PODCAST · sports
A Pen And A Napkin
by Martin Plum
A weekly basketball coaches clinic that you can have in your pocket
Episodes
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Win The Season Sponsored by Fast Break Playbook-Episode #93 Managerial Responsibilities
Managers are the unsung heroes of every sports program in the country, and without them, our jobs as coaches would be much more difficult. In today's program, we discuss outlining responsibilities for your managers, ways you can keep them involved and make them feel valued in your program and how...
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A Pen And A Napkin Presented by Ruiz Auto-Episode #349 Josh Henry
Coming back home to Winterset (IA), Josh Henry has turned around his hometown program into a consistent winner who is pushing for state tournament berths! In this week's podcast, we discuss his background, building a program through character and off-court activities, creating an identity with…
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Win The Season Sponsored by Fast Break Playbook-Episode #92 How Not to Lose Games
"Go out and win the game" was a phrase that we would often use in the middle of tight, contested games on our bench . . . but how do you get to that point to where you are getting ready to go out and win the game? You first have to figure out how you're not going to lose that game! In today's...
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Win The Season Sponsored by Fast Break Playbook-Episode #91 Outside Observers
We would all benefit from bringing in someone we trust to watch us do our job and give us constructive criticism on how we're doing. Today, we talk about the steps that you can and should take to bring in a coach outside of your orbit to watch your team practice or play and how to get the most…
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Win The Season Sponsored by Fast Break Playbook-Episode #90 Screening
Screening is one of the fundamentals of the game that is a great equalizer of talent, and a team filled with great screeners can create offensive advantages that they didn't know that they had. In today's podcast, we go over four fundamentals on screening and we follow up with eight thoughts on...
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Win The Season Sponsored by Fast Break Playbook-Episode #89 Team Building Exercises
Bringing your team together off the floor is a great way to accelerate their growth on the floor, and it's difficult to have a great season between the lines if you don't create great relationships. In today's podcast, we go through the importance of team building exercises, including seven great...
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Win The Season Sponsored by Fast Break Playbook-Episode #88 Managing Exhibition Games
One of the most useful tools that a coaching staff should be using to help shape their team before their first competition is their exhibition games and scrimmages. In today's pod, we discuss strategies for how to coach these situations, what you should be looking for and how to spin those...
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Win The Season Sponsored by Fast Break Playbook-Episode #87 Communication Plan
Taking care of details for the important people of your program (players, parents and administration) should be a priority; communication is essential in building trust and executing your season plan and vision for the program! In today's podcast, we discuss why and how you should be…
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A Pen And A Napkin Presented by Ruiz Auto-Episode #348 Andrew Wingreen "Win One Won"
Andrew Wingreen, the head men's basketball coach at the New College of Florida, comes on the podcast this week to discuss his book "Win One Won" a book that combines the elements of a Jon Gordon fable and leadership values that can be applied on a practical level. We go through the process of...
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Win The Season Sponsored by Fast Break Playbook-Episode #86 Comeback Game
All coaches, regardless of how talented their team is, is going to be in a situation where they are going to have to come back from some sort of deficit this season. In today's podcast, we discuss questions that you should ask yourself before going into every game about how you will respond to...
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Win The Season Sponsored by Fast Break Playbook-Episode #85 Rules vs. Standards
Rules are easy, standards are hard. Rules can be established in a day, while standards take time to make part of your program. But if you want to be successful for the long term, standards are much more important than rules. We talk about standards and rules in today's podcast, along with the few...
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Win The Season Sponsored by Fast Break Playbook-Episode #84 Shooting Warmup
You have to make shots if you're going to win; it's just a fact. But in order to make shots, you have to have the right fundamentals and the right environment for your players to excel at the most important skill in our game. In this podcast, we discuss strategies for shooting fundamentals, how…
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Win The Season Sponsored by Fast Break Playbook-Episode #83 Aligning Your Program
One of the most important tactical decisions that you will ever make for the good of your program is to make sure you align your various levels to the best of your ability. In today's podcast, we discuss why it's so important, areas that are easy to align and what to do if someone doesn't buy…
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Win The Season Sponsored by Fast Break Playbook-Episode #82 Road Trip Organization
One of the best ways to bring a team together and have them gel, both on and off the floor, is by having great road trips. In today's podcast, we talk about what you can and should be doing on road trips, including job responsibilities, bus decorum and arrival times. We also talk about the...
