Thank you for this opportunity to write down a few thoughts regarding our basketball philosophy. I’m so happy to be writing this after winning a silver medal in the Tokyo Olympics! I am so proud of our team, how hard they worked and the belief and confidence we had in our style of basketball.
In the Olympics, we were the second smallest team in the tournament, only Puerto Rico was smaller. However, we never worried about our lack of size. Teamwork, speed, discipline, and relentless attention to detail are what we focused on everyday. We might not have the biggest, strongest players, but we have confidence in our training and we know that we will be the best team.
Below is a general outline of our daily
practices:
6:45AM Individual
shooting
8:00AM Breakfast
10-12:30 Team practice (No contact mostly
team drills/plays and 5 on 0) and weight training
1:00PM Lunch
3:30-6:00PM Team Practice
After practice, the players usually shoot
for about 45 minutes
Player selection for the national team:
For the Olympics, we had a 2 month tryout
before cutting the members down to 12 players. We look for specialists,
i.e., on-ball defenders, low post defenders, rebounders, 3 point shooters and
players that can drive into the paint, finish and/or pass out to shooters. All
players must be able to defend, rebound, shoot 3 pointers and be willing to
accept their roles on the team.
Preparing for the Olympics:
It is vital to play foreign competition
before any major tournament. Before the Olympics began, we started our journey
by playing 3 games vs Portugal. These games were perfect for us. Portugal
was a very physical and aggressive defensive team that did a great job
switching off-ball and on-ball actions. We learned a lot about our team,
what worked on offense and defense and how the players reacted to
adversity. Thank you Team Portugal for helping us achieve a silver
medal!!! After these games, we played Belgium, Puerto Rico and Canada right
before the Olympics began. These games further defined our play on both sides
of the ball.
Playing style:
We play an analytic style of basketball
because we are small. We are aggressive full court on the defensive
end. We need to disrupt our opponents rhythm by pressuring the ball,
running traps and varying our on-ball defensive schemes. We also have to
rotate with speed and precision and make sure we communicate better than any
other team. Offensively, we have to be balanced with our shot
selection. We shoot a lot of 3 pointers but we also attack the paint
looking to score or get fouled. Please look at our shot charts and stats
on fiba.com. You can see that we like to shoot shots in the paint or 3 pt
shots, and we try to get to the free throw line. Also, we take pride in
being a world leader in passing which leads to higher shooting percentages, and
a great assist to turnover ratio. We have many different passing drills and
work on them every day.
To beat larger teams, we have to play a fast paced game, space
our shooters and attack in transition. Also, we cannot lose the physical
battle. The physical battles are in every part of the game. Boxing
out - we have to hit first and not allow players to get into the paint.
Defensively - We can’t allow players to over power us in the low post or allow
our opponent to easily drive into the paint. We stress to our players to be
active. Always hit and move, taking away angles and not just standing in
place. Offensively - we cannot allow the defense to get us out of our
rhythm or push us out of our positioning. Teams with a tough mindset usually
win these physical battles.
Belief and confidence:
Finally, a big reason for our success over
the last few years has been because of our strong belief in our goals,
practice sessions, teammates, playing style and most importantly, a strong
belief in ourselves. Over a period of time, this belief turned into
confidence. A team with a shared goal that believes 100% in that goal,
believes in your teammates and believes in yourself, can do anything!
by Coach Tom
Hovasse
(*) Japan Women's National Basketball Team
Head Coach
Silver Medal in Tokyo 2021
12-09-2021
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