Coaching 101- What Do You Emphasize?

There are many stats that are important to coaches and to players. Depending on each team's style of play, coaches choose emphasize particular stats. 

Stats can be used to evaluate why teams win and lose. Stats can be used to help educate players on how to evaluate their performance. 

As coaches, we need to do three important things:

1- Decide what individual and team stats are important to success.

2- Decide which stats that you really want to emphasize.

3- Decide how you want to emphasize the stats. 

At many clinics, I heard coaches talk about the importance of getting “kills” on defense. A “kill” is defined as getting 3 stops in a row on defense. 

I had years where I shared this concept with our team. We might in practice run scrimmage or drills, where the objective was to get three stops in a row. The defense in a drill stayed on until they got three stops. But while I might have done this in practice, I never did anything in games to emphasize it- never charted it, never identified it live, and never celebrated. 

I watched a Tulsa men’s basketball game where “kills” were identified and certainly celebrated within the game. On the first defensive stop, the bench was engaged and cheered. On the second stop, the bench was louder. When the offense came down for the third attempt, one of the grad assistants stood, made an X with his arms, and activated the bench. The bench was engaged, encouraging, and loud. 

When they got the third stop, a grad assistant held up the “kill dog”, and the bench started barking. It may seem silly, but it was clear that it made the concept of “kills” a big deal. 

It was not something they waited to recognize after the game, there was live feedback. And it made the entire bench active and focused on an aspect of the game that the coaches felt was important. 

Before the next game, on the big screen in the arena, they showed a video for the student section. In a fun presentation by a grad manager, he explained what they were doing. During the game, when the grad assistant held up the “kill dog”, the student section started barking. 

It was obvious that the student section was engaged and felt part of the team. The bench was engaged and into the game. The five players on the floor felt the importance of this one area of the game. As a fan, it sure appeared to me that the defense got more defensive kills in response to the emphasis. 

You are what you emphasize. And live in game feedback is better than post game feedback. 

Here is the video they played for the fans. 

Tulsa Dog Celebration Video