Elevate and Enhance Your Basketball Coaching Skills
Being the coach of a young basketball team is no piece of cake. Coaching is not only about training the team physically and technically but it also involves coaching them, mentoring them and making them strong mentally to handle the pressures of the sporting realm. A young team is full of energy and a coach has to steer that energy towards the right path. So there’s a lot riding on your shoulders.
Every coach wants to present a team that is physically fit, technically skilled and is mentally strong. For that you need to have advanced coaching skills and knowledge. Here are some tricks and tips that you as a coach could use to boost your coaching skills and enhance your team’s skill and capabilities with ease.
Technical coaching
Technicalities of a basketball game are important but the coach of a young team should understand that their team is in a crucial phase of learning. Rushing them at this stage can overwhelm the entire team. You are nowhere near playing an NBA match for the time being. Even in important and big matches, let your team have fun, enjoy the experience, and learn along the way. Give instructions but don’t crush them with too much information. Let them learn and enjoy seeing them grow through experiences.
Clear and constant communication is also important for good coaching. It is non-negotiable to remember that your team is young and therefore, can get easily affected by whatever you are saying to them as they look up at you. Even if you want to correct a member after a game, sandwich the remark with compliments. Make your postgame talk positive and set goals for the next game to deal with problematic areas.
While you are building your team on technical skills, it is crucial to remember that a player’s technical abilities heavily depend on the outfit and gear they use. Order each and every gear for your team after thorough research on the internet. Either it is knee pads, basketball uniforms, footwear or any other gear, each right item adds value to the mobility, flexibility, and comfort of the player. All this results in better performance by your team. You can search online stores and find suitable gears for your team. You can have Custom basketball uniforms, shoes, and accessories made and can surprise your team members with a unique identity and personal touch.
Physical training
Physical fitness is one feature that you must develop in your team. Your team doesn’t only need to be healthy and fit but their body should be agile and flexible as well. Practices like dribble knockout are very good to enhance reflexes and agility in a player. Healthy nutrition is also important and a coach should know about what a body of young athlete needs to stay fit and in form for games. Experts recommend that a basketball player should consume a diet that is high in carbohydrates. A daily intake of sufficient protein is also vital for the body mass of young basketball players.
The coach can educate their teams in terms of nutrition and its impact on players’ performance. They should work on players’ mental stability as well so it can strengthen their determination to choose the right meals for them and discard what is not appropriate for them to eat. Learn and enhance your knowledge regarding nutrition and create a flexible meal plan for your team. Teach them the value of proper diet and exercise and help them strike the right balance. This will lead to better performances by your team and will elevate your level as a coach.
Importance of Intellectual and Psychological Coaching
It is emphasized by many sporting legends that the psychological and intellectual upbringing of a player is as important as their physical fitness and technical prowess. The mental building develops important traits in a player such as sportsmanship, teamwork, mutual respect, and a positive attitude.
A coach can develop sportsmanship in young players by instigating mentoring them, leading by example and by instilling basic habits and principles in them. For instance, simple gestures such as shaking hands with opposite teams, making eye contact with seniors and game officials bucking up teammates in bad times builds sportsman traits like confidence and empathy for teammates at a very young age. Working collaboratively in a team also comes with smart coaching.
Teach your team the concept of WE, not ME. Encourage your wards to trust the other teammate in their judgment. This trait comes in handy in a proper match when basketball players are communicating with their teammates through the ball. Finally, a strong mind and a positive attitude are very important for a player.
Taking defeat at face level and learning from it is a crucial trait that every player should have. The basketball legend Michel Jordan quoted “Never say never, because limits, like fears, are often just an illusion.” Setting examples of Jordan’s career profile and other new basketball stars will create the impression that not giving up and fighting till the last are mental attributes that make a player into a champion and such attitude comes with good mental coaching from a young age.
While doing all the training, the foremost point for a coach of a young team is to remember that your wards look up to you for guidance and take you as a role model. The way you will move around them will be the biggest part of coaching. The way you interact with others teaches them how to respect and communicate in professional sports life. Likewise, while you are coaching your young basketball team, continue to learn yourself as well. Constantly learning the new knacks of basketball and conveying them to your team with the filter of maturity, age and skill pay off well in the future and will help in advancing your basketball coaching skills.
