Thank you for coaching with the Magic this season. Below are proven methods that I think are extremely useful for coaching AAU and have helped the program gain such a good reputation with parents. Some are administrative, others help with the development of our players’ character and many are basketball/coaching related.

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Communication with me

Obviously, reach out to me anytime with any issues. A couple of things I definitely need to know:   

1. A player is hurt, especially at an official RI Magic activity like a practice or game. I need to know for insurance purposes, but I also reach out and send a card as well, so getting that information to me as soon as it occurs is extremely helpful.

2. A player quits or there is an issue with a player or parent.

3. A player stops attending practices/tournaments.

4. You are short players for a game, please reach out to me ASAP. If you have 8, you are fine!

5. If parents give you money for payment. I often send emails reminding parents about payment, and sometimes they want to give it to the coach. Please direct them to me if I am in the building or let them know they should give/send it to me directly.

6. If you need to cancel a practice. Practices should never be cancelled. If you have to for some reason, please let me know in advance, as I will try to get coverage.
    

Communication with parents

1. I recommend a brief parent meeting before the season so you can introduce yourself and explain your philosophy.

2. Create an email/text list for your team/teams. This way it is easy to send everyone an email/text all at once.

3. Get a list of phone numbers so in the case of a last minute game or venue change, you can text that information.

4. As quickly as you can after you receive your schedule from Jeff or myself, send your team their schedule for the weekend. We try and get them to you by Wednesday night and nobody is better than Jeff at getting the schedule sorted, so it is imperative that you get them to your parents immediately after it is finalized. We also post on our website.  
    

Before the game

1. Players and coaches should arrive no later than 30 minutes before the game is supposed to begin. This is for a couple of reasons. First, there can be traffic that causes a significant delay in arriving to the game. Also, AAU games can start up to 15-20 minutes early, as tournament directors always want to get games going as soon as possible. Some tournaments, especially tournaments during live periods, are spaced 1:10 or 1:15 apart, so they often start early. Finally, you should always talk to your team before warm-ups, ideally somewhere near the court you will be playing on, to review the starting lineups, game strategy, etc. Once you have access to the court, you want to use all that time to let the team warm-up.

2. Huddle Chant- 123 Magic 456 Family

    

During the game- Some Magic focus areas:

1. Players MUST play 25% of each ½, every game for a total of 7-8 minutes a game, 7 minutes for 14 minute halves and 8 minutes for 16 minute halves. That is the bare minimum. Winning is good and more important for some older teams, but most importantly is the development of the players and they need the minimum time to have a chance to develop.

2. A good rule is to get all kids in by the 10-minute mark, 8:00 the latest and if you can, get them two rotations, even if the 2nd rotation is not long.

3. A few coaches have asked what to wear while coaching. It is important to represent the organization. We ask that you wear a RI Magic polo, or a Magic t-shirt or sweatshirt with shorts, jeans, or sweats.

4. Technical Fouls- If a player gets a technical foul, they should not play the rest of the game. I have mentioned this to the parents and you should share that with your team before the season, so they know and are not surprised. I believe this helps kids become better at controlling their emotions and lets them know what is expected of a Magic player.

5. Helping teammates up- Magic players should always help their teammate up. If a teammate is down and the other 4 don’t go running to pick him up, they come out when I coached. It is the right way to play and easy to learn. Please enforce this rule.

6. Plays- I coach with a play sheet that has all of my team’s plays and some quick hitters for timeouts or end of the game situations. I also have an end of the game checklist that I keep with me as well. They are included on the website and I can email them to you as well.

7. Be sure to read the tournament rules! They vary from tournament to tournament, so things like when it is 1 and 1, how many fouls before you are disqualified, and how many time outs you get will be different.
    

After the game

1. We highlight kids when teams win and a player(s) does well. Often times, it is the same kids that are recognized and that is fine. Ideally though, over the course of the season, each kid will get mentioned once on social media, so anytime you can highlight a kid who normally wouldn’t be recognized, you should do it. You should take a picture of each player on your team at their first game, so you have them for the season. If a player(s) does well, send a write-up to me and I can get those updates out in a fairly timely manner. Please keep the total write-up to 240 characters or under. Keep in mind I may not be able to do everything you send me for a variety of reasons, but I will do my best.

a. An example is: Congratulations to 10th Cumplido, who defeated Middlesex Magic 72-65 to win the ZG Coaches vs Cancer Tournament. The Magic were led by Sean Bonneau, who scored 21 and Brady Miale, who had 14 and 12 rebounds. #MagicFamily

b. Be sure to use full names and send pictures, that way I can just copy and paste and put it on IG, Twitter and FB.

c. Team pictures are great as well

d. If you are not good with pictures and write-ups, you need to find a parent or an assistant coach that can help. If a team doesn’t do it, those parents think we don’t care about that team when they see all of the other posts and we lose players!
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Binder with information

1. Everyone should collect AAU cards for all of their players. I do not need them, but you should have them in a binder and keep them in your car in case something happens. It is also good to have a copy of birth certificates/report cards if you coach a high school team.
    

Miscellaneous Information

1. I can’t emphasize this enough- anyone who works with a Magic team needs to meet with me in person and have a valid AAU card before they ever step foot on the floor with the Magic. I am sure anyone that any coach would bring in to the program to work with our kids is a good person, but they need an official background check, which is handled by AAU. If they are going to sit on the bench during games, I would like to get them a polo.

2. I know everyone wants to get extra practice time, but even if you have your own gym, you can’t get extra time for a few reasons, but the main reasons are equity and consistency across the program and insurance coverage. Also, please be aware we can only conduct RI Magic activities in approved locations, so if you are thinking of using any other location, please let me know.

3. Coaches should never work 1-1 with kids outside of the Magic unless you have their parent/guardian permission and their parents/guardian is present as well. I should be notified anytime this occurs.

4. Often times at games, I will sit at the end of your bench. It’s just because I am blind, like a good seat and sometimes it makes it easier than sitting with parents! Just didn’t want anyone wondering why I pop up at the end of your bench during some games.

5. Sometimes, I will want to talk to your team after the game. It can be just to say something quick (good or bad) or can be a little longer (definitely bad!).

6. I know most of us are on social media, so if you are going to talk about Magic on your personal social media, please keep it positive and team oriented! Highlighting individual players unless they are your children can cause issues with parents.
    

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