Here We Go!!!!

HEY LADIES! BASKETBALL SEASON IS ALMOST HERE! TIME TO PUT VOLLEYBALL AND SOCCER SEASON IN THE BACK OF OUR MINDS AND MOVE BASKETBALL RIGHT ON UP TO THE FRONT! ITS TIME TO GET FOCUSED ON THE GAME. ITS TIME FOR US TO START BONDING AGAIN AS A TEAM AND PUT LAST SEASON OUT OF OUR HEADS. ITS TIME TO TAKE STEPS FORWARD TO GROWING CLOSE TOGETHER AGAIN SO WE CAN DOMINATE ANYTHING THAT TRYS TO STAND IN OUR WAY! ALWAYS KEEP GOD THE CENTER OF FOCUS AND LETS RELY ON HIM AND THE STRENGTH HE GIVES US TO GET US THROUGH THIS SEASON VICTORIOUS! ITS GOING TO BE LOTS OF FUN AND IM COMPLETELY OPTIMISTIC ABOUT IT. I CANT WAIT TO PLAY WITH YOU GIRLS AGAIN! I LOVE YOU LADIES! --Liv

1....................2.......................3........................HOOOOORRRAAAA!!!

~4:13

What Are Your Expectations?

If you expect to be the Conference Champion, then we (you) will have to fully embrace that mindset from the very first minute of practice this season and maintain that mindset until the final buzzer goes off in the championship game.

There are plenty of teams out there that want to be champions, but very few of them actually have the discipline or commitment it takes to make it happen.

Last season, Central benefited from our injuries & illnesses at the Final Four. In my opinion, I do not believe they were better than we were in as much as I allowed our team to be placed into a position where we weren’t adequately prepared in case we lost a couple of key players to injury. That was poor planning on my part.

If you look at the championship teams in any sport, they are usually the ones that are mentally stronger and physically tougher than their opponents. It all starts with discipline, planning and commitment. Yes, planning. I think you’ve got to literally plan to be the champions…like we did to begin the 2006-07 season. And for those that remember the mindset of our team right before the championship game against PCCS, we expected to win even though they had beaten us in the Regional game the week before. Our mindset going into the championship game was that we would NOT be denied.

We are going to start out with that clear goal in mind and understand that there are always going to be obstacles & hurdles throughout the season that will test our discipline and test our commitment to achieving that goal.

There will be injuries, both long-term (Lea) and short-term. There will be games lost that should have been won because of a lack of focus, and there will be shooting slumps to deal with. However, if we know this in advance and we have the poise and the confidence to know how to overcome these hurdles and have the expectation that we will overcome those obstacles, then we will be ready when our opportunity knocks again.

Expect Victory.

4:13

Do You Have It?

Each day at the GCCC girls practice, Coach Hicks sarcastically asks his players whether they are “basketball players” or “just girls that love to play basketball.” His intent is to motivate them by making them feel like they are either 100% Ballers or they are just pretending to be… which of course is an insult to a scholarship player. He’s pushing them to see who has passion and who doesn’t.

Passion is the one ingredient that can turn an average player into a good player. I saw what it did for Liz’ game. For being undersized (4ft-10in), she often held her own on the court because she played (and practiced) with tremendous passion.

There are few words that can adequately describe what passion is. Passion isn’t really an emotion as much as it is an overpowering personality all its own. Only those that have passion know its joys (as well as its burdens).

Throughout history there have been many people that became famous because of their passion for something. Their fame came only from a passion that drove them beyond the limits of mere mortals. Explosions and blindness couldn’t stop Albert Einstein or Helen Keller.

In the sports world, a player with passion can inspire their teammates to achieve far more than they would have without them. Not making his high school varsity basketball team drove Michael Jordan to workout twice as hard as he did before. That contagious passion helped lead his Chicago Bulls to six NBA championships.

How many of you remember the movie “Rudy” and how his passion for football inspired his teammates? He’s still the only player in the history of Notre Dame football to ever be carried off the field on the shoulders of his teammates. Each of these people possessed a passion to accomplish something. It was often that their frustrations brought even more determination to their endeavors…oh yes…the power of passion is incredible.

