Cezar Guerrero, Star Point Guard

Jeremy Tyler

Coaching: Approaches and Techniques 1

Its game time, the competitiveness is in the air, your players are nervous...its time to play and most importantly, its time to win.

A good coach knows how to mentally prepare his/her team right before a game. The kind of tone you set in these early moments can dictate how well your team plays...and whether you've outscored your opponent when the game's over.

Before the game, you don't want to over-coach. Its better to stress 2 to 3 key points and drive them home, rather than mention 10 different things that your players won't remember. When your players have fewer things in their mind, they will focus on these few things and do them to the best of their ability. Most teams, in
general, perform better a little under-coached than over-coached.

The coach should be calm and confident before the game, showing no nervousness, no anxiety, and most of all, no weakness. Your players turn to you as their leader. If your behavior is right, their behavior will be right. If you're confident in them, they will be confident in themselves.

You do want to instill some emotion in your players, because basketball is an emotional game and players perform better under the power of certain emotions. Positive emotions, such as the strong desire to win, desire to "crush" the competition, feeling of unity, and even a little bit of anger, can go a long way in helping your team win. As the coach, it is your responsibility to provide
this emotional charge to your players, but don't overdo it.

Even under stressful and threatening conditions, the coach must remain poised at all times. This means to keep a calm, confident look on your face, a neutral pitch in your voice, and uprightness in your posture. Body language is a very important indicator of confidence.

At the same time, over-confidence can kill your team, leading to a lack of aggressiveness and initiative. By highlighting the other team's strengths, and by giving the opposition their due credit, you will remind your players that the competition is not going to be easy. Basically, you want to arouse a fear of defeat and then immediately provide the solution for winning.

If your team is the under-dog, its time to inspire them with stories and profound language. You can even lookup some famous quotes and say them out loud to inspire your players. Words of encouragement and strength are needed in this situation, and let your players know that the outcome of the game is in their hands, not in the opposition's hand.

>> At Half-Time

Okay, so the game is underway and its half-time. Its time to make some adjustments, but more importantly, its a time of relaxation.

Take 5-7 minutes for complete relaxation, without a word, without any emotion. Let your players relax and cleanse their minds. Have someone provide towels and water immediately, and set the environment for relaxation.

Then, once every player looks to be settled in, start off by encouraging them and pointing out the good things, and then go into the negatives. At this point, explain the strategy of the second half but only choose 2 key points and drive them home. Keep it simple. Drill a couple of concepts in your player's minds and let them focus on that. You may have 20 things in your mind, but your players cannot handle that much information. Pick 2 things...Prioritize, prioritize, prioritize!

Remind your players at this point that no matter what happens, you will judge whether they won or lost by their effort. If they play hard and give it everything they've got, you should judge that as a victory. Tell them to focus on the process, not on the outcome. "Just Play" is the motto you need to drill in their heads at
half-time.

>> After the Game

Once again, right after a game, let your players relax for 5-10 minutes and clear their minds. You can only deliver the proper message if they have come down from their emotional high. Once they've relaxed, tell them honestly how they performed. If they played well and lost, let them know that you will get the win next
time. If they played bad and won, tell them they got lucky and there's a lot of things that need to be worked on.

Don't get into much detail right after the game, wait until the following day or practice.

Now, as the coach, you should take notes right after the game and write down everything you noticed about your team, strengths and weaknesses.

Then, in the next practice you may need to work on certain drills and introduce new plays to address those weaknesses and to further strengthen your team.

Winning is about adjustments from game to game. If you're not ready to adjust and adapt, then victory is going to be hard to come by.

How to Get More Confidence

The truth is, a lot of players suffer from nervousness and a lack of confidence during big games...and thats why you see players that do great in practice but look awful in games.

The key to unlocking your potential is to increase your confidence, plain and simple. Without this 1st step, no matter how many drills, plays and practices you do, you just won't be a complete player.

So the question is, what separates the confident athletes from the insecure ones? Are they born with this special gift or is it something that can be developed?

First of all, you should NEVER believe that confidence is something people are born with. Each and every player can become a confident athlete...a great basketball player.

Simply practicing is a simple way to build confidence. For example, lets say you struggles from the free-throw line and from hitting layups. In this case, you can set a goal for yourself that tomorrow you have to make 5 free-throws in a row and 10 layups in a row. This is a small, achievable goal, and completing it will make you feel a lot better.

