A Coach's Diary

First, watch the video below for an insight into the type of parents and parental support that NBA legend Kobe Bryant grew up with: (Watch the video before continuing) In the video, Kobe Bryant was asked, "Who was your greatest teacher growing up?" He said his parents were great. They instilled in him the importance of imagination and curiosity with the understanding that if you want to accomplish something, you have to put in the work to get there. Kobe grew up thinking the world was his oyster and all things were possible if he was willing to put in the work. He was then asked, "Who was more influential for you, your mother or your father." Kobe said, "Both were influential at different points. My mom was there on a daily basis. My father was really influential at a critical time." Kobe then told a story about how when he was 10 or 11 years old, he played in a summer league where he went the entire summer without scoring a single point. The league was a ...

Even though he is no longer with us, I love studying the mind, habits, and work ethic of Kobe Bryant. Kobe was known as a true student of the game, and one of the hardest workers we have ever seen. Kobe had a lot of talent, and he had God-given size and athleticism, but Kobe became one of the best ever because of how hard he worked on and off the court. Kobe Bryant was a true student of the game of basketball and of life. Kobe was so focused on being great that he focused on every detail in his daily life so that he would be able to pick up even the smallest details on the basketball court. Kobe said, "By reading, by paying attention in class and in practice, by working, I strengthened my focus. By doing all of that, I strengthened my ability to be present and not have a wandering mind." From a young age, Kobe devoured film and watched everything he could get his hands on. He said it was fun for him, and the most important question to ask was: Why? Kobe knew early on that he ...

My favorite Steph Curry story comes from his very first college basketball game. We know Steph Curry as an NBA champion, an NBA MVP, and the best shooter of all time, but there was a time when Steph was known as an undersized, not-good-enough, underrecruited freshman who went to Davidson in part because no major program recruited him. Steph started his first college game as a freshman for Davidson, but he had 9 turnovers in the first half, and they were down 18 points at half-time. His coach, Bob McKillop, said that he had to make a big decision at half-time. They were down big, and they had to decide whether or not they were going to keep the struggling freshman in the lineup. When they were recruiting Steph and watching him play in high school, they watched him play in a game in Las Vegas where he was awful. He kept turning the ball over, he was missing shots, he was getting beat defensively, but he never stopped playing, he never showed frustration, and he was never impacted by the ...

Passion, energy, and enthusiasm are powerful forces. In fact, Carmine Gallo writes that the most popular TED TALK speakers share something in common - a passion, an obsession they must share with others. Successful speakers can't wait to share their ideas, and they have a charisma that is directly associated with their passion and joy for what they do. I would argue that the best coaches and teachers share the same passion, joy, and obsession for what they do. A school administrator that I respect once told me, "I hire for energy, and I train for skill. The best teachers that I have been around aren't always the most skilled teachers, but they have the best energy. They have an energy that is contagious. They are like magnets that people - students, parents, and other teachers - are drawn to." I recently started reading Gallo's book called  Talk Like Ted  thinking that I was going to learn more about public speaking, but instead, I learned about the importance of ...

In his book, The Mamba Mentality, Kobe Bryant wrote, “When it came to basketball, I had no fear.” He then wrote what that meant to him: What I mean by that is: If I wanted to implement something new into my game, I’d see it and try incorporating it immediately. I wasn’t scared of missing, looking bad, or being embarrassed. That’s because I always kept the end result, the long game, in my mind. I always focused on the fact that I had to try something to get it, and once I got it, I’d have another tool in my arsenal. If the price was a lot of work and a few missed shots, I was OK with that. As a kid, I would work tirelessly on adding elements to my game. I would see something I liked in person or on film, go practice it immediately, practice it more the next day, and then go out and use it. By the time I reached the league, I had a short learning curve. I could see something, download it, and have it down pat. From the beginning, I wanted to be the best. I had a constant craving, a yearn...

Former NBA star Gilbert Arenas recently told a couple of young NBA players, “Coaches always want someone who they can rely on.” One of the simplest ways to become someone your coach can rely on is to listen and apply what they are teaching you. It’s amazing how many of our athletes don’t listen and don’t apply new information that their coaches give them. Coaches sometimes have to go over things or teach and reteach things over and over again before they can get some athletes to even try new skills, much less use them in the game or master them. We are often educated way beyond our level of obedience. How many times do we need to hear that we alone control our attitude and effort? The message won’t help us until we do it and live it. Some of the best coaches have some of the best quotes and one-liners. They can be powerful ways to say something important or to make a point in a different way. Jesus did this by speaking in parables. In Matthew 13, Jesus taught 6 different parables: Para...

Kobe Bryant was known for his Mamba Mentality. The Mamba Mentality means, "Trying to be the best version of yourself." It means, "Every day, you are trying to become better." One of the pillars of Kobe Bryant's Mamba Mentality is Fearless. Kobe Bryant was asked, " Why is being fearless such an important part of the Mamba Mentality? " He said: "I think the greatest fear that we face is ourselves. It's not anything that is external; I think the greatest fear you face is yourself because we all have dreams, and its very scary sometimes to accept the dream that you have, and it's scarier still to say okay, I want that. It's scary because you're afraid that if you put your heart and soul into it and you fail then how are you going to feel about yourself? Being fearless means putting yourself out there and going for it no matter what. Go for it. Not for anybody else, but for yourself." He was then asked, "When you got to the le...

