Basketball Coach Development: The Stages of a Coach's Career

Coach Development
Written By

Patrick Hunt is the Head Coach of the National Intensive Training Center Program at the Australian Institute of Sport. In Developing Sport Expertise by Damian Farrow, Joe Baker and Clare McMahon, Hunt describes the stages of a coach's career:

Beginning Coach

  • Looking for textbook drills
  • Looks for textbook plays

Intermediate Coach

  • Developing acceptable standards of skill execution at practice
  • When to call a time out, player match-ups, strategic changes: game-coaching techniques
  • Using succinct coaching terms
  • Using different coaching methods as required
  • Using anecdotes as another means of getting a message across

Advanced Coach

  • Imparting necessary but large amounts of information pitched to an individual's skill level
  • Does practice transfer to the game?
  • Knowing how to change behavior at an individual and group level
  • Recognition of "teachable moments"
  • Use personal coaching and playing experience
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