Joe L.

I am currently in my fourth year of coaching basketball. During my first year of coaching, I was the 7th Grade Girls coach at Whittier Middle School. The past 3 years, I have been the Head Freshman Coach at Norman North High School and Varsity assistant. I have also coached AAU basketball, working with the Oklahoma Wizards, the Norman Force, and Oklahoma Shock. I was awarded the Oklahoma Basketball Coaches Association Assistant Coach of the Year for District 5 in Oklahoma for the 2014-1015 season.

In high school, I played on the JV team as a freshman at Norman High School. The next 3 years I was a starter for the Varsity team and lettered all 3 years. I averaged 13 points a game during those 3 years and held the record for most 3 pointers made in a game (6), which has now been broken.

A typical workout session with me would go as follows: I usually start off with ball handling drills, working on touch, keeping eyes up, and technique. These drills consist of ball squeezes, ball slaps, figure 8 between legs, around the world, and others that get the player a good feel for the ball. After that, I have the client do stationary dribbling with 2 basketballs. Then, I have the client do 2 ball dribbling while moving, starting off slow and working to get faster, always forcing their eyes up and away from the ball. Once we are done with those, I start working with the client on whatever he/she needs to work on or requests that we work on. If it's up to me, I have the client work on "live ball moves", which include different ways to attack the basket and score. If a player needs to work on their shooting form, I start them close to the basket and have them do "killer shots," slowly moving them further from the basket and allowing them to use both hands (usually to the free throw line). It does not benefit a young shooter to shoot 3's if their form needs improvement. I also have plenty of passing drills, shooting drills, and defensive drills that can help a player improve their game.