The AMBA Coaches Handbook is a series of links to coaching websites as well as some of our own information regarding coaching in Airdrie and the surrounding area. Towards the bottom we have added basketball clinics and camps that are in the area. This will be an ongoing project so please return to see it's progress and new items added for the coaches. Thanks!
Weekly Schedule:
Weekly Schedule postings will resume in September
2010 Volunteer Awards:
Mini Coach: Kelly Wilson
Bantam Coach: Marc Barber
Midget/Juvenile/Junior Coach: Peter Miller
Spirit Award: Lana Cicko
Board Member: Scott McCormick
Long Service Award: Ann Marie Urdal
Volunteer Extrodinaire: Lily Sadler. Lily has also been nominated for the City of Airdrie Volunteer of the Year Award by the AMBA.
Coaches Resources: Dave Love NBA Shooting Coach - Dave Love put on the AMBA Shooting Clinic 2009/10/23 and 2009/10/24.
Coaching Books from Human Kinetics - Some of the best coaching books available. Highly recommended and available through their website as well as Amazon.com and Chapters.
Better Basketball.com - Basketball videos both personal training and coaches teaching videos.
Coaches Website Links: Coach Like a Pro - Website full of coaching links to playbooks, drills, advice. Has an email newsletter that you can sign up for.
Coaches Clipboard - This is the American site and not the Coaches Clipboard newsletter run by Basketball BC. This site is full of animated plays, diagrams and resources for a coaching staff. Need to find a blank court diagram? This is the site!
Coaches Clipboard - This is the site run by Basketball BC. Each issue of the newsletter includes interviews with coaches, set play diagrams and other special guests. Great read and a nice place to start building up your own book of plays and drills.
And Finally: Best Coaching Gifts.com - Want to say thank you to the coach? Great ideas for every team!
Learn from one of the best - An Interview with Pat Summitt of the University of Tennessee. Coach Summitt is the winningest coach in NCAA History and now has 7 NCAA National Titles to her credit. Including the 2007 Title!! More wins than legends like Coach John Wooden, Coach Dean Smith and Coach Bobby Knight!
Coaching Tips Do your parents work for you, or against you?
Below is an article that I give to all my parents at the beginning of the season. I
think it lays the foundation for our relationship with each other for the remainder
of the season.
1. Please don't shout advice to your player during the game. Shout encouragement?
You bet. A steady stream of technique suggestions, though, has no value. Your
insightful tips may conflict with my instruction.
2. Please don't harass the refs. Parents that loudly harass the referee are
embarrassing to the player and the team.
When a parent makes a spectacle of himself at a game, the player is embarrassed. If
the ref is being reamed by a parent for a bad call (by definition, a bad call is any
decision made against the parent's child), what does the player learn? He learns
that the mistake wasn't his fault. It was the result of poor officiating. This is a
bad habit to get into.
Don't encourage your child to place the blame for their failures upon others. One of
the benefits of playing sports is learning to accept responsibility instead of
making excuses.
Sometimes a call is hard to take for whatever reason. Such times are tests of
emotional control. If a player can learn to bite his lip and move on, a parent can
learn to sit quietly for a moment and let the emotion pass. Learning to cope with
disappointment is a valuable life skill.
3. Don't blame the coach for your child's problems or lack of playing time. Your
child's struggles to succeed are your child's problems. Let him work them out
without your interference. A player has every right to ask a coach what needs to be
done to earn more playing time, for example. But a parent stepping in to demand
playing time is another thing altogether.
4. Please don't talk bad about the coach in front of your child. The worst thing a
parent can do is take pot shots at the coach, criticizing decisions, and complaining
about his leadership. Support the coach and stand behind his decisions.
5. Please don't razz the other team's players. The other team's players should be
considered off limits. Yelling at or deriding someone else's child is a shameful
practice for an adult at a sporting event. Parents who intend to disrupt, distract
or upset players exhibit the worst of poor sportsmanship.
As a parent, be involved in a positive way. Attend your child's games as often as
you can. Cheer for all the kids on the team. Help with fund raising. Assist with
logistics. If you're not sure how to help, ask the coach.
There is probably a hundred ways to be a good team member and a good parent at the
same time. When the larger definition of team is working well, the experience can be
wonderful for everyone involved. People who see our program in action will want to
be a part of it. Parents looking ahead to when their child will be old enough to
participate will want to fit in and help. This kind of teamwork perpetuates itself.
Once it gets momentum, it can be quite a force. It just takes parents who care.
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BASKETBALL COACHING TIPS FROM DICK BENNETT SR
Former Head Coach of Washington St.
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"Most of my learning and philosophy regarding coaching basketball was developed
after great frustration." -- Dick Bennett
"What does this program/ team need this week?" -- Dick Bennett
"What you specifically teach is what your players will do best." -- Dick Bennett
"Practice to beat the best." -- Dick Bennett
"We teach offense 5-0/ 5-5 (whole method) and defense by part (1-1/ 3-3)." -- Dick
Bennett
"For us to be successful on defense, we must get back and stop the basketball,
eliminate easy baskets, keep the ball out of the lane, and bother the shooters." --
Dick Bennett
