TOUGH PLAYERS - PT. II

Show strength in your body language: 

Tough players project confidence and security with their body language. They do not hang their heads, do not react negatively to a mistake of a teammate, and do not whine and complain to officials.  Tough players project strength, and do not cause their teammates to worry about them.  Tough players do their jobs, and their body language communicates that to their teammates -- and more importantly… to their opponents.

Be alert: 

Tough players are not "too cool."  Tough players are alert and active, and tough players communicate with teammates so that they are alert, too. Tough players echo commands until everyone is on the same page.  They understand the best teams play five as one.  Tough players are alert in transition and get back to protect the basket and the 3-point line.  Tough players don't just run back to find their man, they run back to stop the ball and protect the basket.

WHAT DEFINES A TOUGH PLAYER? Pt. I

Toughness has nothing to do with size, physical strength or athleticism.  It is true that some players are physically tough, but I believe that toughness is a skill, and it is a mental skill that can be developed and improved.  

Watching Michigan State battle (and beat) Louisville today reminded me of something that Michigan St coach Tom Izzo always says, "Players play, but tough players win."  He is absolutely right.  

For the next week or so, I will update the Blog daily with a couple of the ways true toughness is exhibited in basketball:

Close out under control: It is too easy to fly at a shooter and think you are a tough defender.  A tough defender closes out under control, takes away a straight line drive and takes away the shot.  A tough player has a sense of urgency but has the discipline to do it the right way.

Finish plays: Tough players don't just get fouled, they get fouled and complete the play.  They don't give up on a play or assume that a teammate will do it.  A tough player plays through to the end of the play and works to finish every play.

Take and give criticism the right way: Tough players can take criticism without feeling the need to answer back or give excuses.  They are open to getting better and expect to be challenged and hear tough things.  Tough players listen and are not afraid to say what other teammates may not want to hear, but need to hear.

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VOTE

Okay gang... it's time to vote.  I've narrowed our new warm ups down to one of these two designs.  I will add "Covenant" to either the front or the back, not sure which yet.  But vote which one you want to go with next season.

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THE IMPORTANCE OF ATTITUDE

“Nothing can stop the person with the right mental attitude from achieving their goal; nothing on earth can help the person with the wrong mental attitude.”

- Thomas Jefferson

Third President of the United States

FALLING FORWARD

Vincent Van Gogh failed as an art dealer, flunked his entrance exam to theology school, and was fired by the church after an ill-fated attempt at missionary work.  In fact, during his life, he seldom experienced anything other than failure as an artist.  Although a single painting by Van Gogh would fetch in excess of $100 million today, in his lifetime Van Gogh sold only one painting, four months prior to his death.

Before developing his theory of relativity, Albert Einstein encountered academic failure.  One headmaster expelled Einstein from school and another teacher predicted that he would never amount to anything.  Einstein even failed his entrance exam into college.

Prior to dazzling the world with his athletic skill, Michael Jordan was cut from his sophomore basketball team.  Even though he captured six championships, during his professional career, Jordan missed over 12,000 shots, lost nearly 400 games, and failed to make more than 25 would-be game-winning baskets.

Failure didn't stop Vincent Van Gogh from painting, Albert Einstein from theorizing, or Michael Jordan from playing basketball, but it has paralyzed countless people and prevented them from reaching their potential.

At some point, all great achievers are tempted to believe they are failures.  But in spite of that, they persevere.  In the face of adversity, shortcomings, and rejection, they hold onto self-belief and refuse to see themselves as failures.   

Success is just around the corner.

- John Maxwell

Embracing Change When Change is Necessary

What we are afraid of is very rarely as bad as what we initially imagine.  The fear we build up in our mind is often far worse than the situation that actually exists.

With that said, few people actually understand that.  They have their set beliefs and behaviors, and cannot (or will not) embrace change. And as a result they can easily become stagnant.

Embracing the change that is necessary doesn’t have to be a scary thing.  For instance, if you want to go from being an average shooter to being a great shooter, it may involve far more than a little “tweaking” of your shot.  You may have to totally abandon your existing shot and rebuild it from scratch.  The obvious fear is that if you abandon your current way of doing things, you will actually be going backwards and having to start all over again.

We take comfort and reassurance with what is familiar, and change at any level can be unsettling.  Big change can be really scary, unless we are willing to change our attitude towards it and eagerly embrace it.

To use an old baseball saying... "you can never steal 2nd base if you refuse to leave 1st base."

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REPRESENT! GET KRUNK!

“If you know you're repping Jesus go ahead and throw it up”

A timely message being that Lecrae will be in town on the same day as the Freedom All-Star Classic.  When Lecrae talks about repping, he means representing and being proud of it, and that’s what Haley will be doing on Saturday April 11th.  