Think about it - whenever you interact with someone who is energetic and passionate in sports or even in a store or a restaurant or a business, doesn't it impress you? When you experience the opposite of that (total lack of passion) doesn't it make a negative impression?

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The Ultimate Teammate?

Trevor Wikre was willing to forgo a finger for football.

The Mesa State College senior offensive lineman fractured his right pinkie so severely in practice on Tuesday, doctors told him he needed immediate surgery. His season and career would be finished.

Instead, Wikre told them to amputate the finger. He's now missing a good portion of his pinkie. "I'm just short one," Wikre said with a chuckle. "But this game means that much to me. This team means that much to me."

Wikre will miss the Mavericks' game Saturday at Colorado School of Mines, but will be back the following week -- albeit with his finger covered in a cast.

"Football is something that's been in my blood," said Wikre, who's from Berthoud, Colo. "It's something I have a passion for. The game quits everybody eventually -- you want to hang on to it as long as you can."

Wikre was going for a block in practice when he caught his finger in a teammate's jersey. At first, he didn't give the ailing pinkie a second thought, thinking the sensation he was feeling inside his glove was a piece of tape that had simply slipped off.

But when he removed his glove, the bone was jutting out, and he was immediately sent to the hospital.

Doctors informed Wikre he would need surgery to insert a pin and that he'd likely be out for up to six months as the finger healed. He couldn't bear the thought of his career ending so abruptly, so he decided to forsake the finger.

"This was the best way to get me back out there," Wikre said. "There are worse things in the world -- a pinkie is not that bad in my mind."

The four-year starter is still a little sore that he can't play this weekend. Mesa State, a Division II school in Grand Junction, Colo., has won its last three games, and Wikre didn't want to mess up the mojo.

"We've got a great team," said Wikre, who was an all-Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference player last season. "We've got to keep this rolling."

Instead, he'll mentor his backup on the sideline, shouting encouragement and advice.
"I'll be that big supporter," he said.

The 6-foot-3, 280-pound Wikre said he'll never glance back at his decision with remorse. What's done is done.

"Never look back on the decisions you make," he said. "Everybody thinks I'm crazy, but anybody that loves sports and has had this camaraderie knows what it's like."

That's why he was willing to part with his pinkie. Losing a little finger takes some getting used to, he admits. "Sometimes, you realize that you miss your pinky," he said. "I mean, I've had it for 21 years. But in the long run, my ring finger will take over for what the pinky used to do.

Like I said, it's not that big a deal. I just wanted to play football with my teammates. I couldn't let them down."

"This will be a great story down the line," Wikre said.

Source: Associated Press
Date: October 3, 2008

Becky Hammon

Undersized Becky Hammon wasn't heavily recruited out of High School like most of the other WNBA players. As a matter of fact, she only got one scholarship offer. But she made the most of her opportunity. Then after college, she wasn't drafted by any team in the WNBA...she had to beg for a chance to tryout.

She is now widely considered as one of the greatest point guards in the WNBA over the past 10 years.

Expect Great

Expect Great

Become Legendary

Who's Ready?

Impromptu Scrimmage

There was a little extra competition during last Sunday's workout when a few of the GCCC girls dropped in to shoot-around with our girls.

4:13

Truly Inspiring

For those of you that read this Blog...you'll quickly notice that it was a terribly slow day at work today and it gave me a chance to post a few good articles/stuff I've come across this week.

This one was forwarded to me by another coach…

Got an email this morning from David Marshall, an assistant coach at Northern Kentucky.

Last night, he served as the personal liaison to Karl Rove when Rove was visiting the NKU campus for a lecture series. Mr. Rove emailed Coach Marshall later last night.

As Coach Marshall wrote in his email:

He told us a story of him visiting the Navy SEAL hospital in Norfolk, Va. Rove said like any hospital, especially during a time of war, you may see some things that could really affect you.

Well, this one particular wounded officer he met had a interesting story and disposition.

