Coaches Guide & Curriculum
Download our Coaches Guide & Curriculum. It has everything you need to understand the player development milestones we are striving to meet by age and stage for our players. It’s also full of coaching best practice tips.
Drills
Download our Practice Games and Drills Guide to help you develop your players and make running practices easier. It includes over 100 drills and is segmented by age, skills, and phases of the game.
Access our drills portal to find the right drill for the age, stage, and level of your team. From shooting to defense, and spacing to warm-ups, we’ve got you covered.
Templates
- Practice Plan Template | Provides a head start on practice planning, based on guidance from Canada Basketball and the National Coaching Certification Program
- End of Year Development Plan | Helps players reflect on strengths and areas for development and creates a training plan for the off-season.
- Positivity Coaching Challenge | A 20 day chart to help you create a positive team environment.
Podcasts
- A Full Timeout | Interviews with NCAA coaches and player development experts offer a combination of X’s and O’s and leadership insights. One of our favourites.
- Breakthrough Basketball | This podcast is hosted by Jim Huber, the Director of Coach Development for the website of the same name. In his 20 year high school and college coaching career, Coach Huber has won more than 45 championships and coached numerous NBA and NCAA Div 1 players. The podcast is focused on player development, character development, youth development and tactics.
- Coach Unplugged | This podcast, hosted by high school coach Steve Collins, features coaches calling in for discussions that are mostly focused on X’s and O’s, as well as practice planning and game management. It’s focused on middle school and high school coaches and teams.
- Coaching U Podcast | Hosted by Brendan Suhr, a longtime NBA Assistant Coach, this is another of our favourites because of Coach Suhr’s experience and the quality of his guests.
- Culture Builders | A fantastic podcast focused on leadership and culture development. Podcasts are SHORT (2-3 minutes typically).
- Hardwood Hustle | Co-hosted by TJ Rosene from PGC Basketball (and a 3 time US National Coach of the Year at Emmanuel College), this is another great podcast focused on a mix of leadership, culture building, and tactics.
- The Basketball Podcast | Hosted by Chris Oliver, guests include NBA assistant coaches, NCAA coaches, and player development experts. Oliver is the former Head Coach at the University of Windsor and Queens. He’s the founder of Basketball Immersion, a website and camp devoted to Oliver’s approach to decision-based training which focuses on mimicking game conditions in practice (he spends every minute of every practice doing 5 on 5).
Coaching Websites
- Basketball Immersion | Chris Oliver’s website (see The Basketball Podcast above) offers loads of videos, how-to guides, and practice plans.
- Breakthrough Basketball | A strong resource for drills, and offensive and defensive strategies.
- Coach Dave Love | This Calgary-based shooting coach is one of the top shooting coaches in the world. His site is full of blog posts and videos for purchase.
- PGC Basketball | One of the best coach and player development sites. A good mix of X’s and O’s as well as insights on leadership and how to think the game.
- Positive Coaching Alliance | PCA is a US non-profit organization with the mission of creating a positive, character-building youth sports environment.
- Right Way Basketball | This Ottawa-based organization offers player, coach and team training resources, camps, and clinics.
- The Wooden Effect | Coach John Wooden’s lessons on teaching, coaching, and character development are timeless.
Videos
- Basketball Super Summit Virtual Coaches Clinic | Almost 300 presentations delivered during COVID-19 by NBA and NCAA coaches and player development experts. Paid access.
- Bethel Basketball | A treasure trove of practice drills and actions from Coach Doug Novak and the Bethel mens basketball team.
- Dribble Drive Motion Offense | The founder of the DDMO, Vance Wahlberg, conducts a coaching clinic on the basics of this offense, which teaches players how to think the game, space the floor, and move the ball effectively.
- Mike McKay: Lessons from the FIBA Basketball World Championships | One of Canada’s top basketball coaches provides a clinic on fostering connections amongst teammates, offensive and defensive transitions, and offensive actions. This is an excellent clinic.
- Steve Nash, Give and Go Series | A series of short, outstanding clinics by Steve Nash on the outdoor courts of LA.
FIBA Rules
- FIBA Official Rules | Access the 2020 FIBA rules update that governs play in the Eastern Ontario Basketball Association.