Book Contest Winner!

Congrats, Collin Wright! Please email me with your address so I can send you Daniel Coleman's "Emotional Intelligence".

Brain Games

Researchers from the Karolinski Institute in Sweden have discovered that cognitive training can fundamentally change the brain at a chemical level by increasing the release of dopamine, a neurochemical crucial to many brain functions. 

What exactly is dopamine's role? As a neurotransmitter — a chemical used for communication between brain cells — dopamine is important for signalling reward. The brain releases dopamine to say "good job, do that again!" in response to pleasurable experiences — thus, dopamine is often critical to learning.

The improved working memory helps for everything from remembering groceries to being more creative.


Check out the training (game) tool that I use on my iPhone, Luminosity. They also have a website here. 

Quote of the Day:

"Things turn out best for people who make the best out of the way things turn out". -John Wooden

You Snooze, You Win!

It's no secret that lack of sleep can negatively impact academic and athletic performance.... but now researchers are finding that extra sleep can provide extra benefits- specifically for collegiate athletes.

Excerpts from July 1 Stanford School of Medicine article:

In a study appearing in the July issue of SLEEP, Cheri Mah, a researcher in the Stanford Sleep Disorders Clinic and Research Laboratory, has shown that basketball players at the elite college level were able to improve their on-the-court performance by increasing their amount of total sleep time.

.....Over the course of two basketball seasons, Mah and colleagues worked with 11 healthy players with a goal of investigating the effects of sleep extension on specific measures of athletic performance, as well as reaction time, mood and daytime sleepiness.

....At the end of the sleep extension period, the players ran faster 282-foot sprints (16.2 seconds versus 15.5 seconds) than they had at baseline. Shooting accuracy during practice also improved: Free throw percentages increased by 9 percent and 3-point field goal percentage increased by 9.2 percent. Fatigue levels decreased following sleep extension, and athletes reported improved practices and games.

Read the whole article here. 

Quote of the Day:

"Never mistake knowledge for wisdom. One helps you make a living; the other helps you make a life." -Sandra Carey

Watch & Learn

I'm amazed that most players do not know how to "watch & learn" basketball on TV.
 

There are two forms of viewing:
   1) For pure entertainment value
   2) To absorb and learn the game

For pure entertainment value- how do you watch? The answer is: as an average fan. You watch the ball. You see the one-pass-to-a-score/dunk, the athletic drive or the in-your-face-shot. It's fun, exciting, and instantly gratifying.

How to you watch basketball to learn the game? Teach your players this one simple rule: don't watch the ball!! This habit is difficult to adopt because it goes against what most of them have done for years. When you are watching off the ball action, you'll see the screen that led to the cut that led to the pass. You'll see the weakside action and how that impacts strong-side defense. You'll also see players set up their cuts, execute screens, go backdoor, play help defense, etc.

Quote of the Day:

"There are no traffic jams when you go the extra mile." -Zig Ziglar

"Reach for the Summit" Notes Part III

 

• Make Winning an Attitude.
• Combine practice with belief.
• Attitude is a choice. Maintain a positive outlook.
• No one ever got anywhere by being negative.
• Confidence is what happens when you've done the hard work that entitles you to succeed.
• Competition isn't social. It separates achievers from the average.
• You can't always be the most talented person in the room. But you can be the most competitive.
  There is nothing wrong with having competitive instincts. They are survival instincts.
• It's what you learn after you know it all that counts the most.
• Change equals self improvement. Push yourself to places you haven't been before.
• Handle Success Like You Handle Failure. You can't always control what happens, but you can control how you handle it.
• Sometimes you learn more from losing than winning. Losing forces you to reexamine.
• It's harder to stay on top than it is to make the climb, Continue to seek new goals.

"Reach for the Summit" Notes Part II

• Self discipline helps you believe in yourself.
• Group discipline produces a unified effort toward a common goal.
• Discipline helps you finish a job, and finishing is what separates excellent work from average work.
• Do the things that aren't fun first, and do them well.
• See yourself as self employed.
• Put the Team Before Yourself.
• When you understand yourself and those around you, you are better able to minimize weaknesses and maximize strengths. Personality profiles help.
• Success is about having the right person, in the right place, at the right time.
• Know your strengths, weaknesses, and needs.
• Be flexible.
• Teamwork doesn't come naturally. It must be taught.
• Teamwork allows common people to obtain uncommon results.
• Not everyone is born to lead. Role players are critical to group success.
• In group success there is individual success.

Quote of the Day:

"The best part of basketball, for those people on the inside, is the bus going to the airport after you've won a game on an opponent's floor. It's been a very tough battle. And preferably, in the playoffs. And that feeling that you have, together as a group, having gone to an opponent's floor and won a very good victory, is as about as high as you can get." -Phil Jackson

Enter to win Daniel Coleman's book "Emotional Intelligence"!

The groundbreaking book that redefines what it means to be smart: Emotional Intelligence, Why it Can Matter more than IQ.....

See Coleman's book on Amazon.com

Simply email me at CoachChrisPassmore@gmail.com with subject line "EQ"....

Good luck!

"Reach for the Summit" Notes Part I

• There is no such thing as self respect without respect for others.
• Individual success is a myth. No one succeeds all by herself.
• People who do not respect those around them will not make good team members and probably lack self esteem themselves.
• Being responsible sometimes means making tough, unpopular decisions.
• Admit to and make yourself accountable for mistakes. How can you improve if you're never wrong?
• Loyalty is not unilateral. You have to give it to receive it.
• Surround yourself with people who are better than you are. Seek out quality people, acknowledge their talents, and let them do their jobs. You win with people.
• Value those colleagues who tell you the truth, not just what you want to hear.
• Communication eliminates mistakes.
• We communicate all the time, even when we don't realize it. Be aware of body language.
• To make sure that they are getting her message, Coach Summitt has asked her players to respond to a correction in practice by saying "rebound," and to being praised by saying "Two points."
• Make good eye contact.
• Silence is a form of communication, too. Sometimes less is more.
• Discipline yourself, so no one else has to.

Quote of the Day:

"Teamwork: Simply stated, it is less me and more we." -Unknown

Quote of the Day:

“There's 22 practice days between today and our first game. You would like to lay the foundation, like you would with a house, and the success of your team depends on what you build those 22 practice days." -Geno Auriemma