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As I watched Oklahoma City Thunder Power Forward/Center Serge Ibaka drain yet another 17ft. jump shot against the Los Angeles Clippers last night, ESPN analysts Hubie Brown and Mike Tirico raved about how Ibaka’s shot has improved as well as his confidence to take it. During a pre-game interview, Serge mentioned several things I thought were extremely important for young players to hear.

Ibaka talked about how his coaches helped him improve his jump shot and encouraged him to shoot if he was open. While this may not seem significant, its what he said after that really resonated with me. Ibaka mentioned that OKC Head Coach Scott Brown went two steps further by: 1) Telling Ibaka’s OKC teammates during time outs to ‘get him the ball if he is open’ for a jumper and 2) He told Ibaka “Great Shot!” even if he missed.

Ibaka said his confidence soared. He felt more comfortbale being aggressive, taking 15-18 ft. jump shots because of what his coaches told him.

As a trainer, I hear the horror stories about youth basketball coaches who don’t play kids who lack confidence. As a youth basketball coach, part of your job is to help young players build confidence through skill development, playing time and positive reinforcement. It isn’t just to win meaningless games.

If you identify a player or players on your team that don’t have confidence, HELP THEM. Start by developing their skills - ball-handling, shooting, passing and footwork. Give them playing time and let them make mistakes. Encourage young players to be aggressive by teaching them to take open shots and use their skills to attack. If they miss, tell them great shot. If they make a mistake, tell them its OK!

The worse thing you can do to a young player’s confidence is tell kids not to shoot or yank them out of games if they make mistakes. Nothing makes a young player more nervous and less aggressive than getting beat up over missed shots or mistakes.  

We can all learn a lesson from Serge Ibaka, Scott Brown and the OKC Thunder coaching staff to help our kids play better and be more aggressive.

So you didn’t make your high school team. Now what?

First of all, its OK to be disappointed. The greatest player of all time, Michael Jordan, was cut his Freshman year at Laney High School in North Carolina. All he did was use that event as motivation to become the best basketball player the world has ever seen. But, that process started with this question: Did I do my part?  

The ‘Did I do my part’ question should consist of two critical aspects: 1) ’Did I reach out to the coaching staff prior to tryouts to see if I could participate in the team’s off-season workouts or league play?” and 2) “Was I ready for the opportunity?”

REACHING OUT TO COACHES

Some kids wrongfully assume that the tryout dates are the only days you get to show the coaching staff what you can do. THAT is a critical mistake of the kids who get cut.

What some kids don’t realize is that high school coaches actually begin their evaluation process during out-of-season activities like Spring conditioning, Summer/Fall leagues, Fall conditioning and/or open gyms.  If you don’t participate in these activities the coaching staff won’t have any knowledge of what you bring to the table as a player. That leaves kids who don’t participate 3 evaluation days to compete against kids who have been evaluated for 2 to 5 months.  

Now the actual tryout seems like a mere formality. This is why a lot of kids who get cut feel like the tryouts were rigged against them because it appears that the coaches have already pre-selected their teams. 

Reaching out to coaches before tryouts to convey your desire to participate in off-season activities is HUGE. It shows coaches you are serious about your game and committed to being a part of their program. It also puts you on their radar much earlier than kids who don’t reach out.

WERE YOU READY?

When there are tryouts involved, there are cuts involved. That means there is a chance you won’t make the team. That said, you had control over how you prepared yourself leading up to the tryout. If you didn’t prepare yourself properly, getting cut is a clear signal that whatever you did was not enough.

Think about what you did during the tryout and what message it sent to your coaches. Were you out of shape? Did you make a lot of mistakes (like ball losses, bad passes) Were your shots way off target? Did you follow the coaches’ instructions properly? What was your attitude like (Positive? Negative? Indifferent?) If you weren’t ready to try out, getting cut is the logical outcome. Now you have to ask yourself why you weren’t ready and see what you can do differently next time.

In summary, if you didn’t make your team, start with ‘Did I do my part?’ Ask yourself the two part question: Did I reach out to the coaches in order to participate in out-of-season team activities and was I ready for the opportunity?

Once you have your answers, you can begin to address the reasons you didn’t make the team objectively and come with a better game plan to prepare for next year. What you decide to do now will determine your future this time next year.

Good Luck!

