Successful Basketball Coaching

Sasa Cvetkovic identifies a few necessary skills to make you a useful basketball coach at any level.

Have you been hired for a coaching job? Or have you just been handed your daughter's little league team and wished good luck? Coaching can be daunting, but we have compiled a list of proven techniques that can make a world of difference in how well you connect with your players and how much effort you can get out of them. It only takes a few basic skills that can make you a very effective coach at any level.

Winning Attributes

These attributes are passed on from the coach to the team, and if fully embraced, they will produce winners.

Respect

A coach and his players do not have a team if they cannot respect one another. All they have is a collection of guys/girls.

Attitude

A mean-spirited or controlling coach gives off a dark vibe, and this negative energy affects athlete motivation.

Competitiveness

Look in the mirror, and your competition will be staring back at you. A good coach competes against other coaches and teams, while a great coach competes against herself.

Set the bar high -- When practice is a bear, real games become easier by comparison
Always “play up” -- In practices, scrimmages, and even tournaments, look to play teams that are slightly better than yours.
Individual challenge -- Give each player a set of goals that fit within the larger team framework. For example, "Darcie's a 48% free-throw shooter. Her goal is to hit above 50% consistently."

Passion

Passion ir separates the coaches who make the playoffs from the ones who compete for the championship. A coach who puts his whole self into his work with zest brings out the passion in the ones he coaches.

Teamwork

A team is greater than the sum of its parts. Together, a team is capable of far more than anyone, and the teams who buy into that togetherness concept are usually the teams with the best records.

Connectivity

Your ability to make that heart connection is more than just having good communication skills. It means caring enough about your players that you touch their core and soul. This is what makes them work ten times harder for you than anyone else.

Winning Coach

A coach's attributes are integral to her ability to lead in and out of the game. The following coaching qualities are found in all successful coaches.

Philosophy

The most successful leaders in any field usually think deeply about their profession. They have spent ages learning and perfecting their craft by reading and rubbing their shoulders with the great ones.

Vision

Get a strong vision of what you want from yourself and your team in terms of personal goals and team goals. Anything you can see, you can be.

Know the way -- The coach should know what he expects of his team and what it takes to get them to that level.
Show the way -- A coach should have a concrete plan to take them there.
Go the way -- A coach must actively lead the team to fulfil their goals.

Preparation

Games are won before any team even steps on the court/field/track. If you fail to prepare, then prepare to fail.

Detail-oriented

The best coaches plan with meticulous attention to detail. Very little escapes their notice because the cumulative things make the team excellent or average.

Communication

Strong communication skills are one of the most important attributes or skills a coach can have.

Listening -- We talk with our mouths but hear with our ears and hearts.
Emphasizing -- Your focus communicates your priorities. Players know when you care about their needs by what you make important.
Speaking -- What you say is sometimes not as powerful as how you say it.

Passion

Passion shows that a coach cares about his team, its destiny, and its individuals.

Information

A team cannot operate efficiently without information regarding plays, roles, expectations, etc. Knowledge, properly applied, is power. The best teams are the most knowledgeable about the game, its little ins and outs, and how the sport is played.

Discipline

The better a coach teaches discipline, the more disciplined the players are. They teach best by withholding what they want until they attain what is required.

Delaying gratification

It becomes more vital to a player as he seeks to become a champion.

Refusing to react -- Little irritants will get under the skin. Immaturity reacts.
Choosing to respond -- Those same irritants are a blessing in disguise because they help a player become mature. Maturity responds.

Patience

It is one of the most overlooked and underrated qualities. A coach must know when not to push or when to bide his time, knowing that victory, or even improvement, is around the corner.

Connectivity

Coaches must learn to be locked into their players in a way that inspires and shows that they care. Connectivity is being clued into what players want, need, and are trying to communicate.

Winning Strategies

These strategies can be used immediately for tremendous success and effectiveness in coaching any sport, regardless of age.

Mastery

Training -- Players need to feel competent on the court. Training helps them feel as if they can contribute to a winning cause.
Conditioning -- Training is not easy if you are not in shape. A fit team is a fighting team.
Networking -- A wise coach will introduce her players to new ways of thinking and doing things, including partnering with coaches and teams outside their field to learn and teach others.

Feedback

It makes no sense to have a good plan, communicate it well, and then not give your players enough immediate information about their performance so they can improve or keep doing what they are doing.

