The Power of One

I’ve spent a lot of time this summer thinking about why last season was so different from the previous season. And although there were many valid reasons, ultimately I think it came down to one thing (or lack of one). Let me try and explain.

A few years ago there was a pretty cheesy movie called City Slickers. It was a comedy about a couple of city guys going to a cowboy ranch on vacation to kind of get away from all the chaos of a busy & hectic life and to try and get refocused.

One of the scenes in the movie really hit a chord with me and I’ve often thought about it since. In the movie, Billy Crystal's character, Mitch, is alone with Curly, played by Jack Palance and Curly is trying to give Mitch some profound life advice.

Curly: Do you know what the secret of life is?
[holds up one finger] This.
Mitch: Your finger?
Curly: One thing. Just one thing. You stick to that and the rest don't mean a thing.
Mitch: But, what is the "one thing?"
Curly: That's what you have to find out.

So I had to ask myself, as a team, what is our one thing? Unfortunately, there’s not a simple answer. To be successful we have to blend many “one things” into one thing. We have to look at it a little differently. To truly be successful in the upcoming season, we have to have a single sense of purpose…one mission, one motivation, one passion, one focus, one reason, one love, one goal, one God, one mind, one heart, one team, one destiny…because we will only get one chance…and there can only be one winner…one champion.

If we can harness all of those into ONE, just think about the things we could accomplish.

The Power of One.
4:13

SHAZAM....err..I mean 413!

This will be my last Blog entry trying to motivate some of you toward “improvement during the off-season”. I have finally come to the realization that the few truly wanting to improve their game have already been making the time and finding a way to be there.

The lack of participation made me think of an old TV show that I used to watch. When I was a kid (yes, waaayyy back when car tires were made of stone) I, like every other boy in America, watched a TV show called Shazam. Basically, the show was about a teenager named Billy who worked as a radio news reporter and he always seemed to stumble upon trouble with bad guys. (Kind of like the gang from Scoobie-Do as a point of reference) And somehow, Billy was chosen out of all the boys in America to be the champion of good by the great wizard Shazam.

Whenever Billy would find himself in the midst of trouble, he would raise his fist and speak the wizard's name, and he was instantly struck by a magic lightning bolt that transformed him into an adult superhero named Captain Marvel that was empowered with vast super-strength. Oh by the way, as if vast super-strength wasn’t enough…he also had speed and stamina, physical and magical invulnerability, ability to fly, fearlessness, vast wisdom and enhanced mental perception, control over and emission of magic lightning and other vast untapped magical powers. WOW! As a 10 year old, I thought this was waaaayyy cool!

However, even as a young naïve kid, I knew that there was no great wizard Shazam and that there was no way a person could magically gain all those powers (by magic lightning bolt or not). It just wasn’t ever going to happen like that in real life.

The lack of participation in our workouts makes me feel like some of you think you’ll be able to just show up for tryouts, stand in the huddle and yell out “413” and somehow, God will magically bestow upon you basketball superpowers (I say bestow because Coach Moss won’t allow magic lightning in the gym) and you’ll suddenly have some serious game. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work like that.

Champions are made in the off-season…not when the regular season starts.

Discipline or Regret?

Both are your choice and your responsibility. Discipline weighs only ounces when compared to the weight of Regret.

Discipline is usually a very short term thought between one of two choices... “I will” or “not now, maybe later”. Whereas Regret can often be played and replayed in your mind a thousand times over and can feel like it weighs a ton. Regret often sounds a lot like “I wish I would have”.

What you choose to do today will have an effect on the way you feel tomorrow. Discipline or Regret, it's your choice and only your choice.

4:13

Bruce Bowen's Man-to-Man Defensive Tip's

Will YOU Be Ready? - Part II

I know my entries of late seem to have an overwhelming negative slant to them rather than a positive one and they continue to be on the same topic over & over again…improvement in the off-season (or shoes). Which should be a hint. I guess I am trying in a very subtle way to get some of you into the gym (without much success I might add).

I know the type of schedule we have before us next season and know that we need work (a lot of work) in order to conquer that schedule and the available time before Volleyball & Soccer take over is quickly disappearing.

To give you an idea of our schedule, in the first 13 days of the season, we have six games and only two practices during that timeframe. Who will we be playing in those first six games? Central (Conference Champs), Aletheia (#2 in conference), Emmanuel, Maranatha, Rutherford and RF Munroe.

