The season of my womens team is over and I’m already planning for the next season. Today I’d like to share with you a couple of things I had been thinking of for implementing a new basketball offensive system.
From time to time, I tend to study my opponents’ type of offensive game to get ideas for effective plays which can be run by my teams. As a coach, what are the ways that you can make use of to introduce a new basketball offensive play? Let’s look at some essential points to successfully teach a new system.
A quick summary of Effective Teaching:
Establish good rapport:
It is important that your players trust you as a person, and as their coach. This can enable them to believe and follow your ideas on improving the team’s offense. This will also maintain a good working relationship among the members of the entire team.
When you teach, look your players in the eye:
This will catch their attention to listen to what you are saying. Every member of the team must pay their attention to understand the things that you are trying to say. It is not going to be an easy job to draw a person’s attention, especially if you are teaching to multiple and diverse individuals.
Convey your message:
You should ensure that you get your message across the minds of your players; and that they are able to internalize every single thing of what you are saying. Say everything that you want to stress out. You can ask for any inquiries from your players so that you can add more information, and correct misconceptions.
Speak slowly and clearly:
When you speak, do not be in a hurry. Take time to say the words so that it will be clearly heard and understood. The players can easily analyze what you are saying if you can pronounce them words clearly.
Use simple words:
Players vary in levels of intelligence. It is wise to utilize simple words to directly convey your message to every individual in the team. The players can easily integrate and follow simplified instructions, as well as any form of information.
Modulate your voice:
You can modulate your voice by raising your tone to emphasize important key points. This will give the players the idea on which certain areas you want them to pay close attention to.
Evaluate by asking:
Coaches do not want to always do the talking. They will try to ask for any question to assess whether, or not, their players have understood everything that has been said. Evaluation can be, simply, done by asking questions regarding the topics covered. Evaluation can also help coaches reinforce information on matters that are not clearly understood.
The points mentioned above are very useful for any individual who want to teach basketball or anything at all. By knowing the teaching points above, you can formulate an approach on how to teach a new basketball offense effectively and efficiently.
1. Continue to enforce basketball techniques: Shooting, Passing, Cutting
Whatever offense is introduced, basketball skills will always be a part of it. These skills are highly needed to create an offensive attack. For example, cutting is frequently done in basketball. Coaches and players mostly agree that cutting is another vital tool useful in creating a comfortable space and position to score. On the other hand, in most offensive plays, players utilize their passing skills to move the ball and to get it in the right spot to score the basket. These basketball skills should be repeatedly implemented.
2. Introduce a play that is easy to understand and execute.
As what I have pointed out awhile ago, players have different degrees of intelligence and skill sets. It is better to teach a new offensive play that is easy to understand and execute. A good coach will always find a way to simplify complex information of play. The players can help themselves learn the new offense in no time. In other words, this can speed up their learning.
3. Cut the play into pieces, and take it one step at time.
Learning a new offensive play is similar to learning how to dance. You do not study the steps all at once. Instead, you break it down into step 1, step 2, step 3, etc. You may stop at a certain step, and then go back to step 1 until the last step you learned. By doing this, you can focus your mind to one step at a time. This should be the same with learning new offensive plays in basketball. The coach may first let his players move without the ball to concentrate on the specific rotation of players on the court. When the players are able to master the new steps, you can gradually introduce additional steps until the entire play is completed correctly.
4. Run through the new play and work it out until the players get into the new offensive system.
After learning the new offensive play, players must continually practice proper execution of each movement. Let your players do the offense without anyone guarding them. The players are still in the process of mastering the new learned offensive play and adding opponents to guard them at this point can distract them, and delay their ability to adapt to the new offense. Give them ample time to get used to it. When this happens, you can put it to a test by adding opponents, who may also be other members of the team, to guard the offense. By this time, you should evaluate the effectiveness of the new offensive system, and make necessary adjustments to modify certain steps.
There is a constant change in the sport of basketball. New approaches can rise every day. Brilliant coaches never cease to learn new things. They will, heartily, impart it to their player to achieve a high degree of competence in the field of basketball. Lastly, it should always be remembered that planning and teaching is nothing without proper execution of plays in the court.
Picture credit: ikeapproth.photo • Creative Commons Attribution
