Summer Camps

Another great way to gain experience as well as create contacts is to work summer camps. Coaches from all over have summer camps that are always needing extra help.
Duties at camp's could be anything from setting up equipment to on court coaching. No matter what they have you do it is great experience as well as creating contacts. If you do a great job, you could get noticed by the coaching staff and who knows, they may contact you about a job someday.
A way to get these opportunities is to contact the offices of the school you wish to work with. You can find the email and phone numbers on the school's athletic department's website. Give them your information and what you would like to do, and someone from the department should get back to you and let you know what to do. This is just another tip to help you become your best and insure coaching is in your future!



Great Resources for Coaches to Read

Over the past six months I have been diving into some great books for coaches and people going into coaching to read and learn from. My wife was extremely surprised that I picked up reading because just prior I had always dreaded it. I am a very determined person to learn and gain knowledge in any way I can, and there are some great resources in book form.
I am a firm believer that you can learn from great coaches even if they are not from the particular sport that you are coaching or wanting to get into. There are leadership skills as well as techniques that are transferable between the sporting world. One book I would strongly suggest would be: "Called to Coach" by Bobby Bowden, the long time football coach of the Florida State Seminoles. Coach Bowden goes into great depth of how he got into coaching, and how he moved up the coaching ladder. He offers great leadership advice and great ways to relate to players. A very easy read and I think you will enjoy.



The second resource I would suggest is: "Coach Wooden" by Pat Williams. This book goes into the 7 philosophies that 10 time national champion coach John Wooden lived by during his tenure at UCLA. These are great philosophies to go by no matter what you are planning to coach. Another easy read and a great resource.



Two more books that I will share I have not yet had the chance to read but were suggested by a coach that I have a great deal of respect for, coach Shaka Smart of VCU. The first is: "Toughness" by Jay Bilas. The second is: "Know Yourself as a Coach" by Danny Kuiper. I plan on reading both of these in the very near future and I would bet very helpful to anyone wanting to gain knowledge in coaching. These are just a few resources to help your coaching in the future!

2013 Nike Coaches Clinic

My father has always taught me that if you want to find success in whatever you are doing, look to people that have been successful before you.  Study them, and learn all you can from them.  I have taken this advice in watching videos and reading books from some of the great coaches whom I have a lot of respect for.  This past weekend I took a great opportunity to learn from some of the biggest names in collegiate coaching first hand by going to a coaching clinic sponsored by Nike in Tunica, Mississippi.

For I believe nine years now, Nike has been putting on these coaching clinics for coaches who want to learn more.  They bring in successful coaches to come and put on these clinics for coaches to take notes and learn from some of the best.  So this past weekend I left my home in Malvern, Arkansas and set out towards Tunica.  I was very excited as this was my first coaching clinic to attend.  I met one of my coaching buddies from high school down there and we were set for the weekend. 

The clinic was held at the Harrah's Casino in Tunica.  They had some beautiful facilities on their property and was a great place to host this event.  This year's lineup hosted from great speakers.  I got to hear form coaches like 2 time national champion Billy Donovan of the Florida Gators, 2011 final four coach Shaka Smart of Virginia Commonwealth, Mike Anderson from the Arkansas Razorbacks, Jamie Dixon from Pittsburgh, among many others.  This was a great place to make contacts and meet some great coaches and get information.  I would highly recommend for anyone going into coaching to attend one of these Nike clinics or go to one similiar to them. 

Me and VCU's Shaka Smart

Nike will host two more coaching clinics in the springs of 2013.  May 10-12 there will be one in Las Vegas, NV and then May 17 & 18 there will be another one in Verona, NY.  If there is any way to make it to either of those I would strongly suggest it.  I learned so much this past weekend and cannot wait until next year's clinic.  Nike is also talking about having four clinics in the fall.  Once I get those dates and locations, I will blog about those as well, and I will be attending at least one.  All information about Nike's clinics as well as other resources can be found at www.basketballcoach.com. This is a great website with a lot of great information for coaches and future coaches alike.  Go check out some information on this website and remember this is just another way to insure that coaching is in your future!

Welcome to Coaching is in Your Future!

