Est. reading time: 4 min

When I was a young coach, I thought better coaching meant MORE.

More concepts, more corrections, more control.

If the team wasn't getting it, I added another drill, another rule, another speech.

Mark and I have each been at this a long time now, and when we compare notes on the mistakes we made early, we found 5 in common. We discussed them during last week’s podcast.

Save some pain and learn from our mistakes…

There's a big difference between introducing something and installing it. Teaching it once doesn't mean they own it. The other part of this mistake is your expectations. Growth is a hockey stick, and the jump comes late.

Most of us teach something for a day, don't see it, and decide the players are the problem or the offense is wrong. Stick with what you believe in long enough to see the jump.

Where do players put their stuff? What do they do when they walk in? How and when do they get water? How do you start practice and end it? How do you sub, and how do players sit on the bench? If your answer is "we'll figure it out," you're coaching on the fly…which is exhausting for you and frustrating for them.

When you have a system and something goes wrong, you know whether a step got skipped or someone chose to ignore it. If you don't have one, you're always chasing the answer.

And I don't just mean the actual whistle. I mean you haven't built constraints into the environment, so you end up yelling and teaching everything with your voice. If you want your team to play fast, saying "play fast, play fast, play fast" until you're hoarse isn't the answer. Make “slow” a violation. TWEET, turnover. Pretty soon they play fast because losing the ball hurts.

Shape the environment so the doing teaches - observe and rest your voice until you blow the whistle.

Small problems that don't get solved become big ones. The sooner you address something that isn't to your standard, the easier it is.

You don't have to lay the hammer down. You can be direct AND still be on their side: here's where you are, here's why, here's what I need from you, here's the plan to get you there, and here's what I'll give you.

Beginner coaches also care too much about being liked, so they hold back what they know is right. The sooner you become a truth teller, the sooner you earn respect from your players, their parents, and your athletic director.

This is the one that took me the longest to drop.

Early on, a mentor asked me whether every player can become a leader. I said no.

He said, “It doesn't do you any good to believe that. Whether it's true or not, a better belief to choose is that every player can be a leader. Not because it's guaranteed, but because it makes you a better teacher. If you decide your quietest kid will never lead, you won't try to teach him. If you believe he can, you'll try every tool you have.”

Explore believing one-handed passes are okay. Explore believing a coach you disagree with has a reason for how he teaches. Even if you never adopt it, you'll understand the game better.

This is what allows SAVI coaches to grow. Our members aren't the ones who have it all figured out. They're the ones willing to loosen their grip and try something new. That willingness is where everything starts.

Don't try to fix all five. Pick the one that stung the most, make one change and let me know how it goes.

Stay SAVI,

Tyler

P.S. There's a sixth mistake many coaches make: having no mentor. No one who will tell YOU the truth and make you better. If you're a few weeks from your first game and trying to figure it out alone, SAVI Basketball is a community of coaches helping each other do exactly that. *We’ll walk you through the first week for free!