I´m not surprised at all....

....that Sødertalje Kings are in the top of the Swedish league. They got 6-0 start of the season and if they can keep their players healthy the whole season, they will be a pain in the ass for everybody.

As headcoach Vedran Bosnic is doing his first season, but its one of many season on toplevels where he has had to work hard to succeed. He hade a long and good playing career and has played in many countries and for many different coaches, he is well prepaired. He used to work hard as a player, now its the same but as a coach.

He really has my respect, he knows the game and he is not a "babysitter" he`s a coach.

Most of the teams in the Swedish league dont have the budget as LF basket or Norrkøping got, but once you know that, you have a choice to make and some things to find out.

If we dont have the money, what can we do så we can compete with the rest of the teams with much bigger budgets and for Coach Bosnic, the answer is simply!

Practise hard and work harder than the rest.

I think its great since they show that its NOT ALL ABOUT THE MONEY, but sure it helps, but if you prepaire and practise hard you can always shake what shouldn`t be able to be shook.

Becoming a basketballcoachChapter 1 "Empty book"

First part the Empty book - new coach on the block

Well I think my story is similar to many coaches in the world, but I will try to share my experiences in a couple of chapters here on the page.

First part I call "Empty book" when I talk with other coaches about the first years as a coach.
I felt like I got a huge book and I started to have practises and looked in the book and there was no text in it. Well, what do you do then as a newborn coach, yes of course you do the things that you did as player often much to hard for the group you have.

The empty book should not be a empty book if the clubs really cares about the youth teams, as most people know we humans are creations of habits and good or bad habits can really make or break the players dreams of a basketballcareer.

Myself I didn`t have many coaches to bounch ideàs with when I stared as a 15 years old. And with that empty book and not so many to talk with the odds that it will be an optimal experience for the kids is slim to none.

So what do you as a new coach on block do then?
Well, I really already back then loved the game, so I wanted to improve as a coach.
So I started filling out the empty pages in my huge book, how?

Well, I remember I started with going to the library in my hometown and well lets just say that they hade 2 basketballbooks. One of the books was about 25 years old and well   alot had already happened with the game in that time. Well, I rented them and started reading about the game.....I filled out some more pages in my huge book.

Internet was pretty new and 56k speed dialup modem was the sh*t" back then I cant even try to tell you how many hours/days/months I sat in front of the screen searching for more stuff to add to my book. I found a lot of stuff, but when you are new you need guidance, since you have hard time realizing whats right for the age that you are coaching. Maybe you find great stuff on the net, in books but it is suitable for your team?
Thats a question I think is asked not often enough.

I realized that by watching other coaches have practises you could learn a lot and get tips how to do stuff the "right" way. Same thing here, you can find a lot of great stuff on other coaches practises, but it is suitable for your team?

I think all club should have a "manual" - These are the things we teach in different ages, to some of you that coach in serbia, greece and more. Right now you are scratching your heads maybe, but its not very common in Sweden, Denmark that the clubs has that. (so its more or less up to each coach to do his thing)
In Sweden have started a manual called "Players development manuel" its I think only 3 years old as a creation, but very important.

As a new coach you need guidance and you also need som "this you have to do" drills and pointers to the players. I think that clubs which have very few experienced coaches should have what I call "minutes that belongs to the club". What I mean with that is, if the team has practise for 1 hours, 30 minutes belongs to the club and that means the clubs drills are done with the clubs teaching "methods". That way you can always guarantee that 50% of the practises are in the clubs development direction.

Not everybody can become a good basketballcoach and I really hate when clubs try to get everybody that is not blesssed with becoming a great basketballplayers to become coaches for youth team. Its very easy at least for me to see who can become a good coach, and who can`t. How many parents are happy with having a new teacher for their kid in school, that has no authority or leadership or passion for teaching?

It all comes down to leadership. ( I will not go in to leadership in this part 1, since it will come in a later) chapter.

Well some time has passed and that empty book you started up with has gotten a lot of text, pictures, tips, tactical, pshyical tips and more in it. Now, you are starting to feel more like a coach and you philosphy has started to grow, but growing towars something good or are you on the wrong track?

More about this in next chapter "Doing wrong, when doing right"

What is your story?
Please write in comments to share with everyone

DK4 - Aabyhøj vs Hørsholm 79ers

Every thursday the danish channel DK4 airs a league game and tonights game is Aabyhøj vs Hørsholm 79ers.
As usual its a low scoring game when 79ers play, but still its interresting to watch.

There is young talent on the court.
In Hørsholms Alexander Bach (born 1991, 192cm), and Jonathan Gilling (born 1991, 203cm), two young players in starring roles on their team.


In Aabyhøj Frederik Rungby (born 1993, 199cm)  seems interesting haven`t seen much of him, but promising basketballbody at least.

Not, young but I like him Magnus Gunnarsson islandic player in Aabyhøj, he is a old school classic money in the bank shooter.

