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February 14, 2013 Newsletter #6
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Dear Coaches, Players, Friends,
Today's theme is "Struggling Through a Losing Season".
Today's Quotes
"We can't win at home. We can't win on the road. As general manager, I just can't figure out where else to play." - Orlando Magic GM Pat Williams when struggling through a tough season.
"Nothing is as good as it seems and nothing is as bad, but somewhere between reality falls." - Lou Holtz
OK, maybe it really is as bad as it seems! But you're not alone... probably about 50% of teams are winning, while about 50% are losing. I've known a number of great coaches who had awful losing seasons, with only a win or two (see Sip's story below). My golfing buddy, a successful former NFL and college football coach once told me that he was a lot better coach when he had good players. It's hard to win without talent. Or as another coach explained to me, "You can't make chicken salad out of chicken s--t." A youth coach once emailed me, "We're playing a team this Saturday that is much bigger, stronger, faster, more athletic, with great ball-handlers, passers and shooters, and tough rebounders and defenders. What should I do?" My short answer... "Lose". My friend, Coach Sars' answer was "Score first and hit the fire alarm!"
But parents and fans may be laying the blame on you. This only natural, but is also usually unfair. But this all adds to your own frustration and anxiety as a coach. It's hard to have a thick skin and let this roll off your back... but that's what you have to do. Before you make a rash decision to quit, or make some other drastic decision, sleep on it, take a couple days before deciding.
Take time to reflect on why you wanted to coach in the first place. Was it just to supplement your income? Was it because you were going to be the next Coach K? Or you were going to be the savior of this perennial cellar-dwelling team? Do you find yourself always screaming at the refs and your players, and losing your temper? Then maybe it's not for you. Or was it because you love the game and like working with young people? And you want to help young people succeed? And you want to be a good example and role model? You want to help develop character, work ethic and good values in your players? OK then... let's hang in there!
Ask yourself again, "what's important?" Here are a few more relevant quotes from great leaders:
- "What you are as a person is far more important than what you are as a basketball player." - John Wooden
- "Winning is overemphasized. The only time it is really important is in surgery and war." - Al McGuire
- "If you make every game a life-and-death thing, you're going to have problems. You'll be dead a lot." - Dean Smith
- "It takes as much courage to have tried and failed as it does to have tried and succeeded." - Anne Morrow Lindbergh
- "It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed." - Theodore Roosevelt
Don't forget those goals... teaching kids the value of teamwork, sportsmanship, hard work, etc. When kids are down in the dumps from losing, realize that this affords a great opportunity for teaching some life lessons. Usually I don't like to see coaches spending a lot of time talking during practices... just work, practice. But if you really have no prayer of winning your next game against that really strong opponent, why not "step out of the box", and talk with your kids. Talk to them about how life at times can be a real struggle, but "you buck up and get through it". How life can be unfair... and how you can make the best of a bad situation... how you can make lemonade from lemons, etc.
Make it fun... find a way for your players to still have fun and enjoy themselves, and feel good about themselves. Get to know them, and show them that you are still interested in them and care about them as individuals, even if basketball is not their best attribute. Teach them that "you don't have to win a trophy to be a winner."
Focus on fundamentals, especially your younger players... ball-handling, dribbling, shooting drills, etc. Yes, with repetition, they can become better players. And they must become better players before you can consistently win. Razzle dazzle game-time coaching strategies may help a little, but you have to have good players.
Rebuilding. It's tempting in a losing season for a coach to decide to "rebuild" for next year. OK... but DON'T forget your seniors who have labored in the program for four years, and this was supposed to be their year. If you want to give your underclassmen more playing time... maybe let your seniors start the game, but then substitute liberally. But don't just forget your seniors, assuming they are still working hard with good attitudes. Start the rebuilding with your youth program... be passionate with younger kids and get them interested early on.
Talk about your goals... be realistic. Maybe there's eight games left... let's look at the schedule. We have a good chance of winning 2 or 3... so let's win those games, and then see if we can win another game or two that nobody thinks we can win. The old upset! Nothing more fun than that. A few years ago, we were conference champs but lost in the District tournament to a team that had won only 3 games the whole season! Yes, we had some illness and injuries, but mainly that underdog team just played harder than we did and they deserved to win. After my initial disappointment, I reflected back and had to give tremendous credit and respect to that coach and those kids, who, after a miserable season, could have just folded up for us and ended their season. They had the guts and persistence to come out and put it to us.
So hang in there, and someday when you are on the winning side, remember, "The two hardest things to handle in life are failure and success." - John Wooden
Helpful articles:
- Basketball Coaching Philosophy
- Building a Basketball Program.
- Dear Coach: My Basketball Season Has Ended and I'm Overwhelmed with Disappointment.
Note: while anyone can view this newsletter and all of the content, some of the linked content is directed to complete, detailed articles in the Premium Members section and are only accessible to Premium Members. Not a member?
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New Articles/Content:
New or revised website articles/content:
Hubie Brown's Hawk Offense.
Drive and Kick Drill
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Talk about tough losses...
Another good friend of mine, coach Bob Sippell (aka "Sip") a former Central Michigan Univ coach, told me about one of his seasons, when he was coaching a boys varsity high schoool team that ended up 1-19. Last game of the season, playing the undefeated conference champs, a highly ranked team, Sip's underdogs are playing tough, and have just tied the game. With 7 seconds left in the game, his team fouls and the opponent gets the 1-and-1. Sip calls time-out... he looks down the bench and sees a big tall kid who hardly ever gets to play, but can really jump and rebound. "Billy... you check in now. He's gonna miss the free-throw... you go up and get that rebound and we'll call another quick time-out, and then go down and score."
Sure enough, the kid misses the free-throw, Billy jumps up, grabs the rebound, jumps back up and dunks it! Sip loses by 2... Billy comes over to the sideline in tears when he realizes what just happened. Sip says, "It's OK Bill, you got the rebound like I asked you... I just didn't want you to shoot..."
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Swish-1, Swish-2 and now Swish-3 Shooting DVDs.
These are excellent shooting DVDs for both players wanting to become great shooters, and for coaches learning how to teach shooting. Coach Tom Nordland teaches the details of the Swish shooting method... alignment, set-point, catching the "up-force", a repeatable release, the trajectory (arc) of the shot, the follow-through, and correctly analyzing the flight of the ball and making adjustments to misses. He instructs coaches on how to run a shooting clinic, methods and drills. Comprehensive... including instruction on free-throw shooting, catch and shoot, jump-shots, shots off the dribble, 3-point shots, close-in jumpers, fade-aways, runners and floaters, and bank-shots. |
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Till next time...
Best wishes,
Dr. Jim Gels, aka "Coach Gels"
The Coach's Clipboard
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