In this week’s episode, we sit down with Coach Roy Rana — one of the most globally experienced minds in the game — to explore what it truly means to design a program. From his time with Egypt’s National Team and the Kyoto Hannaryz to stints in the NBA, Rana shares how he builds culture through intentional design, clear communication, and relentless attention to detail.

We dive into:

• Turning every meeting into a designed experience that reflects your values.
• Profiling teams and identifying the quickest ways to impact performance.
• Using visuals, environment, and tone to communicate across cultures.
• Teaching spacing through tactile learning and progressive complexity.
• Redefining “roles” with aspiration, not limitation.
• Treating Baseline Out of Bounds as soccer-style set pieces with multi-layer reads.

A masterclass in leadership and intentional coaching, Rana challenges us to start designing experiences that inspire trust, clarity, and growth.

To join coaches and championship winning staffs from the NBA to High School from over 60 different countries taking advantage of an SG Plus membership, visit HERE!

Samford women’s basketball head coach Matt Wise joins Slappin’ Glass to dig into creative problem-solving in coaching, why clarity must precede accountability, and how he recruits around an “IT Factor” of Intelligence + Toughness. Wise shares the frameworks he uses to build confident decision-makers—on the court and between the ears—from ball-screen pedagogy and vocabulary design to mental-state training (green/blue/red) that helps players arrive amped but focused. The conversation hits next-play tools (external communication > self-talk > breath work), defensive non-negotiables (positioning as “science,” offense as “jazz”), and a recruiting rubric that sorts prospects into spicy / medium / mild to focus resources. He also explains how to teach reads (anchoring screens, contact over, tags and lifts), why he’ll live with aggressive fouls but not undisciplined ones, and how cultural language (Ubuntu, Mudita) and a shared glossary create stickiness across the program.

Highlights / Takeaways

• Creativity = problem-solving: Be an “idea merchant”—steal widely, connect dots, and sharpen the axe before swinging.
• Recruiting filter: “IT Factor” (Intelligence + Toughness) plus role skills, then allocate effort via spicy / medium / mild tiers.
• Ball-screen pedagogy: Teach reads in layers—angles, contact point, guard “anchoring,” and coverage counters—before adding sides and randomness.
• Vocabulary → accountability: Shared definitions for basketball and culture (e.g., Ubuntu, Mudita); “clear is kind” guides feedback.
• Mental performance zones: Train athletes to compete in the blue zone—not flat (green) or flooded (red)—using tools like journaling, music, and breath work.
• Defense as science: Hard rules on positioning (weak-side “Hulk”), embrace aggressive fouls born from sound positioning; avoid bailout and late-recovery fouls.
• Next-play stack: Start with external communication, sub self-talk, sit breath work (in-game constraints).

Creativity with guardrails—Wise shows how clear language, layered teaching, and mental-zone training turn confidence into consistent decision-making.

To join coaches and championship winning staffs from the NBA to High School from over 60 different countries taking advantage of an SG Plus membership, visit HERE!

This week, we dive deep into the psychology and physiology of high performance with executive coach and psychologist Dr. Sarah Sarkis, whose work spans elite performers in both sport and business.

In this highly insightful conversation, Dr. Sarkis breaks down how great coaches metabolize stress, regulate team friction, and build cultures that turn pressure into flow. From “stress audits” to boundary-setting and recovery habits, this conversation unpacks how coaches can create high-trust environments where teams—and leaders—thrive under tension.

Key takeaways include:

• Metabolizing Stress: Stress isn’t the enemy—it’s fuel. Sarkis reframes stress as something to process rather than eliminate, teaching coaches how to guide players (and themselves) through overwhelm back toward clarity.
• Boundaries and Recovery: The best leaders know when to be on and when to be off. Sarkis highlights how top performers—like LeBron—invest time, not just money, in recovery, reminding us that “all debt comes due.”
• Friction and Flow: Competitive environments are built on friction. Great coaches learn to channel that heat into focus, not chaos—guiding their teams between the edges of boredom and overwhelm.
• Trust and Communication: Micro-cues build (or break) trust. Sarkis explains how consistency and honest communication are the foundation for flow, accountability, and culture.
• Motivation and Meaning: The great motivators don’t rely on speeches—they understand the reward systems that drive human behavior. Motivation, she reminds us, isn’t something you wait for; it’s something you engineer.

This episode is a masterclass in the inner game of coaching—where neuroscience meets leadership, and where the work isn’t just about your players... it’s about your own capacity to lead under stress.

To join coaches and championship winning staffs from the NBA to High School from over 60 different countries taking advantage of an SG Plus membership, visit HERE!