Starting Over
Whether you're just replacing a few kids on an existing roster or getting a whole new team, starting over with new kids brings upon a lot of emotions and challenges for any coach. It doesn't matter if you're replacing just one player or seven, every change effects playing time, chemistry, and position battles. In some instances, coaches can recruit and pick the kids that fit best into the team schematic or positional needs, but other times you may lose a number of big guys and replace them with underclassmen that are guard heavy as well. No matter what the age or the sport, adding new kids causes coaches to start over and work through various issues.
Coaching baseball I have learned to make the assumption that kids know nothing, and need to be taught everything. The nature of the sport is somewhat slow moving, so there is a feeling that practice is full of time to do just that, teach. Each practice is filled with intentionally talking about, creating, and playing out particular scenarios. You can teach the finer points of each position because for the most part those kids will be focusing on that particular position. Better yet, that position on the field and the general rules that apply really don't change that much. In baseball, the biggest challenge with new kids is just figuring out where they fit best in the lineup and on the field and getting them the most comfortable in those roles.
Basketball feels like an entirely different animal from a coaching standpoint. The sport itself is fast moving, and the movement is constant. A kid can't be taught just one position, because in basketball you find yourself in all sorts of positions and you need to understand how to react in all of them on both offense and defense. If one person doesn't know what they're doing, it can bring everything to a screeching halt and disrupt the rhythm of everything you're trying to accomplish. More importantly, there is a big difference between playing the game of basketball and understanding the game of basketball. There are so many tremendous athletes that never understand the game of basketball, and find themselves frustrated with their roles or giving up the sport all together.
However, my focus is on youth sports, and in this case the challenge that comes with coaching an entirely new group of kids. In this particular case I am going to be coaching 5th and 6th grade girls. Just typing that sentence and being in the gym a few days ago has me even questioning my own sanity. While I'm very excited about some of the talent that I know I will have, I am also apprehensive about the gap that exists between some of the players in their understanding of the game.
Skills are always going to vary greatly; that pertains to any sport at any level. .Working on various skills is an essential part of every practice regardless of the age or sport. However, the understanding of the game is something that can easily propel a team ahead of it's peers or cause it to implode. Writing the first practice plan is a challenge and a mystery like no other when you're working with an entirely new team of young kids. Some kids are already competent with certain skills and become easily bored or impatient doing drills, while others really need the time and repetition to develop those skills so they can try to keep up with their teammates. Similarly, some players quickly grasp a concept, drill, or offense, while others are consistently slowing things down with all of the mistakes that need to be corrected.
The first practice plan is sort of a feeling out process. As coaches, we are given one practice to try and put everything together so it looks just short of complete chaos on the court. One practice is all 5 girls need to go out and run a motion type offense and play so-so team defense, yet 10 practices isn't enough for some. Putting the five best girls on the court together would allow you to run circles around the other teams and make you seem like a genius, yet putting your five worst girls on the court together would make it look like you got your coaching credentials by watching Youtube. So the trick is in finding the balance, and it means experiencing a lot of growing pains.
In baseball, sometimes you need to be willing to lose a game to find out if a new kid can play a certain position. In basketball, you need a game or two to figure out which kids can play together, which kids can handle playing with those that are less skilled, which kids are going to lift up and involve their lesser teammates versus which kids are going to raise their hands or shake their heads at them. On the flip side, the kids need a couple of weeks to figure you out. Are you the kind of coach that is going to yell about every mistake, or will you not say anything? Will you be the coach that gets mad when the lesser skilled players make mistakes and applaud your stars, or do you expect more from them than the lesser players? Are practices something that I can benefit from and look forward to going to, or are they glorified recess sessions where nobody is learning and the best players are allowed to dominate?
The beginning of every basketball season is like pure drudgery for me. I have coached basketball for over 10 years now, and every year I have dreaded it going in. Even when I knew the kids I was going to have and enjoyed them, I hated sitting down and writing those first few practice plans. I'm not entirely sure why, but I think it's because the beginning of the season is always the unknown. I always remember how things ended and all of the work it took to get there, and I think it's like staring at the mountain top from the base. I have climbed the mountain numerous times, but the challenges are always different each time. I am a perfectionist when it comes to coaching. I expect my teams to know how to do things better than others. I don't care about talent as much as I care about knowledge and understanding of the game. In basketball, it truly takes at least 20 practices before I stop feeling stressed about everything my kids don't know. In this youth league we only get about 10 practices all year!
Starting over with a completely new team is even more exciting and stressful. For me it is like trying to get across town while driving with your eyes closed. I'm not sure if there is a crazy parent or selfish teammate lurking in my near future, or will this be a group of kids that I'll always smile and hug when I see them down the road. As a coach, I really need to focus on which areas are the most important for this particular group of girls, while at the same time making sure that I'm not ignoring the skills practice that they really need. The first practice plan I wrote was close to 3 hours, only problem is I only get 2. My perfectionist tendencies are already kicking in. Just like in baseball when I freak out if a winter workout has to get canceled. When I first put our travel team together, we probably had 4x as many practices as any other team before we ever played a real game.
Basketball will always be my favorite sport, but starting over will always be my least favorite part. I love meeting new kids and getting them to understand the game. I like to have fast practices where the kids are always moving, so I struggle with bringing things to a complete halt to go over something. I am guilty of taking out my frustrations on my own kid when they mess up. I am already anticipating and dreading which things I'll have to cut from my practice plan because it will take twice as long to get through something than I anticipated because kids won't be picking up on it like I had imagined. Who knows where the season will take us, but on the eve of our first practice I'm truly dreading starting over. Yet, I know with almost complete certainty that by the end of the year I'll look back and be amazed at what we were able to do in a short amount of time.
