Every year, we play a hand full of games either at home or on the road in which the decibel level is high enough that the players cannot hear me. One of my greatest flaws as a coach is that I talk too much during the games. I think it has probably hurt in their development because if I am not yelling, they are looking to me for guidance instead of just playing.This year when we have games coming up in which it will be very loud, I have resorted to playing music loudly in the gym. It is amazing to watch as they seem to understand what we are teaching/coaching better during that time than when I am yelling at them during practice/games. They understand that they must communicate to each other and there is a higher expectation to know what is going on.
If I were to coach in the future, I would do this more often. It teaches them to be on the same page...for whatever reason. Some would argue it is because they are trying to help their teammates, but it might also be that they want to be sure themselves what is going on. I can tell you, it ends up being annoying for me if not only because I get tired of the music we play and that it is LOUD!
I guess the verdict is out on if it works or not. It has helped in the games we have done it for this year, but we haven't won all of those games. However, the players did play well we were just beaten by a better effort and team.
