Andy Borman serves as coach of the New York Rens, a basketball association that aims to develop exceptional student-athletes who understand and embrace the fundamental principles of basketball, develop good sportsmanship, exhibit positive athletic and personal conduct, and excels in athletic competition. Coach Borman has been with the organization since August of 2014 and in this episode, he shares his thoughts about how players can create their identity as a player, find their place on the team, and excel in their exact role within the team. I hope you take the time to listen. It’s a great conversation that focuses on how players can increase their value and up their game by creating their own identity.

When a player is truly eager to excel in his/her role on the team they need the input of the coach. But it’s not always easy to get in a way that is helpful to the player. The coach is busy, working not just to help each player improve but also working to build a game strategy and plan that will actually win games. That's why the individual needs to take responsibility for his/her own growth as a player.

In this episode, Coach Andy Borman shares the most important question an individual player can ask his/her coach to get the feedback needed for improvement - and how to ask it effectively.

Listen to Mo’s Part II interview of Andy Borman

Subscribe to The Mo’ Motion Podcast on itunes.

What parents need to understand about their child’s participation in sports programs.

Every parent wants to see their child play, especially when it’s a program where a fee is required to be part of the team. But it’s an unrealistic expectation to think that your child will play every game, or sometimes, at all. In this conversation, Coach Andy Borman of the New York Rens shares what parents are actually paying for when they place their children on a sports team and why they need to do their part to make it the best experience for the player possible by engaging with the process. It’s a challenging but important topic that parents need to hear, so please listen.

“Where they (parents) are customers, they are paying for a service. The thing I say to them is… ‘You are paying for the training, not playing time.’ And then I would just say, ‘He ain’t playing.’ ‘Oh, but I’m paying X amount of dollars…’  ‘Yeah, I said that in the parent meeting. I’m sorry. You must not have cared enough to show up just like your kid didn’t care enough to come to practice.  Not my fault.’... If you’re playing on a real team, playing time is earned. Nothing is given.”

Developing yourself as a basketball player requires building on who you are, not who you aren’t.

As Coach Andy Borman watches players advance through the levels of his program (the New York Rens) he’s eager to guide players in the paths that will most benefit them as an individual player. That often means helping them learn how to study the game, not just the star or big-name players. You can hear Andy explain what that looks like for various positions and types of players and how he followed that philosophy in his own career by listening to this episode.

“The only thing I’d say to players is, I can’t tell you if you’re a student of the game. Do you really watch basketball? Do you watch it as a fan, cause watching it as a fan is different than watching it as a student, are you studying? And then, who are you studying?... You better watch people who are just like you and are successful… if you want to be a basketball, watch the basketball. But if you want to be a great basketball player, watch the players that are like you.”  

Outline of This Episode

• [0:24 ] My introduction of this part 2 episode with Andy Borman.
• [1:33 ] The most important question a player can ask their coach.
• [3:05 ] Andy’s experience in team sports as a kid.
• [8:58 ] How player selection works at the lower levels in Andy’s programs.
• [12:20 ] The traits Andy is looking for in kids below 7th grade.
• [14:31 ] The 7th grade through 9th grade years: What matters in terms of player skill?
• [19:12 ] The role of toughness and effort in a great college player.
• [29:50 ] Why emotional control is powerfully important for players.

Listen to Mo’s Part II interview of Andy Borman

Subscribe to The Mo’ Motion Podcast on iTunes.   

(Thank you to Freddie Astaire for his awesome intro music.)

“I don’t know if I could have gone any further than I did. I out-kicked my coverage. I played my hand out. I bluffed as far as I could possibly bluff.” - Andy Borman, on his playing days as a walk-on at Duke

Full Transcript Here