GOLD STANDARD COACHING @CoachLok

There needs to be more consistency in determining the fine line between advantage /disadvantage and what is called in one area of the floor should be called elsewhere, what is called at one point in the game should be called in all points of the game. But I'm not sure that, in the long run, it would be a free throw contest as is sometimes suggested. Don't you think that players (and coaches) would simply learn not to foul. They'd have to, or they wouldn't play. They'd get in foul trouble and have to sit. They'd start to give up points at the free throw line. So they would change. In football changes were adopted to add action and tempo to games such as the extent of downfield contact a defender could have with an eligible receiver was restricted; wide receivers blocking back toward the ball within three yards of the line of scrimmage were prevented from blocking below the waist, the pass-blocking rule was interpreted to permit the extending of arms and open hand...

Yahoo! Groups : Basketball-Coaching Messages : Parents are parents. BUT, parents at private schools sometimes feel a little more entitlement because they pay tuition. Nip that early by letting everyone know where you stand, what is allowable and what is off-linmits. However, you MUST be willing to communicate them. Too many coaches have failed in private school settings by being 'unnaproachable'. Develop a relationship with parents/boosters that shows that you are working together. An interesting way of looking at the player/coach relationship, is that players don�t play FOR us, but rather we work FOR our players to assist them in developing into the players and people that they are capable of becoming. Naturally, we need to do this within the team concept and keeping in mind what is also best for the group. Finding that balance is truly the one of the most important tasks that the basketball coach has. We talk to staff all the time about coaching the way that we would want our...

NBA age limit : When debating the proposed 20 year old age limit in the NBA draft, I'm not certain that an age limit is what the NBA is really searching for. It is not really a certain age that they want, but rather a ceratin level of maturity and preparation. In both basketball and life. The league seems to be concerned with their "image" and how prepared their players are for life off of the court. Possibly they now see that being in the league carries some responsibility and is not all about basketball ability. It is also about being a representative and spokesperson for a multi-billion dollar industry. A high school diploma does not pepare most for that burden. Nor does simply reaching a certain age. Restrictions on age might even be considered unlawful or at the very least, unethical. But most jobs require certain qualifications. Look in todays classified ads. Nearly every job lists qualifications. Most say a bachelors degree is necessary while some employers requi...

SoCalHoops Message Board: This post came off of a message board and was written in response to an LA Times article titled Sporting behavior . It was written by a fellow (I presume) that has posted often over the last several years. Unfortunately his contributions have waned some over the past year or so (maybe his children have moved on beyond high school and its primarily a high school/youth board). He appears to be a very wise man - and his posts are almost always very insightful "GREAT COACHES recognize that children are the most precious possession that families have and that FAMILIES WILL NOT TURN A DEAF EAR AND A BLIND EYE TO ANY ONE who comes into a child's life simply because you put on a coaches hat with NO training...NON PROFESSIONAL COACHES must stress growth and not winning...COACHES must not treat the best player like 'Prince Charming' and then treat the 'up and coming' player like they have a disease...Coaches must CARE about academics and not S...

From SoCalHoops: Question For Coach Lok? Does attending the summer circuit for club rather then playing with the high school Team A Must? When it comes time for summer basketball, everyone needs to work together in the best interest of the player and the HS team. An interesting way of looking at the player/coach relationship , is that players don’t play FOR the coach, but rather the coach works FOR the players to assist them in developing into the players and people that they are capable of becoming. Naturally, coaches need to do this within the team concept and keeping in mind what is also best for the group. Finding that balance is truly the one of the most important tasks that the basketball coach has. On the other hand, the players, and parents, need to commit some exclusive time to each side (club/HS). Most importantly, remember that the offseason is when players are made - not only seen. Players need to be first commited to their education and training as a basketball player, rat...

I think that proper shooting technique and successful shooting results are two different things. We've all seen those players with great form that can't buy a basket. Or those who are so unorthodox it's hard to determine how it could get so bad, but the shot goes in at an amazing rate. However, believing that the human body is an amazing thing, in my opinion the eyes and the brain have as much, or more, to do with the result of the shot as do proper fundamentals. Naturally, those that have everything working in a positive manner will be the best at what they do. I believe that the most successful shooters are those who are truly able to focus on one small target spot to shoot for. Some say they do, but who can really tell what the eyes and mind are doing? If the eyes can focus on a spot and effectively send the message to the brain to tell the body what it needs to do to propel the ball toward the target, the shot has a pretty good chance of hitting that target, techni...

