It's been a few days since I last posted, and with good reason, as I've gone to bed as soon as I've gotten home most nights. I find myself wide awake tonight, visualizing tomorrow's match that Lasell has vs. Babson. The girls will be facing a tough opponent, but they have a never-say-die mentality, and I believe that if they give their all the whole match and stay away from getting down on themselves, they could easily pull off the "upset".
This has been my first coaching job that wasn't on a volunteer basis, and it has been a dream job so far. The girls work hard, they all get along, and there are no egos to battle. I've never seen any team like it! Although only 23, I have my coaching philosophy in place already. I've been reading autobiographies on coaches since I was 17, starting with John Wooden, and more recently finishing Tony Dungy's. Each book has given me more insight on what is important to me and what is not, and I hope that although I'm young, I'm able to make a positive contribution to the team.
So what do I believe in? Effort. Poise. Hard work. Selflessness. Wins and Losses come into play, but the means of how we achieve both is what concerns me. Of all the things I learned from John Wooden, it is that we can only strive to be the best we can be, and if we do that, we can consider ourselves successful, no matter what the scoreboard says. The funny thing is, the team that puts forth the most effort ends up winning most of the time anyways, which probably explains why John Wooden won 10 National Championships in 12 years with UCLA.
I feel it is not only important to put forth your best physical effort, but also be as mentally tough as possible. If you don't believe, you can't achieve, and the beautiful thing about sports is anyone can win on any given day, regardless of what the odds may be. Look at all the cinderella stories sports have. I read Lou Holtz's book "Wins, Losses, and Lessons", and feel he had such a good grip on that concept. He continuously took losing programs and turned them into powerhouses, and he did so by changing the mentality of the teams. "What the mind perceives, the body achieves" was his saying, and that stays true with me today.
John Chaney ended up tarnishing his reputation when he sent in a bench player in a basketball game to foul a player hard, which resulted in the fouled player breaking his arm. The sad thing is, although there was terrible judgment on his part when sending that player in, overall he was a very good coach, as well as a hell of a speaker. Although my father taught me the importance of setting goals at a young age, Chaney nailed the point home. I remember his retirement press conference, when he boomed "Don't give up on young people, because they don't fail you. I've never had a young person to fail. They don't even know how much they can give, I don't care how much you ask them, how much you beg them, how much you plead with them to give more, they don't know what they can give until it's done, until it's over. You keep asking for more, you keep raising that ceiling, keep raising the floor, so that they have a chance to make it."
This statement never left me, and I find myself continually raising that bar for my players, never settling for where they're at. As soon as I settle for where someone's at, I've failed them as a coach, because I don't think it's realistic to say "well, so-and-so can't possibly get better", and it's my job to make sure they make the most of their time under me.
I hope that the lessons I teach players on the court will stay with them off the court. As a player who was a nobody in high school, who didn't think he could go anywhere, who had one coach completely change he looked at himself and how he approached sports, I feel that it's my obligation to see the potential in everyone, as my coach saw in me. And so far, the results have been great.
11 days until pre-season begins. I love coaching, but can't wait to play. I'll publish an update from my thoughts as a player in the next couple days.
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