A Dozen To-Do's for Team Leaders

12 SIMPLE YET SIGNIFICANT DAILY TO-DO’S FOR LEADERS 

by Jeff Jansen

1. Be the hardest worker at practice today. Without fail, one of the quickest ways to impact a team is with your own work ethic. Choose to be one of the hardest workers on your team today. Not only does it set the tone for the work ethic of your program, it is also one of the best and quickest ways to enhance your leadership credibility with your teammates and coaches.

2. Be a spark of energy and enthusiasm today. Let your passion for the sport shine through today. Spread a contagious energy and enthusiasm amongst your teammates. Think about how lucky you are to be able to play and compete. Remember back to when you were a young child and reconnect with the joy you played with back then. Make your sport fun again for yourself and your teammates.

3. Model mental toughness today. Because your teammates will look to you under pressure, adversity, and stress, be sure to model mental toughness today. Bounce back quickly after errors to show your teammates how to respond to negative situations. Maintain your poise and optimism despite any mistakes you might make so that your teammates can trust and rely on you to get them through the tough times.

4. Connect with a teammate today. Leadership is all about relationships. Invest the time to build and strengthen the relationships you have with each of your teammates. Inquire about their day, challenges, and goals. Make a special and ongoing effort to get to know every athlete on your team, not just your friends and classmates. The relationship building you do each day will pay off immeasurably down the road.

5. Compliment a teammate today. Be on the lookout for teammates who are contributing to your team. Call out a teammate for making a hustle play, pushing through a weight workout, recovering quickly from a mistake, getting an A on an exam, etc. Praise the actions and attitudes you want to see repeated. As Mother Teresa once said, “Kind words are short and easy to speak but their echoes are truly endless.”

6. Challenge a teammate today. Challenge at least one of your teammates today. Positively push them and yourself to make the most of your workout. Make a friendly wager to see if they can be successful at least 4 out of 5 times in a drill. See if you both can improve your times in conditioning. Offer to stay after to help if there is anything they want to work on. Good leaders consistently invite, inspire, and sometimes implore others to greatness.

7. Support a teammate today. Odds are, at least one of your teammates is struggling with something today – it could be a performance slump, a rocky romantic relationship, a disagreement with a coach, an unglamorous role, struggling with a class, or a sick family member. Good leaders are consistently on the lookout for teammates who might be struggling and are ready to offer an ear to listen, an encouraging word, a pat on the back, or a shoulder to cry on.

8. Constructively confront negativity, pessimism, and laziness today. As a leader, have the courage to constructively confront the negativity, pessimism, and laziness that will crop up on your team from time to time. Instead of fueling the fire by joining in or silently standing by, be sure to refocus your teammates on solutions rather than dwelling on and complaining about the problems. Left unchecked, these problems can quickly grow to distract, divide, and destroy your team.

9. Build and bond your team today. Team chemistry naturally ebbs and flows throughout the course of the season. Take the time to monitor and maintain your team’s chemistry. Let your reserves and support staff know how much you appreciate them. Stay connected and current with each of the natural sub-groups on your team. Douse any brush fires that might be occurring and continually remind team members about your common goal and common bond.

10. Check in with your coach today. Invest the time to check in with your coach today. Ask what you can do to best help the team this week. Find out what your coach wants to accomplish with today’s practice. Also discuss if there is anything your coach is concerned about regarding your team. Discuss your collective insights on your team’s chemistry, focus, and mindset. Work together to effectively co-lead your team.

11. Remind your team how today’s work leads to tomorrow’s dreams. It’s easy to get bogged down during your season with monotonous drills, tiring conditioning, and demanding workouts. Remind your teammates how all the quality work you do today gives you a distinct advantage over your opponents. Help them see and even get excited about how today’s hard work is a long-term investment in your team’s goals, rather than just a short-term hardship or sacrifice.

12. Represent yourself and team with class and pride today. Leaders have the awesome privilege and responsibility of representing their teams. Take advantage of this opportunity by representing your team with class and pride today. Hold a door open for someone, sit in the front rows of class and actively engage in the discussion, say please and thank you, dress in respectful attire, etc. These tiny pushes represent you and your team with class and distinction. And they ultimately set you up for a lifetime of respect and success.

5 Reasons Social Media is Dangerous

5 Reasons Social Media is Dangerous by Glennon Motley

"I've found that remarking on every remarkable thing just makes everything less remarkable."

1. Social media had transformed me into an input junkie. ...During every un-filled moment, I felt the urge to "check" something -- anything. Facebook, Twitter, my blog, Instagram -- just give me something through which to SCROLL! I had become unable to just sit with myself. I have "Be Still" tattooed on my wrist because I know that feelings, creativity, inspiration, wisdom, peace and the rest of the good stuff knock during empty moments -- and that if we're too "busy" to answer the door, they sneak into our souls through cracked windows and haunt us. We have to answer the knocks we hear in the quiet because it's our LIFE knocking. But sometimes, answering the door feels like too much to ask -- so, I log onto the Internet in order to LOG OUT of my life. I habitually log on for the same reason I used to overeat and get drunk -- to avoid what I know I'll hear in the quiet, which might be a voice that requires me to feel or do something uncomfortable. So, the Internet has become my enabler. It keeps me from stillness and discomfort, and this keeps me from growing.

2. I'd become a validation junkie, too. The hardest part of living without social media was remembering that my little life was enough, so I could just stay there and live it without asking for anyone else's permission or validation. I realized that for me, posting is like asking the world -- do you "like" me? Am I special enough? Am I funny enough, deep enough, smart enough, successful enough, love-able enough? How much do you like my opinion about this, that, and every other thing? .... It seems we're the first generation to graduate from high school -- to escape all of its competition and insecurity and desperation for belonging and attention -- and then to voluntarily throw ourselves RIGHT BACK into it.

