Race & Space is for the FEW

Ten reasons you shouldn't adopt the Race and Space

WARNING - this is an anti-post.

The Race & Space offense isn’t for everyone, in fact, it isn’t for most coaches. SAVI Coaching is for the few. It takes a unique combination of humilty, self awareness and addiction to growth that is rare. But I LOVE working with coaches that possess these qualities.

So let me help you decide if you should check us out, go deeper or if you’re even in the right place.

10 Reasons you shouldn’t Race & Space on offense.

1. You care about LOOKING like a good coach.

When coaches want to look good, they don’t practice or play messy. Growth looks messy, with mistakes and learning and experimentation. Coaches like 2 line layups for warmups because it can make their team look good. It doesn’t make anyone better. If you prefer practicing in straight lines, and not getting it wrong and like 5 on 0 so you can be successful, Race & Space isn’t for you. It’s for the teams who know the game is messy, value transfer over the placebo of execution without obstacle.

2. You like calling plays most of the time

The goal of the R&S is to get players to transition constantly, as fast as possible, D to O, attack to pass, catch to read, read to advantage, advantage to action and back around again. Each time a player stops to look at the coach, is a breakdown. It’s a lack of teaching and poor articulation of your principles. If you’re a joystick coach, this isn’t for you.

3. You don’t like empowering players

If you coach to be in charge. If you prefer to have authority over everything, then this isn’t for you. This system is NOT ABOUT YOU. This is for the coach who has gotten over themselves. Who recognizes that often a small change in you as the coach is better than a big change in EVERYBODY else. This is not for you if you need control over the offense. This is about teaching players to play under control.

4. You prefer complexity to simplicity

If you love the challenge of solving things with complex solutions, this isn’t for you. If something has more than three steps or happens less than three times, we don’t bother with it. We want to get good at what happens most, like really good, and we don’t spend time on things that are low leverage, low freqency and low energy.

5. You don’t like shooting (and making) 3s

I’ve worked with so many coaches who say the same thing. “But, we don’t have good shooters.” There’s a reason for that, you haven’t taught it well enough and haven’t spent enough time on it. Simple. If you don’t value shooting, or have a limiting belief about you teams ability to make shots, this isn’t for you. We value shooting, we invest in shooting and we see FANTASTIC results with the teams that buy in.

6. You refuse to use analytics

If you’re one of the stubborn coaches who refuses to make data driven decisions, this isn’t for you. We operate in truth and assume that we have bias. We constantly examine our beliefs and don’t make decisions out of anger, frustration or fear.

7. You don’t value high energy in your practice

If you care more about your drill than your environment, this isn’t for you. If you care more about your practice plan than holding the standard you set for communication, this isn’t for you. If you care more about your inbounds plays than your effort level, this isn’t for you. We believe it’s not WHAT you do but HOW you do it that is special.

8. You don’t believe you have blind spots

If you have it figured out, this isn’t for you. If you’ve been teaching the same way you were taught and don’t think you have anything to learn, you won’t like this. If you have been doing the same thing for 10 years and don’t adjust for your personnel, this would be hard. If you expect each class that comes in to adapt to your system, then look elsewhere. You won’t get the most out of this.

9. You don’t value player development

If you believe you are a victim of the talent that walks through the door each year then you won’t love this. We believe in player development over everything. The way to a better team is better players. The systems are built on investing in developing smart, tough and clever players. This dictates how we teach, invest our practice time and define our victory.

10. You would rather be comfortable than the be best you can be

Growth begins at the end of our comfort zone. If you prefer your safety, having all the answers and running it back, this isn’t for you. We are growth minded, challenge seeking and storm charging people at SAVI. If that’s not you, please come back when you’re ready.

We’ll be here to help.

Tyler

PS. If you’re ready to START, download the SAVI App and check us out. Reply to this email with any questions or feedback. I have blind spots and spelling errors. 🙂 Help me out