Having spent three weeks observing, marking and re-marking I now find myself framing my reflections on the practice of others. The up and coming graduate coach, the enthused beginner and the experienced other, all actively seeking to improve their practice, and all guiding me to think more about my own coach self. In short, I am learning from the very people I seek to influence, to stimulate and to teach. As such, I have observed a swimming class, football (by the boat load), P.E. lessons and tennis. The range of approaches, the injection of theory, underpinned by experience and driven by excitement has opened my eyes to how coaching is seen, thought of and experienced! How we present ourselves within a role frame entitled coach, the expectations that shape and direct both the title and our behaviour as coach.

Looking back on the season (ten weeks post our end game) I often wonder how much of what was achieved was actually influenced by me, by my coach self? The concept of transfer continues to intrigue me, to challenge how I construct my teaching and my coaching. For instance, can a constructivist methodology really result in an improved jump shot? Exactly what is a constructivist coaching philosophy? My students recite this to me in their written words and verbalisations of their practice, yet I am not sure I know what it means to be a constructivist coach.

Coach K talks to the concept of accountability (Toughness, Balis, 2007) and employs terms such as teach, instruct and guide. Nowhere does the word question appear, nor the concept of questioning. This being said, I concede that the language could be seen as a fine line between coaching and learning. Thus, the question remains, where does my behaviour intersect with the players learning? I feel as though I am continually being bombarded by messages that conflict with my pursuit of an Independent Thinking Athlete, and my wish to empower players to co-construct their learning and establish meaning that takes them forward in their performance.

In a lot of ways, 2018-19 was one of my most successful seasons, I was challenged to teach communication, to advance teamwork and problem-solving within my charges. In doing so, I explored my own ability to communicate, to enter into the young mind of the players and see the game through their eyes. I shared my fears, my ambitions and my short comings with the players, I asked them to make me better. As a result, we journeyed through models of questioning, leadership and personal development together. We explored relationships, identity and what it meant to be a young basketball player. I challenged them and they reciprocated. The growth was evident in our play, our interactions and the relationships that existed across, around and among us. Having opened my eyes to different ways to coach I now want to build on what I have learnt, continue to develop thinking that serves to empower students and players alike.

The space in between seasons has traditionally been a period of rest for me, a moment of service to my family team before returning to my extended team. Only this summer I have dedicated some of my time to continuing to engage in coaching conversations, to situate myself in learning spaces (iCoachKids Conference, FECC, UK Coaching Conference) as a means of expanding my coach self. In fact, I have previously sought to be accepted on to the FIBA Europe Coaching Certificate as a means of developing my tactical knowledge. If now asked, I would openly cite my lack of innovation and creativity on offence to be a major stumbling block to my practice. Do I understand ‘Horns’, ‘Flex’, ‘Flow’ etc.? To varying degrees, yes. However, can I unpick, counter and control the opponents offensive strategy within a game? I am not sure. Is this down to context or subject knowledge? Again, I am unsure. I tend to keep the game simple, to install minimal prescriptive movement to our gameplay. Yet I cannot seem to develop my confidence in this approach, I observe others and seek tactical evolution within my coaching. I recently turned to a number of academic papers written by Slavko Trninic, of particular interest to me was the concept of basketball knowledge, flow and game state analysis. I saw these concepts as the underpinning to the game and to my practice. Interestingly, at no point within these papers did the debate turn to specific game strategies. I question if I am fixated on something that is specific to a situation and developed out from the abilities of the players?  I see my attendance to the FECC as the answer, the knowledge I seek and the frame through which I will construct the next chapter of my offensive practice.

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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!

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!!

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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.

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.