COACHING REFLECTIONS
What coaching junior basketball is teaching me
“You need to love coaching more than you love winning.”
That’s something I keep coming back to. It sounds straightforward until you’re in a close game and have to make a decision that tests it.
Do you give a struggling player another opportunity? Do you let a kid work through a mistake? Can you stay committed to development when the scoreboard is pulling your attention somewhere else?
Those are questions I’ve had to ask myself.
Development has to show up in your decisions
Completing my Competition Bronze coaching course made me reflect on where I was putting my attention.
I wanted to recognise more of the things that help a team: getting back on defence, finding a help position, boxing out, getting fingertips to a pass and doing the work without the ball.
A child can contribute in plenty of ways without scoring. If I only celebrate the basket, I’m missing opportunities to teach. I’m also missing what that player brought to the game.
I have to own my mistakes too
There have been games where I’ve looked back at rotations and decisions and known we could have handled things better.
If I expect players to reflect honestly, I have to do the same.
What did I see? What did I miss? Did my coaching help them understand, or did I give them too much to think about?
Putting your hand up matters. The kids are learning and so am I.
A missed shot can still be progress
In one session, I encouraged players to try finishing with their opposite hand on the fast break.
Some attempts missed. I still wanted to recognise the effort to try something uncomfortable.
If we ask kids to develop something new, we have to give them room to practise it in a game. They need to know that a mistake won’t immediately cost them our confidence.
That doesn’t mean every decision goes unquestioned. It means we can ask, “What did you see?” and help them work through it.
Effort and attitude give us somewhere to start
Shots won’t always drop. Referee decisions won’t always go our way.
We can still run back, help a teammate, listen and compete in the next possession.
Those habits matter to me because every player can work on them. They give a child something useful to focus on when the game feels difficult.
Why this became The Players Lab
These experiences have shaped what I want The Players Lab to be.
A place where players spend more time playing, making decisions and understanding what happened. Where coaching has a clear purpose, questions help players think and every child feels seen.
We explore a concept, put it into play, reflect and try again.
I want players to leave with more confidence to make their own decisions and the willingness to keep learning when those decisions don’t work.
That applies to their coach too.
PLAY. THINK. DEVELOP.