Coaches are perhaps one of the most important people on any team. Like a commander commanding his battalion against a vicious onslaught, the coach must be able to see what is going on there on the field or in the paint in order to give their players the information and direction required in order to win.
But on top of this, they are teachers. They teach their players who to make snap strategic and tactical decisions on the court or the field. And it is each and every single coach’s different style which they try to impart upon their players so that not only will their players understand what the coach is thinking, but so that the players can play the same way and win.
However, many times, the coaches may be experts in the sport’s theory and rules, but there is just something about participating in and experiencing the game play that a coach needs to understand. Sure, a coach needs to be able to know all of the logistics and back end activities of how a team operates, but they must know what it is like on the field of play.
The pressure, on the players, the conditions of the field, the rivalries between players both on opposing sides but also on the same side – all of these and more are experiences and feelings which a coach needs to understand in order to be effective.
Perhaps this is one of the reasons why so many former players go on to become coaches. They not only want to stay with the sport, but they also know and understand what is needed in order to win, and how to get a team to do it, be it on the professional or on the college or even high school level of play.
[post_page_title]Doc Rivers[/post_page_title]
Doc Rivers enjoyed a 13-season career in the NBA before turning his attention to coaching. As point guard for the Hawks, Clippers, Knicks and Spurs, Rivers averaged 10.6 PPG and 5.7 assists and made a single All Star appearance. He won his first Championship as a coach, leading the Boston Celtics to a title in 2008. He won Coach of the Year in 2000. Rivers has so far coached in the NBA for 18 seasons with the Magic, Celtics and now the Clippers.
