Even When You Don’t Want to Watch the Film …
Watching your team win games never gets old. Live, video, it’s all good. But when you as a coach and your players perform a stinker of a game, as we did this past Saturday, watching that replay, it’s not easy.
However! There’s much to be learned in defeat and despite knowing the film session wouldn’t be pleasant to behold, the team embraced the opportunity to watch – and learn.
We met an hour before practice on Monday. Normally we scroll through the Hoopsalytics pro-level box score, but this time we watched the film start to finish with no interruptions. We talked about the plays. The video was on a 4ft. smart screen in a classroom at school, and, still wearing masks, we were able to spread out, share our comments and have a productive discussion. What made me happy was the players were willing to accept their mistakes. They commented on them, we discussed and it was good to know they were eager to fix their own errors.
After our loss this past Saturday, I admit I was dismayed. We had a great opportunity to get a league win on our home court but it didn’t happen. In the locker room post-game, the mood was somber. We came into that game 7-1 and hadn’t lost in a month. We all stunk – this coach included. I asked the players to reflect on what they could do better, as I would, and bring a new vigor to practice on Monday.
Watching the film actually helped purge the remnants of that tough loss and help the players view their miscues and figure out a better path forward. Practice on Monday was upbeat and the players are ready to play our next game, which is today.
That’s one reason why, at the very least, even when you don’t want to, it’s productive to watch the game film.