Je vous propose l'interview de Brian McCormick (BMC), un entraîneur de basket-ball américain qui a travaillé aux USA et en Europe.
Brian vient de finir son doctorat qui portait sur l'agilité, la pliométrie et le basket-ball. Il a publié 3 articles scientifiques dans des revues internationales.
Il a également écrit plusieurs livres sur le basket-ball disponible sur amazon.fr:
- Cross-over: the new model of youth basketball development
- Developing basketball intelligence
- Fake Fundamentals vol. 1 et 2
- SABA: The antifragile offense
- The 21st century basketball practice
- 180 shooter
Enfin, il possède un blog sur lequel il rédige régulièrement des petits articles:
Brian est intéressé pour venir entraîner en France afin de découvrir un nouveau pays. Si des personnes souhaitent lui donner sa chance, vous pouvez me contacter et je ferai suivre.
SF: Hello Brian,
I'm very pleased to have the opportunity to introduce you
to our French readers.
First of all, can
you introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about your background?
BMC: I started out
coaching youth teams when I was at university. I started with 5th and 6th grade
girls in a league for parochial schools. I coached volleyball and basketball,
and on the weekends, I coached Special Olympics. Eventually I moved on to AAU
teams and high school teams, and when I graduated from university, I was hired
as an assistant coach at an NCAA D3 program. I was a college assistant for two
seasons, also coaching AAU basketball during the offseason, before I was hired
to coach in the Damligan in Sweden.
When I left Sweden, I started a business doing individual and small-group training with players, partnered with another guy to start an online training business, and wrote a documentary for a Canadian film company. I also wrote the first of my books, Cross Over: The New Model of Youth Basketball Development, and produced my DVD, Great Ball Handling Made Easy during this time. Eventually I found my way back to Europe and coached UCD Marian in Ireland. When I returned to the U.S., I spent several years coaching high school teams, wrote several more books, started the 180 Shooter online shooting program, founded a coach education and certification organization, and created the Playmakers Basketball Development League.
After several years, I returned to school to complete a doctorate in Exercise and Sports Science. I wrote my dissertation on plyometrics training and basketball defense. While in school, I worked as a strength and conditioning coach at a junior college and continued to coach high-school basketball. After graduating, I returned to Europe to coach in Denmark. This year, I assisted with a college basketball team while writing four more books.
When I left Sweden, I started a business doing individual and small-group training with players, partnered with another guy to start an online training business, and wrote a documentary for a Canadian film company. I also wrote the first of my books, Cross Over: The New Model of Youth Basketball Development, and produced my DVD, Great Ball Handling Made Easy during this time. Eventually I found my way back to Europe and coached UCD Marian in Ireland. When I returned to the U.S., I spent several years coaching high school teams, wrote several more books, started the 180 Shooter online shooting program, founded a coach education and certification organization, and created the Playmakers Basketball Development League.
After several years, I returned to school to complete a doctorate in Exercise and Sports Science. I wrote my dissertation on plyometrics training and basketball defense. While in school, I worked as a strength and conditioning coach at a junior college and continued to coach high-school basketball. After graduating, I returned to Europe to coach in Denmark. This year, I assisted with a college basketball team while writing four more books.
SF: You travelled a lot
and coached in different countries. What do you think about young player development
in the USA compared to Europe?
BMC: In some ways, this is a difficult question
because every country in Europe, and even every club, is different, and there
is a lot of variation in the experiences of players in the U.S. too. Also,
despite coaching in a number of countries, with teams and while directing
camps, I have not watched many European coaches over a long period of time.
From my experiences, I believe that the club
system in Europe presents several advantages:
(1)
Children play on one team, and the head coach
oversees all aspects of the program. In the U.S., children play for multiple
teams (high school, AAU, etc) and also work out with private skills trainers
and strength coaches. There is a lack of consistency in their development, as
they bounce from coach to coach, system to system.
(2)
The European club system has more of a long-term
emphasis. Children tend to stay with the same club for several years, whereas
children may be with a team for as few as 8 weeks in the U.S. before moving to
another team with another coach. Again, there is more consistency.
