Author: coachmessam

I am a level 4 basketball coach with 25 years coaching experience at the Regional and National levels of the game. As a Doctoral student I continue to pursue advancement in my practice and better understand coaching behaviour. To this end I engage with and participant in numerous opportunities to improve my knowledge and practice as a basketball coach.

U16 Gold 2018-19

Having seen some growth within our interactions, our approach to practice and where we positioned ourselves as a team over the course of the season I felt a sense of calm. This is to say that I wasn’t worried about the outcome, rather how we presented ourselves in our final outing of the season. I wanted this final dance to be a true representation of who we were, what we had worked on and how we saw our individual roles.
I had spent some time planning for the game, scouting the opposition, looking back over our first match up to identify lessons learnt and where we could improve. The activity was a reflection of my growth as a coach and accessing the available information as a means of preparing our approach to the game. We hadn’t changed much of what we did all year, we pressed, we ran and we pressed. It worked for us, was simple and afforded our scorers opportunities in spots that they were familiar with. Our mantra had become simple, ‘shooters shoot – drivers drive’ and the players had bought into it with great effect.
I arrived at the venue with plenty of time to spare, I briefly spoke with the opposing coach and one of the referees before greeting the many parents and grandparents that had made the journey in support of their basketball son or grandson. In many ways it already felt like the biggest game of the year, the outcome wouldn’t change our final position in the league, they would finish top and we would finish behind them. This being said, it was a chance to beat everybody at least once, to demonstrate our growth and show that we were worthy of a second place finish.
The ball went up and in what had become our typical start, we got off to a flyer!! We went up 9-0 in what seemed like seconds, everything was working well for us. We moved the ball through the first eight and the second eight seconds diligently, shifting the defence and punishing them for failing to recover. Our own defence was swarming and suffocating, forcing numerous turnovers and our tempo was upbeat, determined and at a pace. If anything, we found ourselves somewhat shocked by the degree of success within our performance and neglected to acknowledge our emerging foul trouble and the reality that at some point they would make a run of their own. More importantly, I wasn’t sure that I was ready, that I had planned for the unplanned! We finished the quarter up 17 – 10, excited, energetic and ready to walk out of the gym winners.
The second quarter would not be as easy, however, we continued to play good basketball, moving the ball, ourselves and their defence to good effect. I rotated players in to and out of the game, praised their efforts and challenged them when they attempted to lower their heads following a ‘call’ or a turnover. Did we find ourselves on the end of some ‘calls’ that didn’t go our way? Yes, and we began to sink into a blame game! I quickly tackled their thinking, explaining that it didn’t matter, what was important was how we felt with what was handed to us. They continued to fight hard, to try to ignore what they was as the injustices, but what, in reality, was nothing more than a perception call, and often a good call. We finished out the half tired at 26.
We eventually lost the game 53-50, having had possession of the ball, down 1 point and 21 seconds remaining on the clock. I had called a timeout, set up the play (something that we worked on a lot) and was confident that we would get a shot off…we didn’t. We then committed a foul, sent them to line and went down 3 with 11 seconds to go…still a chance!! Again, we set up our play, established what we wanted only to see our efforts blocked before ever really leaving our hands. Had I made two poor choices? Was there a better approach? In hindsight I think so, this was the element of my game that did not carry confidence as its friend. A more strategic coach may well have done a great deal more with those 21 seconds, surely more than I was capable of.
The players left the court distraught, they had no need to, they had taken the best team in the league to the last 21 seconds, given them a fight and challenged their dominance. I was so very proud of t heir efforts, of their fight and of everything they had accomplished this season. 21-3 was nothing to scoff at, they had achieved their collective goals, played some very good basketball and most importantly of all, they had grown as young men!!

