Coaching Mental Toughness in Basketball

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Basketball Coaching Development

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WELCOME! COACHING WEBINAR:

COACHING MENTALLY TOUGH BASKETBALL TEAMS


WHO AM I?

COACH JOSH STINSON

www.perectpractice.netwww.hoopclinics.com



• Mental Toughness

• Defining Characteristics

• Physical component

• Practice Principles

• Toughness Drills

• Liability Considerations

WEBINAR FORMAT:

KEY COACHING HURDLES

EVERY COACH MUST DEVELOP:

3 BIG THINGS!!



1. Skills & Schemes



2. Culture



3. Mental Toughness

KEY COACHING CHALLENGES

1. Skills & Schemes 2. Culture 3. Mental

Toughness

DEFINITIONS OF MENTAL TOUGHNESS

1. Rebounding from mistakes

•Mistakes Are NOT A Big Deal• They will happen in every single practice you

ever coach

Rebounding from mistakes

•How We Respond To Mistakes Defines Us!


2. Forest through the trees – big picture


Not getting so caught up in the little battles that occur all the time in basketball that you forget about the Overall Goals

Mentally tough players understand what is important and what isn't

Coaches can fall in this trap too:

• Excessively arguing with officials at expense of coaching your team • Creating a level of animosity with referees early in the game and

sabotaging your teams chances later in the game

3. Visualizing success

• Be aware of how you communicate this concept


Visualizing success

• Mind/Body connection

• Improves muscle memory

• Richardson Experiment



Day 1 Day 20 0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

Practice OnlyVisualize OnlyNeither

Visualizing Success: Richardson Experiment

4. Consistency


•Mentally tough players exude these qualities consistently over time

• Anybody can get ‘tough‘ for a few games or even a few weeks, • Any ‘change of heart’ by a player is great, but:

• Whether the solution is long term wont be known until the player faces adversity (losing, a slump, playing time, demanding coach, etc)

Consistency


DEFINITIONS

5. Persistence (Always Beats Failure)

Persistence (Always Beats Failure)


DEFINITIONS

Persistence - Abraham, Lincoln

1832 – Lost job, defeated for state legislature 2x Failure!

DEFINITIONS


1833 – Failed in businessFailure!

DEFINITIONS


1834 – Elected to Illinois State legislatureSuccess!

DEFINITIONS


1834 – Sweetheart DiesExcuse for failure!

DEFINITIONS


1836 – Re-elected to Illinois State legislatureSuccess!

DEFINITIONS


1836 – Has a nervous breakdownFailure!

DEFINITIONS


1838 – Defeated for speaker of the houseFailure!

DEFINITIONS


1843 – Defeated for Congress nominationFailure!

DEFINITIONS


1846 – Elected to CongressSuccess!

DEFINITIONS


1848 – Lost Congress RenominationFailure!

DEFINITIONS


1854 – Defeated for US SenateFailure!

DEFINITIONS


1856 – Defeated for nomination for Vice PresidentFailure!

DEFINITIONS


1858 – Defeated for US Senate againFailure!

DEFINITIONS


1860 – Elected PresidentSUCCESS!

DEFINITIONS

Persistence

CATCH-ALL DEFINITIONOF

MENTAL TOUGHNESS“Mental toughness is the ability to control

thoughts and actions andmaintain a focus on what is truly important in a

calm and poised way undercompetitive pressure.”

Bullying

“UNDERSTANDING”WHAT MENTAL TOUGHNESS IS NOT!

Very often, young coaches and players alike mistake bullying for mental toughness

• Bullying has no place in the game

• Important point of focus in schools

• The opposite of toughness – bullying behavior usually stems from a poor or inadequate self-image• Mentally tough – cultivate a positive self-image • No need to manufacture self-respect/esteem by hurting others

Bullying: Does THIS KID look mentally tough!?!?

“UNDERSTANDING”WHAT TOUGHNESS IS NOT!

Fouling/Aimless Activity


•Fouls sabotage all of our efforts on any one possession

•Easy to ignore a s a coach if it seems like the player is trying

•Blind hustle is counterproductive

Scheme-based


Toughness doesn’t have anything to do with coaching tactics/schemes

Consistently executing any scheme properly requires toughness •We can have totally different styles and still cultivate equally tough players and teams

Scheme-based


Scheme-based


PHYSICAL CONDITIONING

“There is NO SUCH THING as an out-of-shape, mentally tough basketball player!

Mental and Physical Toughness Go Hand-In-Hand. All Coaches Pay Lip Service To This Concept. Champion-Level Coaches

field teams that reflect it year-in and year-out”

1. Scrimmaging - make bad calls • Frontload your players - preparing them to play

through adversity • Telling players you’re going to make bad calls ahead

of time leads to faster learning.

PRACTICE CONCEPTS

2. Completion – in everything we do.

• Finish the play• Work on every skill in any practice sequence• Example – Closeout:• Defend Shot• Defend Drive• Box-Out• Locate and Chase down the rebound

PRACTICE CONCEPTS

3. Play to the whistle not the horn

• Important for time and score • Scorers make mistakes often & refs have final

word over scorers – so playing to the whistle is important

PRACTICE CONCEPTS

4. Create competition• Be Aware Of Practice Pace And Tone.

PRACTICE CONCEPTS

PRACTICE & COACHING CONCEPTS

BUILDING RESILIENCY

5. Rehearse pressure situations in practice – HAVE A PLAN

“Take time every basketball practice to rehearse different pressure situations that arise in games. Having a definite plan that players have practiced will help them focus

on what to do under pressure and less on the pressure itself.”


