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Welcome to the Slappin' Glass Newsletter, exploring basketball's best ideas, strategies, and coaches from around the world. Thank you for your support of what we do!

Today's edition covers:

• Inside the Episode: Sue Semrau and Brooke Wyckoff
• Best of the Week
• And more

Let's dive in...

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This Week on SG Plus

For members of SG Plus, here's the extra content included this week:

📺 Deep Dive Video: The Art of Cutting: Eric Olen's and UC San Diego's "Flow Offense". (Free Preview available here)

📖 Sunday Mornin' Newsletter: A long-read breakdown of UCSD's "Flow Offense."

🎤 ESPN's Fran Fraschilla's Live Q&A with SG Plus members on October 24th!

🔥 "How to Teach 'Tagging Up'? - A weeklong discussion in the private "Coaches Corner Community" about installing the "Tagging Up" offensive rebounding system at various levels.

Coaches interested in this content, plus thousands of additional hours of videos, deep-dive articles, community forums, Q&A's, and more can sign up for less than $30 a month (or save 30% with a yearly subscription) below...

Join Now !!

"SG Plus has been an incredible resource for us here at Wagner, being a member of SG Plus is like being able to attend a coaching clinic every day of the week" - Bobby Jordan, Wagner MBB Assistant

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Inside the Episode

It was a fun week on the podcast as we had our first "coaching duo" on the show when we welcomed the Head and Associate Head Coaching tandem from Florida State WBB, Sue Semrau and Brooke Wyckoff. We dove into all types of concepts on communication, closeouts, post play, and much more and enjoyed getting two different perspectives from the same staff, made more unique by the fact that Coach Wyckoff played for Coach Semrau back in the day. Here's a look inside the episode...

High Pressure Communication and Consistent Messaging

"Communication isn't telling, communication is teaching and getting someone to listen. It's important that you know your audience, and it's important that the person that is complimenting you knows you and your audience. It really takes a lot of work, and it really takes a lot of time coming together to know one another." - Sue Semrau

At the top of the episode we dove into both coaches' thoughts on high-level communication and how they keep their messaging consistent as a staff. Both Coach Semrau and Coach Wyckoff have different styles of communicating and we discussed how they use their differences to compliment each other and get messages across.

Another area of focus on this topic was on how much or little information Coach Semrau and Coach Wyckoff need/want when it comes to in-game communication. Coach Wyckoff took over as Interim Head Coach last season while Coach Semrau stepped away to care for a family member, and the duo discussed what they've learned after stepping into new roles for a year.

They both provided valuable and insightful thoughts in this area.

Teaching Post Play

After her playing career at Florida State, and before getting into coaching, Coach Wyckoff enjoyed a successful run as a player in the WNBA and Internationally. She thrives in teaching the subtleties of post play and we had a good discussion about how she teaches the tricky art of "post positioning". One specific area we talked about was teaching the "high-low seal".

And the concept of positioning came up again with Coach Wyckoff in the way of teaching the proper angle of a perimeter DHO, specifically, in how to teach the offensive player to attack and dribble at the next defender to force either an "over", "under", or confusion on the DHO...

Beyond these concepts, the episode is packed with great insights from Coach Semrau and Coach Wyckoff including:

• Teaching Closeouts: Technique, Philosophy, Angles, and More
• "Newlywed" Version of "Start, Sub, or Sit?!": We put a new twist on our favorite segment and had a ton of fun talking Horns Action, Inbounds Pressure, and a whole lot more!
• Changing Perspectives: Some powerful insights from both coaches after a year in which Coach Semrau stepped away and Coach Wyckoff stepped in as the Interim Head Coach, as well as how they'll use those experiences this season.
• Motherhood and Coaching: Coach Wyckoff does a tremendous job with her organization "Moms in Coaching", and discussed the importance of creating an environment where women in coaching can thrive while raising a family.

You can listen to the entire episode here...

Listen to Coach Semrau & Wyckoff

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Tactical

​📺 UCAM Murcia - Zipper PG Flare​

"Coach Sito Alonso runs a guard to guard flare screen after the initial zipper entry."

➕ Pair With: SGTV's catalog of "Zipper Entries" from across the world.

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📺 Jerusalem - 77 Corner Pin Exit​

"Coach Amiel uses the Double Ball Screen entry to free up his shooter off the corner pin exit."

➕ Pair With: TJ Parker and ASVEL's "Double Trail Offense".​

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📺 The "Gortat Screen" in the Euroleague​

"Olympiakos is doing it in the perfect way against the most famous drop coverage in Europe."

➕ Pair With: Bayern Munich using a Rescreen with a Gorat Screen. ​

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Interesting Reads

📚 The Top 5 Ways for Leaders to Build Resilience in Their Teams​

"In our own lifetime we have witnessed other impressive leaders – Nelson Mandela, Angela Merkel, Jacinda Ardern – people strengthened by adversity. Whatever your politics, you have to admire their ability to survive and even thrive despite profound challenges. Moreover, they seem to have strengthened their followers in the process."

➕ Pair With: Coach Bret Burchard's "1-Hour Mindset Mastery" Masterclass for free on SGTV​

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📚Leading with Humor​

"Laughter relieves stress and boredom, boosts engagement and well-being, and spurs not only creativity and collaboration but also analytic precision and productivity."

➕ Pair With: Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey​

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📚 Sleep Deprivation and the NBA: The Dirty Little Secret that Everyone Knows About​

"Some in the league, from players and coaches to training personnel, have begun to suspect that the toll extracted by the NBA grind -- the combination of the sport's physical demands, the circadian disruptions, the six to eight months of travel across time zones -- is not fully appreciated. Some of those specialists have begun compiling data. And that data suggests that sleep deprivation is the NBA's silent scourge -- a pox on the bodies and minds of NBA athletes, with impacts both wide and deep."

➕ Pair With: Our "Start, Sub, or Sit?!" conversation with Sue Bird about the importance of sleep, nutrition, and stretching.

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Thank you for reading and have a great week coaching!

Dan and Pat

info@slappinglass.com

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