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Just south of the M62

Having acknowledge where it was that I felt my practice had been over the last week or so I started our pre-game apologising to the players and congratulating them on continuing to fight. Today was the start of a three game swing in seven days and the beginning of the end of the season. We had three tough opponents, some unfinished business and a desire to continue to improve. I revelled in the sound of our position, enjoying the fact that the players felt we had work still to do. However, I wasn’t sure just how far my confidence extended in the depth of meaning attached to their proclamations. When I looked at the players I saw tired eyes, visions of summer and ‘pick up’ as oppose to determination, willingness and a persistence that would see them through the final two weeks. However, I have been known to be wrong on a number of occasions and was happy to revisit this position again.
Our start was a mixed bag of really good and really poor, we executed well, moving the ball and taking what was on offer. Unfortunately, we couldn’t quite finish, missing lay up after short jumper, and/or turning the ball over on the catch and losing the opportunity to shoot! I applauded the effort and movement but then grumbled at the inefficiency and lack of focus. To add to our woes, we were being officiated by a less than diligent individual, his calls screamed yesterday’s game and the provision of a blurred sense of power that sought to detract from the ethos of youth sport. We began to question calls, throw our hands in the air and lower our heads.
Having called a timeout I gathered the players in and went about the task of reciting life’s difficulties, perceptions and resilience. I looked each player in the eye and purposely expressed my faith and believe in who we are and what it was we were trying to do. We agreed to adopt the Madagascan code – ‘just smile and wave boys, just smile and wave’ – and would no longer suffer the injustice of a forgotten person desperate to assert some semblance of power.
I felt better and continued to be positive throughout the game, for the most part anyway. I praised our effectiveness, questioned our mistakes and offered reassurances to players on the bench. In fact, I felt more in control of my coach self, less emotionally responsive to the game and more proactive to what we wanted to achieve. It was a strenuous day, perhaps because I was mindful and guarded in my behaviour, determined to allow the players time and space to be themselves, to respond and support without being overly instructional.
I left the game happy that we had put up a good performance and that had led to us being in a position to be who we wanted to be. Winning was a secondary outcome for me, today we had proved that we can play and that we can play together. However, as I exited the venue I was mindful of my behaviour towards the referee, I hadn’t said anything to him, displayed decent or even questioned but one of his calls. This being said, who would question his behaviour, his inability to officiate with balance and fairness? I was pleased that I had continued to manage my behaviour, that I had not challenged the referee, but was this coaching? His behaviour was perhaps a question above my pay grade, but nevertheless an important one. One that I believe I had been asking myself of the various authorities that had littered my life and caused me to continually reflect on whom I was and whom self is!!

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One week and three games to go

Both practice sessions this week were coached under a cloud of frustration, a feeling that nothing was getting done. As an educator, I talk a great deal about the ‘messy business of learning’, that it doesn’t always look and feel like you had planned. This being said, I had spent much of our practice time this week managing behaviour, challenging poor practice (non basketball) and generally drifting away from where I would ordinarily situate my practice. I wasn’t sure whether or not it was my perception or their behaviour but it didn’t look right, it wasn’t what I had expected with just ten days of the season left. Was it that I wasn’t being patient, we had been there before! Or perhaps, they were tired and I wasn’t giving them enough credit for their efforts, their hard work and where it was that basketball sat in the larger scheme of their young lives.
I believe that I have repeatedly referred to my need for intensity, to see players working hard. The difficulty I have with this concept is that how do we measure individual effort? We have employed an effort rating, based on a question and self evaluation process, however, what are we really expecting the players to say? No coach, I am not working hard at all? It is a difficult scenario, one that relies on previous agreements, values and beliefs. This being said, I still struggled with the how, how do I get them to work at a high work rate, to challenge them to extend beyond their reach without resorting to shouting?
I ended the week unhappy with my practice, with their effort and where we were at a unit. Staring into my notes I began to mine my reflections, searching for a golden nugget i think! I knew I had to be patient, if anything, my education tells me that coaching is context specific, athlete or ‘needs’ centred (thank you Ian), and as such, I should look to the players for direction. I planned our game, player rotations, expectations, keys to the game and prompts for our various game strategies and called it a day.

