In this day and age, kids have an unbelievable number of options for how to spend their time. With this in mind, one of the most challenging aspects of athletics in general is selling kids on the value of athletics and in particular for each head coach, the challenge of selling their program.  One of the most popular methods for doing this today is through the use of color schemes, new uniform styles, and accessories. This buys into the theory of “If you look good, you’ll play good” which is fine if that is what you believe.

Personally, I put more stock into being concerned with how you play than how you look.  I believe these 2 different theories are both examples of how coaches attempt to “sell their program” to kids and also show there are many different ways in which to accomplish this goal.  The methods of selling the program may evolve and revert back over time but one thing won’t change…kids have to buy what you are selling or your program won’t survive.

In this entry of Coach With  A Purpose, I want to share my thoughts on selling your program.  As I’ve stated in other entries, the objective should be to sell your own program without cutting the legs out from under other programs.  Coaches who degrade other programs to benefit themselves are a cancer to the overall athletic program and they obviously care more about themselves than kids.  

Similar to our program progression, I wanted to start selling our program from the ground up.  One of the best ways to do this was for our varsity players to be involved with our Little Dribbler program during our basketball season.  Kids admire NBA players like Steph Curry and LeBron James but they also looked up to our varsity players and best of all, they could actually talk and interact with our players.  For a youth player, there is nothing like cheering on your hero on the varsity team on a Friday night then being able to talk about the game with him at Little Dribblers on Saturday.  

Many times, our players would come up to Little Dribblers after getting in their weight workouts on Saturday morning to interact with the kids during their workout, officiate their games, or coach their games.  The young kids loved interacting with the varsity players and the varsity players got to see the impact they had on young lives so it opened the door for me to explain to them how their actions on and off the court affect others.  Nothing sold our program better to the next generation than our current players. This was a great example of why I was responsible for putting a team on the court who represented our community, school, and program in the right way.

Also, for our youth players who also played in the Longview city league, I would try to make at least a game or two during their season so they could see I was interested in them and noticed they were making an investment in basketball.  If the head basketball coach takes the time to go to one of their games on a Saturday, then it must be important. I can still the looks on their face when they would see me walk into the gym to watch them. It meant something that Coach Boyett came to watch them play.

For us, the next step would be our summer camp.  I was always blessed to have graduates of our program come back to coach at our basketball camp.  Many times, they wanted to be coaches themselves, but it also gave the campers a chance to see the finished product and to interact with them.  

When Levi Yancy (2 time state champion and 2013 Class 2A Player of the Year) showed up at basketball camp, the smiles on our campers faces would light up the gym…they loved him!  Part of this was because they had seen him play basketball for White Oak but the largest part of this was that Levi spent countless hours during the “flex” period of his senior year down at our Elementary school.  He just loves kids and has a God given gift for interacting with them. Finally, at White Oak, dunking can make you popular because we don’t have many players who can do it so that was another thing Levi had going for him.  “Dunk it, Levi!” was always a popular line at basketball camp!

Also, at the conclusion of camp, I would always send a camp picture to the local paper along with all of our contest winners and a list of our camp awards.  Our camp shirts would always have one of our slogans on it as well as our overall program philosophy of “I Believe”. Many years we gave out White Oak basketball camp balls as well.  

Once our kids moved into Junior High, it was important for our coaches to know they were expected to sell our program to our kids…even if basketball wasn’t their main sport.  If a kid would be better suited for offseason than basketball, then that talk needed to come from me and not our Junior High coaches. As I stated in other entries, we don’t cut kids in Junior High so if a kid wanted to try basketball, he would get that chance.  Fortunately, for most of my tenure, I had Junior High coaches who knew their role.

Secondly, I would always make as many Junior High games as I could.  I would attend all of our home games and tournament games unless I had a conflict with our High School schedule.  I always thought it was important that I be at their games and this included our “B” team games. It was not uncommon at all for a Junior High “B” team player to eventually become a contributor on our varsity.  Over the years, I believe we would have almost one per class who just happened to be a late bloomer or eventually worked his way into being a player. Some of my hardest workers were “B” team players in Junior High…don’t slam the barn door shut too soon.  

Also, I would always make it a priority to talk to our Junior High teams after their season was over to give them a brief synopsis of how their season went as well as to encourage them to participate in a spring sport.  It was important they know I supported them in all of their athletic endeavors and not just basketball.

As our kids moved into our High School program, my basic philosophy was if we were playing then I would be there.  This included open gym, summer league games, team camps, and summer tournaments…if it was important enough for them to be there, then it was important enough for me to be there.  Now, I know many larger school programs have kids that play AAU most of the summer instead of with their high school team. Obviously, this makes it much more difficult to attend their games but I would definitely have made it a priority to make it to at least 1 of their tournaments.  Nothing speaks louder than being there.

For many years, I wrote a weekly column (Coach’s Corner) for our local newspaper which allowed me to highlight the teams in our program, give short scouting reports on our upcoming opponents, shed insight on our coaches, share about our players (Player of the Week), as well as any other items pertaining to our basketball season or program.  Later, we had a basketball blog and added a twitter account the past couple of years.

Before we ever won our 2 state championships in 2012 and 2013, almost all of those kids had attended numerous state tournaments with their families or with friends.  They had a dream and we were fortunate enough to have families willing to invest in that dream. I can still remember seeing almost every player on our 2012 team sitting on the first row above the ropes in one of the vacated fan sections at the Frank Erwin Center during the 2011 state tournament.  They weren’t saying a word, they just seemed to be silently watching the game, but I knew it was more than that…they had a dream. Fortunately, we also had a plan and everything fell into place but there is no doubt it starts with the dream and nothing stokes that dream like being at the State Basketball Tournament.  

Finally, nothing sells better than a tradition of winning and being a part of something that is respected and valuable…kids want to be associated with a winner.  I believe this will always trump any flashy uniform or the latest catch phrase…gravy is no good without the meat and taters.

In summary, everyone involved with your program has a role and how they perform that role will also go into selling your program to future players.  Personally, as the head coach, it was by job to set the example, fight for our basketball program if necessary, and hold others within our program accountable.  There are many methods in which to sell your program and I have tried to share with you some of the ways that I feel worked for us at White Oak. Hopefully, some of these will be beneficial to you.

Thanks for reading and Coach With A Purpose!

Experience is not a necessity but it has its advantages and one of the greatest advantages it provides is perspective.  Back in the day, I was blessed to get to play sports, I’ve been paid to coach including 25 years as a head coach, and I’ve been blessed to be the parent of a daughter who was a high school athlete as well as a collegiate athlete.  I feel this experience has given me invaluable perspective from 3 important angles….player, parent, and coach.

As a player, I was fortunate enough to have supportive parents who worked their schedules around my high school athletics and I was coached by outstanding coaches.  I can’t recall ever hearing my parents question my coach though I’m sure there were things they did not agree with. As a player, I was never put in the spot of having to choose to believe what my parents told me about my sport or to listen to my coach.  My parents knew their role.

As a parent, I got to experience what it was like for my daughter to be on the team but not get to play much, as well as getting to be the parent whose child never came out of the game.  As a sophomore, I had to console her when she was in tears because she wasn’t getting to play as much as she believed she should and as a senior, I’ve seen the frustrated body language of the parents whose daughter played behind her.  Both of these experiences provided their own challenges for me and her.

As a coach, our parents at White Oak were entrusting me with their most valuable possession…their son.  I know what it is like to have to make decisions that affect players as well as their parents and I always took this responsibility very seriously. It often wasn’t easy and at times it definitely wasn’t pleasant but I always tried to do what I thought was best without undue influence.

In this entry of Coach With A Purpose, I will convey my thoughts on how to establish a healthy coach/parent relationship for all involved but for especially the most important aspect of the coach, parent, player triangle…the player.  

When a player entered our high school program, he had 4 years to experience the game of basketball and all our program had to teach.  I’ve had my chance to have my 4 years and his parents have had their chance…it’s now his turn and no one else’s. For that reason, my views on creating a healthy coach/parent relationship are centered around what is best for the player…it’s his turn.

However, I do believe part of my approach was also brought about by starting out as a head coach at a very young age (25) as well as coaching all of my years in my hometown.  Both of these factors brought about their own challenges.