She will be representing not only herself, but also representing Covenant’s Basketball Program and of course, above all else, representing Jesus.

"Send me... I'll go!  Oh let me go... Let me go!"

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PRESSURE vs PLEASURE

"Don't ever allow the pressure of competition to be greater than the pleasure of competition."

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ON BEING HUNGRY - THE WILL TO WIN

Good quote from California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, a seven-time Mr. Olympia, in Barbara Walters' autobiography:

"What makes one guy a champion and the other one not?" [Walters] asked. 

Schwarzenegger:

"It's drive. It's the will. There are certain people that grow up with a tremendous hunger and it's usually kids that have struggled when they were young. When you grow up comfortable and in peace and happiness, all those things will produce a very balanced person and a good person, but it will not create the will and determination and hunger that you need to be the best in the world."

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Are You Willing To Bet On Yourself?

Came across a timely excerpt from "Jeffrey Gitomer's Little Teal Book of Trust.” 

Have you ever looked back at a decision you made and scolded yourself, almost punished yourself, for making the wrong decision or realizing you could have made a better decision?

Monday-morning quarterbacks are always correct.  They see what could have been done or should have been done on Sunday, and talk about it on Monday as though they could have gone back to Sunday and done it themselves.  It’s easy to see it all of course …after the fact.

People who go back and chastise themselves, or second-guess themselves, for making a wrong decision continue to set themselves up for failure in future decisions simply because they don't trust themselves.

I maintain that your judgment should always be trusted and never be second-guessed.  That doesn't mean you won't make errors.  That's why they call it judgment.

But I'm challenging you to look at incorrect decisions as lessons, life's lessons.

Mistakes in judgement are the best teachers in the world, and if you choose to learn from them, then you will begin to trust yourself and understand that, correct or incorrect, you were decisive and moved on.

Oh, you may rely on others.  Oh, you may be dependent on others.  But reliance and dependence are mutually exclusive of trust.

In order to build trust and become a trusted advisor to others, you have to first trust yourself.  This means you have to trust your thinking, your wisdom, your knowledge, your judgment, your instincts, your powers of observation,your powers of dedication, your ability to reason, and your ability to discern.

You must be decisive.  Trusted people are not wishy-washy.  Trusted people do not pass the buck.  Trusted people are willing to bet on themselves.  It's not "trust me."  It's "trust yourself."

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NACA DIVISION III TOURNAMENT

Another visit to the NACA National Tournament and another finish in the Final Four.

I was extremely proud of the way the girls played (in pool play no-less) throughout the week. 

The game is on video at this link (March 11-12 and then scrol to our game) and the announcer summed it up best when near the end of the game, he was commenting on the Lady Lions defensive effort by saying "there's no quit in these Lions." 

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NACA ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM

We had two players selected to the NACA All-Tournament Team and it was tough to determine who it would be because we had three or four players that played outstanding ball during the tournament.

Chelsea and Haley's stats for the tournament proved how valuable they were to the effort.

Chelsea

26 pts, 26 rebs, 9 assts, 19 stls

Haley

27 pts, 15 rebs, 10 assts, 14 stls

Rachel

37 pts, 26 rebs, 4 assts, 4 stls

Jess

30 pts, 5 rebs, 3 assts, 9 stls

Hannah

4 pts, 15 rebs, 5 assts, 15 stls

Olivia

17 pts, 4 rebs, 0 assts, 5 stls

Heather

13 pts, 15 rebs, 0 assts, 5 stls

GREAT ATHLETE - BAD TEAMMATE

Saw an article this morning that the Dallas Cowboys released Terrell Owens, arguably, one of the most talented wide-receivers in the game.  And that comes on the heels of Owens saying "I just want to win."

Owens is well known for wanting to do his own thing apart from the team and you will never hear one of his teammates say that he is a great teammate.

Reminds me of something Celtics coach Doc Rivers said last month:

"I hear so many times guys say they want to win... I want to be a winner, but what they're really saying is they want to win so long as it's comfortable for them.  What they're really saying is, 'I want to win it as long as I can keep doing what I want to do.'"

Owens talks about wanting to win, but his actions say otherwise.  He's putting conditions on it.  What he's really saying is that he wants to win "as long as I can keep doing what I want to  do."

That's not how it works.

Yes, you might be able to keep doing what you like to do or what you're comfortable doing and the team has a good season.  After all, when Owens was with the Cowboys they won lots of regular season games.

But when it comes to winning championships, it often boils down to whether you are willing to sacrifice your personal goals or habits for the overall good of the team.

