LOVE HIM OR HATE HIM

Love Him or Hate Him, there is a reason Nick Saban has been so successful at Alabama.  Saban isn't about looking behind and living in yesterday's victories... his mindset is focused on 'can we perform better today, than we did yesterday.'  

As a player (or as a coach), success is always within your grasp... the hardest part is being able to hold onto it.

LEADERSHIP IS MORE THAN JUST A WORD

"Any fool can get a mob to tear down a barn. But it takes talent & skill to get that same mob to help build one." 

The best leaders stay focused on building relationships on the team... not tearing them down.

AN IMPORTANT LESSON

There is no shame in losing to a great team. Many athletes mistakenly assume every loss is a bad loss, and although some losses hurt more than others, this assumption is not always true.

Losing to a great team (I mean like a 65+ point loss) should serve as a measuring stick for both you and your team. If the only teams on your schedule are ones that may as well be considered "your little sister"....well, being able to beat up your little sister is not a very valid way to determine how good (or bad) your team actually is.

Use those embarassing losses to great teams as a way to evaluate what your team does well, and what your team struggles with and needs to work on. If you're not willing to learn from these kind of losses, then you'll never be one of those great teams. You'll always "believe" you're a great team because you didn't realize that all this thime you've been beating up "your little sister."

There is no shame in losing to a great team...IF... you use the loss as a way to show what you need to do to become better.

IT'S THE LITTLE STUFF...

Most emerging leaders erroneously view and define leadership as the mighty shoves reserved only for the heroic captains of the team. In actuality, however, it's the tiny pushes of leadership that happen more frequently and have the greatest impact over time.

Leadership opportunities are rarely available in the form of dramatic speeches, but most often present themselves in simple, yet significant interactions on a daily basis.

CONFIDENCE

When your team leaders exhibit confidence, it becomes contagious to the rest of the team... unfortunately, showing a lack of confidence is just as contagious.

LISTENING OR HEARING?

There is a big difference between Listening and Hearing. Hearing is easy to do... Listening is far different... and much more important. But what does it mean to listen?

Once heard a story about a high school music appreciation class that provides a meaningful answer to that question. The teacher of the class asked for a volunteer to explain the difference between listening and hearing. At first, no one wanted to answer; but finally, a student raised his hand. When the teacher called on him, he said, “Listening is wanting to hear.”

Coaches usually use timeouts to make their game-strategy adjustments. Often, the difference between winning and losing - especially in a close game, comes down to whether the players hear... or listen.

LEADERSHIP IN ACTION

Here is an online article written by Coach K that appeared in the Wall Street Journal:

I believe that my work is as much about words as it is about basketball. Choosing the right words is no less important to the outcome of a game than choosing the right players and strategies for the court. As a coach, leader and teacher, my primary task is motivation. How do I get a group motivated, not only to be their individual best but also to become better as a team? I have always said that two are better than one, but only if two can act as one.

After the 1999 season, when we lost to Connecticut in the national championship game, several of our top players left Duke earlier than expected. Shane Battier, who had played a supporting role on that team, was going to have to become our star.

Shane and I agreed that he would need to emerge as the team leader, but there was one problem: Shane had never imagined himself as a star.

After the players had gone home for the summer, I gave Shane a call.

"Shane," I said, "this morning, did you look in the mirror and imagine that you were looking at next year's conference player of the year?"

He chuckled, "Coach, I…"

I hung up.

The next day I called again. "Shane, it's Coach. When you were on your way to work this morning, did you imagine scoring 30 points in a game this season?"

He laughed cautiously and began to respond before I hung up again.

Seconds later, my phone rang. "Coach," Shane said, "Don't hang up on me."

"I won't hang up on you if you won't hang up on you," I told him.

Shane needed to imagine these sorts of things in order to become the player that he could be. Before he graduated, Shane earned National Player of the Year honors while leading our team to the 2001 national championship. He had all of the tools necessary to become a great player, but he fully realized his potential only when he allowed himself to imagine great things.

