Contentment In Wonderland

I am going to continue a theme here on motivation material so I thought that I would share a piece that I think is really powerful.

Contentment in Wonderland

Zig Ziggler: A Little Extra Effort

If you are not familiar with Zig Ziggler's motivational resources, you should definitely start looking for some.  He has some great resources for coaches to use with their teams.  This resource is called A Little Extra Effort.  Great locker room material.

Zig Ziggler: A Little Extra Effort

Larry Dean Jackson: Motivate 1st BLOG

Wanted to give a shout out to Larry Dean Jackson's blog called Motivate 1st.  Coach Jackson has tons of great basketball information that he shares on his basketball blog.  If you are looking for motivational material to use this season, I would definitely check out Coach Jackson's Motivate 1st blog.

Bark and Bite

He barked out his rules, listing them one by one. Boasting of consequences and the things he’d done. “This is how it’s gonna be, so this you’d better do! If you break these rules, then buddy you’re through! I wanna’ see this and I wanna’ see that! I don’t like this and I don’t like that! Don’t test me kid, I have done it before! If you don’t like it then there’s the door!” Well as the season went, discipline began to fade. Players lost belief in the threats he had made. Rules were broken; players were allowed to slide by. Teamwork was forsaken and thrown out to die. He warned us daily, but we knew him too well. He didn’t mean a word of the threats he would yell. Coach talked tough, but we never saw him fight, because our coach’s bark was worse than his bite.

--- Todd Howey

Dean Smith: Building Team Unity

Today, we are going to look at a motivational resource focusing on building team unity. Dean Smith has managed some heavy personalities and great basketball players.  I think you like some of the ideas that Coach Smith provides to build strong team chemistry.

Dean Smith: Building Team Unity

Coaching Quote #71: Hard Work

"The most profound basic of all is simple HARD WORK"

--- Pat Riley

Coaching Quote #68: Championships

"To win championships, make your lay ups and free throws"

--- Don Meyer

Coaching Quote #66: Knowledge

"Knowledge is good, but your players must believe in your knowledge."

--- Doc Rivers

Coaching Quote #65: On Time

"Be on time. It's disrespectful to your teammates to be late and we don't tolerate it."

--- Terry Francona

Mark Swasey: The Pyramid

This week in basketball has always been my favorite. Since 1985 and the creation of the 64 team basketball field by the NCAA, I have always felt a surge of excitement and anticipation for this great tournament. Over the years, I have been blessed to personally experience other great tournaments and their unique structures. In 1989, as a manager at the University of Southern Maine, we travelled to Whittenburg University for the Men's Division III Final Four. In 1999 as a part of the Black Hills State Men's Basketball Program, I experienced the NAIA Division II National Tournament. 32 Teams from around the country, 3 days of basketball, culminating in a Champion on the final day. It was a thrill just be a part of the opening ceremonies and the tourney wide photo, which included every team in the field in one picture. As a women's coach, I was able to experience the NCAA Division II Elite Eight experience. Just as thrilling, and held over 4 days, the knowledge that you were 1 of 8 teams left in the country, whose season still had meaning and purpose, was exhilarating.

It is so easy to get caught up in the emotions and thrill of such an event. As a coach, we often get totally consumed by our passion and desire to get to that level. The simple fact is some teams just aren't capable, some are capable, but never get the breaks. Every once in a while all the necessary ingredients come together and your team makes it to that stage. Whether it's a city championship, a state championship or a national championship, the excitement of that experience knows no boundaries.
Building championship teams starts with the creation of a certain type of culture which is unique to the school and program. For an example of what I mean by this, I'll start with the bus driver. It was always my opinion that the team bus driver was a part of the team. That person should always be greeted upon entering the bus and thanked when exiting. It is a simple act of respect and was an important piece of the culture I tried to create as a coach. Strength of culture in a program is predominately about unwritten expectations. Most of us begin with written expectations as every year we draw up our rules and our codes of behavior etc. But it is the unwritten expectations, that once fully ingrained into the program, create systems that either work or are doomed to fail. As coaches are we creating cultures of respect? Do we care about that or more importantly what do we feel respect looks like? What are our systems and cultures based on? The best programs, which are consistenly competitive, have more than just good players. Those programs have a culture of expectations that becomes unwritten, remains consistent and is unique to each team. When we see the teams who are playing at this time of the year, we can most likely see bits and pieces of that unique culture which has been created within their program.

My first step in building a culture always starts with a written document. I like using something called a Pyramid for Success which allows for player and coach collaboration in the creation of a written document containing the aspects of what we feel are important to our individual and team success. The Pyramid includes the stages of the season (pre-season, regular season etc. with our post season goals ending at the top blocks) and then outside the Pyramid, in each corner of the page, the team would choose the different attributes which would require focus and attention in order to be successful. Those would broken down in the following 4 areas.


