M.I.S.S.I.N.G.
Mind Candy- Coach Showalter has been using this concept with his USA teams as well as his teams he coached in high school at Iowa City. The idea behind this is to give them a thought, a quote, and idea, of how they can approach that day. Each day the mind candy is different. Sometimes you may be struggling with a certain aspect of your games. This is the chance to begin practice with addressing this and circling back to it from time to time throughout your practice. He would often have the mind candy time be in a classroom, hallway, somewhere separate from the hardwood. Also, he provided notebooks for each player. This allows them to take ownership and also write the mind candy of each day in the notebook.
“Sprint to spots and prepare for shots”; Shot preparation before the catch often
determines if you’ll get off a clean shot and knock it down
“Before you talk, listen. Before you act, think. Before you criticize, wait. Before you pray, forgive. Before you quit, try.”
“It takes less time to do something right than it does to explain why you did it wrong!”
“If you announce you must deliver.”
Intentional Listening- Be a constant encourager of asking questions if they do not understand. If they ask questions, you need to do a better job of clarifying. Be intentional in everything you do. We ask our players to focus but do we focus on our players? Ask them questions. Relay their feedback to them. Engage in conversations with them. Ask questions about them that do not pertain to basketball. Use the information that you learn about them that day during a break or timeout, or even during a drill. What drills do they enjoy doing? Listen to them. Often times players and students want to be heard! You would be surprised at the things you can get out of your players. This increases your trust with them and will allow you to hold them accountable when stuff hits the fan.
Standards & Expectations- Set the standards with your team. Allow them to be a part of this as well as you making sure that you have a couple of yours in. These standards are what your team will go by. These are your teams non-negotiables. If the players take part in the standard making process it is easier to hold them accountable and easier for them to hold one another accountable. You cannot let these slide. Your standards can be anything from “what happens when a player is late to practice, how the players address/talk to one another, tucking their jerseys in, grades (what is acceptable and what isn’t), and communication on and off the floor looks like.”
Shooting- The paramount issue we have in this game. Go over the 5 most important shooting keys. What a coach can do to help fix 1 THING at a time? Give the player only one thing to focus on as they shoot their jump shots. Make shooting shots a priority. Establish a shooting routine. Put the standards and expectations in with their shooting. Elbow out isn’t all bad. Feet not squared isn’t all bad. CONSISTENCY and COMFORTABLE need to be involved!
Information- This needs to be a daily evaluation process for you as a coach. Is what I am saying getting across. Am I teaching in tweets or am I teaching in a FB post? I need to look at me and determine if I need to alter my cue words? Is it getting through? Write down a self-chart for the end of practice.
-How did the flow of practice go?
-Did I talk too much?
-Was I positive with them? Did I praise in public and criticize in private? Did I catch them doing something right?
-If I have staff, can I get feedback from them? Can I give them feedback?
-What should be focused on tomorrow?
Nutrients- On and Off the Court. What does each of your players need to really improve on? Give them 5 minutes to work on a scheduled workout in which they rep what they need to really improve on. If it is left hand layups/finishes, or ball handling with pressure, or shooting with them focusing on something you have given them recently, get them on it and have them OWN IT! You can group them up in small groups, split the team, or partner up with a person that needs to work on the same things.
Games- They need to play as many small sided games as possible. They need to COMPETE! Make everything a game. Everything is a competition in which there is a winner and a loser. At the end of the drill chart who got a W and who got an L. Ask them for different ideas for different drills or scenarios in which I can provide them with answers of how we can make it competitive. Get them feeling what winning feels like. Most times the best player will not always win. The kid with the crappiest attitude will have the most L’s for sure. Chart these for a week. Be consistent with it and the kids will love it. The old saying that everyone wants to win/be successful until it is time to do what it takes to be successful… There is still time and energy to do that here.