For motivating Shane, the crucial word to communicate was "imagination." For others, it may be "enthusiasm" or "self-confidence" or "poise." But undefined words are meaningless, and dictionary definitions usually do not suffice. Meaning is understood by seeing a word in action.

I ask teams to understand the meaning of dependability by telling them about my brother, Bill, who never missed a day of work in 38 years of fighting fires in Chicago. I tell them about willpower by sharing the story of my former player and current associate head coach, Steve Wojciechowski, and his last game on our home court: Wojo only scored one point that day, but his sheer determination led our team to an exciting victory.

'Shane,' I said. 'When you were on the way to work this morning, did you imagine scoring 30 points in a game this season?'

And I convey the meaning of courage by telling them about my friend and colleague, the late Jim Valvano, who used his own battle with cancer to raise millions of dollars to support cancer research.

My hope is that, as the players listen, my brother's example may remind them of the most dependable person in their own lives. Maybe the story of Wojo's senior game will make them think of a moment when they were carried through a tough situation by the strength of their own will. Learning about Jimmy Valvano, they may recall a time when they witnessed true courage.

When an audience makes these associations, we have found common ground. We are no longer merely exchanging words; we are being mutually motivated by their meaning.

(Thanks Joey Burton http://basketballinsights.blogspot.com)

COACHES (AND PARENTS) NEED TO LOOK A LITTLE CLOSER

Had a chance to speak at length with a first year Middle School coach this week at the Nike Higher Level Camp in Florida, who also happened to have her daughter at the camp.  (Important point here, this was her daughters first "intense" ball handling camp).

Her question was (paraphrased), "how hard do I push my daughter and after being here at this camp, I'm beginning to wonder if she even likes basketball"

Her daughter was a rising Freshman and seemed to only give noticeable effort when playing defense while scrimmaging.  On offense, her daughter was clearly not engaged.  The second thing that I noticed,  her daughter didn't give the same level of effort while working on individual ball handling drills, she would only give minimal effort.

Was she lazy?  Probably not.

Coaches do not have the time to push every athlete to reach their full potential.  As bad as that may sound, think about it for just a second... ever had an athlete that just doesn't seem to care?  How many times have you wasted a lot of time and energy into trying to motivate them and show them the right way to do things, only to have them remain in that state of giving only 70% on drills?

In this particular situation, I began to watch her daughter and quickly noticed that every time she was put into the spotlight on individual ball handling drills, her effort immediately dropped as if she didn't really care one way or another.  My guess is, that it wasn't that she didn't care... it was more than likely that she felt exposed and insecure in her skills and abilities when compared to the other athletes at the camp (there were some die-hard ballers there).

As coaches, we often overlook that simple explanation and tag that type of player as being lazy and we give up on trying to motivate them.

After discussing this with her mom (and coach), it became evident that more ball handling skill work was needed to get her daughter over the confidence hump and to a point where she felt like she could compete with others.

Rather than label players as lazy, coaches need to look at the circumstances before giving up on a player.

4:13

THERE IS AN "I" IN TEAM

Don't buy into the myth... there IS an "I" in team - it's personal accountability... our choices impact our teammates.

TEACHING PEOPLE HOW TO BUILD TEAMWORK

On a recent flight I sat next to a woman with wisdom.  And, of course, wisdom is what we learn after we know it all.  That’s who and what she was: A wise person who could teach others simply by how she lived. 

As we chatted, she shared that when she first moved to a certain big city with her husband and three young children, not one neighbor came to greet them.  The weeks went by, they unloaded boxes and hung pictures and drapes, but nobody welcomed them to the neighborhood.  So one day she told her kids, “Let’s bake cookies for all!” —and they did.  Then, loading up their little red Radio Flyer wagon, they spent a Saturday morning delivering fresh, still-warm homemade cookies and big smiles to their new neighbors, up and down the street.

