Self-Awareness – The Basketball Coaching Roadmap

Does Self-Awareness Help You Become A Better Coach?

The capacity to self-reflect is essential when implementing the steps of the Basketball Coaching Roadmap – Communication, Organization, Adaptability, Consistency, Honesty and Encouragement. You might be surprised to hear self-awareness is so important since it’s not a technical skill and has little to do with your knowledge of basketball drills and plays. It’s a human skill; one that offers you the opportunity to deepen your understanding of yourself and your players. It’s through that process that success emerges.

Over time, self-awareness allows you to become intimately familiar with your coaching strengths and weaknesses. If you think this sounds easy, give it a try. There are all kinds of barriers that are likely to interfere. It’s hard to admit that you don’t always have the answer; you make mistakes and you have limitations. You can’t possibly know everything about basketball – maybe you’re lacking knowledge about post play and the drills required for development. Understanding your strengths and weaknesses helps you to plan accordingly; highlight your strengths and seek help to improve your weaknesses. This understanding allows you to become part of your team. You display positive behaviour and you work to improve alongside your players with the aim of becoming stronger together.

One of the biggest benefits of self-awareness is simply, knowing how you are doing. Coaching can be a stressful and demanding task. Players, parents and communities expect a lot from coaches and have their own ideas about how the team should be functioning. Many coaches are volunteering or dedicating their time to coaching in addition to having a full-time job or other responsibilities. It’s important to regularly check in with yourself and take necessary measures to avoid the pitfalls of stress. It’s nearly impossible to remain encouraging, stay organized, be honest and build successful relationships when you’re burnt out and exhausted. Self-awareness allows you to intervene earlier so that you can get the rest or self-care you need before your mood starts to impact the team.

When we started this season I believed we could contend in March. I knew the journey would not be without roadblocks and bumps to overcome. You might think that describes all seasons but we have been lucky to experience only minimal setbacks in the last few years. We surprised everyone and probably over achieved the first half of the season going undefeated in 17 games against Canadian College competition. January has been a different story, last night we lost our second game in a row. The first lost was on the road to the defending National Champions and we played pretty well and had a chance to win.

Last night, we lost at home to a good Niagara squad. After each game I assess my own performance with the intention of becoming a better coach and improving our team. I try not to let this process consume me but I’m not always successful – especially after a losing streak. It’s something that I am aware of and will continue to work on. To summarize my post-game thoughts, I wasn’t happy with everyone’s performance, including myself. I am optimistic that we are capable of bouncing back and moving forward but failure has a funny way of casting a giant shadow of doubt. This is the first real setback for our season and it is my job to remove that doubt and lead us down a path of improvement, not blame.

If you had told me before the season started that we would be leading the conference and only have two losses in late January I would have taken that in a heartbeat. I need to make my players and coaches aware of the big picture and understand that even in defeat we can get better.

This semester we have lost a few players to injuries and Christmas departures which have affected our regular practice routine. I need to be doing a better job helping everyone move forward and work together with the players currently available. In the coming weeks we will work to improve our focus during practices which will help us become more prepared for the upcoming game.

In my journey to become more self-aware, I have found it helpful to do four things:

1. Define our team’s philosophy (what we want to be known for) and expectations. Does their performance in games and practices align with the philosophy and expectation?
2. Define the type of coach I want to be (e.g. positive energy, communicative, honest, consistent, etc.)
3. During times of struggle, ask myself “does this parallel anything happening in my own life right now?” (e.g. if I’m feeling less confident as a coach lately, does the team play with less confidence?)
4. Live in the moment. Use the present to get better, the past to learn and the future to hold our goals.

All four require constant attention throughout the season. Paying attention to your thoughts, feelings, and how they influence your decisions and reactions will come more naturally over time (something I’m still working on). Eventually new thoughts and ideas will emerge and advance your abilities to succeed as a coach.

Finally, self-awareness comes not only from your ability to self-reflect but from hearing feedback from others. Your capacity to receive feedback without feeling a need to defend your actions will empower your players. That empowerment will allow them to speak freely and think creatively, inspiring thoughts and solutions you never considered. Just like with you, new thoughts and ideas will emerge within your players which will advance your abilities to succeed as a team.

Encouragement – The Basketball Coaching Roadmap

“A word of encouragement during a failure is worth more than an hour of praise after success.” – Unknown

There are many coaching styles that have worked over the years. Old school coaching was more of a dictatorship – coaches motivated using fear; players didn’t have input and never dared to challenge authority. They were told what to do and how to do it and if they didn’t oblige, there were consequences. Mistakes were met with some combination of glaring, shouting and shaming, most likely witnessed by your teammates. While the old style of dictatorship coaching stills exists, it’s not nearly as effective as it was in the past.

