These two articles were writtin by Frank Lenti, Mt. Carmel High School.

I found these articles on Steve Smiley’s website: SNSBasketball.com

Article 1 Motivating Young Athletes

One of the hardest parts of coaching is motivating young athletes to practice. To do this effectively, the coach has to foster an understanding of the relationship between training, practice and peak performance.

He (or she) must encourage the athletes, provide structured training, and help them gain the self-discipline necessary for success and excellence on the field.

BUILDING THE COACH-ATHLETE RELATIONSHIPS

Effective motivation flows from the partnership between coaches and athletes. As coaches, we must understand our athletes as individuals and as a team ­ gain their trust and respect.

We must remember that we’re coaching people, not machines. We must teach youngsters the mechanics of a sport, but we must also assist in building their character. Showing support and interest in all facets of their lives helps build an effective coach-athlete relationship.

A good way to demonstrate such personal interest is by working out with the athletes. It will show them that you’ve been where they are, that you know it’s hard work, and that you’re willing to sweat, too.

DEVELOPING A WINNING ATTITUDE: SETTING GOALS

At Mount Carmel High School, we think in terms of attitude, motivation, performance, and success. Success is a journey, not a destination. Success is realized the moment an athlete gains a winning attitude, is motivated to set a worthwhile goal, and begins to move toward that goal.

A winning attitude is the best motivator. If athletes believe they can achieve their goals, they’ll try harder and increase their likelihood of success.

A positive coach-athlete relationship lays the groundwork for this attitude, and the setting of clear-cut goals helps establish it. Coaches should help the athletes set long-term goals and encourage them to achieve these goals through a series of short-term goals.

The incremental goals will keep motivation high, while giving the athletes an ongoing sense of achievement. Once the athlete begins developing a sense of accomplishment, he will be motivated to try even harder.

At Mount Carmel, we have our athletes write down a goal and the obstacles they anticipate in reaching it. We then identify the steps to take and the short-term achievements leading to the goal.

For example, if a football player wants to play wide receiver but isn’t fast enough, we set short-term goals to increase his speed. Each tenth of a second improvement in speed will motivate him to try even harder. If he increases his speed enough, we will give him a chance at wide receiver. If he doesn’t, we will examine why and set up a new workout schedule.

INCENTIVES AS MOTIVATORS

Incentives (material rewards for good performance) are commonly used for motivation, but may only be effective on a short-term basis. Athletes may become satisfied once they achieve rewards, such as helmet stickers or plaques, and the rewards will lose their power to motivate. We often have to increase the value or quantity of incentives to motivate players on an ongoing basis.

FEAR MOTIVATION

We do not believe that fear motivates. Fear motivation, or punishing players to “motivate” them, is only a temporary expedient. After repeated exposure to fear tactics, athletes become immune to threats, and continued punishment may destroy their desire to participate. It’s difficult to justify using fear to motivate young players.

T-E-A-M

It’s important to remember that athletes can motivate one another. We usually split the players into drill groups and score them as a team rather than as individuals. These training sessions help build team morale and make the players feel they have invested in one another. Each player has a responsibility to the team. We share the short-term goals of improving attitudes and basic skills with the long-term benefit of overall improved performance.

SUMMARY

Motivation is simply a means to an end. If we provide exposure to positive ideas over a long period of time, we will produce a successfully motivated athlete.

To summarize, this is our Mount Carmel Credo: Attitude controls motivation; motivation controls performance; performance controls success. And there’s no I in T-E-A-M.

Article 2–Building Teamwork

John Wooden, the legendary UCLA basketball coach, often said that “there are three things vital to success in athletics: conditioning, fundamentals, and working together as a team.” Of these three elements, “working together as a team” often proves to be the most elusive goal.

Teamwork is essentially an interaction of five key elements, as follows:

EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATIONS

Clear, positive communications from coach to coach, coach to athlete and athlete to athlete are essential in establishing the concept of “teamwork” and in fostering all the other basic elements of teamwork. Effective communication enables all the team members and the staff to clearly understand the team goals and work toward the achievement of the stated objectives.

As a coaching staff, we focus on two communication principles: 1) clearly and repeatedly communicating both our expectations of players as individual athletes, students, and team members, and the reasons for our expectations, and 2) remembering that effective communications is a two-way street: that is, the coaching staff must listen to the athletes, too.

WINNING ATTITUDES

All coaches know that the players with good attitudes are usually the ones who will contribute the most to the team. However, it’s not enough to inspire good attitudes in individual players: a “team attitude” is necessary in building the kind of teamwork upon which winning is predicated.