3. Social media lured me toward shallow and rigid thinking. In order to navigate the Internet world, we learn to make things more black-and-white than they are in order to fit our thoughts into status updates and blog comments. When I was detoxing from social media, I realized that I was thinking in status updates. It seemed I had trained my brain to translate everything I experienced throughout the day into 140 characters or less. Everything complex became simple, everything beautiful became ordinary, everything three-dimensional quickly became just two. A week passed before I stopped automatically translating every indescribable moment, sunset or conversation with my kids into two sentences. I had to learn to stop shoving life into tweets and just let things be wild and big again.

4. Social media threatened my only source of real peace and joy, which is gratitude. All of this posting about my life shoved me out of THE MOMENT, which is where gratitude lives. Choosing to live my life out on social media meant that I was never truly present because as soon as a great moment presented itself to me, I jumped right out of it. My brain said, Well, this is something remarkable, and then leaped immediately to: how am I going to describe this, and where? Facebook, Twitter, Instagram? With this, I moved right out of the moment, into my head and then onto my computer -- and just like that, the moment was lost. My kids might still be there, but I wasn't. The sunset might still be there, but I wasn't.

5. During my Internet fast, I learned that social media makes me feel bad. Halfway through my fast I decided to cheat, because that's just the kind of person I am. I logged onto Facebook and clicked on a post from another blogger whom I love and respect and for whom I wish All The Good Things. Her post was an announcement that she had just won a well-deserved writing award, and as I read her good news, I started to notice that my stomach was tightening up. I "scanned my body" to check for input, as my yoga teacher taught me. And I noticed that my shoulders were sagging and I felt a flutter in my chest like a low-grade panic. What the hell, I thought. What's going on here? What was going on was comparison. I was comparing my life to hers and as they say, comparison is the thief of joy. Like I once heard an Olympic swimmer say: "I swim best when I mentally stay in my own lane." No matter how satisfied I am with my stroke and my pace before I log on, Facebook shoves me right out of my own lane and back into the ridiculous hunch that I'm not good enough, that I'm missing something important, that I don't have enough peace and success and that everyone else is living a more fulfilling, fabulous life than I am. If Facebook has this effect on us, we can forgive ourselves. Because all we're doing is using it exactly the way it was intended to be used. Facebook was designed by college boys to decide how "hot" one woman was compared to another, and now we use it to decide how hot one woman's life is compared to another's. Sometimes.

When I was in college, I went out partying every night because I had a serious case of FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out). FOMO is powerful and sometimes compels us to make less-than-healthy choices because we don't want to feel left out. I wonder if FOMO is what keeps many of us so closely tied to social media. On my Internet fast, I learned that I was right to have FOMO, because I was missing something, and it was my real life. These people -- the ones in my home and in the post office and in my kids' school and in my neighborhood -- they are real life, and my real life deserves my full and undivided attention.

6 Words You Should Say Today

Great points here in this article. Read about the profound impact of... "I love to watch you play"

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rachel-macy-stafford/six-words-you-should-say-today_b_3863643.html

Quote of the Day

   “Productivity is never an accident. It is always the result of a commitment to excellence, intelligent planning, and focused effort.”

― Paul J. Meyer

How It's Made: Hot Dogs

Hot dogs, chicken nuggets, McDonalds, fast food...what do they all have in common? They are unnatural, processed and unhealthy. Watch this 5min video from the Science Channel and think twice before you or your athletes put poor fuel in to your body!

Quote of the Day

"Push yourself now, push through your opponents later." -Nike

Quote of the Day

 “Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.” -Dalai Lama

Taking the Leap

Is it time for your big, bold venture?

John C. Maxwell

As the 20th century poet E.E. Cummings once reflected, “It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.”
If only courage were all it took to launch a new venture and become the achiever you’re destined to be. Bravery may be the big red button you have to push to get started, but it alone won’t sustain you.
What separates the gutsy from the gutsy-and-successful is a set of traits that allows them to imagine a new pursuit, put it in orbit, and then force it to climb to new heights.
Do you have courage? Good. That’s a start. Now, do you have the traits to see your dreams to fruition? Ask yourself the following questions to find out:

1. Are you passionate?

You have to love what you do. You’ve got to lie in bed dreaming about it and wake up ready to throw yourself into it.
Passion pairs well with courage. You need both at the starting point of your journey—passion to find the idea, courage to hit “Start.” But passion also gives you staying power, and that’s critical because sustaining is usually more difficult than starting.
Passion also helps you to become an effective promoter of your business. It makes your voice gush with excitement, eyes blaze with enthusiasm, and hands gesture with emphasis. As a leader, you must believe in your business so much that you feel compelled to talk about it. That passion will spill into your words and convince listeners to become clients.

2. Can you handle stress?

It’s inevitable, even in a job you love. You must face the stress of taking risks. You must handle the stress that arises when you struggle to meet the demands placed on you. You must withstand the pressure of financial challenges, staff challenges, limited resources, time constraints and problem-solving. And, of course, you must be able to weather criticism.
In my early years of leadership, I didn’t handle the pain of criticism very well. I sometimes cared more about it than I did about making the right leadership decisions. I had to grow through that. These days I find affirmation in the words of Albert Einstein: “Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.”
Criticism is inevitable. In fact, there’s a tenet you ought to know, The Rule of 5 Percent, which says that, no matter what you do, 5 percent of people will not like it. Save yourself some anxiety now and know you’ll never satisfy everyone.
Another thing about stress: To handle it well, you need to be healthy. I learned this the hard way in my early 50s when I had a heart attack. Now I exercise daily and try to eat better. I came to understand that the healthier you are, the better situated you are to handle whatever your bold venture throws at you.

