Tag Archive for 'Basket'

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Book review: Coach Wooden and Me

“Coach Wooden and Me” is a stirring tribute to the subtle but profound influence that Wooden had on Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as a player, and then as a person, as they began to share their cultural, religious, and family values while facing some of life’s biggest obstacles. From his first day of practice, when the players were taught the importance of putting on their athletic socks properly, to gradually absorbing the sublime wisdom of Coach Wooden’s now famous “Pyramid of Success”; to learning to cope with the ugly racism that confronted black athletes during the turbulent Civil Rights era as well as losing loved ones, Abdul-Jabbar fondly recalls how Coach Wooden’s fatherly guidance not only paved the way for his unmatched professional success but also made possible a lifetime of personal fulfillment.
Full of intimate, never-before-published details and delivered with the warmth and erudition of a grateful student who has learned his lessons well, it’s at once a celebration of the unique philosophical outlook of college basketball’s most storied coach and a moving testament to the all-conquering power of friendship.

Coach the mindset to have success in sports team

Da tempo le nazionali degli sport di squadra non vincono più e presidenti di federazione e club si accusano vicendevolmente di fare poco per affrontare seriamente questo problema. Al di là di questa lotta sterile che evidenzia paradossalmente la difficoltà a ‘fare squadra’ per un interesse superiore alle singole esigenze, ciò che manca è il sapere come si sviluppa a lungo termine l’atleta. Sappiamo per certo che ci vogliono anni d’investimento, probabilmente almeno 10.000 ore di allenamento dall’inizio della pratica dello sport scelto sino a diventare giocatori esperti e maturi per affrontare eventi di livello internazionale. Abbiamo tanti presunti campioncini che non diventeranno mai giocatori di prima fascia per un eccesso di valutazione positiva quando sono adolescenti mentre i genitori si gratificano pensando di avere scoperto in casa un Totti, solo perché il loro figlio è più bravo dei suoi compagni o nella pallavolo e basket solo perché a 13/14 anni è più alto degli altri e allora ha vita facile a fare i punti. I genitori si entusiasmano, i club li sfruttano e l’anno successivo un altro diventa più bravo di loro e così avanti, il risultato è che si rovina l’autostima dei ragazzi che non sanno a cosa credere: ‘sono bravo oppure no?’.

In Italia la ricerca psicologica in questo ambito non è sviluppata perché difficilmente le squadre mettono a disposizione i loro giocatori per indagare sullo sviluppo psicologico di questi giovani. Non è lo stesso in paesi come il Regno Unito dove molte Football Academy hanno adottato un sistema denominato 5C’s che è un modello per sviluppare le abilità psicologiche (concentrazione, impegno, comunicazione, controllo e fiducia) durante le sessioni di allenamento. Lo stesso vale ad esempio in US per la Little League di Baseball, dove da 40 anno si utilizza sul campo un sistema per monitorare il comportamento dell’allenatore, il Coaching Behavioral Assessment System, che ne permette l’esame e fornisce al tecnico informazioni utili per migliorare professionalmente, tratte direttamente dal suo modo di lavorare con i giovani. Esistono, inoltre, sistemi per il miglioramento della concentrazione nelle abilità di precisione, trasversali a tutti gli sport di squadra come sono i calci di rigore, la battuta nella pallavolo, il tiro libero nel basket e i calci nel rugby, che potrebbero insegnare ai giocatori come affrontare queste situazioni, che dipendono in larga parte solo dalla convinzione che hanno in quel momento di fare nel modo migliore la cosa giusta.  L’utilizzo di questi approcci integrati nell’allenamento determinerebbe un migliore sviluppo dei giovani negli sport, potenziando in loro le competenze psicologiche di base, che saranno certamente utili anche nella vita di tutti i giorni ma che sarebbero di grande sostegno alle loro prestazioni che non sono mai solo tecniche. Rappresentano invece l’espressione massima del giocatore nella sua globalità fisica, tecnico-tattica e psicologica. Senza questo tipo di sviluppo personale e di gruppo sarà sempre difficile, al di là di qualsiasi forma organizzativa venga adottata dagli organismi sportivi, allenare futuri giocatori di successo.