At Mount Carmel, we define a good team attitude by how well the athletes accept their roles and their responsibilities to the team. The star role is relatively easy to accept, but it is equally important for the team specialists and back-ups to understand and accept their roles and responsibilities.

Coaches should encourage this kind of attitude by setting an example: accepting all the responsibilities of their coaching position, not just the ones that they like.

TEAM EGO

Once players understand and accept their roles on the team, it is possible to take the concept of “team attitude” one step farther to “team ego.” This simply means that players must overcome their own egos for the good of the entire team.

MOTIVATION

The subordination of individual attitudes and egos cannot happen in a vacuum. The players must be given a reason to be motivated to achieve a favorable outcome for the team.

Coaches can set up a continuing system of motivation by setting long-term goals and by encouraging players to achieve them by meeting a series of short-term goals. At Mount Carmel, we also include personal and academic goals. By measuring progress in small steps, we can give each athlete an ongoing sense of achievement and keep his or her motivation high.

Athletes can also motivate one another. We usually split players into drill groups and score them as a team rather than as individuals, making the players feel they have a vested interest in each other.

DISCIPLINE

The establishment and maintenance of positive communications, team attitudes and egos, and motivation depends heavily on the final element of teamwork ­ discipline. Discipline is the glue that holds everything else together. Coaches should remember that discipline, if used fairly and consistently, is a positive force in building teamwork.

Rules are a part of discipline, although we have found that too many rules have a negative impact on teamwork. It is also important to make sure that the rules you do have are consistent with team goals, are realistic and are enforceable.

A key focus in our discipline program at Mount Carmel is developing self-discipline, which we define as “what one does when no one is watching.” We help athletes develop self-discipline through: 1) setting goals as described above, 2) clearly communicating the coach’s expectations for the players and maintaining those standards, and 3) demanding the best effort from each athlete, whether in practice, in the classroom, or in a game.

Here are some of my coaching takeaways for building a program from Bill Parcells’ book “Finding a Way to Win.”

• When an organization stays the course and holds fast to their philosophy, through good times and bad, they work from a firm foundation. They gain an identity. They stand for something.
• Every organization, whether it’s floundering or ruling the roost, needs a calm, clear vision. Only people inside the group can chart its course; outside voices must be kept in their place.
• Division from within is the most dangerous factor that can ruin any organization.
• When selfishness is tolerated, the entire organization is in jeopardy.
• The chances my team takes are calculated – only fools gamble at random. But you can’t play safe and pursue your vision: you can’t shrink from risk and expect others to follow you.

 

• Explain what you’re trying to accomplish…when people understand the point of the risk, they’re more likely to give their all, in the effort, and less likely to second-guess afterward.
• It’s one thing to hate failure; it’s another to fear it.
• When you fail to give your staff meaningful tasks and input, you wind up with robots and yes-men. You stop getting quality advice and innovative ideas.
• Every way isn’t my way. The challenge is to find the best way, and then collectively commit to it.
• Confidence is only born of demonstrated ability.

 

• You can’t build an accountable organization without leaders who take full responsibility.
• Coaches should be judged on three things:
  Do players have a design that allows them to function on game day?
  Are the players prepared to deal with contingencies that may confront them?
  Do the players behave the way the coach wants them to?
• A competent coach should be able to field a team that is strategically sound, that plays with discipline, that doesn’t beat itself.
• Leadership is the most visible thing there is – because if it’s not visible, there is no leadership.

 

• No Excuses – excuses and alibis are the main enemies of accountability. On my team we simply don’t accept excuses for failure.
• Nobody cares what you’re up against. The sooner you put those issues out of your mind, the sooner you can direct your focus toward the real issue: pushing your team toward victory.
• Establish clear expectations – people can’t become accountable unless they understand exactly what you want.
• Never blame a game on a player.
• Be Hard on Yourself–Confident leaders freely admit their own mistakes. And by doing it publicly, they set an example for others to take responsibility.

 

• Without new ideas, your organization will stagnate.
• Coaching is an act of communication – of explaining what you want of people in a way that allows them to do it.
• I consider preparation the most enjoyable part of my work, and the most challenging. To the extent my teams have succeeded, I’d say that solid preparation – not talent or strategy – was the primary factor.
• The more you prepare beforehand, the more relaxed and creative and effective you’ll be when it counts.\
• We don’t want our players to think during a game we want them to react – thinking takes too long. Have the correct moves ingrained in practice so instinct guides them to the right place at the right time.

