Canada Basketball Coaching Podcast

On this episode of the Canada Basketball Coaching Podcast, Coach Mike is joined by Dianna Ros, Head Coach of the University of Toronto Women’s Basketball team. Dianna shares her path through the game—from being a standout player at McGill University to national team involvement, her first head coaching opportunity at Bishop’s, and now guiding the University of Toronto Varsity Blues program. Together, they unpack the experiences that have influenced her growth as a coach and leader.Dianna shares a ton of her learning, experience, and advice for coaches in this one. For more coaching resources, check out gameplanbasketball.ca

On this Bonus episode of the Canada Basketball Coaching Podcast, Mike and Brandon sit down for a quick catchup on what's been happening in basketball in Canada. On this episode, Mike and Brandon will recap their recent trip to Kimberley BC, the Women's USports National Championship, and some of the recent NCAA basketball games.

On this episode of the Canada Basketball Coaching Podcast, Mike and Brandon sit down to chat through getting a team up and running for the spring season and the intentional thought process that goes into Planning a Practice. This is Part 1 of a 2 Part series on Practice Planning and is designed to help coaches consider some critical pre-planning elements before they get to a practice.

On this episode of the Canada Basketball Coaching Podcast, Coach Mike MacKay sits down with Christa Eniojukan, Head Coach of the York University Women's Basketball team. Christa shares her journey from playing to coaching, her time as a teacher, her time with the National team, and balancing wearing multiple hats as a coach and mother.

On this episode of the Canada Basketball Coaching Podcast, Coach Brandon and Mike explore ideas around team selection. The podcast explores topics that a coach might want to consider when it comes to selecting a team. What to consider before your tryout starts, how to facilitate a tryout with performance safety, and most importantly, how to select and deselect athletes with dignity.

On this episode of the Canada Basketball Coaching Podcast, Brandon and Mike sit down with Isabel Ormond to explore the ideas, habits, and philosophies shaping her growth as a coach and educator. From metacognition to mentorship, and from reading widely to embracing imperfection, Isabel offers clear, thoughtful insights that coaches at every level can learn from.Key Topics DiscussedThe Scholar-Coach Mindset Isabel reflects on why coaches must continue learning, questioning assumptions, and exploring ideas from multiple fields—not just basketball.Asking Better Questions Inspired by mentors like Dr. Jim Denison, Isabel highlights the value of challenging inherited coaching practices and thinking critically about the "why" behind what we do.Learning from Other Sports and Disciplines She shares how insights from soccer, football, and even classroom teaching inform her coaching approach.Metacognition & Moving From “Cook” to “Chef” Mike and Isabel dive into the idea of thinking about your thinking, and how reflective practice accelerates coach development.Izzy’s Top Recommended ReadsThe Language of Coaching — for biomechanics, cueing, and effective feedbackRange by David Epstein — on the value of diverse experiences and broad learningAdvice for New Coaches Starting Their Seasons Isabel breaks down two powerful reminders:You can’t do everything at once — do less, better.Perfection is not the goal — give yourself the same grace you give your players.What She Hopes Athletes Take Away From Playing for Her A focus on fun, passion, belonging, pride, and self-compassion.The Power of Mentorship Isabel describes the importance of mentors who welcome deep questioning, share stories, and provide space for meaningful dialogue about both technical and relational aspects of coaching.Why You’ll Love This EpisodeThis conversation showcases Isabel’s humility, curiosity, and commitment to thoughtful, purpose-driven coaching. Coaches, teachers, and leaders across sport will find tons of practical wisdom and reflective prompts in her answers.The Canada Basketball Coaching Podcast is all about having conversations that help to connect, inspire, and build a better basketball for the future.

On this Episode of the Canada Basketball Coaching Podcast Coach Mike is joined once again by Manager of Officials Development David Maxin from Canada Basketball. On this episode, Mike and Dave discuss the National Points of Emphasis that the referees across the country have been focusing on this past season. This is a great one for coaches who are looking to understand more of the language and rules that referees are using and how to support the athletes they work with to play within them.

On this Episode of the Canada Basketball Coaching Podcast, Coach Mike MacKay sits down with Carly Clarke, to talk about her coaching journey, building relationships, establishing culture, and stories from a long career. Carly also explores developing assistant coaches and navigating the highest pressure moments in the game. This is a podcast you won't want to miss!

On this episode of the Canada Basketball Coaching Podcast, Mike and Brandon explore coaching in the storm of the game. Importantly, they explore the different practice environment coaches can design to help encourage the type of learning and transfer that can help get the concepts taught in practice to show up in the game. There are lots of visual elements in this podcast and if you're looking to see them, you can head to gameplanbasketball.ca to check them out.

On this episode of the Canada Basketball Coaching Podcast, Coach Mike sits down with Ashley Hoitink, winner of the Mike MacKay Transformational Coaching award and Manitoba Provincial program coach. Ashley shares her journey in coaching, ways in which she emphasizes building relationships, and planning to compete at a summer nationals. *Note this episode was recorded in the Spring of 2025.

On this episode of the Canada Basketball coaching podcast, Mike and Brandon follow-up on the episode with Phil Jevtovic that focused on Performance Analytics to talk about Tracking and Monitoring. In the episode, the coaches explore the importance of planning and environment design as well as the surprising role that interventions play in our coaching (it's not what you think). Then they explore different ways coaches can apply Tracking and Monitoring to their practices.

