INGREDIENTS OF A SUCCESSFUL PRACTICE

I've known Sam Nichols for around 20 years now -- whether he was working our basketball camps at LSU or running into him at Don Meyer's Coaching Academy.  And while he was an outstanding coach, he's saved his best act for post retirement where is Founder and President of Basketball Smiles, a program of free basketball camps in the inner city playgrounds of the Bahamas. Below is a post by Sam with a great list on how to have successful practices:

Recently I had a young coach ask me for some suggestions on how to plan more efficient and productive practices. Here's a few ideas for I came up with for coaches to consider to help you plan your practices. Believe me, during my 33 years of coaching I learned there is an art to designing and executing your daily practices to where they contribute successful team development.

Hopefully, these thoughts will be helpful - here they are, in no particular order:

1. You can't be good at everything.

I heard Jim Calhoun say this at a clinic years ago. He said, "As a coach, pick out three things that you want to excel in, and focus on them. And your practices should reflect these three priorities. Another coach should be able to walk into your practices and be able to pick out those three things based upon what you're doing in practice."  Set priorities for your program and organize your practices to reflect your priorities. One of my favorite quotes: "We always find time for the things we put first." Decide what's important to and frame your practices around those priorities.

2. Coach both the "What" and the "Why"

Don't just tell your players "What" to do, tell them the "Why." Fundamentally, people "buy in" to the "Why" of anything, and if you take time to explain to your players the logic and reasoning behind your press or offensive philosophy, I believe your practices will be more fruitful.

3. Remember the 90-10 Rule

This comes from one of my mentors - Coach Dale Brown who always told me, "Be careful and not talk too much in practice - let them practice their skills 90% of the time and you talk only 10% of the time."  There's a difference between teaching and overcoaching.

4.  Have some part of practices stressful with consequences

Frankly, basketball is a game of performing under pressure and some segments of practice must be framed with pressure with resulting rewards for performing at a high level and consequences for poor performance.

5. Situational Segments

I learned the value of this from my Dad who, as a baseball coach, had us practice "situations" every day. Coaches cannot do all of the thinking for their players, nor make all of the pressure-packed decisions for their players - players have to think for themselves, and situational segments develop the confidence in players to where they believe they can make good decisions in games, because they have practiced similar situations in practice. Set up game-like situations on a regular basis and make them a routine - it will pay off!

6. Don't just work your starters together during situations

Shuffle your lineup during situations - late in the game, chances are, not all five of your starters will be in the game for one reason or another, so work situations with different lineups.

7. Make your players think for themselves and get themselves out of trouble  

In a loud gym in a meaningful game, your players won't be able to hear you "coach every dribble," so, especially in situational drills, keep your mouth shut and don't blow your whistle to correct every mistake. Instead, be quiet, and make your players work together to come up with a solution. Pat Riley says, "You must be a participant in your own rescue." Make them think - get themselves out of trouble - it will build their self-confidence and sense of teamwork.

8. Praise Extra Effort

If you want your players to play hard in games and give extra effort, you must praise and reward it on a daily basis in practice. As Don Meyer was fond of saying, "Your players will reproduce what you emphasize."  I encourage coaches, "Catch your players being good!"  Unfortunately, we all do a much better job catching them making mistakes. Let's balance that by intentionally praising extra effort. As you do this, that extra effort will be contagious.

9. Focus on You and Your Stuff

During the season, especially during Conference play, it's a great temptation to spend a disproportional amount of time on your opponent's offense and defense, out-of-bounds plays, etc.  The result - you neglect your stuff - your press break, your offensive sets, your defensive, then of course, on game day your execution suffers.

10.  Drills should relate to your offense and defense, and not just be "trendy" drills

As my Dad was fond of saying, "Know why you're doing, what you're doing." Practice time is too precious to waste, so don't just run drills that you saw at a clinic - run drills with a purpose. Utilize drills that have a direct correlation to your offensive and defensive schemes.