Seven Basketball Rules Myths A defensive player must be stationary to take a charge. Reality: Once a defensive player has obtained a legal guarding position, the defensive player may always move to maintain that guarding position and may even have one or both feet off the floor when contact occurs with the offensive player. Legal guarding position occurs when the defensive player has both feet on the floor and is facing the opponent. This applies to a defensive player who is defending the dribble. A dribble that bounces above the dribbler's head is an illegal dribble violation . Reality: There is no restriction as to how high a player may bounce the ball, provided the ball does not come to rest in the player's hand. A player in the backcourt who dribbles the ball across the midcourt line may not dribble it back into the backcourt. Reality: The ball and BOTH feet must be entirely in the front court to be deemed in the frontcourt. The line is considered in the backcourt. So unt...

The concept of Advantage/Disadvantage is a fallacy. It puts officials in the business of predicting the future. What may not seem like an advantage this millisecond, just may be in the next second. An advantage as the offensive player could be completely gone in the time lost by the littlest of bumps. When the dribbler is fouled by a handcheck and an official CHOOSES not to call it, when the dribbler pushes off one dribble later to combat the handcheck, should the official call that one? Unfortunately, they often do. I've had an official tell me that if the dribbler had lost posession he would have called it. So now we'd be rewarded if we were WORSE and lost control. Then we'd have a foul called, shoot free throws, or maintain posession and be a foul closer to the bonus with one more foul on that particular defender - who may have to lessen his defensive pressure the next time. Advantage or disadvantage? In the final minutes of yesterdays Kansas/Ok State game Kansas clearly...

We all tend to become caricatures of ourselves as time goes on. People go with the personality traits that make them successful or popular, sometimes taking things to the next level and going too far. You see this with entertainment figures and comediens all the time, and coaches like Abe Lemons took his humor to the extreme so that now he's remembered for that, rather than his coaching ability. Some coaches such as Woody Hayes , Bob Knight , and now John Chaney with his latest incident they, cross that line between passionate and intense to out of control. It doesn't make them bad people, but it does tend to erase (or at least cloud) all of the good that they do. It is just as hard for people to define the line between "fan" and "fanatic". I'm a Laker fan, but I'm a basketball fan first. So right now I don't like them so much. I don't think that is "jumping on and off the bandwagon" it is simply enjoying and respecting a good ba...

If you are a regular reader, you know that Basketball4ALL endorses the ACE IntelliGym(tm). For those that don't know. ACE (Applied Cognitive Engineering) has developed a revolutionary training tool that enables basketball players to dramatically improve their game-intelligence skills. The ACE IntelliGym(tm) is available at Basketball4all and it directly stimulates the brain-functions responsible for basketball`s cognitive skills. By doing so, this unique trainer enables super-quick development of proficiencies that, until now, were considered an "instinct", something that the players either have or they don`t. Skills such as decision making and execution, shot selection and team play, movement anticipation and pattern recognition, peripheral vision and spatial awareness, unpredictability and overall court sense. Testing the system on real basketball teams has shown to improve their performance in 22% to 28%. The University of Memphis began using the system,available at ...

D3hoops.com: The definitive resource for Division III men's and women's basketball : System loses, Beloit wins Since there's been so much discussion, I thought I would just post the following from the front page of D3Hoops.com : Grinnell never got on track. Beloit scored with 2.9 seconds remaining and a last-ditch Grinnell shot never got off before the buzzer as the Buccaneers beat the Pioneers 86-85. Grinnell seemingly never got into the flow from three-point range and only made back-to-back threes on one occasion, but took an 85-84 lead after a steal at midcourt in the final minute. The full game story . If you're new to Division III and tuned in this game on TV, relax, this is not typical of Division III basketball! But it's an interesting look at Grinnell's unique style of ball. Division III fans, want to tell ESPN what you think of their broadcast choice? Click here. If you missed Grinnell coach David Arseneault's appearance on Hoopsvill...

This was probably not the best season for ESPN to choose to promote Grinnell College and Coach Arseneault and his " Running to the Extremes System " of play. For being the first regular season all NCAA DIII game broadcasted, it certainly was not a great representation of the level of playoff caliber DIII basketball around the country. Grinnell seemed like they are very down this season. I'm certain that they'd admit that. They graduated alot after a pretty successful season. They've had some good years since implementing "The System", and went twenty-some years between league championships before "Running". That may say something about the value of the concept. I do wonder how much they would have lost by to a superior Beloit club had they played a more "conventional" style. I have to think that it would be by more than a point. So maybe the system did it's job in that regard. But the system wasn't really implemented to w...

