Red and Me Book Study - A Win-WIn Situation for All

In this excerpt from the book Red and Me, by former basketball great Bill Russell, Bill talks about the psychology that legendary coach Red Auerbach used to get the best out of his players for the betterment of the team.

Red would talk to a guy by mainly listening.  That was how he got more information about his players and their agendas.  I saw him do that so often that when he was talking to me, I always knew what he was doing.  He wasn't assessing my needs - they didn't come into play.  He wasn't asking himself, "What's this person all about?"  He was asking, "How can I help his guy contribute to the team?"  I picked this up very early.  What he was doing was listening, motivating, and enabling us to play our best, which ultimately enhanced our careers.

Every player in an organization, whether its a team, a school, or a business, has their own agenda for being part of the organization.  A leader, instead of throwing his/her weight around dictating and micromanaging the everyday actions of everybody involved, should understand what the people in the organization want to get out of the group and find a way for everybody to gain from being together and grow as people.  While you can't please everybody, there are ways for everybody to benefit.

Red and Me Book Study - Every Player Is Different

In this excerpt from the book, Red and Me, by Bill Russell, Bill talks writes about how Red Auerbach approached each player as individuals.

Red respected every player as he was, and listened to each individually.  But he did not, strictly speaking, treat everyone equally.  He recognized that everyone was different - we all had different contracts, different physical and mental abilities, different mindsets and habits and methods of preparation.  He also had to consider all of our different agendas.  WIth professional basketball players, there are never enough minutes and never enough shots to satisfy everyone in every game.  We didn't start out as equal ballplayers, so that kind "equal" is not helpful in a team circumstance.  Red knew this.

Every player is his own man with his own abilities and his own agenda for playing the game.  You have to respect that about them and appreciate their uniqueness and what they bring to the team in order to get the most out of them.

Just Give Me The Ball

Performing in the Clutch and Leadership is One in the Same

You have two players:

Player 1 - Your best player
Player 2 - That kid who thinks he's the best player.

You are up by 2 with 30 seconds left with the ball out of bounds.  They are trying to foul you.

Player 1 - The player you want with the ball in the clutch, the player you draw the play for, shies (hope that's how you spell it) away from the ball in the clutch.
Player 2 - Always seems to end up with the ball in the clutch because he thinks he should have it.

Who do you give the ball to with the game on the line?
I give it to the guy who wants it.  Player 2 will get the ball on my team.  I want somebody with the audacity to think they should have it because I know they won't fold under pressure.

Developing Leadership Skills
Wanting the ball in the clutch is like leadership - we can develop it, we can try to grow it, we can try to put guys in the situation to where they can thrive in it, but you either want the responsibility or you don't.

You can't make a guy be a leader and you can't make a guy want the ball in the clutch.  When you force guys into roles of responsibility when they aren't ready, they often wilt under the pressure.

Now what you can do develop leadership skills with guys who have the potential to be great leaders, is develop the skills-set  that they need to be a leader.  Here are a few examples of ways I cultivate leadership in someone.

-  When I'm ready to start practice, I'll tell player 1 to get everybody together, tell them to get their minds right and ready to work, and tell him to tell everybody to be prepared to get better that day.  I tell him what to say, when to say it, and how to say it, because a lot of that is just not natural in a lot of people, especially young people.
-  Anytime that I need guys to get together to get ready to leave, like getting ready to go to the locker room to get dressed before the game, or getting ready to leave after the game, or I need the guys to meet me in the classroom to watch film, I tell Player 1 to tell the guys for me so that he can learn how to find his voice in a non-threatening environment.
-  If I'm having a conference with a kid about his behavior or his effort, I'll bring Player 1 into the meeting with us.  I'll tell him beforehand what the meeting is about and what I am going to say.  I'll tell him that when I'm done speaking, I'll ask Player 1 if he has anything to add.  Before we go in, I'll ask him if he's comfortable speaking at that time.  If he is, great, if he's not, I'll give him a couple sentences that he can easily say and that will be comfortable for him.  Something like, "Hey man, we really need you.  This team needs you.  We need your energy and your [insert skill set, i.e. rebounding or toughness].  But, we need you on time everyday because we are in this together.  What does it look like if we are here everyday, but you aren't?  We sometimes feel like you're not in this with us."  That way, his setup to succeed.

