Coaching Basketball: 8 Simple Ways to Earn Your Player's Trust

This is good advice.
When your team comes off the floor after losing a close game. If they feel they did their best and feel good about them selves. You are doing a good job.

This is great advice .
Cause there alot of coaches and parents who forget this , sometimes it seem that all people want is to win and they for get that its about the kids learning and having fun.

keep up the good work i found your web site very good and usefull for a new coach

Regards

great advice Jeffery well done pat on the back (i like to treat everyone equal)

that was great

I have a question... is it ok to punish my players? are punishements heplful for me as a coach?

is it ok if i allow parents to be with my players during practices?

I just wanted to let you know that I took over a high school team that has won 2 section games in the past two years and I have only coached junior high for one year. I use your website as a prominent tool for me, my assistant and players. Thank you we have not won but one game but we are playing as a team and beginning to set goals that are achieveable. I am also implementing a lot of new feeder programs for our district so I have been preparing for our youth program that begins every Saturday in January. THANK YOU...your time and efforts have helped me through this transition. We are making adjustments everyday. Any encouragement, notes, tools, or experience is welcomed. Have a blessed new year!

Hi Jayvic,

I'm not a big fan of punishment, rather discipline your players. Here is a link that you can read more on this: http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/coaching/discipline.html

My favorite High School basketball coaching memory comes from losing a championship game. It came down to the buzzer and we lost to the defending state champions by a basket. The team did everything we worked on it practice and followed every instruction during the game. After the game we met in a class room and I was totally wiped out. I thanked them for trusting me and I apologized for the loss. One of my bench players stood up and said, "No thank you coach for getting us to this point, no one ever imagined we'd be as good as we are now. Just think how good we'll be next year." With that, he came up and gave me a hug, and the rest of the team followed. We've gone on to win a few championships but none of them meant more to me than what I felt after that loss. To me, that's the reason I'm coaching (20 years later).

I find that even after you lose a game that letting the players know that you are still proud of them is extremely important. I tend to say that although we strive to win all the games, sometimes that does not happen and we have to continue to work even harder to refine our skills.

I had a player that would voice "We're going to lose again" or something to that nature at the beginning of the game. The first couple of games I admonished him saying we don't talk like that. By the third or fourth game I made him run two laps.

He was trying to be funny, not realizing that what we say has an effect on others - whether for good or for bad.

We're 6-4 now heading into the tournaments. A pleasant surprise as this group hasn't played together before, few have played organized basketball before and I'm a rookie coach... I figured we'd be doing good to be somewhat competitive, let alone win a game.

Follow the advice in this article and you'll show them not only good things to do as a basketball team - but in real life as well.

I was wondering if I had bad discipline this year with my 15 and under can I get the discipline back the following year.

Todd - You absolutely can turn things around next year. Consistency is the key. Just starting the first practice the right way and setting expectations before the year can make a big difference. From there, stay consistent. Communicate your expectations before the season starts via letter and verbally in a meeting. Then consistently hold your players accountable. If they see inconsistency in your discipline, they will exploit it. Read this article:
http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/coaching/discipline.html

I was wondering if some of those players are coming back or think they are coming back with the same attitude should they be cut then unstead of later. How should I handle this.

As far as cutting it's I'm not suggesting that, although sometimes (very rarely) it needs to be done. If it all possible I would try not to cut any young players. Without knowing the situation, I can't even attempt to give advice about cutting players at anytime. My only suggestion is to do what's best for ALL the players on your team.

The most important thing is to teach players about life. Teach them how to be happy and successful. Teach them how to be a good friend and teammate. Teach them how to live with integrity and confidence.

With those goals in mind, ask yourself, "what's the right thing to do for the group?".