Upon hearing her story, I commented, “Um, gee, that’s really something.  Your family was the new family in the neighborhood and yet you took cookies to people!?”  Her response was wise.  Leaning toward me with a hint of mischief in her eyes, she nearly whispered, “Sometimes you just gotta teach people how to live.”

(Thanks John G. Mille, Authorr)

BE LIKE BRAD...

Since Butler's unimagined run (again) through the land of the giants in the NCAA tourney, Brad Stevens has become the most talked about coach since Wooden.  Looking more like a player than a coach, what is it this young coach has figured out that the older seasoned coaches have missed?

I came across a great read by John Miller (via Sefu Bernard of PGC) that gives us some insight into his thinking. The entire article can be read here.

(Thanks Sefu Bernard)

WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

Mike Thomas, boys head basketball coach at Kalamazoo Central High School found himself in a tough situation while in East Lansing this past weekend. His situation wasn’t on the sidelines late in the State semi-final or Final game at the Breslin Center for the MHSAA tournament. Nope, it was the MORNING of the State championship game in which they were in for the third straight year.

Three of his players decided to do what a lot of teenagers try and do... they broke curfew the night before and the young coach (only 28 years old) had to make a difficult decision.

Do you allow the players to play? After all... it IS the championship game... right? Or do you send a message that the TEAM depends on each other to be ready and selfish behavior will not be tolerated?

The coach suspended all three players for the entire game, one happened to be a starter.  I personally think it was the right decision.  All too often coaches preach about all the life lessons sports teach, it's nice to finally see one of those lessons in action.

Oh yeah, The Kalamazoo Central Maroon Giants won the championship without the three players.

(Thanks Coach Finamore)

THREE TRAITS SHARED BY LOSERS

Came across a blog entry by Coach Dawn Redd (Beloit College) discussing 10 Traits Shared by Losers and thought I'd drop a couple of the most common and destructive to team chemistry here.

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When you hear the word "loser" you think of awful people with no ambition in life.  But that's not always the case, sometimes they are incredibly talented, charming, and fun people to be around.  Sometimes they're your captains, your leaders, and the people of influence on your team.  They can sometimes even look like winners...until you delve a little bit deeper.  Both winners and losers are skilled, but losers have an innate quality that will eat away at the fabric of your team.

Three Traits Shared by Losers:

Indifference: They're the folks you look at and think, "if only they would only work hard, they'd be so good."  But they won't work hard, because they're fine with just getting by.

Selfishness: Losers are selfish, it's all about them.  If they do something great in a game, they're excited and seeking out high fives.  But if they make a mistake, they withdraw and reject any efforts by their teammates to console them.  These are the players that make it difficult to maintain any sort of team chemistry.

Disrespect: While winners spend tons of time studying film and finding out how to be a better athlete, losers slide by on natural talent.  As the rest of the team is scouring over their scouting reports pre-game, the loser sits in the locker room texting their friends...they don't respect the game or the effort that is essential to become good at it.

(Thanks Coach Dawn Redd)

HELPING PLAYERS MATURE AND SEE THE BIG PICTURE

According to Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher, there are seven people who are the most talked about, most recognized people in the state of Florida: the head coaches at Florida State, Florida and Miami, and the quarterbacks at Florida State, Florida and Miami.

And, of course, the governor.

“Those seven people,” Fisher said he tells his first-year starting quarterbacks, “that’s how you’re measured.  You have to put into perspective how people are going to listen to you, see you.  People are going to see you, know you, listen to everything you say, everything you do.  So understand something: Nothing’s off the record, and there’s no time somebody’s not watching you.” 

He’s right.

(Thanks ESPN's Heather Dinich)

WHAT MAKES A GREAT COACH?

“Great coaching is not just technical knowledge, it is the ability to communicate that knowledge in a manner the athlete can use & translate into action. Just knowing more technical stuff & speaking technical pseudo scientific jargon does make a good coach. Ability to communicate is paramount.”

(Thanks Coach Gambetta)

GET RID OF THE BAD APPLE

There is a lot of truth in the old expression “one bad apple spoils the whole bunch.”  Players that are selfish, lazy, pessimistic or do not show the proper respect to teammates can be considered “bad apples.”