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Win The Season Sponsored by Fast Break Playbook-Episode #81 Running Team Meetings
Team meetings, to some degree, are a necessity for your program and for it to function at a high level. In today's podcast, we discuss the importance of developing this skill as a coach, and we introduce six rules that should follow when conducting your team meetings. In addition, we have a great...
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A Pen And A Napkin Presented by Ruiz Auto-Episode #347 Darron Koolstra
The dean of coaches in Sioux City, Darron Koolstra has built one of the best girls basketball programs in the state of Iowa at Bishop Heelan in downtown Sioux City, and today he's our guest for episode #347! Today, Kool and I discuss his journey in the game, influential people like Kirk Walker…
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Win The Season Sponsored by Fast Break Playbook-Episode #80 Five Weird Special Situations
Most coaches and programs work on special situations quite often, but there will come a time, if you coach long enough, where you're going to run into some situation that you weren't really ready for. In today's podcast, we talk about five special situations that are not normal, but feasible and...
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Win The Season Sponsored by Fast Break Playbook-Episode #79 Creating a Team Covenant
Every season is a long journey, and the more you can do early in the season to make it as smooth of a trip as possible, the better chance you have to have a great season. In today's podcast, we take the system devised by Bruce Brown to build a team covenant to bind your player's together with…
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Win The Season Sponsored by Fast Break Playbook-Episode #78 Small-Sided Games
Small-Sided Games, or SSG's, is a new way of saying the old thing that the master's of the game like John Wooden and Bobby Knight have used for years, but it is really important for you to integrate this concept of teaching into your daily practice! We discuss the origins of SSG's today, along…
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Win The Season Sponsored by Fast Break Playbook-Episode #77 Developing An Identity
One of the most important things that you are responsible for as a coaching staff is to develop an identity for your program; when people think of your teams, what are they going to think of, both on and off the floor? Today's podcast is all about that identity and how to build it, including the...
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Win The Season Sponsored by Fast Break Playbook-Episode #76 Post Game Report Card
After each game, how are you evaluating your team and their performance? For our teams, we had a structured system to educate our players on the positives and negatives that occurred in last night's game, and what we needed to do to move forward. Today's pod will go into the steps what we took to...
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Win The Season Sponsored by Fast Break Playbook-Episode #75 Looking In The Mirror
Getting your team to really know, accept, embrace and excel at their roles up and down the roster is difficult, but there are some things that you can do to help your team look in the mirror and help players understand their role in a more logical way. In today's podcast, we discuss exercises to...
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A Pen And A Napkin Presented by Ruiz Auto-Episode #346 September Roundtable
We had a great time taping our September roundtable (yes, I know it's dropping in October) with Jared Blackwell, GBB HC at Sandy Creek (NE) and Chad Jilek, GBB HC at Johnston (IA)! We discuss the influence of club sports and how to bring players into basketball, keeping our players enjoying the...
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Win The Season Sponsored by Fast Break Playbook-Episode #74 10 Common Special Situations
Seasons are often swung in one direction or another on special situations, so today's podcast is focused on ten common special situations that every team should be prepared for early in the season. We discuss a calendar as to when you should have covered these situations, as well as tips on how…
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Win The Season Sponsored by Fast Break Playbook-Episode #73 Identifying Possible Cancers
People are difficult to deal with in the best of times, but when you have players and/or parents that are deliberately challenging your leadership or the goals of the program, that is a cancer. In today's podcast, we identify different symptoms of players or parents that may be cancers in your...
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Win The Season Sponsored by Fast Break Playbook-Episode #72 Post Practice Evaluation Form
We ask our players to evaluate what they did on a daily basis, but are we doing the same thing? In today's podcast, we take a concept from Dan Hughes, the former WNBA head coach, and apply it to our programs with the post practice evaluation form. We discuss how it's organized and what you should...
