November 12, 2011

Diary Series: Doug Thibault, Asst. Coach - Longwood

Here it is November and I find this month to be the most exciting and stimulating moment in time for me.  Of course as a basketball coach, March is a great time of year.  But personally, I find the autumn air of a new basketball season to be even more exhilarating and energizing.

The players, coaches, students, faculty, staff, and fans are thrilled and filled with anticipation about what will happen over the next six months.  In perspective, it is like a heavy coffee drinker who has not been allowed to have a sip of coffee for the past six months.  Every drop that hits your tongue tastes like the greatest coffee you have ever savored. It is like you are in Columbia picking the coffee beans right off of the plant and then making it fresh from scratch.

This is exactly what a new basketball season is like for me.  A new beginning that can be the greatest you have ever experienced.  No matter if you had a great year previously or a rebuilding year; this current year can be your finest ever. Everything is fresh.  Whether you have a veteran team or if you have a young team, they are both excited to see their dreams come to life. For this time of year everyone has great potential and can still reach for their dreams.

As coaches, we talk about goals and expectations.  The truly great thing about launching a new season is that we can all reach those goals and expectations.   There are no losses and everyone on the roster still has the ability to step up and make a difference.  There is a buzz in the air around campus and the community about the upcoming season.  It is the energy and anticipation from the fans that is one of the major factors that inspires us as a team, to improve and strive for greatness every day.  With that, I am proud to say the Lancer fans are the greatest in the country!

Speaking of the Lancers, we are off to a great start and the team is working hard.  We are fortunate to have a veteran group this year.  This allows for a much more accelerated learning curve.  As with all teams, there are areas we feel we need to improve on to reach our goals.  But I am also thrilled to say there are areas I think we are ahead of our normal progression for this time of year.  When you have a group of experienced players like we have, it really allows for you to progress quickly because the worries of teaching new terminologies and philosophies do not exist.  Though we do have several players that did not play last season, there are no newcomers to the Longwood basketball family.  This just creates the issue of handling time management and how it relates to our teams progress both on and off the court.

I feel that time management is one of the biggest skills to master in coaching. It also is one of the most important skills for us to teach our student-athletes to conquer.  No matter the level you coach at: college, prep school, high school, middle school, AAU, youth leagues, or recreation leagues; the art of successful time management is one of the hardest things to achieve as a coach.

Yes, of course as a coach it is critical to master time management on the basketball floor.   From evaluating the team’s progress, to assessing their level of energy, and motivating them to practice at a high level from day to day, it is tough.  This is an enormous balancing act.  You are trying to prepare them for the different stages of the season and their entire career for that matter.  While at the same time, you must realize each team and each individual athlete develops at a different rate.  This means that you must evaluate and make adjustments daily.  

Though this creates a huge challenge for coaches, I feel one of the areas not often discussed in length, is the issue of time management off of the court.  For when dealing with student-athletes, you must not only help them but more often than not, exactly guide them to finding a balance with all aspects of organizing what to do with their time.  As a staff at Longwood, we discuss three major areas of a student-athlete’s overall experience.   These areas are academically, athletically, and socially.  We feel that you need to create balance in all of the student-athletes’ lives and teach them that they must develop all three.  Within this, we teach them that the only way to truly achieve greatness in one of these areas is to be great at all three of these areas.

For me personally, I have found this to be very true through my 16 years of coaching.  If a player is not doing well in a class or is having an issue at home, he is not going to do as well on the court.  I have found the opposite to be true also.  If an individual does not feel comfortable about how he fits in with his teammates and his role on the team, he will not live up to his abilities in classroom.  So as coaches, we must create time to develop all of these skills within our student-athletes.  From my experiences, we will not create the success on the court we desire until we reach a balance in all.  To get this done, we need to create a balance in how we use our time throughout each day, week, and the entire season.

As coaches, we have families and other commitments.  From political obligations to taking a moment to clear our heads to be centered and more relaxed individuals, we must find that time management balance in our own lives.  My close friend and mentor, Mike Gillian, has taught me that all too well over the last eight years.  The message is clear that we cannot be great teachers if we do not live what we preach.  Coaches are not perfect either.  But I know how much we give of ourselves to what we love.  So to all of you hard working coaches, I commend you on changing young people’s lives and wish you luck on the challenging obstacle we call time management.

Good luck to everyone as you start your basketball season, and I hope you enjoy that first drink of this season’s coffee.  I would personally like to thank College Chalktalk once again for the opportunity that has been presented to me to share the world of Longwood Basketball with you, and until my next diary entry...

 

GO LANCERS!