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The Perks of Writing for Championship Productions
By Coach Randy Brown

One of my ongoing projects puts me in front of the latest basketball DVD's. My job is to review each presentation and write an ad for the product that highlights the key elements of the DVD. What a job for a hoop junkie, huh?

Today I'm watching a bunch of new, upcoming products. DVD's by Ben Braun, Billy Gillespie, John Brady, Seth Greenberg, Steve Smith, and Lorenzo Romar sit on my desk. These will soon be available for purchase through Championship Productions, the world leader in sports instructional books, video and DVD's.

This is worthy of mention for this reason. I'm constantly amazed at how consistently I hear these great coaches say, "This is an easy game that coaches tend to make complicated." The game of basketball has an endless supply of philosophy, drills, schemes, and plays. Like music where no two songs are ever the same, the game can be presented in a million different ways. This is what makes it a great game!

I challenge you to look at your system and ask yourself these questions:

--Do I teach a simple game or a complicated game, from a coaching standpoint?
--Do I teach a simple game or a complicated game, from my players standpoint?
--Is my philosophy written down in detail, down to the last reverse pivot? If not, why not?
--How many drills do I teach and do I teach too many or not enough?
--Can I teach a skill with two drills instead of 11 different ones?
--Can you explain the game of basketball so simply that a foreigner, having never seen a game, could clearly understand?
--Could your assistant coaches verbally mirror your philosophy, terminology and X and O catalog? --Is it really a simple game or not?
--Are you organized in terms of basketball information? In other words, could you find those great baseline out of bounds plays you wrote down at a clinic four years ago? (More on this later.....I'm a huge believer in being an "organized coach.")
--Do you have a mentor or someone who will directly challange your thinking in terms of the game and your lifestyle? If the answer is no, how do you spot your weaknesses, insecurities, and flawed thinking?

That is a lot to think about, but each question represents key components to you becoming the best coach you can be.

If you would like to answer some of these questions and send them to me, I would love it. I promise that I will read each one and return my feedback to you. If you can honestly answer each of these questions, you are on your way to becoming a GREAT coach.

The ultimate goal is to present a solid philosophy in a way that young players can "see it"and "understand it". More importantly, by understanding what you are teaching, they will be able to "execute it" in practice and later in the game! That's what coaching is all about!