OUTSIDE OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE

If you want to grow, both as a player and as a person, you must force yourself to venture outisde of your comfort zone. It is only then that you really begin to understand who you are.

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A GREAT EXAMPLE OF A STRONG LEADER

The Florida Gators' championship season in 2008 didn't start out as a promising one. They struggled in early wins and then lost, 31-30, to unranked conference rival Mississippi; but the team turned a corner after Tim Tebow made what is now known simply as "The Podium Speech" in which he made a promise that changed their season.

It wasn't Tim Tebow guaranteeing a National Championship. It was a leader apologizing to fans and teammates for his poor play, then stating: "A lot of good will come out of this. You will never see any player in the entire country who will play as hard as I will play the rest of the season. You will never see someone push the rest of the team as hard as I will push everybody the rest of the season."

What changed from that moment at the podium was the Greatness of a leader taking responsibility. The key to what makes Tebow so highly respected now is that when the team failed, he publicly and promptly invited additional attention to himself for the failure and set expectations for change. Because he understood his role as a team leader, he made himself accountable on behalf of his team...and then, as he promised, he brought the team along with him. All the way to the National Championship.

While I selfishly hope Tebow gets the chance to make another Podium Speech after Florida State beats them in November (fingers crossed), his work on and off the field make him a true leader.

(thanks Don Yaeger & coach Starkey)

Game Plan: First Find The Leaders

I know I have been posting a lot about leadership and team chemistry issues over the past few weeks, probably more than I have about “basketball” stuff, but it is because (even though the season has yet to start) I sense that this is an issue we are struggling with lately. I read a great story today from an old issue of Business Week that reconfirmed my feelings.

The article discussed how the Maryland Terrapins Soccer team, after appearing in six-straight NCAA tournaments, suddenly fell from grace. Not only did they fail to make the tournament the seventh season, but they lost all but one of their Atlantic Coast Conference games, ending the season second to last in the ACC.

Coach Sasho Cirovski says it was his fault. "I was recruiting talent, I wasn't doing a very good job of recruiting leaders." As a result, the team didn’t have a strong leader and cliques began to form, eroding team chemistry. He had a deep roster of talent, but he didn't have a "glue guy" that held them all together. Without a strong captain who had team respect both on and off the field, he realized he couldn't compete at a championship level.

In the season preceding the teams fall, the coach had relaxed the rules and unknowingly sent the message that the players could manage themselves. It was only after realizing the reason for their fall (lack of leadership on the team) that Cirovski decided to tighten up on the team rules. Not only did he now require that his players live on-campus, but that they live together in a team dorm. He even coordinated bus seating and room assignments to help develop certain relationships.

He has also changed his philosophy in recruiting players. He looks for the best personality fits for the team, wading further down the list of star athletes looking more for leadership qualities than talent.

What have all these changes accomplished?

His team has been to four straight College Cup appearances (soccer's version of the Final Four) and, last year, the national championship.

AUGUST 21, 2006 Issue of Business Week

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3 Leadership Traits Players Can Develop

How many times throughout your basketball career have you heard coaches talk about needing team leaders? Too often, players are eager to be that leader, yet so few players understand what the coach is hoping to get from them.

Team leaders must be:

1. Hardest Workers: The best leaders are the hardest workers. In conditioning, in drills, in scrimmages, in everything. They lead by example by going all out in everything the team does and always treating each thing with respect. They often will show up early to practice and be ready when it’s time to start. They set the pace and example through their work ethic and their attitude and try to subtly influence other players into doing what they should be doing… without being bossy about it. It’s a balancing act that takes a little time to get used to.

2. Motivational: The best leaders bring out the best in the other players by challenging them and motivating them when the situation calls for it. This doesn’t mean that they scream and yell all the time but it does mean that they can pull someone aside and talk to them to get them going the right direction. The key to motivation is to convince the player to achieve what you think they should, without them realizing that you’re pushing them hard to get them there.

3. Coach on the floor: This one is key because each coach wants that player on the court who can bring out what the coach wants. The coach doesn’t want to have to motivate all the time when the leaders of the team should be the ones keeping everyone in check. The coach on the floor is the girl who backs what the coach wants and puts the team first despite the individual success. These players are referred to as self-sacrificing because of the personal stuff they give up for the good of the team. But their sacrifice is the reason the team succeeds in the end.

(thanks Hoop Skills)

POST FEED - TRIANGLE PASS

Feeding the ball inside shouldn’t be difficult, yet many teams struggle to do so. The following is a tactic that can be used to easily get the ball inside.

Post Triangle Pass

In this example, O5 is positioned directly between the basket and the wing player O2. The significance of O5’s position in-line with O2 and the basket is that the defender, fearing a feed to the post, will typically place herself between O5 and the basket and play tight coverage to prevent an easy catch and a turn-around shot or a catch & drive.

