How to impress your coach in basketball tryouts

Basketball on the Edge - Top 8 Ways to Impress Your Basketball Coach

How can any basketball player catch the attention of their coach at tryouts or during practice? What are the things good coaches are looking for when they watch a particular player? This list is a great place to start when you want to make a team, earn more minutes, and gain your coach’s respect.

This may seem simple, but for young players with shorter attention spans it can be difficult.

Try to make eye contact with your coach. When they look at you, your eyes should be looking back at them.

Don’t dribble a basketball while your coach is talking!

If your coach is speaking directly to you, nod or respond verbally when your coach is done talking. That way they’ll know that you have understood what they said.

Don’t fool around in line or on the sideline when you are not participating in a drill. This is the quickest way to turn off your coach. If you have a friend on the team that is always playing around, don’t stand by them! Guilt by association is powerful.

Coaches HATE when players don’t listen! Coaches LOVE when players listen.

Your coach can teach you how to shoot, pivot, execute a crossover dribble, etc. but they can’t teach you how to hustle! That comes from inside of you.

Hustle during drills, hustle to the coach when they gather the team together, hustle during games and scrimmages, hustling is NEVER wrong!

Hustling is not a skill that can be taught. It is a mindset that you must bring to everything you do on the basketball court.

A coach will always have room on the team for someone who is the best at a particular skill.

The Best Shooter.
The Best Rebounder.
The Best Passer.
The Best Defender.
The Best Ballhandler.

Become the best on your team at a particular skill and your coach will notice!

4. Communicate.

Good coaches love it when players talk out on the court. Talk on defense, talk on offense.

Communication helps make your teammates better. It makes it easier for the TEAM to function together as a unit.

Great players are talking to their teammates constantly. Call out screens, direct teammates where to be, point out cutters, encourage your teammates with positive talk. “Hey, nice pass!” is an invaluable comment that goes a long way towards building up team spirit.

Everyone makes mistakes. That is how learning occurs. Don’t compound your mistake by pouting or not continuing to give your best effort.

Never let a mistake become two mistakes through lack of effort or concentration.

Learn from your mistakes and try to correct them.

Demonstrate good sportsmanship at all times.

Be enthusiastic at practice. No coach wants to beg and plead with you every day to get you to play hard.

Be a good teammate that other players want to play with, share the ball, be positive, and play with passion.

If you are the first player at practice every day and the last to leave your coach will notice the extra work you are putting in.

Be ready to go the moment the tryout or practice starts.

Skill building is confidence building.

The more you train and develop your basketball skills the more confident you will be.

Great players are confident, not cocky. Great players have the attitude that they can compete with and beat anyone. Great players know they put in the work. All great players have a little swagger that says, “I’ve worked harder than you and I believe that I can beat you!”

Coaches love confident players who will take on the challenge of guarding the other team’s best player or taking the last second shot.

Put in the work and be confident!

Coaches love to find players who fit this description. 6 out of the 8 items on this list have nothing to do with basketball. Developing those skills is a mindset. Combine that mindset with relentless practice and you’ll be on your way to impressing your coach and reaching your basketball goals!

9 Ways to Impress Your Coach & Make the Team – HoopGrind

June 14, 2017 June 14, 2017

I’m assuming you already have at least a little bit of talent and that you work hard. However, whether you are a role player looking to get more minutes, an established “star” looking to get to the next level, or just looking to impress the coach during tryouts, here are 9 things you can do to help accomplish your goal.

1. Play with Passion

Most basketball coaches love the game (that’s why they coach!) and they want to be around players who love it too. Enthusiasm, attitude, and competitiveness are all contagious. Encourage everyone on the court – even those who are going after your spot. Do everything with the highest level of energy possible. Clap, whistle, and lead the team in high fives! Project your inner Magic Johnson and be the teammate that everyone wants to have around.

2. Play Smart

It’s much easier to teach a player how to improve their ball handling and defense than it is to improve their basketball IQ. Focus on how all the drills and offenses are supposed to be executed and develop the reputation of being a “quick learner.” Since practice time is limited, all coaches want players who pick things up quickly because it saves time and makes things easier for everybody.

3. Pay Attention

When the coach is talking look him or her right in the eye and listen like your career depends on it! Ask appropriate questions so he will know you are listening and truly want to understand what he is talking about and explaining. Don’t be afraid to speak up if he asks a question and you know the answer.

4. Be the Beast of the Gym

When it comes to playing be tough, hardnosed, scrappy, and physical. Box out hard, set hard screens, fight over screens hard, defend hard, run hard and go after every loose ball and rebound like it’s a sack of hundred dollar bills. So few players approach the game like this anymore so if you play like a beast you will surely stand out and be noticed.

