New Balance in Coaching Basketball

It has been four years since I last prowled the side-line of a basketball court as a coach. I miss pacing the sidelines, especially in March when basketball is king. While focusing on other areas of life I do want to return to coaching at some point, and I'm confident the additional life-experience I've been getting will stand me in good stead for when I have the opportunity to return to the game of basketball. I enjoyed watching my brother assist Manchester Central to a Division I NH state title last Saturday and it is neat to watch his development as a coach and person around the game.

 When I began my first head coaching job at the ripe old-age of 21 I believed my main responsibility to my players was to point out all the areas of their game where they were not performing to the standard I had in mind for them. As other coaches can attest, some of this mentality is true of coaching, but that is only half the job. Looking back now I shudder to think of the negative impact I had on my players due to my lack of experience and maturity as a person and as a coach. When I get the opportunity to coach again I'm looking forward to implementing the "other-side" of coaching which to some may be glaringly obvious, but I only came to recognize this within the last several months.

I would posit that as important to communicating to your players what they did wrong is the ability and willingness to praise your players for what they did correctly. As a player who honestly enjoys hearing your coach only ever rag on you? I know I didn't. Praising your players is not putting them at risk of getting a big-head, no rather it serves as an accurate reflection of what should be taking place in life outside of basketball. I view playing and coaching the game of basketball as a reflection of how you live your life, with balance, poise, grit, and determination. In the real-world you discover some people will praise you and some will not. Some people will confront you from constructive criticism and some will not. Coaching is a unique privilege because you have the responsibility of fulfilling both roles of critic and cheerleader for your players.  

I know I've been challenged by this thought, and like I said before, I'm looking forward to implementing this when I have another opportunity to teach others about both the game of basketball and life. 

#MarchMadness #coaching #basketball #lifelessons #NCAA