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No detention for coach…

Well, when I woke this morning ,and having spent a couple of hours in my home office prior to making the short journey to our home venue, I wasn’t expecting to be attacked and verbally abused! Interesting job this coaching game!

I arrived at our venue wanting to get into the players early, I wanted to get them focused and test our ability to execute. Winning or losing wasn’t really something we were concerned with, our last outing against today’s team finished in a 50 point victory. I wanted us to really concentrate on who we wanted to be, our individual roles and our ability to make smart decisions based on what we were presented with in each moment of the game. We had a great warm up, players were active, lose and having fun. In fact, I joined in a little, challenging their shots, restricting their movement and having a little fun whilst doing so. There was a light and confident mood surrounding us, we came together, had a great shout and stepped on to the floor ready to play.

We got off to an awful start, a missed shot, poor transition and a foul on the shot put us down 3 – 0 in just 20 seconds! I wasn’t happy and I let the bench know it, I could feel a real sense of frustration. How does such a light mood, active and positive warm up and some clear direction translate to 3 – 0 deficit? I sat down and attempted to compose myself, we were playing in the ‘mud’, our movement was slow and our decision making poor. I didn’t want to get after them, I was determined to be positive, supportive and helpful. As the game went on we got better, our movement was more direct, we shared the ball and we began to play defence.

Late into the fourth quarter we were up by a considerable amount, due for the most part to our defensive pressure and our ability to turn the opposition over. During one particular offensive trip down the floor one of my players was forced to the ground in a unnecessary move that went unchallenged. I called a time out and went over to the referee to ask him to be more vigilant. I was pretty calm and merely wanted to make a point. As I returned to the bench the opposing coach was gesturing angrily and hurling abuse in my direction – “get that idiot of the floor” -I was somewhat taken back, but still calm. I turned and asked him who he was talking to, his response was far more than I had anticipated getting – “you F*!?ing idiot!” As I turned to the referee to ask him what it was he was going to do the coach said something else, I didn’t hear it and choose not to react. Instead, I continued to the bench and was greeted by my players who wrapped their arms around me and told me not to worry. In that moment I realised my role, the responsibility to a group of young people was far greater than the game. We laughed, shared a joke and I returned to the task at hand.

On the drive home I thought about what my response would have been towards the coach twenty years ago! It certainly would have been a very different me, a different interaction and a different result! However, I liked today’s response, calculated, calm and composed. My secondary school headmaster would have never believed it of me. In fact, I am pretty confident that he would have been waiting in his office, cain in hand ready to serve me my weekly dose of punishment! How my world as changed!

The journey

I didn’t do a great deal tonight, I observed and supported the session as the Director of Basketball took the whole year group through a series of offensive movement sets. The player group consisted of Gold, Academy and U18 Premier players, a real mix of ‘long’ bodies, seasoned experience and talented prospects (relative to their age and stage). I was able to make comparisons, provide feedback and talk to plays as an assistant checking for understanding and correcting movement patterns. In fact, I had no issues giving up my practice in order to establish a position statement, a review of the year to date if you like. The session allowed me to assess our ability against the more talented groups within the club. In fact, I was quite excited to be able to appraise our players against a far more superior and talented group.

We ran hard, communicated, displayed maximal effort throughout the session and worked together to solve problems. I was more than happy with our effort, we looked as though we were coming together somewhat, as if we had clicked as a group and were ready to hold each other to account. I exchanged basketball and player specific conversations with the DB, we had somewhat opposing approaches in some respects, but I was also appreciative of his work effort, diligence and overall professionalism. I committed to learning something from the evening, hoping that my players would follow suit and take the opportunity to get better.

