Happy Thanksgiving!
I don't believe in the 'self-made person.' Family, coaches, mentors, and friends shape us. "Mentoring is the only shortcut to excellence." Be thankful for those who helped find canvas for us to paint on and who cleared our paths.
The fourth question from Michael Useem's, The Leadership Moment is "what are the enduring lessons?" Sometimes losses are our best teachers within the competitive cauldron. Losses teach us humility, resilience, and sportsmanship. Celebrate wins and love our losses.
For what basketball experiences am I most thankful?
1. Experiences with teammates. Remember bad teammates? I don't. Rose-colored glasses? Maybe. We were together, win or lose. It was a privilege to play with the kids with whom I grew up.
2. Coaches. The two coaches who had the biggest influence for me were Sonny Lane and Dick Kelley. They preached sacrifice, positivity, and improvement. I've stayed connected with Coach Lane and his wife for almost fifty years.
3. Competition. Many readers competed at a much higher level. But it was a thrill to play in the Tech Tourney twice at "the Gahden" and watch my daughters play twice there. Beating the defending state champions in overtime still seems like a fairy tale.
4. Coaching. I've coached a lot of great young ladies who will change the world for the better long after I'm gone. As Brad Stevens says, coaches get more than we give.
5. Connection with fellow coaches. The coaching fraternity (including women coaches) is generous with their time and insights into basketball. I spent the most time coaching with Ralph Labella who invested countless hours throughout the year in helping players grow their basketball skill and knowledge.
6. Community. Being a basketball parent and a basketball coach allowed me to meet many wonderful people in our community whom I would have otherwise never met.
7. Collaboration. Phil Jackson says, "Basketball is sharing." As bad as the pandemic has been, it spawned the greatest imaginable sharing of basketball concepts and cooperation via the online community. Anyone who cares to enter the community has innumerable avenues for growth.
8. Sam beat me. At Sam Jones's camp (1972), I won the free throw contest and lost to Sam as the reward. When they asked for a volunteer to go first, I was up like a rocket. I figured that if I made ten first, nobody would be able to handle the "sudden death" pressure to do that. Basketball teaches the value of applying and handling pressure.
9. A player was graduating from our middle school program. I told her, "you're the best I've ever coached. You need a better coach to take you from here." She answered, "you're a great coach." And she became an All-Scholastic as a freshman because of her skill and will.
10.Family ties. I watched my identical twin daughters grow through four years (90-6 record) of high school basketball. Bit players as freshmen, they played three years with future WNBA player Shey Peddy and grew into confident young women.
Lagniappe. Use principles of play (structure, player and ball movement) to create space and time (from Chris Oliver).
Lagniappe 2 (Celtics simple BOB)Zone or man this play would work to isolate a matchup in space in the high post area. pic.twitter.com/Sni5SjUNcX
— Chris Oliver (@BBallImmersion) November 25, 2021
Lagniappe 3. Managing boundaries. Always keep boundaries in mind as a coach between coaching and exploitation. Here's an article that discusses some. There is no role for us to invoke challenges to ego integrity (worthless), religion or ethnicity, gender, and so forth.
"Boundary violations harm the client through some form of exploitation – psychological, sexual, financial, or emotional – for example, asking clients to do personal work or errands, borrowing money from a client, inappropriate sexual touch and so on. In boundary violations the coach’s needs, wishes, and goals are placed ahead of the client’s."
