Why Beyond The Hoop

Karl is an up and coming coach in Sweden. He loves the game of basketball, but he’s new. He’s only been coaching for about five years and is unsure in regards to what you need to move to the elite levels. He knows his X's and O's very well but has trouble with organization, talking with people and working through the other hats that a coach has to wear. 

When I started creating the Beyond the Hoop Season Plan, I wanted to design a program that would answer a lot of questions that coaches like Karl had. 

Like most coaches just starting out, Karl is disorganized. In the first few years of coaching, you're still trying to figure out what kind of game you want to run, both offensively and defensively. Most new coaches are so focused on learning their X's and O's and the strategy of the game that they neglect developing themselves in the other areas/responsibilities of a coach.

Karl was just like this. He became the perfect test subject. I could ask him questions and find out what he needed the most. I created my first season planner with Karl in mind. I found out what would be most beneficial to him. He wanted to be able to outline the whole year along with having a monthly calendar and weekly lists. 

We realized checkboxes for the season were important, places for notes on practices and practice plans for the week were essential. I wanted to put this together all in one place so he had one go-to source, one place to put all of his information in every week. A place where he could quickly access the information he needed. That’s when I started creating this planner. 

Through my experiences as a teacher, I understood the value of having access to a variety of lesson plans and curriculum outlines to help us design our semesters. Combining my skills as a teacher with regards to curriculum design and implementation along with my experience and understanding of being a professional coach, my system now brings the best of both worlds together.

Through reflection on my early years as a coach and speaking with other beginning coaches, I discovered that disorganization was at the heart of a lot of their roadblocks, their stress and their wasted time. By giving them this all in one system, I’m hoping other coaches, like Karl, can benefit from a more streamlined system that performs better and more efficiently.