NFL athlete and real estate agent Nick Ralston has an amazing story about how he made it to the NFL, and how his faith in God and hard work helped him overcome the obstacles in his life to make it to the best football league in the world. Nick was a star running back at Argyle High School (a small town west of Dallas) in Texas before going to play college football at Arizona State and Louisiana-Lafayette. At the end of his college career, he was in the middle of preparing for an NFL Pro Day in 2020 when the Covid pandemic hit and forced him to cancel his Pro Day, derailing all of his plans. His opportunity to work out in front of NFL teams was immediately ruined and taken away from him, and so were his NFL dreams. Instead of joining an NFL team, Nick moved to New York following a relationship that eventually didn't work out, and suddenly this former Texas high school football star was stuck in New York with no real options. He had every reason to give up on everything, but instead ...

“Kids must buy into YOU and what you do in order to be successful.” - Former NBA Coach Hubie Brown This is especially true in today’s world where kids seem to ask, “Why?” after every instruction. When I was a kid, asking why was a health hazard, but it is so common today that if you don’t have legit answers, you risk not being effective enough to engage your student-athletes to drive performance. So how do you get them to buy into you and what you do? Spend some time getting real with them and let them know who you are and why they should buy what you are selling. A simple way to do that is get in a Circle, ask 1-3 get-to-know you questions, and start the relationship building process. The Circle is an effective relationship building tool because everyone is equal and included in the Circle, and everyone has the opportunity to listen and share in the Circle. Try asking these three ‘favorite’ questions to get the party started: 1 - What’s your favorite thing to eat (or what is your favo...

One of the most important things we can do is learn how to walk in love. Love is how we treat people. When you are around people they may not remember what you said, and they may not remember your record together. But they will remember how you made them feel. They will always remember if you made them feel good or made them feel bad. They will remember if you made them feel valued or unvalued. Add value to people by walking in love. How we treat people is the most important thing we do. Spend your time valuing people and treating people with love. This will lead to blessings, wins, and changed lives.

Kobe Byrant was known for his Mamba Mentality. The Mamba Mentality means, "Trying to be the best version of yourself." It means, "Every day, you are trying to become better." One of the pillars of Kobe Bryant's Mamba Mentality is Relentlessness. Kobe Bryant was asked, "What does relentless mean to you?" He said: Relentless means to be unyielding, never give an inch, and to always go after it, always go after it, always go after it. If there is a challenge that ensues, good - I want to see how I stack up to that - so I go after it and go after it. It's fun because get a chance to compete against opponents and see where you stack up against them. Maybe I'm not good enough today, but that's fine because I'll be good enough the next time I see you. You get a chance to always measure yourself, and it's fun. When he was asked if he was born with this relentlessness or if it was something that he learned over time. He said he had to learn ...

Sports are an opportunity to build better athletes and better people, but it is easy to get caught up in the wrong things on your journey. There are a lot of great things that can come from sports, but there are also a lot of distractions that can derail you. We all have the opportunity to be great and to achieve our dreams, but we have to be willing to make the right choices and decisions along the way. The hard part is that we have to do that in environments filled with people who don't have the same goals and dreams that we have. How do you stay focused on your goals and dreams when the people around you don't have the same goals, dreams, and habits? How do you stay focused and productive when there is junk, obstacles, and distractions in your way? Those can be hard questions to answer, but they might be the most important questions that you can answer. Jesus talks about the weeds that can pollute gardens in his Parable of the Weeds. In Matthew 13:24-30, Jesus told a crowd o...

Kobe Bryant did a Ted Talk for TEDxShanghai where he talked about giving a group of athletes a new pair of shoes; all they had to do was touch the line. One kid didn’t touch the line, and Kobe talks about how he held the kid accountable and why: You can’t short-change yourself; you’re not cheating anybody but yourself. You’re tired, but you are literally this far away from the line; why would you not go that extra to touch the line?   If I let you get away with that, all of a sudden you’ll start to cheat something over here, or not give your best over there. And as years go on, you’re not going to reach your full potential because you’ve been taking these little shortcuts that just add up, add up, add up, add up. I can’t let that happen. Our job as teachers and mentors and inspirers - it’s our responsibility to hold you accountable to those things. - Kobe Bryant

Have you ever noticed that some athletes listen, learn, and apply new skills and information faster than others? You can show some athletes a new skill or new play one time, and they are able to master it, and some seem to never master new information. When I teach our athletes a new skill, I tell them, "In 6 months, some of us are going to have this mastered and will be using it in games, and some of us won't. The key is not being afraid to miss or fail. You are going to mess up 1,000 times before you get it right, so speed up the learning process by trying and messing up today." Being able to listen, learn, and apply new information is a skill that every athlete should master. This is a message that Jesus shared in the parable of the sower. One day, Jesus went out of his house and sat beside the sea. When a large crowd gathered around him, he got in a boat, sat down, and started teaching the people on the beach. He told them: "A farmer went out to sow his seed. As ...