Doc Rivers on Discussing Playing Time With His Kids

Doc Rivers talks about when one of his sons complained about playing time:

No coach wants to lose.  If you do the right thing, minutes go up. Kids need to learn how to fight for it and need to hear the truth father than hearing you bash the coach.  

"I support you and I know you can play.  But, you have to keep working and earning your spot [while respecting the coach and your teammates and while being a great friend and teammate].

If you want to be the best, start by being the best that YOU can be.

If you want to be the best, start by being the best that YOU can be.

You have to practice, you have to work on yourself and your game .... everyday.   There are always people out there better than you, so you have to work hard knowing that someday you will meet and play against them.

Will you be ready?

You also have to find someone that believes in you, someone who has a plan for how to help you be the best you can be - and then you have you trust them.  You have to accept constructive criticism as just coaching and helping you to be your best.  Be happy when you have a coach that yells at you when you start walking or jogging because you have someone that won't let you fail.  If left to ourselves, we might not work as hard as we need to.  But when we have the right coach, they won't let us settle.  So be appreciative and thankful when you get that coach that yells at you to get better.

Finally, find the best and go play them.  If you're the best player in the gym, it's time to find another gym because you aren't getting challenged enough.  Nobody likes to lose, but if you never lose, you never grow because you get satisfied and your weaknesses don't get exposed.  When we lose, it forces us to face our weaknesses head on, learn from them, and grow them.

1 - WORK every day to become the best YOU

2 - Appreciate good, tough coaching

3 - Find the toughest competition

Jay Wright: Leadership Drives the Culture

In a Coaching U podcast, Villanova Men's Basketball Coach Jay Wright spoke about his leadership and how leadership drives the culture.

The culture has to start with the leadership and when you are a leader, you have the chance to define:

“How are we going to live?”

Not just how we are going to play basketball or how we practice but how we are going to live, and that is the basis of your culture.  Once you define that and you bring in people who want to learn that and want to be a part of that, then you build from there:

“How are we going to practice and how are we going to play in games?” 

But it starts with how are we going to live, how are going to treat each other; how are we going to wake up every day.

When we wake up every day, our most important characteristic is our attitude.  We try to teach that we control our attitude every day.  How we walk in the office and say hello to each other, how we treat the people who clean the office and the locker room, and how we treat the managers and making sure we say thank you to them.  We have to define that as leaders, and every day we have to be the keepers of the flame and make sure that it remains that way.  You don’t bring people in that change it - the people that come in have to learn and accept it.

Jay Wright: How He Recruits Kids Who Fit Their Culture

This comes from a Coaching U Podcast interview with Jay Wright.  He talks about the type of player that they recruit and how they present their culture to the kid, his family, and his coaches.  The dynamics of recruiting and coaching kids are different, and here he talks about how he is honest and up-front early, and he talks about how important it is for him and his staff to recruit character and fit as much as talent.

As a player or a parent, make sure that the fit - not just the level - is right, make sure that the coaches have yours our your child's best interest at heart, and that the program focuses on growth and development of the person, not just the player.

Young athletes today are different and the way you have to recruit them has to be different.  You have to keep learning because the one thing that is definite in life is change, and things change.  Part of our challenge is we know what kids used to be like and what WE used to be like.  The guys that we are recruiting don’t have the expectations that we had.  I had to learn that over the years.  When we are recruiting, we are really looking for the talent level that we need and we are looking at the people around them because its not like it used to be where a parent sends the kid to you, you’re the coach, and they tell the kid – “Do what the coach says.”  Everyone is involved now and we have to make sure that we sit down with the parent, we sit down with the AAU coach, and we sit down with any other person in their circle and explain to them what Villanova is all about and explain to them what our culture is, and really – without trying to convince them, but say,

“Do you think that this culture is best for your son, or your student, or your player?”

I’m going to tell you what it is and if you believe in it, you gotta let them fail, you gotta let them struggle, and you gotta let us work it out.

We’ll communicate with you, but we are going to tell you what it is up front and our goal is for him to be the best student, the best man, and the best player that he can be at the end.  That’s our goal.  Its not simply to make him an NBA player.  We want him to be an NBA player, but to also be the best student and the best player.  If you don’t think that its important, then don’t send him to Villanova.  I think its our responsibility as a program, because we know what our culture is and we know who is going to be successful here, when we are dealing with kids, we have to make sure that we are picking the ones that we know are going to be successful.  We don’t want to mislead them to get them here and then when they get here and then try to get them to buy-in to the culture.  We have to know from our experience that they are going to enjoy it and be successful here.