Teaching The Skill-Set of Performing In The Clutch
The same approach of putting a kid in situations to be successful in practice to develop leadership skills is the approach that I would take in instilling the skill-set need to be successful with the ball in the clutch.  I would recreate the first scenario in practice, and tell the team, Player 1 has to get the ball, or you lose.  I would tell them the losing team has to run.  That way he is in a position where he has pressure and responsibility placedskill-set of making multiply cuts while running towards the ball with your arms extended.  Meet the pass.  Immediately square up strong, ready to get fouled.  Talk about when he needs to pass and when he needs to aggressively dribble the ball up the court.  Talk about when its okay to pick his dribble up, and when it is not okay.  I would break down the process for him, because he doesn't know, to teach him the skill-set he needed to be successful with the ball in the clutch.
on him.  I would let it play out, then I would coach him up, 1 on 1, on how to mentally prepare himself, and how to physically perform.  Teach the

We, as coaches, are teachers first.  We have to teach them how to be successful before we can expect it out of them. 

 If you have anything more to add to that, leave me a comment.  Iron sharpens iron.

Can You Teach A Guy How To Compete?

If it won't bite as a puppy ...

One of the most fustrating things as a coach, is when you have guys that won't compete.  Its tough to motivate guys that won't battle in the paint, attack rebounds, and fight for loose balls.  Yea, talent is great and all, and you have to have talent to win games, but you have to have guys that are willing to fight and compete to win championships.

One year, I had two difference-makers who were just better than everybody else on his team.  The problem was, those top 2 guys just didn't know how/didn't want to compete on an everyday basis.  They didn't practice/play with toughness and grit, and it set a bad precedent for the rest of the team.  When things were going great and they were making shots, getting steals, and making plays in transition, we were a great team and everybody fed off the positive energy.  But, when things weren't going great, things started to snowball.  They didn't have the toughness to put the last play behind them, fix the issue at hand, and move on, and we as a staff didn't do a good enough job of teaching them how to be tougher, more competitive, and how to put bad plays behind them.

My head coach asked me if it was possible to teach a guy how to compete.  My simple answer is yes.  I think anybody with the right teaching can learn anything.  The human mind and body is capable of doing amazing things, so why can't a kid learn how to compete?

In practice, however, getting guys who aren't natural competitors is, in my opinion, the hardest thing to teach.  The quote, if he doesn't bite as a puppy, he won't bite as a dog, comes to mind when thinking about trying to teach guys how to compete.  Some guys are born to compete, born with that gene, born with those instincts.  Some guys just aren't.  But, I think there are some things you can do to teach competitiveness and to maximize your athletes potential.

Fight or Flight Response
I think the troubleshoot way to teach a kid how to compete is to create situations everyday in practice where they are forced to compete.  When you put a kid in a situation where they either have to compete or they get beat, you will see what they are made of.  Sometimes, kids don't know how to compete because they've never been in a situation where they have had to, and they've never been taught how to react, respond, and fight in those situations.  Create a situation where they have to compete, and see what happens.  If they 'figure it out,' celebrate that success and recognize the actions and mentality that the athlete exhibited in their success so they can repeat it.

Here are some basketball drills that I've used in the past to create situations that foster toughness:

-  1 on 1 on 1 - Have three kids stand at the free-throw line next to each other.  Have a coach with one ball stand at the top of the key, directly behind them.  When coach shoots the ball, they are competing to three.  There are no rules.  When somebody scores, the ball stays live.  They have to fight to get the ball, and fight twice as hard to score.  I lied about no rules - the only rule is you can't travel and double dribble.  If you pick up your dribble, you can throw the ball back to your coach and get it back.  But, the coach can only hold it for 3 seconds or less before he just passes it back in your direction.  If you can't get open and the ball is stolen, its still live and in the possession of whoever stole it.

-  Circle Rebounding - Have five offensive guys stand on the perimeter, outside the 3-point line, and five guys inside the 3-point line matched-up.  A coach with the ball should stand outside the 3-point line as well.  When the coach yells 'GO', the interior players circle, counter clockwise, inside the 3-point line.  When the coach shoots the ball, the game is live.  The guys outside of the 3-point line are going to the offensive boards, while the defenders inside the 3-point line are to box-out then go pursue the rebound. A team gets 1 point for a rebound, and if the offensive team gets an offensive rebound, they continue to play live trying to score.  If they score, they get another point.  If they miss and get an offensive rebound, they also get another point.  The game stops either when the defense gets a rebound or when the offense scores.  If the defense doesn't get a rebound after the first shot by the coach, they can't earn a point because they gave up an offensive rebound; they can only get a stop by getting the ball back.

-  4 on 4 In The Paint - Have a game of 4 on 4 where everybody has to stay in the paint.  in forces guys to be physical and tough in a confined space.  Still work with them on screening and back-cutting and making good basketball plays, but in a tight space.  You can score the game however you want, including awarding points for stops, scores, rebounds, and charges.

- Game-Like Situations In Practice - Every practice, especially in-season, we would have 1 - 3 situational scrimmages where we would split teams, give them a situation, and play it out.  It might be 3 minutes left with the white team up by 4, both teams in the bonus, and the blue team has the ball under the basket.  It might be 2 minutes left, tie game, blue team shooting a one-on-one.  Somedays, we would say, one of the teams is going to get every call going against them.  Deal With It.  We would show them that there will be days/games where everything and everyone is against you and teach them how to deal with it.  Somedays we wouldn't tell them, we would just call against a particular team (we would do this later in the season after we have spent time building character - I don't want to ever set a kid up for failure), and most days we would try to call it as honest as possible. 


Here are some football drills that I've used in the past to create situations that foster toughness:

-  Cirlce Drill - See the video below

-  Oklahoma Drill

If you have more drills that put kids in position where they have to compete and play tough, please let me know.  Leave me a comment or link!  Always looking for more drills to build character and toughness.

If you have guys that don't figure out how to compete naturally through submersion, work with them, show them, and team them the actions and mentality that they need to have to be successful in that situation.  We spend so much time teaching our kids not to fight, not to push, not to be aggressive, and to share everything when they are young that we have to spend an equal amount of time teaching them how to fight in sports appropriately, how to push, how to be aggressive.

You have to 'coach' and 'teach' kids through every process; you can't just assume that they know or assume that they'll figure it out, or assume that they just won't ever get it.  Teach and coach them through it.

He Just Doesn't Have It In Them
I also believe that some kids just don't naturally have that 'toughness gene.'  They just don't have the heart for battle, that heart to fight.  I had a dog a few years ago, that was really timid as a puppy.  As he grew to be a bigger, stronger dog, he became more aggressive and intimidating.  He looked like a great dog and people were genuinely scared of him.  When we would go for walks and he would see smaller dogs, he would aggressively bark and try to attack these dogs.  He was labeled by a vet as 'dog aggressive,'  But, when he saw a dog his size or bigger, he wouldn't want no part of that dog.  Sounds like some of my athletes lol.

Some people are wired just like my dog.  Yea they'll compete and fight with athletes they know that they can beat, but they cower in the face of equal or superior athletes.  So what do you do when you have guys that don't have those competitive, fighter instincts?

I think you have to identify the skill-set of a competitor in as many basketball specific situations, and teach them how to acquire those skills.  

You might not be able to teach someone how to take a punch, but you can teach them how to dodge a punch, block a punch, roll a punch, and throw a punch to the point where they can win a fight.  

Some of those skills include:
-  How to box-out physically by putting your forearm into your opponent first, then sliding your body into position
-  How to bump cutters and not letting them cross your face
-  How to dive for loose balls
-  How to dive for loose balls with two hands instead of dribbling loose balls
-  How to cut people off defensively instead of giving up (I think the best thing you can teach a kid one-on-one defensively is how to make a guy turn when they are attacking.  Most guys attack to their dominate hand aggressively, but if you can turn him once, you deplete his effectiveness drastically)
-  How to spin off a guy boxing him out to get better position when going for offensive rebounds instead of just letting yourself get boxed out.
-  How to fight off a block
-  How to run through a tackle

I put HOW TO in italics to emphasize that you have to teach them HOW TO do something.

Every sport and every position has their own specific movements, that when mastered, can make you a better athlete and make you at least appear like you are competing and playing tougher.  To identify those, look at the guys who you wish were tougher and ask yourself, "What specifically am I asking them to do?" To answer, "I want them to compete or play tougher" isn't specific enough and isn't measurable.  It needs to be specific and measurable actions.

Some athletes are born to compete and born to fight; some just aren't.  Our job as coaches and leaders is to teach.  If you can break down toughness and competitiveness into specific actions, you can at least teach your kids how to perform those actions.  

If you have more to add, I am always looking for ways to help make my guys tougher and more competitive.  Leave me a comment.  Iron sharpens iron.

