A Coach's Diary

Before the first NBA 3-Point Shooting Contest in 1986, Larry Bird walk in the locker room and said "Man, who's coming in second?" That is confidence! That is belief in yourself and your abilities. The days that I am most confident are the days where I know what is coming and when I am prepared for it. I feel the same about sports. When I have put in the work and I feel good about what I have done in practice, I feel more comfortable and confident in the game. In an interview, Michael Jordan was asked if fear of failure was a motivator. He said, "I never feared about my skills because I put in the work. Work ethic eliminates fear. If you put forth the work, then what are you fearing? You know what you are capable of and what you are not." What that quote tells me is confidence and success come from work. Sports psychologist Dr. Patrick Cohn defines self-confidence as how firmly athletes believe in their ability to execute a physical skill or perform a task. He sa...

WEEK 18 DEVOTIONAL | RELEASE God has given everybody a degree of faith and a purpose designed for service. We all have the power of faith living within us; we just need to remember to RELEASE it. We all have times when our faith is strong, and we have times when our face feels weak. Romans 12 says that each of us is given a measure of faith. Even when we don't feel like our faith is strong, we can have hope in God and in knowing that for those who love God, all things work together for good. We just need to RELEASE our faith and trust God by giving our circumstances to Him knowing that He is in control of everything and doing the best we can with what we have. Football player Kwity Paye was drafted by the Indianapolis Colts with the 21st pick in the 2021 NFL draft. He has one of the most remarkable stories in the NFL. Kwity was born in a refugee camp after his family fled Liberia. His mother Agnes brought him and his brother to Providence to escape, and she signed them up for footb...

Kwity Paye was drafted by the Indianapolis Colts with the 21st pick in the 2021 NFL Draft. After being drafted, Kwity told his mother, live on camera, that she was done working and that she was retired. This is a special moment and chapter in the extraordinary career and life of Kwity and his family.  Kwity was born in a refugee camp after his family fled Liberia, and his mother, Agnes, brought him and his brother Komotay Koffie to Providence to escape the war-torn country. As they grew older, Agnes signed her boys up for football at the Boys & Girls Club, and it became an obsession for both. After middle school, Paye was accepted to Bishop Hendricken, but his mother couldn't afford the tuition to send him there. Kwity told his mother if she let him go, she wouldn’t have to pay for college. Agnes worked nearly 24-hour days putting Paye through high school, and Kwity understood the sacrifice and did his best to work as hard on and off the field as his mother did to pay for schoo...

We have a saying that everybody is great and happy when the shots are falling or when the bats are hitting, but who can we count on when the storm comes and we have to navigate through and around adversity? When the storm comes in a game and the coach has to call a timeout, it's interesting to see how the huddle, the players, and the coaches react and respond in the heat of the moment. Wins and losses aren't determined by our mistakes; they are determined by how we respond to mistakes. An important word and concept to learn and live by is the concept of de-escalation. Deescalation is calming someone (or yourself) down so that they can respond appropriately instead of reacting emotionally. Something happened - it could have been a made or missed shot, a turnover, an injury, or anything else, and responding with empathy, even in the moment, will help respond in a way that shows empathy in order to get to the heart of the matter. Dr. Bruce Perry  is a researcher, clinician, and te...

Have you ever been on a team where a leader needed to step up or have you ever wanted to be a leader but you felt like you didn't have the voice to lead? When Michael Jordan joined the Bulls as a rookie, they were a struggling team and a struggling franchise. They needed a jolt of energy and leadership, and Michael became that jolt and provided that leadership. The culture of the team at the time wasn't what it needed to be and felt like Jordan needed to do something about it because he wasn't used to losing. The Bulls didn't handle adversity well, and they would put their heads down and give up when they faced challenges or got down in a game, but Jordan's character wouldn't allow that to continue. His teammates quickly learned that Jordan wouldn't let them lose. Within the first couple of weeks, MJ proved to his teammates that he was the best player on the team and a leader worth following. Michael Jordan said, "My mentality was - whoever was the tea...

WEEK 17 DEVOTIONAL | BELIEVE "All things work together for those who believe." After feeding the 5,000 thousand people using five small barley loaves and two small fish, and walking on water to catch the disciples in their boat on the lake, Jesus was asked, "What must we do to do to the work God requires?" Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to BELIEVE in the one he has sent (John 6)." I always tell my team that it is easy to BELIEVE when everything is going great, but who can we count on when things aren't going great? When we are in a slump, or when our energy is low, or when things are starting to fall apart, who can we count on to help turn things around? It is important to know that there is nothing that can happen to us that God will not work out of our good, one way or the other, as long as we keep BELIEVING (Romans 8:28). As long as you keep BELIEVING, God keeps working. We can't let the devil take away our BELIEVING, and we can't...

A 9th-grade basketball coach was struggling with team chemistry and the relationships on his team. The athletes had formed cliques, and some felt excluded and bullied on the team. The coach tried running the athletes, talking to the athletes, and even threatened the athletes' spots on the team, but nothing made a difference. A coaching mentor, Coach Josh, was brought in to help. He arranged the athletes in a circle. The coaches were also present. Coach Josh started with a quote from Pat Summitt: "A champion is someone who is willing to be uncomfortable, but teammwork is what makes common people capable of uncommon results." Coach Josh gave every person in the circle a pen and two notecards. He said, "Think about the best teammate that you ever had. What is one or two words to describe that teammate."  Coach Josh gave them a few minutes to think and write, then he said, "I want to get to know a little more about you all. I have in my hand a talking stick. It...