A Coach's Diary

I have just decided to re-read John Wooden’s autobiography They Call Me Coach, and to complete it before the start of our basketball season.  Our first official practice is October 19th, so I have to get moving.  Here are excerpts from the forward to this book, written by Bill Walton.  There are so many gems in this forward about Coach Wooden, the type of man he is, and what he believed in, from the eyes and experience of one of his most accomplished players. Coach Wooden is a humble, private man who has selflessly devoted his life to make other people's lives better. With John Wooden, there is never an end to anything.  His ability to always be about what's next, always about the future, enables him to lead an incredibly active, constructive, positive and contributing life to this very day. Today, John Wooden is still our coach in so many ways.  He there with us each and every day, pushing, shaping, molding, challenging, driving us to be better,...

All of this was done in the subtlest of ways.  While our practices were the most demanding endeavors that I’ve ever been a part of – so physically, emotionally, mentally, and psychologically taxing – there was always the sense of joy, of celebration, and of people having fun playing a simple game.   Always positive, always constructive, John Wooden drove us in ways and directions that we are not aware of, always with the goal of making us better.   It is never about him, never about the struggle for material accumulation, but always about individual skill and personal development within the framework of the team, the game, and UCLA.    Our practices, our lives are constantly structured around the four laws of learning: demonstration, imitation, correction, and repetition. And repeat we do – everything, every day, until we have become John Wooden ourselves.

You can't wait for the perfect moment because the moment will never be perfect. Prepare the best you can, jump, and have faith that you will have a parachute that will catch you.  You will probably get some scrapes along the way, but if you prepare the right way and have faith, the parachute will catch you! The quote above from Bill Parcells was taken from an article written by   Jenny Vrentas  for  Monday Morning Quarterback on SI.com and you can read it in it's entirety  here . The basis of the article is about Bill Parcells and his mentorship of Brissett since  his high school days in Florida.  A good read overall on the purpose of staying ready no matter what your present position is, because you are always 'One Snap' from getting in the game. Thanks to Hoopthoughts.BlogSpot.com for the reference to this article.

- Google has the search engine - Colonel Sanders had KFC and one secret chicken recipe. - Walt Disney had a brother who got him work in an art studio - Sam Walton had a father-in-law who loaned him $20,000 to start his first retail business The basis early in the book, ‘The One Thing’ by Gary Keller is that they key to getting extraordinary results is to find ‘THE ONE THING’ that will make the biggest impact on your company (or team’s) success.  They show that ‘THE ONE THING’ shows up time and time again in the lives of successful people companies, whether it’s a company that focuses on one part of their business or a successful person who had one person in their life who made a significant difference along the way.  ---------------------------------------------------- “Success demands singleness of purpose.” - Vince Lombardi - ----------------------------------------------------- Keller tells that through technology and innovation, the doors to the wo...

I recently read the book, Have a New Kid By Friday , by Dr. Kevin Leman .  I originally purchased the book in an effort to better reach kids who were struggling behaviorally  in my classroom, and I found that the methods can really help as a coach as well. Summary: Have a clear vision of what you want your program and players to be, and calmly, confidently, and consistently live up to that vision.  It starts with your Attitude, Behavior and Character, and making sure that your players feel Acceptance, Belonging, and Competent. It gives a different lesson for each day. Monday – Live the Vision Establish a clear vision for what you want your program and players to be.  Then calmly, confidently, and consistently live up to those expectations as if they are the norm.  Eventually they will become the norm. Tuesday – The ABC’s The beginning of this process is understanding YOUR ABC's: A - Your Attitude (Consistently optimistic) B - Your...

Notes from a behind the scenes look at a UConn women's basketball practice. 1 - Culture 2 - Good players 3 - Holding them accountable every second of every practice https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIIInfIPnQA 0:10 - What we are trying to do is put you guys in situations where you get to see for yourself without being told.  There will be times we won’t have the opportunity to just stop the game and go okay, timeout and let’s talk this over. There are going to be times where you guys are going to have to figure it out on your own.  Certain individuals are going to have to step up and make big time plays.  Not when we are up 25, not in the first 5 minutes; I’m talking about when you’re in deep shit and everybody is so tired that you can’t see straight.  That’s when somebody has to make big plays. 1:05 – Nothing in a game can match the challenges that the players face during a typical Huskies practice. - Sue Bird 1:43 – I think our goal e...