Make no mistake, Central & Aletheia will be coming into our house and they will be MOTIVATED to win.
I know their coach well enough to know that he’ll have them worked into a frenzy trying to prove that they BEAT us rather than us losing because we were missing key players due to illness or injury. You can throw out all of the mental advantage we’ve had over them for the past five years of East Conference domination over the West. Now that they’ve finished #1 & #2 over the East, they no longer “think” they can beat us, they now “know” they can beat us – and it WILL be a battle. Winning gives birth to determination and determination grows into success.


Then we have Rutherford who beat us by 7 points and then we beat them by 4 points. That’s a pretty close margin for two games. It will be another battle. And to make matters worse, the very next night we play RF Munroe. Who is RF Munroe? They were ranked #11 in the State last season in 1A. Enough said.

So, will going to the gym and working out be enough?

No, going to the gym and “working out” isn’t enough. It’s easy to tell when someone is working out, but how can you tell when they’re making progress? Let’s think about it in different terms, let’s say like mowing a lawn or washing a car. Both have transparent progress, meaning that as the work is progressing, the result is visible to everyone. But with complex work such as building your ball handling skills or improving your shooting mechanics for better consistency, it is a little harder to identify true progress in a relatively short amount of time.

If you base your progress on how many shots you take or maybe how many hours you spend shooting, that is a poor measurement of improvement, since that only measures activity and not progress. You’ll need time and repetition of the proper mechanics in order to see noticeable improvement.

Before each workout you need to set target goals for the day and then afterward, you need to ask yourself the following questions in order to measure your progress.

Measuring your efforts:
 Did the work I did today significantly contribute to my goals?
 How did it help me get closer to those goals? (be specific)
 How large a contribution was it? (Did it get me 5% closer to the goal? 50%?)
 Did I use proper mechanics or did I just go through the motions?
 Do I need to adjust the workout to be more efficient in a particular area?
 Did I set the goals too high?
 Honestly ask yourself - what do I need more work on?

Will YOU be ready when the season starts?


4:13

Look Past the Hurdles

In the past few weeks, I’ve been working to open some doors for a couple of our players to have an opportunity to be seen by some college coaches. As part of that process, I thought it would be a good opportunity to discuss and try to recognize and avoid some potential “hurdles” to success that players can often place before themselves without realizing it, especially when it comes to trying out for something.

Often, there is the player who sits down and establishes goals, but then falls short in making the kind of commitment and perseverance that is necessary to reach those goals. At the same time, there are other players that are very dedicated and committed, but haven’t sat down to establish the goals and lay out a map to reach the destination they desire.

Success in life (and in basketball) is sometimes luck, but more often than not success comes from having a plan and putting forth the commitment to turn that plan into success. However, if you aren’t careful, you’ll find yourself facing some of these self-imposed hurdles along the way.

HURDLE #1 – “I CAN’T”
The power inside each of us is incredible if we allow it to be released. I told the story in one of our previous newsletters of a small boy in Georgia with a kidney problem, which nearly killed him. He made a goal to become the strongest person in his class, and he dedicated himself to that goal. He was not tied down with “I can’t” even though the doctors told his parents he probably would not live past 12 years of age.

From there this young man, Paul Anderson, set a goal to become the strongest man in the state of Georgia and he accomplished this also. He now went on to become super heavyweight Olympic Gold Medal winner, set nine world records and became the strongest man in the history of the world.

Paul did not stop there, however, and in 1957 a miracle occurred. There is an event called the Back Lift, where the individual gets under the weight and lifts it off the ground. Since 1896, a French-Canadian had owned the back lift record of 4,300 pounds. Paul Anderson shattered that record, by lifting 6,270 pounds, over a ton!

Your life is a product of your thoughts. To alter your life the only single course is to alter your thinking.

HURDLE #2 – “AFRAID TO FAIL”
How many times do we not even attempt to accomplish something because we are afraid to fail. We just simply let the opportunity pass us by because of the fear of failing.