Athletic

Academic

Personal (including hygiene)

Social

The first Pyramid session is where we break the players up into groups of 3 or 4 and have them brainstorm as many different examples as possible, for each of the areas, which they felt were necessary for them to be successful that season. We would tally 6-7 of the consistent examples and put them on paper. Some ideas were great, some were funny and some foolish. Regardless of the group and how seriously they took it, they best part of this Pyramid was that they came up with it. And periodically, throughout the season, I could go back to this Pyramid with them and see where we were at. It was a great way to maintain accountability, primarily, because it was again, their idea. These are the areas which are mutually agreed upon by the team which must be focused on and given effort to. As a coach, if I felt a slide or a certain plateau happening, we would go back to the Pyramid. It was a great way to get us rebalanced and grounded again as a team.


The Pyramid can be as complex or as simple as one would choose. I always liked putting at the very bottom of the page, our team defensive and offensive goals. For instance, Rebound Margin and say Free Throws attempted as an example. The Pyramid would be posted in the locker room, and each player would receive a copy. I always kept one in my office as well and would compare our actual stats to the team goal stats throughout the year. What I liked best about it, was that if we were slipping in a certain area, I would go back to the Pyramid and say, for example, "ok, we agreed that we would need to average 22 defensive touches each game to be successful. We are only getting 16. What needs to happen in order to get up to 22"? Now the player is engaged and involved. They have to take some ownership and investment in focusing on attaining that goal. Again, it was a simple document, it could be easy to go crazy with it and have a zillion different stats and goals. I like the simplistic approach. Keep it manageable, and simple. 3-4 defensive and offensive goals is all I personally felt was necessary.

As it is March Madness, I'd like to conclude by coming back to the bus driver. During an Elite Eight tournament in San Antonio one of my Franklin Pierce teams were at, we were lucky enough to have a very charismatic bus driver. At that tournament, each team is designated one driver for the duration of your stay, and this policy always lent itself nicely to our general team culture in that they were a part of the team. Prior to our National Championship game, our driver handed me a hand written note, which I have kept to this day. I suppose their were many lessons to be learned from this exchange. But being open to it and showing this person the respect he deserved, allowed for a certain bond to be developed. This relationship added to the overall experience of our tournament in a positive way. I will end this blog post with the poem he wrote on that piece of paper.

"Championships are the final destination of an athlete. Athletes are born, but Champions are made through proper planning, hard practice, long training, confidence, skill sets, desire, goals and opportunities.
Today you all have afforded yourselves with just that, a chance, to make history not only for your University, but also for the archives of your mind and lives.

If you believe that you will or can, along with an honest effort, you will be rewarded with that of a championship and a place in history forever. So without fear of your opponent, the time has come to compete and most of all use the attributes and go claim your place in history in the Women's NCAA DII Championship. Go RAVENS Go" LB Herring "A True Champion"

The Pyramid

Coaching Quote #62: Committment

Coach Lason Perkins shared this piece from "Lead Like Butler: 6 Principles from Value-Based Leaders."

Commitment is what transforms a promise into reality. It's the words that speak boldly of your intentions. And the actions which speak louder than words.


It is making the time where there is none; coming through time after time; year after year. Commitment is the stuff character is made of; the power to change the face of things. It's the daily triumph of integrity over skepticism.

Coaching Quote #59: Ideas

"Good ideas are common-what's uncommon are people who'll work hard enough to bring them about."

--- Ashleigh Brilliant

Ray Lewis Speech to Stanford Basketball Team

I came across a great motivational video delivered by Ray Lewis to the Stanford Men's Basketball Team right before a NIT game.  Whether you like or dislike Ray Lewis, he can sure motivate a team. 