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FEATURED ATHLETE

Although every athlete on our team takes great pride in playing incredible in-your-face defense, in many ways Hannah is the tenacious heart of the Lady Lion's defensive pressure... the quintessential defensive player.  Unselfish and unsung.  Responsible and relentless.

Her job is to energize her teammates defensive effort through her relentless pressure and to frustrate the other team’s point guard or best player, and not let her man do what she came into the game expecting to do.

Anybody can learn how to play decent defense, but being a defensive “stopper” is what sets you apart from the other athletes.  If we can force our opponents main scorer or primary ball handler into situations they do not feel comfortable with, that takes the other team out of their offensive rhythm and gives us an advantage.

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WHAT IT WILL TAKE THIS TIME AROUND

We value the ball.

We take good shots.

We share the ball and make the extra pass.

We sprint back on defense and we don't give up lay-ups.

We defend the ball and help our teammate guarding the ball.

We contest shots without fouling.

We box out.

We rebound and run the floor.

We dive for loose balls.

We take charges.

We respect the game, officials, coaches, opponents, and our teammates.

We have good body language.

We compete hard and we play with passion.

We have no excuses and we have "next play" mentality.

We listen with our eyes and our ears.

We only care about one stat -- the final score.

We are responsible and accountable to the team -- on and off the floor.

We play as a team -- the we is great than the me.

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26 BASIC PRINCIPLES OF SUCCESS - PT. II

11.  Dribbling is an emergency measure.  Nine out of 10 players dribble or bounce the ball before they do anything else.  This is a bad habit because it limits a player's opportunities.

12.  Talk to your teammates.  Talking on offense and defense builds team play.  Talking encourages teammates. Talking on defense is vital when picking up loose opponents.

13.  Never turn your head on defense.  Players should never turn their heads to watch the ball when playing man-to-man defense.  When players change from offense to defense, they should backpedal so that they can locate their personal opponent or help in case of a fast break.

14.  Don't cross your feet on defense.  Successful defensive players move their feet in short steps when playing defense.

15.  Hands up on defense.  Just as tight-rope walkers use their hands for balance, a good defensive player does likewise, they use their hands for both balance and passing lane defense.  Movement of the hands and feet discourages passing and shooting and shows that the defensive player is on the ball.

16.  Watch your opponent's belly-button.  Good defensive players keep their eyes glued to a part of the offensive ball-player that can't fool them -- the belly-button.  You can’t be faked-out by a belly-button.

17.  Pick up the first man.  When you are back or coming down the floor ahead of the rest of your teammates, pick up the first offensive player down the court, whether it's your assigned player or not.

18. Don't leave your feet on defense.  Good defensive players keep their head up and their feet on the ground.

19.  Get position for rebounds.  Instinct and sensing the direction of the shot and the angle of the rebound enables players to move into the correct rebounding position.

20.  If you can't rebound, you can't win.  Good rebounding limits the opponents' shot opportunities and this is the key to winning basketball games.

21.  The first fast-break pass (outlet) must be perfect.  The fast break must get started with a quick outlet pass.  If the first pass is a good one, the fast break is underway.  After it's started, it's hard to stop.

22.  You must make 70 percent of your free throws.  There is no excuse for being a poor free-throw shooter.  Practice, confidence, and the proper technique are the keys.

23.  Keep the defense busy.  If all five offensive players keep moving, their opponents cannot afford to sag or float.  Moving with or without the ball forces the defense into making mistakes.

24.  Don't dribble across to the other side of the backboard to shoot.  A player should learn to shoot from both sides of the basket and with both hands.

25.  Never underrate an opponent.  Be ready to play every game.  Overconfidence can affect a team's play.  It is wise to remember that it is only the underdog who can do the upsetting.

26. Practice does not always make perfect -- if you practice the wrong thing. Players often work long and hard and make little progress because they are practicing incorrectly.

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CONFERENCE ALL-STAR GAME

Although the Lady Lion's had four players representing the East in Saturday's game, it wasn't enough to help the East secure a win over the West squad.

Chelsea led all scorer's with 17 points, 6 rebounds and 2 steals.  She was 13 of 16 from the line.  

Haley had 16 points (and was 4 of 8 from outside) with 3 rebounds.

Hannah had 8 points, 2 assists and 6 steals.  Rachel added 2 points and 6 rebounds.

Brock (Grace) had 12 points, 2 rebounds and 4 assists.

And just as a sidenote, I don't think I've ever seen Jackie (Maranatha) play inspired defense the way she did Saturday (5 steals).  I think she's a Lady Lion at heart!

3-POINT COMPETITION

Haley ran away with the 3-pt shootout with 15 made shots in 60 seconds and Rebecca finished second with 11 (hitting 9 in a row to start with).

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