get the most out of my star player

I have got one very good technical player (14 year old). He has been the best of his team for years, just because he's working very hard off the court. But this recent year he's having some problems. He can't find his game, making wrong decisions and is not giving 100% in defense like he used to do. It's starting to frustrate him and that's not doing his game any good too. The last few weeks I've been (maybe too) tight on him, but I just know he can do better. How can I get the most out of him? Please help.

Greetings,

Coach Kris (from Holland)

This is a tiough age on him growing up..... he needs to have some fun playing this game...... the one thing you learn the longer you are in this game is that the older the kids get the faster/quicker, stronger and better they get. And its not all at the same time for kids. You say he is fundamentaly sound, tell him to stick with that while playing. Do what he does best and play great D, the rest will take care of itself. 14 is like 8th grade or freshman in high school here... they are a little flaky to begin with (haha) but a lot of fun to work with.
Be patient with him and get him to be patient with himself. I'm sure that all of us have had kids like this.... wanting to be like MIKE at a young age.... Things don't always go the way we want them to every time we play..... sometimes we eat the bear and sometimes the bear eats us.... its the nature of the beast.
Otherwise they would just look at each team and say, they are better, call in the score. Have you ever upset a team you had no business beating?
Tell him to watch some high school, college and even pro games and he will see guys good players playing poorly some nights..... it happens.
IF I were you I would lighten up on him and let him find his way........ coach him but go a little easier.... every kid is different - some respond when we are tough on them and some just melt.

Give us some examples and maybe we can tell you something more specific and also, let us know how its going.... if you decide to back off a little bit.

Kris,

Coach Sar offers some great advice. You may also want to read these articles and listen to this audio from Don Kelbick:

http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/coaching/Watch-What-You-Teach.html

http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/fundamentals/post-play-immediacy.html

http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/audio/news7kelbick.html


Personally, I've scared kids in the attempt to make them play hard and be disciplined. It's hard to score many points when your players are shaking every time they touch the ball.

I know what you mean Joe, I got an 18 year old senior close to tears because I got all over him in a game....... I looked at him and said.... " Let me put this a little differently " and we both laughed. He played a lot better after that. We have to know what works with each kid.

Yeah. Some players respond great to a good butt-chewing. If I rip into other players, they play worse. You quickly learn how to work with the kids differently after the first few weeks.

I'm coaching this kid for years now, he is outstanding compared to his teammates and they look up to him. He used to determine everything that happened on the field. But I want a team not based by one player. I want a team where all players are important, I learned him that last year, he had some trouble with understanding that, because he thought I was saying he was doing wrong, but I just wanted him to make the extra pass more often, be more a teamplayer. Everyone here at the club has great expectations of him and they also see that he is not playing to his potential. So it's not just me who is pressuring him. That makes it extra difficult, because if I losen up on him, there will be others who push him, or do you think that it even then will effect?

It's a good idea to let him focus on his defense, haven't looked at it that way. Maybe I was looking a bit too much at what went wrong instead of coaching him to his old level.

An example was last game. We play a new fast break for them in which I want to pass the ball as soon as there is a teammate in front of you. But he has his natural feeling of dribbeling too much. We all know these players right? He is a good passer normally in half court offenses, but he dribbeles too much in full court, which results that in passes were send too late. He keeps dribbeling too much, I'm trying to teach him this for weeks now, meanwhile other kids do see it and pass at the right moment.

Kris

Maybe there are some factors outside of basketball affecting him? Most (but not all) players need their priorities outside of basketball straight. If you have unfinished homework, family problems, friend problems that need addressed, etc... that can (but not always) lead into your performance on the court. All this other stuff that you have not addressed is called "mental clutter".

There might indeed be some problems at home, but I also think the pressure on him from inside the club and he is being too hard on himself I think. But I don't know how to deal with that.

Kris,

First of all, tell him that YOU are the COACH.... and that he doesn't have to listen to others... and then you might tell them to please back off and let you handle this.

You might just sit down with him and explain that he is the QB/Coach on the floor, that HE runs the team out there. He doesn't have to do it ALL ... his job is to get the offense started keeping turnovers at a mininmum. Talk to him about ALL the POSITIVES first and he will be more abt to listen to other suggestions. Talk to him about how you love the way he plays defense and how good he is at that.

