I believe you have to create a image, a team needs a staple and a identity, without that you can not be great. You have to either create of image of winning or create a philosophy. Be it a great scoring team, a great defensive team, a great shooting team or in football a tough aggressive big team.
But one has to develope a sense of confidence and winning. You must think as a winner always. Personally I would set goals to win the conference every year regardless of it the team was talented enough. Because honestly it is sport, and in sport you should have the highest goals possible because there is no reason you can not achieve them.
And the only way to create a environment of winning is through the coach, and that coach passes that onto the players.
Players have to have confidence in themselves, and the only way they can have confidence in winning is to win. Winning is everything, you win you have confidence and you can build off of winning and create a system.
Obviously talent evalation also comes into player, because one has to keep bringing in talent to help win. Athletes are always the prize, you get a good collection of hard working athletic players and you can really go places. But mentally it is hard to judge a dud from a stud competitively. But if you get that down you can really improve your team and have mini coaches on the floor that help motivate your team.
The best players are the ones that work hard independently and are competitive and crave to win.
So how does one become competitive, is it internal or external? Yes a coach can create it but for the most part it is internal. No one can make you be great. I have always liked the quote, if I am not going to be part of the greatest, then I have to be the greatest myself. That is being independently driven.
I believe that kind of drive can come from a variety of sources.
Parents: Teach work ethic, values, morals, habits and if properly taught those abilities can create greatness in the right athlete. I am a believe in parental leadership and the child is a direct result of how their parents taught them. I know this because I am a living example of it.
What is their reaction to failure: That is key, because really there are only two options after failure. You either give up and quit or you us that failure as motivation. Thats it, two ways, which way you choose though. Some us it as motivation but they are not consistent and it goes away. The great ones never forget and never accept success and always stay driven. Win the conference championship, then they want the world championship, win the world championship then they want another championship. I believe the great ones are never ever satisfied within in the game and that drive pushes them to great heights.
Motivation: There are many ways to motivate someone, failure is a example of one. Also parents, children, and also can be things that happened earlier in life. Prime example is living in poor conditions when they were younger have motivated a ton of truely great athletes. Motivation of losing also comes into effect as well and motivation to prove yourself to yourself. Compete against yourself.
If you get these qualities in a athlete you can have a mold of a great player. And great players breed confidence to other players and breed success and winning.
Might sound stupid, but I believe I can see these traits in the way a person carries themselves and just looking into their eyes. Because the eyes are the gateway to the soul, and deep inside is the best kind of motivation. External motivation is ok, but the best kind is internal.
Not playing for the popularity, the money, the glory the fame or the recongition. Just playing to win.
Stange thing though, truely most great athletes are ridiculously narcissistic and self centered. But honestly if that is what it takes to win, I say do it.
On the down side, athletes are driven by attention and need attention.
Personally I could be considered insecure, because I focus to much on what others do. Because I use that as motivation. And the problem with using failure as motivation you start to seek out failure and but to much emphasis on it.
I do believe in no mercy at all. Your competition is your enemy during competition and they should be treated as such. Mentally I love the cut throat gesture, thats what its all about, killing your enemy. Cut the throat, take them out, crush their will, crush their spirit and dominate.
In a time of war like this it is in proper to say such things as killing and taking just a game so seriously. But I believe athletes at a great level must think this way to get the most out of their abilities, and as long as it is in perspective, then its just fine.
Finding that kind of passion and competitiveness is hard though. And honestly I do not know how one would create it or mold it. But all I can say is it takes one to know one, so thats good.
But to have lose or to have lost by dictionary definition means that you had it. 'We lost the game' technically means you had it won, but it just slipped away. People assume failure with losing but really anyone can win. Just not winning means you lost.
Is winning out scoring the opponent? Maybe. But true winning is when everyone gives all they got and are so physically drained they can barely stand up. Effort is all the matters, a supreme effort deserves supreme respect.