After reading my article on camps, people must think I am anti – basketball camp. Actually, it is quite the opposite. For three years, I have been a part of the Nike Regional Girls Skill Academy in Beaverton, OR, where we work with the top 40 girls from Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Alaska and Hawaii. That camp is very well run and the girls enjoy the instruction and high level of competition.

However, there are basketball camps that are not well run and really serve as baby-sitting outifts. I have seen local camps where the directors don’t participate, the instructors aren’t qualified or there aren’t enough of them, there are too many kids on site and nobody gets any better. When I think of basketball camps as a director and an instructor, I think about the participant’s perspective  (“If I were coming to a basketball camp, what would I want them to help me with?”) and how I can help a camper maximize their experience. That is why I have recently signed an agreement with US Sports Camps, Inc. to operate Nike Basketball Camps in the Greater Seattle Metro Area. This way, I can put on the type of camp that young aspiring basketball players want to be a part of.

My first camp with US Sports Camps will be the 2012 Nike Eastside Select 30 Basketball Camp. It features top instruction from an all-star cast of coaches, professional basketball & strength trainers and former professional basketball players to bring our campers the most comprehensive workouts in the area.

The highlights of our camp include:

• NBA Draft Combine Athlete Testing (Performed by BAM Testing, Inc., Offical Athlete Testing for the NBA Draft Combine)
• Functional Movement Screening for injury prevention
• 3 Strength, Conditioning and Agility Segments from a top Issaquah 24-Hour Fitness Instructor
• Intense, Progressive Basketball Skill Work and Controlled Scrimmages
• Low camper – to – coach ratio (1 coach – 5 players)

The camp runs from December 26-28. Boys sessions: 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM Girls Sessions: 12:30 PM – 3:30 PM. Grades 6-8. The  camp is 9 hours of instruction for $215 and will be held at Issaquah 24-Hour Fitness at 5712 East Lake Sammammish Parkway SE, Issaquah, WA 98029 (map)

There are only 30 slots for boys and 30 for girls, so register early by clicking on this link:

http://tinyurl.com/cv766no

Thanks for reading and I hope to see you there!

 P.S. Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter @CoachJonz and Like us on Facebook!

As AAU and select teams hold their fall tryouts to fill their rosters with aspiring young basketball players I found myself getting some calls from people whose 4^th, 5^th, 6^th, 7^th, and 8^th grade sons and daughters had been cut from a select team.

Upon first hearing about this I thought, ‘OK, there are some kids out there that need some extra help in developing their skills to make a team.’ Then, the more I thought about it, the more I found myself wondering aloud, ‘Why are we holding tryouts and cuts for 4^th– 8^th graders?’  

As a Nike Regional Skill Academy Instructor I have had the benefit of talking to parents, coaches, trainers and elite level girls and boys high school basketball players to find commonalities between their experiences on their way to becoming elite level players.

The common theme I found among these athletes was a combination of the quality and frequency of fundamental basketball skill instruction, combined with a basic athletic development component that these players received in grades 4 – 8.

So, at the risk of sounding simplistic, the most important years for your development as an athlete and a basketball player are grades 4 – 8, during which, finding quality instruction and basic athletic development are critical to the success of young players.

Based on this information, I think it is safe to say that all of the players in this age group need to have their skills and athleticism developed to a large extent. Therefore, what basis do we have for cutting kids in this age group when they all need work? How can we justify cutting kids that want to play, want to get better and want to be a part of a team?

The answer to that question has to do with limited resources, like availability of quality coaches, gym space, etc. On the surface, I believe these are legitimate reasons to have a tryout and cut approach but I can’t help but wonder if there is a better way.

Having evaluated, selected and developed girls and boys basketball players at the high school level for over 18 years, I can assure you that the evaluation process is not an exact science. But, it does require experience, intuition and astute observation rooted in years of playing, coaching, teaching, watching and scouting basketball.

When I evaluated kids for high school varsity and junior varsity teams, I found that the key for my evaluation process was looking at what kids could be in the future (with some player development) instead of what they currently were. I knew that most kids coming into high school would need some work, but what separated players in my evaluation process was the amount of work it would take to get them to be ready to compete at the high school level. I would even look at kids’ parents to see how tall they were and ask if they played sports in their youth. I would then use that information as a baseline for determining future height and athleticism of a young player.

For youth in grades 4 – 8, we have to take a different approach to youth team sports other than tryouts and cuts. The emphasis should be placed on player skill and athletic development to help all of the kids who want to play get better and succeed in the game.

