Elite level coaches are superior motivators.  While there is wide range of motivational techniques and styles (look how different Doc Rivers is from Gregg Popovich or Brad Stevens is from John Calipari), the most successful coaches at every level are masters at finding ways to get each player, thus their team by default, to play to their potential on a consistent basis.

Regardless of your style, here are 9 keys to motivating players:

1. Know the game. Players can spot incompetence from a mile away. You don’t have to have Bobby Knight or Hubie Brown’s experience or acumen, but you certainly need to constantly hone your basketball I.Q.  If you are a young or inexperienced coach, you must become a student of the game and work on your craft every day.  Only coach what you know and work hard to find out what you don’t know.
   
   
2. Discipline them. Players actually crave discipline because it shows you care.  They also know, way down in their subconscious, that discipline is a key ingredient to success.  They will lose respect for you if you don’t.  No one is motivated by a person they don’t respect.
   
   
3. Show them why. Players need what’s called ‘perceived relevance.’ They need to know that what they are doing will help them become the best player they can be.  They need to know that the drill they are doing today in practice will better prepare them to perform this Friday night when the lights come on and the cheerleaders start dancing.
   
   
4. Praise them.  Players need to be caught doing something right! That which gets praised, gets repeated.  Be as specific as you can in your praise. For example, “Joey, that was an excellent screen you set to get Johnny open.  You took the perfect angle, kept a wide base, and held your ground. You were the reason we scored on that play.” Trust me, Joey will take pride in setting screens for the rest of the season after that type of praise.
   
   
5. Be honest. Players need to hear the truth.  They might not want to hear what you have to say, but they will ultimately respect your for it.  If a player isn’t going to see much playing time this season, let them know what their role will be.  If your team is a 20+ point underdog in your game, let them team they need to play hard, play smart, and play together regardless of who they play, that they aren’t measuring themselves against their opponent, but rather measuring themselves against what they are capable of.  But make sure they know that on any given night… they can beat anyone.
   
   
6. Bring ENERGY.  Players respect coaches that work just as hard as they do. Make your enthusiasm and passion contagious. You don’t get what you know. You get what you bring. If you happen to be a younger, inexperienced coach (mentioned above in #1), your daily energy & enthusiasm can make up for your lack of acumen for the time being.
   
   
7. Use innovative drills.  Gene Hackman’s famous line in Hoosiers (‘My practices aren’t designed for your enjoyment.’) doesn’t fly with today’s player.  Players have short attention spans.  Boredom causes demotivation. It’s not your job to reinvent the wheel, but it is your job to constantly search for ways to get that wheel to run smoother and faster!
   
   
8. Be authentic. Players can spot a phony just as quickly as they can spot incompetence.  Be true to yourself; don’t try to be someone else.  If Brad Stevens tried to coach like Bobby Knight, it wouldn’t work. Coach to your strengths and create your own style, philosophy, and culture.
   
   
9. Love them.  Players don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. If you truly care about your players, on and off the court, they will run through a brick wall for you. Literally.

Your warm-up lays the foundation for every workout, practice and game.  If you want to keep your players motivated, you have to find ways to keep them engaged when laying that foundation.

Try this warm-up before your next practice:

If you can think of additional ways you’ve used to keep your players motivated, please post them on Twitter. Make sure you tag me (@AlanStein) so I can learn from you!

Alan Stein

http://www.About.me/AlanStein

In life, adversity can mean losing a love one or losing a job.

In basketball, adversity can mean losing a game (or string of games) or losing a player to injury.

For our DeMatha basketball program, the 2012-13 season has started with some minor adversity.  We are off to an unprecedented, and very disappointing, 0-3 start and we have had two of our top players suffer serious contact injuries (dislocated big toe and a broken ring finger).

Here are 4 keys to overcoming adversity:

1)    Stay honest. Don’t make excuses. Excuses are a form of lying because you are deflecting the truth. You must always take ownership for your role in what is causing the adversity. We have no one to blame for our 0-3 record except for ourselves.  As a team, we have not played well enough to deserve to win. We have been careless with the ball (too many unacceptable turnovers and poor shot selection).  You simply don’t win when that happens.  Thankfully, these are two very fixable issues.

2)    Stay positive. Being negative never helps. The more adversity you face, the more positive you must be.  Despite our disappointing start, all of our pre-season goals are still attainable.  We aim to have our conference’s best regular season record, win our conference tournament, and win the DC City Title.  Everything we want is still in front of us. We need to view our ‘losses’ as ‘lessens’ and use them as tools to improve.  We should be thankful that we have exposed our weaknesses this early! Better to find out now than in late February.

