Teach the kids to envision and cherish success – not fear failure. I saw a post on a basketball website (I believe it was breakthroughbasketball.com) that we need to depressurize how we teach kids. We have kids going to the free throw line in practice with the fear of running suicides as they release the ball. All wrong. Don’t “correct” how they shoot – ask them if they would like to learn how to shoot straight. Children put plenty of pressure on themselves. I often think of how my parents would criticize me for months on end (with no behavioral change) and one weekend with my grandparents would teach me valuable life lessons. When I see coaches going thru practices shaking their heads, yelling, and throwing their arms up in disgust, it saddens me. We can do better.

Christopher Corbett