For the last 3 weeks, I have been coaching a new group of kids and using a new coaching philosphy. Since I lost my High School Varsity coaching position due to consolidation, I am now coaching a group of 7th and 8th grade boys in basketball. After reading a book on coaching youth baseball, I have decided to use those techniques this season to see if I can get different results out of my team.
The main thing I have tried to do over these past 3 weeks is be more patient and be more of a teacher of the game opposed to a disciplinarian. I have also attempted to give more praise on positive things and positive outcomes instead of focusing on the negatives. Even though it has taken every fiber in my head not to snap at these kids at times, I feel as though this may allow us to be successful.
The one area I have had the toughest time in keeping my cool thus far has come over the kids just paying attention to me when they are not in or involved in the action. This has caused me to repeat instructions on several occassions. The old me would have snapped, started yelling, and then forced the team to run until someone puked. Instead of yelling this time around, I have tried calmly telling them to be quiet and pay attention. But, as many 12-14 year olds do, they go right back to their talking ways. This has caused me on a few occassions to stop practice, and calmly put my guys on the line for a few suicides until it sinks in that I want them to pay attention. Yesterday, we had to run 3 suicides in the middle of practice for this to settle into their minds.
Will this calm approach pay off? I guess I will see tomorrow. We have our first game of the season tomorrow, and it just so happens to be a tournament. I don't feel great about my guys as a team right now. We still struggle running set plays and don't seem to have much of a concept of team basketball. I have a group of guys that love to play in PE and in open gyms, but that is disorganized, chaotic basketball. I do have a solid point guard and a really good athlete that I am hoping we can rally behind and win some games. I guess I will see tomorrow how things go...