3. Do you have good people skills?

Let’s face it, if you don’t, you’re at a distinct disadvantage. People go along with people they get along with.
“Between 70 percent and 90 percent of decisions not to repeat a purchase of anything are not about product or price. They are about some dimension of service,” author and former Burger King CEO Barry J. Gibbons once noted. Yikes! If that doesn’t force you to put a smile on your face and some warmth in your handshake, I don’t know what will.
To make a new venture successful, you must analyze your interpersonal skills and determine how to best use them.
Your understanding of people will help you build your business. Your treatment of people will help you build your business. If you can build relationships, your reputation will help you build your business.

4. How do you solve problems?

The best problem-solvers, I think, possess two attributes: creativity and decisiveness. It takes a lot of creativity to deal with reality and the knockdown punches it fires at us. Then once we hit on a solution, we need to act decisively.
Biochemist Albert Szent-Györgyi said, “Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought.” OK, well, once you see a solution, you also need to take action.
One of my favorite stories about decision-making, told by some of my fellow preachers, involves a young Ronald Reagan. When his aunt offered to have a pair of shoes custom-made for the boy, the shoemaker asked whether he wanted them with round or square toes. The boy hemmed and hawed, so the shoemaker asked him to return in a day or two to give him an answer.
A few days later the shoemaker saw The Not-Quite-Yet Great Communicator on the street and asked what he had decided about the shoes.
“I haven’t made up my mind yet,” the boy answered.
“Very well,” said the shoemaker. “Your shoes will be ready tomorrow.”
When Reagan picked up the shoes, one had a round toe and the other a square toe. That taught the future president that if you don’t make your own decisions, somebody else will make them for you. Now, I don’t know how much of that tale is myth and how much is fact, but it does illustrate the importance of firm decision-making.

5. Are you optimistic?

Optimism + Entrepreneurship = Success. Now that’s a little math to chew on. When you believe in yourself and are optimistic about your business, others are more likely to be optimistic about it, too. Think about that the next time you face your investors, clients or employees. Nowhere is optimism more important than in the face of failure. Did you know that, on average, an entrepreneur fails at more than three ventures before finally finding success? If you remain optimistic, you’ll keep trying. If you keep trying, you’ll reach that upper echelon of achievers—the ones who have plucked success out of their fiascos.

Quote of the Day

"Give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others." -Coach K

How to fail successfully...

I Failed

By Leo Babauta

It’s a feeling deep within your heart, one you try to ignore, of heaviness. Of dread and discouragement. Of sadness and guilt and collapse.
I feel this heaviness in my chest when I fail.
It can make me feel like crying. I feel lonely and I want to give up. I want to fall on a bed and shut out the world. But that doesn’t work, because the feeling follows me into bed, and actually intensifies until finally I have to get out of bed to try to escape it.
Failure can hurt.
People get this idea about me, that I am successful and disciplined and gurulike. I’m successful at life, but not in the way people imagine. I’m not disciplined. I’m certainly no guru. I fail, all the time, and the heaviness can come in small doses or big waves, unpredictably.
What do I fail at? Let me count the ways:

• My diet — I eat healthy most of the time, but I overeat when there’s an abundance of yummy food in front of me. I mostly remove that food from my life, but I can’t avoid social situations where the food is right there. When I overeat, I feel fat and bloated and bad about myself.
• Procrastination — I’m actually much better at beating procrastination than I used to be, but sometimes I put off things I don’t feel like doing, for days. I’ve figured out this is because the task has a lot of barriers to actually starting, like needing certain conditions or information that I don’t immediately have.
• Mindful parenting — I’ve made a lot of progress in being a more patient, compassionate father, but there are times when I snap and lose my temper. It’s not horrible, just not great. I always feel bad when I get mad at the kids.
• Expectations — while I’m much better at holding loosely to my expectations, I still have them, and still feel frustrated/disappointed when people or situations don’t meet them.
• Simplicity — I’m not as minimalist as I once was. I still have far, far less than most people, but I allow myself to buy things more than before. Also, I now have an iPhone — it was a Father’s Day gift from Eva. I resisted getting one for 6 years, and now am one of the masses.
• Internet — I use the Internet for work, play, reading, learning, etc. I’m on it more than I should be, and sit too much (though I’m pretty active compared to the average person).
• Learning — I dropped learning languages and programming and other things like this, mostly because I’ve found I just don’t have enough time to seriously learn stuff and still do the other things that are important to me.
• Yoga — I really need some flexibility, and love yoga because it’s meditation and flexibility and a workout all rolled into one. I have not consistently done yoga despite being challenged by my friend Jesse.

I failed at all these things and more.

What Can Be Done

What can you do when you have the heavy feeling of failure in your heart? It’s not always so easy.
The answer, of course, is action. That’s not always easy because when you have the heavy feeling, you don’t feel like taking action.
You take the action anyway. You take it because you know if you don’t, you feel worse, and eventually your life degrades to the point where you don’t respect yourself anymore. You take the action anyway.
Here’s what I do:

• I take a breath. It’s not the end of the world to fail. I just need some space, some distance. I need to see the problem in perspective. When I do, I realize that the failure is pretty minor in the grand scheme of my life, in the grand scheme of the world of lives around me.
• I reframe the failure. Someone once said there isn’t failure, only feedback. That means the failure is just a point of information, a part of the learning process. I like to say, it’s not a failure of me as a person, just a failure of my method. Which means I need to change my method.
• I change the method. If the way I was doing it didn’t work, I need to find a new way. What can I do differently? In some of the cases above, I added some accountability, asked people for help, or looked for inspiration. In some of the other cases, I haven’t changed the method yet, to be honest.
• I take the first step. The problem can be overwhelming, because quite frankly we can’t solve any of this stuff overnight, or even in a few days. We can, however, take one step, right now. One tiny step. And that’s all that matters.

