Tournament ahead! - Basketball Coaching Update
Greetings everyone!
It's been a while since I posted a coach's update. I usually try to reflect on my way of coaching and how I think it could impact the kids.
And of course see where I can improve.
Check out a few of my previous posts here: https://peakd.com/hive-148441/@gvkanten/greetings-everyone-its-time-fo-820i6j0y432l7k407eyo4818371464sv
https://peakd.com/hive-193552/@gvkanten/actifit-gvkanten-20210126t051631672z
New Tournament
Our team has been invited to a tournament in Aruba. This year has been weird in terms of lockdowns and covid measures so the kids haven't gotten to play as much as we wanted to. It's an extra challenge cause on the one hand you understand that it gets boring to just practice and practice and practice without well, putting what you learn into practice (see what I did there? 😂).
We've organized some friendly matches and you see the impact those have right away. The kids want to do well! The get super competitive, the celebrate every made basket like they've won the championship 😂. It's fun to see!
On the other hand the lack of games and competition means you don't necessarily see the progress you've made. Sure you can spot if a kid starts making layups regularly, but do the stick to the game plan? Do the rise to the occasion during games? Do the keep a cool head even if the opposition tries to provoke them?
You see those things in competition...
So back to the tournament.
We've now split our team in two. A selection gets to go to Aruba and represent our team (and Curacao).
The other kids still practice but they're currently not as advanced and we go back to the basics with them.
The selected them does get a high intensity training (now 3 days a week) as they should be in shape and in sync in Aruba.
Defense wins games!
The other coach has focused on the offense while I've worked very much on defense! Individual defense, all the way from defensive stances to being able to shuffle your feet and stay with your opponent.
But (arguably) more importantly, I've worked on team defense.
As I've explained to the kids, we have to work together to stop another team.
You can't leave you're teammate on an island (no pun intended 😂)!
This mean you have to be in a position to help! Help side defense is one of the most important aspects of basketball in my opinion and you use it for the rest of your career!
This Saturday we have a carwash as a fundraiser for our trip! Wish us luck!
That's it for me today!
As always, feel free to connect in the comments.
Cheers,
Ps. This is post 4 of the #HiveBloPoMo challenge! Check out the community and consider joining us next time!
That’s awesome man! Good luck on the trip! I think that defense is indeed just as important as offense. I was on the defensive side in sports I played and it was great. I didn’t play long but always liked defense better than offense.
Agreed! It's a lost art (I sound like an old man here) but the offense get glorified so much that of course kids are going to focus on that. Everybody wants to be the scorer... And the challenge is explaining to kids that what they do on the court is as important, without them getting special attention or praise for it (except from me)
Yeah I hear you on that lol. Lots of focus on scoring but not enough focus on preventing scoring from happening!
Hey buddy hope you do well in this and the following tournaments and good luck this Saturday.
Thank you thank you!