Steve Nash on Being a Leader - A Concept for all Youth Coaches

I've been doing a lot of Youth Coaches clinics over the last few weeks.  I really enjoy doing them because those in attendance are the best kind of Youth Coaches.  They want to get better and really care about the success of their team (the fact that they are volunteers really shows their commitment).  There is a part of me that feels like I've bombarded them with so much information during these 2 hours sessions that there is no way that anyone could get all of it.  A lot of the men and women I've met over the last few weeks don't have a ton of experience as a basketball coach either so I worry that a lot of what I've talked about  will get lost in translation so to speak.

But last night I watched an episode of Iconoclast, the great series on the Sundance Channel where two seemingly unrelated "celebrities" spend time together talking about each other's lives.  The episode I watched featured Ron Howard and one of my favorite basketball players Steve Nash. 

Nash shared his philosophy on being a team leader.  He said, "My style of leading a team and being a point guard is one of inclusion, so I think first you start by having a great attitude.  I think that its really important when you go to work every day that you enter a room and the team dynamics are improved by your presence."

Its such a simple concept and one I will make sure to remember to use on a daily basis, but I think it is exceptionally noteworthy for Youth Coaches.  Our responsibility as Youth Coaches is so much greater than the scoreboard.  That's not to say that winning isn't important nor is not necessary for a Youth Coach to try to learn as much about basketball as possible.  We also have to take into account, however, that 99% of the kids playing basketball are not going to be professional basketball players, so the lessons they learn that go beyond the hardwood will ultimately become more valuable. 

No coach will ever learn everything about the game of basketball and every coach is going to make mistakes.  But any team with a coach who improves the team dynamic simply "by walking into the room" will truly have a successful season.

Best of luck to all of the Youth Coaches out there this season.  Keep coming back to this blog for drills and insights that will hopefully make your season a success.

My First Coach - Fostering a Love of the Game

I've been thinking lately of my first basketball coach. I was in fifth grade and I lived in a small town in Oregon. Basketball had been my favorite sport since before I was in school so the opportunity to play on a team with uniforms in a real league with my buddies was almost too much for me to handle. Unfortunately none of our parents had the time to coach us and we were forced to forfeit our first two games. Luckily someone finally stepped in and agreed to be our coach.

Lolita Hankins didn’t have a son on the team (her son was a year older than us). I don’t know why she agreed to coach our team. I don’t know if she had coached before or if she had even played. All I know is that she instantly became a hero to the boys who would play for her that season.

I have forgotten many of the details from my first year of basketball. I have no idea how many games we won, I can’t remember the names of all of the kids who were on my team or what position I played.

It’s funny what I do remember though. I remember that once I decided our team needed a time out and called one without checking with Lolita first. I remember the confused look on Lolita’s face, but she only said that we probably did need a time out. I remember we didn’t call her coach, just Lolita. I remember that Lolita never once raised her voice but that she was pretty strict with us during practice. I remember that there was one game that Lolita had to miss and a couple of dads filled in for her. I also remember that that game wasn’t nearly as much fun.

Recently my parents told me that some of the other parents weren’t completely excited about having Lolita coach us at first. She must have done a pretty good job though because she ended up coaching us again the next year. Thanks to her generosity I got to have my first taste of organized basketball. Lolita helped cultivate a love for the game of basketball that has stuck with me to this day. I will be forever grateful to her for the time she invested in me and my friends.

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