Focus on the Player and the Process

"You better be able to relate to the players.  You can be great with Xs and Os but if you can't relate to the players, you won't be able to get them to buy-in and execute it on the floor.  It doesn't matter how much you know, but what your players are able to do on the court.  If you can't relate to the players - and if you're not willing to spend time with the players away from the floor to build that relationship, then you won't be able to get the players to do what you need them to do for the team to have success."

Coach Nate Oats

Buffalo Bulls Head Coach

by Coaching U Podcast with Coach Brendan Suhr

https://player.fm/1qBzsH?t=2298

The 1st Three Years

"If you go and you trace coaches, you'll see that even some of the best in the world struggle their first few years.  It takes time to establish yourself.  Very few people are lucky enough to come in and have instance success.  It takes time to evolve who you are as a person and your coaching style, personality, and philosophy."

From: 

Coaching U Podcast:  Coach Brendan Suhr, Recapping the 2018 Final Fours by Coaching U Podcast with Coach Brendan Suhr

https://player.fm/1qGhUU?t=920

3 Questions For All Youth Sports Parents

It's very easy to get caught up with trying to 'keep up with the Joneses' in youth sports.  At ridiculously earlier ages, we are pushing our kids to specialize in one sport in a rat race to nowhere, even to the detriment of what's best from and physical and mental standpoint for our young athletes.  

The world of youth sports can be confusing, complicated and an emotional roller coaster for athletes and parents if you let it.  My recommendation for any parent getting lost in the struggle of what to do with their young athlete is to be lead by 3 questions:

1 - Is your athlete having fun?

2 - Is your athlete getting better?

3 - Is your athlete doing the best that they can?

Is Your Athlete Having Fun

We overthink and over-analyze this sports thing.  We play sports to stay in shape, have fun, and compete.  Fun and enjoyment and joy should drive their attendance at an early age while building up a healthy level of competition. 

Of course, I would love for little Johnny to be the next LeBron James or little Lexa to be the next Serena Williams, but at some point, our kids will be done playing and what will they be and how will they look at sports when it's all over?  Create an environment of joy and happiness early to keep them engaged, to keep them coming back, and to create lifelong sports fans.  Make sure they are having fun now to create a solid foundation for the future.

Is Your Athlete Getting Better

It's important that we as parents put our kids in a position to grow and develop at an appropriate rate so that when they do get older and sports get more competitive, they are well-rounded athletes who are ready to compete at the highest level.  Make sure that your kid is with a coach who cares, who is knowledgeable about their sport, and who has a plan and a vision for how they can grow your athlete.

There are only a few things worse than the 10-year-old basketball player whose coach sticks her in the post because she's the tallest pre-teen in the league.  What happens if that kid never grows anymore and finds herself as a post stuck in a short guard's body in high school? 

Having fun is important, but make sure that there is learning, growth, and development happening for your athlete so that they are ready to compete when it gets serious when they get older.

Is Your Athlete Doing The Best They Can

Aside from being fun and the health and social benefits, sports provide a way for you to learn life lessons such as work ethic, growth mindset, and leadership.  One thing that I preach to my kids is going out and doing their best every day in practice and games.  Building successful habits in all walks of life are important.  We tell our athletes that we won't always win and we won't always be the best, but we will always give our best.

In this entitlement era where people are always arguing whether we should give participation trophies or not, it's up to the parent to make sure that the child is getting the message that the real trophy comes from knowing that you did your best and that you got better.  Whether your best result in the city championship or just constant improvement over the course of a losing season, building this habit of growth mindset and competing to get better will serve our athletes well for the rest of your lives.

You won't always be the best, but you can be your best.  Have fun, enjoy the journey, and don't over-complicate this sports thing!

Building Strong Relationships Allow You To Send Strong Messages

Kevin Eastman - Coaching U Podcast

You have to learn how to build and or strengthen relationships.  It’s not really about networking; networking is only and number.

It’s not about how many people you know, it’s about how many relationships that you have.

Having 15 players is great, but do you have a relationship with those 15 players?  

Because the tougher the circumstance, the tougher the message, the tougher the truth – it can only be delivered, and received if there was a pre-existing, strong relationship that was built prior to those tough messages.  Those moments of truth in a game where you have to tell a hard truth to a player in the heat of the battle are made possible when you have worked over time to build the relationship.

