How incredible to have had so much international level basketball available to us over the past few months! We unpack what our observations have been on the Olympics so far, Coops gives us his thoughts from being Head Coach in Turkey at the World Cup, and of course how it all translates back into what we as coaches do at the grassroots level. This was recorded before the 2 Serbia games so may be a little out dated now - and now that I have access to the stats, Boomers are 65.6% and the Opals are 71.2% from the FT line!

Joined this week by Wayne Holdsworth to talk about SmackTalk, an initiative that started to talk suicide prevention, and make sure that people can have conversations to help save lives. Wayne takes us through how to have the conversation with people, the role that coaches can play with our young players, the need to discuss mental fitness and where to go to find out more information. You can follow along on the SmackTalk website and on Instagram to help Wayne spread the message.

All coaches have opinions (listen back a couple of episodes to hear some), but today we revisit some of the stronger opinions we have and see if we can unpack the other side of the coin with what we believe. In some we come around, and look at a few different ways we could all do things, and in others it’s fair to say we don’t deviate too much!

One of the most frequent areas of frustration for coaches (and usually parents on the sidelines) is the skill of passing. For what is one of the more basic skills in the sport, it causes a mountain of turnovers in every game, and the last thing we need to be doing, is handing fastbreak points to the opposition! This week we discuss what is a good pass, how to increase player vision, and how to inbound the ball whilst under pressure amongst other things, and various tangents.

It’s always interesting to hear what opinions that coaches have, that they won’t waiver on, so this week we unpack a number opinions that the coaches are prepared to die on that hill for. With everything from training content, to game style and play to team selection we cover off a bit of everything. If there’s an opinion you strongly believe in, drop it in the comments!

We are all time poor planning out training sessions, and even getting to games and training, and whilst we all do our best, there are times that we can overlook certain areas of the game. The good news is, we’ve got you covered! We discuss some things that can easily be forgotten about, and how to make sure that they are still featuring in how we all coach.

Big weekend of basketball for most coaches coming up, with tournaments a plenty around the country running. We discuss the balance of winning and development, what you can try and get from them, and importantly how to manage the load coming out of them.

No book club this week, but happy to accept submissions, and we have a coach shoutout we are also accepting submissions for.

We have a discussion around Coops’ Crocs camp and upcoming tournament, and the Caitlin Clark effect on basketball.

We get that sometimes you get a bit tired of hearing the same old voices, so we’ve gone looking for some additional sound bytes from around the sporting world to unpack and discuss. We hear from Coops about his Crocs Camp, and Rob is on for Book Club where he advocates for an early morning wake up, which Zoe is quick to put up her rebuttal for! Last episode until we are back in May, so plenty of time to get the coach appreciation shout outs through!

Ever have those sessions where it’s just flat, or you’re struggling to find ways to get the attention to detail out of the session? Yep, you’re not on your own – us too! We look at some of the things you can do before, during and after practice to make sure that you get the most out of your session.

When you think of Melbourne, hopefully it’s because of the Traralgon based superstar Jade Melbourne, and not just because it’s the world’s most liveable city! In a desperate attempt to get Jarrod Potter back listening to the podcast, we have enlisted the help of one of Victoria Country’s finest ever athletes who takes us through her career to this point, and what it looks like in the future (and hopefully Paris in particular!). Lots for coaches and players to take from this one to help with their basketball, and welcome back Potter…