BUZZ WILLIAMS CLINIC NOTES

A big thanks to Coach Jessie Ivy for forwarding me some clinic notes taken at the Impact and Legacy Summit.  One of the sets in of notes include these from Buzz Williams of Virginia Tech.

What is the intent of your heart?

◄The intent of my heart is that I say one thing that impacts the world you live in.

One of the 3 worst things players can say: “I got this.”

◄Compared to the spelling bee video - https://youtu.be/InpMZ4DNi0M

Just like this kid, when players say, “I got this,” it means I know it, I don’t have to ask you anything or listen to you. At the Spelling Bee a speller is given two minutes and thirty seconds from when a word is first pronounced, to spell a word in its entirety. The first two minutes are known as "Regular Time", the final thirty seconds is known as "Finish Time". During this time limit, a speller is allowed to ask the pronouncer for the following information

1. The definition of the word

2. The word's part of speech

3. The word's usage in a sentence

4. The word's language(s) of origin (not the complete etymology, even though some spellers refer to the language(s) of origin as the etymology)

5. Alternate pronunciations of the word

6. Alternate definitions of the word

7. Whether or not the word contains a specified root; this may

only be asked providing the speller can state the root in

question, the root's language of origin, and the root's definition.

As a Coach, I want those kids. I do not want “I got this,” kids.

3 Foundations:

1. NAA= Never Assume Anything

2. Everything Matters

3. Words We Use

Leadership= Influence

Culture = Habits/Practices

◄The language of your leadership is your influence.

◄Your language with your team needs to be one voice. Everyone needs to use the same language/words.

THE IMPORTANCE OF ADVANCED PLANNING

The following comes from a wonderful book titled “Leadership Gold,” written by John Maxwell.  It is an amazing story about preparation — about the process.  It’s about understanding you can’t fake the harvest.  You can't reap your crops in the fall if you haven’t paid the price of managing your farm the year around.  Here’s Maxwell’s story:

As a small private jet approached the runway, we were celebrating the success of the week. Then, in a moment, everything changed. The plane was hit by wind shear and dropped straight down to the runway, the wheels hitting out of balance. All conversation stopped and our eyes widened as we realized we were in danger. The pilot, without hesitation, pushed the throttle and launched the plane back into the air. In a split second we went from celebration to sober reflection. We all realized that could have been it! We sat quietly as the plane circled the airfield, and a few minutes later we landed safely.

We all applauded and now began to relax and breathe. As we got off the plane, we thanked the captain for keeping us safe. I said to him, “That was a close call. You responded so quickly to the crisis. When did you make the decision to put the plane back into the air?”

His reply amazed me: “Fifteen years ago.”

He went on to explain how as a young pilot in training, he decided in advance what decision he would make for every possible air problem. “The choice was made long before the crisis,” he said.

PRE-ORDER DON YAEGER'S NEW BOOK: GREAT TEAMS: 16 THINGS HIGH PERFORMANCE ORGANIZATIONS DO DIFFERENTLY

We want to take this opportunity to share a link with you that will allow you to pre-order Don Yaeger's newest book, "Great Teams: 16 Things High Performing Organizations Do Differently.”  I've been blessed to have read an early manuscript and believe that it will be a must read for coaches or anyone else leading any type of organization.

I’ve always believed that life is a team sport and Don has handed us a blueprint to maximize all our group experiences. Whether on the athletic field, a company, or any organization, this book will navigate us to reaching our team’s fullest potential.

Take a look at the table of contents:

Pillar One: Targeting Purpose

1.  Great Teams Understand Their “Why”

Pillar Two: Effective Management

2. Great Teams Have and Develop Great Leaders

3. Great Teams Allow Culture to Shape Recruiting

4. Great Teams Create and Retain Depth

5. Great Teams Have a Road Map

6. Great Teams Promote Camaraderie and a Sense of Collective Direction

Pillar Three: Activating Efficiency

7. Great Teams Manage Dysfunction, Friction, and Strong Personalities

8. Great Teams Build a Mentoring Culture

9. Great Teams Adjust Quickly to Leadership Transition

10. Great Teams Adapt and Embrace Change

11. Great Teams Run Successful Huddles

Pillar Four: Mutual Direction

12. Great Teams Improve Through Scouting

13. Great Teams See Value Others Miss

14. Great Teams Win in Critical Situations

15. Great Teams Speak a Different Language

16. Great Teams Avoid the Pitfalls of Success

Appendix: Great Takeaway from Business and Sports Leaders

Click here to preorder your copy.

