Improving On Court Communication
"Improved reaction times by rethinking how we communicate"
Why do we need to communicate during a game?
There are many answers and most are straight forward. Improve execution, connectivity, chemistry, and general overall performance to name a few. In this article we'll dig into a new approach to "live comms" and share some first hand learnings from a season just played.
THE WHY?
Why try this new approach? Simple, we were seeking a "competitive advantage". By changing the way players speak to each other we aimed to "reduce reaction times" (RRT). Tenths of seconds saved can mean advantage through increased "space" and in basketball like most team sports, "space = time". More time to action a perception and execute a skill.
THE BACKGROUND
Where did this experiment start. By no means am I a neuroscientist however I was part of a pro team in Australia a few years ago that contracted a neuroscientist who had experience with training olympic athletes. The team lead by former Australian Olympic coach Andrej Lemanis (who was deep diving into how the brain functions in relation to performance in sport) including:
skill acquisition
mindfulness
giving & receiving feedback
The "brain training" was creative, different and diverse, it included the athletes using an app, and on court activities that developed focus, peripheral and extreme vision and sensory overloading during skill execution. These scientifically based "funky" drills sparked my thoughts around how athletes (and coaches) can improve performance by "training the brain" in a task specific, sports landscape. Coupled with some direct experiences with Dr Adam Gorman (Skill Acquisition guru) and my overall coaching journey, I started reflecting on how we currently taught communication to our teams.
THE EXPERIMENT
Like the majority of coaches I am big on playbooks, using videos, and having a team basketball language (jump on my resource library for some free work samples (https://www.nextplaysolutions.com/resources). The interactions with the sports science experts above and a desire to try and find a competitive edge, stimulated a self-assessment process of these resources. A think tank with the coaching staff (which included an experienced workplace training assessor, a university lecturer, and to round a coach with performance psychology education, nice group for this discussion). Lastly and most importantly we ran it by some of our players, in an informal way. Specifically using questioning in the preseason and general chats in and around the practise court. We regularly asked things like:
"what did you see"
"what determined your decision"
"how could you arrive at that decision quicker"
"whose responsibility was that, why?
These questions (and many more) and there responses, coupled with our clear "labelling" team language helped crystallise my hypothesis that:
"you create advantage if you tell your team WHAT TO DO, instead of WHAT YOU ARE DOING"
A simple case study.
A cutter using a screen. Traditionally we teach the screener to call their team mates name (grab attention) and/or use a "visual cue" such as a fist held up high, followed by an instruction such as "wait" (this is good but we'll circle back to it soon). Then the cutter will "read the defence", make a decision and call their action "curl, pop, straight" etc... Is this the best way to do it? The cutter says what they are doing so then the screener has to:
receive this message
interpret what that means for them
then action their response
How can we train so we can RRT. What if instead of telling my team mate what I'm doing, I tell them what to do.
For example, as a cutter I read that I'm being chased so I'm going to curl towards the basket, so I want my screening team mate to separate (pop) once I curl cut. Once I've read the D (my perception of what I see), I know what my action is so I'll get on and do that. So now I can TELL my team mate directly what I want them to do.
Now this takes practise - the practise is in both the perception training (which we prioritise as a coaches always) and the execution of the instruction. This is where "labelling" becomes important . Some example's (from our language document) relative to this one scenario above are:
CAP (means curl & pop). As a cutter if I've made the decision to curl I'll just say "CAP" and the screener will pop to space. This helps the passer to react quicker in the delivery of the pass.
FLIP (the cutters defender went under the screen so the cutter stops and pops and demands the screener to flip the screen to face the basket)
TWIST (the screener is asked to re-screen, this can be for a few reasons, to change the height of the screen, if a cutters defender goes under the first, or even if they chase over to deliberately "bait the chase" then turn and sprint off the re-screen)
Smart phonetical choices of labels is important here. Short and strong one syllable words are great to use. Save more time with quick talk. No need to repeat many times. You say it once, if you don't get the response say it louder once more. We all have a responsibility to "listen" but this is for another blog.
THE ROLLOUT
Telling team mates "what to do" has always existed, this isn't new concept, however the opportunity for significantly more CONTEXTS exists on both offence and defence.
Some quick defensive examples.
On isolation out top, Replace: "you've got help left" with "send here".
On a baseline drive, Replace "low help" with "chase" (stay on the ball) or "out" (meaning you're beat, so leave and I've got the ball now). Also known as "Stay/Go" reads
On a weak side rotation, Replace a general term like "run on" or "rotate" with a direction that orientates your team mate like "take corner", "take wing", "stay in"
On a side-line ball screen. If the screener is coming from the top (downhill) = "Blue", if the screener is coming from the basket (uphill) = "Ice". These are labels will trigger responses from all 5 players on the defensive end.
Lastly and critically is the use of hands to improve communication and execution. Simple examples of using hands are:
if denied pointing to the ground to tell the passer you're about to back cut.
using either a "fist" to indicate your setting a screen, or both hands flashing to indicate you want a catch (telling your team mate to pass it).
On a "gets" action lifting the ball above the head tells the cutter the action is "dirty" (not a clean hand off chance).
Combining perception (what we SEE), non verbal communication (footwork, hands and eyes) and verbal TALK, allows quicker ACTIONS, and REACTIONS.
S.T.A.R . process
KEYS POINTS
Question your current communication strategies
Achieve RRT by instructing a team mate on what to do, not what you're doing
Tell a team mate what to do (ACTION), or where to go (ORIENTATION)
Seek more contexts to apply this strategy at both ends of the floor
Use LABELS. They summarise actions/coverages and create RRT.
See, Talk, Act, React (S.T.A.R.)
Less is more: succinct, direct, instructional cues
Learn from your players what is realistic "live" versus what sounds good in theory
Ask about perceptions, coach decision making
Praise the intent to execute skills, but be patient with the execution of skill
Awareness is the foundation, attempting is first base, consistency means growth, precision is rare but reachable
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"What's your NextPlay"