11 Obstacles

One of the most disappointing aspects of coaching high school basketball was when a senior player left your program, and you as their coach, knew they never came close to reaching their potential. It is inevitable but certainly frustrating to see a player go through your level of play or even

through several years in your program and they do not become better more

skilled players. Why do some players improve their play from one year to

the next while others seem too plateau or even worse regress? Another one

of those coaching mysteries we struggle to find the answer(s) for.

I found this list of obstacles to reaching your potential somewhere a number of years ago. Unfortunately, I don't remember who originally created

this list, so I cannot give credit where credit is due!

11 Obstacles to Reaching Your Potential

1. Entitlement: Players don’t feel they need to earn success. They seem to feel they "deserve" success. Maybe it's because of their last name or because someone has told them frequently they are better than they really are. They think it will happen automatically based on tradition or last year’s success. Amazing how many obstacles are "attitude" related.

2. Arrogance: The "I am better than anyone else" attitude. You see this in some players who don't accept coaching very well. What do you mean I am

not playing hard enough? What's wrong with my shooting mechanics? What do you mean I am not in the correct defensive position? Arrogant people often become defensive when being instructed.

3. Selfishness: This attitude was a neon sign for me as a coach. I worked overtime emphasizing team over individual success. Our culture preaches

taking care of number 1 over the success of a group. These people seek

individual recognition. The warning light for me on my coaching dashboard

was a player who accepted the team losing easily IF they played well. Or

pouted if they played poorly but the team won!

4. Complacency: This is a real challenge for many coaches with teams that

lack depth. How do you motivate the top 5-7 players to continue to strive to

get better when they feel or believe no one else is good enough to take their

playing time? We had a slogan painted on our locker room wall .... "Good is

the enemy of great!" Players who lack the ability to see the biggest room in

their house is the room for improvement will never reach their potential.

5. Lack of Confidence: Insecure players will not take risks. Insecure players

often dwell on their limitations and do not see themselves capable of being

any better. The coach can crush these players by constantly pointing out

their mistakes. Players who lack confidence believe they are never going to

be good enough and if you cannot change that attitude they will more than

likely fulfill that prophecy.

6. Lack of Effort: Yes, you will find individuals who are lazy but I don't think

that is very common. Often players will not "push" themselves because they believe the extra effort just isn't worth it. Truth is all of your players

do not have the same goal of reaching their potential. Some players do not

handle the reality that life is not fair. Yes, some players have more natural

ability and yes, some players have more success with less effort than they

put into it. Can you convince them they are "cheating" on themselves and

ultimately hurting their team?

7. Lack of Trust: Players need to trust coaches. Coaches need to trust players. Players need to trust other players. Lack of trust on either side will create dysfunction and dissension and cause the entire ball of yarn to unwind.

8. Lack of Conditioning: It is a long season. If players run out of gas mid-way

through, they can’t finish the race! Teams need physical as well as

mental conditioning. Check your stats. Do some of your players often shoot

poorly the last ten minutes of the game? Do some of your players make most if not all their free throws until the last five minutes of the game? Physical conditioning can and should be accomplished during practice. Mental conditioning needs to be worked on as well. Yes, I had a few players

over the year, I did not want on the floor during the last 4 minutes of a tight

game. Good luck explaining that to parents as to why their child is not on

the floor during "crunch" time.

9. Lack of Commitment: Reaching your potential requires commitment on and off the court. Staying up late on your computer the night before a game or getting in academic trouble shows a severe lack of commitment. Do

your players work out on their own? Do they show up at summer practices and open gym opportunities. I always found it strange how some parents

claimed their child "loved the game" yet I seldom saw them in camp, or

at summer practices, or at open gym?

10. Lack of Leadership: Player lead teams are much more likely to be successful than coach lead teams. If your leaders model hard work and

commitment then the chances of others doing the same are increased.

11. Lack of Role Acceptance: Basketball is a team game. Every player on the

team, from the leading scorer to the last player on the bench, has a

specific role. For the team to reach its potential, every player on the team must know, accept and take pride in their role. *Every year the number of

division 1 basketball players that enter the transfer portal increases. Not

all of them, but many of them are looking to find a team that will meet their

needs and where they find a role they want.

You of course could add or expand on any of these obstacles. Nothing seems to be more common than players who fail to reach their potential.

The problem with some young players is they are young players. They lack

the maturity to understand they may run out of time and graduate before

they understand how good they might have been. Nothing much sadder

for a coach to talk about a former player by starting out with words such

as "could have," "should have," or "might have been."

If you as the coach, in any way, favor one or more of your players you may

be contributing to one of the 11 obstacles listed above. I have stated this

before but I will say it again. We NEVER posted individual statistics during

the season. At the end of the season, when we sat down to go one on one

with our players and evaluate them we would include their cumulative

statistics over the course of the season. During post game comments,

I tried to recognize those who contributed to the team effort by playing

great defense, or coming off the bench and giving the team a spark or

someone who had done a great job rebounding. I NEVER MADE A BIG DEAL

ABOUT WHO SCORED FOR US. The players all know who scored and who

didn't. The leading scorers are fulfilling a role they are suppose to fill in

order for the team to be successful. Why not acknowledge the person

with the most assists or who did a great job screening? I wanted our

players hat size to remain within the normal range!