Do NBA refs favor the home team?

“The advantage of playing at home is universal in sports. Major-league baseball teams consistently win 54% of their home games, while their hockey counterparts take over 60%.

In many of the NBA’s early seasons, home teams were regularly winning 66% of their games. But why?

Perhaps home fans cheer on their local heroes to incredible feats. Perhaps the bed in a superstar’s mansion is more comfortable than the road hotel’s. Maybe stadiums have been fine-tuned to the liking of the home team. Maybe jet-lag hinders performance.

Or maybe, under pressure from roaring and judgmental local crowds, it’s the officials.

Since March 2015, the NBA began assessing referee calls (and notable non-calls) in the final two minutes of all games within five points, posting daily reports on its website. Last month, The Pudding compiled the data and open-sourced the results for public analysis.

Does the home team receive favorable officiating? Does it explain the NBA’s home-court advantage?

We can break down NBA calls into three categories: correct calls, incorrect no-calls, and incorrect calls:

In every category, the home team benefited.

In recent years, in basketball and elsewhere, the home advantage has been evaporating. The decline has been slow and steady in English soccer over the past century. In baseball, where home-field advantage has been at some of its weakest levels in recent years, it’s thought that closer supervision of umpires may be to thank.

And perhaps it shall be in the NBA, as referees come under more scrutiny, it disappears in basketball too.

The two-minute database will continue to grow, and we’ll continue to learn more about how refereeing affects outcomes.”

(By Oliver Roeder)

Home Court Advantage by Referees’ Calls

Team benefiting from correct calls

(Refs correctly called an infraction against the other team)

Home team - 51%________________49% - Away team

 

Team benefiting from missed calls, an incorrect no-call

(Refs let team get away with infraction)

Home team - 52%_______________48% - Away team

 

Team benefiting from incorrect calls

(Refs screwed up – called an infraction on the other team)

Home team - 56%_______________44% – Away team

Magic Jonhson’s talent again at Lakers home

Magic Johnson was hired, by Los Angeles Lakers, as an advisor to the franchise last week and will have a role in ownership, evaluating players and helping the team get back to its past success.

The tale of why he became Magic:

When he played with the Los Angeles Lakers was distinguished not only because he was a champion, but also for his total dedication to teamwork: passed and defended instead of thinking to make points. This attitude in the field grew because when he played in the Youth League, his coach had told him that he was the greatest, the best player on the team that so it would have win every time. Despite these victories the other teammates felt helpless, depressed and nobody thanked or appeared pleased about what he was doing. He decided this situation was unsustainable. From that moment his behaviour changed and he used his skills to the service of the team. The team’s mood changed completely, the temmates were much more motivated, increased their skills and continued winning.

(From A.Cei, 1998)

 

Kobe Bryant announces his withdrawal with a poem of love for basketball

The Internet was thrown into a tailspin last night when NBA superstar Kobe Bryant announced that he would retire from the Los Angeles Lakers at the end of this season. The announcement was posted on The Players’ Tribune, the sports journalism blog founded by Derek Jeter, and the traffic from the post crashed the site several times during the night.

The most notable thing about Mr. Bryant’s post titled “Dear Basketball,” however, is that it is written in the form of a poem. And even more surprisingly, the poem is really good.

Dear Basketball,

 

From the moment
I started rolling my dad’s tube socks
And shooting imaginary
Game-winning shots
In the Great Western Forum
I knew one thing was real:

I fell in love with you.

A love so deep I gave you my all —
From my mind & body
To my spirit & soul.

You gave a six-year-old boy his Laker dream
And I’ll always love you for it.
But I can’t love you obsessively for much longer.
This season is all I have left to give.
My heart can take the pounding
My mind can handle the grind
But my body knows it’s time to say goodbye.