Take one step. Any step.
It lightens the heart. It shows you that things aren’t insurmountable or impossible. It starts to dissolve the discouragement and sadness and pain.
The single step you take today is the antidote to the soul-tearing effects of failure. It helps me, every day.

Five Qualities of + and - Sports Parents

FIVE SIGNS OF A NIGHTMARE SPORTS PARENT Nearly 75 percent of kids who play organized sports quit by age 13. Some find that their skill level hits a plateau and the game is no longer fun. Others simply discover other interests. But too many promising young athletes turn away from sports because their parents become insufferable.

Even professional athletes can behave inappropriately when it comes to their children. David Beckham was recently ejected from a youth soccer field for questioning an official. New Orleans radio host Bobby Hebert, a former NFL quarterback, publicly dressed down LSU football coach Les Miles after Alabama defeated LSU in the BCS title game last month. Hebert was hardly unbiased: His son had recently lost his starting position at LSU.
Mom or dad, so loving and rational at home, can transform into an ogre at a game. A lot of kids internally reach the conclusion that if they quit the sport, maybe they'll get their dad or mom back.
As a sports parent, this is what you don't want to become. This is what you want to avoid:

• Overemphasizing sports at the expense of sportsmanship: The best athletes keep their emotions in check and perform at an even keel, win or lose. Parents demonstrative in showing displeasure during a contest are sending the wrong message. Encouragement is crucial -- especially when things aren’t going well on the field.

• Having different goals than your child: Brown and Miller suggest jotting down a list of what you want for your child during their sport season. Your son or daughter can do the same. Vastly different lists are a red flag. Kids generally want to have fun, enjoy time with their friends, improve their skills and win. Parents who write down “getting a scholarship” or “making the All-Star team” probably need to adjust their goals. “Athletes say their parents believe their role on the team is larger than what the athlete knows it to be,” Miller says.

• Treating your child differently after a loss than a win: Almost all parents love their children the same regardless of the outcome of a game. Yet often their behavior conveys something else. "Many young athletes indicate that conversations with their parents after a game somehow make them feel as if their value as a person was tied to playing time or winning,” Brown says.

• Undermining the coach: Young athletes need a single instructional voice during games. That voice has to be the coach. Kids who listen to their parents yelling instruction from the stands or even glancing at their parents for approval from the field are distracted and can't perform at a peak level. Second-guessing the coach on the ride home is just as insidious.

• Living your own athletic dream through your child: A sure sign is the parent taking credit when the child has done well. “We worked on that shot for weeks in the driveway,” or “You did it just like I showed you” Another symptom is when the outcome of a game means more to a parent than to the child. If you as a parent are still depressed by a loss when the child is already off playing with friends, remind yourself that it’s not your career and you have zero control over the outcome.

FIVE SIGNS OF AN IDEAL SPORTS PARENT
Let’s hear it for the parents who do it right. In many respects, Brown and Miller say, it’s easier to be an ideal sports parent than a nightmare. “It takes less effort,” Miller says. “Sit back and enjoy.” Here’s what to do:

• Cheer everybody on the team, not just your child: Parents should attend as many games as possible and be supportive, yet allow young athletes to find their own solutions. Don’t feel the need to come to their rescue at every crisis. Continue to make positive comments even when the team is struggling.

• Model appropriate behavior: Contrary to the old saying, children do as you do, not as you say. When a parent projects poise, control and confidence, the young athlete is likely to do the same. And when a parent doesn’t dwell on a tough loss, the young athlete will be enormously appreciative.

• Know what is suitable to discuss with the coach: The mental and physical treatment of your child is absolutely appropriate. So is seeking advice on ways to help your child improve. And if you are concerned about your child’s behavior in the team setting, bring that up with the coach. Taboo topics: Playing time, team strategy, and discussing team members other than your child.

• Know your role: Everyone at a game is either a player, a coach, an official or a spectator. “It’s wise to choose only one of those roles at a time,” Brown says. “Some adults have the false impression that by being in a crowd, they become anonymous. People behaving poorly cannot hide.” Here’s a clue: If your child seems embarrassed by you, clean up your act.

• Be a good listener and a great encourager: When your child is ready to talk about a game or has a question about the sport, be all ears. Then provide answers while being mindful of avoiding becoming a nightmare sports parent. Above all, be positive. Be your child's biggest fan. "Good athletes learn better when they seek their own answers," Brown says.

And, of course, don’t be sparing with those magic words: "I love watching you play."

Click here to contact Bruce E. Brown and Rob Miller.

Six Words You Should Say Today

"I love watching you play" and here's why:

 http://www.handsfreemama.com/2012/04/16/six-words-you-should-say-today/

The next time you feel the need to guide, instruct, or criticize after a ball game, performance, or extracurricular activity, instead consider six simple words: “I love to watch you play.” 

Furthermore, if you become emotional simply by watching someone you love in action, consider these six words, “I love to watch you _______.“

In some cases, less is more. 

Less can be exactly what they need to hear. No pressure … just love, pure and simple.

Quote of the Day

"If opportunity doesn't knock, build a door."