11. Understand there will be good practices and bad practices

Don't get overconfident and complacent when you have a good practice and everything clicks, and don't overreact and burn the gym down when you have a bad practice. The season is a grind and there is an ebb and flow to practices - you'll have some great ones, and from time to time your practices will, frankly, stink. A great coach knows that every day is a new day - build on the great practices, and flush the bad ones.

12. Practice doesn't happen in a vacuum

As much as we would like to have our players total focus and attention, we have to remember that they (and you) bring the sum of their entire day with them to practice. Develop relationships with your players so, hopefully, you can identify when one of them is having a bad day with issues maybe unrelated to basketball, but is affecting their performance.  It's also important to know yourself - if you're tired, on edge, etc., it can make you a miserable coach during practice.  I heard Coach K say one time, "When you are tired as a coach, you fall back into bad coaching habits."  So true!

13. Know When to Quit

Some days, your practices get bogged down and it's better to just shut down and call it a day! It's not your fault, it's not your players fault - as I said, the season is a grind, and there are times it's not going to be a productive day, so shut it down and re-group the next day. For sure, some days, when it gets bogged down, you have to push through and keep going, but that's where you must know your players and use good judgement. But, don't be afraid to know its time to send them home for today!

14. The Three Laws of Learning - Repetition, Repetition, Repetition 

Not every player “gets it” the first time or the tenth time, and if something is important, you must organize your practices where repetition of that skill ii systematic. You can’t teach skill development on a “every now and then” basis – if you want your players to learn something, you have to teach it over and over and over again! Repetition is the key to knowledge.

14. "See everything - overlook a great deal - correct a little" - Pope John XXIII 

This is one of my favorite quotes of all time and I had it written on every daily practice plan because I tended to "See everything - overlook nothing - correct everything."  I finally discovered that seeing every mistake and correcting it was counterproductive to what I was really wanting to develop in my players - individually and as a team. When I learned to relax and show some mercy, patience, and understanding, the entire atmosphere in practice improved and so much more was accomplished. I found a balance - I could still hold my players to a high standard of accountability, but I could do that with a lot less pressure on me and them!  We all enjoyed that so much more!

WHAT ARE YOUR SUMMER PICK UP GUIDELINES AND GOALS?

I'm a big believer that what a player and/or team does when the coaching staff is NOT around goes a long way into the success level of said player and/or team.  Discipline is about what you do when no one is around to watch.  Obviously, there is no bigger range that the summer months when on the collegiate level, we have no access to our players in regard to what they are doing on the court.

Keys to a good summer should include:

1. Commitment: The staff can make the gym available but it is up to the player and the team to make use of it.  During our Final Four run at LSU, the players would drive us crazy to open the gym for them.  Seimone Augustus would play 2 hours of pick up with the Lady Tigers and then drive across town and play pick up with a boys high school team.  Several of our players would head to the rec center to play with men after pick up.

2. Concentration: It is not enough just to walk in a gym and play.  The great players/teams go into each opportunity knowing there are specific things that they need to work on and they must have a high level of focus during pick to improve upon those areas.  Habits can be developed and improved upon in the summer --good ones and the bad ones -- based on the commitment and concentration of the player(s).

3. Effort: The average player goes through the motions in pick up and in their summer workouts.  They will give a little effort at times but nothing consistent.  And that is largely why they are "average" players.

While we can't be there with them, there are ways for us to enhance the off-season process for the players.  The first thing is to meet with the players individually and the team as a whole and talk to them specifically about the areas that need to be worked upon in the off-season. 

My suggestions would be to give each player something they do well and encourage them to continue to improve in that area.  John Maxwell talks often about how the great ones know what their strengths are and work hard so that it remains a strength.

Obviously you should also give them a couple of weaknesses to improve upon.  With some players, you might be able to list 7 or 8 things -- don't.  Less is more.  Pinpoint a couple and challenge them to come back in the fall better in those areas.

Be specific in how they need to go about improvement.  It is not enough to tell a player to work on her dribbling with her weak hand in the off-season.  Give her some specific drills that she needs to do during the summer and how often you think she needs to do them to gain improvement.  We had one player at LSU that was a very good player but had a poor left-hand.  We gave her a list of drills to work on her game.  But we also told her she was not allowed to use her right hand in pick up -- and we told her team this as well.  We wanted everything she did (other than shoot) to be off of her left hand.  Don't expect to tell a player to work on something and not tell her how. 

