Hoop Summit: Coach Beveridge
08 avril 2009
Respected Australian national teams coach ROB BEVERIDGE is the man in charge of trying to mould a roster of ten players from eight countries into a team ready to take on the best the USA has to offer at Nike Hoop Summit.
Here Coach Beveridge talks about the unique problems that challenge poses ...
This is my fifth year coaching the World Select Team and the biggest thing we have to cope with is the cultural differences between the players, the different languages they speak, although another factor which we had to deal with on our first day, Monday, was fatigue.
We had our second session of the day in the afternoon and the players looked sluggish. Then you have to remember that, for the Euros, it was 2.30am so they will need a couple of days to get used to it.
Of course, language issues are never far away and what I have to do is play a game of charades! I have to demonstrate a lot of things myself because, while basketball is undoubtedly an international language, a lot of terminology I use is different, even with the guys who speak perfect English.
I might talk about an 'on ball screen' but to somebody else that is a 'pick and roll' so it's a question of me adjusting to their language, as much as they have to adjust to mine.
"But the single biggest challenge we face is that if we are to beat the USA we have to develop togetherness and team chemistry as quickly as possible.
"Our guys don't know each other, might not even be able to speak the same language, whereas some of the American players will have known each other and played together for ten years. That's the sort of atmosphere we have to try and build in one week.
One of the issues here is that at every single training session we have NBA scouts and general managers watching. For us to beat the USA we have to have everybody on the same page and that could be difficult with such influential people looking at these players as individuals.
You can't forget that some of these guys are playing for their dreams. I look at Saer Sene, from Senegal, who played on this team two years ago and was drafted purely because of his performance in this one game. He realised that if he performed well on the world stage, it could change his life and he managed to do that within our team plan. Sometimes, there is a risk of a player playing for himself and that being detrimental to the team.
So we are organising plenty of team building exercises for the week to try and help in this area and we are stressing to the players that this is a chance for them to make lifelong friendships.
From personal experience, I know that Hoop Summit has introduced me to people who will be friends for life and that is something we are trying to get across to our players this year. Hoop Summit is a very special game for these players and it presents them with opportunities not readily available in the outside world.
Photo Credit: USA BASKETBALL
Here Coach Beveridge talks about the unique problems that challenge poses ...
This is my fifth year coaching the World Select Team and the biggest thing we have to cope with is the cultural differences between the players, the different languages they speak, although another factor which we had to deal with on our first day, Monday, was fatigue.
We had our second session of the day in the afternoon and the players looked sluggish. Then you have to remember that, for the Euros, it was 2.30am so they will need a couple of days to get used to it.
Of course, language issues are never far away and what I have to do is play a game of charades! I have to demonstrate a lot of things myself because, while basketball is undoubtedly an international language, a lot of terminology I use is different, even with the guys who speak perfect English.
I might talk about an 'on ball screen' but to somebody else that is a 'pick and roll' so it's a question of me adjusting to their language, as much as they have to adjust to mine.
"But the single biggest challenge we face is that if we are to beat the USA we have to develop togetherness and team chemistry as quickly as possible.
"Our guys don't know each other, might not even be able to speak the same language, whereas some of the American players will have known each other and played together for ten years. That's the sort of atmosphere we have to try and build in one week.
One of the issues here is that at every single training session we have NBA scouts and general managers watching. For us to beat the USA we have to have everybody on the same page and that could be difficult with such influential people looking at these players as individuals.
You can't forget that some of these guys are playing for their dreams. I look at Saer Sene, from Senegal, who played on this team two years ago and was drafted purely because of his performance in this one game. He realised that if he performed well on the world stage, it could change his life and he managed to do that within our team plan. Sometimes, there is a risk of a player playing for himself and that being detrimental to the team.
So we are organising plenty of team building exercises for the week to try and help in this area and we are stressing to the players that this is a chance for them to make lifelong friendships.
From personal experience, I know that Hoop Summit has introduced me to people who will be friends for life and that is something we are trying to get across to our players this year. Hoop Summit is a very special game for these players and it presents them with opportunities not readily available in the outside world.
Photo Credit: USA BASKETBALL
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