Excerpts from an upcoming basketball blog post on "Transparency."
I believe in transparency. When an old guy coaches young girls is there another rational choice?
I'm not a professional coach. Although I coached in a small community (less than 30,000) for about twenty years, I was only the 'head coach' for six, two groups of 6th-8th graders, 25 players total. Two are playing NCAA D1 Women's Basketball.
Parents were welcome at practice, pre- and post-game meetings. Few actually attended. I sent regular emails about their child's progress and areas for improvement.
From a review of Adam Grant's "Think Again"-
"By admitting some of their imperfections out loud, managers demonstrated that they could take it—and made a public commitment to remain open to feedback. They normalized vulnerability, making their teams more comfortable opening up about their own struggles. Their employees gave more useful feedback because they knew their managers were working to grow. That motivated managers to create practices to keep the door open: they started holding “ask me anything” coffee chats, opening weekly one-on-one meetings by asking for constructive criticism, and setting up monthly team sessions where everyone shared their development goals and progress."
Few parents openly complained. Absence of public criticism doesn't mean a lack of criticism. Nor does it invalidate complaints.
Along with transparency, I have additional beliefs:
1) In a developmental (before high school) setting, playing time should "generally" be more equal than not. I worked to get every player in twice each half. Balancing stronger players with less talented kept games more competitive, though guaranteeing nothing.
2) Never discuss another parent's child in a discussion with parents.
3) Anger never presents a good look. To paraphrase, "it's like drinking poison and expecting someone else to die."
4) Use some variation of the "24 Hour Rule" or "Lincoln's Hot Letters," never signed and never sent. Allow cooler heads to prevail.
5a) Transparency includes writing. Everyone got a packet about program philosophy and guidelines. For example, if a player can't attend for whatever reason, let me know. Investing time creating lineups that go out the window with absence is frustrating.
5b) Nothing went to parents on stone tablets.
6) Herb Welling, basketball savant, told me once, "if you get that generational player (which rarely happens), you have to take care of her."
Yes, the future valedictorian, McDonald's All-America nominee didn't get treated the same as others. And I have no regrets.
Lagniappe 2. Wisdom from an NBA and Olympic champion. Repost.
“The biggest thing I learned in San Antonio..
— PGC Basketball (@PGCbasketball) November 9, 2024
.. Simple Wins Games”
Some great knowledge in here from an NBA Champ & Gold Medalist pic.twitter.com/4jZ71LQMKe
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