The Journey of College Prep Italy's Coaching Team
Alex Sarama and the 2022/23 College Prep coaching staff discuss the mission and legacy of the College Prep Italy program.
37 min
0:0037:52
Alex Sarama and the 2022/23 College Prep coaching staff discuss the mission and legacy of the College Prep Italy program.
Keep listening while you explore. Your episode keeps playing as you browse other pages on this site.
In this episode, Alex Sarama and the 2022/23 College Prep coaching staff discuss the mission and legacy of the College Prep Italy program. They discuss a variety of topics from the importance of creating a transformational environment, the application of an ecological dynamics approach, and some of their favorite practice activities from the season.
The overarching theme is how Prep existed as a tool for continuous learning and experimentation. Alex, Dani, Jonas, Adam and Jon also provide some practical ideas as to how evidence-based approaches were practically incorporated at Prep.
Need help with ideas for your next practice? Our youth basketball practice book gives you 21 small-sided games which you can use instantly. Get your free copy here:https://transformingbball.com/21-ssgs-for-your-next-practice
هذا النص يتبع التسجيل الصوتي الأصلي باللغة الإنجليزية.
This is the Transforming Basketball Podcast, and I'm your host, Alex Sarama. This is the podcast where we help coaches and practitioners change the way we think about basketball performance. Our goal is to create the ultimate resource to help make sense of how contemporary skill acquisition ideas can be applied within the basketball world.
Throughout the podcast, we'll unpack how an ecological dynamics framework alters our perspective If you're ready to join us in our quest to transform the basketball world, then this is the podcast for you. Welcome to episode 3 of the Transforming Basketball podcast. It's a reunion of sorts because I'm delighted to be joined by my friends and colleagues from College Prep Italy.
Explore Transforming Basketball membership and continue your coach development.
Now, the work we did at College Prep was really important because it was basically our vehicle for trying all these things out. It was our laboratory to experiment with everything we were learning about in the research. And obviously a lot of the content that we are sharing through Transforming Basketball comes from college prep.
So I wanted to introduce my colleagues who I had the pleasure of working with, and they're going to be doing a lot more too through Transforming, sharing some of their ideas. So guys, welcome on.
Hi, Alex.
All right, let's kick things off. So I'm going to read our mission statement. I just want you guys— anyone can pick this up. As you guys know, we haven't planned Anything. It's completely nonlinear. So our aim is to positively impact the basketball world by adopting an evidence-based transformational approach to basketball, athletic, and human development.
So first question, guys, I mean, what does that really mean and how does that apply to what we did in Italy last year, year before, for those of you guys that, you know, you know, were still there in that first year? What does that mean?
Who wants to take that one?
I think it's a use the research someone does in different things like learning, like team management, this kind of stuff related to basketball teams, use the evidence to create a good environment or better environment that usually people use in, in their teams to create a better impact in the players and develop not only as a player, also as humans.
I love that, Dani. I think hit the nail on the head. And this is what we wanted to really get at with, you know, so many coaches obviously looking at what we're doing on the on court, but we've all spoken about this. We feel like what a lot of coaches missed was exactly like you said, the transformational environment.
And that was something we spoke about a lot. Jonas, is there anything you'd like to build on in regard to that, just in regards to the environment we created?
Thing is, like, I think in here, the new program where I'm at, it's the same thing. We're always complaining about practice time, and I think with the evidence-based stuff the CLA especially, you get a lot of time on task, and I think it transitions really well to the game.
How we sometimes call it, like, cut the fluff, uh, and just go straight into it. I think that's one of the most important things I think I took away from Italy last year.
Can you, Joonas, just build on— I want to come back to the CLA, but we had a lot of conversations just about the importance of transformational coaching. Could you talk just about, you know, like, any practical examples of how we did our best to create a transformational environment for the players.
And then I think, then obviously, I think the CLA is part of that naturally when we talk about creating autonomy. It's a huge part of it. But maybe could you focus just on some of the other things we did?
Yeah, sure. I think the most important thing between a coach and a player is obviously the bond. And I think we did a very good job at it in Italy to really try to create that. Just example, like yesterday I got a message from one of the players that he was still practicing with the stuff we did last year.
He was trying some new stuff I was posting. At college prep, we also did a lot off court with the players. So yeah, we did several trips to Arona. We did some boat trips. We ate also with the guys. I think that's also a big one just to, yeah, to see them a lot and talk with them.
