Practice vs Play

Go to most gyms, whether they are inside or out, and what is going on?

I think there are some basic absolutes in competitive sports. For example, football is really about blocking and tackling. Baseball is about pitching and catching (defense). Basketball is about defending and shooting. You seldom see a basketball team where the best shooter is not playing significant minutes. A great shooter can cover a multitude of other weaknesses. How many players have you watched play who are gifted athletically, can handle the ball and defend with great intensity but they can't score!

I hated going to open gym. I know young people need to have fun and fun to them is playing a pick up game. I loved them (pickup games) myself while growing up. What frustrates me is, it seems and I could be over reacting, that within 5-10 minutes after a player steps on the floor during open gym they start a game.

How do you improve your ball handling? You dribble and pass. How are you going to improve your shooting? Yes, I know this is a tough one to answer! How many of your players will spend even ten minutes after practice

shooting more free throws or taking some other shots? Poor shooters often confuse me. They sometimes are reluctant to accept coaching, yet they can't figure out why they shoot so poorly? If you shoot with poor form, then it becomes the definition of insanity. How can you expect better results when you use the same poor form?

Your only limitation is your own imagination!

Shooting volume is necessary. Think about tennis players. Think about how many times they hit a tennis ball in a practice. How many forehand and backhand strokes are executed? How many serves do they hit? Now

compare that to open gym games? Players need to have fun and play pick up games BUT they also need to shoot and shoot and shoot. They need to get in as many free throw reps as they can. Don't let your players shake their heads when they miss shots in the winter if they haven't earned the right to make them by shooting practice in the summer (off season). Basketball can be a cruel game. A lot of shots you missed in January were really missed because you didn't spend the time shooting in July.

I think it is a great idea to have a coach take video of each player shooting. Let them (shooters) see their own shot and talk about correcting flaws. Wait a week or so and repeat. See if they have made any adjustments. Also, give them individual and partner shooting drills they can do anywhere they have a bucket.

A coach, I have a great deal of respect for, told me when he supervised open gym he controlled the lights. He made it known he expected players to spend the first 20 minutes of open gym shooting then they could play.

If he saw things he didn't like, he simple turned off the lights chased the players out of the gym and went home. Now I never did that and maybe I should have. His justification was I am volunteering my time to supervise and I am not going to sit here and watch things I don't want to see! Such as sloppy play and little to no shooting work. Oh, yea, now I remember why I

hated supervising open gyms.

I remember reading somewhere about the late Kobe Bryant that he would put up a 1,000 shots a day almost everyday during his offseason. Now I didn't expect our players to do that but the reality is some didn't put up a thousand shots ALL offseason total.

I hate to bring this up, because I know time and the culture has changed, but

I spent time playing on an uneven surface with a crooked basket mounted on our garage. When I got older three friends and I spent many

Sunday nights playing at an outdoor court in a neighboring town in the summer. Now, it seems and I may be wrong, players have to be in a gym, at a camp, and or in a league before they are motivated enough to work on their game. (Thus ends the epistle from the old grumpy guy!)