Organization – The Basketball Coaching Roadmap

“Organization isn’t about perfection, it’s about efficiency.” – Unknown

Being a coach is a special privilege, you are uniquely positioned to teach life lessons within the context of a game. You are a role model, especially if you’re coaching younger kids. Showing up unorganized, with papers crumpled up, forgetting your plays and giving the impression that your coaching duties are an afterthought is not the kind of example you want to set.

No team can achieve great success without being properly organized. Organization is a key step in the basketball Coaching Roadmap. Being organized helps eliminate down time during practice and increases your team’s chances of success during games. As a coach, how organized are you?

• Do you walk into practice and make up drills on the fly?
• Do you come in with a plan in your head?
• Do you have a written plan?
• Do you have practices planned out by the minute?
• Do you practice game time situations to help your players understand team philosophies?

I have done each of those things but the reality is that the more organized and more prepared you are, the more efficient your team will be. A detailed practice plan is just a start. What about a long range plan? Have you ever outlined what you think your team is capable of and designed a calendar as to when you want to introduce more advanced concepts, plays or schemes? Do you have a list of critical situations that you know your kids could handle on their own or with minimal instruction? I find that FIBA rules really favor the most prepared teams.

“Most people have the will to win. Few have the will to prepare to win.” – Coach, Bobby Knight

Organization is the result of preparation. In order to effectively make game time decisions, it’s important to prepare a list of scenarios based on score, time, your players and your opposition. That preparation allows you to make more spontaneous choices as situations arise during games. Players feel it (even if it’s subconsciously) and they start to believe in you; they will respond with more energy and urgency. Preparation also removes the chaos and tension during stressful times; your players will perform with a greater sense of calm and ease. The Dukes and Michigan States of the world are able to execute so effectively during crucial moments because their coach is composed, prepared and organized in the huddle. They have had the experience of drawing up last second plays thousands of times and the plays are also second nature to their players. Below are a few game time scenarios that are important to practice:

• What does it mean to have fouls-to-give at the end of a quarter or half and how do you plan to use those fouls? Committing a foul to force a team to inbound the ball with little time instead of running a set play in the half court is usually an advantage to the defense.
• Do you want to foul when ahead by three points with minimal time remaining in the game?
• How to properly miss a free throw to improve your chances of getting an offensive rebound or ensure the clock keeps moving to avoid your opponent in-bounding the ball?
• What offensive set should your team run when you need a basket against both a man and zone defense?

We practice, teach and repeat all of those and others on a regular basis. It’s not just enough to discuss them, it’s important to design specific drills to expose your players to various game time situations and gain a familiarity and comfort.

Running an organized practice saves time for individual skill development and it gives you more time to communicate with your players. In the first step of the Coaching Roadmap we discussed the importance of communication and how you must make time to get to know your players as people, not just players. That alone is worth the effort to be organized.

Next item on the Basketball Coaching Roadmap is Adaptability: