Essential Coaching Conversations

Are you a front runner or a competitor? How are we actually competing and what are we competing against? Who are we when we're at our most competitive? Can competition and empathy go together? We talked about that and more on this episode. We are hopeful this episode, perhaps above all others, reframes your definition of what being competitive is and how you can harness the power of competitio...

Let's face it. Professional development has not changed in decades. We still do the same things over and over again, and call it "best practices." Let's change it. There's more to it than that. And we're here to talk about it. Follow and DM us on Twitter: @coachessential | @coachk424 | @rastogi_aseem Subscribe to our YouTube Channel: youtube.com/@essentialcoaching Subscri...

We all have a boss. Even our boss has a boss and their boss has one too. If you're Peter from Office Space, you have 8 bosses. That means we all have to manage up. And, if we're lucky enough to have someone that reports to us, we're also being managed up. So how do we do this well? This is something that we really don't talk about as a coaching and teaching community - most PD is a...

The guys are OBSESSED with the WNBA and are here to share the love! The WNBA has provided such an amazing product that continues to just grow, and EC is all in on helping the growth of the league and its stars. We talk about our WNBA League Pass giveaway, why we use the WNBA in our breakdowns with 100 point games, and what we want the league to become for coaches of all levels and genders. Check o...

This is a FULL episode where we deep dive into how resources can be a vision roadblock but also how we can use a perceived lack of resources to actually learn how to reach our vision. This episode features some absolute gold from the one and only Moses, our EC OG from Kenya. An absolutely dynamic episode that really turns the idea of "we don't have enough," on its head. We hope you e...

This week, we welcome the man himself, BRIAN MCCORMICK to the pod! Yes, we broke our "no guests," rule - but hey, it's Brian. This isn't your typical "talk to us about SABA," interview. Brian is our business partner with Playmakers League, and we dive deep into the timelines behind the league, why he created it, and what the future holds after our just-announced partnership with Jewell Loyd. This...

VERY short episode to bring you this week to tease an upcoming, game changing, enormous announcement. We'll see you back here next week with a full length episode!

Is this a Part II? Maybe. We dive deep into the idea behind how we are evaluating and developing skill, particularly through the lens of recruiting. There's some transfer portal talk, some food for thought on creating player development plans, and being really intentional with how that is communicated. This is not just for basketball coaches - we talk about ALL sports in this episode and how e...

Go EC, it's our birthday! Three years of being on a mission to create exponential, generational change and we are just scratching the surface. Listen in as the guys reflect on their journey to this point and what's to come in the future. A lot of laughs and of course some stories, as well as some behind the scenes looks at what we went through to get to this point. Follow us on Twitter: @c...

What is skill? What is technique? Can they co-exist? SHOULD THEY co-exist? The guys dive deep into this topic with stories, thoughts, philosophies, and of course - plenty of questions for you to chew on. Environment in: Technique Out. Skill is anything that can be improved with contextual practice. How do we develop these things? -- Follow & DM us on Twitter: @coachessential | @coachk424 | @ra...

Ahhh, the age old debate of Coaches v. Trainers. What if we told you it can be coaches AND trainers...and athletes...and parents. In this episode, we give practice, real strategies to use to end the debate and start working together for the kids! None of the groups are 100% right, or 100% good or bad - we have to be able to STITCH OUR NICHE within this conversation for the betterment of the athlet...

In this episode, we give our takes on WHY teams are winning and continue to win, share some personal anecdotes of our interactions with some of the coaches still left in the tournament, and what we believe the common threads are among the teams continuing on in the NCAA tournament. This is a timeless episode, as the message isn't just about March, it's about how to THRIVE in March. -- Foll...

Follow & DM us on Twitter: @coachessential | @coachk424 | @rastogi_aseem Follow Texas High School Football Chat on Twitter: @txhsfbchat Follow the 5th Quarter Podcast on Twitter: @itsthe5thqtr Visit & Subscribe to our website: www.essential-coaching.net Send us an email: admin@essential-coaching.net -- In this episode, the guys just take the time to check on each other and talk through how...