(3)
Also, the season tends to be longer and games
tend to be on the weekends, with practices during the week. In the U.S., for
children, this is the same, but weekends are filled with multiple games; a child
may practice 1-2 times per week during the week, and play 3-4 games on the
weekend in a tournament. In high school, most games are during the week, so a
player might practice Monday, play Tuesday, practice Wednesday & Thursday,
and play Friday. It changes the structure and emphasis of practice when every
practice is either the day before or the day after a game compared to a
schedule in Europe with 3-4 practices during the week before a game on
Saturday. With fewer games per week, and more practices in between games, there
is more time for general skill development, whereas the U.S. system forces
coaches to spend a large percentage of time on game preparation.
(4)
I believe the FIBA rules, especially with
regards to timeouts and the shot clock, benefit player development as well.
Players learn to play faster and they cannot set up again when the first play
did not go according to plan. Players have to control the game more, whereas
coaches are more heavily involved in game management under U.S. rules. Most European
clubs seem to play with more age-appropriate basket heights and ball sizes than
are used with young children in the U.S., where players quickly move to
full-size balls and 10-ft hoops.
(5)
I do believe the U.S. system has some advantage.
Many children play multiple sports, which is rarer for teenagers in Europe, and
that benefits them athletically. Second, players are exposed to many systems
and coaches, which has some benefits, as they learn different styles of play,
different positions, and more. I also think the school system allows or
encourages more children to participate.
SF: What do you thing of the playing level in High School or in the NCAA?
BMC: It varies significantly. There are so many players, so many teams, and so many levels that it is hard to characterize as one thing. There is a perception that young players in other countries are better or more fundamental, as Kobe Bryant suggested. However, the comparison is generally between the absolute best players from the rest of the world and players who might be the 100th or 200th best player in his or her age group. There are certainly top players being developed everywhere in the world, but people underestimate the depth of the U.S. For instance, when I coached in Denmark, there were 12 teams with 12 players on each team in the highest league. 144 players. There are over 300 teams with 12 players on each team just in NCAA D1 basketball. That’s a huge difference when you’re comparing the top 12-20 teams in a European league with a 300+ team NCAA. If the top 20 college teams broke away from the NCAA and formed its own super-college league, I imagine there would be improvements in style of play, execution, etc.
The same goes for high school. Some high school
games are great; some are awful. Some feature great players; some do not. There
are so many teams and players that you cannot draw a single conclusion.
SF: According to you, what are the priorities for
the development of young players?
BMC: My first priority is the psychological or
emotional. Players have to want to play. They have to want to improve. It
cannot be for their parents. They have to understand the process of
development, that it takes time. They cannot fear a mistake today. Too many
players are pushed into training at too young of an age (biological age and/or
emotional age), and they are not ready for it mentally or physically. These
players should be playing sports, not training for sports. They should be
playing for fun.
Once they are emotionally and psychologically
ready to move to a more developmental period, my initial focus is movement.
Basketball is a movement sport; players have to be able to run and stop, jump
and land, and change directions. These skills impact basketball-specific skills
such as shooting and dribbling. How can you shoot well if you cannot jump and
land or run and stop?
These are my priorities. After these, then I
like to use games to develop basketball-specific skills and game sense. I want
to build skills within the game rather than developing isolated skills and
trying to perform them in the games later.
SF: What is your playing philosophy for youth teams?
Do you use closed systems or principles based on the “read and react”?
BMC: I use the system that I describe in SABA: The
Antifragile Offense, which is an outgrowth of the former system that I used
that I described in Blitz Basketball. Basically, I teach several basic
principles and build the system around these principles. There are some plays
or entries that we use to organize our offense, but the goal is not to run the
plays, but to break down the defense. We want to disorganize the defense, and
once disorganized, we move the ball until we take a great shot. The offense is
predicated on players making decisions and making plays rather than following
directions.
SF: When do you think it is a good age to start
learning pick & roll and off-ball screens?
BMC: I start with pick-and-rolls at a young age
because it is easier for players to understand the pick-and-roll than off-ball
screens. I introduce it with players as young as 10. With off-ball screens, I
wait another year or two. I want players to be able to get open and find space
without having to rely on screens.
