The Post-Season Team Meeting

Post-Season Coaching Essentials to Maximize Your Off-Season, Part One

During the course of the season coaches and players are completely focused on their next opponent, next practice and next academic report. There is not much time to sit down and reflect on how things are going; everything is rushed. The time for reflection needs to take place after your season has come to a close and should be discussed in detail during your post-season team meeting.

1) The Team: Reflect on the positives and the negatives of the season from a team perspective

Talk with your team about the game winner you hit against your rival, the bad loss you had against an inferior opponent and the conference title you won for your school; reflect on both the good and the bad. This will be valuable for your returners and the student-athletes who are leaving the program due to graduation. The returning kids on your team need to have a clear picture of what they accomplished during the season and where they fell short. Improving as individuals and as a collective unit needs to be the emphasis for your off-season plans, with the past season being the motivating factor. Use your post season meeting to highlight these highs and lows.
I talked to Craig Doty, Midwest Elite Basketball Co-Owner and former Interim Head Coach at Central Wyoming College and he said, “Players need to recall great team moments that occurred during the season. As a coach, you should identify the climax of the season and bring your athletes back to that point. Also, make sure to bring back that bad taste they had in their mouth after a tough loss; that needs to be a key motivational factor moving forward into the off-season.”

2) The Individual: Praise individuals in front of their peers

Individual accomplishments should also be pointed out during your post season meeting. I’m not talking making the All-Conference or All-State teams when I bring up this point. I’m talking about complimenting each individual player for their impact on the team. Point out something small that makes a big difference in the overall culture of your program. Examples include: the effort put forth in practice by guys who never see playing time, the toughness your backup post player competes with, the defensive energy put forth by your lockdown defender, your star player taking charges in practice or big-game situations, or the willingness of a teammate to help another up after that charge. Giving praise in this open forum setting in front of the entire team carries more weight than showering it on them behind closed doors in a 1-on-1 meeting.

3) Team Awards

Accomplishments of individuals should also be voted on by the team at this time. Common post-season awards that college coaches use are: Offensive MVP, Defensive MVP, Practice Player of the Year, Hustle Award, 6th Man Award, and an award to give credit to the student-athlete who made the biggest commitment to the weight room (we call ours the “Arnold Award” at Morningside College). As a coach you can decide what awards you would like to give out, but solely allow the team to vote on who those individuals are. This will tell a story in itself. If the awards do not line up where they should, then you probably have a team-chemistry issue and a leadership problem that you need to address throughout the off-season.

4) Show Appreciation for your Graduating Players

This is a big one that Coach Doty stresses. He says, “Before talking about the plan of attack for the off-season, graduating players need to be shown a great deal of appreciation and then they need to leave the meeting. My former boss, current Head Coach at Montana State University-Billings, Jamie Stevens always talked about “finality.” There are many stages to the end of a career,” Doty said. “When the graduating players leave the room there is a key changing point in leadership in the program. The remaining team members look around the room and understand that it is their time. Show your appreciation for your graduating players, show them out the door respectfully, and get down to the business of how the program is going to successfully move forward,” Doty concludes.

5) The Plan of Attack

The next major thing that needs to be talked about is laying out the framework for your spring and summer plans. Provide your players with a clear picture of what their obligations are to the program during the remainder of the school year and into the summer months. This should include when your post-season banquet will be, when individual player meetings will take place, when your off-season lifting will start, skill development camp dates, team camp dates and summer open gym times. With AAU schedules, family vacations, summer baseball and summer jobs it is important that your players understand what your expectations are well before the school year ends.

The stress of the season is over and now it is time to progress. Remember to focus on team reflection, individual accomplishments, team awards, seeing off your graduating players, and laying out the framework for your off-season plans.

“Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable… Every step toward the goal requires sacrifice…the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.” –MLK Jr.

Be sure to visit www.midwestelitebasketball.com next Wednesday for Part 2 of our series on “Post-Season Coaching Essentials to Maximize Your Off-Season,” as we will detail, Individual Player Meetings and Staff Evaluations.

In Hoops,

Brad Schmit