In Europe, kids spend their initial years in a basketball academy learning the game, fundamental basketball skill and getting athletic development. All of their coaches are certified by FIBA (Federation Internationale de Basketball or  International Basketball Federation.) Kids primarily play 1-on-1, 2-on-2, and 3-on-3 in order to use their skills, help one another improve and prevent ‘hiding’ in 5-on-5 competition. Successful national teams like Spain’s stress getting better and being a great teammate. In America, we tend to stress playing, winning games and individual achievement.

As a result, USA Basketball has to send Kobe Bryant, Dwayne Wade, LeBron James, Chris Paul, Deron Williams, Dwight Howard, etc. to win Olympic Gold Medals.

If parents are going to coach these AAU, select and club teams, they should be required to get certified coaching credentials that allow them to coach and develop youth athletes. These programs should then seek out athletic development trainers to assist in athletic development.

If we really love youth sports the way we say we do, let’s do right by all of the kids by developing them, not cutting them.

Not all basketball camps are created equal. Camps vary in size, price, quality of instruction, length of time, competition and most importantly, objective.

Having coached at, observed and put on my own camps throughout the years, I have come to the conclusion that finding a camp that is best for your son, daughter, or yourself should come down to what your goals are, what your current skill level is, the quality of instruction, the price and what kinds of tools they give you once the camp is over.

There are many types of camps that range from skill-specific, to college exposure, to ‘combines’ that involve athletic measurement testing, to shoe company skill academies, to team camps and more. If you are interested in sending your son or daughter to a camp, or finding a camp for yourself, keep the following things in mind before you spend your money.

What are your goals?

Are you trying to improve your ball-handling or free throw shooting? Are you trying to get exposure to college coaches? Or, just improve enough to make your local high school team? Deciding what your basketball goals are can help you determine which camp fits your needs. Skill specific camps offer 3-4 day intensive drilling on things like shooting or ball-handling. I have yet to see a passing or defensive clinic as those are less sexy, but nonetheless just as important.

What is your current skill level?

If you are a beginning basketball player, avoid a camp and find a trainer that can help you establish your individual skills on a one-on-one basis or in a small group. Why? Because most camps are not designed to address multiple skill levels. Most basketball camps tend to take a one-size fits all approach and tend to assume every kid can perform the drills to build the skills. As a result, some kids don’t get the individual attention they need, nor do they get the number of reps that are necessary to build a solid foundation of fundamental skills. I have seen kids feel embarrassed and get discouraged at camps because they can’t perform the drills. As a result, they do not want to finish the camp, and ultimately waste your money. By getting your child an individual trainer, he/she can ask questions, get plenty of reps, build confidence and establish a great foundation to begin their basketball careers.

What is the quality of the instruction?

This question is one that should definitely be answered before you write a check for a camp. Find out who the instructors are. Ask what their experience is in training younger athletes. Most parents don’t ask these questions and tend to assume that any camp will help their child improve. Basketball camps are no different than picking a school for your child to attend. Do the research and see what other parents are saying about the camp. If there are multiple sessions, try to go an observe one. See how the instructors interact with the campers. Are they engaged? Are their demonstrations clear? Are the instructors positive and encouraging? Do they teach all of the kids, or just focus on the really good ones?

Are they students from a local high school team? Are they coaches from select programs or local colleges? Not all instructors are created equally. In general, if the instructors are local high school students, the chances that they are well-versed in youth basketball instruction are extremely low. Local high school coaches may be somewhat better, but they are typically programmed to focus more on group activities rather than individual skill development.

A camp that features college coaches or professional skill developers is ideal, because this is what they do for a living: develop complete players. While, these kinds of camps tend to be slightly more expensive and better organized, they also tend to be invite only. Some of the best basketball camps are put on by shoe companies like Nike or Adidas and feature top instruction from NBA Players, college coaches and professional skill developers. These camps are generally for elite level high school players.

How much is the camp?

Camps vary widely in cost. There are some really good camps that range from $250 to $500 for up to a week’s worth of instruction. But, the camp’s cost isn’t always reflective of the quality of instruction. Like I mentioned above, do your research first before you spend your hard-earned money.

Conclusion

In conclusion, before you send your sons/daughters to a basketball camp get them a trainer to help them build their confidence in their core skills in a smaller, less chaotic environment. By doing your research and asking the right questions, parents and kids can find basketball camps that will actually help your child improve and enjoy the game even more!