Teaching your Child to Love their Sport
By Peter Pollock, Basketball Queensland Coach Development Manager.
Your child loves the game, he wants to be the next Ben Simmons and win Rookie of the Year in the NBA or she wants to be the next Liz Cambage dunking in the All Star game of the WNBA, or maybe it is a gold medal at the Olympics they dream of or just the feeling they get when they hit a game winner at the buzzer. Wherever their journey takes them, the first step is usually at club level. In recent years, basketball has seen an explosion in growth and coaches are always in short supply and your kids’ first club team needs a coach. What do you do?
So, you put your hand up, how hard can it be? Dribble it, pass it, shoot it and put the ball, through the hoop more than the other team, right? You go along to your first training session all excited to start this new coaching journey and then the enormity of the task at hand starts to reveal itself.
The team you have taken on has relatively little skill and understanding of the game except for two players, of which, neither is your child. Those two, soon get bored with basic drills and become easily distracted and frustrated and just want to play a game. You oblige, only to see those two players have a great time dominating the game while the others, basically never get to touch the ball. You soon realize that there is more to this than you originally thought.
Suddenly there are a flurry of questions you are asking of yourself:
How do I keep all players engaged? How do I challenge my better players but ensure our newer players are developing? How do I make them better athletes? What is the next step for each player? Why aren’t their skills in drills carrying over into games? What is the balance between winning and developing? What should we be aiming for as a team? Why can’t we run that offence that was so successful for Michael, Scotty and Phil Jackson at the Bulls?
There are also some curly questions coming from players and parents:
Can I go on now? How come my son/daughter did not play much?
This is where a one day Five Star Club Coaches accreditation course or completing the Five Star Club support modules can help you become better equipped to cope with all that being a coach can throw at you!
Basketball Queensland’s flexible Club Coach Courses will improve your coaching skills and guide you on your coaching pathway. Whether you complete the 5 modules individually over time or do the Full Five Star Club Coaching Course, you can attain your Club Coach licence. This 3-year licence is the first step on your Club to Rep transition, allowing your coaching activities to be tracked and assessed should you wish to go onto other coaching roles in the future.
You will still get those questions popping into your head, but that is all part of the process and you will have some answers and strategies to overcome the challenges.
There is nothing better as a coach and as a parent for that matter, than watching children develop and enjoy the process and love what they are doing. Celebrating the successes with parents and players at the end of a season usually culminates in a personally signed “Thank You” card from your team and support network, which you can take straight to the pool room!
For more information and to start your journey follow this link: http://basketballqld.com.au/new-to-coaching/
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