Individual and team success is a common career objective, but what it means to you depends on your perspective. As a coach, my definition of success may differ from that of a competitor coach, one of my parents, or even my athletes.
Knowing what makes a program effective can help you stay in the industry for a longer time.
Below are five things components that any youth athletic program should have to be successful and give everyone a chance to thrive.
Read more: What 100 Parents Said About Their Basketball Training Preferences and Costs
Communication
The most essential characteristic that any player, team, and coach should aim for is communication.
On the court, communication is devalued and undertaught. Having support from your team not only assists you in executing your job offensively or defensively, but it also helps you establish a trusting and reliable relationship.
Off the court, communication is more crucial since it will significantly increase court communication. It enhances the vital interaction between players and coaches if they understand what is expected of them, what their position on the team is, what mistakes have been made, and how to fix them.
Teaching Fundamentals
Coaches must first and foremost be teachers, then coaches, to prepare these young athletes to be the highest performing basketball players they can be. As coaches, we put skill training, drills, and plays in place depending on how we want our squad to perform.
We can then develop the right practice programs to truly prepare our athletes to play basketball, not simply run plays and move up and down the court, once we’ve identified their capabilities and weaknesses.
Development
When I question athletes from junior high to high school about their practices, I frequently hear that they do a bunch of drills or get a few shots up. Only focusing on one attribute can’t be the ultimate outcome since it will stunt your players’ development.
As coaches, we must train our players to be versatile enough to play in any system, rather than focusing on one or two qualities. The growth of players is the development of the team as a whole!
Progression
Individually and collectively, we must learn to be comfortable with being uncomfortable to develop. As players and coaches, we must aim to feel uneasy to succeed; this starts and finishes with practice. The way we create practice plans is critical to our team’s or program’s success. We need to go deeper into the how of what we instruct.
Determine your players’ basic strengths and weaknesses, as well as their positive and negative characteristics.
Design drills to target improvements in both areas, collectively and individually.
Practice at the speed of a game! Once the players have gained experience, they can go on to the next level.
Patience
This is a word that we don’t frequently identify with our program. As we go about our daily lives, we usually neglect that everything takes some time. Every chance, in my mind, is a long route that we must travel to ensure that we take every step necessary to get to our destiny.
I urge parents, players, and coaches to exercise patience regularly. Keep in mind that you’re on a long voyage, and cutting corners might lead to wandering aimlessly. Parents may believe that their child isn’t receiving enough match practice, players may believe that the exercises they’re performing are too simple, and coaches may believe that the team isn’t where it needs to be after a particular amount of time.
These are typical ideas that many of us have had at some point in our lives, and they play a significant role in our rushed choices to improve our situation. Patience isn’t only realizing that things take time; it’s also understanding that if you’re in the appropriate environment, surrounded by the right mentors, and giving it your best one step by step, you’ll find yourself on the path to your objective.
