Interview: "Work Equals Success"

I've been interviewed by Mária Penciaková from the Slovak basketball web site BasketPortal. Here you have the link to the interview (if you want to work on your slovak) and below you can find the English translation.

1. Could you please describe yourself ( how old are you? Where are you from?hobby? etc.)

I'm 35 years old, from Guadalajara, a city near Madrid, Spain. I'm lucky as the thing I like the most is also my job, basketball. I also like reading and running "mens sana in corpore sano"!

2. Could you please briefly describe your coaching experience?

I've been a professional coach for the last 14 years, I started pretty young and I'm happy to say that I've coached in different places and always at a good profesional level, in Spain, Hungary and now in Slovakia. I've been assistant coach and head coach and I love being a coach, also working with young players or kids, which I think is where we need the best coaches. Unfortunately that's easy to say, but not that easy to do.

3.What is your basketball philosophy as basketball coach?

Work equals success.

Work hard every minute of every practice. Every day. There are no secrets here. I enjoy every minute I'm doing my job, on the court, or off the court. Practicing or watching videos, planning the practices, planning the weeks... Good moments and bad moments. You need to think about basketball 24/7. You need to love this job. If you don't, you'd better look for another way to live. Sometimes is not so easy to leave family and friends behind and not having a "personal" life. There are sacrifices to make.

4.What are your beginnings with basketball? Did you play professional basketball?

No, I didn't play pro. Not everyone can be a professional player. Also, I discovered coaching early in my life, and the decision for me was quite clear. I love coaching.

5. What do you think, what makes a team successful?

Working well every day. Even if you have a lot of talent, if you don't work hard every day... Sometimes success is winning a championship, sometimes avoiding relegation, sometimes to be a better team. No matter what your goals are, you need to put in the hard work.

Apart from that, the group of players, they are the artists, but they must understand their roles and always put the team first. The organization of the club is important too.

6. As a coach what goes through your head after a defeat?

I analyze the reasons, I look for the solutions, I learn from it and I keep working. What else can you do?

7.How do you handle criticism from fans?

My job is to take decisions. I understand sometimes fans, or players, may disagree. I can live with that. I feel a great respect for fans, and also I understand that they don't have all the information that we, as coaches, have about the team and our players. The most important thing in life is, in my opinion, respect. I feel that respect for the fans, the players, the coaches, the referees... We're all together in basketball.

8.How do you handle team discipline?

Talking face to face. Letting them know what I think they need to do to improve the team and themselves. Putting the team first. Understanding that sometimes mistakes happen on the court. And being sincere. We love this game, but this game is our job. We're professionals. There are some rules to follow. I can listen to the players' suggestions, I believe they can help in the decision making process, but they know I'm the one who will decide.

9.What is your preparation for game and practice?

We do a lot of work (my assistant coach Martin Blaho and me. I'd like to point that it is great to have a coach like him by my side) We do a post game study (after each one of our games) so we know exactly what happened during the game. Sometimes we run video meetings with our players (with things we want them to do, or to change, mistakes to fix, good things we want them to keep doing...) We scout our rivals, with a lot of attention on their players and the way they play as a team. We have at least two video reports to show to our team. We talk about our practices, so we know what are we going to focus in, the goals... We always talk about working as if we were an Eurochallenge or Eurocup team. That's our goal.

10. Now that you’ve been here two months, what are your impressions of the team?

We are on our way. We could say "under construction" yet. We're being competitive even with all the problems we've been through. We don't look for excuses and we work when we have 14 players and when we have 7. I'm proud of my players' attitude and the way they practice. We are a solid team longer and longer time on the court, but we still have a lot to do, we haven't reached our limit. We'll be ready for the key moments of the season if we keep working like this.

11. Are you still searching for new players for your team? Or is your team complete?

In professional sports the teams are never complete. You never know what is going to happen. Injuries, problems of any kind, opportunities... The only thing I know is that we will work exactly the same way with these players, with more, or less. Hard work every day, fighting to be better every day.