Over the course of the evening I had become acutely aware of the variance in motivation, particularly among my players and in comparison to some of the other young people in attendance. The very reason why some players attended training and wished to compete was different, but not just a little bit, but rather a great deal different. Surprising to me, it wasn’t as a means of getting better, rather, central to their attendance was companionship and friendship. I hadn’t expected to see players focused on laughing, sharing stories and approaching the practice with such casualness. In fact, I believe that we as coaches often neglect to consider this position, opting to treat everybody as performance athletes. Tonight was a good reminder for me, an opportunity for me to ask myself how it was I treated each and everyone of the young people I worked with.

At the conclusion of the session I said my good byes and left the gym hoping to get home in short order. I was tired, I wanted to unwind, and most importantly of all, I wanted a little time and space to reflect on where I was as a basketball coach. What was it that drew me back to the 94 feet day in and day out? As an individual and as an aspiring coach I was faced with challenges, hurdles to overcome if I was to be better, and if it was to be that I should succeed as a coach and achieve my goals. It was sometimes a tiring process, a long journey from where it was I had travelled. As I pulled on to my drive I was reminded of where it was I had come from and what I had achieved, the difference being nothing more than hard work, effort and patience, the very same things I ask of my players!!

Success is as much or as little as you want it to be, it is the difference between the space in behind you and the space in front of you and where you choose to stand!!

Coaching all of us

Having managed to get over the weight of disappointment in myself and regain my enthusiasm for all that occurs between the lines, I began to plan our evenings practice. Having failed to carve out any time earlier in the day, my planning was limited to dictation during my drive from one higher education campus to another. Divided by a network of ‘A’ roads and motorways spanning 90 miles I was afforded two hours of undisturbed work space. In fact, I had I would argue that I had become pretty adept at working in the car, my recent introduction to Podcast, alongside an IPad App that read out PDF documents and my multiple recording devices made me pretty work agile in the confined space of my saloon.
I arrived at practice ready to go, switched on and all the other platitudes you could muster within a sport setting. The second team coach approached me, he wanted to share our time and space and move the two squads through a series of transition based sets (my new name for ‘drills’ as it removes the condition of isolated, linear learning states). I was in total agreement, I had scheduled in some time to look at how we progressed the ball up the court and how we defended against it coming back. The rest of my plan was binned, the pressing of a button and my previous two hours work was disposed off. I didn’t mind though, this would allow them to play a little and remove some of the pressure of our position, reinforcing the concept of fun and enjoyment.
I am not sure how much teaching took place during the 90 minutes, we weren’t anywhere near where we needed to be. We had spent the year talking about 3 x 8 and our ability to progress the ball to meaningful positions on the floor with a view to creating an advantage. However, throughout the first two sets we persisted in over dribbling the basketball and reducing our chances of creating any advantage to almost zero. I spent some time walking and talking, posing questions to individuals and listening to their take on what it was we were doing. I find it interesting listening to the views of players, it is almost like a father talking to his children, the void between their perceptive landscape far too grand to cross within any short space of time. I wondered, was this the learning problem? Was it that this incongruence was a direct result of poor teaching? It was going to be a question that I poked at, explored and examined in much greater detail as it frustrated me no end.
We finished the session on a reasonable high, we had managed to execute, in places, but more importantly, the chatter appear to identify where we had fallen short. This was more important to me, this was a show of strength, suddenly we had demonstrated that we knew where it was that we needed to improve, and where it was that we needed to be as a group. I gave everyone a high five, laughed and cracked a few jokes as we excited the court and threw myself into the five minute walk back to my mobile office and to my transport home. The drive home was relatively short, my reflection was a smoke filled blur of teaching, coaching and what next? I exited my car, entered the house and within minutes laid my head down. As I closed my eyes I reminisced about wanting to be a professional coach, about the day’s, weeks and years I dreamed of becoming a full time basketball coach!!