In order to be successful, coaches must be willing to use encouragement as a motivational tool. Players are more likely to respond to being coached “hard” if they also know they will receive encouragement when they do things well. When players feel motivated and inspired, their performance improves.

I am very much a glass-half-full kind of person. You might even say my glass is overflowing. I believe there is no situation that can’t be overcome. I don’t dwell on things beyond my control. Mistakes are teaching opportunities, not shaming opportunities. Make your point and move on. One way to ruin a player’s confidence is to repeatedly remind them of past mistakes.

I’m not saying you have to avoid or tone-down necessary feedback, but my personal philosophy has always been to criticize in private and praise in public. If there are issues that need to be addressed, I prefer to do them in private meetings or conversations. When someone has played well or is incorporating what we are working on, we offer immediate encouragement and feedback. Legendary NBA coach Phil Jackson recommends a ratio of five positive comments for every constructive criticism. I try to give encouragement to my players as much as possible.

I’ve witnessed coaches who feel they need to drill every aspect of the game into their players. Micro managing your players implies that you don’t have faith in their abilities. Unless you’re coaching professional athletes, it can be very easy to forget that players are kids. Kids are always listening to and analyzing anyone with direct authority over them. Kids make mistakes (and adults do too), how you handle mistakes goes a long way toward building respect and trust with your players.

Take Golden State Warriors coach, Steve Kerr for example. He has created a culture of trust. He trusts that his players will make decisions to help the team. He gives them leeway; consequently they play care-free. At the time of writing this article, Golden State turns the ball over the sixth most in the NBA. They are able to overcome that obstacle because Steve Kerr’s trust far outweighs a few bad possessions. Player’s mistakes don’t disrupt future plays or decisions because they aren’t looking over their shoulder wondering if they are about to be taken out of the game.

Don’t mistake encouragement as soft. Encouragement is a bridge that fosters trust and builds positive relationships. Those relationships are the basis for successful coaches. When we talk about a player’s willingness to “run through a wall” for us, they are far more likely to do it when they know you are willing to give them a big hug for breaking their nose!

Next item on the Basketball Coaching Roadmap is Self-Awareness:

Honesty – The Basketball Coaching Roadmap

As we discussed in the introduction to the Basketball Coaching Roadmap, coaching is very similar to teaching or parenting – you must focus on developing and nurturing relationships to increase everyone’s chances for success. The best way to build sustainable relationships with your players (or anyone, for that matter) is to be honest with them.

If you ask me, honesty is one of the most challenging aspects of coaching. For most people it is easier to tell players what they want to hear as opposed to what they need to hear. It’s tempting to sugar coat challenging discussions to avoid conflict. Being dishonest with your players can fracture your relationship with your team and once that happens, your chances of success diminish.

There are three ways to help you develop an honest relationship with your players:

1. Know yourself and your team philosophy. Actually take some time to write down your strengths as a coach and what you want your team philosophy to be (always work hard, focus on positive energy, individual development, etc). To maximize team success your strengths must align with your desired team philosophy. I would recommend doing this more than once per season. Teams evolve throughout the year; don’t let an outdated philosophy hold your team back.
2. Your actions must match your words. If you are communicating with honesty and your actions consistently match your words, it is more likely that your players will trust you. Throughout the year your words will carry more and more weight and your team will function more cohesively.
3. Welcome feedback. Being open to hearing feedback from your players is just as important as being direct and transparent with them. Establishing a culture where players feel comfortable opening up is an important aim in an honest relationship.

Each offseason, we assess our team and develop our team philosophy. This year, we thought the team would be strong enough to beat anyone on any given night but we weren’t sure we could consistently beat the best teams. We determined it would be a rebuilding year and if we (the coaches) did our jobs well, we could really surprise people in March. We knew that we would have three young and promising guards; Kareem Collins, an extremely talented freshman point guard, Ryan Doornick, a second year CIS transfer and Lamar Barr, a returning star and future all-star. We have the potential to have one of the best backcourts in the country for the next few years.

We also have Pat Iavarone, a senior guard who is intelligent, talented, studious and has the potential to be a fantastic coach. He started most of his sophomore year when we were challenging for a National Championship. He played a key role off the bench last year for our team that made the National Final Four. After losing four starters (all in their fifth year) from last year’s team Pat’s natural assumption for this season would be to start and be one of our “go to” players. I expected and understood why Pat should think he would be in that role. As coaches we weren’t sure that was the best direction for this young team and I needed to have a very difficult conversation with Pat in August.

