KEVIN EASTMAN ON COACHING SELF-IMPROVEMENT

Great stuff from Boston's Kevin Eastman on self-improvement from coaches:

As you study coaches at all levels around the country, it’s interesting to try to figure out what truly makes them successful. Let me throw out a few thoughts to get you thinking about where you fall in each of a few key things a successful coach needs.

KNOWLEDGE

A successful coach must have the knowledge and the continued interest in keeping up with new trends, better ways of doing things, new ways to make his or her program more efficient and those little things that just might make the difference in a given season.

RELATIONSHIPS

Coaching is as much about dealing with people (players) as it is about knowing how to teach. Without your players believing and trusting in what you're teaching, there will be no success. Invest the time and energy in developing strong relationships with all those who are part of your program. The old axiom definitely applies..."Players don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”

SOLVING ISSUES

Every team at every level has problems. Finding a way to deal with and fix a problem is the key. It's not about yelling and screaming and hoping the problem disappears. It has more to do with the ability to find out what the problem actually is, breaking down the problem, thinking about how to best fix it, and having the relationship that will ensure that the parties involved will listen to you and trust that you can help fix it.

SNAP DECISIONS

Coaching is about making adjustments. You have a plan for the game and the other coach makes an adjustment; now you have to make an adjustment. In basketball you have to be prepared to make very important decisions with very little time to make them. It comes down to having the poise under pressure, and that comes from having spent the time to think through every possible decision that may come up in a game.

APPLICATION

This is an area that separates the successful from the rest. There are many coaches who know a lot about the game but can’t seem to get the players to do what they want done. The key is to put the knowledge into a system that you believe in, and, most importantly, a system that you can teach. Just having the knowledge -- without the ability to transfer it to the players -- is a recipe for failure.

Put some thought to these things in the off-season. What areas can you improve in? How will you implement these changes for yourself or your team? We ask our players to come back from the off-season as improved players, so we should demand the same of ourselves!

Hear is a link to information on Kevin's "Coach U Live" Clinic: http://bit.ly/9Z9wZe