforementioned traits of a successful coach. What is required is an inner desire by the coach to be as good as he can be and a willingness to work harder than he would ask of any player.