"The Bench"

     What does Bench mean in terms of basketball? According to Sports Charts and the NBA, the definition of bench is (1) The group of players on a basketball team who do not start the game but may come into the game as a substitution.  (2) The physical location players occupy when they are not on the basketball court (i.e. chairs).

     Coaches, what are the mindsets of your players on the bench during the course of a game?  Most coaches out there all have rules for their bench or bench protocol during games but do your players really understand the bench and what great insight they can learn about themselves and the game on the bench?  Some players who either start the game on the bench or come out the game to the bench by the coach sometimes get down on themselves or get mad about being on the bench.  If players thought of the bench during a basketball game as a front row seat up close and personal to the action on the floor and they could analyze what their teammates and opponents are doing during the game to help them be productive for the team according to their coaches game plan then they would feel different about the Bench. 

     Here are a few tips you can give your players to grab ahold to while they are on the bench to get a new perspective about the bench:
1. You get to see the mistakes that are going on in the game so you will know not to make the same mistake when you get in the game.
2. You get to see all the positive things going on during the game to build on for your team when you get into the game.
3. You get to see everything different your opponent is doing on the floor that maybe your team didn't see during film session and get the inside adjustments that are going to be made against them to help the team when you get in the game.

     Keep in mind coaches, players need to understand that the Bench is a vital part to the game of basketball and their team's success.  The bench can be a momentum changer and the ultimate real life action packed classroom to better players IQ in the game and it's our job to make our teams complete and the Bench is part of it.

Motivation

How to stay MOTIVATED?

It's hardly a secret that a key to successfully accomplishing one goal after another is staying motivated. There are task that you may not like at all, yet you find motivation to complete them because you recognize how each particular task serves a greater goal. How  exactly do some of us manage to stay motivated to finish the task we start? Here is just a few ideas you can try:

1) Find the good reason 

    Any goals you have no matter how simple some may be has good reason behind it. Find what that is and think of it everytime you are doing tasks to reach your goals.

2) Make it fun

   When it comes to motivation, attitude is everything. Some tasks are more fun than others as we all know. The tasks you have to complete to reach your goals that are not as fun, you have to make them fun. Think of how you can enjoy the tasks you are doing. Also, think, how you can make the tasks the best part of your day. 

3) Take a different approach

    You always want to have different approaches to how you are going to reach your goals. You want to have backup plans because if one plan does not work out, you have a different route to pursue your goal and you stay motivated rather than letting a down fall still your motivation.

4) Recognize your progress 

     Put your goals in stages so when you reach a certain stage you see progression and that will help you stay motivated. 

5) Reward yourself

    Get yourself a gift of achievement! Nothing feels better than when you reach your goals and then receive a reward. That will for sure motivate anyone to go for another one.

Goal Setting

Why set goals?

Without goals, one can lack purpose and direction and eventually lose motivation.  Setting goals can drive someone to be ambitious to achieve desires.  Accomplishing certain goals will give confidence to reach even higher in the future.

Goal setting involves establishing specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-targeted (S.M.A.R.T ) goals. Work on the theory of goal-setting suggests that an effective tool for making progress is to ensure that participants in a group with a common goal are clearly aware of what is expected from them. On a personal level, setting goals helps people work towards their own objectives most commonly with financial or career-based goals. 

Goal setting features as a major component of personal development.

Studies have shown that specific and ambitious goals lead to a higher level of performance than easy or general goals. As long as the individual accepts the goal, has the ability to attain it, and does not have conflicting goals, there is a positive linear relationship between goal difficulty and task performance.

Goals are a form of motivation that sets the standard for self-satisfaction with performance. Achieving the goal one has set for oneself is a measure of success, and being able to meet job challenges is a way one measures success in the workplace. It has been said that "Goal setting capitalizes on the human brain's amazing powers: Our brains are problem-solving, goal-achieving machines.

Setting goals affects outcomes in four ways:

1.      Choice: goals narrow attention and direct efforts to goal-relevant activities, and away from perceived undesirable and goal-irrelevant actions.

2.      Effort: goals can lead to more effort; for example, if one typically produces 4 widgets an hour, and has the goal of producing 6, one may work more intensely towards the goal than one would otherwise.