Everytime a person sets a goal, no matter how small it is, and achieves this goal, it increases the person's confidence. This is known fact. In fact, research studies have proven that there is a direct link between goals and confidence.

Famous psychologist Albert Bandura has identified the following 4 factors that influence self-confidence:

1) Performance Accomplishments: How you've performed in the past can shape your confidence in the future. Your memory of past performances plays a key role.

2) Vicarious Experiences: This refers to watching other successful people with similar physical ability and talent as you. If you see someone that you identify as being on "your level" overcome a difficulty and perform well, it will build your confidence.

3) Verbal Persuasion: Having others, such as coaches and players, tell you that you are a good player and that you can achieve your goals. Eventually, you'll start believing what they're telling you.

4) Emotional Arousal: This refers to having an overall positive attitude and perceiving emotions such as nervousness and fear as positive signs rather than negative ones. The more you "perceive" changes in your body, the environment, and the circumstances as positive, the more confidence you'll gain. Think of every negative as a positive.

Well, that pretty much gives you an overview on how the human mind works to build confidence.

Now for some valuable and specific tips and pointers on boosting your confidence:

There are 4 things that determine the level of confidence an athlete has. These 4 things are:

1) Performance Accomplishments

2) Vicarious Experiences

3) Verbal Persuasion

4) Emotional Arousal

Now, lets cover each of the above 4 points in detail with steps that players can follow.

>> Performance Accomplishments <<

How you've performed in the past has a huge impact on how you'll perform in the future. Your "stored memory" of past events shapes your level of confidence for the future, so how can you use this to your benefit?

Well, if you've played well in the past, remember those events, try to visualize them and re-live them in your head. Close your eyes and put yourself in those moments...imagine how you felt, how well you played, how easy the game was. Spend atleast 10-15 minutes "visualizing" these positive experiences.

Now, whenever a "negative" past experience comes to mind, immediately stop thinking about it and instead focus on the positive events. You want to basically "erase" those bad memories from your head, and the only way to do it is to not pay any
attention to them and "replace" them with good memories.

Remind yourself that the only thing that matters is the present and the future...its all you have, you can never go back in time. Once you fully realize that you're living in the present moment, your past won't haunt you anymore.

>> Vicarious Experiences <<

When you watch good performances from other players with similar skill, talent, and physical abilities as you, it helps you build your confidence.

Make it a point to look for these types of people and watch them on a regular basis. Whether its at school, playground, or the team, don't be jealous of these individuals. Look at them as positive success stories, be proud of them, and know that if they can do it...you can do it. If they are able to achieve success...you can
be even more successful.

Form a friendship with these type of people and use them as a support for yourself.

>> Verbal Persuasion <<

First of all, talk to yourself on a regular basis, reminding yourself that you're a very good basketball player...you have a lot to offer your team...and the competition
cannot stop you. Keep talking to yourself everyday, morning and night. Eventually, you'll start believing it.

Next, ask coaches and players to encourage you as much as possible. Surround yourself with people that have positive attitudes. The last thing you want is to have players yelling, screaming, criticizing...remove yourself from this and find players who overlook faults and give compliments.

>> Emotional Arousal <<

Being emotionally charged can suddenly give you a boost of confidence, as long as you're feeling the right emotions. The type of emotions you want to avoid are frustration,anger, overconfidence, and anxiety.

Try this quick "mental" routine in the morning time, at night-time, and before a game. Start by taking atleast 10 deep breaths, as deep as you can go, while closing your eyes. Stop thinking about everything. Just focus on your breathing and relaaaaaaaaxxx.

Once your mind is free and clear, think of a place where you would love to be...a place that makes you very happy. Maybe its the beach, maybe its on the basketball court. Everybody has a special place that they love. Think of this place and try to create a detailed image in your mind.

Now, imagine that there are lots of beautiful people around you, and you're the most popular person. Everybody likes you, wants to talk you, and you're the center of attention.

Practice this exercise every morning, night, and before a game. Within just a few days, you'll notice how relaxed, how good, and how confident you feel.

The mind is a very powerful tool, use it your fullest advantage.

After all, the best players are the "mentally toughest" players.