Kentucky's John Calipari to extend web with first livestream of coaching clinic

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The coaches, assistant coaches, scouts and others devoted enough to basketball to visit Kentucky coach John Calipari’s annual coaching clinic on Sunday will have the chance to enjoy a lovely autumn weekend in Lexington. The weather should be good, and participants can consider attending UK’s home football game Saturday against Vanderbilt, or a race day at Keeneland.

For those who can’t make it to Kentucky the 11 a.m. ET clinic, though, Calipari has conceived another of his innovations: He is planning to livestream the entire event to anyone who wishes to watch, worldwide. He will be the first Division I coach to attempt such a program.

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Calipari told Sporting News he gets lots of notes from coaches asking how he prepares his teams — in particular, how he is successful at getting numerous high-level NBA prospects to play for the sake of the team. That led him to consider making the clinic available to everyone, and also to make it interactive by fielding tweets or texts from those watching who might have questions as the program unfolds. The cost to watch the stream is $24.99.

“I’ve never done this before,” Calipari told SN. “My clinics end up being practices, and I put a lot into those practices. This is a better way for me to connect and share.

“I added new drills for this team that I think will be great for men and women in the game to see.”

The livestream will be available for 72 hours after the program is completed, so those who are tied up during the time of the clinic still will have the opportunity to view it. The one catch: Young people in grades 7-12, junior college or prep school are not permitted to register to watch the stream because they are considered recruitable prospects.

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The clinic will cover defensive and offensive tactics and drills, some work on game situations with Calipari and his coaching staff — plus a zone defense demonstration conducted by assistant coach (and former head coach at Auburn and UTEP) Tony Barbee — and skill development techniques from assistant Kenny Payne, respected for his work with NBA stars Anthony Davis and Karl-Anthony Towns.

Calipari previously conceived such new concepts as his program’s own “scouting combine,” which he began in 2014 and which has been copied by several other programs.

Calipari said he expects about 150 to attend the clinic in person. Those who participate in the livestream who want to share their ideas will be permitted to email their suggestions to Calipari’s office; his staff will distribute those drills and concepts to all participants.

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Mike DeCourcy is a Senior Writer at The Sporting News