Coach the players not the refs

Well, I think most of us been there in a game where the ref is totally wrong or just bad in general and you get upset trying to get him to change something he will never change. I have been there, but usually I dont say much to the referees in games, since it usually just leads to that you start on minus already next game with the same referees or friends to them.

Some coaches go at the refs as a tactic in games and YES, with some refs you can change their behaiver by being on their ass. But you need to be somebody for it too work usually, nationalteams coach, famous old player, then usually you can ride their ass all night long without getting the big T and in the same game to other coach says one thing and he gets T:ed badabing directly.

I once saw the great Coach Ivkovic ride two refs ass so hard in a friendly game in Novi Sad Serbia that it looked like the refs where little defenseless children. He made fun of them loudly so the whole gym could hear what he said and everybody was laughing. The refs well lets say the knew that is was majstore Ivkovic so of course nothing happened there, not even a warning. They just took the abuse......

Coach K can change refs minds in a game and he knows it

I still remember my first "T" as yesterday it was 17 years ago and it was in my first tournament Lundaspelen with my first team. We played a deciding game for A-playoffs against a german team and had two german refs, whom one of tried all tournament to score not a basket but the german teams coach. I knew that so I said absolutely nothing for more than half the game. With 3 minutes left we just scored and now was behind with one point we where hot and their guard dribbled the ball, but before she took 3 steps and not small steps.

I said loudly "Hey, ref travelling" and showed with my hands the referee sign for travelling, badabing the big "T" and he turned to their coach and smiled.

Why do I remember my "T"`s its easy I have gotten a total of 5 in 17 years as a coach. I have tried to get maybe four more without success, why just to make a statement for being raped by the refs.

The last two was in the same game and they where ridicolous and just bad refeering.
When a ref is trigger happy and chases the big "T"`s, well then that can happen.

I have it on tape and I have laughed at it so many times, Nothing I said should have been a "T", the second I got for saying "thanks". It was cold as hell outside the gym I tell you.

Well,  got hung up here a little about "T"`s, but back to my topic.

Watched a youth game some days ago and one of the teams are very good and the other teams lets just say not very good. From the first minute to the end their coach was on the referees asses about every call he thought was wrong. In the second period with a lead of 35 points the coach of the better team couldn`t keep his mouth shut anymore and told the other coach something like "Why on the refs the whole time, cant you give my guys some credit, we are up by 35 points, and some more, you need help or what?"

The bad team played zonepress, or different zones the whole game and all coaching that was done was, you are down, you are on top, you are 4,5 and so on. Mostly focused on the refs and onetime he put 6 players on the court just to make some kind of statement to the refs and when they saw it and gave him a "T" he even complained about that, "you cant give my a T now bla bla bla." Incredible.....

The better team won by 80 or 90 points and if it would have been great refs they would have won even more, because that coach couldn`t see the forrest because of the trees.

I sat there getting mad, because his kids tried, they really did, but the zonpress was just terrible and there zones was so full of holes you could fit a elephant in there. Why dont focus on their movement, placement and so on instead of riding the refs asses the whole game, it was to me sad since the kids tried, but the coach, coached the refs instead............

Maybe it was a one time deal that he focused totally on the refs I dont know I have only seen one game with him. But thats enought......

We can all get angry or caught up in the moment and lose it a little bit, where a humans......but coach remember when you are coaching the refs, your players are without what you are there for, so get come back to focus again, shake it off (hard ass hell sometimes I know, believe me), but remember who needs you the most and its never the refs.

Back in Denmark

My team participated in the 33th Lundaspelen one of the worlds biggest youth tournament in basketball. I had devided them into to even teams since I think at this age its to early to put all the best in one team.

There is lots of time and to stress it is not something I feel is needed right now. My two teams played a ok tournament with one loosing A-quaterfinal after overtime and the other lost the B semifinal. At this age the hardest things are most of them not on the court, homesickness, sleeping problems, resting time instead of "fun" time, learning to respect others for a couple of days.

I will write more about these things some other day.

