I used to think communication was most important, but as I’ve discovered, It’s comprehension – JR Smith in a recent Instagram post.
One thing we can never emphasize enough as youth coaches is the need for communication. Many youth coaches will agree that this is an area where their teams struggle. Kids just want to play without making a sound. But you realize that communication and i mean talking, is the string that holds defense together. I say defense mostly because when you repeatedly go through your offensive sets well enough, everybody knows where to move. On the contrary, no matter how many times you go through your defensive movements, you can never get it right without talking, mostly because defense is reactionary. On defense, you are simply reacting to what the offense is giving you, so you really need to communicate lest the string breaks and you swallow buckets.
As we observe from coaching and generally life, communication is a skill, some are really natural communicators while in some instances, we just have to encourage these kids to talk.I get asked a lot, “So coach, you want me talk but what do you want me to say?”. And i tell the kids i teach that they should talk about everything, everything. You see playing defense is having a conversation with your teammates. Say when you’re guarding the ball, simply, ‘I got ball’. Say when you’re denying the pass, Say when you are in help position, simply, ‘I’m help’. When all the five players are declaring their status, the defensive string is intact. If I’m guarding the ball, I know which side the help is coming from in case I’m beat.
The other very important scenarios i encourage youth players to talk include; Calling help when you getting beat, ‘help, I’m beat’. This draws the attention of your teammate to momentarily dive in to stop the ball while you recover. I tell players to talk about cutters, ‘cutter coming through’, just letting your teamie know there’s a player cutting so they can read any pass to him in case it’s made. Talking about picks or screens is very important, ‘screen left or screen right’. You got to let whoever is guarding the ball know about the picks out of their sight and you have to communicate the course of action after the screen, for example you can call for a ‘switch’ or ‘stick’. A switch for the defender guarding the ball to stay with the screen setter and the defender guarding the screen setter to move with the ball handler. Stick or stay or don’t switch is simply encouraging your teamie to jump the screen and stick with his man.
When I play, i like to remind my teammates of where the ball is and where their man is. Usually i can say something like, ‘KJ, see the ball, see your man’. In whichever kind of set, zone or man, it’s important for teamies to remind themselves when they’re too deep out or too close in. Like I’ve said, defense is simply having a conversation with each other in order to get the stop.
Also worth mentioning and not forgetting is that communication is a two way thing. A lot of times i played with guys where i would talk and they would stay quiet. When your teamie makes a communication, it’s important that you give feedback, an acknowledgement that you have heard and understood and ready to react accordingly. For Example;
Player 1: Cutter coming through
Player 2: I got him covered.
Such reassurances will go a long way in reinforcing your defensive string.
This is an exercise we love to do at Risingstars Basketball for players who don’t want to talk. We ask them to go through an entire quarter without saying a word, not even clapping of hands is allowed. Trust me at the end of the quarter, these players are always pledging to make an effort to talk because its tough to play quietly.
Well, let me know what you are doing to improve your team’s communication.
cucubrian@gmail.com
By Cucu Brian.
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