“Imagine your reaction if, before a big game, the referees got all the players together from both teams and announced that, in addition to the usual rules of the game, they were going to call every player for a violation any time he got off-balance. An off-balance shot, a pivot against a double-team, a pass …
Most people struggle to understand the difference between an athlete that is a star and one that is a super star basketball player. In an NCAA March Madness pre-game telecast, the panel was breaking down the impact that Michigan State’s Draymond Green has had on the men’s basketball program. MSU head coach, Tom Izzo, said …
Beware of great plays. Common sense might seem to tell you that great plays make the difference between a good player and a mediocre player, but most coaches would disagree. More often, they would say, great plays (or the attempts to make great plays) are what make good players mediocre. Many players are mediocre because …
This video is of Beyoncé during her dressing room rehearsal for her American Idol appearance. NO MICROPHONE. No effects. No amped mic, no reverb… Just Bey. “Sometimes you need perspective. You’ve been right in front of greatness so often that you need to step back and see it again for the first time.” —Jay-Z At …
This video is a fantastic extension to all the discussion that came out of my previous post on mental toughness (see ‘Unfairness: The Missing Ingredient in the Debate on Toughness‘). This is actual footage shot at an in-class session from PGC Basketball… [I never get tired of listening to “Coach D” talk!]. /sef.
So, I tried something new the other day. I began soliciting feedback on Facebook. I asked the question: What’s your definition of “TOUGHNESS”..? (Felt like I was opening up a Pandora’s Box. Ha!) Go ahead… chime in. There’s no expiration date on this debate. Vote: You see, toughness is one of those catch-all buzzwords that gets …
How do you develop loyalty when it doesn’t exist? How do you transform an organization’s or team’s culture? What things are loyalty killers? These questions are ongoing challenges for all of us who seek to move ourselves, our teams – and others – from good to great. The Godfather, Michael Corleone, built his empire on …
“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” —Albert Einstein Think about this quote for a second and ask yourself, does this thought apply to the way you develop an athlete? To borrow a thought from writer/teacher/coach/mentor, Dick DeVenzio, I continually ask athletes, to ask themselves, …
A newly minted friend in the US, William Sheldon, spoke about culture recently. He said, and I’m paraphrasing here, ‘culture is held (or staged) in conversations.‘ Culture is defined, and lived, in the way we talk about ourselves and each other; it’s found in our interactions. Think about that for a moment. Read it again… …