84 X 50 Leadership Notes by Erick Blasing
I am very excited to begin contributing to Men’s Basketball Hoop Scoop and I hope that I am able to provide you with some new content or at least make you happy that you are “smarter than that coach.” In all seriousness, I am excited to share drills, plays, clinic notes, and other tidbits that I have picked up over the past decade. As a young coach, I have had the privilege of coaching at the AAU level, private parochial league level, Division 1 & Division 2 high school (Wisconsin’s largest enrollment divisions) boys and girls with my previous four years coming as head boys coach of a division 2 high school in Wisconsin. I was hired for that position while still an undergrad and was one of the youngest head coaches in the state of Wisconsin at the age of 22. Though all of that, I have failed and failed often but in my opinion that is what makes better coaches. Coaching is a tough profession and we are constantly in a position to evaluate athletes’ failures and shortcomings with the goal to help them gain confidence and get better as players and people. As coaches, it is important that we use the same intensity and scrutiny towards ourselves and our knowledge of the game. I have been so impressed and humbled with the willingness of most coaches to share and help mentor young coaches like myself. This site is a great example of the connection that coaches have and I am excited to try and contribute my part.
Today: 84 x 50 Leadership Notes
During my time in Sparta, I took over a program with 5 winning seasons since 1982-1983 and only one since 1988-89 (the year I was born). As a young coach, I took my lumps and made many mistakes as all first time head coaches do. I knew that we were not going to win right away and that any chance of success would come from our youth program. I will share more about that soon! For the players that were playing now, however, I wanted them to be able to take something away from our program even if we did not have the wins that everyone wants. This led me to do many different leadership activities over the course of my tenure including my own creation…84×50 Leadership.
Our plan:
Week 1 Practices – Day 1 & Day 2 during station rotation, we had our players come in a classroom for this leadership activity. The players listened to the power point that was presented and then gave their own perspective.
Our hope through the power point was that our players would embrace being different than average high school students. We wanted to help instill a sense of responsibility on and off the court for every player in our program no matter the grade.
Some of the information came from hearing Joe Ehrmann speak locally and through reading his book, “Inside Out Coaching.” Joe has some phenomenal resources at Coach for America and he is a must see speaker. His book is also a must read for any coach.
I hope this helps you and your program and I look forward to future contributions.
In Hoops,
Erick
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Bio-
Erick Blasing:
Assistant Coach Boy’s Basketball; May 2015-Present
Baraboo High School, Baraboo, WI
Head Coach Varsity Boy’s Basketball; July 2011-May 2015
Sparta High School; Sparta, WI
Tripled opportunities for K-3rd grade basketball players in 2013-2014
Led team to 4th & 7th most wins in program’s previous 20 seasons.
Hired as one of the youngest head coaches in the state of Wisconsin.
Varsity Assistant Girl’s Basketball; November 2009 – April 2011
La Crosse Central High School; La Crosse, WI
8th Grade Assistant Boy’s Basketball; November 2008 – December 2008
Riverside Middle School; Watertown, WI
Head Coach 5th-12th Grade Boy’s Basketball; October 2006 – March 2008
Monroe County Christian School; Tomah, WI
CAMP COACHING EXPERIENCE
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Tubby Smith Camps, University of Minnesota
University of Iowa
North Dakota State University
Butler University
Wisconsin Basketball Yearbook Exposure Camp
Snow Valley Iowa Basketball School
Click on the pdf link to download the 84 X 50 Leadership Notes:
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