The Competitive Cauldron
More information about the competitive cauldron is available in The 21st Century Basketball Practice, which is available as a paperback and a Kindle. Also, below are three older articles that introduce the concept and its use in my practices with high-school players.
Planning a practice with the competitive cauldron
Why is the coach always right?
Tracking wins and losses in practice
What Gets Charted Gets Done
In Arizona our basketball season starts this week with tryouts. I have been prepping for the past two weeks on material for our annual lock-in where our student-athletes stay in the gym overnight to become immersed in our culture, parent meeting information and the other admin tasks that go along with coaching. In addition, my wife implored me to clean up our office as my stuff, mainly basketball related, is in stacks everywhere. While cleaning up the office I came across an article by Jim Burson – Solution Based Basketball about offense. The biggest takeaway for me was “things that get charted, get done”. Read more
Planning a Practice with the Competitive Cauldron
Since writing about the system that I use, I have received a couple questions and decided to start a new post and thread here. The competitive cauldron is the name that Anson Dorrance, University of North Carolina women’s soccer coach, gave to his system of wins and losses. I believe he got the idea from Dean Smith. I started my system after reading one of the several books by or about Dorrance that I have read.
Why is the coach always right?
Nearly every day, on one message board or another, I read a forum posts complaining about parents or players. The general consensus from coaches is that they know who should be playing, and the parents and players do not. How do they know? Read more
Coaching Frosh Basketball 2.0 – Week 6
Two more games this week. We practiced on Monday and Tuesday. I tried to do some more skill work on Monday and focus more on free throws, shooting, and finishing. Read more
The perceptions and reality of playing time
I track wins and losses in every practice. On the day of a game, the first five on the cumulative leader board start the game, and number one on the list is our captain. From a continuity and competitive standpoint, it may not be the best way to decide on starters and captains, but I’ve rarely had a complaint in three seasons of using this method. Read more
Who decided that a point guard has to be small? More importantly, what is a point guard?
We expect a point guard to be a leader and have a high basketball I.Q. Why don’t we expect or challenge all players to develop this game awareness? Why rely on only one player?
English soccer academies wait until players are 11 to play full 11v11 soccer; in Italy, youth basketball players participate in skill-oriented clinics at 6-years-old, but start competitive games at 12. In the United States, kids play 5v5 full court games and compete for national championships when they are 8-years-old.
The PBDL emphasizes learning and development. Presently, players and parents have numerous recreation options - leagues based on fun and equal participation, typically for beginners - and numerous competitive opportunities - teams focused on strategy, game preparation and winning. There are few true development leagues - until now.