End of off-season
As we transition in most gyms from the off season to the open gym season we take a step back and discuss what we should be looking for. So much of this summer- owing to the success of both the women’s and men’s senior basketball teams(not overlooking the tremendous success also of the women’s 3 x3 team), we are hearing more about culture. I think we can just agree that this will be known as the Deion Affect. This summer we were inundated with articles that spoke about the importance of culture first principles and we are fully bought into that principle. Here are a few items that coaches can look for as we move to open gym and pre season matchups.
Who are the silent leaders on the floor, which players are competing and letting their work effort speak louder than their words. We want to cultivate those athletes and make sure that they are recognized
Tightly coupled to the above we also have to make sure we constantly challenge players that arrive in better shape than other players. Gaps can be closed (although we wrote about this previously and, are keenly aware that most of the gaps are never closed) and fresh out of the gate players can become stagnant and reverse course very quickly. Pay close attention to the pre season players who are exhibiting physically noticeable reactions to lack of success.
Culture starts from the ground up. Cliches aside you can not just cut and paste culture you have to grow it and make constant improvements to it. Culture will take you further than athleticism most any day of the week.
Engage the volunteer base and organize events that promote your players and their pursuits. We tend to want to generalize success so that is not so sharp. This just dilutes it to the point where everyone expects something that they have not worked for. This is so commonplace now that we fear the only thing that can catapult us over this is a ‘culture of excellence’.
Championships are one single aspect of culture. Success is inevitably defined by winning records or revenue but there can be other measures. You, as a coach need to define those early and make sure others recognize that your measures are so they can champion them as well.
Every where we look we seem to find conversations around ‘culture’ in sport. We see that it is being talked about at the National level. Some pundits speak in terms of ‘has Canada basketball arrived….is this the time for Canada basketball’. Wherever you stand on the debate of where Canada Basketball is- culture will be the strongest element of the conversation.