Immediate -- An effective coach does not wait for bad habits to form but prevents them from ever happening.
Direction-focused -- A coach who gets results does not just hand out negative comments about performance but follows it up with what the player should be doing.
Results-oriented -- Successful coaches are not always positive, but even their criticism is results-focused, not esteem-crushing. ex. "Shooting like that will get your shot blocked. Here, elevate your arm, like this."
Generalize -- We believe that you should allow your players to become familiar with other positions. It helps when you can see your teammate's point of view. For a few plays, let your quarterback be the tight end and vice versa. Let your stretch four or even five bring the ball up the court.

Simplify

It is unnecessary to force-feed your players many complicated strategies and plays, which will likely be poorly executed. Work on a few simple ones that work well, drill them until they perform flawlessly, and tweak them from time to time.

Recovery

If you have worked your players well, they should be exhausted.

Give them time to cool down.
Allow them ample opportunity to hydrate. It should include time to replace lost electrolytes and minerals, which is crucial for optimal performance.
Provide for rest, as players who do not take time off are far more prone to injury.

Conclusion

To cap it off, we have focused on three essential components of successful coaching, broken down into simple steps. The first was winning attributes, which a coach instils into their players. They included respect, attitude, competitiveness, passion, and teamwork. Then we covered the personal qualities essential to a coach's success -- like philosophy, vision, preparation, communication, and discipline.

Next, we gave specific winning strategies that you can use right away to coach your team to success. These strategies have been used for many years by the most effective coaches in the game and include a mastery of the game, the plays, and the offence/defence. This mastery involves giving adequate and immediate feedback, to capitalize upon good habits and eliminate bad ones.

We gave strategies for helping your players execute well, including having them play at different positions to help them understand how their teammates' positions fit into the overall scheme of the game. This will make them versatile enough to continue to play well, even if they have to play a different position in a pinch.

Finally, we gave you some helpful tips for helping players recover from gruelling workouts. It included hydration, replacing lost minerals, and spending time recouping so the player could be at their best.

Page Reference

If you quote information from this page in your work, then the reference for this page is:

CVETKOVIC, S. (2019) Successful Basketball Coaching [WWW] Available from: https://www.brianmac.co.uk/articles/article422.htm [Accessed 14/5/2025]

About the Author

Sasa Cvetkovic is a Freelance Journalist who writes about various sports topics.