 

• A team’s practices will predict its performance just about every time.
• Whenever I send my team into a game with some new wrinkle or adjustment they aren’t fully prepared for, it blows up in my face more often than not.
• Well-prepared leaders plan ahead for all contingencies, including the ones they consider unlikely or distasteful.
• Good Preparation begins with Organization:Before my staff meets with our players, we have to budget our time for the week, set our priorities. We decide which points we’ll emphasize in depth, what we’ll go through quickly, and what we’ll skip altogether.
• People perform most reliably when they’re sure they can handle the task at hand-and that sureness comes only with specific preparation.

 

• When leading a group toward important achievement, don’t compromise your standards based on people’s complaints or conventional workloads.
• You’re constantly balancing mental preparation against physical wear and tear. As the old saying goes, you want to work smarter, but not always harder.
• I emphasize the obvious all the time, especially with a younger team, because it’s the obvious things that beat you if they’re not taken care of.
• The road to execution is paved by repetition.

 

• Be a Teacher, Not a Drill Sergeant
• To teach you have to listen as well as talk. When we experiment with something new in practice, our players’ feedback is invaluable.
• Trial and error is part of the process; it’s rarely fatal to try something and fail. The greater danger lies in hiding behind tradition while the world keeps turning. Resourceful managers tinker and adapt until they find the winning formula.
• There are always problems on a football team, as in any other business. And there are coaches, and managers, who can sit around indefinitely expounding upon those problems. Those people will not help you find a way to win.
• Resourcefulness is simply resilience – a refusal to quit or give in, even when all seems bleak.

 

• You’re not truly successful until you’re challenged at the top level of your ability – and you consistently marshal your best effort.
• The main threats, the ones that tear you down, are all internal: complacency, distraction, all the petty jealousies that come with the distribution of credit.
• In a competitive environment, to remain the same is to regress.
• Measure Excellence by Performance, not Reputation.

 

• I wouldn’t ask a player to do something I wouldn’t do with my own kids. I don’t want them to think that I would ever compromise them.
• The team that makes fewer mistakes will generally get the opportunity to win, even when the opposition has more talent.
• The disciplined team has to get beat by somebody; it refuses to beat itself.
• There is always a way to compete, even against superior forces, but it requires strict adherence to a calculated plan.
• Mental errors reflect poor concentration or inadequate preparation.

 

• A Physical error can also result from poor concentration, but physical errors are typically caused by an athletic mismatch, where you’re up against someone whose ability is greater than yours.
• What sets disciplined people apart?
  The capacity to get past distractions
  Focus on the task at hand.
  The willingness to condition mind and body for the task at hand
  An ill-disciplined body makes for a weak mind.
  The ability to keep your poise when those around you are losing theirs.
• Organizations can’t improve without setting the highest standards. But they also need to measure achievement against their real potential at a given time.

 

• What the quick-fix guys miss is that there’s a process at work here – there are steps you need to take to build a successful organization, and if you try to skip one you’ll trip.
• The disciplined course isn’t always the daring course or the exciting course. It’s the course that gives your organization the best chance to prevail.

If you are interested in reading some samples from inside the book or purchasing the book on Amazon, you can either click the link below or click the image of the book cover at the left.

Finding A Way to Win

Today, I am posting some resources to use as handouts or presentations for your athletes.

The bullet points in the post are taken from Ryan Renquist’s “The Notebook of Champions” Building Success One Victory at a Time (Eighth Edition) for his team at Walsh High School in Walsh, Colorado.

I have also included a download link at the bottom of this post if you are interested in seeing his entire notebook.

Perhaps these thoughts will give you some inspiration to modify these and make them your own for your team.

What Do I Want in an Athlete?

I want a player who is willing to make a commitment to being as good as he can be each time that he plays.

I want a player who is willing and ready to do what has to be done to make a positive contribution in the most difficult of games.

I want a player who competes in each game as though there is nothing he will ever do that will be more important.

I want a player who more than anything, wants our team to be the very best that it can be.

Is this too much for me to demand of you?

Is this too much for you to demand of yourself?

One of the most important benefits of sport’s participation is the relationships that are formed. Players make lifelong relationships with their teammates, coaches, managers, fans, opponents, and everyone who helps manage the games (maintenance crews, scorekeepers, bus drivers, athletic directors, principals, superintendents, and even the referees). In today’s technological world, networking is very important. Through sports participation, athletes have a far greater network than those who do not participate.