Like, Not only about basketball, but about life in general. Yeah, I think that was also one of the biggest things we had at Prep.
I love that. And obviously it was unique because the 3 of us, myself, you, Jonas, and Danny, who we've heard from so far, we all started the year at Prep. And then of course, Adam and John, we had the pleasure of you guys joining a little later on.
Adam, you came in late September, and then John, you joined us in January. So, you know, what did you guys think of the environment as soon as you were immersed within it?
I guess just coming in, and because I came in the latest, a lot of things had already been done and you guys had already had a lot of experiences together, like as a group and as a team. And so you could see right away the kind of bonds that the guys had, you know, especially when I got there.
I was one of the first guys to get there before guys came back from Christmas break. And so when guys got back, maybe it was just my rose-colored glasses or whatever that, you know, you see the best in everything, but They seemed really excited to see each other, right, and really get back to work and just get back to playing.
You don't always get that on teams, and especially with teenage boys essentially that are living together and playing together and just spending so much time together. You see a lot of the stuff that, you know, they were doing, going on trips together. They'd invite everyone.
I remember being in strength in the weight room and guys would just be like, hey, we're going to play mini golf today. Right. And they'd open up the invite to everyone and they'd invite us coaches too. Right. And I think stuff like that goes a long way in terms of just building that positive rapport and relationship with them.
It does go a long way.
To build a little bit on that, Jonathan, I do think it's like in a group, especially if you have like a group we had at prep, I think at a certain moment there were like 19 or 20 players. It's normal that there are like little subgroups, but I do think there needs to be like a certain level of respect.
and friendship towards each other to perform at the court. But I do think it's normal that there are like people that just quit together, they have already more connections with each other than the other players from another country. I think that it was also a big one, like the difference between the different cultures.
We had a lot of nationalities there, 13 different nationalities.
Yeah, yeah.
So you definitely saw that.
I think for me, guys, just on the transformational side, just A few simple things, just like how we always made an effort to make practice the best part of their day. So obviously, basketball is a huge part of their lives. That's why they're all there.
But just small things like we all, we made a conscientious effort to check in with every player before practice, even if it's just using their name, asking them something they got up to that day. And then I think players kind of see that, you know, we tried to create an environment of joy where everything we did It was yes, we were there to compete and to develop players for a high level of basketball, but that doesn't mean that we can't have fun at the same time.
And I think this is where it was reflected in everything we did, whether it was interactions with coaches, how we presented video to them and made jokes during you know the video session, how we made jokes with each other, and then how we got straight onto it with a fun warm-up.
And I think what that does over time, it just you know creates this environment which is actually really. Not just is it humanistic element absolutely essential, but from a skill acquisition perspective, it's also really important because if we wanted them to try new things, experiment, be creative, well, I don't know how that would've happened if it was a transactional environment.
And of course, I think Team Pulse was one of the best things we did the whole year. And Kareem's not joining us today. He's in one of his lectures right now on his PhD course in human development. But Kareem helped us introduce Team Pulse where every week we met and we only spoke about the players and we spoke about every single player, and we color-coded them green, yellow, red, not just based on basketball performance.
It wasn't about that, but how they were doing in life, what we thought they were up to. And then we discussed action steps. And I think the fact we invested so much to do something like that, you know, it really paid dividends in the end.
So let's get on to skill acquisition and evidence-based ideas. And I think, you know, especially, you know, an ecological approach that really formed the basis of what we did. Adam, that was one of the main reasons you wanted to join Prep and kind of, you know, be involved, just in terms of some of the ideas we were applying, right?
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, New York to Borgo Manero, Italy, and I didn't even blink. So yeah, you could say that's— that was a good motivation for me to go.
In terms of player development and team practices, I actually did a podcast. I recorded one earlier today, one of our players, guys, Linus, Linus Holmstrom. So it was really interesting to hear about what he said. And I asked him the question, you know, if we were trying to describe to a coach listening what our practices were like, how would you go about it?
Who wants to take that one?
I think if I needed to prescribe that organized structure, organized mess or something like that, there was always like a certain goal and activities we did, but sometimes it looked like they were just playing. It's the same thing. Yeah, it's like, for example, like a tag game for a warmup.