The basic message to Pat in communicating our team philosophy was that we were committing to playing the younger players this year. We were willing to live with the mistakes that are inevitable with less experienced players, to accelerate their growth. We weren’t sure where that left him. That meant there may be nights he plays 25 minutes and there might be nights he plays a lot less without a real good explanation as to why. Can you imagine hearing that if you were Pat? A senior with starting experience and plenty of big-game experience being told there may be games he barely played and for no reason other than to play younger players! To be honest, I had no idea how Pat would react but I wanted to tell him in August to allow him time to process the message and let him make decisions for his basketball future before he came to tryouts with high expectations. I would have understood if he didn’t play. I expected he would go home and be very upset. My final message in the conversation we had was if he chose to continue playing, realizing that his role was clouded at best, he could never be a distraction. It is the toughest, most honest conversation I have had with anyone in my 21 years of coaching.

Pat chose to play this year and has never been a distraction. He has been just the opposite; he has become a mentor for the younger players, a source for them to get information outside of the coaching staff. Pat sets a great example during practices; he works hard and wins most sprints. He is averaging 17 minutes a game and nine points while enjoying his best shooting season. He is second in the entire league in steals. We just enjoyed our best semester in school history going 9-0 in conference play and 14-0 against all CCAA teams. We probably would have lost three of those games if it wasn’t for Pat and his defence, enthusiasm and leadership. He couldn’t have handled the situation with more maturity; as a result he is a key contributor to another National contender.

I tell players they might not always like what I say but I will ALWAYS be honest with them. I believe I owe that to them as a person, a player and a teammate.

Next item on the Basketball Coaching Roadmap is Encouragement:

Consistency – The Basketball Coaching Roadmap

Have you ever had a really bad day? Obviously you have. We all do, but it’s important you don’t let this affect your mood at practice. Your players need consistency and predictability and being consistent in your approach will maximize your team’s focus and potential. Almost all teams mimic their coach’s personality. If you are negative and don’t handle adversity well, you can expect your team will be similar. If you are calm under pressure, you can expect your team to be the same. Consistently modelling desired behavior is the best way to influence your players.

It is just as important that you and your assistants have consistency within your approach to the team. If you expect a certain standard or want things done a certain way, you must ensure your assistants spread the same teachings. It can be very powerful to have multiple voices echoing the same message. More than one message can lead to confusion, frustration and discontent.

At times, I can be too lenient in some of my daily expectations and I am consistent with this approach. Some of my assistants would like to show less tolerance for anything below their expectations. This issue creates the most tension and disagreements between us. There is nothing wrong with hashing out our differing viewpoints, but we need to keep that discussion amongst ourselves. When it comes to the group, it’s important that only one message, one policy and one team mission statement gets passed from the coaches to the players. There must be consistency from all directions. Just as you ask your team to play together and play as one, the coaches need to do the same.

I coach with the same philosophical standards as former Dallas Cowboys coach Jimmy Johnson. Not everyone is treated equally but everyone is treated fairly. There are three ways to impress me: work hard, be enthusiastic and perform well. If players can do all three of those consistently, they are at the top of the scale. The great news is, two out of these three elements (effort and enthusiasm) are completely within a player’s control.

After cutting a player who fell asleep in a film session, Jimmy Johnson was asked what he would have done if star quarterback Troy Aikman fell asleep in a film session? He said he would have walked up to Troy, tapped him on the shoulder and whispered, “Wake up Troy.” Troy demonstrated the effort, enthusiasm and performance. The other individual had not. I communicate this philosophy to my team so they can understand how the scale works and how it is applied. This foundation of effort, enthusiasm and performance has now translated into the culture of our team.

Currently, I have a player on my team that has not been playing many minutes. In most games he does not play at all. He is routinely the hardest worker in practice and listens and asks good questions. He comes to the gym with a great disposition, always smiling. He does well in school and he understands his current role. He is closer to the top of the scale than the bottom even though he doesn’t play much. If he fell asleep in a film session, I would tap him on the shoulder.

Next item on the Basketball Coaching Roadmap is Honesty:

Adaptability – The Basketball Coaching Roadmap

“It is not the strongest or the most intelligent who will survive but those who can best manage change.” – Leon C Megginson

Season to season, game to game, minute by minute, adaptability can set you apart from all other coaches; if you can adapt you can succeed.

You will have seasons where your player’s skill-sets don’t match your preferred system. You have two choices: force your system on the group or adapt your system to suit your team. You will achieve more success (click here to read about our definition of success) when you put your players in positions that give them the best chance to succeed. Having players who feel confident about what they are being asked to do is extremely important. Asking them to display their strengths brings out that confidence.

