Chuck Daly said, "I'm a salesman." We all are. We ask them to BUY IN to a program we believe ADDS VALUE. We share a philosophy, we build a culture, and we create an identity.
During halftime today, my message was "we don't take plays off." I emphasized the importance of staying mentally and physically engaged every possession. But I also explained that means doing your homework on time and well. And later in life, it means figuratively to take care of your business the right way. When you lose your assignment (in basketball), good teams capitalize. When you don't block out or sprint back with awareness on defense, good teams make you pay. Mental errors aren't acceptable.
Every practice and every game presents challenges which are learning opportunities. Up until the last couple of minutes of the game, the second half fouls were 11 to 3. The players were rolling their eyes at the calls or the non-calls. I reminded the team to "control what we can control", our choices and our effort. Don't let distractions (the officiating) interfere with our performance.
But the girls 'entertain me', too. With about 2 1/2 minutes left, we were up by three points and there was a commotion on the bench. Our littlest player was yelling, "It's GO TIME" to get everyone excited.
This has been very good to us with our shooters getting opportunities. "Oakley" (Annie not Charles) converted several of these today.
Every practice and every game presents challenges which are learning opportunities. Up until the last couple of minutes of the game, the second half fouls were 11 to 3. The players were rolling their eyes at the calls or the non-calls. I reminded the team to "control what we can control", our choices and our effort. Don't let distractions (the officiating) interfere with our performance.
But the girls 'entertain me', too. With about 2 1/2 minutes left, we were up by three points and there was a commotion on the bench. Our littlest player was yelling, "It's GO TIME" to get everyone excited.
This has been very good to us with our shooters getting opportunities. "Oakley" (Annie not Charles) converted several of these today.