In my previous blog post on Home Court Advantage (HCA) I asked you to consider a possible theory I have as to the source. I did not tell you what you might do to mitigate the HCA. I will give you something in that regard, momentarily.

The first thing I want you to clearly get is that HCA is driven by a reaction, i.e., the “Bully of the Block” situation. Fear=React=Survive. All are automatic whether you are six, sixteen or sixty. Since it is not “cool” to be fearful, we mask it, manage it and mute it so the reaction lessens but NEVER goes away.

If you coach a team, they will be uncomfortable and they won’t know why. It causes uncertainty, it kills performance, and prevents the athlete from what I would call “grounded relaxation.” In other words, they are clear about the actions they will take and relaxed enough to be their best.

You could be thinking, “great, since it is a reaction what can we do to solve the problem of HCA?”

What could we do to reach the level of “grounded relaxation”?

There is not a single response to that question. Here are a few and you should be looking for others you can create:

• Be aggressive and attack from the opening whistle. Ex. Full court press which you usually don’t do. You don’t necessarily have to stay in it for long. Just set the tempo.

• Be physical with your opponent especially if that is what they like to do. (No reaction to any bumps they return).

• Hit and Run. Change the moment you see the other team making an adjustment.

 

The point of all of this is that your team is causing the action, not reacting to what is happening.

PITFALL: Strategy works well. Playing a good game. The opponent fights back and is catching up. The reaction of your team could be “He’s back!” (The bully, of course). If you sense this happening, change. Cause them to adjust. Run the show!