Why would you do a tag game? But it's really good for your footwork to, to get hot. It's fun. Uh, there's competing in it. So I think that's, yeah, that's the biggest one, like structural mess or something like that.
Absolutely. Manny, what about you? Because I think you really led a lot of our player development as we went during the year, and you had some really nice tasks in those morning sessions. Could you talk maybe a little bit about some of the principles that we applied within our practice environment, etc.?
I think one of the main principles was trying not to create behaviors, try to influence behaviors. It means we create situations when there is some solutions in theory. Also, the players can be involved. in giving their solutions that can be good, can be bad, or normal.
Then I think the player development on— and also the team practices, main the team practices. This is the main principle, let them, the players, involved in their skill acquisition or their learning.
It makes absolute sense. I think like the player autonomy and the input actually in the In the podcast I did with you, Adam, we both agreed that it was like the autonomy within the environment. That was one of the things we were happiest about and the whole legacy of Prep.
So, Adam, what were some ways that we kind of embedded autonomy into a lot of the things we did?
Well, I think it actually naturally comes up because even when, whenever we were designing activities, whether it be Danny, Jonas, you, or I was chipping in, or John was chipping in, I think it comes behind, like, there's an intent behind all these activities.
So naturally, like, as we're designing them, we have certain things and certain people, individuals in mind that we're trying to help. So as we're actually even watching the behaviors, even if we didn't check in with them prior to the activity starting, we continue to dialogue with them throughout it because again, we were searching for somewhat of a specific outcome, but we're just essentially trying to help them solve problems.
So we're going to watch their behaviors and then we're going to want their inclusion. So we're going to ask them questions. And there were times before we even did the activity, we would give them options and say, hey, do you want to do this this way?
And then certainly for like opening activities, sometimes we would give them something broad and say, hey, go make your own game. And like they had no problem doing it whatsoever because again, we consistently did this throughout the year. But I think honestly, if you're starting with the attitude of having a specific intent in mind behind the activity, and that's where I think the big difference is between the games and the CLA, is that, oh, we're thinking of specific individuals and we're looking to help them.
So it's naturally just, we're gonna— you're gonna start including them in on the conversation.
So I think one of the biggest things for me, guys, was, and our WhatsApp group chat has reflected that over the last few weeks. I think we're all in different environments, and I really miss you guys now being in a different environment. And I kind of— I forgot, like, I thought the level we were doing things at, especially at the end of the year, was— it was amazing to be a part of it.
And the way that we were all kind of working off each other, the way we interacted as a staff, it was amazing that we'd only— that was the first year we'd all worked together. And, you know, I think we should really be proud of that.
So I think, you know, in terms of staff unity and how we viewed the game through the same lens, we spoke the same language. And then regardless of who was running the session, I think you could always tell it was a College Prep practice, regardless if it was any one of us on court, because we'd be using the same language and there'd be that same kind of philosophy behind how we were going about the practice tasks.
So You know, how do you think we got to that level, guys? Was it conversations or was it just, you know, we really understood the theory and we understood the CLA well and, you know, we were able— that kind of empowered us to deliver to that level?
What do you guys think on that?
I want to take that one if that's okay. I think all the guys that were— especially the coaches that were at college prep, like, I really had a growth mindset. And we're open to new and try new things because I think that's one of the most important things a coach should have is like try to improve themselves so they can improve their players.
We expect the players to improve, so it's normal that we also try to improve. But I also think that players that were at prep were really open to us to try new things. They were really, how do you say it, like high receivers.
They, they had a broad spectrum of, okay, I will try it, and if it's not working, it's not working. I also think that the players that were at Prep, they were really bought into the stuff we were trying to do. And I do think that that's also not that every club the same, especially if even young guys, if they're like 20, 22, and they've been doing some more traditional stuff.
For 10 years. I don't think it's easy to be a young player and then have us as coaches. But I do think like the players that we had were really open to it. And that's also a big, big thing. I think.
What I've noticed, Johannes, I think you have to be confident with this. If you're working with players who have been trained traditionally and you're not confident in the CLA, I think they sense that. And whereas I think if you're confident, you really know your stuff and you do it well.
Just my perspective, they never want to go back and they're ready for more, right? And I think that's where it's like, it's so interesting. And that's where with all of us, I think that's why, like you said, Jonas, we all had basically the criteria to be at College Prep was you had to be someone who had demonstrated a willingness to learn.
And that's why I wanted to work with you guys. That's why I hired all of you. You guys showed that in abundance. And, you know, a lot of people tried to get into College Prep, but they weren't aware of what the CLA was, you know?
So it's like, There was a very specific criteria for the type of coach, the type of person I was looking for. And I think just because we're confident in it and we did the research and we spent time learning about, all right, what's an affordance?
What is perception-action coupling? What is representative learning design? And I think because we knew those things, guys, we were confident. And I think that is why the players bought in. And I think that's why I'm trying to get this message across that we have to, as coaches, Spend a little bit of time learning the theory.
I think it changes everything. John, could you speak on that? Because you, you know, you're reading a lot of skill acquisition books, papers when you were with us. Did you notice that, that it changed your perspective a little bit and made you more confident as a coach?
Yeah, yeah, definitely. Like you say, like, confidence is key, right? And so, like, kids are smart. It's the same, like, if you teach a— like, if I teach a classroom And I'm up there and I'm not confident, they're going to see right through you.
So being at prep and seeing all of you guys, I don't want to say masters of your crafts yet because we're all learning and growing, but guys that are just wanting to improve, wanting to take the science and the research and see if we can apply it to basketball.
Yeah, it was good. And the players bought in, right? Like you guys say, they They bought into all the ideas and evidence. And I remember talking to some of them, like going on trips and stuff with them. And they talk about it, like, we love it here.
Like the things we do, like we don't want to go back to being in a traditional environment. Right. And once you, once they start realizing that and, and changing the way they're training and how approaching basketball, that it will continue to lead to great things for all those guys as well.
Most definitely.
So guys, what I'd like—
absolutely.
What I recognized with learning a lot is the more you learn, the less you know. For example, I thought I knew like a thing or two about strength and conditioning for basketball players, but when I was talking to Adam, it seems like I'm a rookie and I don't know anything about it.
So I think it's also good to— it makes you want to improve more because there's always more. Like, why would you do it? Or maybe for that guy, it's not the right fit. And maybe for that guy it is. You can think and argue, and there's also not a right way and also not a wrong way.
I think even on that, like, when we started working on applying the CLA, like, one of the things, Danny, you did was I loved how you just like gave autonomy to the players. So, you know, traditionally in the weight room, players just follow a list of activities, right?
And then what we did straight away is they had a choice, you know, and then they started adding some variability, etc. It was awesome. Anyway, let's get to on-court, guys. I'd like you to think of your favorite on-court activities that we did college prep.
Think back to our activities book, the book that we all agreed to never share outside of these walls with about 600 different activities. And that was, you know, our best work. We were constantly changing it during the year, thinking of new things, but, you know, not just doing it randomly.
Everything in there was there for a reason. So I'd like you guys to think of your favorite activities and describe them for coaches listening. So the coaches can leave this just trying some of the things we did at prep. I'm going to start and I'm going to go 2-on-2 wall pick and roll.
So that was one of my favorites just because of the ways we can manipulate constraints, like endless opportunities. So for the coaches listening, I'm just going to explain it. So offense and defense, they're in an imaginary wall. So imagine maybe top of the key and the wall of a lane line.
So as the coaches, we'd often be standing on those walls and be extra stunt defenders. And be a pick and roll, and we would have a variable shot clock anywhere from like 2 to 8 seconds, typically. Our regular shot spectrum applied, so we're looking for 3s and rim.
And then if we weren't constraining the coverages, we'd typically start that in our base coverages. So that would either be switching or drop based on if one of our bigs was going to pick and roll or not. But then, of course, we might change that if we wanted to, for instance, work on our solutions against more aggressive coverages like show or blitz.
We might constrain the coverage. So Wall pick and roll was one of my favorites just because it was amazing to watch not just how good, how much better the defense got during the year, but also the skilled solutions on offense that emerged when those constraints were there.
I mean, it's so much better than just doing a random pick and roll drill or small-sided game. That's my one. Who wants to go next? Let's go, Adam. You can give 1, 2, whatever you want.
Well, like, I was asked this question last week, one of my former players that I was on a hike with, like, 'Cause I was just telling him how much things have changed in, in my practice and whatnot compared to what he experienced, God, almost a decade ago.
And what I sent him was—
Getting old, Adam.
