Arranging Pre-Season Parent Meetings for your Youth Team

Posted by Eitel in For Coaches, For Parents | 0 comments

A lot of people may right off the bat ask what the purpose of arranging a parent meeting in a youth league serves. People automatically assume that youth league means fun, and means that there should be no organization or no formality to it.

That is incorrect, meetings with parents allow a coach to get to know the parents and vice versa. It allows a coach to get insight on their potential player, and the support system behind that player, and allows parents to get a look into the plans that the coach has for the team. Sometimes parents may not like certain plans, and sometimes their fears will be put aside because this one on one time provides the perfect chance to get everyone on the same page.

This interaction also allows for information exchanges that benefit everyone involved. It can give coaches new ideas, parents may end up volunteering to help the team, and also allows both parties to get their chickens in a row and get everything out there so there are no unpleasant surprises. Some youth teams are run harder and more professionally then others, and some are run for fun and recreation. This meeting can establish where on that scale the team fits, and if it fits with the potential player.

The meetings will go well so long as the purpose of them is kept in mind, while some socializing is in order; you have to realize that gossiping is not in order. Trying to jockey your child a better position by bad mouthing another person can end up hurting your own child in the end. These meetings serve as both meet and greet, and informational. They are meant to not only get the information out there, but to exchange it, to bounce ideas around, and at the end of the meetings, allow the coach to come out with a better overall picture of his team, and a better overall picture of his players and their families.

A coach will be able to tell from these meetings if certain parents may be “trouble makers” or may be the “super fans” that can sometimes push their children too far. As much as a coach is responsible for his players, sometimes a coach may have to talk to the parents in a same manner as a player to ensure that corrections are made. It sounds a little silly, but in today’s age of competition it is completely true.

Arranging the meeting is something that both parties are responsible for, but before the start of the season, a coach should have made the effort to meet with all of the parents, and should ensure that parents know he or she is available at any time for discussion of any positive feedback or concerns and will be happy to address them and even give them status reports of their kids. Some parents are very hands on, and some just like to know their child is being taken care of.

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The Essentials of Coaching Basketball

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One of the most essential things coaches will run into right off the bat and combat the entire time is differing personalities. Different people learn in different ways, and different people do and say different things. While it is a coach’s job to keep and maintain a certain level of order, this can be done by developing a deep sense of teamwork and developing the team first mentality. As corny as it sounds, the saying “There is no I in team” works. A team cannot be successful by relying on one single person to carry it.

Team Development
With that in mind you have to keep an eye on your players and find out what fits their styles. While running team drills is a great thing, running individual drills will help build stamina and confidence, which can benefit the team overall. Sometimes a person better benefits the team practicing by themselves.

You will be able to detect team communication issues early on throughout practice and game observation because players may fail to pass, or may try to make a shot for all the glory to become the saviour or star of the game. If this ever becomes the case, you need to ensure that players understand that there will be consequences for actions that are detrimental to the team. Even if you like the player that did it or may know them outside of the court, you cannot play favourites and cannot let someone off the hook.

Player Development
Players are your number one resource, and as such need to be treated properly. While discipline is needed, so is respect. Sometimes one player may not be as good as another player, and this may require some special one on one attention. Sometimes it is best to pull them aside after practice or a game to discuss this, and sometimes it is best to call them out on the spot. As a coach, you will get to know your players well enough that you will know which type of response is proper for your player, and you will learn how to handle things. Remember coaches aren’t perfect and will make mistakes too!

Players that respond poorly to constructive criticism may need to be benched or removed from the team for a short time so that they know that you are serious. Some players will come in with the attitude that they deserve this spot and no matter what they do, it is theirs. The team needs to function as a team and cannot have any glory hounds on it with this attitude or it will serve as a bad distraction for your team and have severely negative impacts all around.

While coaching looks like it could be difficult and could be hard for some people, as long as you have a love of the game, are willing to learn, and can admit that you make mistakes as much as your players can make them, then you will do one of the most important things out there to a basketball team other than winning, and that is having some fun!

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Key Things to Do During a Time Out

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Timeouts seem like such a small part of the game and are often overlooked. Timeouts are a very crucial and highly misunderstood part of the game in some accounts. They can change the flow of the game, and can give a much needed breather when the game is down to those last few points and in the dying moments.

Timeouts cannot be wasted. The time they provide is precious and means it is a chance for a team to change the tide of the game, or get a quick breather for that last stand they may need to make to win. The coach needs to pick and choose the proper times when to call the timeouts because as much as it can save a game, it can also break a game if used improperly.

Some of the most popular uses for timeouts are as follows.

1. As a quick break in play to let your players get refreshed, grab a swig of water and just catch their breath. Sometimes the opposing team will just have the pace of the game going so fast and in their favour, which a timeout puts an instant stop to it, and gives your guys a moment to gather themselves and prepare a plan of their own.
2. Timeouts can be used to “ice” the other team. If as mentioned above the team is on a roll, or in a groove, the timeout also serves to put an end to their “roll”.
3. Timeouts can be used to just completely switch gears. During a timeout the coach can go over a new plan or play that might just open the hole up in the game that your team needs to nail down that win. This is the time where the coach can rally the players and implement a shift in game play meant to confuse and disorient the other team. Towards the end of a game the opposing team is used to your tendencies and will defend and attack accordingly. If the coach makes the right switch in plays, it can catch a defence completely off guard and open up a hole needed to secure the game.
4. All of the above points lead to the fact a time out wrapped into one nice neat little term, is a momentum shift. It grants the coach the ability to change the momentum of the game and give his team the chance to change direction and stop a slide, or to refresh them for the last moments. This is an invaluable resource that needs to be used with the utmost care. It not only serves the strategy aspects discussed above, but also as an instant morale booster if the coach knows his team well enough. A few well placed words and a team can come out of the timeout as good as the beginning of the game.