I firmly believe that a high school athlete wants to innately please 2 people….his coach and his parent (for boys, usually their dad).  For this reason, my approach in creating the coach/parent relationship was always centered around not putting the player in a difficult position because of my relationship with his parents.  Coaching in your hometown can make this a challenge since I had some sort of connection with most of the families of players on my teams from my own days in school. Later, I began coaching the sons of people I had gone to school with and within the last few years coaching sons of my former players.  All of these situations were blessings in many ways but challenging as well.

If you are a regular reader of Coach With A Purpose, then you have most likely figured out that I am a big believer in roles…knowing your role and playing your role.  Basketball was important in White Oak and much of our success had to do with the investment that our parents make in our program. Whether it be putting up a goal in the driveway, coaching youth league teams, arranging schedules around basketball, taking car loads of kids to the State Tournament, or numerous other things, I was blessed to have parents that were willing to make an investment in their sons and our program.  For this, I will be forever grateful.

For the most part, our parents accepted their role and fulfilled it in an admirable way.  I can rarely recall a time that our program needed assistance from our parents (or community) and they didn’t answer the bell.  Again, I know it is not that way in all situations, and I counted this as a blessing for sure.

My approach to the coach/parent relationship was to be friendly but otherwise, keep our roles separate…I was the coach and they were the parent.  As our parents would tell you, I was the master at keeping a healthy separation between us. It wasn’t because I didn’t like them or that I didn’t respect the role they played in our success, it was for 1 reason…their son.  I never wanted to put one of my player’s in the position of having to defend my relationship with their parents. Anything can be slanted, but I would minimize (to the best of my ability) the opportunity for anyone to say a player received preferential treatment because I knew their family, I grew up with their parents, I coached their brother, or any other set of circumstances that comes up with coaching in your hometown.  They all earned their uniform and they did it on their own merit.

Secondly, by keeping a friendly but distant relationship with parents, I avoided circumstances that might cloud my judgment…it helped keep me objective.  Again, this protected my players from undo scrutiny because I rarely accepted help with anything basketball related or personally that could be misinterpreted as “sucking up to the coach”.  This philosophy made it harder on myself at times but I valued objectivity and would always error on the side of caution. No doubt, there were parents at times that didn’t understand this approach but one of the advantages to coaching in one place for such a long time was that “That’s just the way he is and he‘s not going to change” becomes a sufficient answer.  Fortunately, I had a lot of “veteran” parents along the way to train the “rookies” as to my quirks and idiosyncrasies.

Obviously, no approach is perfect and there will always be those who question or criticize your methods but as long as the coach is consistent, I believe the coach/parent relationship can remain a healthy one.  I could always handle a parent being upset with me or criticizing me as long as I knew my approach was in the best interest of my players and I never tried to let a disgruntled parent effect how I treated their son.  I never wanted the player to be put in the middle because like I said earlier, I know they innately want to please their parents and their coach. However, just as I was determined a disgruntled parent would not affect how I coached their son, I expected the player of this parent to be able to put what they may be hearing at home to the side when it came to basketball.

On only a few occasions, I have had to talk with players about not letting what they hear at home be divisive in our relationship and affect their performance or influence on the team.  It was this kid that my heart ached for because I knew when they went home they had to play a certain role to please their parent and at school they had to try to please their coach. My heart always went out to these kids and, for the most part, the players who had to deal with this situation handled it like a champ.  

Finally, because of the extent I went to remain objective and consistent, I had very few parent conferences after our program was established.  I know for some coaches, the parent conference is a nightmare but I believe it’s like a lot of things, it’s all about your perspective. My first thought was always the same…I was glad their son had someone in their corner.  

I know it’s hard to be a parent at times (like I said earlier, I’ve been there) because many times you have made a great investment in your child and now you have very little control.  Some handle that better than others, but for even the parents who I didn’t believe handled it well, I always respected the fact they cared. For that reason, I could deal with listening to a parent’s opinion as long as it stuck to their son and not someone else’s.  However, once I listened to their opinion, I was also going to give mine so if you came in expecting something else you might leave disappointed.

In summary, many times coaches want to complain about having to deal with unruly parents but, like anything else, if there is a problem, I believe you have to look at yourself first.  Are you being consistent in your approach? Do you have a set of standards that your program goes by? Do you create a culture of respect and trust? No doubt there are some parents who just don’t get it but don’t be naïve, there are coach’s who don’t get it either.  As a coach, if you are consistently having parent issues because of your coach/parent relationships, you need to take an honest look at your approach to see if there are adjustments you need to make. Keeping your approach player centered should give a coach important common ground with parents…doing what’s best for their son and your player.

Thanks for reading and Coach With A Purpose!

One of the most crucial parts of a successful program is the coach/player relationship.  Not coincidentally, it can also be one of the most rewarding parts of being a coach. Coaches who can draw up X’s and O’s are a dime a dozen but I’ll always believe coaching starts with the ability to motivate and get buy in from players.  

Assuredly, whatever schemes a coach believes in will most likely work and ironically, so will the opposite.  Teams have won championships playing full court defense and playing half court defense, fast tempo and slow tempo, man and zone…the list keeps going.  However, I believe few teams have won championships without healthy coach/player relationships and, for sure, many have overachieved because of a positive coach/player relationship.

In this entry of Coach With A Purpose, I will give my thoughts on the ingredients I believe are crucial to developing and maintaining a healthy as well as productive coach/player relationship.

1. Be Who You Are   

There are all types of coaches who have led successful programs but I believe the most successful coaches have one thing in common, they are genuine…they don’t try to be someone they are not. You can put whatever label you want on a particular coaching style, whether it be “old school”, “player’s coach”, “animated”, or “reserved”, you must coach to your personality.  Coaches who worry about how fans or parents perceive them are fighting a losing battle…you’re not going to please everyone. Be who you are and be genuine with your players. That way, you don’t have to try to remember each day who you are trying to be and the players don’t have to figure out which coach will show up today.

2. Set Boundaries

You are their coach, not their friend.  This sounds harsh to some but a relationship involving two people, where one is the authority figure, will only succeed with boundaries.  There must be a dividing line. I believe “player’s coaches” tend to struggle with this concept the most, especially young coaches. They want to be liked when respected should be the goal.  Consequently, “player’s coach” many times is code for “friend”.

One of my assistants the past two years, Tanner Thiel, is a good example of how it is possible to be a “player’s coach” while still maintaining boundaries.  He has a fun, out going personality which allows him to show he cares for his players through their interaction, but he’s also consistent with his expectations on the court/field.  He may laugh and joke with them in the halls, in the locker room, or on the bus ride home, but he’s going to hold them accountable when they are between the lines.

Without boundaries, players often get confused on expectations because there tends to be a lack of consistency. They need a coach not a friend.  As I have outlined in other entries of Coach With A Purpose, once they have turned the tassel, they should not have a more loyal friend than their coach.

3. Differentiate Between Player & Person

At the beginning of school in my U.S. History class, I always found it interesting to see kids reaction to me being their teacher, especially the girls.  All some of them knew of me up until that point, was the maniac they might see yelling and screaming at practice when they walk through the gym or at our games.  Over time, my students and players, figure out that my demeanor was much different outside the lines than between the lines. For this reason, I have always believed it is important for a coach to be on the same campus as his team so that players can see them in different settings.  

Here are a few of the things I tried to incorporate to show my players there was a difference between the player and person.  First of all, they knew during practice or games, I was all business…very few had trouble figuring this out. However, as soon as practice or the game was over, I wanted them to know not to take things personally, especially if I had to get on them sternly.  

One of our requirements was that all players must see their coach after practice or games before leaving for home.  I may have been in the office or out in the gym, but by having them come by before leaving, I could make sure they leave hearing what I wanted them to hear.  Most often, it was just a fist bump (for us, the fist bump symbolizes 5 playing as 1) and a “good job today”, “see ya tomorrow”, “keep your head up” or “let’s do better tomorrow”.  Sometimes, it was difficult for a player to come by after not playing in a game or after having your butt chewed out 5 minutes ago, but that’s why it was important. It’s part of them growing up and learning how to deal with adversity as well as knowing what happens between the lines is never personal.

Occasionally, a player might actually forget to come by or intentionally “forget” to come by.  If this was the case, I would either text them or call them so they understood this was a requirement and not an option.  

Secondly, I rarely talked basketball with my players during the school day because I wanted them to have their time to be a student.  If I had a player in class, I wasn’t going to say, “hey, you need to keep your elbow in on your jumper today” or “I need to talk to you before practice today”.  I always tried to respect their time for being a student.

