5 OFF-SEASON TO-DO'S YOU SHOULD BE DOING...NOW!

1. ANALYZE YOUR PERSONNEL
One of the first things you need to consider when your off-season begins is personnel.  Figure out what the strengths and weaknesses are of each one of your potential returning players.

2. ANALYZE YOUR X'S AND O'S
Once you have a good grasp of they type of players you have returning, now you have to see how your next team will fit into the X's and O's you are currently using.  You may have a 'system' or a way you always do things, but based on personnel some changes may be needed.  These changes might be large or possibly a small adjustment is needed.  The fact is that you need to have X's and O's that will help put your players in the best position to be successful.  When personnel changes, so might your X's and O's.

3. MEET WITH YOUR PLAYERS
Schedule time to have exit interviews with your players after the completion of your season.  This is a time for player can coach to share thoughts on the previous season and where to go from this point on.  Coaches can also use this time to give players guidance on what they need to work during the off-season.  Also, check in with your players from time to time when you see them in the gym or at school. 

4. SCHEDULE YOUR OFF-SEASON ACTIVITIES
This should be done sooner than later.  Give your players a calendar with all of the off-season opportunities your program offers.  Getting this calendar of events earlier gives your players a chance to start planning their own summers. 

5. MEET, SHARE, LEARN, GROW
One of the great things about the coaching profession is that coaches are willing to share ideas.  If you are interested about a certain concept or topic, contact a coach who might.  Or plan a get-together with a group of coaches and share thoughts and ideas.  This can be as easy as sitting down at a restaurant to diagram X's and O's or share philosophies of coaching.  Coaches will share.

TIPS TO GET THROUGH THE DOG DAYS OF YOUR SEASON

1. Shorten the length of practices as the season progresses. 

• Keeping your players fresh is important.  As you get into the last 1/3 of your season you may want to consider shortening the length of practices.  Fewer minutes on the court can be a psychological boost to your team.
  

2. It's ok to have some fun in the gym on occasion - just for the sake of having fun.

• Organizing some fun basketball related activities at the end of an occasional practice session will keep your players spirits up.  Get your work done first, then allow your players to experience some fun together on the court.  Let them see the coaches enjoying it too.

3. Give your players a day off. 

• If your schedule allows you to give your players a day off, go ahead and do it if you feel your players need it.  Make sure you give your team enough practice time before your next game though.  
  

4. Add a variety of new drills to your practice routine.

• Coaches emphasize in practice what they want their teams to be good at - or known for.  Those emphasized areas are drilled throughout every practice.  As the season progresses coaches need to create a variety of drills to emphasize these priorities.
  

5. Without overloading your team, add new X's and O's to your team's inventory.

• Adding a new wrinkle to your offense or defense can add some much needed excitement to your players.  
  

6. Arrange for a guest speaker to visit with your team.

• Give your players a chance to be motivated by others outside your program.  Bring in an ex-player, a business leader in your community, a respected teacher, or someone who has experienced success in their area of expertise to deliver an inspirational message to your team.

7. Have your team re-evaluate team goals that were set early in the season.

• Allow your team to meet without the coaching staff to discuss and possibly adjust the goals that were set at the beginning of the season.  It is possible that the goals may need to be scaled back.  Or it could be that they would like create even higher goals for the remainder of the season.

8. Organize team bonding activities.

• Getting your team together outside of the gym is important.  It allows them to have fun and get to know one another better without having to deal with the rigors of basketball.

INJURED PLAYER? NOW WHAT?

Overall knowledge of the game.  Offensive plays and strategy.  Defensive strategy.  Calling timeouts at the right time.  Press offense.  Organizing practices.  These are all areas in which a basketball coach needs to be knowledgeable to help give their team a chance to be successful.  There is no doubt that knowledge of your X's and O's are extremely important.  If this was all there was to coaching the coaching world would have a lot more coaches in it.  Coaches with any kind of coaching experience who are reading this are probably thinking, "If it was just about X's and O's there would be a lot less stress in the job of a coach."  But those coaches also know this is not, and will never be the case.  If it were that easy, everybody would be doing it, right? 

