Dear Coaches, Players, Friends,

Today's Quotes:
"Happiness is the journey not the destination." - John Wooden

"The two hardest things to handle in life are failure and success." - John Wooden

Things to know about Coach's Clipboard...
Just some helpful info...

Your Account Manager page
I get some requests from members about changing passwords, or difficulty logging in.  Members, get familiar with your account manager.  You can login to the account manager to view or change your account details, including your password, a new email address, etc.  You can change your preference regarding receiving this newsletter, or not.  You can use it to check your expiration date and renew at a discounted rate.

Logging in problems... the most common error is CAPITALIZING or not CAPITALIZING certain letters in your password.  Pay strict attention to CAPITALIZATION, and realize that mobile devices often auto-CAP the first letter, which could cause an error.  Secondly, your account may have expired.  You can check this in the account manager above and renew there at the discounted rate.

New product... Coach's Clipboard Deluxe Download
The Coach's Clipboard Deluxe CD is now completely downloadable with the download containing all of the same content that is on the CD, but without the CD and shipping costs.  Although it is a fairly large download, download speeds are faster nowadays.  Also, many new lightweight, slim laptop computers are being sold now without a CD/DVD drive.  Some claim that Apple has been on a mission to eliminate the CD, and others are following with the trend toward slimmer and lighter laptops.

So the Deluxe CD is now completely downloadable.  Also, I will soon be featuring the Deluxe CD content on a small, portable USB thumb Flash drive... stay posted!

The Playbook & Animations download and the simple Playbook download are no longer available, as the Deluxe download is much more comprehensive.  And Premium Members get the new Deluxe download free!

Planning Practices:

John Wooden has said he and his assistants often would spend more time planning a practice than the actual practice itself lasted.  Don't just come to the gym each day without a plan and think you can just "wing it".  Here are some pointers for good practices:

Weight Training/Stretching Exercises
We usually do our weight room workout followed by stretching just before practice.  We don't want to lose valuable gym time doing these exercises.

Selecting/Using drills
Select your drills from "Selecting and Using Drills".  You might have a "core" of selected drills that you use most the time. You can throw in other drills from time-to-time to teach specific skills.

Move quickly from one drill to another... don't spend half of your practice time on one drill.  Don't get bogged down.  Budget your time for each drill.

Make drills competitive... there should be winners and losers, with the losers doing pushups, lane-slides or running.

Follow an up tempo exhausting drill something less aerobic... like free-throw shooting.

All players should do basic fundamental skills drills... including ball-handling/dribbling, shooting, passing, etc.

Post/Perimeter breakdown drills... if you have a good assistant, you can plan some time for individual skills with perimeter players on one end of the floor, and your post players on the other end.

Conditioning drills... for well-conditioned players, use full-court transition drills, full-court speed-dribbling, passing and other similar drills.  I believe your players and team will improve much more by doing conditioning drills with a ball, than a lot of push-ups and running without the ball.

Do not show favoritism... make them all work equally hard.  Try to instill in your star players that they must lead by example, and be willing to work harder than anyone else.  Don't ignore "role players"... make them feel they are contributing and encourage them.

"Open" or "closed" practices... whether to allow parents, spectators in the gym during practice is up to you and your philosophy.  But make sure the rules are established from the start of the season.  If you allow parents in the gym, they must realize that it is a classroom and must keep quiet and not "coach" the kids from the stands.

End practice on an upbeat, positive note... do something fun that builds team spirit.

See these articles for more details:
Planning Practices

Important Points to Consider When Planning a Basketball Practice