GOLD STANDARD COACHING @CoachLok

At Basketball-tips.com I get players (and coaches) asking for how they can improve any number of different skills or strategies. Everybody`s "wish list" is a little different -some are thoughtful and some are...interesting. Players usually want to know how to increase their vertical, or dunk in no time flat. Rarely do they ask how to execute a proper jump stop, bounce pass, or mid range jump shot off the glass. Some coaches want that one drill or play that will turn their team into championship contenders. It`s good to add drills and plays to your arsenal - as long as we don`t forget to simply teach players HOW to play.The amazing thing about the game of basketball is that there are NO short cuts. It`s different than Christmas. There is nothing "magical" that is going to happen one day, nothing that is going to show up under your Christmas tree that will make you instantly better. Santa Claus is not going to bring you an amazing vertical or a pure jump shot. Kris K...

I saw a couple of great acts of sportsmanship recently, just days after reading about basketball scores like 89-9 and 110-30. The University of La Verne was beating the Banana Slugs (their nickname, really!) from UC Santa Cruz 97 - 61 with under a minute to go and a starter reentered the game and immediately called a huddle with the other LaVerne players. They then proceeded to run out the clock without trying to reach the 100 point threshold that always seems so important to players and fans. In another sport, Jeff Tedford, the football coach at Cal , had the game in hand and perched to score with the ball on the 13 yard line when he ordered his quarterback to take a knee and let time expire. A bigger win may have impressed voters to invite Cal to a bigger bowl game, but Tedford stuck to what he knew was right. Some basketball-tips to deal with large victories posted from the message board at The New Southern California Basketball Server : Coaches, 1st half - do your thing...