The More I Listen

The more I listen to may players, the better I get as a coach. When we first get into coaching we think we should be talking all of the time. We think coaching is telling the players what to do. We coach them, and they play. They have to listen to us.

The reality is we aren’t training players to do what they are told. We should be training them to solve problems. If I knew when and how every situation was going to happen on the court, I could tell my players exactly what to do. But that’s not how sports work. We should be training our players to make the right decisions at the point of attack.

If we are going to do that, we have to listen. How am I going to know what my player saw, and why the made the decision they did, if I don’t ask them? I want to know what my players see, so I can understand why they made the decisions they did.

If I really want to get a pulse of my team off the court, I need to hear from my players as well. The idea that they should always be listening to me. just doesn’t work. I’m always amazed how much I can learn about my team by listening to my players. You will be as well, if you take the time to ask the right questions and actually listen to the response.