As a coach, there are few things that feel better than your players understanding and really knowing how you want to do things in practice. In yesterday’s practice, I didn’t need to coach or teach anything as much as I had to in the first couple of weeks here in Ireland. I am at the point with my kids that I can just say a drill, and everyone will know what go do. And if there are some kids that don’t understand, I can count on the ones that do know what’s going on to explain it to them. I try to tell my players that the easiest way for you to truly get or understand something is trying to teach someone else what you know. It allows you to hear your thought process out loud, which in turn may become clearer to yourself.
It also great to have other players knowing what exactly to do because there may be cases where the ones that don’t understand may be afraid to approach me, and more comfortable going to their peers. Another plus to the kids really understanding things now is that now I am able to get through more drills and stations in practices because all the time I used to spend on explaining something, can be used on the kids actually just playing basketball. It’s great! As the weeks go on, my job as a coach becomes easier and easier. I can already see a few of the players developing into leaders because their understanding on concepts are increasing. All positives and great things in this week of practices. Tune in next week to see how my week went. Until then, take care everyone!