Finally, on the court, I had to do what was best for the team.  Off the court, I always tried to do what was best for the player.  Sometimes this was compassion and other times it was tough love but they must know that you have their best interest at heart.  Always check on players that are sick, find ways to keep injured players involved in practice and games, and let them know the person is always more important to you than the player.

4. Be Honest

I always tried to be honest and upfront when dealing with my players because that is the way I always wanted people to deal with me.  After each season, whether in the spring or summer, I tried to meet with each player for a few minutes to go over their strengths and areas that needed improvement.  For some players, this was merely a way of verifying that we were on the same page but for others, it might require me to say things that were not pleasant for me to say or for them to hear.  However, I believe this was the best time to put all the cards on the table.

I believe some coaches are guilty of painting a picture for players that they know is not there because it is the easy thing to do.  They believe it will either please the kids, their parents, or any other number of outside influences. In my opinion, if a coach plans to stay at a school and build a program, it must be built on strong principles and honesty is one of those.  Ultimately, players will appreciate your honesty even though they may not always agree with it. At the end of the day, I had to be accountable for how I dealt with my players and, even for the players who decided to do something else, they knew I did my best to be upfront and honest in our relationship.  

5. Be Consistent With Discipline

Our program was based on 5 Standards (I‘ll discuss these in a later entry)….Be Responsible, Be Respectful, Be Disciplined, Be Trustworthy, and Be Accountable.  Within these 5 standards we also had specific program rules and consequences for violating these rules (I’ll discuss these in a later entry as well). These rules are enforced equally across the board though I always reserved the right to have the final say but there were rarely exceptions.  I believe standards should be enforced as equally as possible though on occasion there could be an exception…ultimately, fair trumps equal. However, exceptions should be rare.

Our players were expected to be a cut above in the community, classroom, and on the court…that’s the standard.  Because of the consistency in upholding these standards, once our program was established, we had very few discipline issues because those who didn’t want to measure up didn’t play.  

I know some coaches don’t believe in written rules and consequences because they don’t want to “tie their hands with a bunch of rules“. Some may be able to take this approach and still be consistent with discipline which is perfectly fine. However, in my opinion, this approach often leads to inconsistent discipline and players lose respect for the program as well as the coaches involved when discipline is not present or is selectively enforced.  Ultimately, we all function better when accountability is present and discipline is consistent.

6. Be Loyal

Lastly, players must know that you are loyal.  I have gone into great detail in other entries of Coach With A Purpose to describe the ways our program exhibits loyalty to our players so I won’t rehash all of those methods again.  However, loyalty is one of the most important aspects of the coach/player relationship.

One of the greatest rewards of coaching is the development of lifelong relationships with the young people in which we share a common bond.  As I’ve stated in earlier entries, my won/loss record wais not near as important to me as the number 111 because it’s with these 111 that I’ve been blessed to forge an unbreakable bond.  To some degree, they will always be my boys and I’ll always be their coach.

Thanks for reading and Coach With A Purpose!

Our basketball philosophy at White Oak High School can be summarized into one word…PRESSURE! Our overall objective was to play a brand of basketball that separated us from the other teams in our region thus making it extremely difficult to prepare to play our teams. We chose this philosophy because it maximized the strengths that were most common to our players…great effort, discipline, conditioning, fundamentals, intelligence, and coachability. Our system was geared toward taking advantage of these traits because they were traits that could be controlled more so than athleticism. We taught this style of basketball through the “simplicity and execution” coaching philosophy and the “whole-part-whole” teaching method.

Our defensive philosophy was to play a team man-to-man pressure defense which influenced the ball to the corner and put an emphasis on stopping ball reversal. Our objective was to force teams out of their offensive sets by forcing them into 1 on1 situations and by keeping the ball on one side of the court. In extreme cases, we would employ a half court zone defense. Normally, these cases only occurred during seasons when our personnel was limited in the areas that are required to play our pressure man-to-man defense or we believed there was a large discrepancy in the effectiveness of our opponents’ zone offense in relation to their man offense.

Our offensive philosophy was to play at a fast tempo in order to take advantage of our conditioning and effort for the purpose of creating high percentage shots. Our goal was to apply as much pressure offensively as we did defensively. On made and missed shots we would utilize the numbered sideline break in order to minimize the time needed to advance the ball down the court and maximize our opportunities to create high percentage shots. In the half court, we used an adapted version of the flex offense against medium to low pressure man to man defense in order to create screening, cutting, and post up opportunities. We used a version of the dribble drive motion offense against pressure defense in order to take advantage of individual skills and mismatches on the perimeter or in the post. We also incorporated several quick hitters and ball screens against man to man defense. Against zone defenses our philosophy was to beat the zone down the court, utilize odd vs. even and even vs. odd front offenses, and to surround the zone with shooters. We also had a couple of set plays to screen the interior and exterior of the zone. However, our best zone offense was to always have good shooters. Our overall objective offensively is to put up to 5 players on the floor who were 4 dimensional offensive players…post up, dribble drive, mid-range shot, and 3 point shot.

In order for us to experience success at the varsity level, it was crucial for each step within our program progression to execute their part of the plan. If this was the case, we should consistently put teams on the court that are capable of winning district championships and advancing in the state playoffs when our talent level is average or slightly above. In years that our talent level was superior to our norm, we expected to compete with the best teams in our classification for the state championship.

At the varsity level, we would always divide the season into 3 segments. During the non-district portion of our schedule my goals were to develop our leadership, find the right personnel for our team along with them learning their roles, prepare for the district race including seeing how our team would handle adversity. In order to accomplish these goals, I always felt it was necessary to play a competitive non-district schedule. If it was necessary to lose a few games in order to accomplish these goals then I always felt it was worth it. In my mind, if we were not battle tested by the time district rolled around then it was my fault. I believe this philosophy allowed us to play our best once district arrived and our players believed they were battle tested.

During each of our non-district games, I always tried to find similarities to teams in our district so that our teams would constantly be reminded that it was district we were preparing for each night. For example, “This team is going to press us which will help prepare us for Tatum.“ We also rarely prepared for specific teams during non-district practices because I wanted to make it harder on our teams to execute and to see how they would respond in game situations on their own. I always felt like this made us tougher but it obviously made it more difficult to win at times. Also, I would not use time outs as often during non-district games so that our players had to learn to fight through adversity on their own. Many times, I could since our fans getting upset during these teachable moments but I was always looking at the big picture…sometimes growing pains were hard.

By the time we started our district race, I wanted to have developed our depth through playing time in non-district games and have our players settled into their roles. Hopefully, we had faced some adversity which had made us tougher and we were battle tested heading into district play. I think our players were convinced our process worked and they were confident going into district play. We would now prepare specifically for each team using game plans we had already practiced in our non-district games, we would have a written, prepared scouting report for each team, and we would use our JV as the scout team during the team portion of practice. A large part of this philosophy was to make the district schedule seem “easier” as far as being prepared. Consequently, when we approached competitive district games, I would always refer back to our preparation and I believe this gave us confidence.

In years that we had above average talent on our teams, we won many games by lopsided scores especially during district play when we played some teams that we just had more talent than they did. My goal was for our team to always play to a standard regardless of the opponent. It was a mentality….we would play with maximum intensity for 32 minutes, mentally and physically. If teams tried to walk the ball up the court the first half we would extend our man defense to not allow this then play exclusively our half court man defense in the 2nd half along with rotating our 9 or 10 players equally. At times this would meet with criticism from opposing fans or teams but my goal was to always take care of White Oak first. If this offended some, then I would just take the hit. It was my job as the head coach to do what I felt was necessary for us to meet our goals and that’s what I did.

If we were fortunate enough to make the playoffs, I always believed it was important for our team to know that we didn’t have to do anything different. We would prepare the same way and we would play the same way. This never changed…it was always steadfast. I think this was particularly effective on our way to the state title in 2012. White Oak had not been to state since 1957 so that team was carrying the hopes of an entire community on their backs. When we made it to Austin, we faced Idalou who was the #1 ranked team and defending state champions. My biggest fear, once we made it to the state semifinals, was that we would play like a deer in headlights…I’d seen many inexperienced teams do this at the state tournament before. I believe it was at this moment that our process paid off for us. Our team was convinced that we were battle tested, we were prepared, and we just had to play with the same level of intensity and level of execution that we strived to play with every night. Those kids believed and they were tough…and it didn’t hurt that we had the best student section in the state!

In summary, the success that we had was all about the process and throughout the past 6 entries, I have tried to outline for you the White Oak version of the process. As the head coach, I was blessed to have parents, players, coaches, and administrators who trusted our process. I hope you have found something within our program progression that will benefit your program and help you achieve your goals as well.

Thanks for reading and Coach With A Purpose!

Within our program progression at White Oak, Junior Varsity basketball was a training ground for players that should be prepared to play varsity basketball the next season or during the current season if necessary.  Because we almost always practiced the JV with the varsity, it was also the duty of the junior varsity to be a training agent for the varsity. With this philosophy in mind, the following goals should have been obtained:

       1)  Continuation of perfecting our offensive and defensive philosophies.

       2) Playing time is performance based with a player rotation of as many players as the coach considers to be capable of performing at the junior varsity level or as potentially being a varsity player upon consultation with the head coach.     In the event of combining with the 9th grade team, the player rotation should be expanded to include at least the top 5 freshmen.

       3)  Prepare junior varsity players to be varsity players.

The Junior Varsity program presents many unique challenges that many players have never dealt with before.  Amongst these challenges are playing with players outside of their class for the first time, practicing with the varsity, being the scout team for the varsity, and possibly dealing with a feeling of rejection for not being a varsity player.  Also, the coach of the JV must deal with the possibility of players moving up and down from the varsity, hurt feelings of not being on the varsity, and the frustration of not being able to spend adequate time on your own schemes because of being the scout team for the varsity.  

As far as teaching our system, I always believed the JV was the least demanding of all our sub-varsity coaching positions.  The vast majority of our system had been installed by this point so the main job, scheme wise, of our JV coach was to make sure the JV knows most of our set plays in case a player is moved to the varsity.  However, I believe the JV coach had the toughest job of our sub-varsity coaches as far as having limited control over workouts, consistency on your team because of players possibly being moved up or down, and mixing, at times, players from the 9th, 10th, and 11th grade classes.  The best JV coaches in our system learned to be flexible and adaptable. If they didn’t, and speaking from experience, the JV job could be very frustrating.

For workout purposes, we most often paired a JV player with a varsity player for individual and group work.  One of the main mistakes I believe some coaches make is allowing players to choose their own partners. I rarely ever did this for several reasons.  First of all, I wanted players who would compete with each other paired up in order to maximize the number of quality repetitions we could get in practice. Secondly, if possible, I would pair them with players they did not know very well to force them to develop relationships with players outside their class. Thirdly, this allowed me to have players that were competing for a varsity spot to go head to head as often as possible.  

Later in the season, pairing JV with varsity players also allowed us to control the amount of contact and the physical nature of practice.  We wanted our practices to be as competitive as possible so I always picked the partners and most drills had consequences attached to winning/losing but I did not always want the varsity players banging bodies with each other all year.  I will go over practice planning in a later entry.

Prior to district play, we did very little game preparation in practice for non-district opponents…we  mainly worked on us. This meant during our fundamental, offensive and defensive group, and team portion of workouts, we mainly practiced against White Oak.  On occasion, we would use the JV to be the scout team during the team portion of workout if our upcoming opponent utilized schemes that we did not see on a normal basis.  It’s during the non-district portion of our schedule that the JV got to work on their schemes.

Once district play began, the first 30 minutes of workout on Monday and Thursday, the JV would work on their schemes against our 9th grade team while the varsity went over the scouting report for the next opponent.  However, if the JV had to learn something for the scout team, it would also take place during this 30 minute time frame. Many times our opponents JV would do many of the same schemes as their varsity so the time also prepared our JV for what they would see on game night.  The JV would still work on our schemes during our group periods but once we went to the team portion of workout, the JV was strictly the scout team for the varsity. Getting beat up by the varsity every Mon/Thurs could be frustrating as a JV player but it also taught them to compete at a higher level and made game day much easier once they were on the court against another JV.  

Since the JV did so much scout team work for the varsity, it was crucial the varsity players respect the role the JV is playing and the value of that role.  Most do because they have been asked to do it themselves, but at the end of the day, we all must realize we are on the same team. It was crucial that the JV coach and head coach keep a feel on the pulse of their teams so that animosity did not develop between the JV and varsity.  We are after camaraderie not animosity.

Another important part of the JV was starting to identify the potential varsity players for the next season as well as the possible role the players should play.  Once we began district play and we were not doing as much individual work during practice, we would encourage players to stay after practice to work on their individual skills.  It was crucial during this time to get in some extra reps for JV players that would be counted on the next season. The head coach is responsible for giving the varsity the best chance to win but must also see the big picture.  Part of this is was not waiting until players became varsity players to make them varsity players. The head coach has to always be thinking ahead.

When selecting the varsity, I usually tried to identify our top 8 players who would be in our normal rotation and 1 supporting role player to be the 9th man.  Many years, this was a senior who had possibly been on the JV as a junior. I was very blessed to have many great role players during my tenure…kids that were willing to put the team before themselves.  This can be a very difficult role to play and it was always important to let this player know they were valued by me and the other players.

If I didn’t have a senior to fill this role, then hopefully it was a junior and rarely a sophomore.  I always hated playing sophomores in the 9th man role but, at times, it was unavoidable. My philosophy was to do what I considered best for the varsity first, then do what was best for the player.  If I had a sophomore in the 9th player role, I would often switch them with another JV player during the second round of district so that the sophomore dropping down would get to play more. As we all know, some kids would rather sit on the bench for the varsity than play on the JV, but I did not subscribe to this theory and it always made me question the competitiveness of underclassmen that would rather sit than play.

Our JV always ran the same base offenses and defense as our varsity in order to allow for continuity within our program.  Hopefully, if we lost a varsity player for whatever reason, we would be able to plug in a JV player who could give us solid minutes if needed.  Over my tenure, I was very blessed to have JV coaches who understood their role and bought into our philosophy. As a JV coach for 2 years, I can remember how frustrating it could be at times, so I greatly appreciated the job my JV coaches did.  They took a challenging role and executed it well.

In summary, at White Oak, the JV should have been as close to a carbon copy of the varsity as possible on game day.  On practice days, the JV should be working with the vision of being a varsity player as well as playing the role of the scout team to the best of their ability.  

I’ll never forget the words that came out of the mouth of one of our JV players following their last game of our 2012 season.  As they broke the huddle after their last game, knowing they would now become the full time scout team during the playoffs, Cass Carr said, “Now let’s go help win a State Championship.”  They understood their role and they did help win the State Championship.

Below I have listed the duties of our JV coach.

Next entry, I will conclude the series on our program progression by outlining the philosophy and expectations for our varsity team.

Thanks for reading and Coach With A Purpose!  

                                               JV Coaching Duties

1. Be loyal to the head coach and the basketball program.
2. Prepare players to perform on the varsity level if  needed during the season.
3. Be demanding of varsity players as well as JV players during workouts and games.
4. Assist the head coach with workout preparation and game  planning.
5. Attend all varsity basketball functions that do not conflict with JV functions.
6. Drive bus on trips.
7. Prepare gym on home game dates.
8. Notify staticians and managers of traveling times.
9. Assist during varsity games.
10. Run the drills and procedures required by the head coach.
11. Help head coach with scouting.
12. Assist with laundry and equipment duties.
13. Help with summer basketball camp.
14. Aid with varsity tournament and sub-varsity tournament.
15. Fill out end-of-season report.
16. Perform all other duties assigned by the head coach.
17. Sell the basketball program.

In this step of our program progression, I will be discussing the most vital step in a player’s basketball career at White Oak.  I say this because it was normally at the beginning of this season or, hopefully, at the end, that our players decided if basketball was something they wanted to pursue.  I always hated to see potential players make a decision about whether or not basketball was for them prior to their 9th grade year. However, as I mentioned in other entries of Coach With A Purpose, sometimes this happens.  It’s during a player’s freshman year that he found out the level of commitment that was expected for high school players. The philosophy, as far as playing time, shifted from an emphasis on participation to a more competitive approach.  Consequently, in many ways, this was a make or break year and an appropriate time to decide if you wanted to potentially be a varsity player.

Freshman basketball was the introduction to our high school basketball program and a critical transition step from junior high basketball toward becoming a varsity basketball player.  It was at this level that our players were introduced to the major staple of our program – pressure man to man defense. Freshman basketball was also the year in which we begin to focus on the players that would most likely become varsity players.  With this philosophy in mind, the following goals should be obtained:

1) Understanding of White Oak pressure man to man defense including philosophy, terminology, drills, and attitude.

2)  Basic understanding of our overall offensive philosophy including the execution of transition offense, man/zone offensive sets,  and set plays.

3)  Playing time is performance based with a player rotation of as many players as the coach considers to be capable of performing at the freshman level with a goal of 10. Player rotations will be determined upon consultation with the Head Coach.

When we dropped to class 3A (old 2A), one of the biggest challenges with our 9th grade program was finding games because most of our district teams only had JV/Var teams.  Consequently, this required us to be very proactive to find games to complete our 9th grade schedule. Fortunately, there are a few other teams our size in our area in the same boat so we normally scheduled home games for our freshmen when the JV/Var was at home and road games when JV/Var was away.  

In the event that we had too many open dates, we had to get creative to find games.  On one occasion, we put together a team of juniors and seniors who were no longer in our program to make a club team to play against our freshman.  Fortunately, a couple of the players on the club team were sons of one of our coaches so he coached the team and all went well. Obviously, team selection for the club team involved kids with character that we could trust to not make a mockery of the game.  Sometimes, it meant thinking outside the box and being creative to fill the 9th grade schedule but, in my opinion, it was much better than cutting players or combining into one team.

Some years, we have also had 2 sub-varsity teams instead of a strictly 9th and JV team.  The advantage of this was 2 fold. It allowed some sophomores who would not get to play much on the JV to get more playing time on the 2nd sub-varsity team.  Many times this was the boost in confidence they needed to motivate them to invest more in their game in order to progress in our program.

Secondly, it allowed some freshmen who had the potential to play on the varsity as a sophomore to participate in more competitive practices since we normally practiced the JV and varsity together.  The negative to moving up freshmen was they had not gone through our normal progression so they were usually behind defensively unless they had been in offseason. My preference was to allow our players to go through the usual progression of our program unless they were exceptionally talented or we were lacking at their position in the grades above them.  Over my 25 years, the vast majority of our varsity players went through this progression.

With the freshman year being such an important transition step to our high school program, I would normally put my most experienced coach with our 9th grade team in the event that I did not have 2 strong assistants.  I have listed our 9th grade coaching duties at the end of this entry. Our freshmen normally practiced in a gym by themselves (we are blessed to have 4 gyms on campus that are available after school) or share a gym with our 8th grade so I needed a coach I could trust to be with them by himself.   

Fortunately, I was blessed for most of my tenure to have 2 qualified basketball assistants which I know is not always the case for most small schools.  If I had an assistant who didn’t have a strong background in basketball, I would assign them to the JV since they almost exclusively practiced with the varsity.  This allowed me to work more closely with them and to make sure they were growing as a basketball coach. Again, fortunately, most of our coaches at White Oak worked just as hard in their secondary sport as they did in their primary sport so accountability was not been much of a problem.  

However, as the head coach, it was my responsibility to our players, school, and community to hold myself and my assistants accountable for doing our best.  I could not expect someone else to do it if I wasn’t willing to. Consequently, as far as the basketball program went, the buck had to stop with me when it came to making sure our coaches were doing their role.

Our freshman practices would start off consisting of 60% defense, 30% offense, and 10% fundamentals.  After Christmas and the implementation of our defensive system, the break down would be 50% defense, 30% offense, and 20% fundamentals.  At the conclusion of a player’s freshman year, they should have made their greatest strides on the defensive end of the court. In their end of season evaluation, one of the questions I asked was, “In what area of the game do you feel you improved the most?”, if they did not answer, “defense”, then something went wrong with the process.  If this was the case, the first place I looked was myself. Did I make clear the objectives to our 9th grade coach and did I do my part in making sure he was prepared to do his role?

Secondly, as coaches, did we not put the proper emphasis on our defensive schemes and teach them in a way in which learning took place? In other words, did we do our part?  Finally, if the majority of our players responded in the anticipated fashion and a few did not, it comes back on them. This could possibly mean the player was behind in a certain offensive skill in which he improved or because he was not engaged during workouts which is probably an indicator that he didn’t intend to continue in our program.  Whatever the case, if the ball was being dropped in a certain area, I believe we had to hold ourselves accountable first then proceed from there. For any program to succeed, there must be accountability.

Once a player completed his 9th grade year, he should have had a pretty good idea on whether or not he wanted to continue to invest his time in our program.  Many times, it’s obvious a kid has bought in and is well on his way to being a varsity player. If I believed a player was debating his decision, I would talk with them and explain where I believed they were at this point in our program and whether or not I thought they are wasting their time.  

Many times, players just needed to hear from me that they were on the right track and with a willingness to make an investment, they had a future in our program.  These were tough conversations at times, but I always did my best to be upfront and honest with my players.

Some coaches believe in always painting a rosy picture but I believed players prefered coaches to be honest with them.  I’m wasn’t going to paint a picture that was not there…for their sake as well as our programs. That’s how I want people to deal with me, so I tried to do the same. They may not have always liked what I had to say but they knew where they stood and they knew it came from the guy most qualified, as far as White Oak basketball went, to give them an opinion.  

Conversely, I may not always have liked their decision, but as long as it was their decision and not influenced by someone else, I respected the fact that they may have wanted to spend their time on something else.  We would part ways with no hard feelings and I’d support him in whatever he chose to do. The bottom line was White Oak basketball was demanding, the standards on and off the court were high, and it was definitely not for everyone. In my opinion, if everyone could do it, the bar wasn’t high enough.

In summation, every step in our program progression was valuable but the freshman year was especially crucial because of the jump in the level of expectation and the competitiveness for playing time.  The emphasis shifted away from participation to finding out who really wanted to play for White Oak.

Also, at the conclusion of the 9th grade season, players should have had a strong fundamental base and an understanding of our offensive and defensive schemes.  At this point, there should have been a small learning curve in the future and an overall familiarity with our program.

Next week I will continue with our program progression and discuss the goals and philosophy for our JV program.  

Thanks for reading and Coach With A Purpose!

FRESHMAN COACHING DUTIES

1.   Be loyal to the head coach and the basketball program.
2.   Introduce and execute our defensive philosophy.
3.   Introduce and execute our high school offenses.
4.   Drive bus on trips
5.   Run the drills and procedures required by the head

     coach.

6.   Help with scouting if needed.
7.   Aid with 9/JV tournament and Junior High tournament.
8.   Assist with summer basketball camp.
9.   Be responsible for 9th grade laundry and equipment.
10. Fill out end-of-season report.
11. Prepare a written workout for each practice.
12. Assist with Little Dribblers if needed (pays extra)
13. Assist during varsity home games.
14. Perform all other duties assigned by head coach.
15. Sell the basketball program.

I always viewed the annual Roughneck Basketball Camp as an extension of our basketball program and a crucial step for our players as well as coaches.  So, let me begin with a few components that I felt were crucial for our summer camp.

First of all, I never wanted a kid to not be able to attend because of the cost so we always tried to offer our camp at a price that was affordable to the families in our community.

Secondly, I restricted the eligibility to attend our camps to kids in White Oak ISD for two reasons.  First, as an extension of our basketball program, I was only interested in training our kids…our camps were never just money makers.  Secondly, I wanted to keep the coach/player ratio to around 6 to 1 in order to allow us to accomplish our goals.

Thirdly, I wanted our camp to be a great experience for our kids and something they would look forward to attending each year.  In order to do this, I felt it was necessary to do things that would set our camp apart. For example, we always had multi-colored camp shirts that would sell our program including slogans, “Area Champions”, etc.  Many years we would also include a camp basketball and certificates of completion along with end of camp awards. We would present these items on the last day of camp at Parents Day. Finally, we would always have medals for our contest winners at the end of each day of camp and presented them in a similar fashion to the draping of the medals at the State Tournament.  I can still see the look in the eyes of young boys dreaming they might someday actually have that opportunity…you gotta sell the dream!

Fourthly, our camps always gave our coaches a preview of the team they would have the next year so it was crucial that, if all possible, they be available to work our camp.  I was very blessed to have coaches that were loyal and willing to help out. For example, our 7th grade coach, Chris Walker, has probably worked all but 2 or so of our camps during the 25 years that I was the head coach.  Without a doubt, one of the greatest advantages during my tenure was continuity within our junior high coaching staff.

So, the items I have mentioned were the cornerstones to our camp.  As far as the organization and the specific goals, they are as follows.

Our morning session was for incoming 5th & 6th graders.  I know many allow much younger kids to attend their camps but we had specific goals to accomplish that tied in to the progression related to our youth program and I also wasn’t interested in glorified baby sitting.  Our morning session ran from 8:00-11:00. The format was set up to work on fundamentals in 20 minute segments followed by 10 minutes of competition such as hot shot, knock out, dribble tag, etc. We would follow this format until about the last 30 minutes in which we would do 4 on 4 games followed by awards.  We would score our contests and have individual and team champions at the end of the week. Our goals for the morning session were to have fun through the game of basketball, work on offensive and defensive fundamentals of the game, and introduce our campers to our program philosophy.

Our afternoon session was for 7th & 8th graders from 1:00-4:00.  One of our goals for this camp was to introduce the concept of becoming a 4 dimensional offensive player along with introducing our junior high base man offense and transition offense.  For us, a 4 dimensional offensive player is one who can attack the basket, have a mid range game, play with his back to the basket, and shoot the 3 pt shot. Because of our normal overall lack of size at the varsity level, it is our goal to have as many 4D players as possible on the court.  The first 2 hours of each session would be teaching and drilling the skills necessary to develop a 4D player. In the last hour of camp, we would have a 1 on 1, 2 on 2, or 3 on 3 tournament. Our goals for our afternoon session were to have fun through the game of basketball, introduce the concept of being a 4 dimensional scorer, and introduce our transition offense and base man offense.

At the conclusion of camp, I would always send a camp picture to our local newspaper along with a list of participants, award winners, and contest winners.  Kids always love seeing their name and picture in the paper and it’s a good way to sell the program.

Most years, I would bring our 9th graders up for a week of camp on their own.  On years that we did not have enough to do this, we would combine them with our 7th and 8th grade session.  The purpose for having a separate 9th grade camp was to expedite the transition process from junior high to high school basketball.  For our program, the 9th grade year was crucial for a couple of reasons.

Fundamentally, we start expecting players to shoot a jump shot as a freshman.  Up until this point, we have worked extensively on technique so most should have solid shooting form if they have been through each step of our progression to this point.  Learning to shoot a jump shot is the next step.

Secondly, we don’t teach our defensive system until the 9th grade so camp always allowed me to introduce this system to them.  In my mind, pressure defense was the trademark of White Oak basketball so I wanted to be the one to introduce it.

Thirdly, we could also review our base offenses along with introducing additional offensive concepts to be used in the high school. We would conduct this camp the first week of summer so that our 9th graders who were participating in our summer league program would be better prepared.  Also, since many of our 9th graders also played football, this camp allowed us to have a head start on basketball once football season was complete. Obviously, they are not going to retain everything but it goes a long way in speeding up the process. Basically, for our freshman, this week was a 3 hour workout each day…thus the transition to high school basketball.  

That’s the Roughneck Basketball Camp in a nutshell.  With this entry of Coach With A Purpose, I’ve attempted to give an overall philosophy for our summer camp, how it fits into the overall progression of our program, the goals of each session, and the rationale behind why it was done this way.  For anyone interested in a more detailed description of our camp sessions, feel free to email me at [email protected] and I will send you an example of our camp schedule for the week.

In the next entry of Coach With A Purpose, I will detail the role of our 9th grade in our overall program.  

Thanks for reading and Coach With A Purpose!

In the previous entry of Coach With A Purpose, I detailed the role of our youth program and today I will discuss the role of our Junior High program as the next step in our program progression.

When our kids got to 7th grade, they should have been introduced to the fundamentals of dribbling, passing, and shooting through our youth program.  Players that had participated in all 4 years of our youth program should have been able to perform the following to various degrees::

1. Dribbling
2. Dribble with either hand the length of the court without looking at the ball
3. Execute a crossover and spin change of direction dribble
4. Perform stationary dribbling drills used in junior high program
5. Perform full court dribbling drills used in junior high program
6. Execute basic passes – chest, bounce, straight step with either hand, overhead
7. Perform stationary and  on-the-move passing drills used in junior high program
8. Execute right and left hand layups
9. Shoot set shots with correct technique
10. Perform correct footwork for catch & shoot
11. Perform correct footwork from triple threat position for drive step & crossover step
12. Perform correct footwork off the pass

Hopefully, our youth program put us in the position to refine these skills as our players moved into our junior high program.  Without a doubt, there was always a noticeable gap in the skill level between players who had completed 4 years of our youth program versus those who had not.  Consequently, players who came through this program were the most prepared for junior high basketball.

In my opinion, the junior high basketball program was the life blood of our entire basketball program for several reasons.  First of all, for our seventh grade players it was their first opportunity to put on a White Oak uniform and it is was crucial for our overall program that this be a positive experience.  For some it was a continuation of the process they began in our youth program. For others, it was an opportunity to find out if basketball is something they wanted to invest time in. Whatever the situation, we did our best to provide all our 7th graders with an opportunity to decide if basketball was a sport they wanted to pursue.

Secondly, this was our opportunity to continue to emphasize the importance of fundamentals and to continue to develop these fundamentals. Simply put, I wanted our junior high program to send kids to the high school that could dribble, pass, and shoot. If our coaches and players embraced this philosophy, there was a great chance that success would follow.

Thirdly, this was the next step in identifying the players that were willing to make a commitment to our program and eventually contribute as a varsity player.  In order to accomplish this goal, I put stipulations on playing time for our junior high teams. For our coaches, this could be frustrating at times because it made it harder to win at the Junior High level.  For some players (and parents) it could also be frustrating because they wanted the instant gratification of winning now, while I was much more interested in the big picture.

In my opinion, the unquestioned most dominant factor in junior high athletics is puberty…mother nature holds the trump card!  It’s all too common to see kids who mature physically at a young age dominate junior high athletics and often never make it to the varsity level.  For this reason, we divided playing time in the following manner in order to help identify players who fit into the big picture. Our “A” team consisted of 10 players who play equally for the first 3 quarters of the game.  During the 4th quarter, playing time was left to the discretion of the coach. We also carried up to 10 players on our “B” team and used the same substitution pattern. If our opponents did not have a “B” team, we played an intramural type game with our “B” team players following our “A” team home games.  

The 16 to 20 players on the “A” and “B” teams practiced every day unless the 8th grade was sharing a gym with our 9th grade team.  On those days, only the “A” team would workout after school. We do not cut players in the junior high so all players practiced at least 30-40 minutes with their team each day.  Over the last 3 years of my tenure, we varied this format because we did not have as much participation in our youth program which limited the skill level of our players entering our junior high program.

I believe it is crucial for every head basketball coach to consider the value of “B” teams in the junior high.  We often played schools that cut players or never took their best players out of the game in junior high and I believe this is a short sighted philosophy.  For us, it was not uncommon for our junior high “B” team players to enter our high school offseason program, stay the course, and eventually become contributors on our varsity…it happened more times than not.  In fact, the first player I ever had make All-State was a “B” team player in junior high. Granted, that is the exception, but I was always on the lookout for the next David Mitchell !

In order to meet the goals for our junior high program, offenses and defenses had to be kept very simplistic to allow the needed practice time for fundamentals. We ran only our base offenses in junior high and only played “stay between your man and the basket” man to man defense.  We didn’t install our pressure man to man defensive system until the 9th grade.

Like all parts of our program, it was important that our players understand what was to be accomplished in our junior high program so it is crucial that our coaches take the time to explain in detail their role and how we intended to accomplish our goals.  As stated previously, this at times could be a hard sell to some kids/parents but fortunately, over the years, most learned to trust our program.

Without a doubt, one of the greatest advantages our program had was our 8th grade coach, Heath Locke….he was a flat out stud!  Coach Locke was our 8th grade coach for 14 years and he was the perfect example of knowing your role, executing your role, and seeing how it fits into the big picture.  When he came to White Oak, Coach Locke had a limited knowledge of basketball and that made him perfect for the job…he only knew the White Oak way and he believed in the White Oak way.  As a head coach, I never had to check up on him to see if he was doing his role, he was loyal to me and our kids. On top of that, he is a man of unquestioned integrity, has great character, and was a tremendous Christian role model for our kids.  He made my job a lot easier and I was blessed to get to work with him when I moved to our junior high.

In summary, the junior high program will be a difference maker for your overall basketball program.  You’re either going to gain ground or lose ground during these 2 years. To make it an asset, define your goals, make sure all involved understand the goals, and hold everyone accountable for their role.  