You put in a new fast breaks system.... he is used to the old one where he dribbled it a lot? That will take some time to break that habit, be patient with him and break it down in practice..... do it every day..... run your break where he gets the outlet pass and the first thing he needs to do is turn and look up the court and see if there is someone open, IF he is, get him the ball, IF NOT, push the ball off the dribble. This takes time. We did this in our practices when we put in a secondary break..... it worked well for us... he is a little younger but young kids respond when they know you care. I'm not saying to quit coaching him... I'm saying to just lighten up a little bit and see how it goes. He might repsond better if you do... you can try it and let us know.

Does this help? Let us know, this is an interesting situation.

That's a great way to deal with it! Thanks! I will definetly try it and will tell you the results!

Boy, you guys are fast! :-)

Like I said, tell everyone else to back off and let you deal with this.... coaches do a lot more than coach, they are mentors, social workers, psychologists, parents, role models - you name it.

Let him know that he can talk to you about any problem he might be having.... talk to him away from the other players..... tell him to NOT be so hard on himself.... I had a freshman kid come up to me telling me how bad he was shooting... I told him that he is a good shooter, your problem is that you think that every shot should go in, it doesn't work that way. He turned into a GREAT shooter by the time he was a senior playing on the varsity for me.

I don't know what you mean by

Coach Kris wrote:There might indeed be some problems at home, but I also think the pressure on him from inside the club and he is being too hard on himself I think. But I don't know how to deal with that

Th part about inside the club bothers me..... can you explain that a little more?

haha yeah I'm eager to learn, so I'm reacting as soon as I can.

You are probably familiar with the system here in europe. Well, we are a relatively small club with 1 or 2 teams per agecategorie. So if there is a talent in a team, the people in the club will see right away. That's not a problem. But because our best senior team is playing at a very high level for such a small club, we rely very much on our talents. And the club tries to push them as soon as possible to a higher level. Most of the time that results in playing in older teams. The people inside the club want him to be a future leader in the best senior team. And he can be, but with that in the back of his mind, he is always looking at his results, not at his play. He wanted to show everybody he is the best of his team, but not in being a teamplayer. Last year I got him to be a teamplayer much more, but he still wants to show he is the best player in scoring instead of being the teamplayer we want him to be. And because he isn't scoring so much and letting his man go sometimes in defense, he thinks he is not performing like the people on the club would like him to perform. This is the way I think he is dealing with it, because sometimes he is forcing difficult shots, instead of passing the ball when passing was the best option. He always wants to know how much points he scored, and so on.

Do you see what I mean?

OK, I think I am getting the picture now.

I still think the rest of the people in the club need to let you deal with this boy, you have been working with him for how many years now? You are watching him grow as a person and a basketball player.
Maybe he is listening to them too much about how good he is? And he is trying to show them that hes better? I have posted several things about post guard play that I found... let me see if I can find them.

Got this from a friend of mine.....

The road to becoming a good basketball player is not by any means an easy road. It is a road paved with hard work, sweat, skinned knees, and sometimes tears. Along the way you will find victory and defeat, encouragement and discouragement, disappointment and joy, praise and criticism, success and failure, but you should always retain the satisfaction of knowing you did the best you were possibly capable of doing. Success is this self-satisfaction.



Steve Nash Advice for Point Guards

Words of wisdom for point guards (presented by Steve Nash at the Nike Point Guard Academy

“You should always want your coach to be critical. It gives you an opportunity to learn and to overcome adversity.”

“You maximize your potential by being humble develop a work ethic, strive to be a good person, and to be the best teammate you can be.”

“Use your scoring ability to be a better passer, and your passing skills to become a better scorer.”

“You can’t be a point guard who gets into the lane and always passes. Capitalize on the real estate you have gained.”

“Point Guard must be able to pass with both hands equally off the dribble.”

‘”I am always thinking how can I get myself better.”

“On the fast break, after 2 or 3 hard dribbles you should see the whole floor and know where all your teammates are.”