—Milton Berle

Quote of the Day

“History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again."
― Maya Angelou

Quote of the Day

"Desire is the starting point of all achievement, not a hope, not a wish, but a keen pulsating desire which transcends everything."

— Napoleon Hill

So You Think You're a Gym Rat?

This article was written by Trevor Quinn who is an assistant men’s basketball coach at Jacksonville University (12-13). Trevor has been with the Dolphins for the last 5 years and some of his responsibilities include player skill development and scouting. He is a student of the game that has continued to grow as a coach over the years and has a bright future in college basketball.

So you Think you are a Gym Rat?

This term gym rat is circulating as descriptive verbiage for every young basketball player being recruited today. It may be a corny or ‘old school’ expression recently replaced by “grinding” but at one time it was the ultimate compliment. As college coaches, we recruit basketball players with basketball talent.

A player has to have talent first but a basketball player separates himself from the talent like he doesn’t have it at all. If we call a High School coach, AAU coach, local workout guy, or parent more times than not a potential recruit is referred to as a “gym rat.” It is an easy thing to say and of course the person has a vested interest in his/her pupil – but is the player really a gym rat?

To put it simply: the lights come on and there’s the rat…Lights go off, and there’s the rat. It is looking for whatever it can to eat or survive. The gym rat is hungry and no one is feeding it — more often than not it is trying to be exterminated. In the case of a gym rat, it is attempting to find any little piece of basketball knowledge or competitive advantage that can increase their survival rate.

These little guys are starving and they don’t need someone to set out some food for them. For instance, they don’t need a coach to get them a gym (Go find a game?), give them some drills (Figure it out?), or get the perfect equipment (just go hoop!). That’s what the best players do! They understand that action takes precedence over plan…While you’re waiting for the perfect setting to work on your game they are already out there doing what you’re planning to do!

The species of gym rat is on the brink of extermination these days no matter what reports we get to the contrary. A recruit may  have all the necessary responsibilities such as school, church, homework, the SAT anything even chores but guess what every 1st team all-NBA player probably encountered these same obligations while they were trying to make it. They most likely attacked them with the notion that these would be the building blocks to their future success.

These are not excuses, they are necessities. Then there are biggest hindrances to living your life as a gym rat.  These are the unnecessary evils attempting to exterminate the population. A gym rat can encounter people setting traps or constantly trying to feed them poison. Traps decimating the gym rat population can be anything from girls to twitter; they will keep you from where you need to be…IN THE GYM!!! It’s up to you if that’s what you want to be. My guess is if you have the respect of the local basketball community, I bet you, all that stuff will come along with it.

Poison can be anything that alters the mindset. It could be a simple as a peer telling you “you’re not any good you should quit.” That is poison to a budding gym rat but you don’t have to be duped into swallowing that. There’s a lot of other crap that can derail any athlete from striving for greatness. You can find stories for days about college/pro athletes who get caught up by the police doing something but I’ve never heard of any of them getting caught while in a gym.

In my coaching career I feel like I have been around just two guys who without a doubt during our time together could be considered gym rats. One was Al Thornton who at Florida State went from unheralded recruit (Ranked #217) to NBA lottery pick. This was my interaction with Al Thornton. I knew he was working out every day 10:00 AM but then some days Coach Hamilton may ask me to go find Al? He was typically at one of 3 places in the city of Tallahassee and sometimes all three in a day.

After he worked out, he would either go from playing pick up at FAMU, to playing pick up at TCC, or just going straight back to our basketball training center. This was a typical day for Al he would be in the gym for 8 hours a day trying to see what he could add/try to do in a game that day. He didn’t know anything else!!! All I know is that was normal for him and that is what helped him go from redshirt freshmen to 1st team All-ACC and a Lottery pick (Just look at the improvement of his season stats over 4 years).

The other was Ben Smith, a four-year starting Point Guard at Jacksonville University. Ben Was 5’10” – if that – and only had one Division I offer coming out of high school. He became a 1st team All-Atlantic Sun player for three straight seasons, won two conference titles, and his name is all over the school record book.

Every night usually around 10:00 PM he got shots up. After lifting weights, class, individuals, pick up and study hall he got shots up. I’m not talking about shoot then talk for 20 seconds…I’m saying this man GOT SHOTS UP! He shot 28% from the three point line his freshmen year. In his mind, he wouldn’t ever let that happen again so for the next 3 years he shot over 35%. One league opponent would make it easily apparent that their belief was he couldn’t go left.

So the following off-season his sole purpose in life was to become equally adept with both hands. He would go in the gym a lot of days and refuse to use his right hand (HE HAD PURPOSE). Ben just came back from averaging more than 25 ppg overseas and because of his dedication to his craft his name is mentioned next to Artis Gilmore, Dee Brown, Rex Morgan, and Otis Smith as one of the best players to play at Jacksonville University.

These gym rats are a rare and dying breed. The term is thrown around so loosely that it is losing its grit. If I call a player and he picks up on the first ring or tweets every hour on the hour he probably isn’t going to be in the gym the amount of hours necessary to make it to the next level (Varsity, college, Pro).  If enrolled in a weight training class…LIFT THE WEIGHT more times than you look in the mirror.

If you’re going to the gym then go with a purpose (To make _______ # of shots or work on ______). You know you may encounter a gym rat when your phone rings at 10:00 PM and a recruit says… “Coach sorry I missed your call. I went and lifted after school, then our high school team had workouts, and then we had AAU practice. I just finished my homework and went for a jog. I wanted to call you back before I ate dinner.”

If you’re returning a call at 10:00 PM because this is your first free moment then maybe a college coach, who really knows what it means, will be proud to justify anointing you as a Gym rat.