NCAA parity : " I can't remember a season when the old "on any given night..." cliche was so evident. It is so difficult to truly "rank" teams that it seems fruitless to try. Or at least to put ANY stock in their importance. Here are a few examples Kansas just lost to Villanova does that make 'Nova better? North Carolina lost to SANTA CLARA should Santa Clara be ranked higher Georgia Tech lost to Gonzaga and Virginia Tech well USF and St Mary's beat the 'Zags, but USF lost to LMU who lost to UCR and they lost to non-scholarship UC-Davis who's in the first year of DI while Virginia Tech lost to Western Michigan who lost to USC who lost Rick Majerus after 5 days on the job. Get where I'm going? There are examples of this all around the country across every division of basketball. There simply is no 'transitive property' (If a > b and b > c, then a > c) in basketball. You just cannot use comparitive sched...

In This doc could give Warriors a shot : Scot Ostler writes, "Most players learned to shoot on their own and their bad habits were never corrected, only compensated for. [Players think]A jump shot (or free throw) is way too personal to let a stranger tinker with it. In golf, every pro has a coach who analyzes, critiques and tweaks every swing, even on the practice range. Golfers don't pick up a toothbrush without their coach correcting their grip. The jump shot and the golf swing are cousins, mechanically, but golfers recognize certain basic laws of a good swing, and hoopsters cherish the idiosyncrasies of their jumpers. " Baseball players are no different with their swing. Hands here, hips there, feet like this, head like that. Watch themselves on video, over and over again. I believe that THAT is the primary reason the increase in offensive statistics. Others point to the rampant performance enhancing drugs. Unless the drug also provides radar - there must be som...

The Grinnell basketball coach David Arseneault fulfilled numerous coaches' requests by publishing a book entitled, "The Running Game- A Formula For Success" and an instructional video called "Running To Extremes." That system has been the topic of discussion recently, with Redlands University running their version at the tune of over 140 ppg. Last night in high school basketball, we saw the complete antithesis. The story follows- FOXSports.com - More Sports - Second quarter 3-pointer proves decisive : "Hard to imagine a 3-pointer in the second quarter of a high school boy's basketball game would turn out to be the winning basket , unless it's one of only three made in the entire game. That basket, along with an earlier field goal, was all Bellows Free Academy-Fairfax needed to beat Milton on Wednesday night. The final score: 5-2. To the teams' credit, the score was the result of an apparently deliberate stalling strategy. It could not ...

Coaching players is like raising kids. Raising my children, I did not only want them to do the right thing because "Dad said so" or for fear of being punished, but rather because it was the right thing to do. Their comes a time when "Dad"(or Mom or COACH) is not going to be there, and yet a correct decision must be made. In order for this to occur, they had to learn "why" it was the right thing, and "how" it was going to benefit them. I believe that a similiar approach must be taken in coaching. At Basketball-tips and Basketball4ALL we call it " Parenting the Program ." You want players to practice hard and focused because it is he right thing to do and, due to your well planned practice, is impossible NOT to do. You don't want them to practice hard for fear of running. You can't stop play in the middle of a game and tell them to "Get on the line!" They better be able to gain focus on their own - because it is ...

TheRedlandsGrinnellplayeverybodygoreallyfastandgiveupalotofpointssoyoucanscorealotofpointsSystem That is what some people have named the system that leads the nation in scoring over the past few seasons. At Basketball-tips.com , I recieve dozens of questions about the Grinnell(Redlands) System of play. So I thought that here may be a good spot to discuss the system, as I see it. First off, I went to the Redlands/La Sierra game last night. 172-107 - Redlands. They had 93 at the half - and went thru a cold spell. Scored their 101st point at the 18:36 mark in the 2nd half. Played 21 guys - 14 of them over 10 minutes. Did not play most of their top ten in the final 10 minutes. Did not really press full court in the final 4 minutes. Probably could have scored 200. Honest. After seeing them play a dozen or so times in the past 3 seasons, this is what I can discern from watching. At the end of the season I intend to sit down with Coach Gary Smith and pick his brain some. He is one ...

NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS Every year many people try to make New Years Resolutions to change or alter their behavior over the next year. In order to truly follow thru with a resolution, it must be one that you truly believe in. Basketball resolutions are no different. Before you commit to changing a style of play or improving on a skill, you must first know that it is something that you really believe to be important in the game of basketball. If any of you have seen the baseball movie, Bull Durham , The main character (played by Kevin Costner) states the things that he believes in, in a little monologue. Here`s my attempt at my "Basketball Beliefs" ala "Crash Davis". BAKETBALL BELIEFS I believe in the basketball. I believe in running the floor, the first open man, the ball reversal, the open shot, the jump stop, and the pivot foot. I believe in setting screens, using screens, dribbling for a reason, good passing angles, being ...