I am in the midst of a season that couldn’t be more different than the last few years. Last year we won a conference championship (OCAA) and lost in the National Final Four (CCAA) with a group that featured:

• Fifth year National Player of the Year, Matt Fennell.
• Fifth year shot blocking machine, Taylor Dowhaniuk.
• Fifth year offensively dominant post player, Andrew Cicuttini.
• Fifth year sharp shooting point guard, Matt Savel.
• First year all-round talented guard, Lamar Barr.

We had a ton of size and experience and an absolute scoring machine in Fennell. We ran loads of set plays on offense and played almost exclusively zone at the defensive end.  This season we still have some experience but we are much smaller, more athletic and very young at the guard positions.

Our assistant coaches and I had a choice: continue to do the things that made us successful the last few years or adapt and modify the system for the group in front of us. We chose the latter and it has invigorated us as coaches. We are teaching new principles, playing a different style and enjoying the fresh outlook. We are playing man to man defence, we are pressuring more, we are going deeper in our bench and we have changed to a dribble, attacking offense. What are the results thus far? Well, we just finished our first ever perfect semester in league play winning all nine games. We are 14-0 overall against college competition. Our scoring has not dipped this year even though we lost 76% of last year’s scoring. We are currently ranked fourth in the country when most people would have pegged us to be scraping for a playoff spot.

You can’t be afraid to adapt, to change on the fly, to admit things aren’t working. We have had times when we’ve spent an entire week preparing to defend a certain player a particular way in pick and roll situations only to have them come out and score effectively against that strategy. As coaches, we aren’t afraid to admit our strategy isn’t working and explore alternate solutions immediately.

I try to recruit players that are capable of solving problems, thinking quickly and showing adaptability. I love when players offer suggestions about in-game adjustments. We encourage their suggestions and consider implementing them; doing something they want empowers them and makes them further accountable. Don’t be rigid, they have a different perspective than you and many times they are able to see and feel aspects of the game you cannot. The key is to be willing and open to adapting.

In order to achieve long term success, adaptability is essential. Look no further than Gregg Popovich of the San Antonio Spurs and Bill Belichick of the New England Patriots – they are both famous for their in-game adjustments, sometimes completely revising their strategy during half-time. The reason they’re able to make drastic adjustments is because they have an open mind (even though their press conferences would indicate otherwise) and they approach each game as its own entity. Their system is adaptability.

“Set patterns, incapable of adaptability, of pliability, only offer a better cage. Truth is outside of all patterns.” – Bruce Lee

Another aspect of adaptability is how you motivate or teach your players. Not all players are created equal; they all have different backgrounds and experiences that have shaped who they are. Some players respond really well to being challenged, either by the coaches or opponents, and some will look to shut down. As we discussed in the Communication article, it is your job as a coach to understand your players as individuals. What motivates or inspires them? How much responsibility can they handle? How do they respond to failure, challenge, pressure or success? That understanding comes from personal interaction. Do not make the mistake of treating all your players as if they have one equal personality. They don’t… and you wouldn’t want them to. Adapt your message according to the audience and you will maximize everyone’s chances for success.

Next item on the Basketball Coaching Roadmap is Consistency:

Organization – The Basketball Coaching Roadmap

“Organization isn’t about perfection, it’s about efficiency.” – Unknown

Being a coach is a special privilege, you are uniquely positioned to teach life lessons within the context of a game. You are a role model, especially if you’re coaching younger kids. Showing up unorganized, with papers crumpled up, forgetting your plays and giving the impression that your coaching duties are an afterthought is not the kind of example you want to set.

No team can achieve great success without being properly organized. Organization is a key step in the basketball Coaching Roadmap. Being organized helps eliminate down time during practice and increases your team’s chances of success during games. As a coach, how organized are you?

• Do you walk into practice and make up drills on the fly?
• Do you come in with a plan in your head?
• Do you have a written plan?
• Do you have practices planned out by the minute?
• Do you practice game time situations to help your players understand team philosophies?

I have done each of those things but the reality is that the more organized and more prepared you are, the more efficient your team will be. A detailed practice plan is just a start. What about a long range plan? Have you ever outlined what you think your team is capable of and designed a calendar as to when you want to introduce more advanced concepts, plays or schemes? Do you have a list of critical situations that you know your kids could handle on their own or with minimal instruction? I find that FIBA rules really favor the most prepared teams.