After my two teams went out of the tournament we came back to our sleeping quarters and i hooked them up with a great basketball DVD called "The final shoot" - The Hank Gathers Story. We had a nice time allthough we only had to look forward to sleeping, breakfasr, cleaning and the we went to watch the final in hour agegroup whick was between TuS Lichterfelde (Germany) and Norrkoping Dolphins (sweden).

We came home about 13:00 on the 5th and the kids, parents where happy. Myself I was totally hammered by fever, runy noose and sourness in my whole body. My punishment for sleeping on a thin madrass close to the floor in a drafty classroom. Had 2½ days of fever and now still with a bad cold a have to skip watching some great games in our homegym. The danish championships finals for youth teams is played this weekend plus two league games, but with age comes smartness they say and I have stayed home to get well instead, but damm thats hard......I love this game sometimes to much, but rather that than having no passion besides work and family.

So home sick I have been working with things that I can do, planing a pre season tournament

Date is not yet decided

and planing a coach clinic and so far its gone well and I hope to close these two in some days.

If I wake up tomorrow without a runy nose I will be the happiest man alive.....at leats until I start to move and use my shoulder whick is still broken. Its been over 3½ months since the train accident in Sweden where I got the injury and thats just plain sucks that it still is a problem for me.

A blast from the past

Like I wrote in the last entry soon time for Lundaspelen and during the years it has given me lots of memories both bad, god and funny and sad.

I especially remember some things and here is one of them;
Its goes back to when I myself was playing for boys 77 of Lobas and in our first game that year, we where gonna play against a team from Latvia or Russia I cant remember the country or club, but this I remember.

We stod waiting to get out on floor and we saw the team we where gonna play against. They stod there in old jersyes and old old basketballshoes, do you remember these shoes?















But most of them didn`t have converse it was some other sheap brand and of course spoiled as we where we had our expensive shoes and "new" jerseys and shooting shirts.
We we entered the court we got our next chock they really smelled bad, like they hadn`t showered for days, weeks. But I could see that they where good players its pretty easy to see that in the warmups if you look for the right things.

Just before the game would start they came over to our bench with a pin for each one of us and we also got a thing representing their club. I remember how ashamed I felt, really much, there we where expensive shoes, clothes, from a rich country and they where giving us stuff.

Needless to say they absolutely killed us in the game and won by many many points after they game there was a new kind of respect and our hip expensive shoes didn`t mean a thing at that moment. But it was a wake up call I think to many of us to whats important and whats secondary for playing the greatest game in the world.

The only thing that we still can say is even after they hammered us and taught us a lesson in Bball. New respect was there, but I still I felt sorry for the next team playing them cause I think they used chemical warfair as a secret weapon, my good they smelled :-)

Happy New Year!

New Year Basketball

In the beginning of the new year for me as a bball lover from the south of Sweden its been a tradition for years to play or coach in Lundaspelen, which is one of the biggest youth tournaments in the world.

Its been called the danish championships since so many danish teams participate and many of them also win the tournament. Now I´m a swede living and coaching in Denmark, so I guess I will for the first time play the danish champioships.

Well, I coach boys 98 and we have 18 players and will play this year with two even teams, so this year its more learning to play tournaments and having a good time. We where one of the lucky ones invited to play the nordic champioships in Sødertælje in easter and thats great since all games will be very giving in educational value.e

Lundaspelen is to me winter, cold and great atmosphere in the playoffs. Especially of course in the finals where every year its a great setup and arrangement to get that exciting feeling in your body.
This year will for sure be winter, cold and also great atmosphere in the playoffs.

I hope that my 2 teams play as well as they can and learn a lot by playing and watching others play. Myself I hope also to see some great games, where I can enjoy great coaching and great players.

You can check out the tournament here LUNDASPELEN 2-5 January every year

I also hope to see and talk to old friends/players and coaches during the tournament and for the first time in 4 years I will not work in Lundaspelen as I did when I coached in Eos. To be honest thats very nice to be just a coach and basketball lover again.

But to the people behind a tournament like this I have nothing but the deepest respect since, I know how much work it is to make it this big and all the organazing to get all parts to go as planned.

And to my old players working their ass of in Lundaspelen next year, what are you complaining about!
haha :-) Feels good to be able to say that :-)