5. Be the First in Line

When drills are being demonstrated and run most kids are going to try and slip to the back of the line hoping they won’t be noticed. Not you because you want to be noticed! You race to the front of the line! That way coaches will notice you both as a player and as a leader and you’ll get in more repetitions which means more chances to look good.

6. Be in Better Shape than Everyone Else

It’s plain and simple – the better shape you’re in the better you’re going to look – especially at the end of practice or on the second or third day of tryouts when everyone else is exhausted. By coming to tryouts in shape, the coaches will know you are serious about making the team and didn’t just decide to try out at the last minute.

7. Talk on Defense

Coaches go to bed every night dreaming of having players talk on defense. Why? Because so few actually do talk! “I got #14,” “Help this side,” “Bring him my way,” “I’ve got the lob,” and “make him go left,” are just a few examples of things you can say that will help you get noticed. Not only that but it will also improve your defense and give you an opportunity to show off your basketball IQ – all great things when you are trying to make the team.

8. Be Early & Stay Late

Not on time – early. In fact try to be the very first one there. Then when practice is over don’t be the first one to rush out of the gym. Grab a ball and head to a basket and get some more shots up while everyone else heads out the door. Chances are the coach will come over and spend a few extra minutes working with you. Even if he just yells “Ok time to go!” at least he will know you are trying to get in as much work as possible and that you love being in the gym.

9. Talk to the Coach

Be a person not just a number. Ask him how you did and what should you have done better. After the tryout is over make sure you thank him for the opportunity and that you’re looking forward to working with him. Coaches like drawing up plays and running practices but coaching is still relationship driven. All coaches want players they can talk to and relate to yet many young people don’t take advantage of that. Let’s face it, if a coach knows you and likes you then chances are you are going to get a closer look than a complete stranger will get.

The Most Common Mistakes in Kids Team Practice

By Coach MAC

Have you ever wondered what mistakes you make when you run basketball practice? In creating this blog, I have been blessed to interact with some of the smartest basketball minds in the US. What better way to help you and collect answers to our simple question from all these experts? I asked leading basketball experts to answer: "What are the most common mistakes coaches make when conducting training in children's basketball?" There are two ways you can digest their responses. ..

1. I created this list so you can skip some by going down to your favorite expert.

2. Grab a coffee, make sure you have 20-30 minutes to spare, and read the entire list (recommended). Darrell Johnson - Cross Over Hoops Some children's coaches are too concerned with the results of their team's games, how many wins they can get. Don't get me wrong, winning is important, but developing fundamental individual technique skills is much more important at a child level. No one will remember your elementary school team record, but what they will remember is winning their state varsity tournaments or maybe the U.S. championships... Most kids' training should be spent on developing skills, not teaching offensive and defensive strategies. What good is a game worth when your players can't dribble, pass, or shoot the basket? The basics of individual fundamental offensive and defensive playing techniques must be taught correctly and then trained using repetition. If a player does something wrong, then the mistake must be corrected before a bad habit is formed. Too many players enter middle and high school with terrible habits that are extremely hard to break because they weren't corrected in elementary school during the training period. Establishing a good foundation of fundamental playing technique is the primary responsibility of children's coaches for the future careers of their pupils.

Alan Stein – Stronger Team

The most common mistakes youth coaches make are:

Training is not age appropriate (physically, mentally or emotionally). Training is not targeted. Workouts are boring.

Brian McCormick - 180 Shooter

Exercise must have a goal, and the coach must also know the goal for each part of the workout, even if the goal is to take a break to recover before intense exercise. However, the biggest mistake is talking too much and giving answers to all the players to their questions. There is a misconception that players learn a lot from the coach's conversations or briefings; but players learn more from doing. When the coach speaks, the players do nothing. Instructions should be short and concise. Players should be able to decide for themselves what to do or what they should have done. When coaches constantly give advice, players stop thinking and rely only on the coach.

Randy Brown – Coach RB

1. Conducting a workout without a well thought out plan prior to practice. Note: The plan must be developed jointly with the assistant trainer so that what is taught is the result of a collaborative effort. Every workout needs a goal.

2. Not making maximum use of time, court space and high involvement for all players. those. - Gathering in line for throws is one of the most mediocre wastes of time.

3. There is no method for evaluating every workout. Without a methodology to accurately assess the progress of players and teams, how to measure the improvement of this training session, the necessary adjustments for the next training session, and use the analysis of how time was used and whether your goal in training was achieved - there can be no good results.

4. #1 frustrating - Trying to do too many things and waste time attacking and defending instead of dividing them into parts of each and teaching / coaching / making players responsible for each skill. What for? - If you do not make the players responsible for their actions in training, then this is the fault of the coach and not the players. How can a coach be frustrated, angry to make substitutions when he didn't teach / coach / and not every player / and the team as a whole listened to him, practiced skills in exercises, and then put them into practice. Until this is done, the game is a joke, and the coach is to blame for this.