There are thousands of situations or issues coaches are presented with throughout the season. This article is focusing on dealing with an injured player.  Unfortunately injuries are a part of sport.  Nobody likes it.  Nobody plans for it.  Nobody asks for it.  It happens.  As a coach, how you deal with the injured player and the team can make a big difference in the continued development of your team.

Tips to consider when dealing your team has an injured player

• Make sure the injured player knows you are genuinely concerned about their injury.  Coaches care for their players, so show it by letting them know you feel bad they have to go through this injury.  A physical injury is tough enough, but the mental toll it takes on that injured player can be a grind.  Empathy from the coach can help ease their mind while they are on track to getting healthy.
• Learn as much as you can about the player's injury.  Visit with the player and even their parents to get all the information you can.  Most likely the parents are the ones who are in contact with the doctors so you can get a report from a mom or dad about the extent of the injury.  
• Help the player continue staying active in some manner during their injury.  For example, if the injury is to the hand you can set up a stationary bike in the gym for them to help them stay in shape until they are healthy enough to play again.
• Keep the injured player informed on all team activities.  Make sure they are still given all the information the healthy players are getting (bus departures, weight lifting sessions, practice times, etc).
• Make sure the injured player is continuing to be part of all new strategies and adjustments that are being made while they are not able to play.  Keep them in the gym with the team during practice so they can learn right along with their teammates.
• Let your team know that the season will continue despite losing a player to injury.  Sometimes the rest of the team goes into a funk when they learn that a player is injured and won't be able to participate for a while, or for the rest of the season.  They feel bad because they see their injured teammate not only physically hurting, but also down in the dumps.  The fact of the matter is that you are not going to cancel the season because someone got hurt.  It's important for your team to understand this right away.  
• Keep your team updated on the progress of the injured player.  Talk to them and let them know the timeline of their return.
• Keep things as normal as possible.  You have a job to do, and that is to coach your team.  Losing a player to injury is something you don't want to ever happen, but it does.  As the coach you need to keep your same general philosophies on dealing with your team.  Depending on the impact the injured player has on your team you may have to change some X's and O's, but don't give your team a chance to even think for a second that your team can't continue to develop in a positive direction with the injured player.

Injuries are tough to handle both mentally and physically.  But remember coaches that you are the leader of that team.  And how you deal with that injury with your injured player, and your team, will be noticed by all your players.  

5 THINGS NEEDED TO MAKE IT IN COACHING

HAVE A PASSION FOR COACHING
You have to have a passion for coaching if you are going to make a career out of it.  You just can't go through the motions and do just enough to get by.  If you are not "all in" your player will see right through you.  Doing just enough won't be good enough and if this happens you won't be coaching too long.

KEEP LEARNING
The second you think you know it all, you will quickly be reminded that you don't.  If you think you know it all, you know nothing.  There are so many resources out there for coaches to continue learning and growing:  coaching clinics, dvds, books, internet, other coaches, etc.  It is important that you remain a student of the game.


SURROUND YOURSELF WITH THE RIGHT PEOPLE
Surrounding yourself with good people makes a better environment for everyone involved.  The more you are on the same page with the people you work with or coach, the more organized your program will be.  Find people who believe in the same things you believe in. 

SET EXPECTATIONS
Set expectations for coaches and players.  If your players understand what is expected they will then have a better chance to be successful.  Set expectations for how you want your players to represent our program, set them for each drill you do, and set them for each game.  It is unrealistic to assume that things will go exactly as you want them just because expectations were set ahead of time.  But...Vince Lombardi said it best when he said, "Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence."

DEAL WITH PEOPLE THE RIGHT WAY
Coaching is about dealing with people, so have to know how to handle and deal with people.  You might know everything about basketball but if you don’t know how to deal with people it doesn’t matter what you know. 

IMPROVE COMMUNICATION ON DEFENSE

"TALK!!!!!"  How many times have you ever said that to your team?  I'm guessing you have all had your blood pressure rise because a player or players on your team neglected to talk on defense.  Communication on defense is just as important as a team's ability to guard the ball, box out, or getting to proper help position. 

If you want your players to talk then you have to do more than ask them to talk.  You have to put your team in practice situations where they are required to talk to be successful.  The more you do this, the more they do it naturally.  Eventually it will become second nature with your players.

Below are some simple, yet effective, drills to use that will help promote communication with your players on the defensive end of the floor.