3)    Stay insulated. Keep your inner circle strong.  When adversity strikes, championship teams use it as a glue to bond. Mediocre teams use it as a wedge to divide.  Championship teams use adversity as a fuel for motivation.  Mediocre teams use it as rationale for finger pointing and second guessing. In order to overcome adversity, you can’t let outside influences penetrate your locker room. Everyone and their mother becomes an expert when things aren’t going well – the media, disgruntled parents, casual fans – and they will all readily offer their unsolicited advice on what you need to do.  Tune it out.  The only people that matter are those in your locker room (players, coaches & managers).

4)    Stay confident. You can’t let a few losses shake your foundation.  One of my favorite quotes is ‘winning breeds confidence and confidence breeds winning.’ There is infinite wisdom in that concept.  But the confidence must come first. You can’t win consistently if you don’t believe in yourself (and believe in your teammates).  And confidence must be earned. Once earned, the wins will follow.  A team’s confidence will always parallel the head coach’s confidence.  Thankfully, our head coach has an unshakeable confidence.  His perspective never waivers.  He is a phenomenal leader.

I hope this post doesn’t sway toward the overdramatic; as I use the term ‘adversity’ lightly.  In all reality, we’ve hit a few early speed bumps. But with that said…

‘Adversity is usually a prerequisite to great accomplishments.’

I have full confidence this will ring true for us this season.

Lastly, basketball carries an inherent risk. While there is no way you can prevent injury, there are always steps you can take to reduce their occurrence and severity:

I wish you the best this season.  If and when you face adversity, remember to stay honest, stay positive, stay insulated, and stay confident.

Please follow @AlanStein and @DeMathaHoops for updates on our season.

Alan Stein

http://www.About.me/AlanStein

I am thankful to have had the opportunity to work with, learn from and talk shop with several Hall of Fame caliber basketball coaches over my 14-year career.  From dinners with Bobby Knight & Hubie Brown to watching Coach K & John Calipari run practice to private meetings with Kevin Eastman & George Raveling to working for Mike Jones at DeMatha – I’ve been able to closely observe the qualities of a master coach.

I recently had the pleasure of spending time in Mexico with two of my mentors, and two master coaches in their own right, Don Showalter and Tates Locke.  Coach Locke had a list in his notepad that inspired this blog.

Here are 14 qualities of a master coach:

1. A master coach has a purposeful mission.
   
   
2. A master coach is a big thinker.
   
   
3. A master coach has high character.
   
   
4. A master coach embraces change.
   
   
5. A master coach has empathy.
   
   
6. A master coach takes calculated risks.
   
   
7. A master coach has a high basketball I.Q.
   
   
8. A master coach is decisive.
   
   
9. A master coach uses authority appropriately.
   
   
10. A master coach is an effective communicator.
    
    
11. A master coach is a servant leader.
    
    
12. A master coach is courageous.
    
    
13. A master coach is fully committed to the betterment of their players (on and off the court).
    
    
14. A master coach works on their craft every single day.

How many of these do you do?

To piggyback on #13, master coaches constantly search for resources to help their players.

This video is an excellent resource for players looking to gain body weight during the season:

Train hard. Train smart. Get better.

Alan Stein

www.Twitter.com/AlanStein

www.Facebook.com/StrongerTeam

PS: Like the rest of the basketball world, I was saddened by the loss of Coach Rick Majerus. My thoughts go out to the Majerus family and St. Louis basketball program.  I had the honor of having dinner with Coach Majerus several years ago. He was a basketball savant and engaging storyteller. He was absolutely a master coach. R.I.P.

My basketball playing background:

• I was a 3-year Varsity starter and an All-County basketball player at Watkins Mill High School (4A public school) in Gaithersburg, MD. I was 6’1”, 175 lbs. and possessed decent (but certainly not great) athleticism.

• I earned a scholarship to play D-II basketball at Elon College in 1994 (Elon transitioned to D-I between my junior and senior year). SIDE NOTE: it is now Elon University

I share this quick overview of my basketball playing background simply as a frame of reference.

Knowing what I know now, below is a list of 7 mistakes I made when I played. It is embarrassing and humbling for me to admit these issues, but feel it is important for me to do so to help today’s players avoid the same mistakes.

These 7 mistakes are understandable, but absolutely unacceptable.

1) I only did the minimum. I got to practice 5 minutes before it started and left the moment it was over. I was an above average shooter. But I could have been a great shooter if I had put in the extra work. I always practiced hard (effort was never my problem); I just never did any extra.

2) I only played on half of the court. I played mediocre defense at best. I gambled for steals, rarely boxed out, and only took one charge in my career (because I couldn’t get out of the way in time and got run over!). I didn't take pride on defense and didn't take it personal if my man scored.

