October 21st, 2012 | Uncategorized
After a couple of sessions with my U16/U18 girls, I think I am beginning to form a relationship with the girls. Each session I see them becoming much more open and comfortable with me as their coach, and I am definitely seeing small improvements in some of the girls. For example, boxing out and rebounding is something that I have really been stressing, and I think a lot of the girls are starting to understand the importance of actually hitting someone on a box out. More work is definitely necessary, but I’m happy to see this minor improvement after only a couple practices.
One of the major difficulties with this group however, is getting them to focus on basketball during the entire session. There are moments when they will do exactly what I ask them to do, but then there are a lot of times when they have no idea what is going on because they were talking on sideline. This group definitely loves to talk, but only when they are
off the court! As soon as they step over those lines onto the court, they don’t say a word! Even though this can get a little frustrating at times, I can relate in some way. I was never always a huge talker on the court, especially in the beginning of my college career. I think the one thing that will help these girls become more vocal on the court is my encouragement. So I have been focusing a lot on telling them when they do something right. I’ve noticed these little words of encouragement actually have a huge effect on them, and hopefully in a couple weeks I will have the entire team talking when they step on the court and cheering on their teammates when they are on the sidelines. Needless to say, I am very excited to see how they all grow throughout the season!
