Some coach probably has a list of items they consider to be the most difficult things to teach. On the list would be such items as free throw shooting, defending ball screens, defensive transition, block outs, etc. High on my own personal list would be communication. Now I always believed in "talking" on defense but I often neglected to extend this concept to the other end of the floor. I must have been a rather poor salesman because I never could convince our teams what an advantage it was to be a "talking" team. Teams that "talked" were intimidating and projected an air of confidence.
It is amazing how much smarter I have become since I retired! The latest epiphany I have stumbled upon is instead of trying to teach teams to talk I should have been teaching our team to COMMUNICATE!! I wonder now if I had been a more effective communicator instead of just a "talker", I may have been able to convince those teams to have been effective communicators instead of just spewing verbiage.
What are the definable differences between talking and communicating? Can you communicate without talking? It's fascinating that we use such expressions as "talk is cheap." You don't hear anyone say communication is cheap! Maybe that says something about the differences right there.
Teams that are closely connected communicate. They see what's happening and with a nod or a gesture can communicate with their teammates. Communication, I believe is a step above talking. Yes you can talk and communicate but you can also communicate without talking.
As if you as a coach don't have enough to teach, I am suggesting we also need to teach communication. You will need to develop your own system and devices to use to communicate with. I will list some examples of
techniques & gimmicks we used with varying degrees of success. If you have coached very long, you have probably had one of these illustrations happen during a game: 1. One of your players failed to screen off
the free throw shooter because the other player thought it was not their responsibility. 2. Player subs into the game but does not communicate with his teammates who he is to be guarding and that unguarded player
scores. 3. An offensive player cuts back door but stops short and pops back out .... too late the passer has already thrown a bounce pass towards the lane and it goes out of bounds. The list of examples could go on and on. It is easy to talk but much more difficult to communicate. If you have the courage, tell your players something in practice and then ask them to repeat it back to you! Communicate involves sending the message and that message being received and understood.
Some examples of communicate we used in practices & games were:
A. We used what we called "echo" yells in practice to communicate what
drill we were going to do next. For example, the coach might yell "3 Man 2
Ball Shooting". and we asked our players to yell "3 Man 2 Ball Shooting" in
return.
B. We used colors to communicate zone offensive sets we wanted to run. If
the coach yelled, "Blue" the offensive team on the floor knew what play we
wanted to execute.
C. We used names of colleges to communicate our man offensive sets. If a
play's name was "Iowa" and name that began with the letter "I" was also
Iowa. So if we called out "Indiana" or "Illinois" if was still the same play.
D. Baseline out of bounds plays were given names. Our "twist" in this
situation was to add the word "again". Let's say we had a baseline out of
bounds play called "Vandy". If we then said at another point in the game
we were going to run "Vandy Again". It meant we would line up just like we
did in "Vandy" but because of the added word "Again" it would be a
different play just out of the same alignment. *I recently read of a
coach that used the last digit on the scoreboard clock to communicate
out of bounds plays. If the last digit was odd that meant a certain play
was to be executed. If the last digit was even, that meant a different
play was to be run and if the last digit was a zero it meant a third play was
to be run. This way without talking a team could communicate what they
were to do.
E. On defense we used a numbering system I borrowed from Dean Smith.
First digit was the level of pick up. The second digit was the defense. For
example 41 meant full court man. 31 meant 3/4 court man. 21 meant
half court man, and 11 meant pick up a step outside the 3 point arch.
F. You can use the scoreboard to communicate what you want from a
baseline out of bounds situation. For example, if the last digit on the
clock is an odd number we run a predetermined play, if the last digit is
even we might run a different play and if the last digit is a zero a third
play could be run. This method of communication can give you an
advantage because you are no longer calling out numbers or names.
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