Wednesday, September 27, 2023

Sport Through the Quotes of a Great Author

Find ideas that resonate. Explore more authors and more ideas. For example, Oscar Wilde simplifies friendship, "your friends stab you in the front." Directness comes from the heart.

Let's explore "basketball ideas" from Colombian author, Nobel Prize winner, Gabriel Garcia Marquez.  

"What matters in life is not what happens to you but what you remember and how you remember it." Perception is reality. Some players and families see our coaching as a godsend and others as the work of the devil. 

"A true friend is the one who holds your hand and touches your heart." Players do not care how much you know until they know how much you care. Above all, coaching is about relationships. 

"I discovered that my obsession for having each thing in the right place, each subject at the right time, each word in the right style, was not the well-deserved reward of an ordered mind but just the opposite: a complete system of pretense invented by me to hide the disorder of my nature. I discovered that I am not disciplined out of virtue but as a reaction to my negligence, that I appear generous in order to conceal my meanness, that I pass myself off as prudent because I am evil-minded, that I am conciliatory in order not to succumb to my repressed rage, that I am punctual only to hide how little I care about other people’s time." One element I love about sports is that you cannot hide who you are on the court. You are generous, selfish, tough, soft, energized, lazy. Your play is uniquely you. 

"A lie is more comfortable than doubt, more useful than love, more lasting than truth." Kevin Eastman says that you cannot fool dogs, children, and basketball players. They see authenticity, value, and sincerity...or not. 

"She felt the abyss of disenchantment." They say that "hell knows no fury than that of a woman scorned." They never coached. 

"Cease, cows, life is short." Athletic careers, like youth, are short. Treasure what you have while you have it. 

"She would not shed a tear, she would not waste the rest of her years simmering in the maggot broth of memory." Tens of thousands of thoughts fly through our consciousness daily. We choose to dwell on disappoints or move ahead looking for better times. 

Lagniappe (something extra, basketball-specific education). Develop a versatile portfolio of finishes. 

Lagniappe 2. Teach players to find ways to attack the paint. 

Lagniappe 3. Fight for your culture every day.  

Lagniappe 4. BOB.