In one season, Jämtland Basket went from seventh place to the top of the Swedish Basketball League.

With Gabo Loaiza Perez as their new head coach, Jämtland won 22 games and finished first in the SBL regular season for the first time in club history. They then took Borås to a seventh and deciding game in the semifinals.

The turnaround earned Gabo the title of SBL Coach of the Year for the 2025/26 season. Coaches, opposing captains, media and fans all took part in the vote.

The results stand out. But the work behind them will feel familiar to any coach: planning practices, reviewing games, communicating with players, keeping the staff on the same page and finding time to give every player useful feedback.

Gabo’s approach offers three practical lessons for coaches at any level: keep the message simple, build one reliable workflow and make player development part of the daily routine.

Make the message simple without losing the detail

For Gabo, coaching starts with helping everyone understand how the team wants to play: “Leadership is about helping the team see the game in the same way, while still giving each player the freedom to read situations and make their own decisions.”

That balance matters. Players need to understand the team’s principles, but they also need the freedom to recognize situations and react for themselves.

The coach’s job is to make ideas clear enough for players to use on the court. “We’re coaching in the TikTok era. Attention spans are shorter, so we need to keep our message clear, simple and to the point.”

That thinking shapes every video meeting at Jämtland. Instead of one long presentation, the coaches break the meeting into focused sections of two or three minutes. They only use clips that support the message they want players to take into the next practice or game.

The XPS Analyzer tools help the video analysts tag clips and add text, drawings and colors to guide the players’ attention. Red shows something that needs to improve straight away. Orange highlights an area where the team can do better. Green reinforces actions that match Jämtland’s standards.

Every presentation ends with positive examples. Players leave knowing what good execution looks like and knowing they can produce it.

“The video never lies.” But showing the video is only part of the job. The coach still has to decide what matters, leave out what does not and make the lesson easy to remember.

“Shot selection is a good example. We don’t only look at whether the ball went in. We look at the decision. Did the shot come from how we want to play? Was the spacing right? Was there a better option?”

This moves the conversation away from one result and towards decisions the team can repeat. The lesson for other coaches is simple: a short meeting with one clear purpose will usually achieve more than a long session packed with every available clip.

Build a workflow that survives a busy schedule

In the SBL, teams can play every three days. That means the coaching staff needs a process it can repeat, even when preparation time is short.

Gabo’s workflow starts with the footage in XPS Analyzer: “The basketball buttons and the custom tagging formula I’ve created make it quick and easy to work through the video. That saves us a lot of time, which really matters when we’re playing every three days.”

That first analysis is then turned into several resources for the team: “From there, we make a team review, clips for individual players, a team scouting report and individual scouting reports. Pulling all of that together without XPS would take a lot more time.”

The benefit is not only speed. Following the same process throughout the season also creates good habits for coaches and players. “Our players know that their video, presentations and feedback will be in the app. Everything they need is in one place, so there’s less chance of anything getting missed.”

That consistency becomes even more important during busy parts of the season, when coaches do not have time for every conversation they would like to have.

“We don’t always have time to sit down with every player and go through video one-to-one. With everything in one place, we know each player still gets the feedback and clips they need.”

The same setup keeps the coaching, medical and performance staff connected. Responsibilities are agreed at the start of preseason. Individual players are assigned to specific coaches, and everyone knows which areas they are responsible for.

“Our medical and performance staff handle player loads, the calendar and the strength and conditioning plans. I can see the communication in one place and make sure we’re all on the same page.”

Players also complete a readiness questionnaire in the app every morning. This helps the staff plan practices, adjust workloads and understand whether changes in a player’s readiness really matter or are simply part of the normal ups and downs of a season.

“There’s never just one part to injury prevention. XPS helps our medical staff plan better and make the work more individual for each player. The daily feedback shows us how players are feeling, so we can make better decisions.”

Gabo’s point reflects a wider principle: an effective injury prevention program brings together daily monitoring, workload planning and clear communication across the staff.

For another coaching staff, the practical lesson is clear: build one process you can depend on, decide who owns each part and make sure players always know where to find what they need.

Make individual development part of the daily routine

Basketball is a team sport, but Gabo does not see team success and individual development as separate things. Every Jämtland player has an Individual Development Plan that stays active throughout the season.

“Every player needs clear goals. They also need to understand how those goals help the team.” That connection gives each player’s individual work a clear purpose.

Each player and coach can access the IDP. It brings together the areas the player wants to improve and the resources that can help them get there.

The new XPS Media Widget makes it easier to add useful content to the player’s development plan. Coaches can connect examples directly to the player’s goals instead of leaving them spread across notebooks, saved videos and message threads.

“Video is a big part of it. Not just game clips, but also images, coaching points and YouTube videos. When it’s all in one place, players can clearly see what they need to work on. Good ideas don’t get lost in a notebook or forgotten in a document.”

That consistency matters. Instead of receiving separate comments after practices and games, players can return to earlier feedback and see how their daily work connects to their short-, medium- and long-term goals.

Taking the same approach to Sweden U16

Gabo uses the same approach in his role as head coach of Sweden’s U16 men’s national team.

The biggest difference is time. With his club, he works with players throughout a full season. With the national team, the staff has a much shorter window to build understanding and prepare for competition.

“We might only have 16 to 20 practices and a few games before EuroBasket. So every meeting, every practice and everything we share with the players matters.”

The learning therefore starts before the players arrive at camp. Gabo prepares videos, images and coaching points in advance, leaving more of their limited court time for putting those ideas into practice.

“I prepare the content in XPS Presenter so the players can start learning our ideas before camp. That means we can make better use of our time on the court and get going faster from day one.”

Gabo also gives every player a “mirror player” – a professional whose role, habits and playing style give them an example to follow.

This gives young players something clear to watch and study instead of asking them to work from an explanation alone.

Whether Gabo is working through a full season with Jämtland or preparing Sweden U16 during a short camp, the goal stays the same: keep the message clear, make feedback easy to find and spend more time helping players improve.

That approach helped Jämtland deliver a historic regular season and earned Gabo the SBL Coach of the Year award. It recognizes not only the results, but also the consistent daily work behind them.

Congratulations to Gabo from all of us at Sideline Sports. We wish him, his staff and everyone at Jämtland Basket the best of luck next season. We look forward to seeing where they take it from here.

Photo: Per Danielsson / @projektp_photo (Meta)

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If you have any questions or would like to try XPS Network, please contact Gustav Rosqvist (for Swedish coaches & clubs) or our sales team at sales@sidelinesports.com.