First of all, he was a 25-year-old Navy SEAL. He had been shot eight times in Afghanistan, has had 22 surgeries, and will need -- at minimum -- eight more, including reconstruction of the right side of his face.

He told Karl Rove of his dilemma and he explained all of the operations. He ended by saying “once that’s all over, I will be ready to go back in.” In other words, he is going to re-enlist.

Then Karl told me what the young man had on the door of his room at the hospital. It's the same sign he had in Afghanistan before he was shipped back to the States.
[click on image above]

Talk about love for our country and honor. No matter which candidate or party you favor, it is a moving story. I just thought you would like to read the sign.

Many thanks to David for sharing this. In a time of economic turmoil and political bickering, we may tend to forget to say a prayer for our soldiers serving around the world.

4:13

What It Means to Love the Game

Came across a powerful testimony to what it means to "love the game."

“I had the opportunity in my life to know Bear Bryant. He had great teams and everywhere he ever was, there was a tremendous amount of discipline that took place. They played hard for this man. When he took the job at Texas A&M they had not won a game the year before — they were 0-10.

They had practiced three weeks and nothing was happening; he wasn’t pleased with the response of his team. He had heard there was an old army barracks about 60 miles north of College Station that had been abandoned after World War II and he made arrangements to lease it. He pulled seven buses up and they loaded 123 football players on these buses.

In mid-August - in a Texas desert, he took them to this camp to find out if they really loved football and wanted to be players. 123 football players started practicing twice a day and it was 110 degrees in the shade. He practiced them in the middle of the morning and in the middle of the afternoon when it was hottest. He told me, ‘I could never do again what I did there,’ it was inhuman. They quit in droves. He was trying to find eleven who would stand up and say, ‘I love it, I love it more than anything else.’

An All-Conference center walked in and said, ‘Coach, I don’t love it, I want to pack it in.’ He gave it up as a senior. After six weeks in the desert it was time to return to campus. Ladies and gentlemen, they only needed one bus that day. Only 27 young men out 123 climbed on to that bus. The rest had packed it in.

Bear Bryant stood in front of them and I know some of them. Some have told me it was the greatest thing they have ever done in their lifetime. One died not long ago and there was an article in the Atlanta paper that mentioned his name and said he was one of the 27 survivors in the desert of Texas. They are legendary. Bryant stood in front of them on the bus that day and said, ‘I love you. I want you to know that. I will to the day I die. You can always come to me.’ He hired them, he got them jobs. It was incredible. He loved them. They created something. They created a foundation, a beginning, and three years later they won the National Championship. Just because 27 said ‘I love it, I am willing to discipline myself totally to make it happen. You can if you think you can!”

As told by former LSU Athletic Director Joe Dean

As a footnote to this story, the movie "The Junction Boys" was based on the above incident. And for those of you who don't know who Bear Bryant is...ask Olivia...she knows. Also, you probably saw his character in Forrest Gump.

4:13

The WILL to Win.

Some of you may have seen the new Volkswagon commercial where the old guy gets mad and throws the chair...well, the old guy is actually former Indiana & Texas Tech basketball coach Bobby Knight. Most of you are probably too young to remember the screaming and chair-throwing antics of Coach Knight. But all of his theatrics aside, he is a brilliant basketball mind (the 1-2-2 zone among others). One of his most memorable & meaningful quotes:

“I’ve never seen a player that didn’t want to win when the ball was tossed up...but I’ll tell you when better want to win — you’d better want to win the day before and two days before and three days before because the will to win the game is not nearly as important as the will to PREPARE to win the game.”

-Bob Knight-

4:13

Don Mattingly on the meaning of "TEAM"

“Team sports are really difficult things. Sometimes your team wins because of you, sometimes in spite of you and sometimes it’s like you’re not even there. That’s the reality of the team game.