Follow & DM us on Twitter: @coachessential | @coachk424 | @rastogi_aseem Follow Texas High School Football Chat on Twitter: @txhsfbchat Follow the 5th Quarter Podcast on Twitter: @itsthe5thqtr Visit & Subscribe to our website: www.essential-coaching.net Send us an email: admin@essential-coaching.net -- In the second of this two part series, the guys are back with their thoughts on WHAT sho...

Follow & DM us on Twitter: @coachessential | @coachk424 | @rastogi_aseem Follow Texas High School Football Chat on Twitter: @txhsfbchat Follow the 5th Quarter Podcast on Twitter: @itsthe5thqtr Visit & Subscribe to our website: www.essential-coaching.net Send us an email: admin@essential-coaching.net -- In the first of this two part series, we tackle end of  year evaluations and whethe...

Follow & DM us on Twitter: @coachessential | @coachk424 | @rastogi_aseem Follow Texas High School Football Chat on Twitter: @txhsfbchat Follow the 5th Quarter Podcast on Twitter: @itsthe5thqtr  Visit & Subscribe to our website: www.essential-coaching.net Send us an email: admin@essential-coaching.net -- Back with our vision roadblocks series with #5, Vision Alignment. We've been build...

Follow & DM us on Twitter: @coachessential | @coachk424 | @rastogi_aseem Visit & Subscribe to our website: www.essential-coaching.net Send us an email: admin@essential-coaching.net -- In this episode, the guys tackle a pretty reflective question for coaches: what are you afraid of? Both Kyle & Aseem share their own insecurities as coaches, as well as ask questions of the listening audi...

The title of the episode speaks for itself. Less is more, people! Follow us on Twitter @coachessential, @rastogi_aseem, and @coachk424. Subscribe to our website at www.essential-coaching.net. YouTube Channel coming soon!

The title says it all!

In this episode, the guys jump into the idea of "fun" in the sport experience being taboo and interfering with "focus." The entire idea of this episode stems from this tweet: https://twitter.com/Rastogi_Aseem/status/1499495420808077313 and the video underneath of the Phoenix Suns enjoying their warmups together as a team singing and dancing to NBA Youngboy's "Nevada." Part II is more geared toward...

Follow us on Twitter: @coachessential | @coachk424 | @rastogi_aseem Visit our website: www.essential-coaching.net In this episode, the guys jump into the idea of "fun" in the sport experience being taboo and interfering with "focus." The entire idea of this episode stems from this tweet: https://twitter.com/Rastogi_Aseem/status/1499495420808077313 and the video underneath of the Phoenix Suns enjoy...

Follow us on Twitter: @coachessential | @coachk424 | @rastogi_aseem Visit our website: www.essential-coaching.net In episode 27, the guys talk about so-called "Experts" and what they do and don't bring to the table. Aseem gives his definition of what an expert COULD be, and and Kyle deep dives being an engaged learner to become an expert yourself. The point of today's episode is to help coaches di...

Twitter: @coachk424 | @rastogi_aseem | @coachessential Sports parents. Maybe it gives you flashbacks of the car ride, or meetings, or complaints. Well, we're here to tell you, as two guys who have dealt with this and it did not end well, that there is a way to make your team parents allies instead of enemies. Based on a blog on our website, we go through five questions parents can and should ask t...

Twitter: Essential Coaching: @coachessential | Kyle: @coachk424 | Aseem: @rastogi_aseem Go back and listen to the Vision Roadblocks episodes if you haven't already! In this week's episode, we add another installment to our Vision Roadblock series and tackle vision attainability. Who is the vision laid out for - the best players or all the players? How do we internalize teaching that and creating e...

Twitter: Essential Coaching: @coachessential | Kyle: @coachk424 | Aseem: @rastogi_aseem In the "final" episode in our practice series (for now...) we discuss turning over those stones from part III. What are coaches practicing - things like emotional regulation, body language, decision making, alignment to style of play and feedback, joy and creativity, etc. Are YOU developing in practice? What ar...