The Other Belichick

Notes from SportCenter Interview with Amanda Belichick

The daughter of Bill Belichick

She is the new head women’s lacrosse coach at Wesleyan University

Put Family First

When Amanda Belichick's father brought work home, it didn't mean the kids had to be quiet and that his office door was closed.  "I remember being in Cleveland in elementary and middle school and he'd be cutting up plays, organizing them, old school, and I remember doing it with him," she recalled this week

Coordination of The Team

Bill says Amanda has a good feel of teamwork on the field, teamwork off the field, commitment by everybody, and just trying to get everybody on the same page.

Bill always gives Amanda advice on getting to know her team and getting to know where they are at right now, and he just keeps pushing her to figure out what she needs right now, what her limitations are, and what she needs to overcome and what she can take advantage of here.

"My dad and I have a lot in common as far as X's and O's, but the place where we really relate is team building," she said. "When I hear players talk about the 'Patriot Way' and putting the team first, running out as one, those types of things are team-building, team philosophies -- not X's and O's. Without ever being part of the team or in the locker room, that's something from afar that I admire about my dad's team."

"They're quite different sports and genders, but coaching is coaching, and communicating and working with players and motivating your team -- there's a lot of common ground there," he said.

Addicted To Details

She is addicted to the details; knows everything down to how the sticks should be strung..  She pays attention to every little detail.  They have an entire packet with every single day mapped out of the exact workout until November.  All of those things, communicating the details, gives confidence, and so my goal is to create that environment for the players.

Losing Close Games

Based on her father's feedback on losing close games, she also has incorporated a drill that focused specifically on the last five minutes on the clock and responding to an opponents' go-ahead goal.

Imagine A Team

Imagine a team where there is no gossip and no slander; only truthful encouragement and loving critique.  Where people aren't looking at what they can get out of something or someone, but what they can POUR into something and someone.  Where love abounds because they are proactively seeking ways to bless other people.  Where they correct impatience with gentleness and where they share resources with those who are in need.  Imagine leaders who are patient with all the ups and downs and are patient with changes, working together and unified towards a common goal, where or individual success is celebrated without pretension and without arrogance.  

You can't have any of that if you can't have a humble you.

Great Leadership Needs Great Communication

Don't Be Afraid Of Parental Involvement; Find Ways To Help Parents Help You And Your Athlete

Schools around the county are now implementing a researched 'best practice' to improve parental involvement in the school - they are now requiring teachers to perform an in-home visit with the parent of each new student before the first day of school.  They are requiring the teachers to go the homes of the student (not the other way around) to show that we as teachers and educators are willing to do whatever it takes to ensure the success of all of our students, and to show that we seek the help and cooperation of the parents at home.  Then, within the first 10 weeks, after they have gotten a good feel of where the kid is academically, they have to perform a parent-teacher conference at the school to create goals for their students and to show that the school and classroom is a welcome environment for the parents (if the school environment is not welcoming, how can you get full buy-in and support from the parents).

The quote, "It takes a village to raise a child" is being taken to heart academically.  I really believe that any 'good' teacher can walk into most classrooms and provide decent instruction and roughly 80% of the students will be relatively successful.  Great teachers know how to reach another 10%.  The elite teachers find a way to also reach that final 10%.  To do so, you have build a relationship with not only the child, but the parents, or guardians, as well.

Students spend about 33% of a school day at school.  When you count the summer break, winter break, and all of the holidays in between, students spend roughly 16% of a full year in school.  If you have a 2 hour basketball practice, that means that your athlete spends about 8% of their school day with you.  How do they spend the rest of their time - with the 3 F's - friends, Facebook, and family (too often in that order).  As coaches, we try to instill the right habits, mentality, and work-ethic that it takes to be successful as a person and as a team, but they only spend a small percentage of their time with us.  While that time is more meaningful than the actual minutes, you can't discount the amount of time they spend away from your influence.

In a perfect world, parents and athletes would trust and buy into the system that you are implementing as a coach.  They would understand that you are being paid to coach and they would respect the hours you put into perfecting your craft, finding the best system for the players you have and your program, and finding ways to grow each player under your watch as an athlete and as a person.  I honestly feel that for 80% of your athletes and parents, that is the case - they believe in you because you are coach and trust your vision for the players and the team.  But you have to find a way to reach that other 20%, who, for some strange reason, usually turn out to be your difference makers (see Murphy's Law and the Pareto Principal).