Now its halftime and soon they will as usual show us one of denmarks most talented players and this time its Jonas Zohore, who is born 1991, 210cm now lives in Spain where is a pro with Torreledanos a club outside Madrid.
Former headcoach for 79ers Nemanja Jovanovic who brought Jonas from DK, to Spain and now Jonas is now in his second season in Navarro country.
He aims to work his way up to Spanish ACB league and I know he got potential for that and more...I have coached against him myself a couple of times and its up to him wich level he will end up on.

Danish basketball television, you can see clips and more.

Second half starts now...more later!

NBA aint the same without......

....our Swedish superstar Jonas Jerebko, who cares about Lebron James and Miami. I`m waiting for Detroit Pistons and JJ33.

Great video, enjoy it!

Once brothers - Vlade Divac and Drazen Petrovic

Great movie in 8 parts about Vlade Divac, Drazen Petrovic, X-Yugoslavia, civil war, NBA and more.

Drazen Petrovic was one of my favourite players in the world, but sadly as you propably know was killed in a carcrash and this gift to basketball, left this earthlife much to early.

Vlade Divac tells the story...great movie

Part 1


Part 2


Part 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1rsoiDMcMM&feature=related
Part 4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9gCQRVP4HA&feature=related
Part 5
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amvYbj09NHY&feature=related
Part 6
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAqwDeVVlxo&feature=related
Part 7
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJ6VJClYkGw&feature=related
Part 8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJRLgs7xDSM&feature=related

Tired of Euroleague? Well propably not....

....but if you have nothing to do tonight you can always watch som basketball from Swedens highest league for men. Tonight Swedish basketball Television airs two games, both start at 19:04

One game is between 08 Stockholm Human rights and Jamtland
Webb TV link here! Remember game starts 19:04

In this game take an extra look at Jamtlands Norwegian pointguard Stian Mjøs and if Benson Callier is healthy this season he should be exiting to watch. In 08 take a look at the agility of Kassim Nagwere and his passion for defense. The veteranplayer Jocke Blom of 08 has to play well for 08, to win.....he is as I see it the backbone, but sometimes also the achilles.

Stian has been one of my favourite nordic players for many years.

The other game that is shown is Borås vs Uppsala
Webb TV link here!

In Borås its all about the Ryans almost a family affair :-)
Pat is coach and two of his sons play for the team, but its the younger brother that will shine on court, so check out Cristopher Ryan.

Uppsala has a really bigman, its not very normal for players over 210cm to show up in the swedish league and if they, normally there is a reason for it, the are just tall and like basketball.

But Martin Kohlmaier is a good player and I think Uppsala has done a tremendus job in that recuitment. Standing 217cm over the ocean and 115kg he will always be e pain in the ass for the oponents. He is also skilled on lowpost play and looks to have a ok shoot around the paint.

Just saw something funny seems that the citizensship of the players in the swedisg basketball leagues homepage is a little of. Martin stands as Swedish, Drazen Klaric of Jamtland also stands as swedish. Unless Sweden suddenly changed their policys about citizenship, this is of course wrong.

By the way I think its very bad that the leaguepages isn`t in english, so the whole world can follow what happens in sweden. This important for basketball and very important for players that agents and coaches can follow what happens in league play.

The links for the games hasn`t come up yet, but I will post them here as soon as they do.
So check back...

(Coachholmgran - The sun is shining in Denmark :-)

Swedish Basketball TV - Came from love for the game

Swedish Baskettelevision has been a great success in making basketball more available to the Swedish people and to the world. 

The inventor of it is Jakob Törnell. Here in picture next to Sweden’s basketball superstar Jonas Jerebko.

 

Where did the idea come from (please tell more about how it came to a start)?

 - I was constantly searching the web for dunks and highlights from the Swedish Basketball League. When I was searching I discovered that there was basically not a single clip from the league - no highlights, no interviews, no nothing.

So I called SBBF and told them about my idea of creating a site (www.svenskbaskettelevision.se) and a YouTube account so that we could reach out to basketball fans and promote Swedish basketball. SBBF liked the idea. Me and buddy Magnus Stråhle started to work once a week the following six months in order to establish the concept. After that, I´ve been working with Svensk Baskettelevision in my free time. I just love basketball.

The site cost about 15 000 SEK to build and we bought our own video cameras, which we have used to make all the interviews.

Since SBBF is providing WebbTV, we also wanted to air the games at the site. And we did.

Have you felt that you have made a difference for basketball fans around Sweden and what has been said about that?

- Over the years, many people have come up to me and Magnus and given us credit for what we have done. I believe that we have made a difference and that we have promoted basketball in a good way. Not everyone has liked all our work, but I would say that in a whole, people are extremely positive. Since the start of 2007, we have put out over 1000 clips on YouTube and have had over 700 000 viewings. The site itself (www.svenskbaskettelevison.se) has had over 1.4 million viewings.