Finally, you should be specific in what you expect to see in them when workouts in the fall start. Paint a picture of what you want to see and share that vision with them.  Part of this process should be follow up. 

"How's the work on your left hand coming?"

"Are seeing and feeling any improvement?"

The other thing we did at LSU and now at Texas A&M was to create guidelines for playing pick up.  These not only applied in the summer but anytime during the fall and spring when we were out of season and playing pick up.  Obviously they need to specific to your philosophy and how you play the game.  These were typed on a sheet and placed in their notebooks and we went over them with the team in detail early in the fall and right before summer.

 Here is what our guidelines at Texas A&M are for pick up games

1. ALWAYS PLAY MAN TO MAN DEFENSE
Good pressure on the basketball (even if you get beat on the drive)
Get a hand up on every shot
Make contact, blockout, and finish the possession
Get in the passing lanes
No switching

2. RUN OUR OFFENSIVE SETS
Spacing: High and Wide
Minimize your dribble usage
Take good shots
Set good screens to get your teammates open
No ball screens
No plays or entries

(This is also a great opportunity for your veteran players to teach your new players a few of your offensive sets)

3. START WITH HALF COURT GAMES
Even if you have enough for 5/5, start with a couple of half court games
Will help us to develop our man defense and offense principles

4. UTILIZE CONVERSION
After half court games, finish up with full court games

5. GET BACK ON DEFENSE
Even 4/4 games can be played full court

6. TAKE ADVANTAGE OF EVERY OPPORTUNITY TO PLAY
3/3, 2/2, 1/1
Play, play, play

7. BE A GOOD TEAMMATE
Encourage teammates
Upperclassmen teach our freshman how we play
Help freshman to understand offensive/defensive principles

8. PLAY HARD
Is there any other way?!

A few weeks ago I attended a Coaching Roundtable in Arlington, Texas with some very bright coaches from the collegiate and professional ranks.  One of the topics that was brought up was maximizing summer pick up.  Here are some of the things I took way from that discussion.

1. LET PLAYERS PICK THE TEAMS

Gives them a chance to know where they stand with their teammates.  Makes captains give thought as to who they think can help them win.

2. PLAY SHORT GAMES

Play to 7 or 8 points.  This creates a greater sense of urgency and can cultivate more intensity.

3. VALIDATE THE WIN WITH A FREE THROW

After a team gets to the point total needed to win, a player (selected by the losing team) must hit a free throw for the victory to be complete.  Otherwise another game is started at 0-0.

THERE WILL COME A TIME

WHEN WINTER WILL ASK,

“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE THIS SUMMER?”

WHAT ARE YOU DOING TWO AND THREE WEEKS INTO PRACTICE TO KEEP YOUR TEAM INSPIRED

Many years ago at a clinic, I heard Kelvin Sampson say "Most coaches are excited about practice the first couple of weeks.  Then they get tired or bored.  The best coaches know how to stay locked in."

I think this is just as true for players as it is coaches -- though often the players may take the lead from the coaching staff in terms of their energy and enthusiasm.  It is not enough to write up a practice plan and than go about executing it.  You need to give thought to the placement of drills, the length of a workout and the strategic (yes, I said strategic) schedule of off days.

What are you doing to keep your team inspired and excited about practice?  John Wooden was a huge believer in make sure practice ended on a positive note.  "Give them a reason to want to come back tomorrow," he once told me.

Don Meyer once talked about a 30 win season in which he could sleep because he'd lay away all night trying to figure out how he was going to his team "an edge the next day in practice."

Sometimes we think inspiration is about getting teams emotionally ready to play a game.  But you better find away to get that same result out of your practices.

Nick Saban is a master at keeping his players locked in. Here is an older post where Coach Saban came up with a plan of putting responsibility on key players.

In a press conference this week, Saban said he "created some tension" among his team in practice which is something he likes to do.

Are bringing someone in occasionally to speak to them?  Letting them here a different voice and even a different perspective can be incredibly beneficial.

Once again, an older post on Coach Saban and how he used speakers with his team.

My point is getting your team ready shouldn't just apply to games -- but importantly, apply to practices.

GREAT TEACHING CONCEPTS FROM KEVIN EASTMAN

You can’t be tired and you can’t be bored. It’s not easy getting better. It takes work and discipline. We have a choice of pain of discipline or pain of regret.

Workout discipline:
•Maximum intensity on every repetition.

•Machine like mechanics

•Focus on every repetition - we’re going to take one shot 500 times.

Philosophy:

•Becoming a good shooter is lots of reps.

•Becoming a great shooter is lots of reps at game speed from game spots at a game angle.

Theory of two:
•It takes two minutes to show any skill.

•It takes two weeks doing it every single day to get comfortable with the skill.

•It takes two months working on a skill everyday to get good enough to execute in a game.

Shooting form:
•Be ready on the catch.

•Ten toes to the rim (if you have ten toes to the rim you will be square to the basket).

•Only change his form if the shot doesn’t go in. Make him the best worst form shooter.

•Two second rule: As soon as it’s 1 cm into our players fingers I’m counting one two. Players don’t have a great understanding of game speed when working out.

•The better the shooter you are, the better your shot fake needs to be. Definition of a shot fake is a real shot that you don’t shoot.

Free-throws:

•Shoot free-throws until you miss, and count how many in a row.

•Players tend to fall forward rather than backward.

Give your players statistical feedback:

•When you chart your players’ shots give them percentages for free-throws, lay-ups, jump shots and three-point shots.

•Break it down so they know what to work on.

•Players can be receptive to stats.

Make time to practice shooting:
•You will be surprised how little your guys shoot during practice when you exclude shooting drills.

•We recorded how many shots our players took in a 2.5 hour practice:

•Paul Pierce – 16.

•Ricky Davis – 13.

•Al Jefferson – 7.

•During an hour pickup we shoot on average 12.8 shots per player.

•Average number of shots taken in a game is 16 per player.

My goal right now is to get everything you can teach in the game down to three bullet points. It makes it easier for players to take in:

For shooting:

•Perfect feet.

•Ready for catch.

•Perfect follow through.

Coaches must maintain their intensity everyday:

•A coach can never get bored.

•The intensity that a coach brings to the floor helps the player have a more intense workout.

•Coaches have body language too. Be careful of your body language, and how it could be interpreted by your players.

Three things skill development can do for you:
•It can create a career.

•It can improve a career.

•It can revitalize a career.

4TH AND GOAL EVERY DAY

I've enjoyed reading 4th And Goal Every Day by Phil Savage.  Savage isn't just a writer -- he is a former NFL assistant coach and general manager who has worked with some of the games best coaches.  Add to that his current position as radio color analyst for Alabama football and you have a very unique set of eyes on the Crimson Tide football program and the championship philosophy of Nick Saban.  Savage chose the title 4th And Goal Every Day because he felt it summed up the mindset in the Bama program -- a constant sense of urgency.

For me, I was especially drawn to the sections of the book that dealt with recruiting and player and team development.  Not surprisingly they go hand-in-hand:

Alabama does not care so much "what" a high school player is doing on the field.  It cares more about "how" a player is doing it.  There is a big difference.  What he is doing might look dominant against high school players, but how he is doing it -- athleticism, instinct, explosiveness -- might show his further potential.

Nick Saban would rather take a guy with "tools" in his body that have not yet bloomed over a high school player who is "an effort guy" making twenty-five tackles through willpower.  Saban thinks he can coach the player with tools so that his pure ability will allow him to far surpass the results of the overachiever with limited skills.

As for player development, it should surprise no one that a big key of Bama's success is the structure of their practice:

Recruiting is significant, but what they do best at Alabama is player development.  Talk to any NFL scout and he will tell you that the Alabama practice field resembles a pro camp more than any other college program in the country.  The drills and techniques being taught in Tuscaloosa are the same ones used during the week by NFL players who slip on the pads for the Sunday games.  The Crimson Tide soaks its players in film work, fundamentals, repetition, and patience.