This opens up a passing lane if O5 can seal her defender. It is important for O2 and O3 to be quick with the passes. The post player must seal the defender as the passes are made by keeping her feet active and keeping contact. This prevents the defender from stepping across toward the basket and establishing position.

Once O5 seals and turns, she should have position for the catch and attack. If the post feed triangle passes and post seal are executed properly, it will usually catch the defender out of position and O5 can draw the foul… and hopefully an ‘and 1’ situation.

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A Player Lesson From Martial Arts

As many great fighters know, a hand-to-hand combat situation isn't always about speed or strength. It's about one's own beliefs, courage, skills, and discipline.

If you're looking to succeed in martial arts [or in basketball] you have to win the interior battle before you can hope to defeat an external opponent. Do you have the mental discipline and know-how to win a battle? Are you willing to put in the time and effort it takes to achieve this type of discipline? If so, it's time for you to learn the most important mental aspects of martial arts.

#1 SELF-DISCIPLINE

There is no achievement without discipline, primarily because without discipline, you won't have the fortitude to continue to work towards a goal. You can't effect a lot of change in your physical or mental fitness if you don't have the discipline to maintain a habit - even when that habit is not necessarily pleasant to maintain. Self-discipline is considered one of the greatest benefits from martial arts - but you also have to find it within yourself.

#2 SELF-CONFIDENCE

If you tell yourself "I can't beat this opponent," then the opponent has already won. When you lack self-confidence, you don't need to do any fighting, because you've already laid out your plan for yourself. You know you're going to lose, and you do. Self-confidence does not necessarily mean that you'll always win, but that you have total belief in yourself. You should trust yourself to perform well.

#3 BELIEF

Do you believe that what you've learned is going to work when it counts? Do you believe that you are one of the best fighters in the room [players on the court]? Do you believe that you're a great martial artist? If not, then you're probably none of these things. Belief can create a self-fulfilling prophecy: if you believe that you are going to win more than your opponent believes it, you stand a good chance at winning.

#4 VISION

If you can't see yourself fighting with strong discipline and courage, then how do you ever expect to achieve that level of confidence? You have to create a vision of yourself as successful before you become successful. You can do this through training and hard work, but you can also put time aside in order to practice visualizing yourself as successful.

#5 PERSISTENCE

Nothing is achieved without persistence. Without it, you aren't able to make any lasting changes in yourself or your environment. If you give up at the most difficult times, you lose opportunities to grow as a person.

- unknown (from icerocket)

PUTTING THE 'WE' BEFORE 'ME'

When John Stockton was inducted into the NBA Hall of Fame last night, one of his comments showed why he was such a great teammate. "...throughout my career, my high school team, in college at Gonzaga, for the Utah Jazz and the Olympic team, I was never the best player on any of those teams..."

Stockton, the NBA's All-Time Leader in Steals and Assists recognized the value of 'team' over self and his stats prove it. How many more career assists does Stockton have on the All-Time list than the player in second? ....5,500

That's right, 5,500 more assists than any other player to have ever played in the NBA. Think about it like this... if you averaged 7 assists per game, that would be 785 games.

Putting the 'we' before the 'me' made him great.

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WHAT MOTIVATED JORDAN?

Michael Jordan's speech last night at the Hall of Fame gave some insight into the things he would use to provide himself with motivation. This is just a small segment of the speech which can be found on Youtube.

IMPROVING YOUR DECISIONS

The greatest cause of poor decisions by players is the lack of a necessary skill at a critical point in the game [which leads to panic decision making]. The player's who have the handles, passing skills, and footwork have the greatest amount of options and can more freely play the game and respond to a series of rapid YES-NO decisions when they occur. However, just having great skills does not make you a great decision-maker.

The more experience, skill, and understanding you have and the quicker you can execute them under control, the better your decision making becomes. The one thing that typically holds players back from playing at a faster more powerful tempo is often simply basic skills: dribbling, passing, running, jumping, shooting, and defensive footwork.

Here are a few tips for practicing to improve your individual skills:

1. Practice with purpose and systematically so that you are either competing against a clock, someone else, or a goal. This helps you to understand if you are actually improving or back-sliding and will reinforce good work habits when you practice.

2. Make full use of all your practice time. Great players don't fool around in practice. They realize over the course of their career they have a given amount of time and make full use of all of it to improve areas they lack in on the court performance.

3. Pick one weakness per week and spend a considerable amount of time automating that skill to bring your game to the next level. This might be your left-hand dribble, passing skills, shot off the dribble, 3-point shot, defensive footwork, etc. If you pick one skill per week, and concentrate on improving that skill, after just a few weeks you will see a remarkable difference in your game.