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Win The Season Sponsored by Fast Break Playbook-Episode #71 Practice Themes
Establishing great practice mantras and sayings are extremely important to the growth and development of this year's team and your program overall. When tough times come around (and they most certainly will), what will you do to right the ship as quickly as possible? What do you stand for? What...
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Win The Season Sponsored by Fast Break Playbook-Episode #70 Interacting With Officials
Just like coaches, officials are mandatory in order for our games to be played, but we often see them not as a person but as something else. In today's podcast, we talk about the perspective of the officials, how we need to communicate with them and when it is appropriate to question their...
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Win The Season Sponsored by Fast Break Playbook-Episode #69 Practice The Day Before A Game
Anywhere from 20-30 times as a coach this season (or 30-40 times if you're a college coach) you're going to have a practice the day before a game . . . so what should you be doing? In today's podcast, we dive into deep detail on what we did as a coaching staff to prepare for our games the day...
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A Pen And A Napkin Presented by Ruiz Auto-Episode #345 Heath Howington
Heath Howington, the head boys basketball coach at Barr-Reeve (IN) High School, jumps on the podcast this week to discuss his career and his big move to Barr-Reeve last summer, which resulted in a state championship this past spring! In addition, we talk about the move, the pressure of stepping...
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Win The Season Sponsored by Fast Break Playbook-Episode #68 Scouting Schedule
Being efficient with your time should be a goal for all of us, but when it comes to scouting, you can waste alot of time by not being organized and knowing what you should be focusing on. In today's podcast, we talk about strategies to help your program get organized and stay organized with your...
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Win The Season Sponsored by Fast Break Playbook-Episode #67 Disbursing Playing Time
Some of the toughest decisions we make (with some of the most unwarranted "feedback" we get) comes from our playing time decisions. We're never going to make everyone happy, but what are things that we can do to get everyone understanding how you are making your decisions? That's what we're…
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Win The Season Sponsored by Fast Break Playbook-Episode #66 Desert Island Drills
At your core, what are your most important drills? Now ask yourself, how often do we run those drills in practice? That is what the essence of your "Desert Island Drills" should be! In today's episode, we discuss the criteria that you should use for your "Desert Island" drill list and how you can...
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Win The Season Sponsored by Fast Break Playbook-Episode #65 Keeping It Fresh!
Changing up your journey during the dog days of the season in late January and early February is often a great way to bring your team together for the stretch run. In today's podcast, it's never too early to start thinking about possible activities that you can do with your team during this time...
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Win The Season Sponsored by Fastbreak Playbook-Episode #64 Late Game Playbook
Great coaches are made in late game situations, but it's not all about drawing up that amazing play at the end of games, but be prepared for all of the scenarios that could happen before then. In today's episode, we look at four key steps to get ready for those late game situations and what you...
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Win The Season Sponsored by Fastbreak Playbook-Episode #63 Preseason Player Meetings
Making sure that everyone is on the same page is really important as you get ready for the upcoming season, and one of the ways to do that is by having quality preseason 1 on 1 meetings with your players. In today's podcast, we discuss suggestions for making these meetings a positive experience…
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A Pen And A Napkin Presented by Ruiz Auto-Episode #343 Matt Holt
It was a great privilege and honor to have on my son's former boss, Matt Holt, who is now the Director of Scouting at North Carolina State University, on the pod this week! Coach Holt talks about his basketball journey, from coming up as a student manager at Northeastern University, to working…
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Win The Season Sponsored by Fastbreak Playbook-Episode #62 Playbook Implementation
You need to know what direction you're going to take your team and how it's going to get there, so you need to plan out your implementation schedule; don't wing it! In today's podcast, not only do we talk about your calendar for implementation, but we also discuss tips for implementing X's and…
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Win The Season Sponsored by Fastbreak Playbook-Episode #61 Tryouts and Cuts
Some of the toughest situations that we are put into as coaches is deciding who we are going to keep and who we are going to cut, while also trying to balance out competitive teams while also rewarding our best players. In today's pod, we look at all of these angles and throw out seven bullet...
