The Basketball Podcast: EP347 with Vincent Minjares on Elevating Sports Coach Development

Vincent Minjares Quotes:

“How do we actually do good coach development? . .  I think that this conversation shifts the tone. It’s more about what’s the responsibility of coaches themselves to their own learning and development. But more importantly, how do the organizations, the institutions, the governing bodies and the school districts and so forth really come together to create an environment where coaches can be systematically grown in ways that align with what good coaching is?”

“You have to have the infrastructure to develop to implement them. You need to have the know-how around coaching and your community to make them a reality. It’s the kind of thing that I think a strong coaching nation has, which is a sort of degree of standards for the kinds of coaches that we want and acts as a bit of a quality control mechanism to make sure that the folks who are progressing through the system have met some benchmarks.”

“I would encourage folks to take a look at the National Coach Survey which was a survey that Ohio State University researchers administered. We worked with them and Nike and Susan Crown Exchange to have this thing developed. We intuitively know that in a lot of coaching, you’re on an island. And one of the issues that we have with being on an island by yourself and not having support or being evaluated is that you’re not getting feedback, you’re not getting guidance, you’re not getting insight.”

“We need to set it up in the beginning as a sort of non-confrontational, low stakes observation where the goal is learning and improvements, much like what we would tell our team if we were filming them and having that conversation. I think if you want coaches to buy into the process, I think that’s important.”

“There is a question as to what extent is the observation connected to an established coaching approach, style, philosophy? Is that your philosophy? So, I know there’s a strong argument for coaches actually designing the observational instrument themselves and giving it to someone and having them review it.”

“I think [it is helpful] the more that these things are transparent. Why are we doing this? What are we looking at and why? And then how are we using the information, let’s be clear before how we might use that, what the goals would be of that.”

“We’re in a real void of coaches having their own development plans. A coach should have a development plan. A coach should have a pathway to growth in the areas of their coaching approach that includes the goals that they set for the program, the way they shape the environment, the way they prepare for competition and obviously practice design, but also how they resolve conflict and how they learn.”

“If you think about something like shot selection . . is shot selection purely a technical/tactical problem or is shot selection a social, cultural, team climate problem that we have? That requires a different set of skills for coaches to really work on. How am I communicating with my team around this tactical problem and am I viewing this as simply a data dissemination piece or am I viewing this as I’m not connecting with my lead guards in the way that I need to?”

“For coaches who are looking for an entry point or a place to really understand how to create a culture where my players feel like they’re supported, they’re cared for, they’re looked after, but also a culture of really playing to your personal best . . I think tapping into and understanding the way that young people engage in self-talk, the way that young people make sense of mistakes, the way that young people are worried about outcomes or thinking about what success is in this context [is an area where] I think coaches . . need to get better at their ability to understand the psychology of players.”

“We know from the survey findings that helping kids navigate social media is an area of real concern among coaches. It’s the number one least confident area of coaching from our survey.”

“It’s really on coaches and to a degree the people who support them to say I’m going to continue to prioritize these [relational issues]. I am going to sacrifice a certain amount of time that I normally might spend running an inbounds play or preparing for a particular pattern in an opponent and am actually going to spend more time connecting with my athletes or addressing core issues in how we communicate and how we resolve conflict together.”

“To what extent are the organizations who support coaches creating opportunities for coaches to come together and connect and feel supported with peers and by their organization? The easiest thing you can do, the most taken-for-granted piece, is hosting watch parties, bringing people together around food, creating end of season, early season social opportunities. I think it’s really crucial because coaching, you’re on an island, you can often feel alone. You need to connect with other coaches.”

“The next piece is more asking ourselves to what extent are organizations working, helping coaches with flexibility of practice and competition and season design? With women coaches or folks who are in a position where they have a lot going on at home, can we be flexible in practice scheduling? Can we be flexible in helping folks with childcare? Can we be flexible in the responsibilities that we design for coaches?”

“We need coach developers in this country. I think that coach developers, as a profession, is something that is fundamentally under-appreciated because we’ve never had it. A coach developer is a person whose job is to provide on the job support, access to education programming that helps coaches on the ground. Now, some coaches would be like, ‘I don’t need somebody in the back of my ear helping me.’ Coach developers are especially important for new and incoming coaches, which is part of our larger recruitment question and our supply of quality coaches question.”

“They [coach developers] are certainly playing a larger role in supporting the new coaches who come in to make sure they have a good first experience. They’re facilitating community among coaches. And then for coaches who are farther down the track, they’re working with them to say, ‘Hey, where do you want to go next? And how can we help you get to where you’re trying to go? Is it networking? Is it a specific kind of coach you want to be? You want to shadow or observe? Can we help you do that?’ A lot of coaches are on their own to do these things. And I think we could do more to actually create this infrastructure.”

“Coach development is an ongoing process, whereas coach education is more of your kind of participation or formal course or program. Sometimes there’s some of this organic stuff built into [education] programs, but I think broadly what we’re saying is a coach developer is a person who works with you over time to help you continue to grow as a coach. It’s someone you trust, it’s someone who has knowledge that you value, and it’s someone who makes you feel safe to reflect, to be vulnerable about what you’re struggling with.”

“Coaches are adults. From an adult learning perspective, we need to be more cognizant that they have prior experiences that are going to shape the way in which they’re interpreting what you’re presenting. Give them a chance to make sense of what’s happening, assimilate it into their knowledge or accommodate it and then reflect on how they might do this with their team. This kind of active learning is essential for recall, retention and ultimately implementation.”

“We’ve seen that from high performance teams like the All Blacks and many other international elites that are saying, ‘We’re focused on doing our personal best, controlling what we can control’ And that these are messages that are actually good for our well-being and also really good for performance.”

“If you look at the functions of a coach, the first thing that they do is set the vision which, when you really unpack that, means let’s help athletes define success. What is success in our team this year? What is success for you as a player this year in this season? And I think that this is really getting into questions of goal orientation, questions of motivational climate. Because ‘set the vision’ is then followed by ‘shape the environment.’  So if we say, ‘We want to have fun this year, we’ll get better as a team. We want to compete at our very best.’ Let’s frame this experience in ways that meet them where they are and help them get better.”

“Be clear on what growth is. We’re not talking about just pure warm and fuzzies. Let’s be very clear on what growth is. Like, ‘I really want to see you use your left hand more. I really want to see you take fewer contested shots and more catch and shoot threes. I really want to see you be able to apply pressure consistently on the ball.’ I’m going to push you, but do your best at it and you’re not going to get it right every single day. But I want you trying.”

Vincent Minjares Breakdown:

Vincent Minjares Selected Links from the Podcast:

Vincent Minjares
Susan Crown Exchange
National Coach Survey