4. When practicing your individual skills against a teammate, practice the concept of YES-NO decision making. Learn and build a library of experience to pick up critical cues by your opponent which signal a primary or counter move to beat them.

5. Practice individual skills with high intensity and effort at all times. Remember timing is critical to developing good decision making and the more you vary the speed you practice at, the longer it will take you to adequately automate your basketball skills. Practice everything you do at game-like speed, because that is the speed you will ultimately have to make those YES-NO decisions when it counts.

WHAT MATTERS MOST?

Size Matters

Unfortunately, there is no way to make players taller. Because tall people are closer to the basket than short people, it is easier for them to reach rebounds. Its easier for tall people to shoot over short people. Tall teams tend to intimidate small teams. All other things being equal, the taller team will likely win most of the time, proportional to the disparity in height. BUT... all things are rarely equal. As the ball moves away from the basket, the height advantage lessens. Tall teams should keep the play close to the basket - in the key area.

Unfortunately for the tall folks, the paint area only represents 7% of the playing surface. The remaining 93% belongs to the quick and the sure-handed.

Quickness Matters More

High school basketball players travel about a mile and half over the course of a full game. In a competitive situation, the pace can be constant and quick. Often the game is a footrace from end to end, with the winner getting an easy opportunity to score with the loser unable to defend at all regardless of height. The quick offensive player, with the advantage of initiative, can create enough space to go around the slower player.

For the defense, fast hands create turnovers from the unsure offensive player. Fast feet prevent the slower player from dribbling to her destination. Quick thinking enables the defense to intercept passes. The rule of thumb is that the quicker team will get more shots, primarily due to the relatively greater number of turnovers caused by the quicker team.

Conditioning Matters Most

It doesn't matter how tall or how quick you are if you cannot sustain your opponents pace for the length of a game. It is not uncommon to see a close game deteriorate in the final quarter because one team cannot keep up. Teams often score more in the fourth quarter than the earlier quarters because the defense tires out. The frequency of turnovers rises with fatigue, creating easy baskets for the better conditioned team. If you can't run, you can't win. Its that simple.

(thanks Steve Jordan)

MAKE 'EM COUNT

A basketball player’s ability to pass the ball at the right time, to the right player, with accuracy, is the sign of a great passer.

Most players of adequate skill can make passes around the perimeter of a team’s defense as this usually only involves recognizing the movement of a teammate to get open, and that teammate’s defender.

However, to pass the ball into the heart of the defense, with timing and accuracy, requires much more skill and reading. These “passes of significance”, which often lead to scores, signify the great passer, and are necessary if teams are to be successful.

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SOME BIG SHOES TO FILL

When you have the opportunity to practice and sharpen your skills, but you're tired and don't feel motivated enough to practice, or just don't want to... take a moment and think about the team you will have stepping onto the court with you this season. Not the new ones, but those that are 'battle-tested' and you know you can count on.

Think about how we will make up the 33.4 points per game we are losing.

Think about how we will make up the 20.6 rebounds per game we are losing.

Think about how we will make up the 12 steals and 7 assists per game we are losing.

Now think about who we will be playing in our first 10-12 games of the season. SL Jones, East Hill, Aletheia, Providence [ranked AL Top 10], Arnold, Wewa, Freeport, Pike [ranked AL Top 10] and Bozeman.

Which one of you... which one of your teammates, are going to step up and replace what we lost? There are only 37 days left until we start the season. Are you still tired and unmotivated?

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ANYTHING YOU ASK...

One of the primary mistakes that coaches make in team building is in believing that they have to be the sole provider of leadership.

Great teams have multiple leaders, multiple voices. A major part of building a team is discovering who those voices will be and cultivating them, making sure that their leadership is established within the group.

Before selecting the players for the Olympic team, coach K met with the prospective players trying out and immediately knew who one of the leaders would be.

During his meeting with Lebron James, LeBron leaned in closer and said, “Coach, this is a huge time for USA Basketball. We need to win now. You can ask me to do anything, and I’ll do it. Anything you ask, Coach you can count on me.”

On a team full of superstars, when the best players, the star players, are ready to submit to the overall values and vision of a team, then success is almost guaranteed.

(thanks coach Starkey)

INSIDE THE MIND OF MJ

With the NBA Hall of Fame enshrinement ceremony set for this weekend honoring the best hoops player of all time, I thought it relevant to drop a few quotes from MJ. It's easy to see why he was considered the best.

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"I play to win, whether during practice or a real game. And I will not let anything get in the way of me and my competitive enthusiasm to win."

"I've never been afraid to fail."

"Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen."

“I know fear is an obstacle for some people, but it is an illusion to me . . . Failure always made me try harder next time.”

“I can accept failure, but I can't accept not trying.”

