January
Challenges Coaches
By Steve Shields, Arkansas-Little Rock
It’s rarely talked about and more often overlooked, but the
month of January is a challenging month for all coaches. As we
turn the calendar to February, let's look back at a month the
presents many challenges.
The first month of the calendar year is always a key month. It
marks the beginning of the conference season, where a slow start
can be righted or two months of building confidence can be
broken.
There is a lot of excitement when the season begins and the
first two months of the every season produce pleasant surprises.
But championships are not won in November and December.
And while they are not won in January either, the first month of
the year can go a long ways to determining whether or not you
are playing for a championship in March.
Kids are only human and the challenge of keeping them motivated
through the first four to six weeks of the New Year is something
that we all have to deal with.
January is like the abyss in that the early excitement,
generated in November and December, has worn off and the
excitement of conference tournament play is still almost two
months away.
So how do you keep your players focused? That’s $100,000
question.
Confidence is a funny thing in that you can finish the
non-league portion of your schedule with a stellar record, but
that means nothing once conference season begins.
All you have accomplished through the first two months can be
challenged if you begin the second season with a couple of
losses. Suddenly you are in last place in your league standings
and fighting an uphill battle.
As coaches, we try to keep our teams focused coming out of the
Christmas break because January is a critical month.
Often you will hear a coach say, “we want to be playing our best
basketball in late February and early March. That’s easier said
than done.
If you are playing excellent in December, you don’t want to pull
back the reigns with the idea of saving something for later in
the season. It just doesn’t work that way.
You want to build confidence and cohesiveness. And if you are
able to accomplish this in November and December than you are
presented with the challenge of carrying that over into January.
Often the mindset of a young player will be that there are
plenty of conference games so there is ample time to get on
track. But that confidence takes a hit if you emerge 1-3 after
your first four conference games.
But make no mistake about it; your team can be focused and still
get off to a slow start in conference play, which creates
another dilemma. And trying to address that would be the subject
matter for another coach column.
The crucial term is consistency. As coaches, we hope that our
teams do not have too many peaks and valleys. Trying to keep
your team on an even keel following a one-sided win or
devastating loss in not easy.
Kids are kids and they can be easily swayed.
As a group, they are never quite as good as they may think they
are nor are they as bad as they may believe following a tough
loss.
But try convincing them.
This is all magnified in January, a month when a good start
“could” lay the foundation for a successful finish. And a couple
of losses could break the spirit that took two months to build
up.
Championships are not won in November or December. And there are
no conference tournaments in January, but putting yourself in a
position to play for your league title begins in the first month
of the calendar year.
