Basketball or psychology?

When I started coaching competitive basketball my oldest son was a 5th grader.  The kids in his class were good athletes and good basketball players.  As 4th graders they had made it to the USSFA State Finals.  I was an assistant for them as 5th graders.  I thought it would be all about x's and o's.  I was wrong.  They had an all new coaching staff.  Myself and the head coach both had a son on the team.  It was difficult.  These were good kids, but we had a difficult time getting them to listen and do what we wanted them to do in practice and in games.  They had a difficult time getting along with each other.  They were 5th graders, the class of 2013.  They were good.  There were some new players.  It was a tough season.  We spent more time trying to motivate them and keep the peace, than we did on x's and o's.  Basketball or Psychology?

The following year I had a son that was a 4th grader.  This was the class of 2015.  I was the head coach that year.  It was the class's first season of competitive basketball.  The kids were a little timid.  They were'nt very tough.  They were nice.  They were all friends.  They were not very competitive, in practice or in games.  They didn't care if they won or lost, which probably wasn't all that bad at the time, but they were in a competitive league where other teams wanted to beat them and beat them badly.  They didn't have alot of confidence.  Some games they played as if they knew they could win.  Other games they didn't.  If they started a game and went down early, they were pretty much done.  If they thought the team we were facing was better than they were, they didn't play as hard.  When they made mistakes they got down on themselves and they let it affect their play.  They also just didn't play smart.  I remember that my assistants and I would talk often about the fact that the kids just didn't know how to play basketball.  I remember begging them to watch college games on television that season hoping that this would somehow help them make a connection with what we were trying to teach them.  We also had some parent issues.  I found myself playing counselor to a recently divorced parent before and after practices.  It was exhausting.  As usual, I had some parents who weren't happy about playing time.  Now, I must add here that before the season ever started, I made it clear (or thought I had) that this was competitive basketball and we were going to play the kids that gave us the best chance to win games, while trying our best to get everyone playing time.  We had ten kids on the team.  Their talents were not all equal.  I mentioned that this was not recreational basketball and if the parents were interested in equal playing time, they should play rec.  Maybe a little harsh, but true.  We tried our best to get everyone playing time, but it was a difficult task to do and still try to win games.  Consequently, there were games where some kids didn't play much.  I had to decide between trying to win and equal playing time.  I chose to try to win.  I was honest about this.  Some parents weren't happy.  They didn't like the playing time their kids got, and didn't like the honesty.  Some parents jumped me at courtside following one tournament game, in front of the kids, the other parents and everyone in the gym.  Some parents just didn't bring their kids back.  One parent waited until the next day and called to discuss his kid's playing time. The conversation was tense, but civil, and eventually the parent and I remained friends.  We still did pretty well that season.  We went 6-3 and lost in the first round of the league tournament.  Basketball or Psychology?  You decide.

I sat out the year the 2015 kids were 5th graders.  I was an assistant when they were 6th graders.  The head coach was a local doctor.  The doctor, also a woman, spent the majority of her time either coaching or watching basketball.  She went to all the games she could.  High school games, middle school games, grade school games, Butler games, Pacers games, Fever games.  She was basketball smart and knew a great deal about the game.  And man could she teach it.  The team was pretty good that year.  We went 7-2, won a couple games in the league tournament and miraculously qualified for the USSFA State Tournament on the final weekend and made it to the final four.  Still we struggled with motivation and confidence.  We struggled with toughness.  The kids continued to get down on themselves when they made mistakes.  Once this happened, the player would be done for the game, no good to us due to self-defeating thoughts and attitudes.  Luckily, other players stepped up when this happened and we had a great season.  Basketball or Psychology?