3.      Persistence: someone becomes more prone to work through setbacks if pursuing a goal.

4.      Cognition: goals can lead individuals to develop and change their behavior.

 

Achieving Goals

When you've achieved a goal, take the time to enjoy the satisfaction of having done so. Absorb the implications of the goal achievement, and observe the progress that you've made towards other goals. If the goal was a significant one, reward yourself appropriately. All of this helps you build the self-confidence you deserve.

The Art of Passing

Great passing is so vital to the game of basketball. A great passer can sometimes be hard to come by and when you find one or develope one on your team there are more possibilities of weapons within your playbook. How to look for a great passer and how can you develope someone to be a good passer?

How to look for a good passer? 3 tips: 

1. Look for a high basketball IQ player and one who understands the highs and lows of a basketball game.

2. Look for a player who exploits some creativity on the basketball court.

3. Look for a player with the ability to pass the ball with both right and left hand and also can be explosive with a chest or overhead pass.

How to develope someone to be a good passer? 3 tips:

1. Have the player watch footage of other great passers in the game of basketball.

2. Have the player watch film of themselves passing the ball during the act of play and really disect their decision making.

3. Create good passing drills with tough angles and tough decision making situations the player can think and react to. 

Mental Toughness

Life and sports are one in the same.  You can learn so much through sports about how to adjust, adapt and achieve high success that apply directly to life. Basic skills include communication, being competitive, working within a team, commitment, leadership, diligence, sacrifice and my favorite - mental toughness.  

To be mentally tough is much more valuable than being physically strong on the court. Anybody can be strong and muscle themselves around to achieve some success. Keep in mind, that as a player or coach someone will always be stronger, faster, taller etc. so you must find a way to overcome the adversity.

"You can be strong individually but you must develop mental toughness as a team to sustain long term success." 

-Brenita Jackson

How can one develop mental toughness?

Each and every work out should include disadvantage drills to create adversity such as 5 on 4 shell drill or 11 man break (constant 3 on 2) so that players can learn how to overcome adversity. In an individual setting, you should condition and weight train first then do skill work so you are fatigued and really focusing on fundamentals.  Conditioning and weight training themselves can create adversity especially when you get to that last set and once players over come these battles consistently they wll have more confidence and gain mental toughness.  

Each work out should be challenging mentally and physically and running a mile is a great test of mental toughness.  We all know that during that mile you hear negative thoughts that make you want to quit and give up. Once you train your body and mind to fight through something as basic as finishing the run, then you are ready for competition! If you can't compete with yourself to get better, hang it up trying to beat anyone else. 

If you train yourself to overcome the negative thoughts and push yourself beyond your limits, you will be successful!  That is the ultimate definition of mental toughness!

Defense

     DEFENSE!! Who thinks defense doesn't win championships? Everyone knows that saying "offense sale's tickets and puts people in the stands." Although that may be true and all but let's not forget that the game of basketball has allways been about buckets and if defense stops a team from getting buckets, how could a team win or how would that saying "offense sale's tickets and puts people in the stands " apply. If the score of a game was 115 - 116, one team got a defensive stop at some point to help their team have an opportunity to score one more point then the other team. As you can see, that's an example of a little defense probably at the right time of the game helping to win the game. 

      I hear people debating all the time about defense vs offense and which one they would rather have. Both sides of the ball definitely has it's benefits separately and to one another. I have to say I would choose DEFENSE everytime. Defense, when taught properly to players as far as their body position, hands and feet activity, eye coordination, IQ, and mentality about defense within your defensive philosophy is a beautiful thing to watch. When all those defensive skills are getting steals, rebounds, and other 50/50 balls to set up your offense to get easy transition buckets fueling your team's confidence on offense and igniting the crowd, how could you not love defense? Some of the greatest players to play the game, killed you on offense and then would stop their opponent from scoring by playing defense. 

     When you think about it, when you can stop the other team from scoring by playing good defense, and you score points on offense that's the true meaning of out scoring the other team. DEFENSE would be a great ground base to start a game plan incase you would ever have to wonder. Defense can pull you through ugly games when all else fells. What's your prospective on defense? Which side of of the ball are you for, offense or defense?