"I've always believed that if you put in the work, the results will come. I don't do things half-heartily. Because I know if I do, then I can expect half-hearted results."

“There are plenty of teams in every sport that have great players and

never win titles. Most of the time, those players aren't willing to

sacrifice for the greater good of the team. The funny thing is, in

the end, their unwillingness to sacrifice only makes individual

goals more difficult to achieve. One thing I believe to the fullest

is that if you think and achieve as a team, the individual accolades

will take care of themselves. Talent wins games, but teamwork and

intelligence win championships.”

RETRO XI's SET FOR RELEASE NOV 27th

The "Space Jam" Jordan Retro XI's hit select retailers on November 27th and this coach is saving up his pennies for a pair. Maybe they'll make me run faster and jump higher.... nah... probably not! ;)D

REFUSE TO BE DENIED

"If you're trying to achieve, there will be roadblocks. I've had them; everybody has had them. But obstacles don't have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don't turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, work around it, or go through it."

- Michael Jordan

TODAY'S PREPARATION

"You better live your best and act your best and think your best today, for today is the sure preparation for tomorrow and all the other tomorrows that follow."

- Harriet Martineau

GOOD BALL HANDLING DRILL

A great drill to work on your handles, as well as handling defensive pressure when you have the ball, is the CHILL DRILL. I've seen different variations of it, but I really like this one.

(thanks coach Dorsey)

POEM FROM COACH SUMMITT'S PLANNER

(Katie with coach Summitt)

You can love me

but only I can make me happy.

You can teach me

but only I can do the learning.

You can lead me

but only I can walk the path.

You can promote me

but I have to succeed.

You can coach me

but I have to win the game.

You can even pity me

but I have to bear the sorrow.

For the Gift of Love

is not a food that feeds me

It is the sunshine

that nourishes that which I must

finally harvest for myself.

So if you love me

don't just sing me your song

Teach me to sing,

for when I am alone,

I will need the melody.

~~ Dan Baker ~~

TWO OF TENNESSEE'S DEFINITE DOZEN

Every successful program has a core set of values, principles that guide them in all they do. At Tennessee, Pat Summitt calls theirs the ‘Definite Dozen’ and they embody everything they want in their program.

Here are just two of the ‘Definite Dozen’ that each player should adhere to in-order to be a great teammate and to contribute in making their team the absolute best it can be.

Don't say things you wouldn't say to some one's face.

Don’t talk bad about your teammates or slam on them behind their back. It eventually gets back to them and it causes division on the team. Don’t allow your teammate to carry-on talking about another. By allowing it, you send the message that you agree with it, and that is just as bad.

Negative thinkers & talkers suck the energy out of teams.

The old expression “one bad apple spoils the whole bunch” couldn’t be truer. If you want your team to be successful, then you have to hold each other accountable. Don’t allow teammates to participate in negative talk or just be negative in general (someone that always complains about everything). Don't be afraid to confront them about it. I would be willing to bet others feel the same way you do and will probably stand with you when you confront the negative teammate.

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EFFECTIVE TEAM LEADERS

If you want to be an effective team leader, you can’t demand respect. You earn it through your actions, through your words and by your sincere desire to help those around you to succeed.

And most importantly, you have to walk it before you talk it.

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WHO ARE YOU?

“Watch your thoughts, for they become words.

Watch your words, for they become actions.

Watch your actions, for they become habits.

Watch your habits, for they become character.

Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.”

- Mahatma Ghandi

Whether we want to accept it or not, we become the person we allow ourselves to become. And more often than not, it is a result of those we surround ourselves with.

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GOOD vs AVERAGE

Good players consistently act differently when they receive a pass than average players. Good players are always a threat to score. Their body language, their pivot, their eyes: they look aggressive.

Average players look different. They may pivot the same or make jab steps, but they do not look like threats to attack or shoot.

As a defender, you can 'read' your opponents body language on the catch and immediately tell whether they are a threat to score.

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2009-10 PLAYER PREVIEW

There will be six roster spots available this season and recent Tennessee Temple transfer, Katie Robertson, has already made it known that she wants to fill one of them.

Katie visited the team over the Thanksgiving weekend and again at the Nationals tournament in March before deciding to transfer. The offensive-minded sophomore has a scorer’s mentality and should see plenty of time at the high post.

(Hannah, Olivia, Rebecca & Katie at the NACA National Tournment in Dayton, TN)

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2009-10 PLAYER PREVIEW

For those who think size is important in basketball... have you ever been alone in a dark room with a mosquito?

Size means nothing and Sophomore guard and defensive ‘pest’ Hilliary Smith proves it by relentlessly harassing opposing ball handlers. Players may pass over her, but very few are able to dribble past her with her great footwork and quick hands.

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