ELITE coaching is out about continual learning just as much as it is about evolving to stay ahead of the game. Sometimes that learning means trusting and listening to players’ ideas. Letting go a little.
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First-year Ballarat Miners coach Eric Hayes is now really enjoying a chance to watching his players do their thing in the South East Australian Basketball League. The past five weeks, the Miners have seemingly clicked and conquered every scenario thrown at them: their comfortable lead threatened, a tough battle finished comfortably and, last week, an overtime victory to secure a spot in this week’s semi-finals.
Most importantly, they look like they are having fun on the floor.
There were times early in the season when Hayes had doubts he was the right coach for the job. Times when his team looked disjointed and as frustrated as he felt.
Hayes was open and honest about the journey his team had taken to reach this point, when addressing players, supporters and stakeholders in Ballarat Basketball’s awards dinner earlier this week. Player feedback during the season had been near-harsh, but he ensured all was well-considered.
“Getting player feedback depends on the coach. Some may think what they’re doing is right. For me, I could see players finding it as difficult as I was – there needed to be some change,” Hayes said. “Once I made some adjustments, it made it easier for the team to play together and a more positive environment.”
Drawing on open, honest player feedback mid-season is a method similarly employed by Ballarat elite women’s basketball team coach Peter Cunningham and by North Ballarat Roosters coach Gerard FitzGerald in the Victorian Football League to each turn about a string of heavy losses this year. The Miners were not being thrashed but they lacked cohesion.
A key turning point for the Miners came in a Tasmanian road-trip in the bus from Hobart to Ulverstone just before the mid-season break. Miner Liam Gibcus suggested they were trying to perfect too many plays. There was confusion. Hayes stripped the game plan back against North-West Tasmania for a convincing win.
The Miners retained the same core group this season with Hayes stepping up from assistant coach and retaining David Flint, a Bendigo Braves legend, as mentor. But there was a natural adjustment period and it took time for Hayes to find his rhythm.
“You can only coach according to what you know and how Dave coached the game wasn’t what I knew but there are little similarities,” Hayes said.
Hayes said ultimately players had to be willing to take his ideas on board and be prepared to adapt. The Miners made mid-season rosters changes, most notably importing American Gregg Thondique, who naturally fit the way the Miners’ play, and a new dimension in Kiwi Dyson King-Hawea.
“One of the things I’ve enjoyed most, something I kinda wanted early on, is once the players are on court, they’re in charge and I can more micro-coach through the game,” Hayes said. “They tend to kind of take over.”