Jody Conradt Keynote Address

4/27/2012

Below are some notes I took from Coach Conradt's keynote address at A Step Up coaching symposium in Dallas this weekend. Watch for much more A Step Up information over the next few weeks!


This is a PROFESSION; teach one, reach one- each one.

Coaching is not just recruiting; what's most important is being a student of the game; setting your self apart and rising above. Coaching is

Contribute or Contaminate

Easy enough: you're either contributing or your contaminating the practice court. Great video.

A great tip when preparing for opponents

I heard this from Nikki Caldwell (LSU):

During practice when you are running your opponent's offense and reviewing individual players' tendencies, keep it simple...

Green Jersey = shooter
Red Jersey = driver
White Jersey = all-around

This is a simple trick that can have a great effect. It can be a challenge to explain to your team that Susie is your opponent's #23 and she is a left handed kid

Is your coaching style adaptable to the new generation?

Here's a simple fact with huge effects: you cannot coach today's kids the same way you coached a team 10 years ago. Are you making the adjustment?

Below are 5 characterizations from the article The Most Technologically Advanced Yet by Sherry Posnick-Goodwin that pinpoints how today's "Generation Z", "Generation @" or "iGeneration" cohorts (generally born between 1991-2001) experience the world

Vic Shaefer's talk at the Final Four

Below are some notes I took when Texas A&M Assistant Coach Vic Schaefer spoke at the WBCA Convention at the Final Four last year (the day his Aggies won the National Championship!).

-Assistants and Head Coaches can agree to disagree...but, when you disagree, it should be about what we think is best for the program or team.

-The Head Coach should talk to parents about intangibles, but let the

Making & Breaking Habits

 The hard must become habit.  The habit must become easy.  The easy must become beautiful.  ~Doug Henning
We are all creatures of habit; basketball players are no different.

Using the left hand on the left side of the backboard...applying ball pressure...sprinting the lanes...boxing out. All of these are habits that can be established or demolished.

Coaches get frustrated when players

Culture beats strategy...All day long!

How Do You Weigh Strategy, Execution, and Culture in an Organization's Success? -Article from Harvard Business School by Jim HeskettStrategy, execution, and culture: Do we have our priorities right? 
"An outstanding strategy weakly executed will always be trumped by a weak strategy with outstanding execution.
What if you had a plan to be president of the USA? You could have a perfect plan. A

Communication: Do they know what to say?

A thought occurred to me last night after watching a great, high energy practice: we preach communication, and there was a lot of 'talk' during our practice, but do the kids know what to say?

For example, when moving from one drill to the next, there was a lot of “Let’s Go” or “Keep it up ladies”. That’s talk....and talk is better than silence...but is an even better communication something like

10 Proven Teaching Methods for Coaches (Part 2 of 2)

 from Winning Hoops March/April 207

6. Effective Motivation
Find something positive to say ti every athlete at every practice. This satisfies the athlete's need for attention, recognition and appreciation. Be specific with your praise- specific praise is used to reinforce the "WHY" of pracitce. Always attempt to find more positives than negatives while constantly praising effort.

7. The Hoopla

10 Proven Teaching Methods for Coaches (Part 1 of 2)

"Productive coaches spend 75% of their time teaching the sport to their players and the other 25% of the time coaching."

1. Understand Your Passion For Basketball...First.
Before jumping into coaching, coaches first must understand their passion for the game. Having a high level of passion for basketball tremendously influences your energy, creativity and ability to motivate players. Passion is

4 "MUST HAVES" in Your Drill Work

1. Weak Hand Development2. Footwork and balance emphasis3. Playing through contact4. Contesting shots
-Kevin Eastman

The Theory of Two

It takes 2 minutes to show you a new skill.It takes 2 weeks of practicing the skill before you are comfortable.It takes 2 months of consistent practice and execution before it is "game ready".

Rebounding & Defensive Balance

While on offense, your players know what to do- they have plays to execute and patterns to run. When a shot is rebounded by the opposing team, your players know what to do- they sprint back in transition, protect the hoop and match up defensively. But what do your players do when your team takes a shot and the ball is in the air? 


I'm a huge proponent that rebounding balance leads to defensive

Tex Winter: Essentials of Coaching

 Read this post on another great blogger's website. Enjoy!





What makes Tex Winter so great is that his principles regarding the game of basketball remain true no matter what era. Because of his principles, he was able to remain influential as a coach his entire career which was over 50 years. Here are Tex Winters Essentials of Coaching:




A. The answer to success in coaching does not

You haven't taught until they have learned...

The title of this post is from a book by the same title written by John Wooden. I hope you enjoy this post because I think it's one of the most important ones I've put up here!

When I was getting my Master's Degree in Education, I did a project focusing on the different ways that people learn. Essentially there are 3 groups:

1) Visual learners
2) Auditory learners
3) Kinesthetic learners

Practice makes perfect? NO.

From Tom Buchanan...an accomplished author, photographer, sky diving and snow boarding instructor, world traveler and a good friend.

The secret is in developing the proper technique first.

Practice doesn't make perfect. Practice makes permanent. Perfect practice makes perfect permanent.

Quote of the Day:

Repetition leads to habit which leads instinct. This is known as "the third law of learning." You must first develop the proper technique. Begin with knowledge, apply that to technique, and follow up with repetition. Only through repetition will good technique become habit. Only through even more repetition will habit become instinct. The difference between habit and instinct is

Coaching vs. Teaching

Following up on today's quote, below is an excerpt from an article written by former Duke basketball player and current ESPN analyst Jay Bilas on the difference between "coaching" and "teaching" basketball.

Generally, "coaching" consists of team preparation, the devising of game plans and
schemes to defeat opponents. When you are coaching, you are dealing with strategies,
different offenses and