Talking Split

One of the biggest things to remember as a coach, is that we coach the person and not the sport, and a lot of time where we break down is when delivering to our players. We look at how to make sure it’s not too confronting for our players, and how we receive feedback as a coach – we aren’t immune to receiving it ourselves as coaches!

We all know that basketball is the greatest sport in the world – it’s why we do it! But we do need to remember we are coaching people, and not the sport, so we know our players will have a heap of different interests. We discuss early specialisation, other sports and how they can relate to basketball, and why we don’t need to fear our players leaving Basketball to play them – our sport helps them...

Only big-time people get 2 runs on the podcast, and Kelsey Griffin is about as big time as they come! Kelsey returns to the podcast to talk through her career as a player, where she has enjoyed countless levels of success. Kelsey talks about how she likes to be coached, what she looks for in coaches, and Zoe puts her under the pump about getting involved with a Country Vic State team!  Apologies t...

Some people love doing it, some try their best to avoid the role, but the role of a Director of Coaching or Coaching Coordinator is one that a good deal of people don’t know much about until they have to do it themselves! We explore how to do the role whilst potentially juggling a job, how to find coaches, having consistency throughout a program and the balance of on court and admin work.

Where would we be without the trusty assistant coaches? We explore how to find a good one, how to work with your assistants, roles and tasks for games and training, and who is responsible for getting the chair at the break!

It woudn’t be a long weekend without basketball, and the Labour Day long weekend is home to the U16 Combine, with nearly 100 of the best athletes from around the state vying for a position in the Country and Metro teams. We check in with Dom Linossier (U16 Metro Men) and Mat Holmes (U16 Country Women) to talk through the difficulty in selecting a team, what they’re looking for, how they get everyo...

Everyone’s favourite podcast segment is back with 2 new contestants – Would You Rather? We throw a range of questions at the newly returned Jenni and Coops and discuss Jenni’s alter ego chess master skills, and Coops love for the move Father of the Bride. It took some weird turns this week.

It was the All State Camp in Bendigo last weekend, where our HP coaches added “photographer” to their PD with 300 plus kids to coach and take photos of! We talk to Zoe and Darren about what the content was, why it was in there, how it went, and what coaches at Club & Association level can be doing to give themselves and the players the best chance of success!

On the back of the U20 Championships and the Country Championships, we look through some of the things that coaches will need to consider for tournaments. There’s things like rest and recovery, knowing your fixture, what tech gear you need to have, and of course, how are you going to defend those pesky onball screens?

The Head Coach of Paris Basketball – Will Weaver joins us on the podcast this week, to talk all things coaching. We cover what pathways look like around the world, how you coach in a different country, assembling a team in the middle of a COVID pandemic, and what it’s like to travel the world as a professional basketball coach, whilst also balancing a family on the side. Will was incredibly genero...

And just like that, we are into February. But what happened to January? As it turns out, quite a lot. With East Coast Challenge (ECC), Australian Country Junior Basketball Cup (ACJBC) and Southern Cross Challenge (SCC) all running we have a look at how the teams and coaches went, and what the areas of focus are coming out of the tournaments. We also discuss the National Performance Camp (NPC) and...

Final episode for the season is upon us! We dive back into the listener mailbag and discuss how to impact defence without zoning in junior basketball, how to deal with a difficult opposition coach, how long to stick with an offence or defence before changing, balancing teaching and intervening in drills and some of the things we think could potentially improve the basketball experience for everyon...

We asked, and like Postman Pat, you, the listeners, delivered. It’s Part 1 of the Talking Split Mailbag this week, with fresh off the plane Gold Medal winning Head Coach in Zoe Carr back on the podcast! We discuss questions like how to train your child who wants to get into rep, our most disliked drills, what should go into an Individual Performance Plan, what we can take from other sports to help...

After we went off on various tangents and ran out of time on the previous podcast, we thought we should head back into the senior coaching space and try and give some more information around it for the coaches out there. Turns out, we are going to need a Part 3! We look at preseason, team selection, how to progress players, and why we have senior programs to begin with.

It doesn’t matter if it’s fish in a barrel, on Fortnite, or pull up 3’s in transition – shooting is a massive part of what our players are doing now. We have a look about what we can be teaching our athletes, what the important teaching points are, what types of shots we want our players taking, and how we can help them depending on how we are coaching them. There are some shooting “myths” we tack...

This week we are looking at a space we haven’t touched on in over 80 episodes – coaching in senior programs. We explore the importance of being transparent, knowing the parameters, how to assemble a team, how to work in with junior programs and everything in between. Even if you’re a junior coach, this could remove a few of the barriers to get involved in the senior coaching space.

Fantastic guest podcaster this week! Dr Alex Lascu is a skill acquisition specialist by trade and currently lectures at the University of Canberra. Her passion for talent development and community sport is contagious, with over a decade in coaching and a PhD in skill acquisition for women’s cricket. She enjoys existing in the gap between research and practice in the hopes of bringing these two wor...

Bit of a different episode this week, where we delve into some “Would you Rather” situations with our coaches and seek their opinions on several topics relating to basketball and coaching. If you’re listening, you’re welcome to give your opinion on some of the topics using the #TalkingSplit, and a reminder we have a Mailbag episode coming up soon, so send in any questions you might have!

Sometimes sport can be cruel, you can do the work and not get the reward that you were hoping for. You can be disappointed, upset, and frustrated, so we go over some of the things that players can look to do to improve after disappointment. The world of Strength & Conditioning, finding a good coach to help you improve, watching film all rate a mention. Now that you’ve got some ideas, get back...

Now that coaches have picked their teams, or are about to pick them, we look at some of the things that can make the season go a little better if you’re on top of them early. So much of what coaches do is focused around the on-court component, when we have just as much to take care of, off the court. We discuss the first parent meeting, what you need to go over, how to work with the parents, how t...

After 2 weeks off for the chaos of school holidays programs and selections, we are back this week to talk through what we all saw at the U12 Jamboree in Echuca, the FIBA Women’s World Cup and offer some advice and guidance to coaches that are going through one of the most stressful parts of their job – team selection.

In his final innings for Basketball Victoria, we have enlisted the help of BV's social guru Jarrod Potter to take coaches through how to navigate the world of social media, and how to use it for good instead of the dangerous world it can lead to! After six years, Jarrod is leaving Basketball Victoria, and he has has been a phenomenal supporter of not just the podcast, but basketball everywhere acr...

Some rules are written (like don’t play zone in U12s or U14s), others are unwritten but common sense (like not clearing your throat into the microphone when recording a podcast – well done Zoe), and others are straight up unwritten and maybe not considered by everyone. We take a bit of a look into some of the things that we recommend coaches investigate doing and some that can be better left alone...

There are so many great quotes about planning, and it’s that way for a reason – it’s important! We look at why coaches need to plan, some best practices for getting the most out of a training session, and what the content needs to look like when you step on the floor with the athletes. For coaches wanting some templates for session plans, just drop me an email on rob.coulter@basketballvictoria.com...

It’s been fantastic to have the three Australian Junior Championships run for the first time in a few years! The team takes a look back at how the AJCs played out, changes and trends as well as how the BV programs have changed because of what we saw this time around! We then give our advice for what the coaches can do to give their players the best chance of success at this level!