12. This is your first time coaching Slovak team, what would you like to prove with your team in this season 2012/ 2013?

Our goal is to be the best team we can. By the end of the season I want to feel we did our best. We'll see where is our limit.

13. How do you like Prievidza?

It's a nice place to live and work. The right size. With green areas to run, which is great if you like it.

14. How do you like Slovak food?

I really like it. It is tasty, very similar to the food we eat in Spain during the winter. I love your soups, for example.

Eurobasket 2011: Serbia

Today I'm gonna try something new. We'll see how it works.

All along the day I'll post small details from Serbia, as they're playing really good basketball during the first days of the Eurobasket. I'll show you clips from their friendly games and from their first games of the tournament.

I'll post those details in my twitter account, rjmbasket08 and I hope to receive as much feedback as you want to give. So feel free to take a look, and of course, to start following me if you like what you read and watch there!!

Copa Del Rey: David Navarro

The last signing before the Spanish "Copa del Rey" started has been David Navarro, who agreed terms with Power Electronics Valencia.

He's a player coming from lower divisions, who's worked a lot to reach the ACB. And when this happens, when you have been coaching many years facing a player and he finally makes it to the Big League, you must be happy for him.

He's a hard worker, who has a lot of talent in Offense and who won't let you down on defense. His last (half) season in LEB Gold has been outstanding, he's been the "go to" guy for Girona, and everybody has tried to stop him as a key to beat his team. Not many were able to do it...

Coast to coast, shots (spot up, coming off dribble, coming off screens, fastbreak, step back) 1x1 (great first step and good use of both hands)... And still better, a smart guy who will find the way to score however you try to defend him.

Great player, and great work ethic, as he's been improven year after year all along his career.

Right before the "Copa del Rey" semis, here you have this relatively unknown player.

Good luck!

Copa Del Rey

I'll be following the Spanish "Copa del Rey" and I'll update my twitter account @rjmbasket08 with everything I find interesting or the situations I like more of the games.

I hope to see you there!!

Preview: Copa del Príncipe 2011

Solobasket.com guys asked me to analyze the "Copa del Principe" final that will be played next Sunday in Santiago. The two best teams from the Spanish LEB Gold will be fighting for the first title of the season.

And here it is, I think it is really interesting, with a preview of the game, last games info, opinions from journalists from both cities, the coach point of view... and of course, with the usual care this web give to their contents

Previa Copa Príncipe 2011

It's in Spanish, but as I often say, what an opportunity to work on your foreign languages' skills...

Happy 2011

Zone Offense & Youth Teams

During the summer I've sent some colaborations to the Castilla la Mancha Basketball Coaches' Association. I've written about zone offense for youth teams.

I've always been interested in these concepts, as many people ask me about it, and also because of the controversy about playing zone defenses with kids.

You can download the first one of the articles "Conceptos de ataque a zona para edades de formación" here

(By the way, it's in Spanish, so you can work on your "español" my friends)

Signed

I'm really happy to announce that I'll stay one more year in Ourense, as the Assistant Coach of the Club Ourense Baloncesto's LEB Gold team.

It's been easy to reach an agreement as both sides were willing to stay together, so I can only say I'll keep working as hard as possible to achieve our goals during the next season.

A big thank you goes for the Club, the staff, the fans, the City and the people from Ourense, who made me feel at home during our last season. I hope we'll bring a lot of successes to Ourense and I'm sure we'll make you feel proud of your team.

Orlando Pro-Combine

I’ve had the opportunity to visit one of the combines celebrated during these days in the United States. It’s been a great experience, and I’d like to share it with you all.

To begin with, I’d like to thank Abilio Muñoz, from the Spanish agency 4 Players Sports, and of course, the guys from Winning Ways Pro, an American organization with years of experience in these events. Specially I am thankful to their Vice - President, Matt Resnick, who made our days in Orlando really nice.

