1. Vale Basketball academy Advancement/leadership course segment 1
AGENDA
Attitude: How to Turn off a High School or college coach
the importance of body language
Leadership: three key expectations of our leaders (and players)
Tip of the day

2. Attitude: The Importance of Body Language

3. Attitude: The Importance of Body Language (cont’d)
Our Expectations
1. Use Affirmative/Positive Gestures Or Words
Nod or acknowledge your coach with a “yes” after they finish speaking to you. If you don’t, I guarantee the coach walks away from that interaction having no idea whether you heard anything they said. A player responds in this simple way is viewed as much more coachable than the player that stares blankly and walks away, to say nothing of the player who pouts, rolls their eyes, or looks away.
2. A Strong Handshake
When you greet someone with a strong handshake you convey the message that you are confident and successful. A weak handshake sends the opposite message, you lack confidence and may be easily intimidated. Take your handshake seriously. You never get a second chance to make a first impression. I highly recommend players work on their handshake. Coaches, demonstrate what a good handshake looks and feels like. This is a skill that obviously transcends basketball and helps your players throughout their lifetime.
3. Eye Contact
Look your coach in the eye when they are speaking to you. We’re not talking about maniacally staring at them for two minutes straight, remember to blink and look away occasionally. Good eye contact lets your coach that you are receptive to their coaching and that you next time will try to do what they are asking. Poor eye contact sends the message that you aren’t interested in being coached.
4. Lock them Behind Your Back when Coach is Speaking
Don’t cross your arms when your coach is talking. Crossed arms send the message that you are not open to the communication coming from your coach. Let your arms hang freely by your sides and you’ll be seen as more receptive to coaching.
Our Expectations
5. Lean In
When you lean in towards your coach when they are speaking you give the impression that you are actively listening and waiting to hear what is coming next. In a loud gym during a time out it may help you to hear the coach better simply because you are closer to them.
6. Sit Up On The Bench
Look at that picture again. If you were the coach of that team and you looked down your bench for a sub to put in the game would you ever choose #1? That’s a bad look that no coach or teammate appreciates. Sit up and focus on the game. Pay attention to what’s going on out on the court, cheer for teammates, call out screens, shout reminders, but don’t pout or chill while sprawled out on the bench. No coach is going to see that and be impressed.
7. Stand Up Straight
A player that is slouched over and looks like they could melt into the ground during a big moment in a game does not instill confidence in their coach. Stand up straight so you look (and hopefully believe) like you belong out on the court.
8. Watch Your Facial Expressions
Many players often aren’t even aware of what their face is doing while they are listening to their coach critique their performance during a game or practice. Eye rolls, incredulous stares, or a pouting lower lip are all expressions that may be subconscious in some cases but are also destructive to your relationship with your coach. If you can get someone to film you during a coach-player interaction you may be surprised by what you see. If you don’t like it, change it!

4. Leadership: Three Key Expectations of our Leaders
1. Praise Your Teammates and Coaches
Praise is one of our most basic human needs, and when teammate does a good job, they should receive that from their leader and teammates. It doesn't need to be over the top; it can often just be a simple “way to go" or "well done." Praise is one of a leader's most powerful tools, yet too many use it too sparingly.
2. Provide Timely, Constructive Feedback (And never bark)
We all make mistakes, but criticism rarely helps to fix them—especially during the game.
What teams want is timely, constructive feedback. If the result is not what you expect, then let them know, but do it in a way that allows them to learn and improve, so that they will know how to avoid the mistake next time.
Most importantly—never bark at a teammate. It never works.
3. Always Stand Up for the Team
Too many leaders just throw their teams under the bus when things go wrong. But as the leader, when things go wrong you're still part of it, you can't just disassociate yourself from the failure. That doesn't mean you need to put your hands up and say, "My fault," but you should look to defend your team and protect them from criticism.
Leaders who do that will find that their teams will stand by them when things are not going well, but when they don't, their teams will leave them to struggle.