Talking Split

Joined this week by the “other” Australian Basketball Podcast host this week, in Game Development Manager for Basketball Australia, Neil Gray. Basketball Australia and Sport Australia have been working on a coach mentoring program to assist coaches in their support and development as a new coach into the sport. We talk about some of the successes, some of the challenges and where the program can go from here.

We have gone international this week, as we are joined by Siale Bain-Vete from Tonga, and Marlene Lumabi from Northern Mariana Islands, who are the recipients of the Marty Handson Scholarship. We recap their experiences in basketball, and what the whirlwind fortnight of coaching development looked like for them.  The scholarship program was named after former head coach Marty Handson who passed away in 2016. Beyond being a great coach leading Victoria Country to its first Gold Medal, Marty was also strongly involved in the development of athletes and coaches across all levels of the basketball community. His dedication to this cause is recognized and respected within Basketball Australia and FIBA Oceania as he was traveling internationally to deliver programs, sessions, and clinics.

We are coming to the end of another season for juniors and seniors, and we explore what coaches need to focus on if there are no finals on the cards for your team, but also what you can try if the post season is a possibility for your group. We discuss end of season breakups, coaches gifts, and Zoe drops her best Coach Beard impression!

Seems like only yesterday that clubs were calling for coaching applications, but here we are again! We discuss how to work out which team to apply for, how to balance out your progression and what an interview might look like, and more importantly, how to be prepared for one!

Oil and Water, long two’s and winning games, referees and coaches. Some things just traditionally haven’t mixed well together over the years, so we dive a little bit deeper into how we can make a change as a coaching fraternity, to help bridge that gap.  We are joined by the man that is widely regarded as the best official Australia has produced, and who has done more for officiating in the country than anyone ever has or ever will - Bill Mildenhall. Bill takes as through what it’s like as a referee, and how we can find a better way to have a better experience for all involved. And some standard Mildenhall stories along the way!

Back again this week, where we get another of our volunteer coach shout outs (send those in if there is a coach you want to thank), and we discuss how we can look at recruiting, retaining and developing the coaches we have volunteering their time in the sport. Some advice for coaches on their behaviour and expectations, some advice for coordinators, some advice for parents, and some advice for administrators in this podcast.

One of the biggest things to remember as a coach, is that we coach the person and not the sport, and a lot of time where we break down is when delivering to our players. We look at how to make sure it’s not too confronting for our players, and how we receive feedback as a coach – we aren’t immune to receiving it ourselves as coaches!

We all know that basketball is the greatest sport in the world – it’s why we do it! But we do need to remember we are coaching people, and not the sport, so we know our players will have a heap of different interests. We discuss early specialisation, other sports and how they can relate to basketball, and why we don’t need to fear our players leaving Basketball to play them – our sport helps them more than any other!

Only big-time people get 2 runs on the podcast, and Kelsey Griffin is about as big time as they come! Kelsey returns to the podcast to talk through her career as a player, where she has enjoyed countless levels of success. Kelsey talks about how she likes to be coached, what she looks for in coaches, and Zoe puts her under the pump about getting involved with a Country Vic State team!  Apologies to everyone, and especially Kelsey for the audio quality on this one, will be fixed on the next podcast we promise!

Some people love doing it, some try their best to avoid the role, but the role of a Director of Coaching or Coaching Coordinator is one that a good deal of people don’t know much about until they have to do it themselves! We explore how to do the role whilst potentially juggling a job, how to find coaches, having consistency throughout a program and the balance of on court and admin work.