Yes. Was one of the warmup games where I, I don't honestly remember the name of it, but one team is the taggers essentially, and the other team is all within the entire court. And one player goes out and they attempt to tag one of the other players, and then they have to link up with one of their teammates until a full link.
And then there's, until everyone is finally tagged up.
Yeah. What's it called? Chain tag.
Chain tag. Chain tag. Because I think like, it's one of the things I remember the most is just like getting all, getting right off, like getting them emotionally engaged and laughing and smiling and loud makes the transition into whatever we're doing next so much easier.
And it's just an enjoyable aspect. Like, I remember at times where we'd meet before practice, we could tell like, let's make sure we do a really fun warmup because they were kind of out of it or something like that. So. I'll go with chain tag.
Love that. Who's got next?
I go next. I think for me it's something like the hot potato game, but the more dynamic one. So offense can start at any spot behind the 3-point line, defense just in front of them, and they're just passing the ball back and forth like a hot potato.
From the moment defense gives like a small reach, so defense shades left or right, It's live one-on-one. I also like the fact that it's like one, 0.5 decision, and 2, you can also load it up with weak side offense, defense in any spacing spot actually.
You can also work on it for shooting when they don't show their hands. That was one I use now also a lot, so it was for me the big one.
Thanks, Jonas.
Continue. I think one of my favorites is the— I don't know if it's called jungle shooting.
Yep.
The thing is 3v2 or 4v3 with the triggers, and I like it because I realize how you can practice shooting in a real condition instead of doing static. I'm gonna explain. You have 4v3, for example, always one defensive player more. You create the shoot not only with the advantage, also using triggers, pick and roll,
ball screens, and you use 60-second burst. Then you have to be quick getting the shot. And I like it because open my mind to create new tasks of shooting, like only having one player more for having the open shot.
Yeah.
With the competition, you create a real situation because they want to win. Then the defense has to defend and also the offense getting open shots, like not heavily contested, but contested.
I love it. And just to build on that, Dani, just for the coaches listening, we did it with 2 balls, right? Sometimes even 3. I think we tried it with 3.
I'm not sure if I like with 2 balls, maybe it's okay, but with 3, maybe it's too much. Yeah, you have to create the advantage with the trigger.
Exactly.
It's easy to pass and to have a shooter.
I was thinking about this the other day, Danny. I was thinking, I think you could only do it if you had a coach involved, and sometimes they take that ball away and sometimes they throw it in. That's what I was thinking as a nice solution.
But I think it's great because, like you said, it's just, it's chaos for third. It's, it's like the wild of the jungle. So, and I saw too, Danny, like a lot of the shooting activities you created, like, throughout the year, you know, very authentic and original.
And I think that's where it's like when you start using the CLA, your creativity is unlocked and you just start thinking about things you never would have thought of before. John, you're up last, buddy.
I want to take John's. I know what it is.
Go for it, John.
What is it?
Mosquito shooting. Mosquito shooting.
Do love some mosquito. Yeah, it's great. One of the fun things, I guess, was you put me in charge of designing a practice. And so I went into the gym and I remember texting you guys saying, you guys are bringing your shoes because we're getting active today.
And so I started with handball. I made the kids draft us. And so they had to draft the coaches on their teams.
I was picked first, just saying.
And yeah, I wonder why.
Probably.
Yeah, yeah, I wonder why.
Athletic prowess.
I think that day was fun because it just, it got us coaches involved and the amount of like enjoyment of like Alex was in net in handball. Danny was on the side yelling because he was hurt, unfortunately. But we were running around and then even adding into jungle shooting, us coaches were then having to contest the other team's shots.
So, right. So that gave us—
Exactly.
And so that gave, you know, our teams a little more energy and competition and just enjoyment and fun. And it gave us coaches a chance to talk a little bit of smack. The reason I got into teaching and coaching was because I love to talk smack.
And so anytime I get to do that in a practice environment and keep it fun and lighthearted, it's always a good time, I think.
So guys, one thing I just want to get at here is for coaches listening, I think they might be thinking, oh, it sounds like such a fun environment. And coaches would be like, well, did we ever hold players accountable? You know, what happened?