Its not about what makes a person tick, it matters what makes them talk.  If I can get them to talk, I can figure out what makes them tick.  From there and through the strength of the relationship, I can educate them on how to change their tick.

Ultimately we are trying to create buy-in with the people that we work with, and that buy-in starts with the strength of the relationship.

You see some hard messages in timeouts of big games, and those messages are received and acted upon, but the strength of the relationship that was built over the previous 4, 5, 6 months to years is what allowed the message to be received and acted upon in those moments.

Save Their Future: The 2030 High School Reunion and Self-Deception

Tim Elmore is one of the leading people in researching and studying the iY generation.  These thoughts came from a short story from his blog that you can find here.  

Self-deception is the act or practice of allowing yourself to believe that a false or invalidated feeling or idea is true.

We all practice self-deception - seeing the world as adults for how we learned to see it as kids and not living in truth.  Or more damaging - seeing the world for how we WANT to see it and how it benefits us and not for what it really is.

We grow up and learn within our small bubble - whether that bubble was picture-perfect in a house surrounded by a white picket fence or dodging bullets in the inner city on the way to school - and the real world is so much more complex than that.  The world isn't black and white - it's full of so much grey area in-between, and we often lie to ourselves because we either ignorant to truths or we aren't strong enough to be completely honest with ourselves.  Why work on correcting my bad habits when I can disguise or hide them?

Work to discover universally good habits, characteristics and virtues, live by a growth mindset, appreciate your blessings for the gifts that they are and learn how to embrace and welcome your failures as opportunities for growth and escape from the self-deception bubble.  Learn to value sustained effort, delayed gratification and diligence in all that you do.  

"Success isn't just about greatness.  It's about consistency.  Consistent hard work leads to success.  Greatness will come."

Defeating self-deception is simple in theory - be mindful and aware of your actions and their consequences, and identify what brings value and joy to your life and do more of it, while at the same time identifying what is hurting your life and doing less of it.  

But it's hard in action because it either goes against how we grew up or it goes against everything we are wired to do, as Nic Saban once stated: 

The human condition is to survive.  Its not to win championships.  Its not to be the best you can be.  Its to survive ... 

At the core, we deceive ourselves because we don't have enough psychological strength to admit the truth and deal with the consequences that will follow. Yet, understanding our self-deceptive nature is the most effective way to live a fulfilling life. For when we acknowledge who we really are, we have the opportunity to change.

If you see yourself in the phrases above, in the article, or in the story, don't stress or worry: you can overcome with awareness.  We can't shift the blame in our lives to someone else; people may fail us, but we are responsible for our own happiness, our own success, and our own lives.  The greater your awareness, the greater your chances of stepping out of self-deception at any given time.  Be willing to work to find your success and your peace!

But at the same time, if you want to sit back, kick back, relax and just chill on a Sunday night - that's cool too.  LOL.

Know How To Make A Play

Your child has the ball (pick a spot on the floor) one on one, five seconds left down by one. Does he/she know what to do? Does he/she know what to look for? Does he/she have a move and counter move going left and right? If not seek scenario based assistance ...

What Johnny Manziel Would Do Different - Work Hard and Be a Student of the Game

Quarterback Johnny Manziel was recently on the Dan Patrick show and was asked if he had a mulligan on his start in the NFL, what he would do.  His response was an in-depth look at what happens when we grow up relying solely on our talent and don’t work at our craft or become students of the game.

Learning is a skill.  Work ethic is a skill as well, and the best of the best know this and work on this part of their life.  Here is the original article, and his response is written out below:

“If you would give me the mulligan, the mulligan would have had to come right after I got drafted,” he said. “I see successful guys in the NFL, and what they do in the offseason, and the time that they put in, that makes them good players. Yes, they’re athletically gifted, but guys are good in the NFL because they know film, they study hard, and they work even harder in the offseason. I didn’t know that.

“And I feel like … if Cleveland did any of their homework, they would have known that I was a guy that didn’t come in every day and watch film, I was a guy that didn’t really know the Xs and Os of football. I played in a spread offense. We looked at bubbles, we looked at flats, we had progression reads across the field; it wasn’t like it was a super-intricate pro system. So when I get to Cleveland, there’s a quarterback in the room with me that’s not helping me [presumably Brian Hoyer, who started 13 games that season]. And it’s not really his job to, but nobody was there really helping me go over the Xs and Os and it was hard. I struggled.

“And then getting on the practice field, I lost a lot of confidence after my first couple days there. This was the first time in my life, at least (since) my freshman year of high school, that I wasn’t playing really well, that I didn’t come out the first day and throw the ball around and make a lot of completions and score touchdowns and everything – I struggled.