Love you always,
Kobe

(The Players’ Tribune)

Ettore Messina: an example of winning mind

How nice to hear Ettore Messina to say on his debut as head coach on a  NBA bench : “I was terribly frightened by this debut, generally I am confident, today it was different. I have not thought to be the first non-American coach who can to win an NBA game, because I wanted to stay focused on the end goal. It was great. ”

The former coach of the Italian national team, now assistant manager at San Antonio Spurs, has replaced the on bench the head coach Greg Poporvich, forced to stop for health reasons and to undergo some medical treatments: the Texan team, the defending champion, has passed the Indiana Pacers 106-100.

Ettore Messina has an incredible palmares: 4 Euroleague (2 with Virtus Bologna, 2 with CSKA Moscow), 4 Italian championships, 7 Italian Cups, 1 Cup Winners Cup, 6 Russians and 1 silver at European Championships with the Italian national team.

But he is not afraid by his feelings and even to admit them in public. This is certainly one of the main winner characteristics: to accept even extreme fear and stay focused on the end goal.

The NBA triumph of Marco Belinelli

“You did it. Kisses. Mama.” This is the most beautiful message, Marco Belinelli, the first Italian to win NBA title, received just moments after the triumph.

“I love this sport I have always seen the NBA finals, and in my head I own these images of the celebrations with champagne which bathes all. Now, after a few hours, after not having slept almost makes me shiver. It’s all fantastic.”

“I have always been criticized in national and club and NBA. In many told me that I would not have made ​​it, but I’ve never given up, even in the hardest times, and today I took the rematch most beautiful” .

“Here I am fine, it’s a great organization with a great team and then there is Popovich, a great coach.”

“I am proud to be followed in Italy by many people, even young. To them I say: work hard and never give up. Everyone said to me that I would not have ever done and instead I did it.”

Unforgettable Cesare Rubini

There are individuals who during their life-marking unique and indelible, it’s the case of Cesare Rubini only Italian to be in the Hall of Fame of two different sports, basketball and swimming.

To understand how Cesare Rubini was decisive in sport at the international level there are no better words than those of this article in the Corriere della Sera by Alessandra Farkas :

” Cesare Rubini joined forever in the legend of basketball stars and stripes. In front of 1204 people in smoking and décolleté (who had shelled out $ 100 a head to applaud him ) the seventy years old coach became the first European, Monday evening, to be immortalized in the prestigious temple Use basketball : the legendary “Basketball Hall of Fame .” It’s the first time that an Italian receive this coveted honor” said President Clinton in a tape recorded at the beginning of the ceremony at the Civic Center in Springfield, Massachusetts. “He could not deserve it more”he added. “In addition to putting the Italian basketball on the international map , Rubini has done so much for the friendship Europe-Usa in sport.” From the thunderous applause aroused by the words of the president, it has been realized that the public “who ‘s who” of American basketball shared the choice.” Listen to the speech of Cesare Rubini that evening.

Rubini was a warrior who lived matches as battles. “In the decisive minutes you have to be brave, daring, the desire to win pushes you to force players to fight even if they are so tired . Riminucci remember who went in with fractured apophysis . Sardagna that held together the patches with an ankle almost broken … Gamba left two knees into the fray, but all resisted to the pain, all those of a certain period, then things have changed, some say thankfully, but it is the battle spirit that there is no more. I had not mercy of my players, workouts were definitely harder than a lot of games in the league. If a player of mine said he could not do it I tried to force it, i wanted heroes, I admit, and many were … It’s not possible to train without knowing men and your opponents.”

 

Gaze and focus: a relation not trained

In many sports the gaze determines the quality of attention. A football player before beating a punishment watches where he wants the ball goes, in free throw he/she watches on the ring or in tennis he/she looks at a point s where  he/she wants the service ball goes. Well .. what do they do to train this skill? For me very, very little.

Basketball coach Phil Jackson on team love

“What do you mean when you write that the critical ingredient for a championship is love?”

“I know teams that get along well, they party together, but they’re not about the sharing and the deep care that you have to have as a team. You have to protect each other. You have to cover the other’s butt when he’s getting beat offensively. You have to know how to deliver the ball so people can get a good shot. You have to move outside yourself and think others.”

(By Belinda Luscombe,  Time, June 3 2013, 10 Questions).