Did we ever have to raise our voice? What if something went wrong? Well, we actually never had to raise our voice or quote unquote punish the guys the whole year. I think when things, you know, but it's not a case of saying that every practice was rosy and perfect, but I think when things did go bad, it was more a case of, you know, we might have a breakdown conversation, bring the guys in and just say, look, this level of performance isn't good enough.
Talk about how you're going to fix it. Let's go. You guys got any points on that, or just why you think the players were so kind of, I'd say, good at adapting? And then also, if there was a situation where we weren't performing well, I think very skilled at kind of coming out of that without being reliant on us.
Yeah, I want to take that one. I got this from Kareem, and I'm still using it actually. Players are in the first place human beings. And they're also emotionally involved a lot. Obviously, the players we had at prep were going for pro career or were going to try to go to the US.
So if basketball was not working, you really saw it on their body language. And I think the main part is just ask questions to the guys. So why are they like that? And I think that asking questions is already the biggest Part of the solution, I think, because there are no problems, there are only solutions.
And I think just asking why and just connecting with the player on WhatsApp is a really big one. Also, like, with the consequences, we didn't really work with that. So if something happened, yeah, we just tried to talk to them and asking why was it not after practice.
And it was maybe like a small talk during, but I think most of the time it was after practice, like just with connecting. Connecting with the players?
You know, I think we had a, we had a lot of ups and downs from most of our players. You know, that's definitely happened. And I think that's the reality of any environment, especially with, you know, players who are under 20. But I just think it's like how you deal with it.
And then we always had the intent to solve the problem through some action-orientated means, as opposed to just hoping that it'll take care of itself, or maybe being even more traditional, applying punishment. And hoping that the punishment will fix it, which obviously it won't do.
So guys, let's imagine that we were to live in Borgo Manero for another year. I'm sure Danny, you'd love the prospect of that.
Borgo Miseria, eh, Danny?
So imagine that we were going to redo the year at prep. What would we do differently to have made it even better? From the things that we could control, I'm not talking about things like out of our control, like budget and things of that nature?
Oh, it's difficult. I had a talk with someone that has like an academy like us. They had only the academy, and I think to having a club behind you sometimes can be good, but this, I think, didn't help us, you know what I mean?
Yeah, because you have a strong club Very short.
Exactly.
But I spoke with this guy and they had problems also, but they didn't have our kind of problems. Yeah, because sometimes the situation was very unstable. Then I'm not pretty sure if doing by ourselves, like no club involved, it could be improved a lot of the situation.
Yeah, 100%. Adam, what are you thinking about?
I guess me being me, I'm just thinking about things I could have done more or I could have done differently. What the time I was there, really, like the only kind of things I honestly would've put forth more ideas, perhaps like even just a small brief coaches meeting where like it wouldn't take long.
Like the idea of like all of us collaborating together for the team practices as opposed to, hey, you take over and you do the lead today for practice or Like a lot of times, Alex, you would just like design the practice beforehand, then you would— we'd meet beforehand and then you'd say, all right, you're taking over this, you're taking over that.
I think even a little bit more collaborative effect there would have maybe enriched the experience a little bit more.
Agreed.
Those are really the things. And me on a personal level, I just honestly, I wish I spent more time with everybody, not just the players, obviously, because they're going to be all over the world now, but it's the coaches as well. I wish I spent more time with you guys while I was there.
Like that, man. Profound. I feel the same, actually, completely, especially now being in a different environment. And it's like, you know, the staff I'm working— I've got a great staff at London. Absolutely. And especially, you know, the coach is going to become more familiar with these ideas.
But it's like, you know, just not just that, just we had an amazing group. I love the point about the practice planning too, because I think that's such a traditional perspective that the head coach should do all the planning. Whereas in reality, it's like maybe there are actually other people in an organization, especially at the pro levels, Who actually could be better placed planning a practice?
For instance, you know, maybe that I wouldn't expect that those levels that the head coach would always have an awareness of contemporary skill acquisition, right? Especially in settings where they're not practicing much in a year like the NBA. So in those instances, I actually think it's more valuable for someone else on the staff to plan the practice and do it in a collaborative setting.
And I had on my my list more plan do reviews. So for instance. We met a lot, we spoke a lot, but I think actually I would have loved to have evaluated more of our practices right after. And it was tough because we always made ourselves available to the players, but having some type of process where we could have just discussed more and reviewed kind of what went on.
