The Culture Club

A text message came in recently saying, “Your culture is the best,” this from a current parent who now has two kids in our program. It reminded us that the Next Play culture has been the key to our growth as a program that now serves 500+ kids from 3rd-11th grade each year.

We spend a lot of time on building team culture. We have borrowed many of these ideas from observation, study and our own experiences. Most recently, we have implemented several ideas from The Swarthmore College Men’s Basketball team, where co-founder Coach Ryan Ansel was an assistant coach for six years.

Each Next Play team practices the same, huddles the same, and communicates the same. We celebrate the pass, cheer from the bench, and encourage one another when we miss a shot.

In fact, three of Ryan’s former players are now Next Play Coaches (Coach Zo, Colin and Connor) and have impacted our coaches, program and players in a very positive way. They hammer home practice and game principles every day, and even our most seasoned coaches learn new drills and coaching strategies every night.

The most recent contributor to Next Play was by SWAT’s all time leading scorer and two-time All-American basketball player, Vinny D’Angelo. Vinny was outstanding with his coaching, care and energy at our final camp of the summer and even stayed to play against some of our high school players.

What we noticed reinforced our belief that culture matters. With every missed shot or turnover, Vinny yelled out, “Next Play”. A made bucket by his teammate, he encouraged them by saying good shot, then again he called out “Next Play.”

Vinny trained the Next Play Way, the same standard that we set for our players as well. For those who don’t follow D-III basketball, Swarthmore College has gone from one of the worst basketball programs in the country to consistently being ranked top 10 every year. They were ranked as high as #1 in 2020 and were National Champions runner-up in (2021) and Vinny’s teams made the NCAA tournament every year.

When asked what made Swarthmore successful, Vinny replied, “Culture.”

Big Smooth

7th Grade AAU Basketball…If you haven’t witnessed an AAU Basketball tournament, let me paint you a picture. Teams typically get to play two games on a Saturday, and one Sunday morning. If they have the best record in their bracket, they get to play a game in the afternoon on Sunday. Sometimes, teams want to play in that game, and sometimes the wheels fall off and parents, kids and sometimes coaches wish the Sunday afternoon ends up with a lemonade in hand, and not a meaningless championship.

So, a lot of games get played. And sometimes, and depending upon the team and AAU program, some games can get really sloppy. Our program, Next Play Basketball, prides itself on doing things the right way, preparing properly for every game to build good habits and fundamentals. We pride ourselves on taking every game as it comes to us, and play team basketball with the goal of building upon successes from the previous games and learning from our failures. Each week, each tournament, is like a test.

This past weekend’s test highlights 7th grader Franklin Gilbert, aka Big Smooth, from Doylestown. He misses his first seven shots of the game, and our team is getting down on themselves and losing by double digits with an opponent who is out for blood. It was great theater. If you saw the way Big Smooth shoots the basketball, you’d think the ball was going in every time he shot it.

We called a timeout, made some adjustments. I noticed that Franklin had the opportunity to take his 8th shot, and decided to pass it up, a sign that his confidence was “shook”, a term from the courts meaning he didn’t believe in himself. I reminded Franklin that he was best shooter in the building. I believed it, and wanted him to hear it, and his teammates to hear it as well.

These games go fast, and the pace of the game can be at a torrid pace. His teammates kept finding the Big Smooth, to which the fans in the stands began asking “Why are they leaving that kid open?”

I’m glad they didn’t key on Franklin, as he caught fire like Steph Chicken Curry. The Big Smooth ended up with 20 points, and Next Play Basketball enjoyed a memorable come from behind win, having been down five with four minutes to go. NPB won by 11 in dramatic fashion, displaying great team basketball to the delight of the crowd, as the Big Smooth floated down the court after making shot after shot.

There are many lessons that we learn each day and each AAU tournament weekend. This week’s lesson was provided by the Big Smooth. Sometimes it’s hard to believe in yourself, especially when things aren’t going your way, or when the results are what you are looking for. Sometimes you need to be reminded that the work that you’ve put in will be good enough. Sometimes you just need to take a break and refocus. Sometimes the ball just doesn’t go in. But if you believe the ball will go in, and you make adjustments, and your teammates get you the ball, you learn that shooting the ball, a la “shooting your shot” is the same life lesson that we all must learn. Raise your hand. Get the question wrong and learn from it. Take on that new business opportunity even though the last one didn’t work out the way you had planned. Take that new job, even though it feels scary and uncertain.

Thanks, Big Smooth for the lesson. It’s a lesson for us all.