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Unprepared and tardy…

In twenty three / four years of coaching I don’t believe I have ever been as unprepared as I was today. A quick recap of contributing factors highlights that it was a babysitting weekend for me, my middle son’s 30th birthday and most importantly of all, that I had lost my phone. I left the house with an hour to spare, I generally attempt to get to the game 45 minutes before tip to allow the players time and space to acclimatise themselves to the away venue, the anticipated level of competition and to ‘run’ through their personalised routines prior to my intervention.
We set off not really knowing where it was we were going, not driving removes an element of control for me, but not one that I was worried about. Having convinced myself that we were looking for a leisure centre facility we visited two before some historical research informed me that we were in the wrong place. My mood was low, I was angry, at self mostly, but also at the anticipated responses to my poor planning and now dramatic tardiness!! I arrived at our game just prior to the half-time break. Never before had I made such a mistake!! I sat down, exhausted, angry and frustrated at my lack of professionalism.
The second half began and I had taken the decision to observe and allow the contribution of a knowledgeable other to finish out the game. The question of winning or losing wasn’t a factor, rather, could we display Who We Were? Could we execute and could we self-correct should we need to. The short answer to the question, based on my early observations was no, not at all. My mood didn’t help my view but I wasn’t happy, we looked to be unconcerned with our play, our approach and even our effort, something that does not often come into question. I listened to the content of the first time out, doing my best to refrain from intervening. However, I couldn’t resist but offer some feedback, it just spilt out of me and at that point I didn’t hold back.
I returned to my seat and could only focus in on how what was occurring in front of me and how it looked nothing like what we were capable of, or indeed what we agreed would be who we were. The observations did however serve to highlight a number of deficiencies within our game craft. Firstly, that we continued to lack leadership, leadership that would hold each and everyone of us accountable for the things we were not doing on both sides of the ball. Secondly, that we continued to have small pockets of ‘I’ instead of ‘WE’. In other words, some of our plays stemmed from selfish movement and/or decision making, and did not serve the greater good, but rather an individual agenda. For example, one of our five offensive principles is ‘ball movement’ – we wish to demonstrate a look ahead pass ahead mentality, unbridled distribution of the basketball. At times, we failed to do this with any degree of willingness or indeed success.
The game quickly came to an end, I exchanged pleasantries and left the venue in what my wife calls ‘a mood’, one that should not be challenged or questioned until I give an indication that I am ready to be told otherwise. Over the remainder of the weekend I could do nothing but hold on to the concept of failure, failure to execute my role, to meet the players expectations of me and failure to present myself on time to a fixture. It was going to take some time to move beyond this and get myself refocused on being better at becoming better as a performance coach. In short, there was nothing I hated more than to feel as though I had let somebody down and I had done just that.

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Practice…

Having had a week off I was ready to return. Our previous game had been a difficult one, emotions had been high and the blame disease had attempted to creep into who we are. Thankfully, the players did a fantastic job of fighting through the bad calls (perception),  the short bench and the heightened level of play, and although we lost the game by two points, we won the war. We would be better as a result of the game, we demonstrated that we could be mentally strong and that we could stick together and continue to grow. In fact, take away the loss and we had won that game.

To start our time together the players engaged in a five minute mindfulness exercise. The activity was suggested by the second team coach and I thought it might do them some good. However, it wasn’t very successful, in part because it was a ‘mass’ exercise engaged in by three teams, but more so because we hadn’t planned or prepared for it. This being said, a number of them sat quietly in an attempt to connect with their inner player and I am sure they got something from the exercise. I actually thought that I would have liked to have joined in but for the fact I was afraid I might fall asleep!! For whatever reason I was feeling tired, a real sense of fatigue had consumed me over the previous forty-eight hours and I was tired!

