It's common vernacular among coaches to hear, "I don't care if we win a game." I understand the context which that statement is being spoken, but to be honest, it's coach speak and a lie. Every coach cares about winning. Winning is how coaches are judged by most people/parents, by players in outside programs and by coaches themselves. Winning is a measurement everyone uses as a key performance indicator to some degree.
As I have grown as a coach I've been able to refocus my thinking and state this sentiment as "Development over Winning." You are asking, what is the difference... you clearly do not put an emphasis on winning? Let me be clear. I care about winning... I care a lot about it. However, what I do is set a clear goal that winning happens when we develop first. I want parents and players to leave our program saying, "wow.. I saw myself get better." Even when they decide to play somewhere else the next season.
If you place your time, energy and focus on developing the skills of the total player, winning happens. You can't put your players in a microwave and have instant success. As I read in a tweet from Sam Allen with BCB, he says you have to put your players development in a slow-cooker... let those skills develop over time. In our program, we develop everyone. All players will spend the majority of their time with a basketball in their hands... not running plays. Once we develop a base level of skills, we introduce a set that compliments our team to be successful. Playing games and running plays does not equal development.
Unfortunately, I have the learned ability to spend 30 minutes watching a practice and can tell you what the coach cares about. I can tell during a tryout actually. If a youth coach is spending 75% of his/her practice focused on running plays and sets, then they are putting "winning" ahead of development. They believe positioning players and hiding certain ones will be the key to winning. My thought is your youth team will look great running those plays missing layups and open jumpers.
If your youth team is winning (but your son is not getting better) you need to question what is going on. Winning now teaches you absolutely nothing. Are your wins coming as a team or coming due to 1-2 super athletic players? Let's be honest... puberty is the great equalizer. I've seen a 6th grade kid who has hit puberty dominate. He was bigger, faster and stronger than most kids his age he met on the court. Fast forward to the 8th grade where that same player is an average player or ultimately has left the game entirely as they peaked in 6th grade! I place a tiny bit of the blame on the coach of that kid. Why? that coach wanted to win so badly, he/she more than likely skipped that player's development process. A 6 foot 6th grader is playing the post... a 6' 1" 8th grader is playing guard. What usually happens is that a coach will select the most athletic kids he can find during tryouts. The next step is to coach them (notice I didn't say teach) at their current level... much like an NBA coach, in order to dominate and win. That's fine for adults, but horrible for youth players.
We as youth coaches have to remember that we are here to DEVELOP talent and skills. It's our job to teach first and coach second. Teach those kids with advanced skills at a level above their current skill level. Push everyone. Teach to the highest level and beyond, not to the lowest. Development over Winning.
No comments:
Post a Comment