Now, what’s a Pro – Combine? Well, there are some differences between them, but basically what you find there is a group of players looking for a contract for the next season. These players pay a fee and go to that place to practice and play during some days, trying to show their best skills and to work hard to be in the coaches’ minds. Some companies, as Winning Ways do with Basketball Eye sevices, also upload the combine’s games to their web, where many other coaches and G.M.’s can whatch them online.

This combine was celebrated in Orlando, Florida, US East coast. What could I say about the Orlando? If you want to go there for tourism, you’d better be ready for a hot weather, for hummidity (the coast, their lakes – be aware of the aligators) and you’d better be ready to drive, because if you don’t have a car, you’re stucked or you’ll spend a lot of money in cabs)

I’ve met there many coaches (from the States, Canada, and also Europeans) all of them looking for talent for their teams. Also some american agents, introducing themselves and their players. I’ve been lucky, good contacts and good people who have made me enjoy these days.

After a couple of flights (many hours up in the air) I arrived to Orlando International Airport where they were waiting to take us to our hotel.

A first class hotel (where the coaches met to watch the seventh game of the NBA finals) half an hour from downtown and ten minutes from the gym. All these distances, as I say, by car. The hotel had a shuttle for us to go to the gym and a driver who kindly took us to have dinner or whatever we needed once in the hotel (trying to have healthy meals is almost impossible mission…)

To begin with the development of the combine, it started with a meeting with the players (there were fifty, give or take, some of them with experience in European basketball (Germany, Greece) in South America (Mexico) Asia (Japan, Taiwan) or even middle East (Quatar) and also players with their college careers just finished or some of them already playing pro – leagues in the USA. Barry Mestel, a Coach with wide experience as scout for the NBA or CBA, and who works during the seston with different players (from high school to WNBA) explained the players how the combine was going to work.



He introduced ourselves (European coaches) to the players, letting them know that they should introduce themselves along the camp, so they could ask questions or explain their hopes and goals. The players took the advine and almost every single one came and talked to us during the first day. It’s clear they wanted to give a good image of themselves and they wanted us to know how hard they would work to get a contract overseas.

The practices started with a warm up led by a pro – trainter, then Coach Melter led a basketball practice (one day it was a team practice, and one more they worked in groups) and we had the option to work with those players who we considered more interesting. Then, the games between the five teams let us see them in a competitive situation.







Something very interesting and not so often seen in these kind of Camps was a semynar in which the trainer explained them the keys for their nutrition as pro basketball players, and also some tips to work out once the season is over.

Talking about the games, we had the opportunity to ask the coaches to play specific situations both in offense and defense. Our work was really easy during the combine thanks to the collaboration of the coaches and the organization. Every single player had the same opportunities during the games, as they played the same amount of time. That’s really important in these events, so they can be seen properly by the coaches.



The contact with the players is really important, and what makes this combines a success. Watching them practice, not only on the court, but also with the trainer, to see how they behave in different situations, punctuality, attention to the coaches, and of corse, to talk to them and receive direct feedback… all these details you can’t find while watching a dvd or reading a report.

Once the Pro – Combine ended, we went to Rashard Lewis’ summer camp. We were talking with them for some minutes, and he showed us first hand the reason why he is a star and why the kids love him so much. He appears to be a great guy off the court, and is always ready to help the kids and to play with them. We even had the opportunity to work with the kids.





Definitely, a very good experience we all would like to repeat in the future.

Interview in MueveteBasket

Luis Clausín from MueveteBasket, one of the best Basketball information web sites in Spain, sent me some questions about my season as Assistant Coach in LEB Gold, and some other things.

You can read the complete interview (in Spanish) here.

Happy 2010

GOLD - ORO

(photo FEB.es)

News

Hello basketball friends!

It's been a while since my last post... one month full of summer camps, travels, and also good news.