Then at one point in my career, something wonderful happened. I don’t know why or how, but I came to understand what ‘team’ meant. It meant that although I didn’t get a hit or make a great defensive play, I could impact the team in an incredible and consistent way. I learned I could impact my team by caring first and foremost about the team’s success and not my own. I don’t mean by rooting for us like a typical fan. Fans are fickle. I mean CARE, really care about the team...about “us.” I became less selfish, less lazy, less sensitive to negative comments. When I gave up ME, I became MORE.

I became a captain, a leader, a better person and I came to understand that life is a team game...and you know what? I’ve found most people aren’t team players. They don’t realize that life is the only game in town. Someone should tell them. It has made all the difference in the world to me.”

DON MATTINGLY
New York Yankee All-Star
Future Hall of Famer

I recently stumbled upon some comments about teamwork from former Nebraska coach Tom Osboune that reflects much of what I strive to build into the girls varsity basketball program.

"One of the most difficult challenges of coaching, particularly in recent years, has been shifting the attitude of as many players as possible from self-interest to being team-oriented."

"The players have to feel a responsibility not only to the program but to the men who have preceded them as well. Our players and coaches cared about the program to an unusual degree and were willing to pay a great price to ensure a continuation of excellence. Once a football program or organization reaches a point where the people involved begin to feel that type of loyalty, great things begin to happen."

It all starts with the current players (you) and the example you set for the younger players that will follow in your footsteps. Unfortunately, it can also end with you and the example you set for the younger players.

Strive to build a legacy of excellence.

4:13

Coaching Secret #27

"The secret to coaching is to keep the ones who hate you away from the ones who are still undecided."

Only 12 days until our first practice.

4:13

Focusing on "Full Effort & Fun" Instead of Winning

According to Andy Hill, who played for Coach John Wooden who won 10 NCAA championships while coaching at UCLA:

Coach Wooden never emphasized winning. What he talked about was the commitment to playing your hardest. Never permitting fear of failure to prevent effort. We are all imperfect and will fail on occasion, but fear of failure is the greatest failure of all. If you gave it your best and lost, that was fine. In fact, that was better than winning with a mediocre effort.

It’s not that Coach didn’t care about winning. Many of his ex-players state that they’ve never met a more competitive man in their life. But he was smart enough to know that people focus too much on the score and tighten up.

There is no doubt that valuing effort over winning was something that Coach had integrated into his highly competitive nature at a very early age. His father told him, “Johnny, don’t you try to be better than your brothers. But try to be the best you can be. You’re gonna be better than some and there are gonna be some better than you. You’ve got to accept that. But you should never accept the fact that you didn’t make the effort to do the best that you can do.”

He really does judge success by effort and by how close a group comes to realizing their own potential. By this standard, any team has the opportunity to achieve great success.

Coach’s genius was in understanding that those who spend all their time talking about winning aren’t helping their chances. Every player should remove the thought of winning as the focal point and by doing so can reduce the pressure and fear they feel entering a game.

The key point here is that effort is mental (internal), and is completely within your control. Winning is a just a byproduct of effort, but it is conditional to external factors and is almost never completely within your control.

So regardless of the circumstances you find yourself in, your effort and mental approach (make it fun) is what will determine your ultimate success.

4:13

East-West Challenge Schedule Change

It looks like Central's coach is at it again. He asked Coach Moss if we could adjust the schedule so that Central could play in the second game on Fri & Sat for the East-West Challenge rather than the first game (against us). "Doing so will give them additional travel time to get here."

However, I would be willing to bet that Central will already be in the stands at tip-off of the first game (CCS vs. Aletheia) which gives him the opportunity to scout us before they have to face us.

Why delay the inevitable?

4:13

2007-08 Flashback

http://www.varsitysportseast.com/video/index.php?bcpid=1185136098&bclid=1329220850&bctid=1341023484

becky hammon commecial

Do you have "it"?

In an article in USA Today this week, a scouting expert is quoted as saying that when it comes to identifying players who perform in big-game, high pressure situations, "We just can't find them anymore."

Well, they exist. I've seen them! (hint-hint) Those players who you turn to with the game on the line. Players with a natural ability to deliver when it matters the most. Players who genuinely enjoy "pressure situations" that most players try to avoid.