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Have you been hired for a coaching job? Or have you just been handed your daughter's little league team and wished good luck? Coaching can be daunting, but we have compiled a list of proven techniques that can make a world of difference in how well you connect with your players and how much effort you can get out of them. It only takes a few basic skills that can make you a very effective coach at any level. Winning Attributes These attributes are passed on from the coach to the team, and if fully embraced, they will produce winners. Respect A coach and his players do not have a team if they cannot respect one another. All they have is a collection of guys/girls. Attitude A mean-spirited or controlling coach gives off a dark vibe, and this negative energy affects athlete motivation. Competitiveness Look in the mirror, and your competition will be staring back at you. A good coach competes against other coaches and teams, while a great coach competes against herself. Set the bar high -- When practice is a bear, real games become easier by comparison Always “play up” -- In practices, scrimmages, and even tournaments, look to play teams that are slightly better than yours. Individual challenge -- Give each player a set of goals that fit within the larger team framework. For example, "Darcie's a 48% free-throw shooter. Her goal is to hit above 50% consistently." Passion Passion ir separates the coaches who make the playoffs from the ones who compete for the championship. A coach who puts his whole self into his work with zest brings out the passion in the ones he coaches. Teamwork A team is greater than the sum of its parts. Together, a team is capable of far more than anyone, and the teams who buy into that togetherness concept are usually the teams with the best records. Connectivity Your ability to make that heart connection is more than just having good communication skills. It means caring enough about your players that you touch their core and soul. This is what makes them work ten times harder for you than anyone else. Winning Coach A coach's attributes are integral to her ability to lead in and out of the game. The following coaching qualities are found in all successful coaches. Philosophy The most successful leaders in any field usually think deeply about their profession. They have spent ages learning and perfecting their craft by reading and rubbing their shoulders with the great ones. Vision Get a strong vision of what you want from yourself and your team in terms of personal goals and team goals. Anything you can see, you can be. Know the way -- The coach should know what he expects of his team and what it takes to get them to that level. Show the way -- A coach should have a concrete plan to take them there. Go the way -- A coach must actively lead the team to fulfil their goals. Preparation Games are won before any team even steps on the court/field/track. If you fail to prepare, then prepare to fail. Detail-oriented The best coaches plan with meticulous attention to detail. Very little escapes their notice because the cumulative things make the team excellent or average. Communication Strong communication skills are one of the most important attributes or skills a coach can have. Listening -- We talk with our mouths but hear with our ears and hearts. Emphasizing -- Your focus communicates your priorities. Players know when you care about their needs by what you make important. Speaking -- What you say is sometimes not as powerful as how you say it. Passion Passion shows that a coach cares about his team, its destiny, and its individuals. Information A team cannot operate efficiently without information regarding plays, roles, expectations, etc. Knowledge, properly applied, is power. The best teams are the most knowledgeable about the game, its little ins and outs, and how the sport is played. Discipline The better a coach teaches discipline, the more disciplined the players are. They teach best by withholding what they want until they attain what is required. Delaying gratification It becomes more vital to a player as he seeks to become a champion. Refusing to react -- Little irritants will get under the skin. Immaturity reacts. Choosing to respond -- Those same irritants are a blessing in disguise because they help a player become mature. Maturity responds. Patience It is one of the most overlooked and underrated qualities. A coach must know when not to push or when to bide his time, knowing that victory, or even improvement, is around the corner. Connectivity Coaches must learn to be locked into their players in a way that inspires and shows that they care. Connectivity is being clued into what players want, need, and are trying to communicate. Winning Strategies These strategies can be used immediately for tremendous success and effectiveness in coaching any sport, regardless of age. Mastery Training -- Players need to feel competent on the court. Training helps them feel as if they can contribute to a winning cause. Conditioning -- Training is not easy if you are not in shape. A fit team is a fighting team. Networking -- A wise coach will introduce her players to new ways of thinking and doing things, including partnering with coaches and teams outside their field to learn and teach others. Feedback It makes no sense to have a good plan, communicate it well, and then not give your players enough immediate information about their performance so they can improve or keep doing what they are doing. Immediate -- An effective coach does not wait for bad habits to form but prevents them from ever happening. Direction-focused -- A coach who gets results does not just hand out negative comments about performance but follows it up with what the player should be doing. Results-oriented -- Successful coaches are not always positive, but even their criticism is results-focused, not esteem-crushing. ex. "Shooting like that will get your shot blocked. Here, elevate your arm, like this." Generalize -- We believe that you should allow your players to become familiar with other positions. It helps when you can see your teammate's point of view. For a few plays, let your quarterback be the tight end and vice versa. Let your stretch four or even five bring the ball up the court. Simplify It is unnecessary to force-feed your players many complicated strategies and plays, which will likely be poorly executed. Work on a few simple ones that work well, drill them until they perform flawlessly, and tweak them from time to time. Recovery If you have worked your players well, they should be exhausted. Give them time to cool down. Allow them ample opportunity to hydrate. It should include time to replace lost electrolytes and minerals, which is crucial for optimal performance. Provide for rest, as players who do not take time off are far more prone to injury. Conclusion To cap it off, we have focused on three essential components of successful coaching, broken down into simple steps. The first was winning attributes, which a coach instils into their players. They included respect, attitude, competitiveness, passion, and teamwork. Then we covered the personal qualities essential to a coach's success -- like philosophy, vision, preparation, communication, and discipline. Next, we gave specific winning strategies that you can use right away to coach your team to success. These strategies have been used for many years by the most effective coaches in the game and include a mastery of the game, the plays, and the offence/defence. This mastery involves giving adequate and immediate feedback, to capitalize upon good habits and eliminate bad ones. We gave strategies for helping your players execute well, including having them play at different positions to help them understand how their teammates' positions fit into the overall scheme of the game. This will make them versatile enough to continue to play well, even if they have to play a different position in a pinch. Finally, we gave you some helpful tips for helping players recover from gruelling workouts. It included hydration, replacing lost minerals, and spending time recouping so the player could be at their best. Page Reference If you quote information from this page in your work, then the reference for this page is: CVETKOVIC, S. (2019) Successful Basketball Coaching [WWW] Available from: https://www.brianmac.co.uk/articles/article422.htm [Accessed 14/5/2025] About the Author Sasa Cvetkovic is a Freelance Journalist who writes about various sports topics. Cookies This website uses cookies placed by third-party services that appear on our pages. Cookies are used for ads personalisation. You consent to these cookies if you continue to use this website. The site does use Google ads and Google have published information about Google’s use of information.