I agree with you, I'm working with him for 4 or 5 years now, I indeed have seen him grow up as a player. In his head he thinks too much about what others think of him instead of how his team needs him.

I really like the quotes, especially this one:
“Use your scoring ability to be a better passer, and your passing skills to become a better scorer.”

That can help him a lot.

I will have a conversation with him today or this weekend, and will losen up some things, I will keep you posted on the development and his reactions! Again I'm a young coach, who is eager to learn and I really like this forum. I think it is a great way to exchange knowledge!

Thanks Coach Sar! :D

Sit down with this boy and explain what you expect out of the point guard / coach / QB on the floor......

Here are some of my thoughts -
- handle the ball with a minimum of turnovers
-initiate the offense and the break - RUN THE TEAM
- help to set up the other players on the team - MAKE THEM BETTER
(Michael Jordon was always a GREAT player but he didn't win any championships until he got the rest of the team involved)
- Be able to penetrated, dump to the post, kick it out to the good shooters, pull up for your own jump shot and or take it to the hole
- Be a GREAT free throw shooter
- Have a good pull up mid range jumper
- Be able to hit the three when open
- AND PLAY SHUT DOWN DEFENSE

IF he was playing for me, these are the things I would be looking for.... as a 14 year old, I wouldn't expect him to be perfect, but I would like him to possess some of these skills.... and we would help him to get better at all of them. There are very few 14 year olds that can play with 16-17 years olds and perform at a high level. How tall is this boy?

They need to stop pressuring him to be the next MJ and let him progress at his own pace..... stop blowing smoke at him about how good he is... its messing with his mind. (at least it seems that way) You are lucky, you have been working with him since he was a young boy, watching him grow into a young man.... on and off the floor. Keep up the good work.

He needs to think about pleasing you and himself...... IF you try to please everyone, you end up pleasing no one. Sit down and make a plan with him about how you would like to see him improve this year.

You are reading my mind, that are the same points I want him to do. He is 1.85 meter (I don't know how much feet that is) in Holland that is pretty tall for a guard. But he is not very muscular, he is pretty slim. Though his movements are good, footwork great. Because I'm playing with five out most of the time there is not much of a point guard, but there the transition in the fast break he can be very important. I think he need to be the leader in defense, I think he can elevate his game that way.

Yeah he needs to be looking at himself. That he has fun in playing basketball. I think that is the most important thing.

Hes a big kid.... over 6 feet tall and only 14..... I ran an open post offense also.... I loved it and teams hated to defend it...... because they knew they were in for a long night on defense..... we were going to get the shots we wanted... back door lay ups... takes to the basket or 3s when the got lazy on D!

You might mention our conversation and thats what most head coaches are looking for - point guard or not, he needs to be the leader of your team....and someone has to start the offense and to me, thats the point guard...... regardless of what you call him. :-)

I agree with you, he needs to have FUN playing this GAME.... or he might quit and you sure don't want that. I was a defensive minded coach... and you might explain to him that his (and the teams ) Defense will create points... it will tell the other team who is in charge out there... that they are NOT going to get an easy shot. Here is another thing I told our players.... GREAT scorers let the shots come to them instead of them looking for their shot all the time. That doesn't mean that you can't create shots when the opportunity presents itself.

I had one guard that was so fast no ONE or TWO defenders could stop him...... but he didn't get really good until I convinced him to kick it out to the wing he got a lot better and so did the wing. Teaching kids to be the ultimate team player is tough sometimes... but it seems like you have a good relationship with him so you should be able to SELL him on the TEAM CONCEPT.

I love the offense too, we need a bit more patience in the offense, but it starts to take shape. He fits perfectly in this offense. Just wait for the defense to make a mistake and take advantage of it. And if you play the offense right, the defense will eventually make the mistake. And because of the space inside, there are a lot of chances for the close basket. On disadvantage is that you don't have a lot of offensive rebounds. Because you are most of the time too far away from the basket. But they learn very good how to space the floor and beat your opponent 1-1, on and off the ball, so it's very good for theyre development.

I will try to sell the team concept to him, I can do that. Let's see how he responds to it. I will keep you posted on his development.