Things I Wish I Knew

THINGS I WISH I WOULD HAVE KNOWN EARLIER AS A PLAYER……

• WHAT IT FEELS LIKE TO BE A SENIOR (THE SACRIFICE FOR THE TEAM
• HOW MUCH TIME THE COACHING STAFF PUTS IN TRYING TO PREPARE THE TEAM FOR LIFE, PRACTICES AND GAMES
• HOW MUCH TIME THE COACHING STAFF SPENDS THINKING ABOUT WHAT IS BEST FOR THE TEAM
• YOUR TEAM IS ONLY AS GOOD AS THE LAST PLAYER TO BUY IN (WEAKEST LINK) – YOU HAVE A “TRUE” TEAM ONLY WHEN EVERY LAST PLAYER HAS BOUGHT IN
• WHEN YOU WIN WITH A “TEAM”, THE VICTORY TASTES MUCH SWEETER
• TEAM CHEMISTRY IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IN THE GAME OF BASKETBALL – WITHOUT IT CHAMPIONSHIPS ARE HARD TO COME BY
• THAT THE “TEAM” IS NOT THE COACHES’ TEAM, IT’S YOUR (PLAYERS) TEAM
• THAT IT CAN TAKE AN ENTIRE SEASON TO BUILD A “TEAM” AND ONE INCIDENT TO DESTROY THE CHEMISTRY THAT WAS BUILT
• HOW YOU PLAY IN PRACTICE ULTIMATELY AFFECTS YOUR PERFORMANCE IN THE GAME
• IF YOU WANT TO BE THE BEST PLAYER, YOU HAVE TO BE THE HARDEST WORKER
• IT DOESN’T MATTER HOW GOOD YOU ARE IF YOU ARE NOT MENTALLY TOUGH
• THAT YOU WIN GAMES BY PREPARING PROPERLY IN PRACTICE AND NOT JUST LACING UP THE SNEAKERS ON GAME NIGHT
• IT’S HARD AS A COACH TO SIT A PLAYER WHO MAKES HUSTLE PLAYS CONSISTENTLY AND WORKS HARD IN PRACTICE
• THE IMPORTANCE OF BALL PRESSURE AND JUMPING TO THE BALL AND HOW TO PLAY IT PROPERLY
• COMMUNICATION IS A MUST TO BE SUCCESSFUL ON AND OFF THE COURT
• I HAVE A BETTER CHANCE TO PLAY IF I AM A GREAT DEFENDER VS. A GOOD SHOOTER
• THE SOONER I REALIZE THAT EVERYTHING STARTS WITH DEFENSE THE BETTER I WILL BE ABLE TO PREPARE MYSELF FOR THE PRACTICES AND GAMES
• THE KEY TO BECOMING A GREAT REBOUNDER IS PUTTING FORTH THE EFFORT TO GO TO THE GLASS AND ABILITY HAS LITTLE TO DO WITH IT (REBOUND SEQUENCE)
• A GOOD TEAM DEFENSE IS BUILT WITH THE FOUNDATION OF TRUST
• HOW MUCH YOU HAVE TO PREPARE MENTALLY FOR THE SECOND NIGHT OF PLAY IN CONFERENCE FRIDAY / SATURDAY GAMES – AFTER LOSES, MORE SO WINS
• IT’S NOT WHO STARTS THE GAME, IT’S WHO FINISHES THE GAME – BE A FINISHER
• YOU HAVE TO HAVE A GREAT SECOND HALF WARM-UP PHYSICALLY TO GET YOURSELF READY MENTALLY (PERCEIVED ABILITY THAT WE ARE READY TO GO)
• THAT YOU CAN CONTROL TWO THINGS IN LIFE: 1. ATTITUDE 2. EFFORT – AND MORE OFTEN THAN NOT, POSITIVE WORDS AND ACTIONS CREATE POSITIVE REACTIONS

--- Sundance Wicks

Coaching Quote #57: Character

"Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial & suffering can the soul be strengthened."

--- Helen Keller

The Burial of a Mule

A farmer discovers that his mule has fallen into a dry well. The farmer heard the mule making noise and discovered the poor animal’s misfortune. After assessing the situation, the farmer decided the mule wasn’t worth the time and expense it would take to save it. Essentially, he lost hope in the old mule. So he called his neighbors together and asked them to help him haul dirt to bury the animal and put it out of its misery.


When the first shovelfuls of dirt came down, the mule became hysterical and began to kick. But as the dirt continued to hit his back, it dawned on the creature that he should shake it off each time and step up on the growing mound of dirt beneath him. Load after load of dirt hit him square in the back, but no matter how painful it was, he shook the dirt off and stepped on it.

Before long, the accumulation of dirt was such that the old mule, battered and exhausted, stepped triumphantly over the wall of the well. The dirt that had been meant to bury him had actually saved his life because of the manner in which he responded to the situation.

There are not a lot of things in our daily lives that we cannot overcome! We must see negative situations as merely stepping stones. We must have hope that our problems can actually propel us toward our goals rather than hinder us.

Coaching Quote #56: Rise

"Everything negative -- pressure, challenges -- are all an opportunity for me to rise,"
--- Kobe Bryant

Coaching Quote #55: Easy

"If it was easy, everyone would be doing it."
--- Eric Musselman

The Star Polisher

I have a great job in the universe of occupations. What do I do? I'm a "star polisher.  It's a very important job. If you want to know how important my job is, just go out at night and look at the stars twinkling and sparkling.

You see, I'm a teacher. The stars are the children in my class. My job is to take them in - in whatever shape they come - and shine and buff them and then send them out to take their places as bright little twinkling beacons in the sky. They come into my room in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes they're bent, tarnished, dirty, crinkly and broken. Some stars are cuddly, soft and sweet. Some stars are prickly and thorny.

As I buff, polish, train and teach my little stars, I tell them that the world cannot do without them. I tell them they can do anything they set their minds to do. I tell them they can be the brightest, shiniest stars in the sky and the world will be a better place because of them.

Each night as I look at the sky, I'm reminded of my very important job and awesome responsibility. I go and get my soft buffing cloth and my bottle of polish in preparation for tomorrow and for my class of little stars.

--- by Leah Becks

Don Meyer Leadership Presentation

This resource truly shows the kind of program that Don Meyer ran when he was coaching at Northern State University.  As you read through it, you will get a feel for the amount of importance he placed on character.  Probably one of the best program building resources out there.

Don Meyer Leadership Presentation