Game Day Shoot-A-Rounds: What You as the Coach Need to Consider

I hate Game Day Walk-Throughs and Shoot-A-Rounds. The name Walk-Through itself sounds lazy and Shoot-A-Round sounds like something you'd find at the County Fair instead of before a basketball game.

I use to get mad, who am I kidding, I still get mad every game day for the same reason: It doesn't mean as much to them as it does to you as the Coaches. Today's Players are different. They have the ability to be connected to the rest of the world WHILE they are basically doing any activity in their day. They have the ability to have their music on them while they are doing anything. Can you imagine trying to shoot with a disc-man in your pocket? It was almost impossible on a bus trip.

Examine your pre-game strategies this week starting.

Here are 3 thoughts on how to handle Game Days.

1. Don't do anything "serious". 
Take care of the serious work the day before. If you don't have time to, (tournament setting) then find a way to minimize the time spent on it.
                     Teach it. Demonstrate it. Teach it. Do it. Answer questions.

2. Let them ask questions-guide them if they don't ask any.
This way, they are the ones who dictate what the focus on. You are allowing them to pick the part of the scouting report that they feel needs more time.

3. Keep it light
Divide teams, Coaches included, and do shooting games. Shoot 3s, Free Throws and Half Court Shots. When we are out of town for games, we do this and the winning team gets extra dessert after the game. This makes it fun, competitive and stress free for the Head Coach.

Game Day Shoot-A-Rounds are one of those things that Coaches do and a lot of us don't know why we do them. Usually because our Coach made us do them. Some because your opponent is doing them so you have to. Some because we feel the more we prepare the better we can handle the results.

Regardless if you have a structured practice or a "get moving" session, the last thing you want to do is leave or get ready to play upset with your players. The biggest thing I can tell you is "KNOW YOUR TEAM" and "KNOW YOURSELF". Find what works for each team. Sometimes you'll find it changes.