DISADVANTAGE DRILLS
Play 3-on-2, 4-on-3, or 5-on-4.  You can do this in half court or full court situations.  These drills put the defense at a tremendous disadvantage because they have one less player than the offense.  Remind your players because of the disadvantage not to be discouraged on defense if the offense has success from time to time.  In these drills you need to require your players to call out "ball!" when they are on the ball, "help!" when they are in help position, and "deny!" if they are in a denial position (or "gap" if you play a gap control defense).

BALL SCREEN DEFENSE DRILLS
There are several ways to defend ball screens.  No matter what your philosophy is on defending ball screens you will need your players to talk on defense.  You can do simple 2-on-2 drills where the offense must set ball screens while the defense defends them the way you require.  Players must call out the screen and side it is being set on.  Also, if you are trapping the dribbler you will need a buzz word the players will call out to signify the defense on the screen.  Example:  "Hot!"  If your philosophy is to hedge on the dribbler, you may also want a buzz word for that to signify and remind the defenders what they are doing.  Example:  "Bump!"

Another good ball screen defense drill is to play cut throat at one basket.  You can set a rule that when the team is on offense they must set ball screens.  This will give the defense many opportunities to communicate and work on their ball screen defense.

These are just a few ways to help promote communication amongst your team when they are on defense.  The more your players talk, the more aware they are.  And the more aware they are, the tougher it is for your opponent to score.

Good luck!

4-ON-3 SINK & FILL DRILL

 4-ON-3 SINK AND FILL DRILL
The purpose of this drill is to put the defense at a big
disadvantage while working on on help rotations away from the ball to protect the basket. Defensive
players will work on their defensive positioning on the floor, effort, and communication. Talking to each other is extremely important on defense, and this drill reveals that importance.

The drill is set up with four offensive players spaced around the three point line.  Each of the three defenders will guard one of the offensive players. One offensive player will remain unguarded to start the drill. 

The offensive players pass the ball around the perimeter, and the defensive players let the passes go.
When the ball is being passed around the defenders will get to their proper defensive position, remain in a good stance, and call out either "Ball" "Help" or "Deny". When the ungaurded offensive player receives a pass the drill becomes live.  The unguarded offensive player in this diagram is 4. When 4 receives the pass they have to try and attack the basket.  4 can shoot, drive, or pass. The defense must rotate to stop the ball, sink and fill on the backside. This requires lots of effort and communication by the defensive players. The rep for this drill ends when the offense scores or the defense gets a turnover or a defensive rebound.  Rotate so players get work on both defense and offense.

In this diagram you can see the rotations where players are sinking and filling on the backside so there are no layups given up.

IMPORTANT: It has to be stressed to the players how important it is to talk during this drill. It helps players understand where they need to be during this scramble situation.

Note: This is a scramble situation where the defense is at a disadvantage, so the offense may get score some baskets. Keep encouraging the defense to hustle, talk, and they will get their shrare of stops.

JAGUAR DRILL: TRANSITION DEFENSE/OFFENSE

The Jaguar drill focuses on transition offense and transition defense in a 3-on-2 setting.  Players get one possession per rep, but it also serves as a good drill to keep your players in shape as they get many reps throughout the duration of the drill.

Players 1-2-3-4-5 start on the baseline.  The middle player (3) starts with the ball.  In this drill players 1, 3, and 5 are on offense.  Players 2 and 4 are on defense.

On the coach's command players 1, 3, and 5 will sprint (3 is dribbling) to the opposite baseline.  Once they get to the opposite baseline they immediately sprint back towards the basket they started at to play offense.  Meanwhile players 4 and 5 sprint to the opposite end elblows at the free throw line.  They will immediately sprint back to play defense.

Defenders must communicate in this drill.  Based on your defensive philosophy in a 3-on-2 situation, you will want your players to communicate your philosophy in this situation.  Who has the first pass?  Who has the second pass?  When do you want the top player to pick up the ball?  These are just a few questions to consider.

Coaches can have their teams work on a variety of things or add particular rules, like:
*Offense can only make two passes before a shot must be taken.
*No shots allowed outside the lane area.  Players must attack the basket.
*Defense must force at least two passes before a shot is taken or they run a sprint.
*Offense cannot use the dribble after the first pass is made.