Ever wonder what goes into the decision-making process for officials when making close calls in a split second? On this episode of the Canada Basketball Coaching podcast, Coach Mike is joined by Dave Maxin, the Manager of Officials Development at Canada Basketball. On this episode, Dave breaks down what criteria fouls are in FIBA and what the difference is in the game. This podcast has lots of video involved, so to see the full podcast, head to gameplanbasketball.ca to sign-up and watch the podcast and clips that Mike and Dave are discussing.

On this Episode of the Canada Basketball Coaching Podcast, Coach Mike sits down with Marlo Davis, the Head Coach of the U19 Women's National Team to talk about his journey from playing to coaching, coaching styles, and building relationships with the athletes he works with.Editor Notes: This was an episode recorded back in 2025 before the team competed.Tune in and enjoy!Visit gameplanbasketball.ca for more information.

On this episode of the Canada Basketball Coaching Podcast, Mike and Brandon sit down to reflect on the episode with Keira Dyck and explore more concepts around Performance Safety. The coaches chat through some important concepts like coaching through Clarity, Compassion, and Curiosity, as well as balancing the Challenge and Support the athletes we work with are facing.

On this episode of the Canada Basketball Coaching Podcast, Coach Mike sits down with Phil Jevtovic, Assistant General Manager of Men's 3x3 and High Performance Analytics to talk about Phil's journey in basketball and how he ended up as an Assistant Coach with the Senior Men's National Team. This episode does a deep dive into using 3x3 to teach the game as well as using performance analytics in basketball. Tune in, this is a good one!

On this episode of the Canada Basketball Coaching Podcast, Coach Mike sits down with Keira Dyck, a Master's student at the University of Saskatchewan and Provincial Team assistant coach to discuss her journey in basketball, along with her research surrounding coaching with compassion.

On this episode of the Canada Basketball Coaching Podcast Mike and Brandon sit down to review some of the trends in basketball from the past year. From the resurgence of motion offenses and zone defenses, the coaches explore some of the big concepts that really took off. Happy Holidays

On this episode of the Canada Basketball Coaching Podcast, Coach Mike sits down with Murriel Page, Assistant Coach for the Senior Women's National Team. The conversation explores the unexpected journey of a coach from Mississippi State to Team Canada, emphasizing the importance of building relationships with players and specializing in post play. Murriel reflects on her pride in coaching and the unique experiences that shaped her approach to the game.Other conversation topics include:Staying present in the situation you're inBuilding transformational relationshipsStriving to be the bestThriving as an Assistant CoachThere's lots to learn in this episode, be sure to check it out!

On this episode of the Canada Basketball Coaching Podcast, Brandon and Mike sit down to chat about Stewardship in the Game of Basketball. Mike provides a recap of his recent clinics in Montreal, Victoria, and Toronto which all surround the idea of building Stewardship. He follows up the learnings from those clinics with some stories that help to bring home the idea along with why it's so important. Be sure to tune in!

On this episode of the Canada Basketball Coaching Podcast, Mike sits down with Micaëlla Riché — former NCAA Division I athlete, coach, Executive Director of Layup Basketball, and now a doctoral researcher exploring coaching methodology and athlete psychosocial needs.Key Topics Discussed1. Coaching as Stewardship & the Human Side of the GameMicaëlla and the hosts explore why coaches must act as protectors of the sport — especially for young athletes navigating pressure, ego, NIL culture, social media influence, and performance environments.2. Her Playing Journey & Shift into LeadershipMicaëlla shares her early start in basketball, development at Louis Riel with coach Andre, her NCAA career at Minnesota, working as a GA at Kansas State, and her overseas stint in Greece — and how each experience shaped her understanding of strategy, constraints, and player freedom.3. Layup Basketball: Access, Belonging, and Community StewardshipShe breaks down Layup’s mission and model — using basketball as a vehicle to teach life skills, build community pride, and develop youth coaches from within the neighborhoods they serve.4. Creating Psychological Safety & Trauma-Informed CoachingThe conversation dives deep into:limbic system responses (fight/flight/freeze/fawn)why kids’ “misbehavior” is often stress-basedrhythmic activities for regulationinterpreting behaviour through cultural and developmental lensesthe importance of co-regulation, compassion, and avoiding public punishments5. Autonomy, Competence & Relatedness (Self-Determination Theory)A major thread throughout the episode is Micaella’s research focus:Autonomy: Asking questions, offering choices, building decision-makingCompetence: Designing challenges that match ability levels and celebrate progressRelatedness: Building trust, belonging, and meaningful team roles These three psychosocial needs form the foundation of athlete motivation, learning, and well-being.6. Coaching Methodology & the Constraints-Led ApproachThrough examples from her U12 girls team, Micaëlla describes how she uses:game-based learningsmall-sided constraintsperceptual cueswobbling and scaffolding to build decision-makers, not robots.7. The Cook → Chef Coaching ContinuumTogether, Mike and Micaëlla unpack the analogy that new coaches start as “cooks” following recipes, but over time become “chefs” who can adapt, create, and elevate training based on the players in front of them.8. Regenerative Leadership & Co-Constructed Learning CommunitiesMicaëlla outlines her doctoral plans:building a community of coachesco-creating best practicesintegrating reflective tools, video, and real-time evidence9. Helping Kids Fall in Love with the ProcessThe group discusses modern challenges — transfer portals, year-round play, pressure to specialize — and why cultivating enjoyment, resilience, rest, and perspective is essential.Why This Episode MattersThis conversation is a masterclass in modern coaching that centres human development over tactics. Whether you coach elite athletes or 6-year-olds at a community centre, Micaëlla offers a powerful roadmap for creating environments where kids feel safe, motivated, connected, and inspired to grow — on and off the court.