If you love football, this is an outstanding book with Savage going into the details of teaching, coaching, evaluating and giving great stories to support those areas.  But it's also a great book for coaches who want an inside look at one of the best. 

USING ANALYTICS TO CHART INTANGIBLES AT PRACTICE

There has been so much talk in recent years about analytics and how each of us utilize them to best benefit our program.  But I came across an article from last year about how Buzz Williams of Virginia Tech goes as far as charting intangibles in practice.  Here is an excerpt from the article in Collegiate Times written by Faizan Hasnany:

With the stakes as high as they had been all season, Buzz Williams and his staff didn’t let the moment distract them, relying on something that has been an integral part of Williams’ coaching philosophy since his earliest head coaching days at the University of New Orleans: data analytics.

“He’s been using (analytics) ever since I’ve known him. I would say since he’s been a coach, he’s been a numbers guy. He’s really, really smart and he’s really, really good with numbers,” said Devin Johnson, who worked with Williams as an undergraduate assistant at UNO, at Marquette and now as the Hokies' director of player personnel. “I would say he’s been using it since day one.”

Analytics are not just at the core of how the Hokies scout and prepare for other teams, but are used in everything that they do, from practices, to recruiting and everything in between.

“In practice we count touches. So if me and you high-five each other, how many touches did you have at the end of the day? We feel that your touches and your high-fives motivate your teammates to get through that practice,” Johnson said.

Bringing quantitative value to things like effort, communication and teamwork has allowed the Hokies’ coaching staff to objectively reward its players for those extra efforts. It has also helped to establish the tough and hard-working character for which Williams’ teams have always been known.

“At the end of each week, for practice, we have something called a belt winner,” Johnson said. “That comes from analytic numbers from the touches, from the dives on the floor, how much talking and how many times you put your hands on your knees, which shows signs of weakness, so we count that and that’s a negative analytic that we take into account.”

You can read the article in it's entirety here.

BELICHICK'S NEXT IMPORTANT GOAL

The following comes from an article written by Ryan Hannable for www.weei.com and speaks strongly to how much Patriots' head coach Bill Belichick believes in process oriented thinking:

Belichick, who has won five Super Bowls and is considered one of the greatest coaches of all-time, was asked what are some other things he would like to accomplish?

“I'd like to go out and have a good practice today,” he said. “That would be at the top of the list right now.”

What’s after that?

“We'll correct it and get ready for tomorrow,” he added.

Although it’s just minicamp, Belichick was already in midseason form with his response by not wanting to reflect on anything, and showing how focused he is on the task at hand, which is minicamp.

BUZZ WILLIAMS TABC CLINIC NOTES (Part II)

Smartest people don’t have the best answers, they have the best questions.”

“Recruiting” most overused work in college athletics. Coach Williams never asks a recruit “who’s recruiting you?”

“We don’t recruit.”

“Culture = Habits”

When taking the Virginia Tech job he told the team: “I’m not getting rid of anyone. I will coach all of you harder than you’ve ever been coached.”

“You don’t have to tell someone what your culture is — your habits will.”

Culture has nothing to do with talent.

Figure out the right habits.

“Recruiting” is a sales word...we like “Life Decision.”

 Virginia Tech takes the entire staff recruiting even though it may cost them days. Home visit = entire staff. Game = entire staff.

You can only manage what you measure. Not enough to say “play hard” — how can you measure that — find a way.

In individual workouts Virginia Tech measures everything. In some instances you must achieve a certain measurement before moving to the next level.

Boot Camp

Virginia Tech doesn’t teach play until November.

Doesn’t want plays for how we play but for his team to understand how to play.

Quote shirts

Doesn’t do business cards — does quote cards.

Primary philosophy: “Get better”

Created “Get better” bands for team

Always looking for things under $1.50 to give away

3 Worst Things for a Player to Say: “I got this.”

3 Worst Things for a Coach to Say: “I know this.”

Stay away from the feeling, “I know this.”

Coaching mailout every 6 weeks.

