If you’re fortunate enough to have coached, then the title of this story has a deep passionate meaning to you.
You understand that the backbone of your teams successes or failures hinge on your point guard who are inevitably your “Coaches on the floor.” I’ve been fortunate to have HAD, and coached AGAINST some of the best point guards to have ever played in this area and trust me when I say they are a wonder to behold.
Point guards are truly an extension of the head coach and there are times that their thought processes go beyond what the coach is thinking during certain key points in games; at least the truly great guards do.
When each new season begins, coaches start forming their rosters and begin thinking which players will form their first seven or eight in the rotation at the varsity level to help them be the most competitive team that they can be during the course of each particular season. They start to break down each position and how much depth that they will have at each position and where the needs may be. The position that must be given utmost attention, and is vitally important to the make or breaking of the team is the POINT GUARD position. When the question is asked, “Who’s going to run the team?” there has to be a definitive answer in response.
There are many ways to describe this position and if you did a poll, you’d get a myriad of responses. I think a universal answer to the question of “how would you describe a point guard?” would be the floor general or quarterback of the team. I leaned so heavily on my point guard when I coached – and still do on the girls side. They had to know what offenses we were running, what defenses were working, time, score and everything else in between!
They truly had to be my “coach on the floor.” I always liked my point guard to carry themselves with a certain aura about the position; a certain swag if you will, that lets everyone know that there may be a Mercedes in the parking lot but only one person has been entrusted with the keys. The position calls for a player that’s not afraid of making mistakes, accept full responsibility for things they can control and drives the team with smooth running V8 engine efficiently.
If you’re the point guard for your team, I think that you should have these 5 qualities to be effective:
- Great ball handler
- Great composure during pressure situations
- Great decision-maker
- Great communicator
- Great finisher
If you possess these attributes then you have the makings of something special. Let’s watch our teams this season, and identify which programs have quality point guards running their team. I would say that those teams will experience successful seasons, as there is a direct correlation between quality leadership and quality play.
Keith Edmonds is a 32-year veteran of teaching and school administration from Fort Wayne. He coached boys high school basketball as an assistant at Snider High School, North Side High School and was the head boys basketball coach at Elmhurst High School for 12 years, advancing to the Class 3A State championship in 2003. Courtside with Coach Edmonds will appear every Monday at Outside the Huddle. These opinions represent those of the writer. No opinions expressed on Outside the Huddle represent those of any of our advertisers.
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