Why coach when you can guide?

By Alistair Castagnoli, basketball and consulting coach, athletic trainer

WHAT I LOVE IS...


There are many things that I love about the Golden State Warriors. 
Many things that makes it a team that is simply fun to watch.
They play and you just stare because they enjoy playing together. And that's a rarity nowadays.

That is why what I probably love the most is coach Steve Kerr.
I love him as a coach.
The way his team has been performing for the last 3 1/2 season is outstanding and speaks for itself. 
Saturday he became the fastest coach in American sports history to reach 250 victory (he did it in only 302 games). 
As he said to ESPN, he is privileged to have "inherited a hell of a team, an amazing, talented group of players" (http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/22397778/kerr-becomes-fastest-coach-american-sports-history-250-wins).  But we have to give him credits, because having the right ingredients doesn't automatically turns you in a great chef.
You have to add something to the recipe, a secret ingredient that transforms good in excellent. 
And that is why I love him even more as a person.

CONNECTIONS

Talking to ESPN Stephen Curry called him "a great people guy" and adds: "He just knows how to relate to each and every one of us players and his coaching staff." (http://www.espn.com/nba/recap?gameId=400975577)
The way Steve Kerr interacts with his players is something you rarely find in professional sport. You can see that he has an impact on them by the way his players look at him. Just check their eyes and you'll understand what kind of connection he is able to create with people.
But there is more.

"Be the change that you wish to see in the world." Mahatma Gandhi

Like many coaches around the world, it came a time when Steve Kerr wasn't happy with his team energy and hussle. He sticked to his coaching style as long as he thought it was right, but when he saw little changes, he decided it was time for a big change.
A technical and tactical change?
Not at all.

During monday night game vs Phoenix he left the players handle the game and do the talk during timeouts.
And what he told ESPN is something most of us should remember everyday, every practice, every game.
"It's the players' team, it's their team and they have to take ownership of it." (http://www.espn.com/nba/recap?gameId=400975592)
And that is so true. Players play. And we coaches have to use our experience and knowledge to help them find their own game. Not to turn them into soulless chessboard pawns. 
"As coaches, our job is to nudge them in the right direction, guide them. We don't control them. They determine their own fate. I don't think we've focused well the last month. It just seemed like the right thing to do." (Steve Kerr in http://www.espn.com/nba/recap?gameId=400975592)
How many coaches have the courage to do something like that? How many coaches would step back from the scenes and admits their own responsibility?
He did: "It had to do with me trying to reach my team and I have not reached them the last month. They're tired of my voice. I'm tired of my voice. I wasn't reaching them so we figured this was a good night to pull something out of the hat." (Steve Kerr in http://www.espn.com/nba/recap?gameId=400975592)

In order to favour a change in his players, he was the first to show he could change.
And it didn't by simply telling that the defense or the offense wasn't right. 
He did it like a man talking to others men. 

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