[The video clip below is an excerpt from Practice Template #2 in our DVD set, Read & React Clinics: Planning the R&R Practice. This is a 5 DVD compilation set taken from our 2011 clinic season and is now available.]
Ok, we admit it. Not everything...
[The video clip below is an excerpt from Practice Template 1 in our DVD set, Read & React Clinics: Planning the R&R Practice.]
No basketball coach has enough practice time. So, to get the most out of the court time that you do have, you must...
In conjunction with a couple of surgeons, Better Basketball has just released a new book cryptically titled Understanding Sports Injury.
The idea was this: we know coaches wear a lot of hats - one of those being injury consultant. Add to that the fact that injury is a hungry monster when it meets athletes. In fact, there are an estimated 1.4 million sports related injuries every year in high school athletics alone.
And, most of those happened to your best players! (just kidding, but not really)
You are called upon to make decisions all the time about an injury's severity and the immediate next steps - whether an athlete should walk it off, ice it, compress it, keep playing, or go to a doctor. This book can help make those decisions a little easier.
Check out the excerpt below or click here to download Chapter 2 (twenty pages) on the Shoulder. That should give you an idea of what this book is all about. Or, you can learn more of the details and watch an interview with the author at Better Basketball.
The Read & React Offense requires a shift in the way that you coach. Instead of controlling small moment by moment actions, you control the big picture. Instead of calling plays, you can use color codes or basketball formations to dictate certain styles of play...
If you've been in coaching for very long you know that the recipe for a great team and a successful season (however you measure that) involves more ingredients than a great offensive system and good athletes. Team chemistry plays a huge role as well.
We've all seen the Mighty Ducks, right? Great team chemistry + Emilio Estevez = Championship. Well, you may not have Emilio on your bench (not all dreams can come true), but you can build team chemistry.
Here's one of the ways Randi Peterson from Coe College does it:
We finish each pre-season with a scavenger hunt. This year, we created a giant puzzle. Every piece of the puzzle had a clue attached to it leading to the next piece. Once all the pieces were found, the girls assembled it and read it's message. It seems simple, but it is fun and hilarious and they have to do it together. And, for some reason, being silly bonds people to each other. It also makes good fodder for the highlight film too.
But, that's not where we finish.
What can happen in a year? Well, if you're Uie Garcia and the South Windsor Girls, a lot. See, Coach Garcia has sold out on the Read & React Offense. He integrates it in just about everything he does in practice. He uses it against man-to-man, all types of zone defense, and as a press breaker.
And, now, he's created an AAU organization dedicated to running the Read & React at every level. The Connecticut Attack are proof that it can be done on a large scale successfully.
We were sent this article and thought you should know about it. For inspiration. For encouragement. And, well, because we like to brag on Read & React teams.
Heading into his final year with the South Windsor Girls Travel Basketball Program, Ulysses Garcia decided to raise the bar through implementation of the Read & React Offense. The program dramatically evolved under his leadership; migrating from non-competitive teams at every grade level to teams that were consistently competing for league championships.
Yet it was his final year that Garcia saw the greatest growth. Through implementing the Read & React Offense, his athletes began to really understand the game and develop a true 'Basketball IQ'. They moved well without the ball, and made smart decisions with it. Instead of running plays, they were reading defenders as well as ball movement.
Jim Rohn says, "You are the average of the five people closest to you".
For me, that feels frighteningly true.
Makes me want to evaluate everyone close to me. Makes me wonder if some of my friends are looking to cut me off their list.
I...
This morning I came across the following parable and it struck me that although it is true of life in general, it especially relates to basketball coaches (and even basketball players).
You probably already have this notion tucked away in the back of your mind,...
Here is the final installment of Rich Czeslawski's Bounce Off Drill Series. Check out Part 1 and Part 2 - together these three create a progression. You know how much we at Better Basketball love progressions! Rich doesn't just write for the Tribe either, he has his own blog, which is worth spending some time on.
After running the 3-Player Drills, we move to our 5-on-0 Bounce Drill, which really reinforces the habit of Circle Movement and allows the player with the ball to work on the Bounce Off technique. We teach our “Bouncers” to reverse dribble (like a defensive slide) with their front shoulder pointed to the rim to protect the ball. Once they get to the new perimeter spot they square their shoulders so they are a threat to pass, shoot, or drive again.
5 on 0 Bounce Off Drill
Player 1 bounces from right corner to left corner, and then finishes with a Baseline Drive. Each player is the “Bouncer” once, and then we do the drill starting from the left corner, moving to the right.
We finish each set with a Baseline Drive for good measure and Circle Move to the Shooting Windows.
Everyone circle moves left on the baseline drive with the exception of the 2 who must stay home to be the Natural Pitch. This way, all of the Shooting Windows are covered: Safety Valve, 90 degree, 45 degree, and Natural pitch.