Recently the History Channel ran a show on Sun Tzu, the famous Chinese war philosopher. His most recognizable quote is:
Know yourself and know your enemy and you will win a 100 battles.
This translates on the basketball floor as know your strengths and weaknesses and know your opponent's strength and weaknesses and you will be successful in every game.
Most coaches scout their opponents, they study patterns, player tendencies, coaching tendencies, etc.
But how many coaches scout themselves or their own teams? Do you have any tendencies that your opponent can exploit? Do you run the same play out of every timeout? Are you predictable? Are you giving your opponent the edge? Re-watch your game film and look not for your players' mistakes but your own patterns and be unpredictable and tough to coach against.
October 18, 2010
October 16, 2010
Goal for Pre-Season
Coach, what are you goals for pre-season?
Unlike the NBA or college where there are scheduled exhibition games, high school teams may or may not (under their state rules) have a scrimmage but more often than not you're playing games that count right out of the gate.
How do you use your 2-3 weeks of practice before the games begin and how do you use your first games? Is it exhibition season and you're trying out different lineups with the results being secondary? Or are you playing damn the torpedoes right out of the gate and doing everything possible to win?
A lot has to do with your philosophy of the season, if every game is a must win, you'll probably have your all your sets and defenses and you'll play your top 6 or 7 to win. Sure you'll win games but at the expense of your bench and mastery of your stuff.
If you view the season as a marathon, you'll most likely have stuff you're going to put in later in the season and you'll spend time on developing players 8,9, and 10 on your roster by giving them playing time. The negative is you might lose games early on and your players might lose some confidence.
Either philosophy isn't bad. A team that plays to win early and succeeds will have almost unstoppable confidence as the playoff season comes closer. A team that is taking the longer view of the season will see growth along every step of the way and be a really tough team to beat in playoffs.
There is no right or wrong answer to this subject, you as a coach much determine your philosophy and stick to it.
Unlike the NBA or college where there are scheduled exhibition games, high school teams may or may not (under their state rules) have a scrimmage but more often than not you're playing games that count right out of the gate.
How do you use your 2-3 weeks of practice before the games begin and how do you use your first games? Is it exhibition season and you're trying out different lineups with the results being secondary? Or are you playing damn the torpedoes right out of the gate and doing everything possible to win?
A lot has to do with your philosophy of the season, if every game is a must win, you'll probably have your all your sets and defenses and you'll play your top 6 or 7 to win. Sure you'll win games but at the expense of your bench and mastery of your stuff.
If you view the season as a marathon, you'll most likely have stuff you're going to put in later in the season and you'll spend time on developing players 8,9, and 10 on your roster by giving them playing time. The negative is you might lose games early on and your players might lose some confidence.
Either philosophy isn't bad. A team that plays to win early and succeeds will have almost unstoppable confidence as the playoff season comes closer. A team that is taking the longer view of the season will see growth along every step of the way and be a really tough team to beat in playoffs.
There is no right or wrong answer to this subject, you as a coach much determine your philosophy and stick to it.
Are we forcing players back too quickly after surgery?
A lot has been made about players coming back from injury in record time and the advances in medical science getting us back so quickly. Perhaps we need to take a step back and re-examine that thought process, are we rushing athletes back too quickly? 3 injuries this fall stick out because players who have injured their ACL's all rehabbed and gotten back in under a year, only to tear them again. The New York Jets Kris Jenkins, the Minnesota Vikings Cedric Griffin, and Purdue's Robbie Hummel.
Obviously we all want our athletes back quickly, but is that any reason we should rush them back? I think we all can agree as coaches that it's the worst thing in the world to see one of your kids get hurt. I think it's especially heart breaking watching one work and rehab only to get hurt again. The looks on Griffin's and Jenkin's faces when their injuries happened were especially crushing. They knew they had torn it again immediately and all their rehab work went for naught.
Obviously we all want our athletes back quickly, but is that any reason we should rush them back? I think we all can agree as coaches that it's the worst thing in the world to see one of your kids get hurt. I think it's especially heart breaking watching one work and rehab only to get hurt again. The looks on Griffin's and Jenkin's faces when their injuries happened were especially crushing. They knew they had torn it again immediately and all their rehab work went for naught.
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