Timeouts and how coaches use them are as important as the game itself. Like fouls, and bad plays, a bad timeout, can change the game.

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Making Hard Decisions: Cutting Players From Your Team

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Sometimes a team can do everything in its power to become better and improve, and sometimes it will seem like nothing is working. Training will be tweaked, as will the practices themselves, they will be increased or decreased. While many changes can be attempted, they may not work and sometimes this can leave the coach in quite the bind. The coach may have to cut a player from the team for one of many different reasons. Lack of skill, along with a lack of respect, and causing distractions to the team are a few of the reasons that come to mind immediately. No coach likes to cut players from their team, but eventually they will have to.

Making the Hard Choice
While it is hard to cut players from a team, it may come down to the simple fact that they do not fit in the current system. They may be better elsewhere and they aren’t happy, and if you are currently losing you likely aren’t happy either. Although winning teams may also look towards cutting people as well if they become an issue that causes negativity for the team.

There are too many reasons to simply list them all hear, all that anyone can do when thinking about cutting a player is sit back for a few moments and ponder if the cut will actually improve your team. Sometimes players are cut and made into scapegoats. This is what a coach has to avoid doing. Coaches while accepting input from the players, and other coaches with the team, need to ensure that the reasons for the release are completely professional and do not boil down to one player not liking another player. Politics, while you cannot deny it has a presence in the game; you can deny it a presence in your decisions.

Cutting a player is the last resort. After you’ve tried to work with them, taken corrective measures, and tried everything that you can think of, cutting them may be the only option. Sometimes it may even be a temporary cut and they could be welcomed back to the team when a certain action is taken and completed. It could be a few steps required, either way it needs to be analyzed and needs to be well thought out before it is done. It is not something you can just tell a player you are thinking of doing, because that can instantly demoralize them, and can instantly cause them to act out.

They also are likely already aware that it is a potential action, and are likely already trying to remedy it. Sometimes simple reminders in practice that roster spots are not guaranteed and only go to those that work and perform to their highest potentials and that give it their all game in and game out, will remain on the roster. Sometimes this simple and small speech worked in properly will jolt people to make the required improvements themselves, or seek out the help they need, or even remove themselves if it is realized it just isn’t working out.

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How to Teach: Concepts of Teaching

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Teaching is an abstract art. As a teacher one must enter the mind of one’s student with the intent to engage. A teacher must engage ones student in the process of absorbing, understanding, applying, and then retaining new knowledge. It is said that it takes the average human 21 days to create a new, repetitive behavior. It takes 30 days to make the habit part of one’s everyday life.

In games of physical sports the mind and the body must come together to take the knowledge given by a teacher to a new level. Not only does the basketball student have to incorporate their cerebral cortex but also their body in the learning of new concepts to master the game. The athlete must transcend the mind to bring to the court physical performance. In regular classroom settings, students learn concepts and facts that they may never use in their day to day living. Special techniques are required to take concepts from the chalkboard to the court.

The magic happens when coaches spark the desire of the athlete to use their bodies to perform the mental pictures and concepts in their minds during the heat of competition. It may be difficult to explain to the athlete that one must use ones instincts about one’s body, to learn one’s body, in order to become a phenomenal player. Concepts like power from the legs, concentration, focus, adrenaline, may not be at first easy for the young athlete to understand. Mature athletes will say that the best teacher they ever had was experience. This is where the concepts of teaching come in to assist a coach in helping their young athlete learn while they gain that experience. When creating your lesson plan on how to train a basketball player keep these basic concepts in mind.

• Begin teaching by using clear language. Make sure that you explain basic concepts of basketball. Do not assume that all players have come with the same experience. Teach what you want to be known on your court.
• Break concepts down into basic components. Do not teach offense and defense in the same day. Separate your concepts. Create a curriculum where you build on knowledge day by day. Use only words and visual aides to explain the concepts. Do not bring the physical side of the concept into the lecture.
• Allow for your students to ask questions and to take notes. Sometimes athletes are not taught to incorporate things like literature and note taking in their game but it is important for their development. Athletes are intelligent and should view themselves as using their brains while playing. Reading books on your topics and concepts is also a good idea for the development of your athlete.
• Watch videos of examples of the concepts that you are teaching.
• Explain that mistakes are made while learning new concepts and that is how growth and progress are gained. Encourage the student to practice their skills daily.
• Once your concepts have been introduced and the student athlete has learned the basic form to be used begin the court drills or exercises with a game. Make up games for the student athlete that will bond them with their peers. If for instance you are teaching the concept of offense you can play a game of hot potato with the basketball. If you are teaching the concept of free throws, after the youth athlete releases the ball into the air throw them a small piece of candy. If they catch it they can eat it. If they make the free throw then they get a second piece for doing an excellent job. For the youth athlete it will build self-esteem. Be creative in your curriculum.
• There are many ways to introduce concepts to your youth athlete. If you make the learning part of the game fun and memorable it will encourage the youth athlete to not only practice, but also to relax. This will enhance their overall game
• Give constructive criticism in a kind, gentle way. Explain concepts like discipline early on and help the youth athlete to achieve small goals as they learn new concepts.
• Have your youth athletes keep journals where they can keep their notes on concepts and questions or concerns. Go over their journals with them once a week and respond to their needs accordingly. Let your student athlete know that you are there for them.

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