Mike Cullen

Head Coach-15U

313-318-8559

I played high school basketball at Walled Lake Western. I played college basketball at Aquinas College in Grand Rapids and was captain of the team there. I coached a few years with Danny in the neighborhood club leagues and helped coach his AAU team under Larry Borum.

I believe in a very positive coaching approach and use many simple phrases for kids to grasp the game (pass to the next open guy, hold the ball and let traffic clear, if it's not there....it's not there, etc..). My main philosophy is "play with purpose". That phrase takes on many forms (sprinting in and out of games, going for the ball hard, cutting hard, smacking the ball when you recieve it, sprinting back on defense etc..) I have found my teams use it as a rallying cry and it always brings them back to what is important. I teach what seem easy fundamentals but really make a difference in how they play the game (smacking the ball, how to box out, hands up and ready on offense, arms up on defense, filling a lane, learning from each shot you take etc..)

I teach them how to be respectful to the coaches, their teammates, the opposition, and the referees. I believe it is important to get them to understand all of the variables that occur in a game so they can make decisions for themselves on the court. In timeouts, I ask them to tell me what is going on (what defense is the other team playing, who is scoring, what kind of offense are they running, what is working well for us etc..) so they can get used to understanding what is happening real time on the court and react accordingly. I also feel it is important that they communicate and celebrate with eachother (players on the bench cheering hard, teamates acknowledging a great pass or defensive play, yelling out picks and assignments on the court etc..).