Must get app for articles - “Pocket”

What are you doing on a daily basis for your brand?

“The people you think of the most are the ones that are invested in you.”

Coach Williams’ mission: Tell the Truth

   Help as Many People As I Can

   If you ask anyone, would they say you your mission is?

Not as much about playing hard as about loving each other.

Beware of “imposters on your path” — like winning and losing. Be process oriented.

Has manager in charge of pulling clips from the newspaper on his opponents.

WHAT IS YOUR PLAN FOR A GREAT START TO PRACTICE

We just read a fascinating article from Dr. Rob Bell on the importance of the start of practice.  You can read his entire article here.  He even sites thoughts from coaches such as Jim Mora and Tom Coughlin.

There is certainly an art to this and it needs to be calculated first by the staff and then by the leadership of your team.  We talk to our team about having a “game day mentality” for practice.  Make sure you come mentally and emotionally read to maximize the day’s workout.  For us, there are a couple of things we utilize such as pre-practice, emphasis of the day and practice goal cards and you can read about of these here.

Dr. Bell talks about a “re-connect” with coach and player each day to start.  One of the best examples I’ve seen of this is Sherri Coale.  While coaching at LSU I took the opportunity to watch Coach Coale and her Oklahoma team practice one summer in preparation for a European trip.  Each practice the players would come out and shoot and stretch.  I observed Coach Coale make physical and emotional contact with every single player before they huddled up to begin.  It might be a high-five, a grab of the arm or a slap on the back but it would be followed by a brief conversation and almost always a smile on the face of the player. Practices at OU started with great energy.

As Dr. Bell writes:

Arriving to practice should involve an emotional and team-oriented approach. Dynamic stretching, warming-up, and bonding between the players and the coaches are all part of arriving both mentally and physically. The arrival period of practice is also the best time for a coach to re-connect with players and get a sense of “what’s going on.”

Arriving early and establishing that expectation helps tremendously with the starting of practice.

Next, how do you emphasize the starting of practice. This is the time that you expect your team to be focused and dialed in. If the arrival has been taken care of, chances are the start will be effective as well.

PAT SUMMITT PRACTICE THOUGHTS

The following come from some of my notes of listening to Pat Summitt speak at Don Meyer's 1998 Coaching Academy:

Love practice -- love to teach
Whole - Part - Whole Method
Practice Plan -- prepare and compete
Offense or Defense first? Whichever you want to emphasize
Not what we teach but what we emphasize
Prefer not to be predictable
Drills should be breakdown of your offense and defense
Explain purpose
Name drills
What a Coach rewards is key
Shoot free throws when you are tired
Keep stats in practice
     Record all shots
     Record all post feeds
     Record contested and uncontested shots
     Record box outs
Practice at game tempo
Practice game situations
Use officials, clocks, scores when possible

QUOTES FROM DON YAEGER'S "GREAT TEAMS"

Here are just a few great quotes from Don Yaeger's book "Great Teams:"


"Motivation is short, but inspiration lasts a lifetime."
-Ganon Baker

"Great competitors focus on daily improvement, with the mind-set to win each and every day."
-Bruce Bowen

"I think every leader must have a heart of service."
-Aja Brown

"I believe in winning the day and looking for small victories for my players, whether a great play in practice, a passing grade on an exam, or a personal best in the weight room.  I use these opportunities to reinforce behavior that was consistent with the culture I wanted to build."
-Jim Calhoun

"Promising something like playing time, is setting up disappointment and a breakdown of trust."
-Jim Calipari

"How your team complements each other is just as important as their individual skill sets."
-Jerry Colangelo

"When communication breaks down, mistrust and bad attitudes begin to develop.  I remain in constant communication with my players and staff to ensure they are all on the same page."
-Tom Crean

"Great teams know how to listen in a meeting and understand when feedback is required."
-Randy Cross

"My practices are called the 'competitive cauldron' because of my focus on competition and punishing pace."
-Anson Dorrance

"A shared culture will quickly show the new team member how he is expected to act...Personal agendas are not tolerated within the standards of a strong organization."
-Kevin Eastman

"A talented team will gie its best work every day, no matter what."
-China Gorman

RICHARD SHERMAN ON THE PROCESS ORIENTED MINDSET

I love the PlayersTribune.com!  It gives great insight directly from those involved -- the athletes.  They share so much in an open forum that can benefit your players as well.  We share many of them with our team.

