Shyam K.

As a New York City high-school and middle-school basketball coach, I learned how to motivate and inspire young athletes while planning precise practices that placed a premium on skill development and basketball IQ. I coached JV and MS teams at a 6-12 school with a highly successful varsity team (WHEELS, which was 2014 A Division City Champions and placed in 2015 AA Elite Eight), which exposed me to the needs of highly proficient athletes (some of whom were Division 1 level players). At the same time, it was a small school, which meant the bottom of the bench featured students who were interested in the game but lacking in skills, athleticism, or both. Understanding the needs of each type of student-athlete and blending them into a cohesive team (making the playoffs with both MS and JV teams in multiple seasons) was a unique challenge and one that has shaped my understanding of coaching.

My athletic accomplishments are few. However, I am a diehard pickup baller, probably playing 8-10 hours a week in NYC from the spring to the fall. I'm hoping to find a comparable park scene in Cali!

I've evolved a 'whole-game' approach to coaching basketball, which blends skills instruction with tactical awareness. For skills, I believe isolated practice is only partially useful. For the skill to truly stick, the student must build confidence and automaticity. Overloading the athlete, making the movement more difficult than it would be in the game, helps greatly with this. For example, ball-handling drills using tennis balls, balloons, or multiple basketballs make complex moves with one basketball seem easy in comparison. Shooting with a larger basketball builds accuracy, as there is less room for error. Even with all this practice, it can be a struggle to transfer these new skills into a game. Using a skill in a game context involves making 'reads'; which skill is appropriate to use at what moment? I would blend the skill instruction with changing cues that allow the student to 'read' the situation. Which way is the defender playing him or her? Where is the help defense situated? What passes would open up with a drive? When is it best to shoot? Is a mid-range pull-up jump shot more appropriate than a drive to the rim?
For a more fully fleshed out example, take the development of scoring moves from the perimeter. First, we would work on the move without defense. We'd take into account the presence of a second defender and modify the move. Let's say a crossover going right from the left wing, getting to the middle, and shooting a floater over the second defender coming to help. Then we'd work on a countermove going left from the same starting position. Once the ball-handling and shooting mechanics are close to being unconscious, we can add a defender or two to simulate game conditions. Now the moves have to be responses to what the defense is doing. This builds up the understanding of both the technique and the reasoning behind the technique. I hope to build complete basketball players through this approach: both skilled and intelligent.