“Most people have the will to win. Few have the will to prepare to win.” – Coach, Bobby Knight

Organization is the result of preparation. In order to effectively make game time decisions, it’s important to prepare a list of scenarios based on score, time, your players and your opposition. That preparation allows you to make more spontaneous choices as situations arise during games. Players feel it (even if it’s subconsciously) and they start to believe in you; they will respond with more energy and urgency. Preparation also removes the chaos and tension during stressful times; your players will perform with a greater sense of calm and ease. The Dukes and Michigan States of the world are able to execute so effectively during crucial moments because their coach is composed, prepared and organized in the huddle. They have had the experience of drawing up last second plays thousands of times and the plays are also second nature to their players. Below are a few game time scenarios that are important to practice:

• What does it mean to have fouls-to-give at the end of a quarter or half and how do you plan to use those fouls? Committing a foul to force a team to inbound the ball with little time instead of running a set play in the half court is usually an advantage to the defense.
• Do you want to foul when ahead by three points with minimal time remaining in the game?
• How to properly miss a free throw to improve your chances of getting an offensive rebound or ensure the clock keeps moving to avoid your opponent in-bounding the ball?
• What offensive set should your team run when you need a basket against both a man and zone defense?

We practice, teach and repeat all of those and others on a regular basis. It’s not just enough to discuss them, it’s important to design specific drills to expose your players to various game time situations and gain a familiarity and comfort.

Running an organized practice saves time for individual skill development and it gives you more time to communicate with your players. In the first step of the Coaching Roadmap we discussed the importance of communication and how you must make time to get to know your players as people, not just players. That alone is worth the effort to be organized.

Next item on the Basketball Coaching Roadmap is Adaptability:

Communication – The Basketball Coaching Roadmap

Every step of our Basketball Coaching Roadmap revolves around building relationships with your players and coaches. It only seems fitting to start with communication. In coaching and in life, communication is the foundation for success.

Communication is about listening even when you’re the only one talking.

Your ability to speak, connect and listen are essential in achieving success as a coach. Something as simple as learning each player’s name at a clinic can have a tremendous benefit in fostering positivity and connection on your team. Over time, consider getting to know your kids as people not just as players. Every day I make a point of asking each player about school or specific personal issues they’ve mentioned. There’s a mutual benefit in the exchange – players feel empowered in the experience of being known by their coach and you get to learn about your players’ personalities (e.g. what motivates them, their responses to stress) and use that information to achieve success on the court.

When you get to know your players, you develop a greater sense of trust. Trust is a necessary foundation, given that coaches need to have some uncomfortable and challenging conversations. It’s not pleasant having to tell kids that despite their commendable effort, they didn’t make the team or that they aren’t going to get as much playing time as they think they deserve. I tell my kids that they might not like what I say but I will always be honest and transparent with them. If you develop a sense of trust and get to know kids personally beforehand, these conversations can be easier; avoiding a crushing impact on their identity as a “player.”

“Knowledge is knowing what to say. Wisdom is knowing when to say it.” – Unknown

Another aspect of communication is timing; knowing when to say something, and equally as important, knowing when not to say something. Not all mistakes warrant a response. The human brain is naturally wired with a negativity bias. It detects negative information faster than positive information and it’s known that negative leadership drains energy and motivation. Therefore, as a coach, it’s essential to understand that the brain is like Velcro for negative experiences and Teflon for positive ones (Rick Hanson). Players respond to positive communication and it needs to far outweigh the negative communication.

I always caution coaches about noticing when they are putting in more effort than their players. When players feel listened to and included THEY also take ownership of their own development and the team’s success…and magic happens.

The year we won our National Championship I remember the specific practice when I felt the magic. We had spent five months getting to a point where I believed everyone clearly understood and accepted their roles. In the bigger games we had clearly established our rotation and we were only using seven or eight guys on a regular basis. That didn’t stop the others from working their butts off every day for the betterment of the group. By this point everyone had been told what the coaches’ expectations were for them and how valuable those roles were regardless of the amount of minutes they may or may not play. Trust had been earned in both directions and that made acceptance of the roles more palatable. Though some roles may or may not have been what was best for the individual, it was best for the group.

We had three games remaining in the season and we were preparing for a game against Niagara College. There was a different energy in the gym that night and a bounce to everyone’s step. Early in practice we were going through a routine full court shooting drill and there was so much positive energy. As the drill was going on I walked the circumference of the court and had a one sentence conversation with almost everyone. “Do you feel it Manny”? “There is something happening here tonight, Aminu”. “We are in a great place right now, Cupido”. Yes sir was the frequent response to all my comments or queries. Driving home that night with Mike Woodburn, one of my assistant coaches, I told him I wouldn’t be surprised if we didn’t lose again. We didn’t. Ten game winning streak. First Ontario Championship for the school in 40 years and the school’s first ever National Championship.

Next item on the Basketball Coaching Roadmap is Organization: