TIME OUT PLEASE!

By Joe Haefner

Here is another guest blog post by our coaching friend, Bud Leonard.

The game is on.

You are working hard. The crowd is on their feet cheering. The basketball pops loose and is headed out of bounds. You sprint to the ball and leap to catch it. As you fly through the air with the ball in your hands you realize that you are headed out of bounds.

To save the possession you quickly call for a time-out.

The Referee blows his whistle and awards you the time out. All of your friends in the stands are standing and cheering for you.

You notice that your coaches are not cheering.

They are looking at you as if they would like to kill you!

Why?

Then you notice the score clock.

The clock shows you that the score is tied at 8 points each with 1:23 left in the first quarter. Your coaches would much rather give up one possession of the ball at this early part of the game and save the time out for later when it may be needed to rest the team, settle the team down during a period of confusion, or to set up a play near the end of the game.

You have watched numerous NCAA basketball games on TV and the coach has never been upset when a player calls a time out to save the possession arrow. Why is it not important to those coaches?

You must realize that televised NCAA games have TV timeouts run by the networks. These time outs are often two minutes long. They are called at regular intervals by the scorers table where a TV representative calls the time out according to a schedule agreed upon by the networks and the NCAA. That doesn’t happen in our league!

Time outs are precious.

Your coaches will tell you when you may call a time out.

This is one of the reasons your coaches instruct you to both listen for their voices and to look at the bench during each break in the game.

Now that you have read this, you too should value your time outs!

Importance of Communication With Your Coach & How It Helped the Villanova Wildcats Reach the Final Four

By Joe Haefner

If any of you have followed the Villanova Wildcats, you’ll know that Dwayne Anderson has played a huge factor in Villanova’s run to the Final Four this year. Despite being an impact player averaging 9 points and 6 rebounds per game this season, Dwayne barely played in his first 3 seasons at Villanova.

Alan Stein is a Strength & Conditioning coach for the perennial powerhouse Montrose Chrisitan and has trained NBA players such as Kevin Durant and Michael Beasley. One of the many players he has trained and developed at Montrose has been Dwayne Anderson. Alan recently wrote an article about Dwayne Anderson and the reason behind his sudden success this season.

“He worked brutally hard every off season and exercised great communication with the Nova coaching staff on not only his desire to earn playing time, but exactly what he needed to do to earn it. He basically worked as hard as he could to fix the areas he (and the Nova staff) found weak in his yearly evaluation. In other words, he didn’t make excuses or point the finger and he didn’t feel entitled to more playing time… he rolled up his sleeves each and every off season and put in serious work. He was focused and determined.”

So many players want instant gratification and would quit within 1 or 2 years if they’re not getting playing time. This happens because a lot of these players have never faced adversity and were “The Star Player” throughout their whole playing career. When they’re not getting big minutes and scoring a lot, they quit.

Players are not the only ones guilty of this. The North American culture is obsessed with short-term success and has forgotten the long-term approach. Dwayne could’ve easily transferred to a mid-major and been an impact player, but he stuck it out and worked his butt off to get to where he’s at. He didn’t take the easy way out.

John Wooden once said, “Don’t look for big, quick improvements. Look for the little improvements one day at a time. That’s the only way change happens. And when it happens…it lasts”

If you want to play, if you want to improve, and most importantly WANT TO WIN, you need to communicate with your coach. You need to put your ego aside, improve your game, and do whatever your team requires you to do to win.

If that requires you to score 0 points, make the good pass (notice, I didn’t say assist), dive for the loose ball, take the charge, and stop the star player on the opposing team, DO IT!

If it requires you to be patient, work hard in the offseason, sit on the bench, be a great practice player and challenge the players who get the playing time like Dwayne Anderson did for Villanova, DO IT!

If you have this mentality, you’ll not only be successful in basketball, you’ll be successful in the most important game…

LIFE.

_________________________________________________________________________

Related Articles

10 Basketball Tips Guaranteed To Get You More Playing Time

Developing A Basketball Workout For High School & College Tryouts

Basketball Workouts With NBA All-Star Joe Johnson

By Don Kelbick

I had the opportunity to work out with Joe Johnson, NBA All-Star of the Hawks. He was in Miami for a quick vacation. This was what his schedule looked like.

Thursday 3 pm - arrive Miami 5 pm - strength training 6:15 - speed and agility training Friday 10 am - strength training 12:00 - shooting workout (450 made shots) 2:30 - yoga and flexibilty Saturday 9:30 - shooting workout (430 made shots) 12:00 - strength training 3 pm - massage therapy Sunday 10:00 - strength training 11:30 - speed and agility 2 pm - yoga and flexibility

Photo By Chris Nelson

Monday - 11 am depart Miami.

This is a guy who is 26 years old, single, wealthy and on vacation in one of the most decadent atmospheres in the world for the first time. Don’t let anyone tell you that NBA players don’t work hard.

Are You A Leader?

By Joe Haefner

View this video on leadership from walkthetalk.com : Leadership Video.  It has some great stuff. 

Here is my favorite quote from the video:

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” - John Quincy Adams 

It doesn’t matter if you are a coach or a player, you are a leader to somebody.  It could be your players.  It could be your teammates.   It could be your family.  It could be your co-workers.  It could be a schoolmate.  It could be anybody.

www.walkthetalk.com has some fantastic videos and motivational quotes. If you haven’t signed up for their free newsletter, I would highly recommend it.