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Win The Season Sponsored by Fastbreak Playbook-Episode #60 Free Throw Shooting
It seems so simple, right? It's "free" after all, so why do so many games come down to missed free throws? In this podcast we discuss the importance of free throw shooting and why it should be part of your daily routine in practice, tips for better free throw shooting and ways that you can...
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Win The Season Sponsored by Fastbreak Playbook-Episode #59 Ordering Gear
One of the "boring" things that you need to do as a program is to keep fresh gear in the hands of your players and fans; they want to show off the program, and it's an easy way for you to sell the program! In this episode, we talk about ordering procedures, what not to do, how you take...
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Win The Season Sponsored by Fastbreak Playbook-Episode #58 Time Out Philosophy
Time is our most precious commidity, and in the game of basketball, nothing is more valuable for the coach to use to affect the game than their timeouts! In today's podcast, we're going to discuss how you should use your timeouts, how to organize timeouts and how to communicate in your timeouts.…
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Win The Season Sponsored by Fastbreak Playbook-Episode #57 Open Practice and Communicty Night
A great way to break down early season communication barriers and allow people to have the chance to really invest in your program is to open up your practices and teams for all to see. In this episode, we discuss having an "Open Practice" for your parents to come in and watch their children play...
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A Pen And A Napkin Presented by Ruiz Auto-Episode #343 Charlie Wallrapp
It is really a full circle moment this week as we host Charlie Wallrapp, MBB AC at Northern Illinois University, who also just happens to be one of my former students at Skutt Catholic here in Omaha! We discuss a variety of topics, including Charlie's journey, turning around Malone University in…
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Win The Season Sponsored by Fastbreak Playbook-Episode #56 Offensive Transition
Like we've discussed every time the term "transition" comes up, offensive transition is one half of your transition game that you're going to do anywhere from 55-70 times a game. In today's podcast, we examine different ways that you can beat teams in offensive transition, why it's better to play...
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Win The Season Sponsored by Fastbreak Playbook-Episode #55 Seasonal Practice Plan
Thinking ahead right now will help you with alot of stress later in the season, especially when you're thinking about implementing particular X's and O's and getting your playbook where you want it going into the postseason. In today's podcast, we discuss your overall calendar for the entire...
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Win The Season Sponsored by Fastbreak Playbook-Episode #54 Dr. Dish Drills
A great tool to use for your shooters to get better is Dr. Dish, but it also has it's detractors and faults. In today's podcast, we discuss those pros and cons of using Dr. Dish and how you can integrate Dr. Dish into your practices. In addition, there will be a video on "The Opening Tip" with…
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Win The Season Sponsored by Fastbreak Playbook-Episode #53 Observing College Practices
One of the best ways that you can help yourself going into the season is going out and watching other coaches work their own practices! Today, we talk about what you should do when it comes to watching practices, from asking for permission to attend to what you should do during practice and what...
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Win The Season Sponsored by Fastbreak Playbook-Episode #51 Team Excursion
One of the best ways you can bring your team together is through a planned team excursion that often combines team bonding and basketball. In today's podcast, we look at why team excursions are important, what it takes to put one together and possible destinations or ideas that you can use to…
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Win The Season Sponsored by Fastbreak Playbook-Episode #52 Post Game
One of the most critical points of any game night is your postgame routine and how you both react to the events of the game, but also how you analyze and prepare for your next interaction with your team. In today's pod, we discuss what to do in your post game, ideas for sprucing it up, what not…
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
A weekly basketball coaches clinic that you can have in your pocket
HOSTED BY
Martin Plum
CATEGORIES
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does A Pen And A Napkin have?
A Pen And A Napkin currently has 838 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is A Pen And A Napkin about?
A weekly basketball coaches clinic that you can have in your pocket
How often does A Pen And A Napkin release new episodes?
A Pen And A Napkin releases new episodes frequently with a large back catalog of 838 episodes. Check the episode list for recent publication dates.
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Who hosts A Pen And A Napkin?
A Pen And A Napkin is created and hosted by Martin Plum.
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