Weekend Retreats…And Replay

Years ago, I heard about a group of coaches who got together and had a retreat deep into the Maine woods.
Oh, they had the usual camping experience together: hiking, biking, campfires, eating.

All that camaraderie was topped off by a different, unique really, kind of over-the-fire type of experience. You see, these guys turned this thing in the beautiful Maine woods into a coaches’ clinic, one which saw each participant bring questions for other coaches, which concentrated on each other’s field of expertise.

Let’s say that Coach A was known for his team’s run-and-jump full-court press. Coaches would fire questions at him about how to teach a press like that.

Neat, huh?

Or, you might have a shooing guru in your midst.

Other coaches would quiz this guy on techniques to improve methods of teaching such a shot.

Then, coaches would ask each other how they attacked a certain defense. Secrets were exchanged, and it became an overnight skill session.

I’ve often thought about such a retreat. I really have. Such activities would require an open and honest approach, certainly, but the end-result of all this could be educational and informative.

I knew a coach who was reluctant to give up trade secrets to anyone, even after he retired. His philosophy was that if others wanted to learn his stuff, they should scout him.

I was never that strict, and I often shared notes and tape with opponents, who were interested in picking my head.
I have never attended those camping clinics, but I think I might the next time I’m asked. My philosophy of all this clinic stuff is to share the intricate details of hoop knowledge with everyone and anyone.

I published several books while I was an active coach. I spoke at several clinics while I was an active coach, and I never worried about others knowing what we did.

I taught the Auburn Shuffle to my teams for years, and I never went to bed one night, worrying that we were going to be copied, or figured out, for that matter.

Give one of those summer retreats a try. The simple act of being together as coaches can be a very relaxing thing to do. Relaxing…there’s something you don’t hear a lot about in coaching.

On another off-season note, I spent a couple of hours the other night with Maine Commissioner of Basketball, Peter Webb, a Houlton, Maine, native, to discuss the new IAABO rule, allowing video replay use at the end of games in high school basketball.

Webb was more than clear in his assessment of the rule and probably of not having much potential for future use in Maine.

Webb, no stranger to the national scene, agrees with this blogger that the cumbersome nature of camera availability across our state — even in state finals coverage — would make it difficult for anything uniform.

In other states but this one, however, talk may be rampant indeed for such replay use.

From this corner, I hate to see more replay in sports. By eliminating the referees’ eyes, we change the way the game is managed.