Where land and sky connect

By Alistair Castagnoli, basketball and consulting coach, athletic trainer

A few weekends ago I happened to witness what I would later addressed as "a clear demonstration of incompetence in the technical, tactical, athletic and above all human management of a team during a basketball game".
Sad but true. 

THE FACTS

When a team is fighting its way back into a game - after being down in double figures - and, with few minutes left in the game, manages to take the lead and, more important, to steal the momentum from the opponent, what is its coaching staff supposed to do?

To be even clearer.
Let's pretend you coach a team that after being trailing all the game, takes the lead with 5 minutes left. Your team is also in a positive scoring run, like 10-0 or more, what would you do?

What common good sense tells: do nothing. Absolutely nothing (see also Jackson P. - Eleven Rings - The Penguin Press, 2013).
Your team is winning. Don't overcoach by changing some chemistry that has proved it's working!
Keep the momentum going and enjoy what is happening.

I know that many coaches would disagree.
If you are one of them, you would probably substitute a key player or change the defense without a real reason for that.

SOMETHING SACRED

That's a pity.
But what saddens me more, what troubles me deeply, is that, during these kind of games, these coaches can't see the beauty - the poetry in motion - that is happening just in front of their eye.

They somehow forget that they are in a temple, witnesses of something mystical: in the one place where land and sky connect, five beings merge as one entity.
And by not becoming aware of that, they just inevitably ruin it with unnecessary adjustments. 

I AM VICTORY

Why would a coach, in this situation, change something that is working?
Let's be honest, there is only one answer: because he/she wants to be the reason for the victory.
He/she wants to be remembered as the one who won the game by making that adjustment in that precise moment.

And what kind of person does that?
Someone who is focused mainly on him/herself.
Someone who is so concerned about his/her reputation that ignores how his/her players feel and perform.
Someone who puts his/her career in front of the team.
Someone who have forgotten one of the basic coaching rules: to be an effective coach you have to become invisible.

I CAN

It's human presumption to think we can control every aspect of the game, but we can not.
We have to lead the best practice sessions we can and, when it comes to the game, we must learn to be humble.
We must remember to have faith and trust our personnel.
We have to.
Because if we lose faith, we surrender ourselves to arrogance. And arrogance is the path to ignorance.
It is ignorance that seductively whispers us that we have to do something, but unnecessary adjustments lead to failure.

INTANGIBLES

How do we know it's true?
Numbers.
Stats and numbers never lies.
But as every language, you must be able to read it and interpret it.
Trust your coaching staff with a thorough analysis of each player's tendencies:

- psychological: your player's personality and what drives him/her;  

- emotional: how he/she responds under pressure;

- social: whom with he/she performes better;

- technical: his/her strengths and weaknesses;

- tactical: what offense (or defense) call enhances his/her skills;

and rely on them when the game is on the line!
You are coaching a team, so you must be the first one to show what working in a team means.

2018 AND BEYOND

This is coaching in 2018 and beyond.

With one final tip.
Enough of telling your players that to win a game they have to defend hard, like it's the only thing that matters.
Be a complete coach and start teaching them how to run a solid and effective offense.
Every coach knows that teaching defense is much easier than teaching offense.
To embody every player's unique abilities into one creative offence is a rare skill that most coaches lack.
But if you cannot teach at both hands of the floor, you should step down and stop calling yourself "coach". 

Bibliography

Goleman D., Senge P. - The Triple Focus: A New Approach To Education -  More Than Sound, 2014

Garratt T. - Sporting Excellence - Crown House Publishing Limited, 1999
Jackson P. - Eleven Rings - The Penguin Press, 2013
Janssen J., M.S. - Championship Team Building - Published by Winning The Mental Game, 2002
Warren W. - Coaching and Motivation - Reedswain Publishing, 2003