We’ve discussed hype number before, but now we have Spencer Wood (founder of Icebox Athlete) breaking down it’s importance on video. The excerpt below is from our three DVD series, Dynamic Defense.
I think there are two huge takeaways from that 5 minute clip.
First, most basketball players play the game over-hyped. That means most players are not performing at their peaks, especially when it comes to the fine motor skills needed to excel on the offensive end for shooting, timing, and decision making. Ouch.
Second, the one-size-fits-all approach to coaching no longer works (if it ever did): you can’t treat the team as a single unit. Yes, it must perform as a unit (the Read & React Offense helps with that), but you must tailor your practices, your pre-game, and your communication to individuals.
Let’s be honest, we all intrinsically know this already. Players learn differently, they have different personalities, different backgrounds, and in this case, different hype numbers. In order to get the most out of each individual (and thus, the team), you must embrace this and work on adapting your coaching style to accommodate it. Sure, it takes more effort, but it will pay off probably quicker than most other coaching adjustments.
Imagine your team composed of individuals playing at their optimal hype numbers (on offense and defense) and because of this, playing at a 10 on the performance scale. Given that most teams don’t come close to this, the transformation would be startling… and formidable.
As a coach I have used the stop light colors to measure where my players are in terms of hype. At any one time I may have 5/6 players at ‘green’ meaning optimal while 2/3 may be ‘yellow’ and 1/2 ‘red’ least desirable. It is an art to manage this and attempt to get all players to the ‘green’ state at one time. This system acknowledges and ensures individuality. The kicker is the players dont know that I am playing this game in my mind and they haven’t been educated on optimal states of play. Also my label is based on my processing of various factors related to that individual that may or may not be true. The hype number system described hear does a great job of picking up my systems short comings. I need to educate my players on this as a whole. I will be adding this to a part of our mental training regimen.