If you are a coach, you know that you answer not only to your players but the parents and the officials in your basketball club as well. One of the best ways that you can report on your team’s progress and look at ways that you can improve player performance is through keeping statistics that you can review quickly and efficiently.

There are a number of different ways that you can compile and review statistics but knowing which statistics to record is just as important as knowing how to keep them in an organized and efficient manner. It may not be enough to keep overall win-loss records for your team you also want to keep track of individual player performance as well.

Many coaches choose to keep track of their team using a spreadsheet. There are computerized templates that you can use or you can always make up your own template so that you can add any of the statistics that interest you most. If you are using a spreadsheet, you may want to keep averages for the entire season as well as by game. This way you can also track how a player’s performance has changed and hopefully improved as the season progresses.

By keeping individual statistics as well as overall team statistics by game, it will give you a picture of who is most effective in a particular position. You will be able to see whether a team suffered a loss or a tie because of player performance issues or whether it was due to a strong opposition on the court.

Some of the statistics that coaches record include the number of baskets and shots from the free throw line, the three point line and the two point line. You can also keep track of how often they scored off of a rebound, how many times they were able to intercept a shot and how many times they were able to snag the ball on a rebound in a defensive capacity.

This can help you in future because you are then able to determine which position a player may be best suited to play in future. If you know that you will have the same players for more than one year, this can be invaluable in getting you prepared before the season has even begun.

There are many different programs which you can find online that can help you set up statistics sheets. They are often set up using spreadsheet programs such as Excel. Using these programs enables you to also prepare charts and graphs that illustrate the changes in a player’s performance throughout the season.

Taking the time to learn how to compile statistics for your team is an important skill as a coach. It will permit you to answer questions about your players whether those questions are coming from club officials, parents or other people who want to know how your team is progressing and whether your coaching style is effective at helping your players grow and develop.

[info_box]Picture credit: David Jones • Creative Commons Attribution[/info_box]