“And from there, that’s when the depression started to come, that’s when some things mental health-wise started to really change what was going on in my life, but I would go back to after the draft and getting with someone, or putting in extra time, or whatever it was, to make sure that I really, genuinely understood what was going on. There was a lot of winging it and not a lot of knowing exactly what I was doing because it was a hard transition for me. I didn’t know everything.

“The next year, when I got with Josh McCown, that guy was like, ‘listen: if you want to, you can come with me everyday. You can get here when I get here, you can leave when I leave, if you want to be good, just follow what I’m doing. I’ve been doing this for a long time, and there’s a reason that I’m still in the league this long down the road.’ Me and him got along great.”

Patrick interjected, “He’s a good dude. He really is,” speaking of McCown.

“He’s awesome,” Manziel said enthusiastically. “He gave me a blueprint, and that’s something that I still have to this day: he gave me a nice blueprint of what it takes to be a solid pro, and I’m very thankful to Josh and all that he did for me in Cleveland.”

"If Cleveland did any of their homework they would have known I wasn't a guy who came in every day and watch film. I wasn't a guy who really knew the X's and O's of football." - Johnny Manziel (@JManziel2) pic.twitter.com/7m2In1Z4JT

— Dan Patrick Show (@dpshow) April 4, 2018

Jay Wright From Villanova Teaching Layups and Finishing Around The Basket

Jay Wright here is teaching their 'Bully' finish move.  The definition of a bully can be seen here:

He starts out by talking about hearing at a basketball clinic at Princeton that they work for 30 minutes of layups every day.  

Think about how many times in a game do you get a layup out of your offense or on a steal do you get a layup and miss?

You have to practice finishing around the basket off either feet and off two feet when you get contact to finish.

Jay calls finishing off two feet a 'Bully Move.'  Get to the basket, come to a 2 foot stop and extend at the rim.  Coming to a 2 foot stop allows you to also read the help defense.  You can stop and finish a layup, stop and finish with a jump stop, or stop and read the defense and pass.

Here is a video of him talking about the Bully and the team working on the Bully.

The reason you teach going off 2 feet is that you might beat your man, but you have to read the help.  

He talks about how they also use the Bradley drill to emphasize releasing the ball high around the basket.  

You can release the ball higher because you don't need as much extension around the basket due to proximity and momentum.  But, you have to practice this shot because it is different than what you are probably used to.

Performance-4 Strength and Conditioning Clinic

I just came back from a strength and conditioning clinic put on by the University of Minnesota strength and conditioning coach.  The two biggest takeaways from the camp were: 

Its always energizing being around others who are super passionate and energized about what they do and the level of passion that they have for their programs.  They each take ownership in their roles of getting their athletes as strong, as athletic and as ready to play and excel as possible.  

To have an elite program, everybody has to be bought in at an elite level.  This was evident by everyone who spoke - you could feel their commitment level to the program and how they felt about their role in the success in their programs.

Other Key Takeways:

- Work WITH the player; they know their stuff too.  In today's information age, they are much more knowledgeable about the game and their growth and development than ever before. 

-  Find and address the pink elephant in the room.  Use common sense when training athletes - see what they struggle with and help them improve their weakness - movement, toughness, mindset, skill-set, etc.

- Basketball players adapt to training as fast as any other athlete.  Don't be afraid to mix up how you perform movements.

- If your girls can do these the right way, you are ahead of the game:  Squat ass-to-grass/proper push-up and bench/proper deadlift/good pull-ups.

- Train to get as strong-fast-explosive as you can be while not giving up your flexibility and mobility.

- Its not just about loading weight - its about teaching proper movement then loading weight to grow strength and explosiveness.

- Create a baseline (performance test) to measure your players and to give them feedback on how they are growing and progressing.

How This Immediately Impacts Our Program
- We will identify wha baseline tests we will take.

- We will identify our bread and butter: 
     - push/pull horizontally and vertically 
     - squat
     - lunge
     - hip flexors
     - quick acceleration and decceleration sprints and stops
     - push/pull boxes 

- We will continue to teach our culture through open communication and working WITH our players and putting them in positions where they learn how to lead and hold each other accountable

What You Do << How You Do It

What you do is important.  How you do it is more important.  Even the best coaches can't get the most out of you if you aren't willing to put in the work!!!

https://ericcressey.com/strength-and-conditioning-stuff-you-should-read-3-26-18