Welcome to Coaching is in Your Future!  This is a new blog authored by myself, Andrew Drake.  I am new to blogging so I will be learning kind of as I go.  My name is Andrew Drake and I am currently a student at Henderson State University in Arkadelphia, Arkansas where I am studying Physical Education and Health as well as receiving my coaching endorsement.  I also recently became a manager for the Henderson State Reddies basketball team.  I am very eager in my desire to one day become a head men's basketball coach in collegiate athletics.  This blog is to document as well as share with you my journey in fulfilling that dream and calling and anything that may help someone else along the way.  In my research, there is not a whole lot of information explaining how to get in to collegiate coaching, so I hope that in some way this may help others wanting to go into the same profession, learning from my experiences.

A little background on me...

                                                                     Me: Andrew Drake

I was born in St. Charles, Missouri just outside of St. Louis in August of 1987 to my wonderful parents Brad and Julie Drake.  Three years later we were blessed with my younger brother Zach.  My father being raised in Arkansas was eager to be get back "home" and so he took the first available transfer and at the age of 5 my family and I moved from the St. Louis area to the large town of Camden, Arkansas.  This is typed so you can't hear the sarcasm in my voice.  Basically I went from a city of about 2.8 million people to a town with maybe 12,000.  We lived there for 2 long years when we then moved to the Hot Springs, Arkansas area.  Hot Springs is not a huge city either but it was bigger than Camden and is very beautiful with many mountains, three large lakes, and many more things to do.  I was enrolled in a private school in Hot Springs where I went until my 10th grade year.  My tenth grade year my parents moved just north of Hot Springs to a retirement communtiy named Hot Springs Village.  I was enrolled into Jessieville High School where I completed my high school career.  I was and still am an avid sports fan.  I am also extremely competitive, and hated having any downtime or offseason.  I always wanted to be competing.  So I was a 2 year letter in football, 3 year letter in basketball, 3 year letter in baseball, and 1 year letter in golf.  My dream was to play college basketball but soon realized that height didn't favor me to play at the next level and that is when I realized that I wanted to be a coach! 

I struggled at first at what way to go about becoming a coach though.  My first question was, "What do I want to coach?"  I lettered in 4 different sports!  How would I decide on which one?  Out of high school still contemplating how I was going to go about this pursuit, I decided to stay close to home and enroll in the local community college there in Hot Springs while I figured things out.  The other question I had, was at what level do I want to coach?  The only thing I could think of at the time was jr. high or high school.  So I decided that I work towards a degree in education.  After taking an Intro to Education course, I realized that I did not want to work in the education field, and in turn gave up on coaching as well.  I then thought about what else I could possibly do.  I thought about it and figured I loved sports, I loved talking, and loved watching Sportscenter on ESPN, so I would pursue a Sports Broadcasting degree.  So following my third semester at National Park Community College in Hot Springs, I transferred to the University of Central Arkansas in Conway, Arkansas.  I spent a year at UCA and was just not falling in love with the campus as well as not completely loving my broadcasting classes.  I also did some research, and unless I "knew somebody in the business" (which I didn't) I was not going to make any more money for the first 5-10 years than I was making waiting tables which is what I was doing at the time as well as currently.  Because like in almost any career it's all about connections and "who you know."I then decided to take a semester to really think about what I wanted to do and seek God and pray about what He would have me do with my life. 

It was during this time of seeking after God and His will for me that I met Amber, who would eventually become my amazing wife.  I look back on that semester that I took off from school and really see how important it was.  God showed me that I'm a natural born leader and that I was to have an impact on younger men.  He revealed to me that His plan all along for me was coaching in basketball, which has always been my first love.  So it was then that I went back to National Park Community College (because classes were a little cheaper there) to start working towards my degree.  I then transferred in the fall of 2012 to Henderson State University where I am currently working towards this degree.  I do not yet know at what level or what capacity my coaching career will take me, but I'm excited to see where it takes me.  It is my dream to coach at the collegiate level and I want to do everything possible to make that calling and dream a reality.  So in the meantime, aside from my studies, I have been watching a lot of game film, reading books from respectable, successful coaches, and as I mentioned earlier, just became a manager for the Henderson State Reddies men's basketball team.  I believe that this will set up a bright future for myself in coaching, and will fill you in on any tips or sources along my journey.  Coaching is in my future!