A Coach's Diary

“Most people in life quit before the turn. They’re not ready to handle or endure the length of a trial, or the length of a struggle, or the length of losing. So they stop before it was just about to turn.” - Kara Lawson How do you know when to slow down, stop, or push harder? We all have those moments where we doubt ourselves, our journey, and the people around us. When that happens, do you quit or keep going? Duke women’s basketball coach Kara Lawson said, “Most people in life quit before the turn. They’re not ready to handle or endure the length of a trial, or the length of a struggle, or the length of losing. So they stop before it was just about to turn. The one thing we will never do in our program is stop believing, and stop pushing, and stop trying to make something turn. You don’t sit back and wait for something to turn, you have to go make it happen.” What is your struggle or trial? What is trying to get you to stop? How do you keep going? For me, it comes down to three things...

"We all wait in life for things to get easier. It will never get easier. What happens is you handle hard better ... So make yourself a person that handles hard well." - Kara Lawson Kara Lawson was one of the best basketball players in the world. She won an Olympic gold medal and a WNBA championship, and she led the University of Tennessee to 3 Final Fours. As the head basketball coach at Duke University, she gave a speech to her team about how to Handle Hard Better that has inspired people around the world. One of her athletes was struggling with the transition from high school to college. The first couple of weeks as a college athlete can be some of the toughest weeks of your life. Coach Lawson said her athlete was waiting to get through the first couple of weeks of college workouts as if it was going to get easier for her, so she told the athlete and her teammates so many of us wait in life for things to get easier, but it sometimes never does, and we have to learn how ...