You can just tell by the look in the player's eyes, how they act and respond to the pressure that they enjoy the big stage. In most cases, players who have that look perform well. They have a different level of focus.

As is so much in life, it's about the intangibles (heart, desire, work ethic, competitiveness). The problem with many scouts is that they're only interested in the stat sheet…what can be measured: Height, weight, speed, jumping ability, FG%, PPG, etc.

Who can spot these players the easiest? Coaches, they can sense it (and see it) in a player.

Being a clutch-player is an attitude, a mind-set. Without a doubt, it's something most athletes are born with – call it an inherited quality. You can even see in 10-year-old kids in the youth league games. How they carry themselves when a game is on the line. There’s always one or two on every team that just refuse to lose.

But you can't find it on a stat sheet.

4:13

How Is Your Influence?

On a personal level, (day to day basis) each of us has some type of influence over someone else. It could be to a friend, a classmate, your siblings or even a teammate. That influence can either be a positive influence that motivates and inspires… or a negative influence that creates drama or dissatisfaction with the environment around us.

In a team environment, it is even more important to think about what type of influence you have on others. The words you speak, the look on your face, the actions you model, the effort and intensity you show, and your responses to the various situations you face… sends a message to your teammates. You are always influencing someone.

With that said . . . How is your influence?

Strive to be the leader of the group, not by force, but by action & example.
4:13

Learn To Let It Go

It is helpful to realize that most of the problems we often worry about are bound to us by the hold we have upon them. There is a story of an expedition of scientists who were on a mission to capture a particular species of monkeys in the jungles of Africa. It was important that the monkeys be brought back alive and unharmed.

Using their knowledge of monkey habits, the scientists devised a trap consisting of a small jar with a long, narrow neck. They placed a handful of nuts into the jar. Several of these jars were tied down, and the scientists returned to their camp, confident of catching the monkeys.

Smelling the nuts in the bottle, the monkey's would reach their paws into the long neck and take a fistful of nuts. But when they tried to withdraw the prize, they discovered that their clenched fists would not pass through the narrow neck of the bottle. So, they were trapped by the anchored bottle, unable to escape with their prize and yet unwilling to let it go. When the scientists returned, they easily took the monkeys captive.

We may smile at the monkey story, thinking how foolish they were, but in some respects we are just like them. We cling to the very things that hold us back, remaining captive through sheer unwillingness to let go.

When we feel we have been unjustly treated, it’s often easy to feel hurt and we then act out against the one we feel has wronged us. Doing so is the equivalent of holding onto the handful of nuts and being trapped, spending too much time complaining about being tied to a bottle, but unwilling to let go.

4:13

Sound Familiar?

Ran across an interesting article from an April 2007 FOX Sports blog about what kind of team it takes to win a title. Yes, you probably need a couple of great players, but more than that, it's critical that you have a balanced team with several players who can step up and assume different roles at different times.

I know this example is a little before your time (waaaay before) but die-hard sports people typically point to the Jordan-Pippen combo when talking about the Bulls dynasty (six championships). That's obvious. But the guys who often get overlooked are the real key to their success. John Paxson, Horace Grant, Bill Cartwright, B.J. Armstrong, Will Perdue, and Scott Williams. Not one of these guys can even remotely be considered a super-star. Was winning just a matter of everyone being in the right place at the right time? Maybe, but I doubt it.

I think it's more than that. These guys are not Hall of Famers, but they contributed every bit as much as Michael Jordan or Scottie Pippen did. They were part of the only team in NBA history to ever win 72 games in a single season (out of 82 games that season). They knew that success meant the team goal had to come before their personal goals. They never allowed petty things or egos to interfere with the team chemistry. They were willing to do whatever was required of them, they brought energy, they were able to focus and execute, they were encouragers, they made few mistakes, and above all else… they enjoyed competing.

Look at the roster of any championship team and you’ll quickly notice that they're loaded with guys who fit this description.

Yes, the teams with the best players usually win, but how you define "best players" is the real difference.

4:13