“The first stage of learning is silence, the second stage is listening.” - Legacy, James Kerr
Align habits and behaviors with our vision. If we see ourselves as lifestyle champions, how does that impact our exercise, diet, and sleep? Would a healthy person eat a poor diet and burn the midnight oil?
How do you see yourself as a player? What matters to YOU? And does that harmonize with what your coach seeks?
You see yourself as a point guard. What does that mean to you? I heard of a D1 guard who told his friends before the season, "It's about me getting to The League not about the team." I doubt he told his coach that.
As coaches, have hard conversations about expectations and roles.
- Are you the floor leader, the link on both ends between the coach and the team?
- Do you intend to involve everyone offensively or are you a score first player?
- Are you committed to ball containment with on-ball pressure or save energy for offense?
- Are you about winning or putting up numbers? (Scoreboard or scorebook?)
- Are you a great teammate or the aloof wannabe star (Jamie Tartt)?
- Are you economical with the dribble or do you get paid by the bounce?
- Are you a student of the game or believer in OJT (on-the-job training)?
You explain that you're committed to lead, distribute, defend, and study the game...music to our ears. What habits facilitate those goals?
- Leadership. Study leaders in sports and elsewhere. It's work. Leaders communicate, share, and serve (servant leadership). Write habits that leaders show. Think about reading great books about leadership like Legacy, The Score Takes Care of Itself, or Extreme Ownership. Do you have favorite positive or negative leadership stories? Simon Sinek explained that Nelson Mandela watched his father listen and wait until others had spoken first before sharing his opinions. In Extreme Ownership, Jocko Willink was accountable for an evolution that went south with allied deaths.
- Passing. How will you improve your passing? Do you mean passing in transition, in pick-and-roll, feeding the post, drawing 2 and passing, reversing the ball? Develop the strength to zip your passes. Take care of the ball.
- On ball defense. Are you quick enough to contain the ball? How is your conditioning? Do you play a lot of one-on-one? Are you taking intelligent risk looking for steals or getting out of position?
- Studying the game. Whom and what do you study? Learn to watch film, look at how players and teams create or prevent separation. Do you see teams "shrink the court" by loading to the ball and dropping to the level of the ball? As you watch more, anticipate player movement and reaction. What would you do in that situation?
Bridge the gap between player and coach expectations. Find common ground and facilitate growth.
Lagniappe. In Made to Stick, the Heath Brothers profiled Floyd Lee, who managed the Pegasus Chow Hall in Iraq. Soldiers risked their lives to eat the superior quality food at his facility. He said, "I'm in charge of morale." His leadership speaks volumes.
Lagniappe 2. "Gets" with Chris Oliver and Alex Sarama...finding advantage.