Coach Montana has been at St. Cecilia Academy since 2012 as the varsity girls head coach at St. Cecilia Academy. Coach Montana played high school basketball at Marist (GA), where he helped lead the team to a 32-0 season his senior year, winning the state championship, and being ranked 6th nationally by USA Today. He has been coaching vasity basketball since 1997, since 2003 as head coach. In 2007 and 2008, Montana’s teams were state runner-up. Those same years he was named GISA Coach of the Year. Coach Montana has been serving St. Cecilia as the Vice Principal of Students since 2012. Coach Montana also coaches for Upward Stars Nashville. He and his wife, Shannon, have 8 beautiful children.




Websites: stcecilia.edu; upwardstarsnashville.org

Twitter: @StCeciliaAca; @UpwardStarsTN

Facebook: /St-Cecilia-Academy/103813402991323; /upwardstarsnashville
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Nothing has worked better to build kids' confidence than to truthfully tell a child 'I believe in you'
Coaching your own kids

Coach Montana has 8 kids- he was recently coaching one of them, the team was down 2 and the team got a steal and his son had a chance to tie the game. Instead he pulled up for a 3 to win the game, it didn't go in. His son was very upset, but coach was so proud of him for 'Trusting his instincts' and having the courage to take the shot - these are the types of life lessons he wants to teach his kids/players. He put his arm around his son and told him how proud he was for taking that courageous shot.

My Cringe & ‘Ah-Ha’ Moments

Being a passionate coach, early on it was easy to yell at players. Coach has learned there are more effective ways and times to communicate.
Coach one time was frustrated with another team 'acting like thugs' and was upset and threw his dry-erase marker - and it went all the way down the court and hit the opposing coach in the foot. He went on to get to know the other coach and they have since become good friends. One thing he learned from the other coach was that he always believed so much in his own kids that it helped them play better than they actually were. For example he called one of his player who had weird form 'the shooter' and it led to that player playing extremely confidently and making a lot of shots.

Teaching Skills

Coach Montana learned (from previous WYC guest Kevin Furtado)- to use the term 'Tough Ball' instead of 'triple threat' - Young kids instinctually catch the ball and turn their back to the basket and dribble with their strong hand away from the basket with their head down. So one of the first things to teach is for the kids to face the basket, with two hands on the ball, and their head up - willing to face their opponent.
They also echo the coach's commands - 'Tough ball', 'Rip', 'Sweep' - This echoing becomes fun for the kids and gets them all involved, and increases the energy level in the practice.
Lay-up drills - they will do without the ball first - for right-handed they say 'right-hand, right-knee' as they are jumping and simulating doing a right-handed layup without the ball.

Mental Toughness/Achieving Peak Performance

One key is to have one-on-one conversations to understand where the kid's confidence is at. Not by asking them directly - but by asking questions and seeing how confidently they answer them.
Nothing has worked better to build kids' confidence than to truthfully tell a child 'I believe in you'

Culture – Discipline/Rewards/Teambuilding

Culture will create itself if you don't create it
Learned from Bruce Brown at Proactive Coaching - Gather the coaches and 3 captains in preseason and define your Core Covenants - who are you going to be that season. Brainstorm by throwing words up on a board, then narrow it down to 2 or 3 that are going to define your team. Then you can order the livestrong-type bracelets that have those words on it.