Basketball teaches us about life and life teaches us about basketball.
Robert Fulghum wrote a best seller, "All I Ever Needed to Know, I Learned in Kindergarten." Book banning is a smaller problem than lack of reading.
Apply the lessons.
Share everything. Share your time, energy, and experience with others. Be a mentor to younger teammates and listen to experienced voices.
Play fair. Sportsmanship doesn't have an expiration date. Be enthusiastic for each other.
Don't hit people. "Foul for profit." Don't put teams at the line for high points per possession chances.
Put things back where you found them. Leave the gym in better condition than when you found it. Remember Legacy and the All-Blacks New Zealand rugby team and "sweep the sheds."
Clean up your own mess. And another thing. "Were you raised in a barn?"
Say you are sorry when you hurt somebody. Every team runs into some rough patches in relationships. Say "I'm sorry."
Live a balanced life. Sports are important but they follow family and academics in importance. "Take care of business." Another theme from James Kerr's Legacy is "better people make better All-Blacks."
Take a nap every afternoon. LeBron James gets twelve hours of sleep a day. More sleep equals higher performance.
LOOK! Everything you need to know is there somewhere. Be coachable. Your coaches will put you in position to succeed.
Stick together. Everyone can't be a great player. But everyone can choose to be a great teammate. You're on a lot of teams, starting with your family. Not many people can put the team first all the time. But coaches and teammates remember those who can.
Have a 'holistic' approach to coaching and bring energy.
Lagniappe.
“Your best player has to set a tone of intolerance for anything that gets in the way of winning.” - Jeff Van Gundy pic.twitter.com/qmneWv2nMm
— Hoop Herald (@TheHoopHerald) June 3, 2023
Lagniappe 2. Repost. Simplify the game.