“Good talent with bad attitude equals bad talent,” Bill Walsh

Attitude is a little thing that makes a BIG difference.

“The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind,” William James

“Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.” Abraham Lincoln

“Nothing is worth more than this day,” Goethe

“Your life is either a celebration or a chore. The choice is yours.” Unknown

“If you’re a positive person, you’re an automatic motivator. You can get people to do things they don’t think they’re capable of.” Cotton Fitzsimmons

“If you want your life to be a magnificent story, then begin by realizing that you are the author and every day you have the opportunity to write a new page.” Mark Houlahan

“Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong attitude.” President Thomas Jefferson

The average American will meet 10,000 people in their lifetime. If we each change the lives of 10 people, and they change the lives of 10 people, and they all change the lives of 10 people, and so on, in 5 generations, the 30 people in our family will have changed the lives of 300,000 people. Lives can be changed anywhere, and by anyone. Admiral William H. McRaven, Commander, Navy SEAL.

Many years ago, a large American shoe manufacturer sent two sales reps out to different parts of the Australian outback to see if they could drum up some business among the aborigines. Some time later, the company received telegrams from both agents. The first one said, “No business here…natives don’t wear shoes.” The second one said, “Great opportunity here…natives don’t wear shoes!”

The Wolf Inside Submitted By: Cullen Hair, 2012

An old man is telling his grandson about a fight that is going on inside himself. He said it is between two wolves.

One wolf is evil: anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego…

The other wolf is good: joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith…

The grandson thought about it for a minute, and asked his grandfather, “Which wolf wins?”

The old man simply replies, “The one I feed.”

A true leader has the confidence to stand alone, the courage to make tough decisions, and the compassion to listen to the needs of others. He does not set out to be a leader, but becomes one by the quality of his actions and the integrity of his intent. In the end, leaders are much like EAGLES… they don’t flock, you find them one at a time.
“What you do; how you do it; and who you associate with on a daily basis will determine your image and your impact!” Kevin Eastman
Leadership is like gravity. You know it’s there, you know it exists, but how do you define it?
“Surprisingly for some, research conducted by the Leadership Research Institute has shown that in times of crisis, people gravitate toward the person of highest character, not necessarily the person who is in charge or even the person they believe to be the most competent. Rather, people will tend to build a relationship with and follow the person they view as the most trustworthy, who cares the most, and who is willing to always do the right thing.” Tony Dungy

“Instead of asking, how can I lead my company, my team, or my family to a higher level of success? We should be asking ourselves, how do others around me flourish as a result of my leadership?” Tony Dungy

Attitude

By: Charles Swindoll

The longer I live, the more I realize
the impact of ATTITUDE, on life.
ATTITUDE, to me, is more
important than facts.
It is more important than the past,
than education, than money, than
circumstances, than failures, than
successes, than what other people
think or say or do.
It is more important than
appearance, giftedness or skill.
It will make or break a
company… a church… a home.
The remarkable think is we have a
choice every day regarding the
ATTITUDE we will embrace for that day.
We cannot change our past… we
cannot change the fact that people
will act in a certain way.
We can not change the inevitable.
The only thing we can do is play
on the one string we have, and that
is our ATTITUDE…
I am convinced that life is 10%
what happens to me and 90% how
I react to it.
And so it is with you…
We are in charge of our
ATTITUDES.

Humility:

Ultimately, it’s the humble superstar that most guys seem to admire and want to emulate. Humility is a quality worth desiring.

If we are really humble, after a game you won’t be able to tell whether we’ve won or lost. Or whether people are saying nice things about us or criticizing us. A truly humble person is constantly deflecting praise to their teammates and recognizing others for their efforts.

Many of our losses are designed to humble us and shape us into the people we want to be. We have to let those times do their work on us.

Chuck Tanner, the manager for the 1979 world champion Pittsburgh Pirates, said, “You have to play everyday like it’s Opening Day.” In baseball, it is easy to get excited about opening day. The stands are packed. The locker room is filled with optimism about the upcoming season. We have to capture that Opening Day Enthusiasm and release it before every practice and every game.

THE GOLDEN EAGLE

A man found an eagle’s egg and put it in the nest of a backyard hen. The eaglet hatched with the brood of chicks and grew up with them.

All his life the eagle did what the backyard chickens did, thinking he was a backyard chicken. He scratched the earth for worms and insects. He clucked and cackled. And he would thrash his wings and fly a few feet into the air.

Years passed and the eagle grew very old. One day he saw a magnificent bird far above him in the cloudless sky. It glided in graceful majesty among the powerful wind currents, with scarcely a beat of its strong golden wings.

