A long basketball season can be grueling. Players start practicing in October and may play through June at the professional level. High school basketball players compete through March and may be playing or practicing five days per week. Keeping the season vital and fresh means motivating your players as individuals and as a team.
Consistency
Set out the rules and expectations on the first day of practice. Players are looking for discipline at all stages of the game. If you let players know what is expected right away and make them follow those rules from the beginning, players will be motivated to play hard for you. Let your players know that they need to move quickly in everything they do to encourage hustling. That means sprinting to you when you blow your whistle for a meeting in the middle of a practice session. Players who walk instead of run will be asked to run laps. Don't give any breaks and start this regimen from the first practice session through the end of the season. The players will be motivated to play their best.
Individual Motivation
Set goals for players as individuals. After two weeks of practice, go over each player's strengths and weaknesses. Provide them with an individual plan as to how to get better. When a player needs to improve his outside shooting, show him what he needs to do and also give the player a video lesson that he can refer to before and after games and practice sessions. Then give a progression chart of where the player should be after one week, two weeks and four weeks. Meet with the player to assess progress.
Compliment Your Players
Basketball is one of the toughest sports to play because of the constant running demands required to succeed. Your players need to know that you recognize how hard they are working and the amount of effort they are giving to succeed as a team. Say positive things to your players to let them know how much you appreciate them. When you tell player A that you appreciate the extra sprint she gave for the loose ball at the end of the last practice session, she will give you even greater effort in a game.
Permissions
Give your players a set number of goals for practice and games at the start of the season. As they start to reach those goals and cross them off the list as they are achieved, give your players "permissions" as Morgan Wooten did when he was coach at De Matha Catholic (Md.) High School. For each permission a player earned, that player had one less lap to run, one less drill to execute or one part of practice to miss.
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