Bryan Burrell - New Age Elit Sports

In my opinion, the most common mistake in training children's teams is the amount of time coaches spend on special game situations.
I believe that time in kids basketball practice today is only spent on making their current team better, not on things that will benefit the players throughout their future careers.

Chris Hyppa – Chris Hyppa BasketBall

Coaches are only focused on winning!

• Everyone wants to win, but the "development of individual fundamental skills" at the youth level takes a back seat to win. I believe development should be focus #1. Victories will follow. Developing through learning and improving skills, raises basketball IQ and strengthens relationships with players!

• Have a plan!

• I see a lot of kids training without a "goal". Kids coaches will have more productive workouts and see players progress if they document progress/failures and have a plan for every workout! "Confidence comes with preparation" - you have the power to inspire confidence, be prepared!

Courtney Campbell – Train to Ball

• I think it's a common mistake coaches make to spend 20% focused time instead of 80%. This comes from the Pareto principle (or the 80-20 rule) which states that 80% of the results come from 20% of your actions. I think a lot of young coaches' drills are designed to teach certain skills that are rarely used in games. Drills can be chosen randomly without thinking about what are the dominant skills needed to create an effective and productive player. I try to tailor my agility drills, footwork, individual ball technique, etc. to learn and improve the basics of what will be 80% applied in the game.

• In addition, there is an increase in the use of rubber bands and other training tools and equipment that will help increase the first stride, speed and agility of the players. However, most coaches are not aware of the mechanisms of injury in our game. If the trainer does not have knowledge of the general mechanism of injury, you are likely to increase the number of injuries with this equipment (knee, back and other injuries). Use this equipment with the limitation to your proper self-study.

Dave Hopla - DaveHopla.com

I find that most coaches are more interested in managing the game or letting them play rather than teaching them how to play. It never seems to be enough training to pass, catch, or throw. Too much dribbling.

David Nurse –Perfect Shots Shooting

I strongly believe that one of the biggest mistakes children make is that they want to start learning offensive patterns by making players become "robots". The more coaches emphasize drills that put young players in situations where they have to make quick decisions and think for themselves, the more and sooner they will develop their IQ of their game. It's like when you want to learn a new language, it's easiest to do it while you're young, before your brain gets developed in that area. The same with IQ "feel basketball". It is very important to develop this feeling as early as possible and youth coaches should do their job much better. I have seen all this all over the world, and this same topic is driving me crazy! I compare these bad habits of being a "robot" to sleeping in comfortable beds - it's easy to get into bed, but very hard to get out. Players must learn to think for themselves at a young age and this habit will pay dividends in their development.

Drew Hanlen - Pure Sweat Basketball

• Too much flame and not enough fuel

• Too many old routines (eight 3's, throws with no resistance on passes) and not enough individual skill development

• Too much play and not enough development exercises

• Lack of correction (too many mistakes allowed).

• Winning at lower levels is celebrated instead of focusing on learning skills for long-term success

Duane Jourdeans - Rule of 5

1: No training plan

2: No focus on building relationships with players

3: No development and improvement of playing skills 4: Emphasis on game management

not how to play

5: Shouting while learning

6: Lack of preparation of leader players

7: Tall children learn to play only in the center position

8: Lack of mental preparation.

9: Fitness exercises without a basketball goal

Galen Harkness – GalenHarkness.com

Major mistake: Too much emphasis on strategies for how to win the game, which often sacrifices a long-term program of fundamental player and team development.

Other thoughts.

1st: Too much emphasis on game control and game combinations. Coaches have a good set of playing combinations that are trained to complete the throw. But what can players do when schemes don't work? This strategy is designed in such a way that it does not allow or encourage players to make the right game decisions.

2nd: Lost time. A large amount of time is spent when moving from one exercise to another. Drills are rarely designed or implemented in such a way that all players are constantly involved in them. Too many stand still.

3rd: Lack of professional development. Some coaches teach and practice the way they learned to play. The basketball game is constantly evolving, but not all children's coaches evolve with the game.

Ganon Baker – Elev8Basketball

Problem - Coaches talk too much during practice where kids lose their attention and sweat. They are too wordy in their instructions. Decision - do instruction/correction 20-50 seconds. Make your remarks and then exit them without disrupting the flow of intense training.

Problem - trainers do not use humor or have no sense of humor. They seem to be tough and awkward in their communication. Decision - A coach with a child's heart but an adult mind. Enjoy the conversation, but don't overstep the bounds. Basketball game for kids, help them have fun!

