09 November 2026
Ep 2068 Are You Using Film, or Just Watching It?
Basketball Coach Unplugged (A Basketball Coaching Podcast)
About
https://teachhoops.com/
How to run a first film session your players actually learn from: short clips, positives first, one theme, and players doing the talking.
The first film session of the season usually goes great for the coach. The coach talks for forty five minutes, makes every point, and walks out feeling like a teacher. The players just sat in the dark. Coach Steve Collins remembers the night he looked over and found a sophomore fully asleep, head on the desk, during a full game breakdown, and realized the problem was not the kid. It was the session.
Now that most teams have a few games on film, Steve walks through how to turn film from a punishment into the best teaching tool in your program. He covers keeping clips and sessions short, opening with what your players did right, choosing one theme per session, handing the conversation to your players, and connecting every film session straight to the next practice.
Part 1: Getting Them in the Room
Why film so often feels great to the coach and endless to the players
The sleeping sophomore and the night Steve stopped using film as punishment
Keeping the first session to twenty or twenty five minutes with eight to twelve short clips
Previewing every clip twice and limiting yourself to one sentence per clip
Practical setup: clips cued up, lights half on, phones away, faces visible
Opening with good clips, and the junior role player who boxed out for a month after seeing himself on screen
The two to one ratio of positive clips to corrections
Part 2: Making It Stick
Choosing one theme per session so players can see the pattern for themselves
Picking the theme by asking what cost you the most points, not what annoyed you the most
Asking "What do you see?" and letting the silence do its work
Why players believe a teammate more than they believe the coach
Letting captains run clips, and the point guard who ran the last five minutes of every session
The one rule for player talk: discuss the action, not the person
Opening the next practice with the same theme and the same words from the film room
The see it, fix it, see it again loop that builds trust in film and in you
Building a season long teaching library of your own players' best clips
Chapters
00:00 Coach Unplugged intro
00:15 Opening hook: the first film session of the year
01:12 Pre roll: TeachHoops.com teaching clips and practice plans
02:15 Takeaway 1: Short clips, short session
03:44 Takeaway 2: Positives first
06:08 Takeaway 3: One theme per session
07:31 Mid roll: TeachHoops.com practice plans and courses
07:58 Takeaway 4: Let the players talk
09:40 Takeaway 5: Film shows up in practice
10:58 The challenge
11:12 Post roll: TeachHoops.com
This week's challenge: Run your next film session in under twenty five minutes, open with three positive clips, and ask more questions than you answer.
Format: Deep Dive, two parts.
Resources: Practice plans, drill libraries, teaching clips, courses, and on court clinics at https://teachhoops.com/
Recorded at the Fifth Quarter Studios in Madison, Wisconsin.
https://teachhoops.com/
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
How to run a first film session your players actually learn from: short clips, positives first, one theme, and players doing the talking.
The first film session of the season usually goes great for the coach. The coach talks for forty five minutes, makes every point, and walks out feeling like a teacher. The players just sat in the dark. Coach Steve Collins remembers the night he looked over and found a sophomore fully asleep, head on the desk, during a full game breakdown, and realized the problem was not the kid. It was the session.
Now that most teams have a few games on film, Steve walks through how to turn film from a punishment into the best teaching tool in your program. He covers keeping clips and sessions short, opening with what your players did right, choosing one theme per session, handing the conversation to your players, and connecting every film session straight to the next practice.
Part 1: Getting Them in the Room
Why film so often feels great to the coach and endless to the players
The sleeping sophomore and the night Steve stopped using film as punishment
Keeping the first session to twenty or twenty five minutes with eight to twelve short clips
Previewing every clip twice and limiting yourself to one sentence per clip
Practical setup: clips cued up, lights half on, phones away, faces visible
Opening with good clips, and the junior role player who boxed out for a month after seeing himself on screen
The two to one ratio of positive clips to corrections
Part 2: Making It Stick
Choosing one theme per session so players can see the pattern for themselves
Picking the theme by asking what cost you the most points, not what annoyed you the most
Asking "What do you see?" and letting the silence do its work
Why players believe a teammate more than they believe the coach
Letting captains run clips, and the point guard who ran the last five minutes of every session
The one rule for player talk: discuss the action, not the person
Opening the next practice with the same theme and the same words from the film room
The see it, fix it, see it again loop that builds trust in film and in you
Building a season long teaching library of your own players' best clips
Chapters
00:00 Coach Unplugged intro
00:15 Opening hook: the first film session of the year
01:12 Pre roll: TeachHoops.com teaching clips and practice plans
02:15 Takeaway 1: Short clips, short session
03:44 Takeaway 2: Positives first
06:08 Takeaway 3: One theme per session
07:31 Mid roll: TeachHoops.com practice plans and courses
07:58 Takeaway 4: Let the players talk
09:40 Takeaway 5: Film shows up in practice
10:58 The challenge
11:12 Post roll: TeachHoops.com
This week's challenge: Run your next film session in under twenty five minutes, open with three positive clips, and ask more questions than you answer.
Format: Deep Dive, two parts.
Resources: Practice plans, drill libraries, teaching clips, courses, and on court clinics at https://teachhoops.com/
Recorded at the Fifth Quarter Studios in Madison, Wisconsin.
https://teachhoops.com/
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices