Triangle of Accountability/ Part 4

Real Player Accountability: {How I Coach My Players}

As a basketball coach in the Triangle area, this is one example of how I actually develop my players and what separates me from generic trainers. Here are two story lines examples of real conversations in implementing player accountability.

1. I have a developing player who’s only limitation to his game right now is his shooting. I asked him, “what does his shooting practices look like at home and is he following through on my instruction?” His response was “sort of”. I asked him to explain. He said,” I take multiple shots from different areas on the court”. My response was. “This is why you are still struggling with your shot”. I said, “you are putting up( empty reps) because your practices lack structure by not fully following my original instructions and there is nothing in place to measure your progress”.

This is the formula I gave him. I said, “take one hundred deliberate shot reps ( focused on movements in the shot sequence), shooting from multiple spots organizing them into ten sets of ten repetitions at least twice weekly”. “Record the percentage of makes per set”. “Do this until you complete the workout and add the total percentage of made shots of 100 repetitions”. “That percentage will be your baseline”. “Every week thereafter you will repeat the same pattern and we will compare percentages to see if the numbers stagnate, progress, or regress to measure where we are in development and adjust accordingly if necessary.

2) This is the second example of giving another one of my players accountability.I had a conversation with a more advanced player of mine who is inconsistent at times with her shooting.I told her, “to survive playing at an elite level ,you will have to learn how to pay attention to the micro details of your practices sessions and you will need to involve me as your coach more by sending me at least one brief video clip a week between sessions”. “I can then tell you if you are practicing the correct way or not”. “I said since you are more advanced in your skills it will be more difficult for you to be able to catch mechanical errors on your own at this stage of your development”. “You would get the coach’s expertise to make the corrections but only if you submit the brief footage”.