SF: How many sessions per week youth teams (U14 for
example) train in the USA? Usually, what is the week training schedule?
BMC: This is hard to answer because it varies
greatly. An u14 is probably in 8th grade, but could be in high school. There is
a big difference between a middle school team and a high school team.
Additionally, most players also play on a club (AAU) team, which complicates
their training schedule.
In general, a typical schedule for a freshman in
high school during the high school season is to play 2 games and practice 3
times per week. The season starts in mid-November and ends in mid-February. The
school system is based around a three-sport season, so basketball starts when
football (boys) and volleyball (girls) end, and ends in time for track and
field, baseball/softball, swimming, and other sports.
After the high school season, many players will
play with a club team. This starts as soon as the high school season ends, and
it may be a school-affiliated club team or a non-affiliated team, depending on
the state. Some states allow high school coaches to coach their players in the
offseason, and some states restrict the offseason involvement.
The club season generally will include 1-3
practices per week and 3-4 games on the weekend. This goes from mid-February to
the end of July with very few breaks.
Some players will play multiple sports at school
(football, basketball, baseball), play on a club basketball team, and train
with a private skills coach. They have a crazy schedule, running from practice
to practice to games to workouts.
SF: During youth training, do you mainly use
individual technical drills, small sided games (1-on-1, 2-on-2, 3-on-3), or
5-on-5 games?
BMC: I use primarily small-sided games. As the season
progresses, I use more 5-on-5 games to prepare for specific offenses and
defenses of our opponents. However, I do most of my teaching and skill development
through SSGs.
SF: What is the best way for you to teach basketball
shooting to young players?
BMC: I focus on the basic movements. When I start
with a player, I want the player to start in a good position and end in a good
position. There is some leeway in terms of what constitutes a “good position”, and I do not want to influence this too much, unless there is
something completely amiss, such as a right-handed shooter shooting on the
left-hand side of their body, as some children do.
More and more, I believe that shooting needs to
be developed within the same constraints as the game, which means fewer
isolated shooting drills, and more time spent shooting with some
decision-making elements, such as shot selection or judging the closeness of a
defender.
SF: What are the necessary physical qualities to
become a professional player?
BMC: Length and quickness. Basketball is a game of
movement. A game features more changes of direction than vertical jumps, so
while we think of basketball as a game of jumping played at the rim, the
ability to move and change directions quickly is more important. Length is also
hugely important in terms of becoming a professional player. Most people still
concentrate on height, but a shorter player with a longer standing reach often
has the advantage. Players with that long wingspan have an advantage,
especially on defense, as you can see with guys such as Draymond Green and
Russell Westbrook.
The underrated physical quality is coordination
or connectedness. Some athletes are powerful, but they are not well-connected.
Their movements are not as fluid. They may test well, especially in static
tests, but their skills are not expressed as fully as a less powerful athlete
who is more coordinated. This is a big concern with regards to shooting.
Players may appear to have very good technique, but their coordination is
slightly off. They are not connected. This is a quality that is easy to see in
top athletes, but harder to explain because of its complexity and interconnectedness
with other qualities, especially balance.
SF: Do you think it is important to start playing
basketball at a young age to become a professional player? What is the ideal
age?
BMC: I suppose it depends on what age one considers
to be young. I believe that it is important for a child to be active from a
young age, but I do not believe that one needs to play basketball before 10 or
11. From 4-10, however, the child must be engaged in playful activities. I
recommend gymnastics and martial arts to young children because of the
kinesthetic awareness, strength, and coordination benefits. I also believe that
it is good for children to engage in sports such as skiing, snowboarding,
surfing, and skateboarding. Playing team sports or something with a ball is
also important; I notice a difference in the U.S. between children who have
played baseball and those who have not. Those with baseball experience are
better at tracking balls and anticipating where the ball will go than those
with no baseball experience. I imagine the same would be true whether they
played volleyball, tennis, baseball, etc. Anything that develops the eye
tracking skills is beneficial and probably important. With a background in
these activities, whether formal or informal, I believe that a child can transition
to basketball quite easily around 10 or 11 years old.
Thanks a lot for your answers Brian.
SF