Below, I have listed the accountability areas for our junior high along with the staff duties of our junior high coaches.  Next entry, I will discuss the role of our summer basketball camp.

Until then, thanks for reading and Coach With A Purpose!

                                                                     MIDDLE SCHOOL ACCOUNTABILITY AREAS

Ball Handling

•  Utilize triple threat position with the following points of emphasis:left foot as pivot foot(right handed shooter – permanent pivot   foot), bent knee athletic stance, shooting hand behind ball, guide hand on side of ball, wrist cocked, elbow tucked tightly     against player’s side, ball position next to hip
•  Execute a crossover and pivot as a change of direction maneuver.
•  Be efficient in dribbling with either hand while under duress.
•  Be able to perform all dribbling skills without looking at the ball.

Shooting

•  Use correct shooting form with the following points of emphasis: feet square to basket, head still, shooting hand behind the ball, guide hand on side of the ball, elbow under the ball, “L” shape with shooting arm, elbow above eye level on extension, wrist “popped” on release, exaggerated follow through, eyes should remain on target.
•  Use correct footwork – always pivot on left foot for right handed shooters
•  Be able to shoot right and left hand layups with correct hand and footwork.

Passing

•  Be able to correctly perform a chest pass, bounce pass, and overhead pass.
•  Understand the concept of passing away from defenders.
•  Execute a straight step and crossover step bounce pass to the post.

                                                          STAFF DUTIES

1.  Run the drills and follow the procedures required by the head coach.
2.  Help with high school and middle school tournaments.
3.  Maintain grade checks on players.
4.  Scout if needed
5.  Fill out End of Season Report
6.  Maintain equipment – shoes, uniforms, workout equipment, basketballs, blinders
7.  Sell the basketball program

With this entry of Coach With A Purpose, I would like to begin a series of posts that will take you through our Program Progression at White Oak….youth program through varsity.   As the head coach, I was responsible for putting a plan in place that would give us our best chance at being successful and that plan started with an overall vision from the ground up.  I was always a firm believer in roles. If everyone involved in the process had a clearly defined role, valued their role, and did their best to execute that role then we maximized our opportunity to be successful.  Clearly defined roles allowed for personal responsibility and accountability and I believe all successful programs have these two ingredients.

In Part 3 of Building A Small School Program, I mentioned the importance of our Little Dribbler program at White Oak and without a doubt, I believe this program was essential to our success.  Little Dribblers had been a part of our program for over 35 years (started by Coach Dan Noll when he came to White Oak in the 1970s) and was the first step in our progression to being a varsity basketball player.  In this entry of Coach With A Purpose, I will cover the setup and philosophy (posted at end of entry) of our Little Dribbler program.

The philosophy of our Little Dribblers program was based on the overall philosophy of the basketball program at White Oak High School. The Little Dribblers program was the first step in the progression these players would take as they came through the basketball program. Because this served as an introduction to our program, it was crucial that all people involved be aware of the purpose of Little Dribblers and the goals that we were striving to meet.

There were three main objectives to be met in our Little Dribblers program.  The first of these was participation. Since this was an introductory phase of our basketball program, beyond any other goal, we wanted to allow each player the chance to play regardless of his particular skill level.  Little Dribblers games were not to be played with a win at all cost attitude that might sacrifice the opportunity for lesser skilled players to participate.   

The second objective was to teach the skills of the game of basketball.  We may not have always been blessed with tremendous athletes, but we were blessed with kids that would play with every ounce of effort they had and this always gave our kids a chance to be successful. In order to make up for what we may have lacked in athletic ability, our players had to be highly skilled in the fundamentals of the game. Little Dribblers practices gave me a chance to begin working with our players on these fundamentals and I believe this gave us the chance to get ahead of our competition in this area.     

The third objective of our Little Dribblers program was to introduce our kids to the enjoyment of competition through the game of basketball and introduce the “I Believe” philosophy used in the White Oak basketball program.  This was the most important part of our program because it is the part they wouldl take with them for the rest of their lives.

Most of the kids who played varsity basketball at White Oak came through our Little Dribbler program which started in the 3rd grade.  Our “Junior League” consisted of 3rd and 4th graders which worked out for 2 hours each on 6 Saturdays starting in January. Most years my wife, who was our girls basketball coach, would conduct the workouts for our Junior League.  The first hour of each workout would consist of stationary ball handling, change of direction ball handling (crossover & spin), basic passing (chest, bounce, straight step, crossover step) and catching, offensive footwork (jump stop, pivot), and layups (right and left hand).  We did not start teaching form shooting until I got them in the 5th grade.

The second hour would consist of a full court game in which we picked new teams each week.  In the Junior League, we used a 9ft basket and a women’s basketball. Our varsity players normally came up to help demonstrate the drills and coach teams.  We used a player rotation sheet to insure that each player got to play at least half of each game and we played two 20 minute running clock halves. We also had years where parents would coach teams and assist with drills but I prefered to use our players whenever possible.  The young kids loved to be around our players and I believed it was a good service project for them. Most of our current varsity players could still recall when they were LIttle Dribblers and they remembered the guys who were there to help them. It became a tradition that I believe our varsity players looked forward to each year.  We would normally work with the 3th graders from 9:00-11:00 then repeat the process with our 4th graders from 11:00-1:00 and would normally have between 15-20 players per grade.

Our “Major League” consisted of 5th and 6th graders and we basically followed the same format as the Junior League with some additions.  I would conduct these workouts in our High School Gym while the Junior League was working in our Middle School Gym. We would use regulation goals and boys basketballs for these two groups.  During our first hour workout session, we would work on stationary ball handling, change of direction ball handling (crossover, spin, between legs, behind back), full court ball handling, basic passing, offensive footwork (permanent pivot foot), layups (right and left hand), and shooting technique.  During our fundamental period, the major difference between the Junior and Major leagues was teaching shooting technique. We began with shooting to a partner ( 1 hand shooting and 1 piece shot) then progressed to shooting at the basket with emphasis on shooting correctly and not being overly concerned about the immediate result.  The biggest problem we fought with shooting at this age was shooting with 2 hands. Hand placement on the ball is crucial along with avoiding thumbing the ball or just a pure 2 hand shot. Most of these problems could be attributed to the 3 pt. Line. I love the 3 pt line for our high school teams but it was definitely the enemy for youth league! We spent a lot of time trying to break bad habits.   As frustrating as this stage can be, it paid great dividends when our players got to Junior High basketball. If they had completed all 4 years of our Little Dribbler program, they should have had a solid fundamental base. During the 2nd hour of practice, we would use the same format for our game as we did in the Junior League except for having stricter enforcement of rules such as traveling.

Conducting 4 hours of Little Dribblers each Saturday in January and most of February was very demanding especially after late games on Friday nights.  However, for us to compete at a high level, skill development was crucial, especially shooting. I believe basketball is the greatest combination of skill and athleticism in sport.  We couldn’t always do a lot about our lack of athleticism but we had total control over our skill level. There is no doubt in my mind the long hours by all involved was worth it and paid dividends in the end.

Ironically, as young as Little Dribbler age, I could almost always tell how good a particular group would be based on their participation in Little Dribblers and basketball camp.  Unfortunately, we did not have enough participation the last 3 years of my tenure to conduct Little Dribblers. Some of this was due to participation in the Longview city league (which is also on Saturdays) and some was due to an overall lack of interest.  I believe participation in city league benefited our program but there was no substitute for learning the fundamentals from our coaching staff.

This has been an overview of how our youth program was structured and, as I’ve said, it was a crucial initial step in the progression toward being a varsity player.  For anyone that would like more detail or has questions about this program, please feel free to contact me and I’d be glad to discuss it in further detail. I have also included our rules for each division at the end of this entry.

Next entry, I will discuss the structure of our Junior HIgh program which is the 2nd step in our Program Progression.

Thanks for reading and Coach With A Purpose!

                                                                                             3RD & 4TH GRADE RULES

1.  Each player will play half of each game.  Substitutions will take place every 5 minutes based on a player rotation sheet that each coach will fill out before the game.

2.  All teams must play man to man defense.  All defense shall be half court except during the last 2 minutes of the game.  In the case of a zone defense violation or double team the offensive team will be given the ball “in play” at half court.  Repeated violations will lead to a technical foul.

3.  Each game will consist of two 20-minute halves.  The clock will not stop except during the last two minutes of the game and during timeouts.

4.  Each team is allowed four timeouts per game.

5.  Teams will be in the bonus free throw situation after seven team fouls and the double bonus after ten team fouls.

6.  Players are not allowed to steal the ball off the dribble but a liberal 5 second rule will be enforced.

7.  No isolation plays are allowed.

8.  The three seconds in the lane rule will be extended to five seconds.

                                                                                     5TH & 6TH GRADE RULES

1.  Each player will play half of each game.  Substitutions will take place every 5 minutes based on a player rotation sheet that each coach will fill out before the game.

2.  All teams must play man to man defense.  All defense shall be half court except during the last 2 minutes of the game.  In the case of a zone defense violation or double team the offensive team will be given the ball “in play” at half court.  Repeated violations will lead to a technical foul.

3.  Each game will consist of two 20-minute halves.  The clock will not stop except during the last two minutes of the game and during timeouts.

4.  Each team is allowed four timeouts per game.

5.  Teams will be in the bonus free throw situation after seven team fouls and the double bonus after ten team fouls.
6.  No isolation plays are allowed.

In the final installment of Building A Small School Program, I will discuss the concept of building a family culture within your program and the methods that we used at White Oak to create this family culture within our program. Hopefully, you will find some ideas that you like but, more importantly, you will be challenged to come up with your own ways of creating a family culture within your program or reinforce many of the ideas that you are already doing.  Whatever your situation, I encourage you to be about it and not just casually throw around the latest buzzword or slogan.

Loyalty…it’s all about loyalty.  Earning it and giving it.  For me, the tone is set my how a coach selects his team.  One popular method for deciding whether or not to take a younger player on the varsity instead of an older player (considering the 2 players are otherwise equal) is to take the younger player since he would have more eligibility remaining.  I totally understand the logic but, in my opinion, a coach will never build a small school program with this philosophy. I always believed it was up to the younger player to prove that he was better than the older player.  If that was the case, so be it.  If not, out of loyalty, I took the older player assuming they were meeting the standards of our program.  I believe this philosophy rewards kids who are willing to make an investment in your program while also setting the standard for having to earn your way to the varsity.  In my opinion, too many times, head coaches jump the gun and create problems within their team by promoting younger players who have not earned their uniform yet.  The head coach must always be able to feel the pulse of the team and chemistry is crucial to success.  Having an established, consistent method for climbing the ladder that is communicated to everyone in the program helps to eliminate internal issues that can lead to the demise of the team.  It’s hard enough to beat the other guys, it’s even more difficult if you’re fighting yourself as well.

Along these same lines, once a player entered our high school program, if they quit on their team before the season was complete, I did not allow them to re-enter our program.  I was going to be loyal to the players that honored their commitments.  Many people believed this was too strict of a policy, especially for younger players but I did not.  I believe quitting is huge problem in our society today….people quit jobs at the first sign of adversity, people quit on their marriage, and parents quit on their kids.  Quitting is far too easy and far too common.  Before a player quit, I would always make sure they understood my policy.  I just don’t think it is too hard to finish the season you had committed to playing.  Often times, usually around graduation time, I’d have seniors make it a point to tell me they regretted their decision to quit but they now understood the value of honoring a commitment.  I never had a problem with players not wanting to play basketball for 4 years of high school but the time to make that decision was after the commitment to the team had been honored for that season.  I never viewed it as players being on a 4 year commitment but it was a 1 year commitment.   

Another policy that I followed out of loyalty to the players in our program was to require any player who sat out a season to complete at least 1 year on the JV before being considered for a varsity position.  Most commonly, this scenario would come up when a junior was going to be a JV player. Instead of using this year as an opportunity to improve and contribute to the varsity as a senior, some players believe it is beneath their status to play on the JV as a junior.  They would prefer to sit out their junior year then come back out as a senior to be a varsity player.  I would much rather be loyal to the player who stayed in our program than try to build a program on the back of mercenaries who were more concerned about their image.  Basically, by the time players were a junior they had to make a commitment…in or out.  I believe in being loyal to the players that show loyalty….again, it’s a 2 way street.

The other most common scenario is a freshman football player who felt like he needed to be in offseason football in order to make the varsity football team the next fall.  Sometimes, this was the player’s decision but other times, unfortunately, it was the result of being influenced by someone else. One thing was always for sure, if a player didn’t have a future in our program, I would tell them but it needed to come from me and not anyone else. Nobody knew better than me what it took to play at White Oak and it’s not for everyone.  I believe in being honest and upfront with players and though they might not want to hear it at the time, they appreciate an honest evaluation.  This will be a topic of its own later.  

At the conclusion of each season, the last thing I would do on the night of our last game is meet with our seniors.  Many times this is a very emotional meeting because it signifies the end of their playing days in our program.  However, it also signifies the beginning…their entry into our basketball family. Before every season, I make a promise to my seniors….they will get my best effort.  At the end of that season, I will make them a second promise….a promise of loyalty.  If they are sitting in my office at the end of their senior season it means they have stayed the course and they have finished the race…they have fulfilled their commitment.  It was now time for me to fulfill mine…loyalty for life.  

I will now share with you the things I did to make sure our players knew they would always be a part of our basketball family.  First of all, every graduating senior had their name and number put on a plaque on the wall in our dressing room…the Wall of Honor. Putting your name on that wall meant something….you met the standard and the standard was high.  It wasn’t given to you, you earned it.  It had nothing to do with talent or achievement…you finish the race, your name goes on the wall…and that means something at White Oak.

Also, as a graduation gift, each senior would receive a basketball medallion key chain with their number and “I Believe” engraved on the back.  Inside the box with this key chain would be a note explaining that every player during my tenure at White Oak had received one of these key chains upon graduation.  With the inclusion of my 2016 seniors, this brought the total number to 111 of these key chains in existence today.  I also give a key chain to our stat girls and managers upon graduation.  

Along with the key chain, each graduating senior received a copy of The White Oak Way which was basically the encyclopedia of White Oak basketball from 1992 to present.  This manual included inspirational slogans, poetry, and stories along with meaningful lessons from Dr. Charles Stanley’s Life Principles Bible.  In the back of the manual was a complete listing of a our season and career record holders, superlative winners, descriptions of each team, and short biography of each player.  Most of these items are located, as well, in the left column (pages section) of this blog.

Next, we played an Alumni game each season to honor the players who had played in our program. Each player was eligible to play for 3 years after graduation and attendance is 100% most years.  It was always a fun night for the Alums to get to put on the uniform again and for us to pay tribute to them. We have played this game for the last 18 of my tenure and it was always a huge success…even when the Alums won! The entire community, our current players, and our Alumni always looked forward to this night.

Another thing I did to keep our former players involved with our program was to create a database of email addresses so that I could keep them informed on our season.  I would normally send at least 3 emails per season.  The first was at the beginning of our season to thank them for their role in our program and for paving the way for our current teams.  I would also assure them that our team would be held to the same standards they were and that we would represent them on and off the court in a manner that was expected.

The second email would be prior to the start of district play.  I would update them on our season up until that point and give a short preview of the district race.  The third email would be at the conclusion of district play.  If we were fortunate enough to make the playoffs, I would also update them with our playoff information.  The final email would be after our last game and I would again thank them for their loyalty and support of our program.

Every Christmas, I would send a Christmas card to each of our Alumni.  The cornerstone of the “I Believe” philosophy at White Oak is faith so Christmas was a great opportunity to reinforce the value of faith in our program.  For the first 20 or so years, I would write a personal note to each player inside their Christmas card until this just became too daunting of a task to maintain.  I struggled greatly with this decision but I had to eventually eliminate the personal notes so I regret that I wasn’t able to do this for my boys that graduated within the past 4 or 5 years.  

I would also use our email database to send out prayer requests that affected members of our basketball family. I also look forward to attending as many graduations, weddings, etc that I can.

In summation, I always believed our program needed to be about more than just basketball….basketball would be a vehicle for teaching life.  The things I have outlined today are some of the ways I attempted to fulfill my commitment.  It’s my prayer that every player who graduated our program knew they were always a valuable member of our basketball family.  No matter how old they get, they will always be my boys.

This concludes the series of entries entitled “Building A Small School Program” and I hope you have found it to be beneficial.  As the saying goes, “There are many ways to skin a cat”….this was the White Oak way.  

The next series of entries will focus on the role of each particular part of our program.

Thanks for reading and Coach With A Purpose!