It looks easy when pros do interviews, but it isn`t that easy right? Please tell us about some blooper moments!

- To start with, neither me or Magnus are pros, we are happy amateurs who love basketball.

I got two really funny moments with the same guy, the NBA player Ben Wallace. It was my first interview with an NBA player and I was really nervous. Ben had just been traded and was about to play his former teammates. So, I stepped up to Ben and asked one of my most stupid questions ever: "Hey Ben, you are going to play you former teammates, how do you feel about that, I mean, do you feel like going out and just punch someone you didn’t like in his face?" Ben looked at me and said: "No". And then he stepped away from me, which I can understand.

The following year when I was in Detroit, I tried to interview him again, when I asked him the question he just looked at me and didn´t answer. I don´t know if he remembered me, but he didn’t like me, that´s for sure. I can understand that, ha ha.

I also got a funny one from the Chicago Bulls. I was interviewing Joakim Noah when one of the workers farted. You can watch it in the interview here.

I, for one, would like to thank you guys at Svensk Baskettelevision very much, for allowing me to watch more basketball games. Do you have any new plans for Svensk Baskettelevision?

- Right now we don´t know what´s gonna happen with the project. We´re not even sure it will be alive after December 31st.

Please give me the links for the best highlights you have made. as you see it, for the Swedish league.

1) Top Ten Dunks  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsjC_NOU8yE

2) Rudy Mbemba 8 points in 25 seconds

http://www.youtube.com/user/Baskettelevision#p/u/73/QSRZVyYbyUs 

3 ) Hammer-dunk by Johan Åkesson 

http://www.youtube.com/user/Baskettelevision#p/search/1/wD05C67MrQA

4 ) En Riktig Man - reverse dunk  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaf__brNQ34&p=D6FF2DDB32FC12AA&playnext=1&index=12

5) Jonas Jerebko put he´s comments on The Top Ten

http://www.youtube.com/user/Baskettelevision#p/u/263/H_9RpW90IDQ

Education is essential for development

..for development as a coach and I`m very happy for the first time in 17 years I´m in a club that really has understood the importans of education for all of the clubs members.

Young coaches gets special education
All coaches in the club gets clinics once a month
Coach meetings with invited geustspeakes and more....

I truly think that all levels of education will give you something that makes you better as a coach, but sometimes its not the guestspeaker or the subjects that was the best from the meeting. Many times its the talking between coaches in breaks, before or after that gives you some new idea`s or helpful tools.

On the 15th we have our second coachesmeeting and last coaches meeting we hade Physical trainer Michael Reid as guestspeaker and sadly we loose him to Hungary at least for awhile, but his expertice is very valauble for the club. The ladies team has used him for the last two seasons with great success.

"The perfect effort"

The coachesmeeting on the 15th of november we will have Torbjørn Sindballe as guestspeaker, he competes in IRON MAN and have 18 years experience of triathlon with 2 time world championship gold and high placement in the legendary Hawaii ironman competition.

Sure to have good clinics its cost some money and thats really great that the club has realized that success in the future cost money today, but money spent today means less money spent in the future :-)

Have a great day
Coachholmgran

Basketball and music

There is a obvious relationship between basketball and music because its both based on rhythm and flow to be beautiful and succesful. In both genrès people try to play without rhythm and well....lets just say the player without rhythm wont go very high in their basketballcareer and well the other one has to be high on some drugs to like it.

To me basketballmusic is hip-hop or classical music most hard rock songs doesn`t work for me and thats why I hated to play in Helsingborg as a kid. The only played stuff like Metallica on the warmups.....dont get me wrong I like Metallica, but not on the warm up before a game.

But like most other things there are exceptions and one of Metallicas songs a liked to warm up to was Sad But True, but the rest, nope!

One friend of mine from Croatia who has been playing pro ball now for 13 years in many countries around the world told me, that when he as a young player his coach gave him a tape with songs with rhythm (without somebody singing) to listen to whenever he had the chance to.

I had brought the subject up on a education a few years before I knew this player and got some laugh of my "crazy" idèa to help players getting their rhythm with music. Well, when he told me about it I was proud of myself for speaking out about it.I tell you this player is one of the most "rhythm synced" players I have seen play the game. He wasn´t just playing the game, he was dancing to the rhythm of basketball.

Great songs has been made by former basketballplayers and its no surprise that this former swedish player is making great music. He was playing the game with great rhythm and allthough sometimes his heart for the game took over, he still played with rhythm. Former player Nicolas Lunabba now one of the rhythm-makers in the group Ariise.....





There has been and will be many former basketballplayers making a new career with music and most of them in genre RnB or hip-hop.
Why?
Well the played a game with rhythm and they need rhythm in their life......I truly believe that music, dance helped out SHAQ alot in getting his body moving like it did. What this beast did when he was on top with his huge body was as incrediable as his bad freethrowshooting was, but I guess you cant get it all :-)

Remember SHAQ lettin his body go?