11 Benefits of Being Positive

Great stuff from Jon Gordon...

1. Positive People Live Longer - In a study of nuns, those that regularly expressed positive emotions lived on average 10 years longer. (The Nun Study)

2. Positive work environments outperform negative work environments. (Daniel Goleman)

3. Positive, optimistic sales people sell more than pessimistic sales people. (Martin Seligman)

4. Positive leaders are able to make better decisions under pressure. (Heartmath.org)

5. Marriages are much more likely to succeed when the couple experiences a 5 to 1 ratio of positive to negative interactions whereas when the ratio approaches 1 to 1, marriages are more likely to end in divorce. (John Gottman)

6. Positive people who regularly express positive emotions are more resilient when facing stress, challenges and adversity. (Several Studies)

7. Positive people are able to maintain a broader perspective and see the big picture which helps them identify solutions where as negative people maintain a narrower perspective and tend to focus on problems. (Barbara Fredrickson)

8. Positive thoughts and emotions counter the negative effects of stress. For example, you can't be thankful and stressed at the same time. (Several Studies)

9. Positive emotions such as gratitude and appreciation help athletes perform at a higher level. (Heartmath.org) 

10. Positive people have more friends which is a key factor of happiness and longevity. (Robert D. Putnam)

11. Positive and popular leaders are more likely to garner the support of others and receive pay raises and promotions and achieve greater success in the workplace. (Several Studies)

The Memory Toolbox: 75 Tips and Resources to Go from Amnesic to Elephantic

We ask our athletes to remember a lot of things- offenses, defensive adjustments, out of bounds plays, time and score situations, personnel tendencies, film review, meetings, academics, etc. etc. etc.

Coaches...please check out Daniel Strauss' article with tips on how to better teach/learn/remember! A great resource right here.


He provides details and tips on the following topics:



+ Be in the Moment
+ Create a Learning Environment
+ Use All Your Senses
+ Use Mnemonic Devices
+ Organize
+ Overlearn
+ Retain a Positive Attitude
+ Exercise Regularly
+ Manage stress
      

Quote of the Day:

"Now if you are going to win any battle you have to do one thing. You have to make the mind run the body. Never let the body tell the mind what to do. The body will always give up. It is always tired in the morning, noon, and night. But the body is never tired if the mind is not tired." - George S. Patton, U.S. Army General, 1912 Olympian

The Four Laws of Learning Applied to Basketball

The Four Laws of Learning Applied to Basketball

-Shaquala Williams

Skill Development is a never-ending commitment to filling the gap between what a basketball player is and has the potential to be. Skill development is a learning process for players; and since good coaches are teachers first, understanding the most effective ways to teach is a great way to get the most out of players and good professional development tool.

Edward Thorndike, a Psychologist who specialized in the learning process and how to learn best in educational settings developed the “Laws of Learning.” These laws are fundamental principles of the learning process, proven to make learning more effective. Four of the “Laws of Learning,” have great parallels to coaching and highly useful for a better understanding of the most effective ways to coach players.

1. The Law of Exercise = Quality Repetition
Practice does not make perfect, but meaningful practice and repetition lead to development and improvement. Meaningful practice means players have greater focus on proper technique, acceptance of feedback and desire to correct any errors or weaknesses. Quality repetitions help athletes retain information longer, so skills eventually becomes second nature.
Focus on the quality of repetitions, not quantity

2. Law of Readiness = Engagement and Investment
Just because a player is present, does not mean they are engaged. Individuals learn best when they are physically and mentally prepared to learn. Engaged players find value and purpose in what they are doing, which keeps them motivated. Engagement made me think of a video from Alabama Head Football Coach Nick Saban, who compared investing time vs. spending time. When players are engaged, they are invested in their improvement.
Ask players drills they like or skills they would like to improve. This creates ownership and increased ownership creates greater engagement and investment.

3. Law of Primacy = Create Good Habits the First Time
Doing something the wrong way, creates bad habits. Players retain the first thing they learn more readily, so teach it right the first time. Focus on details and correct technique. Early in workouts players should be kept at a pace that allows emphasis on technique. Increase speed as skills are mastered because doing something full speed incorrectly, does not develop good habits or improvement.
Detail – Master the details
Speed – Perform full speed with correct technique
Contest – Perform vs. game like conditions

4. Law of Intensity = GS3
The Law of Intensity states higher intensity material is more likely to be retained. A clear, vivid learning experience teaches more than the same boring routine or experience. Make workouts visually game like by using cones, garbage’s cans or chairs. Push players out of their comfort zone to grow; choose goals just beyond their present abilities and make workouts game like.
Game Shots
Game Spots
Game Speed

Quote of the Day:

"You are the Michelangelo of your own life.
The David that you are sculpting is you.
And you do it with your thoughts."

— Joe Vitale

Quote of the Day:

"I tell my guys if they work hard every day than they don't have to worry about game plans, or where they play, or who they play, or about rankings and so on.  The quality of their work habits can overcome anything: praise, criticism, good coaching or bad coaching.  They have their daily behavior to fall back on."
- Pete Carill

Quote of the Day:

"Playing time is your responsibility. You want to play more? Bring more value to the team." 

-Kevin Eastman

If and When

IF and WHEN were friends. Every week they met and had lunch. Their conversation usually centered on all the things they were going to achieve. They both had many dreams and they loved to talk about them.

This particular Saturday when they met, WHEN sensed that IF was not in a great mood. As usual they sat at the table reserved for them and ordered their lunch. Once they placed their order, WHEN questioned IF. “IF what is wrong with you? You don’t seem your usual cheery self?”
IF looked at WHEN and replied, “I’m not sure, I just don’t feel like I am making any progress. This last week I saw a course I wanted to take if only I had the time to take it.”