I spoke to one or two of the players, asked them about school, their half-term holidays etc. and allowed them to settle into our practice space. The co-captain was busy organising them into their first set so I let them continue with their proposed warm-up. They had become pretty good at self-organising, arranging themselves and getting themselves going at a high level of intensity. Could I comment on the quality? Were we learning anything in those moments? I think so, there was no challenge from me but they did, at differing levels, hold each other to account. As I stood observing them I recalled a recent conversation with a performance manager who had referred to performance environments as the best opportunities to learn. I didn’t disagree with the concept of an elevated setting (high-order thinking and practice), however, I thought that he had failed to make the distinction between high performance and high-performing. I would argue that the landscape I currently resided in, at times, was a high-performing one. The players, again, at times, operated at the ‘edge’ of their ability, that surely must be the definition of high-performing? I certainly would describe the high expenditure of effort and thought in pursuit of predetermined outcomes as a high-performing activity.

I wanted to keep it light, the players’ had just returned from a week off and I wanted us to ‘polish’ and shape our movement, refine our interactions and tidy up how we played. To this end, I sat and talked with players whilst we moved through our different concepts. The players challenged and corrected each other, the engagement was high as they problem-solved and corrected both the technical and tactical elements of their play. Were they the best players in their age group? No, however, they were acting like it! The level of accountability was high, they questioned each other with confidence, applauded effective movement and shapes and worked together to improve their understanding. At one point within the practice there were two small groups of players in different corners of the gym, each with a tactics board, drawing up corrections and demonstrating what our movement should look like. I sat and smiled, I had asked one question of them collectively and they had given me their answer.

Our scrimmage at the end of practice yielded a mixed bag of results, in part because we had a blend of players working together that did not reflect our regular rotations, and further because we had two returning players that were somewhat out of the picture. I asked the players to coach each other, to offer feedback, both corrective and summative. Again, I am not sure where I would locate the learning in this as I failed to bring it all together at the end. However, the players were vocal, they appeared to be engaged and so I was happy with our ninety minutes.

I drove home contemplating what had just gone before me, my contribution at a recent coaching conference, and my identity as coach. In some respects I was happy with my thinking and my actions, I was comfortable framing them as coaching and me as coach. However, this was not always the case, I felt as though I could do so much more but was coming up short… I pulled on to the drive, grabbed my bag and entered the house, having failed to answer my musings I climbed the stairs looking forward to my six hours of sleep.

999 but no emergency

As I pulled the car around the somewhat sharp turn and on to the broken tarmac that was labelled public car park, my mileage clock registered 90,000, it was the end of my usual 90 mile journey, and I was about to start my 90 minute expedition with 17 young basketball minds. I am sure a different person would read something in to these numbers, possibly some significance to the number 9? perhaps the nine worlds of norse mythology that interact in a multitude of ways, sharing time and space in a battle for supremacy?

My walk in to the sports hall was less than Thor-like, I had been on my feet a great deal this week, coaching, teaching and lecturing, and the consequence was a very sore ankle! As I entered the space where we usually practiced I could see the players moving through a series of drills alongside the University team. I sat and watched for ten minutes, enjoying the opportunity to observe from a far and to appraise the movement and shapes created by my players. Before returning to our practice agenda, the Director of Coaching for the club shared a few thoughts and ideas with the players. He highlighted their practice behaviours, level of intensity and overall approach to getting better. I was thankful for the message, it was one I had been delivering throughout the year, yet his approach was such that it just ‘cut’ straight to home.

We got into some full court stuff, revisiting some of our keys for the weekend and attempting to polish our understanding of Who We Are! The energy levels were high, players, for the most part, were engaged and focused. There was a great deal more talking than usual, perhaps we had crossed through a portal and into one of the nine realms? I was pretty sure we hadn’t moved out of West Yorkshire, but clearly we had matured in that moment. It was a pleasing sight to see, the players were challenging, questioning and supporting each other. I attempted to fuel this interaction further by posing a few questions, however, my attempts, more often than not, amounted to merely the provision of answers, either in the form of another question or as a demonstration of what it was we were looking for.

