Sports Betting Articles
Coaching Tips To Motivate Your Basketball Team
By: Jeff Haefner
The country is full of good coaches. What it takes to win is a bunch of interested players. Don Coryell
Whether you're coaching elementary school basketball players, junior high school players or older, one of the biggest challenges that basketball coaches face is the challenge of keeping their players motivated.
The following are key methods for keeping your team focused, motivated, and playing as hard as they can.
Set a standard on the first day of practice.
"The sterner the discipline, the greater the devotion." Pete Carill
Establishing your expectations from the very beginning is the best way to not only establish your role within the team, but also to let your players know what kind of coach you're going to be.
For example: On the very first day, as your first practice is getting ready to begin, call them to the center of the gym. If they do not sprint to you, then they get to run laps right then and there. After they've run, call them to the center of the gym again. This time all your players will sprint to you. More importantly, you should now have their full attention for the rest of the year.
Demonstrate your personal beliefs and attitude in everything you do.
"Setting an example is not the main means of influencing others; it is the only means." Albert Einstein
Players react to everything that you say and do. If you're able to have fun, remain positive, and let your players know what is expected of them immediately, then your players will respond accordingly.
Communicate your philosophy at the beginning of the first practice and repeat it often so your players know what to expect and to what to strive for. For example, if teamwork is important to you then speak on teamwork and reward for good displays of teamwork.
It's about the team.
"Ask not what your teammates can do for you. Ask what you can do for your teammates." Magic Johnson
When it comes down to it, it is more fun to win with others than it is to win alone. Remind your players, through your actions and words, that they are a team, and they'll be motivated to work together to succeed.
A strong sense of teamwork can be accomplished when you as their coach, verbally praise your players for working well together or by offering a nonverbal reward for practices where they work together particularly well.
Give your players your time and attention off the court.
"Either love your players or get out of coaching." Bobby Dodd
Probably the most effective method for getting your players to work hard is to let your players know that you care about their lives off of the court as well as on.
Getting to know your players as individuals shows them that you care and motivates them to respect you and work hard. Learn about their lives. Spend time talking to them one on one. It doesn't take much. The point is to let them know that they're important to you.
Reward your players.
"You can motivate players better with kind words than you can with a whip." Bud Wilkinson
Everyone loves a compliment and verbal rewards or praise can go a long way to motivate your players. Whether you're running basketball shooting drills, rebounding drills, defensive drills, or even simple beginner drills, give verbal rewards for improvement and for working hard.
Non-verbal rewards work well too. Players can be motivated to achieve goals by occasionally offering tangible rewards like a Gatorade or giving "permissions."
Invented by the great coach Morgan Wooten, permissions are rewards granted to players based on outstanding efforts or reaching set goals. They are earned throughout the practice and then totaled up at the end. Each permission earned results in one less lap or other conditioning drill.
Establish the right kind of goals for your team.
"The way a team plays as a whole determines its success. You may have the greatest bunch of individual stars in the world, but if they don't play together, the club won't be worth a dime. " Babe Ruth
Everyone needs goals, including your team. Goals provide focus and they give you something to strive for. But not all goals are good goals.
Goals for the prestigious statistics, like scoring the most points, most rebounds, and even winning games can be detrimental to the team and their focus. They also tend to give players the wrong impression about what is important.
However goals set for the team can result in spectacular improvements. You can set team goals for a low number of turnovers, team shooting percentage, your opponents shooting percentage, team rebounds, defensive statistics, or possessions per game.
Make drills competitive.
"Besides winning, [the most fun thing is] getting out there and mixing it up with friends; it's the competition." Al Unser, Jr.
Adding a competitive flavor to a basketball drill can make it much more effective because kids will generally work harder and get more focused to master the drill.
Without the competitive aspect, players will quickly get bored and simply go through the motions. We all know you need focus to improve.
Use your imagination when adding competition. The possibilities are endless...
• If you're running a rebounding drill, you can keep track of made baskets and reward the winner.
• You can add special rules like: 2 points for charges, 1 point for ball deflections, and 2 points for steals.
• You can reward teams that don't drop a single pass during the entire drill.
Keep Practices Interesting
When practices become boring or repetitive, players lose interest. Keep practices interesting by varying the drills. Stagger challenging drills with the more fun basketball drills. This will not only keep them focused and interested, the simpler drills are great for reinforcing basic skills.
Another way to keep practices interesting is to introduce new concepts in the beginning of practice. Their minds and energy levels are fresher at the beginning of practice and you can save the simpler drills for later when their energy might be weakening.
Discipline wisely.
"I never criticize a player until they are first convinced of my unconditional confidence in their abilities." John Robinson
Punishment doesn't motivate. Punishment for poor or inappropriate behavior only breaks the team's focus and gets in the way of their motivation.
Discipline with the intent to teach your players how to conduct themselves appropriately. Often simply by acknowledging to you, or to themselves, that they're not giving their best, players will try harder, particularly if they know that you're paying attention.
Everyone is motivated differently. What kicks some players into action will not motivate other players. The trick is to find a balance between your players. That is why it is important to get to know your players as individuals. Figure out how they respond, individually and as a team, to motivational methods.
You're their coach. If you're involved, excited, and willing to take the time to keep practices interesting, then your team will respond.
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