A Coach's Diary

One of the hardest parts about being a leader is having to set a line of expectations and then actively live above that line. It’s easy to say, “Work hard, show up early, stay late, compete in every drill, every day, and don’t take any shortcuts,” but nobody is perfect and we all make mistakes. I’ve heard many coaches say, “Do as I say, not as I do.” We know what we need to do, but we don’t always do it. Jesus knew this too, and He addressed this when He was talking to His disciples and the crowds of people about the teachers of religious law at the time to His disciples and crowds of people in Matthew 23. Jesus said, “So practice and obey whatever they tell you, but don’t follow their example. For they don’t practice what they teach. They crush people with unbearable religious demands and never lift a finger to ease the burden. Everything they do is for show. On their arms, they wear extra wide prayer boxes with Scripture verses inside, and they wear robes with extra long tassels.” (M...

I am in the middle of watching the second season of Last Chance U, and ELAC coach John Mosley is frustrated with his team. He has a few high-level transfers in his starting lineup, including a 7 foot 1 inch center from LSU, but Coach Mosley is struggling to get his starters to buy into the hardworking, blue-collar culture that has brought his program success in the past Instead of continuing to start his more high-profile athletes, Coach Mosley has chosen to turn to his tougher, harder-working bench athletes whom he can trust to do what he demands, make the adjustments he needs them to make, and do what he is teaching. His assistant coach said, “There are only 5 guys and 40 minutes, and the dudes that are playing are doing what they are supposed to do.” There are consequences when we do not do what we are supposed to do or are asked to do, and there are rewards when we do. Parable of the Great Feast In Matthew 22, Jesus the priests and elders, the Parable of the Great Feast, a story ab...

I was talking to a coach who had an athlete who was struggling with playing time. She wasn’t doing everything she needed to do to earn the playing time, but worse, she wasn’t being truthful with her parents. She was telling her parents that the coach was playing favorites and she wasn’t one of them, and the parents were giving the coach a hard time because of it. The advice that I gave the coach was to make sure that he was giving clear and effective feedback to the girl and her parents that explained why she wasn’t playing, and how she could earn more playing time. Author and speaker Ashley Merryman says effective feedback does three things: 1 - Makes people think differently   2 - Helps people take ownership of the problem  3 - Helps apply new thinking and new behaviors I told him that Merryman has an acronym called T.R.A.C.K.E.D. that gives a guideline for how to give effective feedback that accomplishes those three things: T - Trustworthy - Can they trust you?  R - ...

NBA legend Kobe Bryant was known for having a killer mentality, and he took that killer mentality onto the Redeem Team when he teamed up with Lebron James and the rest of the 2012 USA Basketball team. Here is what Kobe Bryant said about teaming up with Lebron and teaching him how to have a killer mentality: “The main thing LeBron and I discussed was what constitutes a killer mentality. He watched how I approached every single practice, and I constantly challenged him and the rest of the guys. I remember there was one half when we were messing around. I came into the locker room at half-time and asked the guys—in a less PG manner—what in the hell we were doing. In the second half, LeBron responded in a big way—he came out with a truly dominant mindset. And I’ve seen him lead that way ever since.” Every great team has at least one person with a killer mentality. Kobe Bryant was that person on his Lakers teams, and for Team  USA. In his own words, “I always aimed to killed the opposit...

I was talking with a coach about creating an excellent bench environment for his team. He has 12 athletes on his varsity basketball team, and as they get deeper into the season, athletes at the end of the bench are starting to realize that their place is at the end of the bench, and they are starting to react negatively to their role. Their body language is getting worse and worse, their attitudes are starting to turn negative, and the once positive environment that they had in the pre-season is now eroding because of a lack of equity in playing time. On every team, there are starters and there are bench players. It's just part of team sports. But so often, we talk to the bench players about how they can be great teammates and supportive of their teammates on the court or field, but we don't as often talk to the starters about how to also be great and supportive teammates to the ones who don't play as much. It’s easier to cheer for and support a teammate who is a good perso...

Run your own race, and run it the best you can. Everybody is running their own race, and comparison is the thief of all joy. I once heard a low-major, D1 basketball coach tell the story of a kid on his team who was one of the top ranked 8 th graders in the country when he was 14 years old. This was the kids 3 rd or 4 th college team, and according to the coach, the kid had so much success so early that he never really learned how to manage adversity. On the other hand, there are 100s of college athletes who were late bloomers and were never close to being ranked in middle school who find a lot of success at the college level. Everybody is running their own race. Athletes start their sports journeys at different times, for different reasons, and with different abilities. Some athletes hit the ground running and find success early, and some don’t find success until they have put years of work in. Some athletes are stars when they are younger and fizzle out when puberty hits, and some ...

One of the most important things you can do as an athlete is consistent in how you prepare. So many games are won or lost in preparation, and how well and consistently you get and stay prepared can make or break your career. Getting and staying prepared isn't always fun. It is hard work that requires discipline. Boxing champion Muhammad Ali once said, "I hated every minute of training, but I said, 'Don't quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.'" NBA legend Kobe Bryant was known for being one of the hardest workers and most prepared athletes ever. Preparation was so important to him that Kobe would read the referee's rule books so that he knew everything he could about how the game was officiated. But there are distractions everywhere, and we have to learn how to manage them if we want to find and maintain consistency in our preparation. Here is what Kobe said about his ability to prepare consistently while playing for the US National...