Thursday, February 8, 2024

Basketball: Assessing Ourselves by Getting Help


Take away ideas from others. Analyze them. Rework and make them yours.

Don't live your life. Star in your life. Don't be judged by your age, your gender, your ancestry, your status. Plan and articulate your long game. Don't answer, "where will you be in five years?" with a blank stare. 

Plan. Execute. Edit. Director Ava Duvernay says, "the more you prepare, the more ready you will be when the time comes." 

Take ideas from others. Analyze them. Rework and transform them. 


from Ava DuVernay, MasterClass

Find resources to build your toolbox. MasterClass helps me. Anna DuVernay is an award-winning film director who shares her ideas. Directors coach. Ron Howard says, "the director is the keeper of the story." 

Coaches "keep the story." Bill Parcells, former Patriots coach, says, "you are what your record says you are." Excellent coaches don't talk rebuilding. They don't sugar coat reality or apologize for youth, illness, or injuries.

Adopt the mindset that I need more knowledge and help. After an excellent season, a coach texted me asking, "how can I be better and improve the team?" Coaching requires energy to motivate self and others. Exceptional coaches let each player know they are seen and heard, even if they likely won't play big minutes.

DuVernay talks about powerful statements leaders make. 

1. "I don't know." Life challenges us daily. The five statements a Naval Academy first-year must know are, "Yes, Sir. No, Sir. Aye, aye, Sir. Right away, Sir. "I don't know but I'll find out, Sir." 

2. "Tell me what you think." When coaches think they're the smartest guy in the room, they're wrong. It doesn't matter where we went to school, whom we played with, against, or for, we don't know everything. Lean on others. Get help finding solutions. 

3. "Show me how to do that." In medicine, a core concept is, "see one, do one, teach one." Sometimes you see something, like a hernia operation and it doesn't resonate. Don't become a surgeon. Rely on your senses to see, to hear, and to do new things. 

Don't manage people or handle people. Work with them. 

Lagniappe. Figure it out. More reps with lower weight will get you what you need. 

Post by @drjohnrusin

Lagniappe 2. "Basketball is a game of separation..." most often this is change of direction combined with deceleration.  

Lagniappe 3. Can we change? 

 Summary: 

  • Don't fear saying, "I don't know."
  • "Tell me what you think."
  • "Show me how to do that."

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