Basketball: Seven Words, What Did You Fail at This Week? And More.

Growing up, Sara Blakely's father asked his children seven words, "What did you fail at this week?" He gave them permission to fail. Blakely, the founder of Spanx, became a billionaire. She explained, "My dad taught me that failing simply just leads you to the next great thing."

In Man's Search for Meaning, Victor Frankl shares the story of surviving the death camps. He extended Freud's concepts about life revolving around work and relationships to add suffering as the third inevitable force. Failure is part of life.

In his fourth season, Dean Smith and his team returned from a road trip to find himself hung in effigy. “Dean Smith was hanging in effigy and half of us didn't realize what the devil that was and what it meant,” Billy Cunningham, a senior on that 1965 team, said. “When we realized, it was very upsetting, and myself and my teammates went out and pulled it down. We felt, if nothing else, it wasn't the coach's fault we lost. All the losing was due to the way we were playing.” Smith's Tarheels went on to win a pair of National Championships. 

We all know people who fail and quit. Edison didn't view 999 attempts to make a light bulb as failures but as instruction as to what didn't work. Failure is our teacher. 

"We make our choices and our choices make us." 

One sweltering summer Sunday evening a few years ago, I worked with Cecilia, the only girl to show for a summer workout. I demonstrated reverse layups from the baseline. She couldn't get the steps or the timing down. The following Sunday, she finished them perfectly. She didn't sulk or quit or feel self-pity. Find a solution. She averaged 19.9 points and 14 rebounds this year as a fourteen year-old freshman. 

Challenges confront us every day. Do we give in and give up or get up and get in? "Don't tell me that you can't; show me you will."

Making the team is enough for some players. "Good enough" doesn't fulfill championship ambitions. A young girl told a mogul skier how much she admired her skiing. "You never fall." At that moment the skier recognized she wasn't going all out, leaving her comfort zone, taking risk. She changed her skiing and became a champion. Champions take risks. 

Putting ourselves out there invites criticism, failure, and sometimes hatred. It takes courage to fail. But as Jon Bon Jovi sings, "you can't win until you're not afraid to lose."  

Teach players to fail and respond. What did you fail at this week? 

Summary:

• What did you fail at this week? 
• Suffering (failure) is inevitable.
• Failure is our teacher.
• We make our choices and our choices make us.
• Champions take risk.
• "You can't win until you're not afraid to lose." 

Lagniappe. Paying the price. 

Lagniappe 2. Kevin McHale's BAG had numerous elements, starting with his hook shot, his classic up-and-under (McHale Move), and fadeaway. Ambitious young players should find a GO TO and COUNTER action and at least FOUR WAYS TO SCORE.