Thoughts about coaching...

One week left in our basketball season and I am left with a few questions for myself and for my players.

 How do I keep the kids motivated for 4 months of the year?

  Once the season starts its fairly easy to keep the kids motivated, they just want to play ball.  Before the season starts I have the kids meet with me in my classroom after school and we talk about personal and team goals for the year.  My oldest kids this year wanted to go undefeated, 10-0.  We have finished the season 4-5 (one game had to be forfeited due to inclement weather).  They are very frustrated.

  This years team is very good.  But our conference in loaded this year.  Our program does not have the expectations to win as some other teams do.  This hurts out program as a whole, because the kids don't yet understand what it takes to be a champion on and off the court.

  Regionals starts Wednesday.  All of the teams we play regionals we have either beat or lost to by a few points.  We have a very real chance to go to state this year.

  For next years team I think we will sit down in the next few months and talk about what out expectations are and what we would be satisfied with.  I need to encourage the kids to set realistic goals and follow them through by making a plan.  Not set goals and leave everything to chance.  When I work out I don't say, "I am going to bench 500 lbs. on Monday" that just isn't going to happen.  I say, "I want to bench 300 lbs. in a year, how do I do that?"  and I start making a plan to do just that.

  A lot of coaches don't like personal goals but I like them.  I think that by telling some kids that they should shoot for 10 points a game or 10 rebounds a game they have a barometer to aim for.  If they exceed that consistently then they begin to feel like a really good player and perform better.  Next year I plan on having the kids choose a simply goal for themselves like 10 points or 10 rebounds or 10 assists and meeting or exceeding that each game.