One example is the most recent post by Richard Sherman, cornerback for the Seattle Seahawks titled, "On To The Next."  It's a concept that we constantly talk to our players about.  The best move on to the next quickly -- instantly in fact.  On to the next shot...the next possession...the next day...the next game.  Live in the present -- the past and future are irrelevant.  Be process oriented.

Of course it is much easier said than done -- even for veteran professionals.

Sherman opens the article with this:

Earl Thomas was sitting in front of his locker after the game, and I could tell he was frustrated. Then he stood up, put his backpack on, left the locker room and walked out to the parking lot. He didn’t really talk to anybody. He just got in his car and went home.

That was in Week 1.

After we won.

That’s one of the things that makes Earl great. Anybody who knows him knows that he holds himself to an incredibly high standard. That day, he felt he didn’t play up to that standard. We got a win, and that was great. But Earl understands — like everybody else in the locker room — that just because you win doesn’t mean you did everything perfectly.

And conversely, just because you lose doesn’t mean you did everything wrong.

That's process oriented thinking.  It's not the result that makes a difference in the evaluation of your level of execution.  This is the mindset of the best that allows them to grow and improve as opposed to becoming complacent.

As Sherman than points out, this is the outcome of that type of thinking:

That’s one of our many mottos: Control what you can control. That expression was why Earl came in the next morning — after walking out of the locker room on Sunday frustrated, without talking to anybody — and went on to have a great week of practice. Because he knows that come Monday morning, you can’t control what happened on Sunday, and every minute you spend living in the past and dwelling on it is a minute you won’t be spending looking ahead to the next week and the next opponent. And that’s an easy way to lose back-to-back games.

Sherman goes on to talk about the culture of the Seahawks that allows them to hold themselves accountable in part due to the philosophy of Coach Pete Carroll:

Our coaches are probably tougher on us after a win. Coach Carroll always tells us that he wants us to be ourselves, because that’s why he brought us here. Because we’re competitors. We’re the kind of players — and the kind of people — he wants on his team.

Part of being a competitor is being self-motivated. We don’t need a coach to get on our ass after a loss. I’ll get on myself about it, and so will each guy in our locker room. Like I’ve said before, we have a crazy team with some chaotic dudes — a bunch of alphas. Take Earl, for example. He’ll do everything he can to get better, even after a win, because that’s how Earl is. That’s what makes him great. He’s never satisfied, even when he plays well.

The result is a process-oriented mindset displayed in this great quote by Sherman:

"Was I angry that we lost? Of course. Winning never gets old and losing always sucks. But you have to treat those two impostors just the same."

PRACTICE CONCEPTS FROM JOHN WOODEN

There are so many outstanding books written on Coach John Wooden but one of my favorites is by one of his former players, Swen Nater titled "You Haven't Taught Until They Have Learned."

Early in his career, he had the opportunity to observe a football practice at the University of Notre Dame when the legendary Frank Leahy was head coach. “I thought my basketball practices were well-organized and efficient. After observing Coach Leahy’s practice, I realized more work was needed. There was not one minute wasted. Even the transitions from drill to drill were done with no wasted second. Players seemed to enjoy the work and everyone worked hard for the entire two hours. I was impressed and after meeting with Frank Leahy for answers to questions I had, I immediately applied what I had learned to my own situation.”

Fundamentals Before Creativity

Webster defines “fundamental” as “being an essential part of, a foundation or basis.” The fundamentals of basketball are the essential skills that make up the game.

Coach wooden believes the teaching of fundamentals, until they are all executed quickly, properly, and without conscious thought, is prerequisite to playing the game.

“Drill” can have a negative connotation among coaches and classroom teachers. It is sometimes associated with mindless, boring repetition in which there is no opportunity for students to learn concepts or exercise initiative or imagination.