WHEN knew exactly how IF felt. “Yeah,” replied WHEN, “I too saw a course and I am going to register when I get enough money together.” WHEN then said, “well what about that new job you were going to apply for. You were so excited about it last week, did you apply?”

IF responded, “If my computer didn’t break down last week, I would have applied. But, my computer is not working, so I could not type my resume.”

“Don’t worry about it IF, when you are ready another job will come through. I have been thinking about looking for another job also, but I will wait and when the weather gets nicer I will look then.” WHEN then went on to tell IF about his week, hoping that it would cheer him up a bit.

The man at the next table couldn’t help overhear WHEN and IF. They both were talking about when this and if that, finally he couldn’t take it anymore. “Excuse me gentlemen,” the man said. IF and WHEN both looked at the man and wondered what he wanted. The man continued, “I’m sorry, but I couldn’t help hearing your conversation. I think I know how you could solve your problems.”
IF smiled and thought, how could a complete stranger know how to solve all of their problems. If only he knew. When he realized the challenges they faced there was no way he could solve their problems! Curious, IF asked the gentleman, “How do you think you can solve our problems?”
The gentleman smiled and said, “You only need listen to yourselves. It reminds me of an old proverb:
‘If and When were planted, and Nothing grew’.”

IF and WHEN looked puzzled. The gentleman smiled and said, “Start counting how many times you use the words ‘if’ and ‘when’. Rather than thinking ‘if and when’, start doing, take action, stop talking about ‘if and when’.”

Bob Walsh: Winning on the Road

WINNING ON THE ROAD


WINNING ON THE ROAD IS A MENTALITY.  IT IS KNOWING THAT WE HAVE PREPARED OURSELVES FOR EVERY CHALLENGE – THE EMOTION OF OUR OPPONENT, THE ELECTRICITY OF THE CROWD, THE DIFFERENT GYM, THE TOUGH CALLS.  IT IS THE KNOWLEDGE THAT NOTHING CAN HAPPEN THAT WE ARE NOT READY FOR – WE ARE PREPARED TO WIN.

WINNING ON THE ROAD IS TOUGHNESS.  IT IS AN ATTITUDE THAT NO MATTER WHICH WAY THE BALL BOUNCES, WE ARE GOING TO FIND A WAY.

WINNING ON THE ROAD IS INTENSITY.   IT IS DICTATING THE TEMPO OF THE GAME WITH HOW HARD WE COMPETE, FROM TAP TO BUZZER.  IT IS LETTING THEM KNOW WHO THE BETTER TEAM IS AS SOON AS THE BALL GOES UP.

WINNING ON THE ROAD IS BELIEF.  IT IS 100% TRUST IN EVERYONE IN OUR LOCKER ROOM AND EVERYTHING WE DO.  IT IS KNOWING THAT YOU NEED TO BE THERE FOR YOUR TEAMMATES, AND KNOWING THAT THEY WILL BE THERE FOR YOU.

WINNING ON THE ROAD IS ENERGY.  IT IS AN ENTHUSIASM AND PASSION TO GO INTO SOMEONE ELSE’S BUILDING AND MAKE THEM PLAY OUR GAME.  IT IS EVERYONE ON THAT BUS BEING ENGAGED AND EXCITED.

WINNING ON THE ROAD IS SACRIFICE.  IT IS PUTTING ASIDE PERSONAL ISSUES FOR THE GOOD OF THE TEAM.  IT IS A TEAM EGO.

WINNING ON THE ROAD IS COMPOSURE.  IT IS THE POISE TO STAY LEVEL AND KEEP OUR TRUST WHEN OUR OPPONENT MAKES A RUN. 

WINNING ON THE ROAD STARTS IN OUR OWN GYM.  IT STARTS IN PRACTICE, WITH AN INTENSE PREPARATION AND A COMMITMENT TO EVERY POSSESSION.  IT IS ABOUT NEVER SETTLING, NEVER TAKING THE EASY WAY OUT, AND BEING MENTALLY PREPARED FOR PRACTICE.

WINNING ON THE ROAD IS A SWAGGER.  IT IS A COMBINATION OF EVERYTHING ABOVE ROLLED INTO A CONFIDENCE THAT PEOPLE NOTICE AS SOON AS WE WALK IN THE GYM.  WE EXPECT TO WIN, AND THEY KNOW IT.

WINNING ON THE ROAD IS FUN.  THERE IS NOTHING LIKE GOING INTO THEIR HOUSE AND PROVING WE ARE THE BETTER TEAM FOR 40 MINUTES.

IF YOU ARE GOING TO WEAR A RIC BASKETBALL UNIFORM, 

WINNING ON THE ROAD IS EXPECTED.

Don't Always Pass on the Salt

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Don’t Always Pass On the Salt

-Eve Pearce

The mantra to use less salt has become ingrained in the health conscious, with many throwing away their salt shaker and scrutinizing food labels to choose those with the lowest salt content. Whilst reducing our salt intake holds benefits to many people – high intakes are linked to hypertension, osteoporosis and stomach cancer – there are a number of instances where additional salt is vital. Certain medical conditions and medications can deplete the body of sodium – one of the main components of salt - and during an episode of vomiting and diarrhoea you are at risk of low sodium levels. However, participating in vigorous activity can also increase your chances of sodium depletion, so during and after an intense training session or game it’s essential for basketball players to ensure that they appropriately rehydrate to preserve their sodium levels. Here we take a look at the role of sodium in the body, why depletion occurs during activity, its consequences and how athletes can maintain their levels. However, if you have previously been told you have high sodium levels, discuss this with your physician before implementing any of the advice below, as they may wish to run another blood test.