When I started coaching AAU, or summer, basketball I thought it would be all about the x's and o's.  Man was I wrong again.  Well, I wasn't so wrong the first year.  My second son was a 5th grader, going into 6th grade.  We had very few kids show up to tryout.  My wife and I put together a rag-tag bunch of kids at the last minute.  They turned out to be great basketball players.  We won four tournaments and finished runner-up twice, including a runner-up finish at AYBT Nationals.  Good players, good coaching.  The following year when the kids were 6th graders, we had alot of the same kids and mixed in some new ones.  We tried to work on team chemistry right away.  It is difficult to develop team chemistry when you are losing players and adding new players every summer.  This was also the first year we had two teams, essentially an A and a B team.  We tried to dispell the A and B stigma immediately, telling the parents and the kids that we were treating them all the same.  We wanted to be one big team.  This was a difficult task.  The better team was going to be playing a more competitive schedule and the parents and players were notified of this fact right from the start.  We tried mixing the kids up early in practice so they all got a chance to play together.  However, as the season began, we began playing the teams against one another in practice.   They needed to work together as teams since they were going to be playing that way in tournaments.  The outcomes were usually lopsided as one team was more talented than the other.  The "B" team began calling themselves the "A team practice dummies."  Morale was low.  We attempted to address this issue as the season went on, but with little success.  The "B" team didn't win alot of games.  The "A" team had issues with selfishness and team chemistry.  As always, there were some issues with parents who were unhappy with the coaching.  We lost some kids.  As 7th graders, we had some very good players.  We again had two teams with a similar result.  One team often beat up on the other team in practice.  The "B" team again had issues with unhappy parents due to coaching, coach and player interactions and playing time.  The "A" team had some good players and two very good players.  We won a couple of tournaments, but against tougher competition, our very good players would step up and play hard.  The other players would kind of watch and play hard only some of the time.  They often deferred to the better players.  We still had confidence issues.  We would play hard if we thought we could win, but back down against better teams.  We had players who would get down on themselves.  Mistakes killed us.  We tried to teach the kids to forget about the mistakes and continue playing through them.  A couple of kids did, but again, we had little success with this.  Unhappy parents.  Team chemistry issues.  We lost some players.  Basketball or Psychology?

Fast forward to this year.  Again we lost some players.  We took what we thought were the best players available.  From the beginning we had team chemistry issues.  We've had selfish play.  We've had players who dominated the ball or took shots every time they touched it.  We've had players who didn't want to share the ball with everyone.  We have had problems with effort and intensity.  We have had some players who work hard in practice and others who don't.  We've had confidence issues.  Players who have played scared.  Givin up.  Quit on us.  Especially if we were playing a team that had already beaten us.  In that particular case, we quit before the game started.  We've played soft.  We've played hard.  We've actually won one tournament early in the season.  We haven't won a game sense.  We've had infighting.  We've had good competition, but it may have hurt the team chemistry.  We have tried to promote competition in practice to bring out the competitive nature of the players.  This prepares them to play in tournaments at high levels.  At times it has worked.  It hasn't worked at others.  Some players have had to miss practice for various reasons.  Some haven't missed.  Some who have missed have played more than some who haven't, depending on the game situation and level of competition.  We have had hurt feellings.  We have done the best we can.  Everyone has played alot.  Still we have had problems.  We have had players that think no one likes them.  This has never been the case.  I should state here that we have been a very successful program.  We have teams in grades three through eleven for several years.  We have been very good at retaining players.  I have had the same core group of players for four years.  Most teams lose and add players every year.  More people have been happy with our club than not.  Still we've had team chemistry issues and problems with motivation. When my assistant coach and I began the season, we thought it would be more about x's and o's.  After all the kids are older.  They are going into high school.  The competition starts to even out at most tournaments.  Players start to gain confiedence.  They start to play through the mistakes.  They start to play every play and compete.  Man were we wrong!  Same issues from the same players, and some of the new ones.  It is still a work in progress.  We haven't won alot of games.  The players are, however, getting better.  Our players took the month of June off to play and pactice with their high school teams.  Most of our kids did very well with their teams at practice and in games this month.  This gives us hope.  Hope that we are getting through to them, helping them improve.  Still, we have been very frustrated at times.  But we will stick it out, and do our best.  We will try to bring the team and it's players together.  We will continue to try to motivate them, praise them, correct them when necessary.  And we may even continue to be frustrated.  Who knows?  Perhaps we need counseling!  Basketball or psychology?  You decide.