Transcript
A (0:00)
Youth sports in America are at a crossroads, and I'm here to help lead the conversation forward. I'm Greg Olson. Each week we're sitting down with top athletes, coaches, and more to talk about what's working, what's broken, and what's next. Welcome to you think. Shane, I do want to ask you something. Yeah. So you're at. I walk into the gym at pd and you're coaching varsity basketball. Like, give me your role. Like, give me. Are you loud? Are you the guy in the corner? Are you in? Like, are you. Like, what are. Give me an idea of what kind of a youth coach are you?
B (0:34)
You know, that's a great question. I like to be someone who's always under control, okay? So Coach K said his best trait, and Coach K was a madman, but he said, when the. When the pressure is the highest, I want to be the calmest person in the gym, okay? And because that gives your team amazing strength, so I took that to heart. And so as a player, I was always very calm and things were hairy. So I try to take a calmness to the court. I am, like, a stickler for, like, fundamentals. Okay. And so it drives me crazy that most kids today don't know the proper angle to screen. Okay. They don't know the footwork to post up. They don't know how to. How to do a simple post pass, fake a pass, make a pass. Right, right. And so I find myself, you know, really, really trying to get back to the basics of. Of, like, what wins. And I tell these guys, like, trust me, trust me, this is what I did. I did against Carmelo Anthony, okay? If it worked against Carmelo Anthony, and it's not fancy, but you got to do it this way. And if you don't, you know, good luck and God bless. And so, you know, most of the time, I think my guys listen to me. Every now and then, they give me the stink eye. Like, I don't. Not.
C (1:44)
I don't.
B (1:45)
I don't think I'd say. I'm like, no, dude, trust me, you.
A (1:47)
Coach said, trust me, you, coach told me I didn't have to do that, coach.
B (1:52)
Exactly, exactly, exactly. So I tried to be the voice.
A (1:56)
Of.
B (1:59)
I guess, reason, and we have a great staff that is very collaborative. And so I just try to give them things. I know that maybe high school kids will struggle with another team. I try to teach them about habits. I had so many great coaches talk to me about habits and just doing the simple things every single time. Keep it simple, Keep it simple. Keep it simple. Keep it simple, you know, because I'm sure you deal with this every day with your kids. All they see is spectacular and fancy and the one handed grabs and all the crazy plays. And we all know that, you know, the basics win, the basics win. And the elimination of mistakes is what actually wins you games. And try to tell them if you win, you will get your shine, you will get your social media love, you'll get your Instagram posts, you know, but you gotta win and you win by being simple. And that's probably the most frustrating message that it's hard to get across to young kids today. Just keep it simple. Stupid.
