A Coach's Diary

One of the pillars of Kobe Bryant's Mamba Mentality is OBSESSIVENESS. Kobe was known for his obsessive work ethic. Kobe once gave an ESPY award speech where he talked about how his obsessiveness and 4 A.M. workouts led to his success: “We’re not on this stage just because of talent or ability,” Bryant said.  “We’re up here  because of 4 a.m . We’re up here because of two-a-days or five-a-days.  We’re up here because we had a dream and let nothing stand in our way. If anything tried to bring us down, we used it to make us stronger.” Here is how Kobe defined being obsessive: "Whatever you are doing at that moment is what you are doing at that moment. Obsessiveness is having attention to detail for the action that you are performing at the time you are performing it, and if you can have that kind of focus, you can't help but to have a certain level of obsession." When he was asked how he developed his level of obsessiveness and where he learned it, Kobe said: "Being...

Middle school can be some of the best years and some of the toughest years for young athletes. So many changes happen in middle school, and you have to know who you are and who you want to be so that you are ready to deal with those changes in a productive way. In my first year coaching middle school sports, all of the coaches who were there before me kept telling me about this kid named ‘Madi.’ Madi was now in high school, but they told me about how Madi’s presence completely changed the school. Madi was a star athlete, but her genuine 'goodness' on and off the court is what transformed the school. They said that Madi was such a good, nice, and humble person that others started being the same way. It wasn’t always easy for Madi. Madi didn’t curse, she didn’t talk back, and she was a peacemaker and not a fighter. At first, people would tease Madi and try to get her to do things she didn’t want to do, but Madi would just smile and handle herself gracefully and continued to be wh...

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 Mamba Mentality is passion. Passion is love in action. It was no secret that Kobe looked up to Michael Jordan. Here is what Jordan said about passion: "The greatest thing about the game of basketball, to me, is the passion; the love that I have for it. Because when you have love for anything, you'll go to the extreme to maintain that love. That's what love does; love drives you to do everything you need to do to maintain that connection. If I didn't have that love for the game of basketball, all of the things that have panned out in my career would have never been achievable. It was truly my love for the game that kept me pushing to be the best basketball player that I can be. To be the best, at anything, you gotta have a certain love for that to overcome ...

Sports are great and fun, but they can also be stressful. The months of June and July in basketball are hard months. They are full of AAU tournaments and camps, and as I am coming to the end of my summer basketball schedule, I could use some rest. My two main goals for all of my athletes are for them to grow into becoming the best version of themselves while enjoying the process, but becoming the best version of yourself is a tiring grind. You have to push yourself out of your comfort zone and beyond your limits, and you have to make good choices at all times, like what you are going to eat, how you spend your time, and finding the right teams, the right coaches, and the right camps and tournaments. Luckily, I have a God that tells me that I can come to Him when I am weary, tired, and carry heavy burdens. In Matthew 11, just after Jesus gave his famous Sermon on the Mount and after he gave the disciples his final instructions before sending them out to teach and heal in the cities, Jes...

When I was an younger athlete, one of my biggest flaws was that I would get frustrated easily, and when I got frustrated, it showed on my face and through my body language. I had to learn how to manage frustration appropriately, and that meant I had to learn to how change my relationship with frustration. You can learn to see frustration as your enemy or your friend. Frustration is like the “check engine” light in your car. Nobody wants to see it come on, but it lets you know that something isn’t right. Frustration can be the result of your inability to do something, failed expectations, or many other things. In his book Relational Intelligence, Dharius Daniels writes that our emotions are messengers; they vocalize the inner workings in our souls. They are our body and soul’s way of alerting us and telling that there is something we need to pay attention to. When you feel frustrated, Daniels says to ask yourself: Why? What am I expecting that isn’t being met? Do I feel drained? What am...

I’m at the Nike Nationals girls basketball tournament. It is the biggest tournament of the year for high school girls basketball. The best of the best players and college coaches are competing for scholarship opportunities and rankings. Do you want to know the statement I hear the most? “They have to want it more than I do.” I hear that from both coaches and parents. They are frustrated that they seem to want more for their athletes than their athletes want for themselves. And they are right. Former NFL player and ESPN analyst David Pollack said, “There is only one person in the end who will determine if your kid will be great, and that is your kid - not you. Only your kid can decide if they will be great.” So, what can we do? Kobe Bryant said: “We have to try to put them in different things and expose them to as many things as possible, and then see if there is one thing that connects with them. Because if it does, you don’t have to tell them to do it. If they have that passion, they’...

My best friend in high school would always stop at the gas station before school and get a small bag of chips. Then he would open the bag of chips, and before he took his first bite, he would pass the bag around for anyone who would want a bite. Doing this in a car full of high school basketball players with high school appetites was a dangerous task, but he was one of the best teammates ever because he gave so freely. Every team needs teammates who are willing to give freely, and giving doesn’t have to be tangible things. We all have our gifts and talents to bring to our team. Some of those gifts, like being bigger, stronger, or faster are easy to see and measure. Other gifts aren’t visible or easily measured, like being a natural leader, being a great encourager, or having a lot of energy and enthusiasm. James 1:17 tells us that whatever we have that is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father. One of the keys to being a great teammate is knowing what your gif...