BUILDING RESILIENCY

6. Address Detrimental behaviors• Consistent message

“Make it a point of emphasis that bad body language, moping, pouting, displays of disgust with officials, and other negative behaviors are training the players for failure. them any time they occur in practice, games, or in the locker room..”


BUILDING RESILIENCY

7. Model poise and self control as the Coach

“Players will feed off of you and draw confidence from your mental toughness.”


BUILDING RESILIENCY

8. No Excuses!


BUILDING RESILIENCY

9. Communicate &demonstrate how behavior influences outcomes

“Point out times in your game films or games you record on TV when a lack of poise andmental toughness by an individual cost a team a chance to win.”


BUILDING RESILIENCY

10.Develop keywords or Signals to re-focusHave a phrase you can use when a player makes a mistake to re-focus them back on

what they should be doing NOW. A simple phrase such as "Play through it!" can be enough signal your message.”


BUILDING RESILIENCY

11. Make a Practice Of Diving After Loose Balls in Every Scrimmage Situation

+/- Point systems/ behavioral reinforcers

1. 51 seconds of Perfect Defense

• Defensive Execution

PRACTICE DRILLS

• Avg. halfcourt defensive possession = 17 sec.

• 51 sec = Three defensive possessions 17 sec. x 3 possessions

51 sec.

PRACTICE DRILLS


PRACTICE DRILLS

•Primary halfcourt defense vs. any offense

•Goal: Play Perfect Defense (no breakdowns/mistakes) for 0:51• Offense starts with 0:51 – • Drill ends when clock hits zero• Clock resets to :51• Any defensive breakdowns that the coach catches

• Clock stops & countdown to 0:00 continues • Steal with perfect defense• Defensive Rebound with perfect defense• Made shot against perfect defense


PRACTICE DRILLS

2. Passing-only scrimmage

• Continuity/motion offense

PRACTICE DRILLS

2. Passing-only scrimmage

PRACTICE DRILLS

•Halfcourt motion/continuity - 5on5

•Rules:• 3 possessions for each team• No Dribbling• Denial Defense• Passes count for 1 point• Ball can’t hit the ground – (no dribbling, no dropped passes)• Players must catch in correct offensive spots• Most passes in 3 possessions wins

5 on 5 Halfcourt Scrimmage

PRACTICE DRILLS

3. Three man rebounding (“NBA”, Animal Thug”)

• Rebounding & Toughness in the paint

• Offensive rebounding & putbacks

• Playing through contact

• Eliminates dribbling and wasted motion in the paint

PRACTICE DRILLS

• Three man rebounding

3 teams - 3 players in the paint (1 from each team)

• Coach shoots

• 3 players chase the rebound

• Rebound and Putback = 1 point for team

• 1st Team to 7 points = winner

• Only way to get off the floor - score

PRACTICE DRILLS


• Shots don’t count/pass back to the coach when:

• Ball touches floor

• Touch ball with feet outside of the paint

PRACTICE DRILLS

PRACTICE DRILLS

• Less space = more contact

Shifts focus to GETTING SHOTS IN THE PAINT

Outside the paint = out of bounds

PRACTICE DRILLS

• Eliminates dribbling in the paint• Limits defensive recovery

Shifts the focus to SCORING IN THE PAINT

• Catch with 2 hands at height of jump• Keep ball above shoulders• Pogo move

-OR-• Pump fake and score with contact

Not allowing the ball to touch the ground:

PRACTICE DRILLS

Winner =

Team That Makes The Most Layups

Key Statistic

Shots in the paint=layups


- Emphasize playing though contact

- No fouls

- No dirty play

PRACTICE DRILLS

4. Three charges and loose ball

Each Player On The Team Will…

• Take 3 consecutive charges in the paint and

• Dives On A Loose Ball

…in rapid succession

•Emphasize positioning – outside the NBA line

•College & Below – contact can occur in the paint and it will still be a charge –

•But…refs are inconsistent with this call and tend to go by the NBA rule anyway.

PRACTICE DRILLS

PRACTICE DRILLS

PRACTICE DRILLS

5. Condition without the ball!?!?

•In Vogue – conditioning with the ball – speeds up offensive development

•If the problem is toughness and/or terrible conditioning, running WITHOUT the ball emphasizes those things & brings the focus quickly where it needs to be.

PRACTICE DRILLS

Condition without the ball

PRACTICE DRILLS

Suicides (Lines)• Acceptable Times (HS

Boys): 28-30 seconds per set

• 1 set • ¼ court and back• ½ court and back• ¾ court and back• Full court and back

Condition without the ball20 in 20 (hard core!)

•Each Of The 20 Repetitions Occurs in a 1 minute time frame – players RUN for part of the 60 seconds and REST for the Remainder of the minute

•Final set of lines = 30 seconds

•For Every PRIOR set of lines, players have one extra second to complete the line.

•Set 1: 49 seconds to complete the running, 11 seconds to rest

•Set 2: 48 to run, 12 to rest•Set 3: 47 to run, 13 to rest •And so on so that the final set of lines is

completed within 30 seconds

PRACTICE DRILLS

•Be aware of practice settings / minimize danger

•What names do you give your “Toughness” drills?

•Report any bumps/bruises to coach/trainer - have it in writing

LIABILITY & GOOD JUDGMENT

THANK YOU!!


Basketball Coaching Development

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Coaching Mental Toughness in Basketball