Ep 1990 Are You Demanding Effort or Teaching It?

Basketball Coach Unplugged (A Basketball Coaching Podcast) · Aug 10, 2026 · 8m

https://teachhoops.com/

My kids do not play hard. It might be the oldest complaint in coaching, and in this episode Coach Collins argues that most coaches are diagnosing it wrong. When a team does not play hard, we tend to treat it like a character problem. That kid is lazy. This group is soft. But playing hard is not a personality trait. It is a standard, and standards have to be taught, defined, and celebrated just like any skill in the game.

The episode starts with a revealing test: if you asked five of your players what playing hard means in your program, would you get the same answer…