I think there are some steps that every head coach should take towards ensuring that each athlete understands their role in the program, and that the coach should embrace the parent's role throughout the entire process.  I really believe that far too often, we dismiss the importance that the parent has in the development of the student-athlete, and many times on the surface, it appears warranted.  We hear so many horror stories of parents:  the parent who thinks their son is the next LeBron James (but is a great 'towel waiver' at best), the parent who thinks they can coach the team better than you (because he led little brother's team to the YMCA championship), and the group of parents who sit together in the stands and bash the coach's every move because their son isn't the leading scorer, or because they just don't know any better.  Yea, I didn't forget the parent who knows more about basketball than the coach because he should have gone pro 20-30 years ago if it wasn't for that 'knee injury' that cost him that 'scholarship,' or that parent who thinks his son needs to get more shots because he's got that letter from The University of Oklahoma (you know, the one from the mailing list that everyone gets).

I do know that it can be dangerous letting parents in too much, but I think more problems come when parents, who really just want whats best for their kids, are left out of the loop of what's going on, day-to-day, with the team.  All parents want to know why their athlete isn't getting more points, more time, or aren't achieving more overall success - it is what we do as parents.  When they don't get a good grade - we ask them 'what happened?'  When an athlete isn't getting a lot of playing time, the parents ask them - 'why not?'  And what do you think the athlete is telling their parents when they get home?  I doubt that they are telling them, "I had to sit out the first quarter because I didn't go hard at all this week in defensive shell drill."  Or, "I'm not getting as much playing time as [insert team's difference maker's name] because he's just better than me."  You could imagine the excuses they (parents) are getting.  And, what should the parents think if they are only getting one side of the story?  To that situation (parent's getting one side of the story), I live by a best practice administrators adhere to when there is an incident at school:

Make sure you call the parent and tell them what happened before the student tells them what happened.

Communicate early and often to your parents to ensure that everybody involved knows what you need from each individually player to make the team stronger, and that everybody has a plan of action on how to help.  Reaching out to parents, personally, will go a long way to earning buy-in from all of your stakeholders; and don't get it mistaken, it today's society, you need to EARN the buy-in.

Using the academic model of communication with parents, I have listed some ways that coach's can help achieve buy-in from their players through creating a culture where they get POSITIVE parental involvement.

-  Reach out to each parent early through personal communication.  Meeting with the athlete and parent will go a long way towards making sure that everyone is on the same page.

-  Explain your goals for the team.

-  Explain the process through which you plan to lead your team towards achieving those goals.

-  Explain that through the process, their will be growing pains, and that the coaches and team will make
adjustments that will help achieve the overall goals.

-  Explain their athlete's role in the team attaining the teams's goals and how the athlete can grow and prosper within that role, because let's be honest, everybody whats to shine and be recognized for doing good work.

-  Explain the process of how their athlete will be worked with towards improving everyday in efforts to best fulfill their role and achieve that 'shine' and recognition that they seek.

-  Explain that through the process, their will be growing pains, and help the guardians prepare the athlete for them, and help the guardians communicate how to deal with the growing pains throughout the process/season/career.

-  Explain that you will 'coach' their athlete everyday.  It won't always be easy for the athlete, and you will ask the athlete to do somethings that are new or out of their comfort zone.  In those situations, it is important that the parents knows how to help the athlete without being to accommodating, how to help their athlete deal with adversity, and help them understand that having grit and toughing things out rather than pouting and quitting are some of the best skills that you learn through athletics.

-  Explain how the parents can assist both the student, the coach, and the team throughout the process, and help everybody understand where they fit in with the program and the team.

Every parent wants their athlete to be successful.  Many/most parents sincerely don't know how to help their athletes achieve athletic success within the framework of the team system; teach them.

The Outlet

I have been out of coaching for about 8 months now, but I can't get it out of my system.  A friend of mine's wrote a book that he is working on getting published, and in it, he talks about how too often we are defined by profession (a noun) instead of who we are and what we do (a verb).  He calls us to not allow our titles (nouns) limit us and our potential and to be who we are.

This is me being me.  I love to write, I love to formulate opinions on different things, especially coaching.  I love to look at situations, analyze them, and see how I would handle in those situations.

I am very fortunate that I have a small circle of friends in the basketball community who still talk hoops and coaching with me.  It keeps me close to the game, and keeps me sharp.  It helps me work on my leadership skills, because so much of coaching is about leadership, and it helps me stay sharp with by basketball knowledge.

Instead of internalizing these conversations, and instead of internalizing my thoughts, I am going to start to use this as an outlet for myself.

This is my Coaching Diary.