This afternoon we play in the opening round of the prestigious Alhambra Catholic Invitational in Cumberland, MD. This is our final set of games. Win – lose – or draw, our season will be completed by Saturday. Hopefully we will end the year on a high note. I will give a full recap of this tournament as well as a summation of my thoughts on our entire season in my next blog. We will give our players two full weeks off to ‘Rest, Recover, & Reflect’ and begin our off-season workouts in early April.
March Madness is finally here! Assuming most of you will be glued to your TVs anyway, I have a challenge to propose.
Pick one game to watch from start to finish, not as a fan, but as a true student of the game.
How do you do that?
Pick one player and only watch that player for the entire game. Don’t watch the ball, unless of course, that player has the ball.
Keep your eyes locked on that player on both ends of the floor. You should be so dialed in that you miss most of the action you would normally see.
When your player comes out of the game, watch the player that replaces him in the same fashion (but occasionally glance back to watch your player on the bench).
Believe me, this isn’t easy. I give most of you 30 seconds… tops… and you will be back to ball watching!
Constantly ask yourself these questions as you focus on your player:
· Does he play help defense?
· Does he try to take a charge?
· Does he dive for loose balls?
· Does he see ‘man and ball’?
· Does he put his hand in the passing lane?
· Does he apply solid ball pressure?
· Does he contest with a high hand when his man shoots the ball?
· Does he box his man out?
· Does he sprint the floor in transition (both ways)?
· Does he have good spacing?
· Does he make the extra pass?
· Does he crash the offensive glass?
· Does he cut to open spaces?
· Does he screen to get a teammate open?
· Does he communicate with his teammates?
· Does he bend over and put his hands on his shorts during free throws?
· Does he have good body language during time-outs?
· Does he complain about the officiating?
· Does he hustle on and off the court when subbed for?
· Does he cheer for his teammates when he is not in the game?
· Does he play with emotion?
· Does he ‘Play Present’?
At the end of the game… answer this final question:
Would you want this player on your team?
Enjoy the Madness.
Alan Stein
www.StrongerTeam.com
www.Twitter.com/AlanStein
www.Facebook.com/StrongerTeam
PS: I chose to use the male pronoun ‘he’ for simplicity. The same exercise can and should be done when watching the Women’s NCAA Tournament as well!