Winning Through Life Lessons

All coaches would love for their teams to perform to their potential every time out and walk away with an undefeated record. Realistically, coaches also realize that is rarely possible; yet, some are still Win-At-All-Cost coaches who will do anything to try to make that possible. Worse yet, those coaches may place all of a player’s self-worth based on the results on the scoreboard. These WAAC coaches drive players out of sports and take away the opportunity for tremendous learning experiences. What most don’t seem to recognize is that by taking the focus off of the scoreboard, they actually might be increasing the chance to achieve on it. Gold Standard Coaching is an organization that started with the purpose to help Players have productive growth experiences in & out of competition, Parents to have reduced stress so they can enjoy the experience, Coaches to develop tools to make 1 & 2 happen-while keeping their job, and Leaders to understand ways to serve all groups equitably. GSC has conducted thousands of coach trainings, parent education, and leadership development workshops to help schools and youth sports. organizations create an organizational culture that maximizes player performance, builds positive character attributes, and improves the entire sports experience. Central to this mission is trying to replace the "win-at-all-cost" model of coaching with the Gold Standard Coach, who teaches his team to Compete, but realizes that developing Character is a far more important goal. As coaches, not only should we work towards achieving both goals, but I think we win through teaching life lessons. Evidence shows that this leads to a better performance and winning on the scoreboard. Care, Think and Try Coaches are always looking for the secret path to learning and success, and many coaches develop long laundry lists of qualities and attributes that they want the team to strive to develop. I’ve tried to simplify that long list to the lowest common denominators.

CARE. When teams begin to work together and go through the everyday effort they develop a certain camaraderie that forces them to truly CARE about their teammates. When that happens, they will do everything that they cannot to let their teammates down. THINK. Players and coaches must strive to have knowledge of the fundamentals of their game, inside and out. Pay special attention to strategic situations, and understand the objectives of each. THINK about the risk and reward involved in each decision, both on and off the court. Follow all of the laws, rules and regulations as students, employees, and citizens while striving to achieve a rewarding life plan. TRY. Just try. Your very best. Every time! Try to be competitors without equal. Players and coaches should strive to make sure that no one prepares more thoroughly, or works more diligently to become successful. Display the selfdiscipline necessary to prepare and succeed at the highest attainable level. Give a supreme daily effort, in all areas of life, towards being the best student, employee, and citizen possible. If players truly CARE about their teammates, THINK about their actions and TRY their best, the team will grow into a unit and begin to be the best that they can be. 

The Hall of Fame coach, Dean Smith once said, "Pay attention to execution, not the score." He was talking about focusing on effort, not the scoreboard; yet, he retired as the winningest coach in NCAA history. Coach Smith coached at a very high level. But when we coach young kids there are a few premises that we need to keep in mind: 1. Players participate for a variety of different reasons. 2. It's rarely going to mean as much to them as it does to you. 3. We do not know what 100% is for each kid - only they can tell us. 4. Players don't know how much they have to give until they've experienced it. 5. Sometimes we won't get 100% but we should strive to get as much as we can. During our best season we had a slogan on the back of our t-shirts that said, "Possession by Possession,” and our guys completely bought in. We wanted to play the game one possession at a time, regardless of what happened the previous play. Leads, or deficits never really affected their performance because they didn't really matter. I once heard legendary football coach, Jim Sochor say, “even your opponent is relatively insignificant.” We spent a year trying to take the focus off of the scoreboard because it doesn't really matter in regards to your effort. What are the players going to do during "crunch time" - try harder? If so, shouldn't they have been trying that hard to start with? Concentration? Focus? They should start at tip-off. The score, winning or losing, and even your opponent, don’t really matter. The only thing that matters is NOW. The task at hand. A basketball game isn't just a game – it isa hundred mini games. Fifty on offense, and another fifty on defense. Within each of those battles might be a dozen different decisions, skills, techniques, strategies, and tactics that a player has to execute; and each and every second is an adjustment so that you are in the right stance and spot to get it done. This is a mentality that has to be fostered in practice. You can't all of a sudden emphasize the importance of the ball when you haven't respected the basketball all week during practice. It has to be a habit - a mentality. You have to start with the first whistle on the first day of practice. This allows players to approach an important possession with the same level of stress as a random possession in the second quarter. Early in the year, during a prepractice “soliloquy” (my players might call it a rant!), I remember saying that you should approach every possession like it was a "4th quarter in March." Of course, in high school only the championship games are played in March. After a year full of never using the word "WIN" once during a practice, pre-game, half-time talk, or time-out we had an opportunity to play in the finals in a 17,000 seat arena that wasn'tanywhere near full - but felt like it. Especially when we got a big blocked shot that led to a deep 3 pointer at the buzzer ending the 3rd quarter, giving us the momentum, and giving the crowd a reason to get loud and crazy. Over the noise I asked the players if they knew what time it was. They looked at each other trying to figure out what answer I was looking for, and I reminded them, "It's now a 4th quarter in March!" 

