The 5 Most-Important Minutes Of A Game

This is the time of year where the most gut-wrenching losses occur. In tournament play, only one team ultimately ends up the winner and goes home happy. And for some high school and college players, this may be the last game of organized basketball that they’ll ever play.  For returning players and coaches, this is a critical time of year where “the end” sets the tone for next season. For the basketball coaches who lead AAU teams, their season of spring and summer adventure is just beginning and they are mapping out their team itinerary.  So whether your season is coming to a close or just kicking off — you need to help parents become aware of the 5 most-important minutes of a basketball game.

Before each season begins, Bill Salyers, holds a players’ parents-only meeting. In this meeting, he covers the normal introductions, expectations, results from the previous season, upcoming season goals and outlines his coaching philosophy. To wrap up the meeting, Salyers asks the group of parents, “What are the most-important 5 minutes of any game?” He then lets the parents (mostly dads) offer up their guesses. Most common answers from parents usually include the “end of the first half,” “end of the game” or “half-time.”

But Salyers, a member of the Winning Hoops Editorial Advisory Board and author of the book Basketball Basics (and fellow Winning Hoops blogger) says that the most-important 5 minutes are the first 5 minutes that occur when the player and the parents are alone after a game — most of the time in the car on the ride home. The questions asked, the comments made and the attitude projected by the parents either reinforces the comments made by the coach or totally undermines them. Salyers reminds parents of several things with regard to this critical 5-minute period, including:

• If you can’t say something positive, don’t say anything at all.

• The success of the next practice (and the one after that and then the next game) may hinge on the attitude the player has after the game. That immediate attitude has tremendous carryover. 

• Recognizing that a player’s attitude is as important as any other aspect when determining playing time and a role on the team. Parents greatly impact this.

• If the parents had wanted to coach, they should have taken the team!

Salyers encourages coaches not to pull any punches during this meeting. Parents need to understand the tremendous power they have on the player and the critical role they play when it comes to attitude. 

Making your expectations known, as well as the role you expect parents to play, dramatically reduces the number of problems that you have on your teams.