“Drilling created a foundation,” he likes to say, “on which individual initiative and imagination can flourish.”

Use Variety

One of the many enjoyable things I remember about UCLA practice sessions was the variety. Although the general skeleton of practice lessons were the same (fundamentals, break-down drills, and then whole-team activities), there were lots of surprises that kept things interesting and fun.

“I must know as the season progressed how they (drills) were going to change,”  he said, “and then devise new ones to prevent monotony, although there would be some drills we must do every single day of the year.”

Teaching New Material

When creating the daily lesson plan, Coach Wooden was careful to install new material in the first half of practice, not the second. There were two reasons for this: our minds were fresh and not yet worn down by two hours of high-intensity activities, and he could devise activities, during the second half of practice, for the application of the new material.

Quick Transitions

During Coach Wooden’s practice sessions, one witnessed lightning-quick transitions from activity to activity. Players sprinted to the next area and took pride in being the first to being the next activity.

Increasing Complexity

For Coach Wooden, there was nothing more important than the fundamentals of the game. For example, initially shooting and dribbling forms were isolated. Then, Coach taught another type of dribbling technique and combined it so that a shot was taken after the dribble.

Coach Wooden’s philosophy is for players and students to improve a little every day and make perfection a goal. His method for improving conditioning included one painful demand-each player, when reaching the point of exhaustion, was to push himself beyond. When this is done every day, top condition will be attained over time.

End on a Positive Note

I remember many enjoyable endings to the UCLA practice sessions. Coach Wooden always has something interesting, challenging or fun planned for the last five minutes. I didn’t realize it at the time, but levity always helped bring me back the next day, filled with anticipation.

Avoid Altering a Plan During the Lesson

Once the practice, or lesson, started, Coach Wooden never changed it, even though he may have noticed an existing drill that needed more time or thought of a new one he should have included. The proper place for new ideas and improvements was on the back of a 3x5 index card, which he made notations on (and expected the assistants to do the same).

THOUGHTS ON TEACHING AND PLAYER DEVELOPMENT FROM BILL WALSH

The following comes from one of the absolute best coaching books I've every read, "Finding the Winning Edge," by Bill Walsh:

Drive the players to concentrate. Be assertive in your insistence that they focus on the task at hand.

Individualize your teaching approach to fit certain individuals, when necessary. Give extra time to those players who need it.

Be as precise as possible when teaching. Always use the system’s terminology as a common language.

Be patient, but demanding. Require your players to adhere to proper techniques at all times.

Teach the skills progressively. Adhere to a systematic methodology of teaching that allows the players to improve and enhances their level of confidence in your competence and professionalism.

Keep your finger on the pulse of the situation. Be alert to the intensity level of the players. Be sensitive to signs of those factors which can affect the learning curve. Never overlook the fundamental reality of the teaching axiom, “quality repetitions are the mother of all learning.”

Keep the meetings quality, not quantity, oriented. Use a variety of learning tools to enhance the learning environment and to help stimulate the players’ level of concentration and focus.

Demonstrate the highest level of knowledge about the subject matter being taught.

Teach the players in a professional manner. Unless you’re trying to elicit a specific emotional response from your players, refrain from screaming and demonstrative behavior. Keep in mind that such behavior seldom, if ever, enhances the learning curve particularly if the subject matter involves technical information.

Evaluate the players’ performance on a daily basis to ensure that they are progressively mastering the techniques required to perform the tasks they are assigned in an effective and efficient manner.

Rapidity is the essence of war; take advantage of the enemy’s unreadiness, make your way by unexpected routes, and attach unguarded spots.

Another teaching technique that has proven to be very effective is to have players emulate the techniques and actions of other athletes. For example, if players watch videos showing Jerry Rice run a particular pattern in a certain way, you (as the head coach) can single out and stress particular coaching points, by using Rice as the case in point.

All factors considered, players tend to respond more favorably to an actual visual representation of a particular teaching point than to tan abstract illustration of that point drawn up on a chalkboard or written up in a playbook. This learning technique is typically referred to as “modeling.”

"Win the war, then win the fight."