COACH DON MEYER ON DEVELOPING ASSISTANT COACHES

Coach Don Meyer's list for developing assistant coaches:

1. Allow some responsibilities and opportunities to talk and teach.

2. Track their progress and give feedback.

3. At the start of practice, give each assistant coach some duties to perform.

4. Ask your assistants for their thoughts and suggestions.

5. Give them books/articles to read to help their development.

6. Supplement their pay through summer camps.

RICK TORBETT: BUILDING A GREAT SHOOTING PROGRAM

Reviewing some old notes from a PGC/Glazier Clinic I attend.  Here are some gems from Rick Torbett, founder of www.BetterBasketball.com:

8 Secrets to Training:

Preparation

Repetition

Attitude

Concentration

Technique

Intensity

Conditioning

Expectations

Can't create time...have to give things up.

If you want to be exceptional, you can't be normal.

Don't shoot to get in shape -- get in shape to shoot.

Ready -- get hands right

Set -- knee bend

Fire -- breaking of wrists w/feet leaving the ground

Post -- follow through...both arms

"Catch the rim between your wrists."

Eliminate excessive motion to increase accuracy.

"Pivot square up the most important thing in shooting." -Steve Alford

Train your vision.

Mel Gibson in "Patriots" -- "Aim small, miss small"

Aim at center loop

Concentrate so hard you get a headache.

Concentrate on straight -- don't worry about long & short

Train to ignore closeouts and fly byes 

THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING OFFENSE (AND THE IMPORTANT OF SPACING)

I've blogged a few times over the last couple of years on the book "Attacking The Zone Defenses" by Del Harris and Ken Shields.  It is simply the best book I've read on attacking zone defenses.  It is over 300 pages and breaks down zone offensive principles but simply and with great detail.  If you are a basketball coach, this book is a must for your library!

One of the topics they went over in detail was spacing (or lack there of):

Most of the winning coaches over the last 70 years thrived on three aspects of the game -- spacing with ball and player movement.  There are not new concepts and will never go away.

The more spread the scoring area becomes, the more territory the defense has to cover.

However, many players, constantly do the defense a favor by crowding in closer to the goal, the longer the possession lasts. We call that "the Incredible Shrinking Offense."

The reason spacing is a problem is likely due to each player's subconscious desire to get himself into the easiest shooting range; therefore he creeps in from the weak side or mashes down from the top of the cricle.  While this may seem to carry the player player into a better range, it actually does three things to limit his team's offensive potential.

1. It allows his man to sag in on the inside players and render the inside game less effective.

2. It gives the weak side defender a shorter run back to his assigned man when the ball is reversed, actually making the player less open by moving in.

3. It compacts the cutting and driving lanes, making it much more difficult to penetrate the compacted defense with dribble penetration or good cuts for catches.

One obvious problem posed by proper spacing concerns the perimeter player who has limited shooting range.  Defenders will not respect this player's shooting range so will sag off him anyway and take a chance on the outside shot.  However, by being well spaced, he may become a better ball mover as a quick relay man, and can look for opportunities as a cutter and/or a screener.  Still, if he has the ability to do so, he may be able to catch out wide and then back his way into a scoring or playmaking situation closer to the goal. Or, he may be able to attack a man seeking to close him out with a dribble penetration.

10 WAYS TO IMPROVE YOUR COACHING

The following comes from a passout via Coach Mike Dunlap: 

The evolution of a master teacher takes years of skill development. The outstanding coach is an exceptional teacher. We believe that there are fundamental steps that should be considered when teaching your team:

1) Know the five laws of learning
• Explain what you want
• Demonstrate for the learner
• Player demonstrates
• Correct demonstration
• Repetition is lord and master

2) Know how players learn
• Visual
• Auditory
• Kinetic
• Writing/Drawing
• Player as coach
• Cooperative versus competitive technique
• Whole, part, whole versus part whole method
• Feedback system – negative versus positive

3) Teaching techniques
• Universal teaching technique (i.e. find the problem and fix it)
• Praise, prompt, and leave (i.e. find positive, correction, and next step, leave)
• Relay teach – the cooperative method
• Create your own language (e.g. anachronisms)
• Use your voice as a tool
• Speak in word pictures, analogies, and metaphors
• Overload to get conditioned response (i.e. consistently give the student the advantage when they are demonstrating as early success breeds confidence)
• Progression – teach in sequence and then reverse it (i.e. inductive & deductive)

4) Use the four steps of shaping
• Set the stage
• Modeling
• Prompt
• Forms of feedback (i.e. ask questions, make observations, reinforce the correct response)

5) Talk less, do more
• We need to reduce out verbal instruction

6) Recognize the power of observation, listening, and gathering information
• Behavior patterns
• Myers/ Briggs psychological exam, self-aggression evaluation, and the “I am sheet”

7) Role declaration is paramount to a coaches’ success

8) Know your audience, circumstance, and be ready to adapt or change course

9) Competition means time, score, and personal records (e.g. individual/group)

10) Apologize
• We will make mistakes. We humanize ourselves when we go public and our players will accept us more readily.