Having spent all week exploring questioning, listening to Blogs on the subject and applying my new found knowledge to my teaching, I was somewhat frustrated at my seemingly lack of ability within the field of question construction. The 94-feet of hard wood (the number 9 again!!) appeared to rendered me, at times, a novice. I repeatedly reverted to my default position. It was a constant battle, one that I was currently losing, yet was determined to overcome in favour of a questioning methodology that would lead to young thinking minds.

Our time was up, I left the sports hall and walked slowly back to my car alongside players and parents. We shared a few laughs, exchanged ideas and final details in preparation for our third consecutive double-header weekend, and wished each other a safe journey home. In the car I began to consider excellence, what did it look like? Would I be able to promote the pursuit of excellence in these 17 young men? I wanted so much for them and we had reached a point in the season where there seemed to be only one acceptable outcome. The pressure was certainly emanating from the club, some of the players thought that they knew what they wanted for us, yet I wasn’t sure. I didn’t want to verbally express what everybody was thinking, we have seven games remaining, four of which are going to be very difficult games.

Where am I?

I spent some time planning this evenings practice, we had what we considered to be a ‘big’ game and I wanted to be more prepared, more prepared than I was last weekend. I watched what game tape I could get my hands on, I analysed statistics as a means of gaining some indication of ‘who they were’ and I built up a mental image of what we needed to do. Having arrived at practice early, I walked the Rock Road, agreed where we had gone wrong and put the whole thing behind me.

The start to practice was a self-organising one, I allowed the players to determine the tempo, intensity and direction of our play, in short, I said and did nothing. I waited and I watched. A total of eight minutes passed before the players were all fully engaged in the moment, they had reconstructed one of our warm up activities, it was our fast break action (rebound, outlet, run to ‘strongside’ and play), simple, but we owned it and we did it well. I called them in to discuss where it was that we were at. Having spoken to a parent I was made aware that we had achieved our three goals (remain competitive, finish in the top three and hold teams to 65 points). The question now (with seven games to go and a slim chance of winning it all) was what did we want to do next?

The players gave me their answer and I followed it up with another questions, what does it look like? In short, they had reset their direction, they wanted more and that was fine by me. However, they had to own that ‘want’, they had to do the necessary in order to put themselves in a position to achieve their new goal. We would have to work harder, we would have to focus more, commit to each other, to strengthen our team resolve and ultimately, we were going to have to be our very best in each moment of practice. The players nodded in agreement, I wasn’t sure they knew what it was they had committed to, what it was they had said they wanted.

Monday night practice meant we shared our learning space with our second U16 squad, and it appeared, like us, that tonight they had achieved full attendance. The sports hall was packed, the atmosphere was chaotic and I quickly became frustrated with our approach. It wasn’t championship like, it wasn’t refocused and repurposed, it wasn’t close to our best. By the end of the session I felt as though we had gone the wrong way, we didn’t execute, we didn’t demonstrate an ability to move the ball effectively and we didn’t show that we were basketball mature, in other words, we did’t look as though we could overcome the top two teams.

My parting message to the players was simple, ask yourself if you gave each other everything, did we contribute to the collective, and if not, where can we improve? I asked the players to respond on our WhatsApp group, to reflect on the session and to share their thoughts with each other. It is two-days post practice and as yet I have only received two reflections. I will not however prompt them or remind them, our growth and our ability to achieve our new goal will rest on their maturity, on an emergent leader that is willing to hold them to account. We often speak of ‘teachable’ moments, this is a ‘learning’ moment, a chance for social learning to emerge, for somebody to take charge of our new goal.

Having reflected on my practice, I can say with all honesty that I am not overly impressed with my contribution to Monday’s session. I didn’t question enough, I wasn’t as present as I wanted to be, although I am not sure why. I think I feel a little like Sonny, I know I want to get up, to be better, to create a real learning environment where the players lead and direct. I wish to see them interact, share ideas and then execute at a high ‘click’, yet here I lay, looking up as it were, trying to regain consciousness of my practice and return to my feet ready to continue the development fight.