It's critically important to make sure that all of your players experience success. Without some level of achievement, it's nearly impossible for them to enjoy themselves. Success helps to keep players motivated and enthusiastic about playing basketball.

Success can come in a variety of forms. Most people think of winning as success. But that's not what we're talking about here.

We believe that you should forget about winning and focus instead on learning, celebrating each player's individual improvements along with the triumphs of the team as a whole.

Here are a few basketball coaching ideas that you can use to celebrate those small, but meaningful accomplishments:

1. Run a mix of drills that vary in difficulty so EVERY player has the opportunity to succeed. Sometimes, just completing a drill can create a feeling of victory and satisfaction for your players.

2. Verbally reward and praise improvement. Give your players lots of compliments when they're doing well and let them know how much they have improved. Congratulate them on the progress
they've made. It's easy to forget how much they have grown asplayers, and it's your job to remind them.

3. Reward hard work because this usually results in improvement too.

4. Measure performance and reward development. Your basketball coaching options are unlimited here. This can be as simple as tracking the number of form shots a player makes during practice, then showing how much they improved a few weeks later.  It's a "small" success that makes players feel good and motivates them to keep working.

A few things that you can measure include:

 o Number of rebounds per game

o Number of shot attempts per game

o Number of assists per game

o Length of offensive possessions

o Whether you out rebounded the other team. (You don't always have to focus on wins or losses, especially with youngsters.)

o Track the number of footwork mistakes (travels) in certain drills. Then show them on paper how much they improved over time.

You see, not everything is about winning.

Don't be overly critical. If you see that a player isn't executing a drill properly, be sure to mention what they're doing right as well. Players will respond better to criticism if it's "sandwiched" between a couple of favorable comments.

About the author:
Jeff Haefner is the owner of BreakthroughBasketball.com.   For more coaching tips and basketball drills, check out Jeff & Joe Haefner's Free Basketball Coaching eBook that will help you win more games.

 

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