Let's start for those good news: I've just signed for Club Ourense Baloncesto (Spanish LEB Gold) as Assistant Coach and we're starting preseason right now. That's why I've been so busy lately.

I'll be back, and I hope it'll be soon. Maybe I won't post so often as usual, but I'll keep working on my videos and I'll keep bringing some basketball here.

So, we'll keep in touch... (BTW, let's go Spain, go for gold guys!!!)

RJMBasket + Facebook

From now on, I'll also publish new videos and diagrams on my facebook group:



The goal is to make us coaches talk about those situations, feeling free to add new videos or interesting information on the topics. You can even add new topics for everybody to comment.

Have you already joined the group? Come on, almost one hundred coaches and fans are waiting for you!!!

Intense Week

It's been a very intense week, with important games to analyze and to learn from. The Euroleague Final Four, NBA Play Off, end of Spanish leagues' regular seasons...

Also, the Greek website Basketblog asked me to use my videos. Obviously, it's a pleasure for me to receive the interest of this very well known European site. Will I find a coaching job in Greece? (Don't worry George, I won't take your job)

And the guys from AD Molina, one of the teams I've worked for as a Scouter, made me an interview in which they asked about my opinion on the LEB bronze playoffs and my future plans. It's in Spanish, so you can keep working on your foreign languages if you read it.

By the end of the week I'll try to bring some details I've watched during the Euroleague F4. I hope you'll enjoy them.

Help African Basketball

My friend Brian McCormick, as you probably know he's the founder of The Crossover Movement, is looking for help for a very interesting non-profit organization: African Basketball Online. Some of their goals: "developing basketball, and providing leadership education to students, coaches, administrators, and organizations in Africa."

It's really interesting to read what Brian has to say about basketball development in Africa. Also great to find out what the wonderful people from ABO are doing for Basketball there.

I'm sure that many people who read RJMBasketball can help them, and that's the goal of this post.

They're doing a fantastic job, they need help, we have everything and as you can find from Brian's experience they have almost anything "100+ kids, 2 baskets and 4 basketballs - many of the kids walked to the clinic and played in their barefeet. I went to a holiday tournament at another school and watched a team of 11-year-old girls playing barefoot on an asphalt court on a sunny 85-degree day with two pairs of flip-flops that the shared with each other every couple minutes."

Can YOU help? Do you WANT to help? Contact them at: info@africanbasketballonline.com

Spanish King's Cup New Champion: TAU

The "Copa del Rey" has ended, with an astounding final, TAU 100-Unicaja 98 after an overtime. It's been a great game between two great teams commanded by two extraordinary coaches as Aito García Reneses (Unicaja Malaga) and Dusko Ivanovic (TAU).

So, our first "party" is over. I can tell that I've enjoyed this four days, watching the best European tournament of the moment, and also trying different experiences, as my collaboration for Solobasket with the Quarter finals and the Semifinals previews.

I've also made some experiments with Twitter, following some of the games, and adding diagrams of what was happening on the court... I'll keep working with it, and maybe I'll surprise you in the next big European event, the Euroleague Final Four.

I've read great articles about the Cup, as the ones from Jonathan Givony, which you can read here and here. I think there's at least another one to come.

I discovered an interesting interview with Fotis Katsikaris throug a very good spanish blogger, Aitor Pilan. The interview is in spanish, but I know some of you are already studying my mother language, so I hope it will be a good reading exercise.

And Dusko Ivanovic's words after his team's victory (with some bullets towards his former team, Barcelona)

Let me not forget the new J.F.Escudero's book, "Extranjeros ACB" ("ACB foreigners"). He's becoming a reference writer if we look for information about basketball (European, NBA, Spanish) and he presented his last book during the Spanish Cup.

So, there have been many things during these four days, but now I'll go back to the day to day, and soon I'll bring some interesting basketball situations I hope you'll like.