Focusing on effort in order to get results is important; yet, how the coach and player reacts to a mistake, or an unsuccessful effort may be just as important. In order to make the most of a mistake, the player needs • to recognize the mistake • get some reassurance • re-instruction • to get ready for the next play. We were competing in the semifinals of an opening high school basketball tournament against a traditional power. A player who was expected to be one of our top players was shooting shots using proper technique, but was not having a very successful night. The shot would leave his hand, I’d say from the bench, “Good Shot”, and then it would miss horribly. This happened over and over again. He’d look over to the bench and I’d find myself giving him a few claps and a double-fist pump. That was my “Mistake Ritual” that told him, “You made a mistake, it’s ok, I still have confidence in you, let’s learn from it, now get ready for the next play!” Assistant coaches continually pleaded to take him out of the game, to which I finally responded that, "He's going to have to make a big shot for us someday, and I want him to have the confidence to take it!” He never found his shooting touch that night; and, much to my assistants’ dismay, we lost this very early pre-season game. Fast forward 25 games or so. That same player scored our final 7 points in the sectional semifinals against the top seed, and was our leading scorer in the previously mentioned “4th Quarter in March” during the CIF Championship game as we won the first title in school history. 

If we can create an environment where it is fun to try without the fear of failure, kids will begin to give us a little better effort every day. And it doesn't really change much as they get older. In an interview recently with the Washington State basketball team’s point guard, Derrick Lowe. Lowe was asked why they were having such a great season after being picked last in the Pac 10 preseason poll. The legendary coach Dick Bennett had just retired, and the job was passed to his son, Tony. Both are GREAT coaches. He said, "Last year we tried to play hard because we were afraid of what would happen if we didn't. This year we are playing hard because it's a little more fun, and we are not as afraid of making a mistake." If every play is played with the same effort and concentration, then every game becomes the same, regardless of the setting. Every possession in practice, preseason, playoffs – or even the championship game should be approached in the same manner .

To culminate March Madness in the Final Four, the Kansas Jayhawks were getting ready to play the Memphis Tigers in the semi-finals. When head coach, Bill Self, addressed his team in the locker room before their most important game to date, he focused on a few things. It wasn’t “winning isn’t everything it’s the only thing,” or “win one for the Gipper” like the legendary fire and brimstone pre-game speeches of Vince Lombardi and Knute Rockne. Instead, Self challenged them to have as much fun playing as he was going to have coaching, and to relax “the best they can.” He reminded them that there would be some “anxious moments” (mistakes), so to just enjoy every second. Before the final against North Carolina he suggested that they continue to play exactly the way they had all year, and to “be ourselves and go have fun!” He created a great environment and his team went out in those two games playing as well as they had all year, coming home with a National Championship. 

Expecting Excellence is best described as doing the right things right–selecting the most important things to be done and then trying to accomplish them 100% correctly. The teams that step up to the next level from average to good, or good to excellent are those that require excellence from themselves. You can’t control how WELL you play, or how well the other team plays, but you can always control how HARD you play! Players will generally give you what you expect from them. Sometimes you see "flashes of brilliance" in a player. That isn’t accidental, it’s potential. Release that potential and expect that brilliance very time out. If a player is not executing a fundamental, or a play correctly, it is the coaches’ responsibility to correct that in a positive manner. Don’t be afraid to stretch players beyond what they think they can give you. You (and they) will be surprised when you see that the results far outweigh what your team initially thought you were capable of – then reward those positive efforts. 

While winning is at the forefront of competition, success is an even higher goal. To be defeated by a better team is part of competition. To be defeated because of lack of preparation, or lack of desire during the game is unacceptable. Mistakes will happen, but the teams that play with a need to succeed are those that limit those mistakes and bounce back from them faster. Focusing on the daily lessons is what will lead to an improved player performance on game day, but the two goals of a Double-Goal Coach can work together to make the most of the sports experience. It is the pressure-cooker of winning and doing your best, whether coming from outside sources, or self-imposed, that provides the necessary slow-simmer of heat making the Second-Goal of learning life lessons really start cooking. Positive character traits like desire, persistence, resilience, and a sense of honesty and fair-play are developed and tested to the greatest extent possible. In the process of attempting to achieve athletic success, we need to get players to understand the world outside of sport is where true success and fulfillment can be found. The field of play is merely a laboratory to prepare for the game of life. Sports is just life in a game situation. 

There was a day when, all over the country, men would run their own farm, ranch, or small business while their sons and neighboring youngsters would apprentice with their mentor. They didn’t only learn the trade, they also learned about hard work, discipline, commitment, desire, teamwork, pride, communication, responsibility, trust, dealing with adversity as well as achievement and commitment. Those days are gone and those opportunities have dwindled. I think that sports has replaced those lost opportunities and the coach is the new mentor to these youngsters. Coaches should not take that role lightly. A coach should ask him/herself, "Do those players play for me?" or "Do I coach those players?" Are we taking kids where THEY want to go? Are we teaching them other valuable life lessons in the process? I hope the answer is yes. I hope we are coaching the way that we would want someone to coach our child. I hope we coach the way we want to be remembered. It's never too late to start.