» Cut up the Boxes by Micah Lancaster

Cut up the Boxes by Micah Lancaster

Posted by Micah Lancaster at 11:34 am

The word “coach” was derived from the term used for a horse and carriage. A coach was the vehicle in which brought people from one destination to another. I don’t want to be negative, but it may be time that many basketball coaches in this country come to terms with the root of this word. A coaches job is to take each player from one place to another place. The problem is many coaches, if not most, have merely focused on taking only the team from one place to the next. In this context, the TEAM, TEAM, TEAM approach can become a negative!

More often than not – a poor coach is a box coach.

A box coach is a coach who makes a choice, whether purposely or unknowingly, to put their players in a box with the expectation that they stay in that box. Don’t practice one handed passes, only shoot floaters at the rim, don’t train to shoot the 3 ball, and so on. They give players ONLY’s and DON’ T’s. This results in a couple of choices that a player must make. It makes each player choose to fall into one of two categories. On one hand, they can choose to be a coachable player who allows themselves to be placed in a box. Or they can decide to ride a thin line of being both coachable and uncoachable. Why do they have to make that choice? Because if they truly are to listen to their coach, they would actually be choosing to limit their own potential.

Do we really want to force our athletes to choose the team that much over self, that they would actually forfeit their God-given potential and ability as individuals?

THE COACH

Several years ago, when I first began as a skill development trainer, I came across a player with great potential. He was a 6’6 three-point specialist at a NCAA Division II university. I was immediately intrigued by his untapped abilities. Here was a phenomenal three-point shooter with good size and great leaping ability, but he could only handle the ball at an average level. He could not play with his back to the basket and he could not put the ball on the floor to attack the rim. He couldn’t even pull up for a mid-range jump shot. Although he could shoot the three-ball, his athleticism went unused.

So I went to Mike and offered him my services. “Let’s get you to be able to take the ball to the basket, let’s get you the ability to stop on a dime and hit the mid-range jump shot, let’s get you the skills needed to play in the high post – turning over either shoulder and knocking down jumpers. Let’s expand your game!”

Here was the problem. Mike actually wanted to improve those areas but explained to me that his coach would not allow him to practice those things. An actual rule – he could not practice anything but his spot-up shooting! I, of course, thought he had to have misunderstood his coach’s wishes, because this was a coach I had known for several years.

But when I finally caught up the this coach, his answer was scary, “Why would I have my shooter focus on his weaknesses when he could be maximizing his strengths!!??” Here I was just getting my start as a new skill trainer in the game of basketball, thinking innocently that people thought the same way I did. I have since realized that this unbelievable philosophy is actually prevalent in the minds of many American coaches.

This is the philosophy. That if a coach can only assemble enough players on their team that are all great at specific tasks, eventually they would have a TEAM ready to compete. My questions is this: What can be said to the players that come to these programs wanting to become the best players they can be?

THE PLAYER

Now let’s look at how Mike handled this situation. See, Mike had made the decision to be coachable. He decided that if he was coachable and did what his coach said, he might be able to get some decent playing time in college, and his team might even win in college (it didn’t). But what happened to Mike’s dream of playing professional basketball overseas? It had to die. There’s no way he could have taken his game to the level it needed to be…that is if he were to remain coachable!

It is this decision that so many coaches are constantly forcing their players to make. Are they going to choose to listen and risk their personal goals and missions? Or will they refuse to be coached in that way and risk being labeled an “uncoachable” player?

I believe more often than not, the players who succeed individually in today’s game are the players who refuse to be coached in boxes. They are the ones who reach their goals. They are the box-cutters. At Ganon Baker Basketball, we have found success in skill development for three main reasons – we give players solutions instead of exclusions, options rather than limitations, and a future instead of a present. Our players can find success in all systems and all programs, because we never place a box around their skills! And it’s time for us all to cut up the boxes!!!