I’m a firm believer that great team chemistry is the foundation for a team’s success.  It can turn a very average group (talent-wise) into an overachieving team that accomplishes far more than would have ever been expected of the group.  That great chemistry can often be credited to just one or two individuals within the group that have the right attitude.  All it takes is one or two that are completely unselfish and are influential enough to affect the rest of the team in a positive way.  They end up being the nucleus of the group without ever realizing it.

The same theory holds true for a team with bad chemistry.  The cause for underachieving teams can often be traced back to just one or two individuals that have a negative or selfish attitude.  It is often projected as a “me before we” attitude.   Just one player with a negative attitude can totally poison a team and ruin an entire season.

Although there’s no guarantee of success with great chemistry… accepting a “bad apple” just because they also have talent is almost a guarantee for disaster.

4:13

WHEN COACHES AND PLAYERS CLASH

"Coaches and players usually don't like each other.  Players don't like coaches telling them what to do.  Coaches don't like players telling them what they're not going to do and that's just the nature of the business.  If we couldn't play, we wouldn't be here.  If they couldn't coach, they wouldn't be here.”

-          - Ben Wallace, Detroit Pistons

(Thanks Vince Ellis, Detroit Free Press)

“We should focus on going to battle against our opponent… not each other.”  Although that statement sounds like common sense and something every team would understand, every day there are coaches and players battling each other… and it is so counterproductive to the success of a team.  Don't believe me?  Just ask the sputtering Pistons with their pathetic 19-33 record.

4:13

PLAYING SMARTER NOT HARDER

A few Sports Illustrated writers put together their mid-season NBA awards and for the “Coach of the Year Award” Paul Forrester had Spurs coach Greg Popovich as the front-runner and hit the nail on the head by saying “Popovich doesn't ride his players harder than others; he just gets them to play smarter.” 

Is there any other coach whose best player logs less than 30 minutes per game and could turn it into a 36-6 start?

(Thanks Paul Forrester of SI)

CHARACTERISTICS OF GREAT PLAYERS

HOW MANY OF THESE DESCRIBE YOU?

This is a list of characteristics developed by Coach Kevin Eastman (Boston Celtics Assistant) that accurately describes “great players.” There is one important thing about this list that few pick up on when they read it. I will point it out after you read it through and see if you picked up on it.

Great players have tremendous focus during the entire practice or game. (they play in the moment)

Great players listen with their eyes and ears whenever a coach or teammate is speaking.

Great players want to be coached. They crave coaching because it makes them better.

Great players look forward to practices and working out. They know that is where improvement is made.

Great players give 100% effort in practice just like if it were a game.

Great players understand that every drill is designed to work on a specific area of their game and they try and maximize their improvement – they don't want to be average.

Great players understand that details... every little detail, is important to success.

Great players can't stand lazy teammates, especially on defense.

Great players hate to miss practices, regardless of the reason.

Great players want to hear the truth, that's the only way to know where they need improvement.

Great players hold themselves accountable to a higher standard for everything they do. Everything.

Great players hold their teammates accountable for everything they do. They call them out when necessary.

Great players are committed to balancing their mind, body and spirit.

Great players hate to lose. They play to win in every drill or even in every sprint.

Does each one of these on this list describe you? How many players on your team does this list describe?

Okay... did you notice something about this list??? Every single one of these items are 100% mentally controllable. Not one of these is based on excellent physical abilities or extraordinary talent. You don't have to be the biggest, fastest or strongest to be able to do these things.

How many of these things describe you?

(Thanks Kevin Eastman & Alan Stein)

THOSE THAT COMPLAIN THE MOST ... JUST DON'T GET IT

Received this video from another coach, and I couldn't resist dropping it here on the Blog.  Most athletes get it... they understand teamwork and sacrificing their goals for the team goals.  However, the athletes that are selfish, are also usually the ones that complain the most. (Thanks Alan Stein)