It is frightening to think what might have happened to history had one man been afraid to fail. I also mentioned this one of our previous newsletters. This man lost his job, had a business fall apart, his sweetheart died, and he suffered a nervous breakdown. His life in politics read all losses when he ran for the Legislature, House Speaker, Congress and Senate, and then as a nominee for Vice-President. Yet in 1860, that same man became our 16th President of the United States of America. After so many heartbreaks and defeats, Abraham Lincoln went on to change the course of history and our lives because he was not afraid to fail.
History provides us with numerous examples of highly successful people who were confronted with many major failures, but still made their dreams come true.

HURDLE #3 – “KNOW YOURSELF”
This hurdle can be deceiving because it is not set up the same as the previous two and is the most difficult hurdle that people (especially athletes) typically face. We face it every day that we live. If we don’t “know” ourselves, we can never be truly happy or find true success.

It is vital that you know your abilities...and just as importantly, you must also know your limitations.

Real confidence comes from knowing and accepting yourself, your strengths and your limitations, in contrast to depending on affirmation from others. The beginning of wisdom is being honest with yourself. The most noble and perfect victory is the triumph over oneself.

Thinkers down through the centuries have disagreed on almost everything. However, there is one point upon which they all agree, and that is people become what they think about. Hold on to the image of the life that you want and that image will become true.

Under no circumstances, lose hope. Hopelessness is the major cause of failure and despair. You can overcome any problem if you change your focus. When you change your focus, your life will change for the better.

Always try to do your best; never give up, and God will take care of everything else.
4:13

More Kicks for Your Dogs

There's not much on the horizon when it comes to a decent pair of kicks before the season starts. Both Nike & Jordan have a couple of pairs scheduled for release, but nothing great. I think most of what will be available is more show than go, but you can decide that. Hibbets & Footlocker at the Mall both have the XX3's and the Hyperdunk is scheduled for release on July 28th (which also happens to be Coach Ty's fav) . Other than those two...there's not much to choose from. I must admit, the royal & black J's shown here do look sweet, but they are not a signature model (meaning they aren't even close to the quality shoe you've been wearing - think Duncan's). Another option is the XX2's again. There are still plenty available and the price will probably drop to around $60-$80 or so.

How Often Does Opportunity Knock?

I opened a letter this afternoon from Coach Black at Armstrong Atlantic State University in Savannah, Georgia (who is interested in one of our players) and got to thinking about what goals each of you have set (if any) with regard to playing at the next level.

There are numreous scholarship opportunities for good high school players who want to EARN them. Believe it or not, Sharee (former PCCS player) earned a scholly from Judson Christian in Alabama. Then, she and the coach got into it and she bailed for home. Comes back to PC and lands a spot on the GCCC roster (right now it looks like she may be a probable walk-on). Yes...this is the same Sharee that struggled with 12 turnovers for the game against our pressure defense and went scoreless in the 1st Qtr of the championship game in 2007 being guarded by Liz. Does that sound like college level talent? Maybe.

Let's take a closer look here at Covenant. Last season, Liz (at only 5'0") was invited to tryout for three schools (Flagler, Florida Southern & Montreat). Even after her ACL tear, Montreat was still interested. She spends about six hours a week rehabbing her leg & working to get her game back so she will be ready if another opportunity presents itself. Does she have college level talent? Maybe.

This summer, I have been in contact with a couple of schools in GA & TN that have shown some interest in Haley. She has a tryout with Covenant College in two weeks (and yes, Armstrong Atlantic is interested in her as well). She is also spending about six hours a week in the gym working to improve her game. Does she have college level talent? Maybe.

If you truly want to play at the next level, you must be willing to put in the time to do what is necessary to get noticed by these schools. If the only time you ever practice (for improvement) is during our season practices, then you won't have to worry about a tryout - because it isn't likely to happen.

It doesn't take tremendous talent to play at the next level. It only takes desire. Do you have it?
4:13

How Important Is It?

Champions don't become champions on the night of the big game. They become champions during the off-season, when they spend countless hours in the gym working to improve the weak areas of their game.

Why is it so important to improve during the summer? Because it's too late to start improving during the first game, especially against Central.

Summer workouts begin on Friday.

4:13

Video For Sale

Sheff takes a much needed "mental" break after a few weeks of grueling preparation for her tryout at Covenant College on July 25th. In-between working and Church, she's been getting into the gym to improve on her ball handling and shooting skills...and based on the progress I've seen so far...she's going to be the most dangerous player in our conference next season!!!

HOORA
4:13

You Go Girl!

Too Funny!!!