Problem - they use useless exercises in their training. The drills are boring and not like a game, and do not belong to their offensive and defensive systems! Solution - Examine your ship. Try to find ways to have a professional workout. Teach the skill, choose exercises similar to the game, such as 1 on 1, 2 on 2 or 3 on 3.

Gary Maitland – Coach Maitland

1. Punishment. Children's basketball practice is an early experience of a long-term passion and commitment to the sport we love. The biggest mistake a coach can make is to create an environment where kids are afraid to "do it wrong". It is unfortunately all too common for children's basketball coaches to punish their players for mistakes. The player should not be afraid to make mistakes. Mistakes are an integral part of the learning process and hence it is important for children to know that they will not be constantly penalized. Basketball involves a number of complex ball handling and decision making skills. Skills must be taught, developed and mastered. When the coach punishes a player for a mistake, he/she prevents the player from taking risks; Risks help them learn the game and develop a sense of making quick decisions and actions. Those early training years should be interesting. Children should have fun when they learn new things. If a coach punishes kids with endless push-ups or sprints, it is unlikely that they will want to continue training with him and have fun. It will only be a matter of time before they stop attending these workouts. It is very important for young players to understand the consequences of their mistakes (i.e. that poor performance has a negative impact on the course of a drill or game). Punishments do not teach children how to do a technique or how to make a better decision next time. This type of coaching behavior is so common that young players judge the quality of coaching/training by how intense the punishments were. "What was the workout like?" "It was hard. We ran a lot and did a lot of push-ups." This answer shows that not much (or anything) was learned during this training session.

2. Long lines Children's practice should be structured so that each player has a lot of touches on the ball. Children's training is developmental training and therefore a sufficient number of repetitions of learning and improving elements of individual technique should be planned. When the coach puts the players in long lines, it reduces the number of times the player has the ball. Their chance to interact with the learning decreases, they become bored and distracted. It is very important for young coaches to organize their training so that all children are active, busy and practicing skills.

Greg White - Twitter Profile

The epidemic of bad coaching in youth sports is high at all times. I applaud USA Basketball for creating a coach certification program, but there is a question we need to answer: "Who trains our coaches?" Here are a few things I see wrong with youth coaching. 1. Exercise is more important than Skill. Coaches use exercises for the sake of exercise in elementary school. Ever watched an 8 year old team run a 3 player eight? This has no meaning or purpose. Find a way to practice skills without overly difficult exercises. We learn the alphabet letter by letter. 2. Fundamentals. Young players should not associate practice with yelling. Children's basketball should be fun and upbeat while learning the basics of the game. 3. Play simply without complicated game patterns. Teach players how to play, not how to make combinations. What do you gain by using exercises at the 5th grade level that are not well suited to the 7th grade. 4. Competitions. Too many games. It doesn't take a genius to know that in a team game of 8 year olds, the 2-3 zone wins games. At this age, competition is more for the ego of the parent than for the benefit of the children. Let children be children. I think we shouldn't play 5v5 under 10.

Hal Wilson - Coaching Basketball Wisely

Maybe these exercises were used when you were playing because they suited your skill and development level, but they are not suitable for the level of the team you are coaching now.

2) The second big mistake is just doing something because it's done by a successful coach X on TV. Great coaches have great players with great needs, again, your players may have other needs. Trying to get your players to use and perform elements of high and complex skills and concepts before they have mastered the basics of fundamental individual technique, a recipe for disaster, for herbs or frustration. Coaches must look beyond their own experience and find cutting edge ideas, but must adapt them to their team's current situation. A drill should be designed with clear goals: a) How this drill can help your team in games, b) Gradual progression (break complex skills and concepts into more accessible levels for your players), c) Applying clear goals and objectives of the game (players need to understand why skills and concepts are important and how they will help them be more successful individually and how they will help their team in games).

3) The third big mistake is to train to make the coach look good and not to teach the team to play better. Yes, your difficult drill may look great in practice, but as mentioned in point two, if it doesn't have a clear application in games, then it (the drill) is really more for you than for your players.

4) The fourth biggest mistake is taking away the enjoyment of training and sports, often in the name of winning. Some well-meaning youth coaches try to dampen or extinguish the competitive fire of their players by focusing too much on short-term outcomes. Enjoy the ride and let your players do the same! We want the long-term sporting development of our players, on and off the court!

Henry Barrera - Shoot360

1. There is no training planning, 2. They say much, 3. There is no sufficient development of the individual fundamental technique of the ball and throwing technique

James Gels - Coaches Clipboard 9000

very a common mistake is that children's trainers talk too much. Players get bored and don't learn anything. When I train in high school, I always say that a good practice is when the players are talking (communicating) and the coach is not heard.