Posts
Netflix has a new sports documentary called The Playbook. It is a docu-series covering different athletes-turned-coaches and the lessons that they have learned.
The first interview was about Doc Rivers. The interview started with Doc telling what he tells his team every year, to start the year:"Every time I walk into the locker room for the first time, I tell my players every year, and I have told them for 21 years, "I'm Doc Rivers, and I'm human, and I am going to make mistakes. Having said that, every decision that I make will be good for the team. That may not be what's good for you, or for me. But if it's good for the team, it's good."
He went on to talk about his daily routine of push-ups and sit-ups every morning. He said he has a 30-minute routine, from alarm clock to car, and then he is off to practice. But he doesn't like calling it practice:
"When I was young, I practiced every day, but I never called it practice. I hate that. When I was a kid, I never called it practice. I was said I was going to play basketball. I don't ever get this going to practice thing. Basketball is a game and I love it. I never looked at it as some tortuous thing."
Rule Number 1 - Finish the Race
When Doc was a kid, a teacher asked him to write on the board what he wanted to be in life, and he wrote, "I want to be a pro basketball player." The teacher immediately grabbed the eraser, she erased what he wrote, told him to be realistic, and made him write something different. Again he wrote, "I want to be a pro basketball player." The teacher erased it again and sent him home.
When Doc got home, his dad walked him right back to school. His dad told him that he was doing horrible in school. Doc wasn't listening, he wasn't paying attention, he was always goofing around, and his dad said that the teacher was right and that he was not going to be that, and he wasn't going to be anything.
But right before they walked in the door, Doc's dad told him that it was a great goal. But whatever goal you have and you finally settle on one, just finish the race.
When Doc got back in the class, he again wrote on the board, "I want to be a pro basketball player." The students just laughed, his dad shook his head and left, and Doc said that day was a good day.
Rule Number 2 - Move On
My mom was the one who taught me how to move on.
- Sprain an ankle - eh, you will be fine.
- Lose a game - get up, you'll be fine.
She did not like you feeling bad for yourself. She just didn't allow it. Her and my dad had this no victim mentality. You are not going to be someone else's victim. You're just not.
You get put into scenarios and you just do them. And you are going to do some of the wrong. So what; you have to keep going. You learn. You don't forget. But you can't ever be a victim.
Rule Number 3 - Ubuntu
It's not all good all of the time. You are going to take some hits. You have to be able to weather the storm. Believe in who you are and what you do. Grow, but don't waver.
When we got KG, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen, I called them into the office and told them that if we are going to win, we were going to have to sacrifice. We are going to have to change. We can't shoot every time and do whatever we want to. The challenge was getting everyone to buy-in to being a team.
When I was a board member at Marquette, a lady told me that we were going to be good, but I needed to look up and study 'Ubuntu.' She said it wasn't just a word, it was a way of life. Look up the word and become it. I went home and looked it up. I took notes all night.
Ubuntu is the essence of being human. A solitary human being is a contradiction in terms. We have to learn from other people how to be human. A person is a person through other people. I can't be all I can be unless you are all you can be. I can never be threatened by you because you are good, because the better you are, the better I am. This saved Africa through Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu. They basically preached this word.
When His Dad Passed Away
When my dad passed, I told a story about my dad. I told him that he was a simple man that lived by a few ideas:
Work hard. Stay out of trouble. Don't quit. Bad things are going to happen in your life. Nobody wants them to happen, but they do.
Rule Number 4 - Pressure is a Privilege
I don't think you should run from pressure or expectations. I think you should run towards it. You don't get in a lot of pressure situations in your life. If you can put yourself in a pressure situation, you have worked for it and you have earned it. Embrace it.
Rule Number 5 - Champions Keep Moving Forward
People think if you are the champion that you don't get hit. It is the exact opposite. Champions get hit over, and over and over. It's just that the champion is the one who decides to keep moving forward. It's how many punches can you take and keep moving forward until you can win.
If you get hit, even if you get knocked down, you have to get up and keep moving forward.
When you are trying to win a title, you have to be willing to put your heart on the line.
Coaches are crazy because they have to be. To be a good coach, you have to get players to believe that you believe that they can win.
It is so much more than winning. You get pleasure in watching young men grow up. Some of the advice when I first got started was wrong. I was told, "Don't get too close to them because some of them will let you down." Get close to them. Some do let you down. So what? Your job is to coach them and make them better players, better people, and better teammates. How to be tough, how to be compassionate, how to be a good winner, and how to be a good loser (if there is such a thing). It teaches you life.
I always tell them, "I am not going to coach you to who you are. I am going to coach you to who you should be someday."
No comments:
Post a Comment