One day after being announced as the new head coach of the Golden State Valkyries, Natalie Nakase sat down for a short talk with Swish Appeal.
You are known for your habit of taking notes. Where did it come from?
It’s because I can’t remember things (laugh)… But seriously, there are five types of learning and I’m a visual learner, so I’ve always been taking notes. I’ve found that when I watch something or listen to something, whether it’s a game or a drill, I can remember it better and return to it much easier when I write things down. Ever since I was a young coach, I took a lot of notes. I wrote everything down.
What’s the main difference between working with women and with men?
There is none. Both feel the same pressure, both need practice and repetition. The way they respond to coaching has nothing to do with them being either men or women. As a coach, I have to make sure I bring in the players that can execute the goal of winning a championship. I think the bigger difference is between regular season and postseason games.
Having the support of the Golden State Warriors, how much of a challenge do you think establishing a winning culture will be? Do you feel that the structure will be an advantage or it will add extra pressure to your job?
Oh, definitely no pressure, it’s an advantage. Who wouldn’t want to walk into an organization that already has the blueprint, the winning culture, the winning people around? Joe Lacob (majority owner of the Warriors and Valkyries) said, “I’m going to provide you with the practice facility, I’m going to provide you with a locker room in the Chase Center.” We’re playing in the same arena as the Warriors! To me, that’s a setup for success. I see it as a complete positive and an advantage.
You got your first head coaching job in Germany. What coaching lessons did you get working with women there?
I really didn’t want to coach right away. I injured my knee again and so I needed a job. So, let’s start coaching. But I was so young and I still wanted to play. I guess the lesson at that age was just being ready for anything, ready for the next stage of your life. I was really lucky to get, you know, an opportunity in the same league that I was coaching. So actually playing in it, I already did my scouting because, you know, I already knew the players and coaching in Germany was just a really great experience. I didn’t have a big staff. It was just a gentleman that volunteered in the city, which I was very grateful for, but really it was just me and him. It really taught me how to trust myself and believe in myself.
Can we say that the injury was sort of a blessing in disguise, meaning it it taught you how to see the game differently? I’m obviously not talking about the pain and the rehab, just the fact that you were sitting on the bench instead of being the playmaker and you got to see how the game unfolded.
Yeah, I guess you could say that, but I still loved basketball and I still love playing and, as any athlete knows, that just never goes away. When you end playing, it’s almost like a slight depression has just happened. It’s really sad because you’re no longer able to get on the court and compete and sweat. I guess you could say now, looking back, it was a blessing in disguise, but I wish I could have played 10 more years, to be honest.
How did playing the point guard position influence your coaching? As a point guard, you’re the extension of the coach, right? So was that way of thinking and seeing the game always there when you started playing?
I think it’s a huge reason why I’m coaching, because you have already taken part in huddles where you’re the one who’s talking. You’re the one who’s directing, as a point guard, during the games. I’m saying, “Well, after free throw, we’re running this.” So basically, like you said, you’re the extension of the coach. You are the coach. For [the Las Vegas Aces] Chelsea Gray was the coach. If you see something and you call it, because players see it faster than coaches, they see it faster because they’re actually in it. So for me, I think that that was the reason why I became a coach. Same thing as Becky Hammon. We’re both point guards and we already knew how to control huddles. We knew how to motivate. We knew how to encourage, we knew how to be there for our players.
And what your players may expect from you when training camp opens? Will you walk through the door with your championship rings on your fingers as motivation?
No, no, no, no, no. Because they got to earn it. They have to earn it. Nothing is given to them and that’s going to be something that they’re going to know from the start. It is very hard to win a championship. Don’t even take the rings out of the box. They just sit there in the room. We’re going to be really organized and we’re going to start with defense. We’re going to hang our hat on defense—the drills, our breakdown of how we’re going to attack teams and then probably show [the players] a lot of film towards the end, just to see. And then we’ll move to the offense.