The old eagle looked up in awe, “Who’s that?” he asked.

“That’s the eagle, the king of the birds,” said his neighbor. “He belongs to the sky. We belong to the earth–we’re chickens.”

So the eagle lived and died a chicken, for that’s what he thought he was.

Click this link to download the entire Notebook of Champions

Covenants for Teams and Coaches

Scott Rosberg – 2015

Last week I wrote about “Intentionally Creating Your Culture.” (Click here for a link to that post) In that post I talked about the concept of “Core Covenants” that Proactive Coaching’s Bruce Brown discusses in his booklet “First Steps to Successful Teams” – www.proactivecoaching.info. Today I am going to talk in a little more detail about covenants. Core Covenants could also be called “Guiding Principles” or “Team Standards” or “Program Values” or any other moniker that indicates a similar concept. The reason why we like “Core Covenants” is because “covenant” is a stronger, word. As I said last week, a covenant is a binding agreement where action is visible. There is a similar concept here to a promise. However, promises come more from the world of distrust, so people feel the need to say something along the lines of “I promise that I will fulfill this obligation.” But covenants are based on trust. For instance, when two people get married, they enter into a covenant with one another. The sacred wedding vow is a covenant.

The biggest key to a covenant, though, is the second part of the definition – you can see it in action. Covenants are only as strong as the actions associated with them. When teams establish covenants, if they are merely making statements about what they want to be known for, but they are not willing to follow through and “live” those covenants through their actions, it is worse than not having covenants at all. Teams without covenants (standards) are certainly a problem; but teams that claim they have standards but do not live by those standards are hypocritical, and they are living a lie.

Establishing covenants and then living by those covenants can be one of the most important things that any team does, for it sets a tone for the season. It says, “This is who we are. This is what we stand for. Because of that, this is what you will see from us.” When all members of a team buy in to the covenants that have been established, it is an extremely powerful force in helping a team become all that it is capable of becoming. In essence, team members are saying, “I commit to living my life the way that we as a team have decided we need to live in order to be the best we can be.”

There are all kinds of things that can make up a team’s covenants. However, we believe that the best covenants are behavior covenants. While certain physical and mental skills and traits are important and have their place on teams, when it comes to establishing your team’s standards, it is best if you focus on behavioral characteristics that every member of the team can uphold and live in their daily actions. The beauty of these kinds of covenants is that they are a choice that every team member can choose to live by. They require no specific physical skill, no highly developed mental capacity to perform them. They just require that players make the choice to commit to them.

For example, if a team decides to adopt “Work Habits” as a covenant, they are saying that “we will work extremely hard all the time.” Many teams that adopt this covenant will often use the phrase “100%-100% of the time” as an “action statement” about work habits. They are saying, “To be on this team, you must give 100% effort, 100% of the time.” This is where the second part of the definition for a covenant comes into play – you can see it in action. Team members are saying that “if you watch us, you will see our team giving maximum effort at all times.” They will often then give some specific examples – going full speed on all sprints, not just on the first couple; touching all lines on all sprints; pushing oneself and one’s teammates as hard as possible in practice and in the weight room; diving for loose balls; and many more.

This concept of Work Habits is a choice. Every player, from the best player on the team to the player who gets the least amount of playing time, can make the choice to work his hardest at all times. The beauty of the concept is this – when your best players physically are also the best workers and best teammates, you have a chance to have a great team because the maximum potential and capability of your best can be realized. Unfortunately, too often we find the best players on teams don’t fall into the best worker and best teammate class. These teams rarely, if ever, achieve all that they could because the players with the most physical talents hold back, and so the team does not achieve its potential.

When it comes to establishing and then living your covenants, choose to create behavior covenants for your team that everyone can commit to. Then work on them throughout the year to keep them in the forefront of everyone’s mind. You will be amazed to see how hard your players will work to become the best they are capable of becoming when they have a direction in which to go that they have total control over.

For an in-depth look at instilling covenants in your programs to create an outstanding team culture, check out Proactive Coaching’s DVD Captains & Coaches’ Workshop, or better yet, have one of us out to do a Captains & Coaches’ Workshop for your teams. For more information go to www.proactivecoaching.info.

Do you have covenants for your team? If so, what are they? If not, what would you like your team to be known for? Leave a comment or go to my website – www.coachwithcharacter.com – and leave a comment below this same post.