3) I focused too hard on box score stats (points, assists, etc.) and not enough on the invisible stats (charges taken, deflections, screens set, etc.). Win or lose, I would literally wake up early on Wednesdays and Saturdays to check our team’s box score in the Washington Post.

4) I focused on things I had no control over. At least half of my communicating during games was directed at the referees. I spent as much time worrying about the refs as I did about myself.  I most certainly didn’t Play Present.

5) I took a lot of bad shots. I often took a good shot for myself instead of getting a great shot for a teammate. I wouldn't go as far as to say I was a ball hog, but I definitely had selfish tendencies. I didn't put the trust in my teammates that they deserved. Regardless of time and score, if I was even the slightest bit open, I let it fly!

6) Overall I had a good attitude, but like many high school players, I thought I knew best. I wasn’t always the most coachable. Even though my high school coach had been coaching longer than I had been alive (at the time), I was often stubborn. No matter how many times he said 'zig', I would still 'zag.'

7) I liked basketball. I enjoyed basketball. But I didn't love basketball. Basketball didn't become my burning passion until after college. It was something I was pretty good at and something I had fun playing... but I wasn't a student of the game and I most certainly wasn’t a gym rat.

I currently serve as the strength & conditioning coach at DeMatha Catholic High School, travel the world as a respected clinician and am the proud father of The Born Backcourt (2 ½ year old twin boys, Luke & Jack).  I would be irate if any of the players I worked with, or if my own sons, did any of the above. 

I sincerely hope that sharing these 7 mistakes will help today's players avoid similar patterns and enable them truly maximize their basketball playing potential.

Along those lines, in order to maximize your basketball playing potential, you have to stay strong and mobile. Here are 5 Yoga poses that will increase strength, balance, flexibility and mobility when you need it most, during the season:

Train hard. Eat smart. Get better.

Alan Stein

www.Twitter.com/AlanStein

PS: Have money left over from Black Friday? Check out the basketball specific, in-season training resources (for coaches/players) at http://Shop.StrongerTeam.com. 

They say, 'you play the way you practice.'

Assuming that's true, and I have full confidence it is, then coaches and players alike should do everything in their power to maximize every practice.

8 Things PLAYERS should do to maximize every practice:

1) Be well fueled, well hydrated, well rested, and take care of your body.  Do exercises like these 2-3 times per week:

2) Get to practice early. Don't wait for practice to start, prepare for it. Making 100 extra shots before every practice will have an enormous compound effect over the course of the season.

3) Approach practice with a 'game like' mentality. After all, how you do anything is how you do everything. Want to play well in games? Then practice well every day.

4) Listen with your eyes. Your coach won't say it if it's not important. Absorb everything your coaching staff and teammates say by having great eye contact.

5) Leave your comfort zone every practice. Leave it mentally. Leave it physically. Leave it emotionally. You should be drained at the end of every practice. Leave it on the floor!

6) Make your enthusiasm contagious. Raise the level of those around you with constant energy. Be vocal.

7) Be a 'Glue Guy' (or 'Glue Girl'). By definition, glue binds and holds things together. Be the glue on your team.

8) Value the ball for the entire practice. Every drill. Every scrimmage. Every play. Don't take bad shots or make sloppy passes.

8 Things COACHES should do to maximize every practice:

1) Have a practice plan. Have written out to the minute, the entire practice. You will certainly need to make tweaks and adjustments, but stick as close to the plan as you can. Plan your work and work your plan!

2) Have a theme for the day. Will today focus more on offense? Defense? Drill work? Conditioning? Instruction? Don't try to do everything every practice.

3) Coach in bullet points, not paragraphs. Keep practice flowing!

4) What 3 things do you want your team to be known for this season? Rebounding? Pressure defense? 3-point shooting? Whatever they are, emphasize them every day.

5) Do NOT allow bad attitudes or poor body language… ever. Those things are understandable, but never acceptable. Nip them in the bud quickly.

6) Focus on quality over quantity. Time efficiency is important. If you can do it in 90 minutes, don't take 2 hours.

7) Get up shots! The name of the game is to put the ball in the cup. Make sure your players get up a few hundred quality shots every practice.

8) Have fun! While I respect Gene Hackman's line in Hoosiers, 'My practices aren't designed for your enjoyment'... I wholeheartedly disagree. If you find ways to make practice fun, your players will give a better effort. If they give a better effort, you'll get better results. Then everyone wins!

Good luck this season.

Please subscribe to our YouTube channel at http://www.YouTube.com/StrongerTeamDotCom. New videos drop EVERY week!

Train for it. Fuel for it. Work for it.

Alan Stein

www.Twitter.com/AlanStein