Celebrate basketball - Eurobasket 2011

Great song the official eurobasket song for the mens championchips 2011 in Lithuania, I`m still hoping for a miracle so I can go there :-)

I have my thinking hat on

Well its time for another season as a coach and new season and also one more new team for me means that there are new players, new parents and all that comes with it.

New ass coaches to work with and it reallt takes some planning or else its to easy to go the wrong way or simply focus on the wrong things or the right things at the wrong time. Bad either way, so I have used a couple of hours to get some ink on paper.

I`m satisfied with it and really looking forward to have all my players back from vacations within 2 weeks. Season is planned to 95% only things left is really to decide what tournaments we will participate in during the year and thats the easy part compaired to many other things.

Tonight meeting with the girls teams ass coaches and we will go through some things and plan parents meeting and some other stuff for this season.

First time in many years I work a normla job and train 2 teams and all planning that comes with it. I´m glad I have som many years in my backpack as a coach so I have done these things so many times before and some things I can use again and again until I decide to change it for whatever reason that might be.

Now some food and then meeting
Greatest game in the world B A S K E T B A L L !

Long or short does it really matter?

Of course it matters in a sport like Basketball, but I beleive we often get stuck in some stupid inch decider on whom can play or cant play. Its not 2,5cm which will decide that, but when many coaches have to choose they go for the centimeters. Same coaches that would say Boykins, Nate Robinson, Mugsy Bouges, Spud Webb, Allen Iverson are to short or skinny to play on the high levels.


Its been proven so many times by the shorter players that it can be done, BUT the competition for thoose spots in the rosters are so much more harder than for the player who is 205cm or compered to the player that is 220cm nearly non excisting.

The shorter player has to be sharp as hell on certain skills to make it and I think one of the biggest obsticals is their surrounding family, friends and coaches that say they cant make it because of their size.

What is making it?
If making it is just to play in the NBA or Euroleague well maybe those people are close to truth, but to me being th ebest you can be is the goal and that means playing pro ball in some country is making it, not just NBA or Euroleague. College basketball is full of shorter skilled players and just like Allen Iverson that was told he was to short and skinny to play in NBA, you can also prove them wrong.

We are to fixed on height and height really is not the biggest factor at all, since reach (hands over head straight up) is much more important and wingspan (arms out to the sides) is 100 times more important in basketball.

What do I mean, well you can be 210cm in height but only have a reach, wingspann like a player with 190cm in height, that means that the player 210cm and the player 190cm have the same actual presence on the floor.

Some years ago this has become a much bigger factor in looking for talent and looking at top level you will not find many with - in wingspann or in reach, but you will find shorter players with enormous wingspann and reach. The supertall with T-rex arms is not there anymore,, because where to head is in the air is not important compaired to where the arms are.

Example from NBA in Kevind Durrant, he is 6,9, but has a wingspan of 7,5 player that is huge in what makes him the player he is. Thats is somewhere around +18cm, if he had -18cm he wouldn`t be in NBA.

He is and old article of turkey development and how the started looking at i some years ago.
http://mirror.www.fiba.com/asp_includes/download.asp?file_id=480

Where i come from Sweden and in Denmark where I`m active right now I do believe most clubcoaches (in sweden usausally nationalteams coaches know) and player dont know their wingspann or reach, so how do the coaches know which players are most suitable for the higher levels?

Being short or shorter than most is not the end, but it maybe makes the possiblities less and instead of playing for the Los Angeles Lakers or Partizan Belgrad you might play for some other team.

Prove them wrong, dont give up, you can always become the best you can be and thats always good enough.

I became Sir Charles

Sir Charles Barkely was one hell of basketball player in his time and his number was 34 and on the 19th of july it was my team to be 34, but not on the jersey but in age.


I had a nice relaxing day and of course it had some basketball in it, with a meeting and a visit from sweden in Coach Richardson.

Otherwise I have vacation coming up on saturday and it will be nice, but summerpractice keeps going, but the attendence is like very up and down and right now many are away on holidays, so I go with the ones that are there. But this is very important still because, next summer there will automatically be more on the practices since they now about it.

Last practice there was also a talented womensplayer fron the club that right now play ball in the states in college and she asked if she could do some drills for her self on a side basket.

Of course a looked and it didn`take long before the individual coach in my was on high alert and of course I showed her and explained and said like listen to this, try this it will make sense and if you dont think so well dont do it again. If she changes it the future will tell I think so.....

Second clubsummerpractice

Damm, I guessed wrong we where 18 players today, but some where new and some cam also on the first practice. Still good and it was a good practice, BUT.....

Like I preached to my boys this season is how to practice, when practising.

Be a master of doing the drill or doing the drill get better, this is also what I have to preach a lot about now, since moste players they listen, do the drill, but not to get better just to do the drill and that is the same in every drill, gamesituation.

I`m trying to get them to see and understand the difference in doing the drill and doing the drill to get better. Its a huge difference that many players never learn since its has to be a pain in the ass coach preaching parrot to make them understand. While most coached are satisfied with the players doing the drill correctly but not the skill.

I ask a lot of Why`s and so far no kid has answered because I dont wanna get better, so the preacherman is preaching like no other.

Maybe some coaches will see changes in their players when season starts.

Was a little bit....

...nervous today, when it was time for the first club sommerpractice that I`m doing for alla players in the club. Normally after camp 2 here in hørsholm the gyms close and remain closed until normal times start again in begining of august.

I asked for times for my boys  team and got the answer NO the gyms are closed and I questioned that since we wanna develop elite players and well lets just say weather and outdoor courts is not something we are blessed with in nordic countries.

I said if somebody fixes so we can be in the gym I will hold 3 practices per week for all the kids in club and also older that wanna pratice.

The club listened and worked out a solution with the city of Hørsholm for this period in the summer.

Today was the first practice and since this is new I couldn`t guess how many that would come. Starting with something new and especially something that you have complained about to get is so much more fulfilling if its a success.

There came 24 players from born 01 to born 92 boys and girls and I think everybody enjoyed it. If there will be more than 24 in future practices that time will tell, but my guess is that there will be more.

On wednesday I know if my prediction is correct or not.

Had a blast anyway, to make a good practise for so many and with such a wide age range is something that makes my brain go in overdrive its stimulating and a challenge for me as a coach.

Proud as an rooster

Between the 2nd and 6th of july I was working in a camp here in Hørsholm with ages 97-99 practising and playing games between 09:00 and 18:30. Its hard work for the players but also for the coaches, but definitely worth it.

On the last day all of campers and coaches + parents and relatives gatter in the main gym where different prizes is handed out to the players. In all about 140 players this week on the camp and they where split up into 3 groups.

Euroleague
NCAA
NBA

They then get names of teams in that league, which they play as during the week. So games like Barcelona vs Partizan Belgrade is normal game in camp :-)

I hade many of my players from boys 98 on the camp and even more from my new team girls 98.
I think they where 22 of 28 at camp.

I have coached the boys for almost a year soon and standing there with the rest of coaches and seeing that so many of my boys got prizes, MVP`s, 3 point winner, coaches choice and more, just simply made me damm proud and to use old saying proud as rooster I was standing there waiting for camp to end.

What made me even prouder during the week was that several coaches said to me your boys has a tremendous work ethic. This is to my really big and that makes me even prouder.