The importance of sodium

Sodium is present in body fluids, including the blood, inside the cells of the body and the fluid in which they are bathed. It plays an important role in controlling fluid balance and blood pressure, but is also essential for correct nerve and muscle function. The body aims to match its fluid intake and output by controlling fluid losses via the kidneys, in which sodium plays a role. Specialist cells in the nephrons of the kidneys – the part which filters the blood - are able to sense changes in blood pressure, which occurs when there is a change in fluid volume. When they sense a fall in blood pressure, the kidney secretes a hormone called aldosterone, which increases the reabsorption of sodium and in turn this draws water into the blood helping to restore the circulating fluid levels. Meanwhile the nervous system is able to control organ function and movement through the transfer of electrical impulses via nerve cells throughout the body. The movement of sodium and potassium ions across the nerve cell membranes allows these impulses to be generated and travel along the nerves to stimulate the target cells, which commonly might be glandular tissue to secrete a hormone or muscle fibres to initiate movement.

Sodium losses during activity

During exercise sodium is lost during sweating, so the body loses both salt and water. Dehydration itself can lead to a varying degree of problems such as headaches, confusion, muscle cramps, impaired cardiac output and heat exhaustion, where the body begins to overheat; if not treated it can lead to more serious heatstroke, which can hinder breathing and mental function and at its most severe cause organ failure. The reduction of sodium within the body drives water into the cells to balance the sodium concentration inside and outside of the cells. This causes a fall in blood volume, which is compounded by the water lost in sweat. As a result blood pressure decreases – this tends to already be lower in those who take regular exercise - which can lead to feelings of tiredness, nausea and dizziness, as well as a rapid or irregular pulse, blurred vision and even fainting. While some of these will impair performance, others will put an athlete’s safety at risk. Not only this,  but the entry of water into the cells causes them to swell, which can be particularly dangerous if this occurs in the brain. If allowed to progress low sodium levels can develop into a condition called hyponatremia, which can lead to muscle weakness, loss of consciousness, seizures and in the worst cases can be fatal.

Appropriate hydration for athletes

Although water is commonly taken to replace fluid losses during activity, this is a hypotonic solution, meaning that it has a low concentration of salts in it including sodium. While this might be adequate for gentle exercise or short bursts of activity, if taken during or after vigorous exercise rehydration will be incomplete, as salt levels will not be adequately replenished. In fact if you take too much water on board, you will dilute your sodium levels further and the risk of hyponatremia is increased. Not only is it important to consider the type of fluids consumed during and after exercise, but players need to ensure that they are adequately hydrated prior to training or a game.

The American College of Sports Medicine have produced guidelines on hydration before, during and after exercise. Two hours prior to exercise it is recommended that players drink 17 fluid ounces, which will ensure they take sufficient fluid on board and that their body has time to excrete any excess prior to the game. Ideally players should drink at regular intervals to top up their fluids and that this should be cooler than their surroundings to prevent overheating and flavoured to aid consumption. If exercising for more than an hour the fluid needs to contain added carbohydrate and salts; it is suggested that 30-60g of carbohydrate is taken in 20 to 40 fluid ounces every hour and that the sodium content is 0.5-0.7g per litre. Gatorade, Powerade and Accelerade would all be appropriate choices, though it is possible to make up your own sports drink. To determine how much sports drink you need to take after a game, ideally weigh yourself before and after; for each pound in weight lost as a consequence of fluid losses you will need to drink 24 fluid ounces to rehydrate

Dalai Lama Wisdon

The ultimate source of a happy life is warm-heartedness. This means extending to others the kind of concern we have for ourselves. On a simple level we find that if we have a compassionate heart we naturally have more friends. And scientists today are discovering that while anger and hatred eat into our immune system, warm-heartedness and compassion are good for our health.

Quote of the Day:

It's the repetition of affirmations that leads to belief. And once that belief becomes a deep conviction, things begin to happen.   

-Muhammad Ali

The Power of Your Beliefs: The Sell

There are a million different ways to win a basketball game. There are countless offensive systems and defensive systems. What's the best method?

In my opinion, the power of your belief in a system is more important than the system you run.

I found this great quote from a recent Urban Meyer interview: "What's special about Chip Kelly is not that he runs an up-tempo, no huddle offense, its that he has every single person in that organization from the top down believing that's the best way to win a football game.""

John Wooden, famous coach of the UCLA men's basketball team, would tell his teams that they are the BEST conditioned basketball team in the country. Later, in interviews, he would admit that he wasn't sure if this was true; however, he trained his athletes (mentally and physically) to believe that was true. And you know what? They believed their coach. At the end of close games they would muster extra strength drawn from their belief that they were in better shape than their opponent.

I can convince a player that getting up at 6am to do a workout is better than doing a workout at 3pm because I strongly believe that is true. On one hand, someone may say that a workout is a workout- doesn't matter what time you start and the content will be the same. I look at it like this: it's 6am on the East Coast so that means it's 3am in California. How many people do you think are up right now working on their game? Maybe a few, probably not many. I would also sell the aspect of discipline, work ethic, extra time in the gym, commitment and a display of passion when running 6am workouts with someone. I think I can get a player to believe they are better when they work out at 6am as opposed to 3pm because that's what I believe....and I believe in that strongly.

A good salesman believes in their product with 100% mind, body and spirit. A great coach must find a system of play that fits their team's personnel, but equally as important, matches the coach's fundamental beliefs and values.