And I think especially the games too, just more, more reviews, making that more of a process. I would have loved to have done that differently. Anyone got anything else? So Let's finish it with this then, guys. I mean, we're all working in different environments now.
So Jonas, you're with one of the leading youth programs in Germany. Danny, you are working in Luxembourg. John, you're about to move to Vietnam. So, you know, we're all over the place. What would you guys say is the one takeaway from college prep that you guys are going to embed and do your best to bring into your next environment?
Should I go first, or—
Yeah, take it, Joonas.
My main takeaway is just to keep trying new stuff and try to keep experimenting, because I think as coaches it's easy, especially if the workload's a little bit higher, it's easy to do the same stuff over and over again. So the example, this morning I had 2 play development sessions, the groups were mixed So what I did was I didn't— it was the same topic, but I didn't give the same pre-development session, if that makes sense.
Yep.
Just to challenge myself and just to think in new ways to make a certain topic but with different activities.
Great example. Great example. I think just, you know, not pushing yourself, it acts as a constraint in a way. You've got to think of new ways to, you know, maybe you might have the same intention, You got to go about it a different way.
That's great.
Yeah.
Okay, I continue. 2 things, I think. One is BRADS.
BRADS, love it. Backroom and down.
It's a good concept to focus your objective when you're shooting. And also, as you said, I think the prep thing unlocked my mind because I had some of these ideas I tried, but like, uh, very messy.
Sure.
And I arrived, I started to put everything in order in my mind. I did some kind of things, but I think most of them were in my mind, but very messy, not in order right now.
But your mind is very messy, Dani.
Yeah, it's because I'm a genius. Then yeah, I think it helped me a lot how to put in the paper everything that is in my mind.
Love that. And John, before we finish with Adam.
Yeah, I think just taking, like you mentioned before, like representative learning design, really taking that into account when you're trying to design your activities or design your sessions, trying to make it realistic, or at least like, if it's not realistic, at least there's an intention behind why it's not realistic and what we're trying to do, whether it's like through differential learning or something like that.
You're trying to exaggerate something, right? So I think just Really being cognizant and thinking about super quick. Like I was at a tryout or I was helping tryouts with my old club last night, and a lot of the stuff they were doing wasn't super high on the representative side.
And so you're sitting there and you're just—it just makes you think. And now it makes you kind of take the game in differently or in practices differently, where you're like, "Hey, this were me," or if I could change something to make this a little more yeah representative, or just you know it makes you think that way.
So just taking that to Vietnam and really trying to. help grow the game through just changing, changing the way the environment is designed and just how, you know, they're training and practicing out there.
Very nicely put. And Adam, let's wrap up with you.
I would say that thing I'm going to take away and embed everywhere is oddly something that was already there for me previously. It just reaffirmed it watching the conceptual offense and going through our stuff is And even with the conceptual offense, I oddly thought of an example where I was like getting super upset.
We were running some sort of stack pick and roll, and the guys were not even seeing that a backdoor was open right away. And I, I just got so fed up, I stopped practice because even within the triggers, you can get locked in and forget actual principles of play.
Exactly.
So you really have to be careful with all of that and just constantly just harp on principles of play over everything else. Yeah. So I think that's the main thing I'm gonna take away. And that's very odd for me to say, seeing how I'm, have no interest in ever being a head coach or installing conceptual offense.
I just wanna develop individuals. So, but again, it transforms. Ooh, transforms. Look at me with the plug there. It transforms everything cuz that's ultimately what it's about is those basic principles of play that are everywhere in sport.
I don't wanna ruin that ending, guys. I just wanna say a big thanks for, I couldn't have said anything better to wrap that up than what Adam just gave us. So I just want to say big thanks for joining me today. I really enjoyed the chat, and obviously I'm looking forward to more.
I think we're going to take kind of some topics in the future and just go like deep dive maybe into one area, a few different areas of the things we did together. So thanks again for joining us. Be back soon for another episode of the Transforming Basketball Podcast.
Thanks for tuning into this episode of the Transforming Basketball Podcast. If you would like to learn more about the work we do, head to www.transformingbball.com to access our free resources and help spread these ideas throughout the basketball world. If you enjoyed this episode, then please subscribe and leave a rating on Or review on your favorite podcast platform.
We will gladly answer any questions from today's episode via our social media platforms. See you next time on the Transforming Basketball Podcast.