About the Author of this Article

Scott Rosberg has been a coach (basketball, soccer, & football) at the high school level for 30 years, an English teacher for 18 years, and an athletic director for 12 years. He has published seven booklets on coaching and youth/school athletics, two books of inspirational messages and quotes for graduates, and a newsletter for athletic directors and coaches. He also speaks to schools, teams, and businesses on a variety of team-building, leadership, and coaching topics. Scott has a blog and a variety of other materials about coaching and athletic topics on his website – www.coachwithcharacter.com. He can be reached by email at [email protected].

Scott is also a member of the Proactive Coaching speaking team. Proactive Coaching is dedicated to helping organizations create character and education-based team cultures, while providing a blueprint for team leadership. They help develop confident, tough-minded, fearless competitors and train coaches and leaders for excellence and significance. Proactive Coaching can be found on the web at www.proactivecoaching.info. Also, you can join the 200,000+ people who have “Liked” Proactive Coaching’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/proactivecoach. Scott can also be reached through Proactive Coaching at [email protected].

You don’t have to win a championship to be a champion. I believe that the daily striving to improve and get the most of their abilities as individuals and as a team is one of the most important life lessons that is taught by competitive athletics.  I also believe that setting high expectations (standards) is key to that process.

I would define championship standards as those performance guidelines that you set as a coaching staff, or together as a team for your athletes.

By Alan Stein, Hardwood Hustle Blog (re-posted with permission)

Coach K doesn’t really believe in rules and he isn’t much for setting goals.

Huh? What?

Coach K believes in standards.

Powerful distinction.

Rules confine people and put them in a box. Goals are often out of our direct control.

Standards are an effective way to hold people accountable to the process necessary to achieve success.

I recently received a very thoughtful (and completely unsolicited) email from Matt Schweinberg, Matt shared his program’s Iron Standards.

The four areas that NCHS focuses on are humility, listening, serving and working. These four key areas help foster leadership on the team.

BE HUMBLE

• Realize you still have a lot to learn.
• Recognize you can learn from anyone.
• Be part of something bigger than yourself.
• Team goals should be placed ahead of personal goals.
• Show empathy towards others.
• Put others’ needs ahead of your own.

Everyone leaves a legacy; what will your legacy be?

LISTEN

• Listen to what others expect.
• Listen to what others need.
• Listen to the correct people.
• Listen to develop trust with others.
• Be quick to listen and slow to speak.
• What you say should have value & purpose.

Are you listening to what others have to teach you?

SERVE OTHERS

• Make the right decisions for the right reasons.
• Contribute positively any way you can.
• Make those around you better.
• Take initiative – look for what needs to be done & do it.
• Build up others.
• Help others to reach their goals.

Are others better off because you are here?

WORK HARD

• Work hard to determine level of success.
• Work hard academically.
• Work hard athletically.
• Work hard at your relationships.
• Work hard when no one is looking.
• Recognize the greatest out work everyone.

Do others respect the work you do on & off the court?

What standards do you have in your program?

Article #2 11 Championship Killers

Also by Alan Stein

Legendary Hall of Fame football coach Bill Parcells once said, ‘In order to win, you have to figure out what makes you lose.’

That is a powerful concept.

So before you can win a championship, you need to figure out what will prevent that from happening.

Here are 11 Championship Killers:

1. Entitlement: Players don’t feel they need to earn a championship. They think it will happen automatically based on tradition or last year’s success.
2. Arrogance: Similar to entitlement, players don’t think losing is even possible. They lack respect for their opponent and for the game itself.
3. Selfishness: Players think ‘me’ and not ‘we.’ They are more concerned with individual stats than with winning.
4. Complacency: Players think ‘good enough’ is good enough. It isn’t.
5. Lack of Confidence: Too much confidence (see #2) is a major problem. But so is a lack of confidence. You have to believe you can win it all.
6. Lack of Effort: This one better be obvious.
7. Lack of Trust: Players need to trust coaches. Coaches need to trust players. Lack of trust on either side will create dysfunction and dissention and cause the entire ball of yarn to unwind.
8. Lack of Conditioning: It is a long season. If players run out of gas mid-way through, they can’t finish the race!
9. Lack of Commitment: Winning a championship requires commitment on and off the court. Staying up late on your computer the night before a game or getting in academic trouble shows a severe lack of commitment.
10. Lack of Leadership: Coaches can’t be the only leaders on the team. Period.
11. Lack of Role Acceptance:  To win a championship, everyone on the team must know, accept and take pride in their role.

Alan Stein

Hardwood Hustle Blog
http://www.About.me/AlanStein