Hard Work vs Talent

Building a good work ethic early is extremely important to building a program. It's difficult to tell 4th graders that they need to work hard on their game and then expect them to understand that. I have worked hard on finding ways to make our youth understand it by doing two simple things: First, is to make learning the game fun. If kids are not having fun doing something they won't develop a work ethic to improve. I make them understand that we come in, work hard and then we play games, have contest etc afterwards. They leave the gym hungry for more and will go home and work on what they have learned. The second thing I like to do is give them quick wins. What that means is I have come up with some specific drills on footwork, ball-handling and shooting that will improve their game almost immediately. They have to see it for it to be effective, so with this process if they see they are getting better then they will begin to develop that work ethic. As kids advance, so do the difficulty of the drills.

I've seen schools just ride out the natural talent and then fade away until the next talent comes through instead of developing talent and having a strong program year in and year out. The development of the work ethic makes this happen. The schools that are always good year in and year out have great feeder systems in place, consistent coaching and a proven process of how to get that done. So even your lean years you should still be competitive and not starting over all the time. Hard work will build your program for the long run.