But in professional sports that means nothing. At its core it means everything but when players get paid the big bucks do win effort means nothing if you do not win. But effort is why you win.
Coaching makes players believe in themselves. A player that does not believe in themself will not accomplish anything. One has to bring hope to the hopeless. Because sport is a skill, and anyone can develop a skill and become a good player. Some physically can not, but for the most part anyone can develop skills if they work at it, but they catch is if they work at it.
Personal example, I did not go out for the basketball team my years in high school because I did not believe I was good enough. I was almost waiting for one of the coaches to come up to me and say, hey you should come out for the basketball team. I was even asked if I wanted to go out for the football team though, and I never did do it. I never believed in myself. The one time I did though was thanks to one of the track coaches, I was in one of his classes and he said numerous times I should go out for track. I did that year, and I was the teams best 800 meter runner my first and only year in track.
All of that because a coach believed in me. And that belief pushed me to great heights. But I would have accomplished nothing if I did not work all year running, running at night in the cold and snow.
That is where champions are made, in those times where no one is around, and they are only competing against themselves. There is no glory or audience, just you and the game.
This is pretty much a inner monologue since I am the only one that posts in it, oh well.
Well this year I scouted for Patrick Henry high school this year, a boys basketball team in Minneapolis. The high school has won 4 straight 3A titles and were going for 5 our of 6 years this year, although they moved up to 4A last year and this year.
Well we did not perform to our best ability and lost in the playoffs, did not even make it do state. While it was a great learning experience and has taught me a lot about basketball and winning.
I won't get into details because thats not proper to do.
However I must say, work ethic is a big measure to take into account if you will win or not. Everyone thinks the champions just win because they are more talented, but it is amazing how much work goes into winning, it appears easy but even for this high school, there was a ridiculous amount of preperation involved.
Also, you can not teach competitiveness, a player either has it or they don't. So the best thing to do is find the competitive player instead of trying to create the competitive player. Motivation is also a issue, but a competitor is a competitor and luckly it takes one to know one.
And, if the coaches vision does not match the players vision, if the coaches believe and the players don't, then you will fail. It is not just to have a leader believe it, the players have to believe it 100% and believe they can be champions and are the best.
Stange thing though, truely most great athletes are ridiculously narcissistic and self centered. But honestly if that is what it takes to win, I say do it.
On the down side, athletes are driven by attention and need attention.
Personally I could be considered insecure, because I focus to much on what others do. Because I use that as motivation. And the problem with using failure as motivation you start to seek out failure and but to much emphasis on it.
I do believe in no mercy at all. Your competition is your enemy during competition and they should be treated as such. Mentally I love the cut throat gesture, thats what its all about, killing your enemy. Cut the throat, take them out, crush their will, crush their spirit and dominate.
In a time of war like this it is in proper to say such things as killing and taking just a game so seriously. But I believe athletes at a great level must think this way to get the most out of their abilities, and as long as it is in perspective, then its just fine.
Finding that kind of passion and competitiveness is hard though. And honestly I do not know how one would create it or mold it. But all I can say is it takes one to know one, so thats good.
Ozzy,
There is a great essay written by David Foster Wallace about the mentality of major athletes and the consequences of the dedication required to enable an athlete to compete at a high level. It focuses on a tennis player--which is fascinating due to isolated nature of professional singles tennis--but I think it is very applicable to all sports. The title is "Tennis Player Michael Joyce's Professional Artistry as a Paradigm for Certain Stuff about Choice, Freedom, Discipline, Joy, Grotesquerie, and Human Completeness," and it can be found in Wallace's collection of essays, A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again. Reading your post immediately reminded me of that essay. It's worth checking out if you're ever browsing around a Barnes and Noble or Borders.
__________________
"Everybody is identical in their secret unspoken belief that way deep down they are different from everyone else."
There is a great essay written by David Foster Wallace about the mentality of major athletes and the consequences of the dedication required to enable an athlete to compete at a high level. It focuses on a tennis player--which is fascinating due to isolated nature of professional singles tennis--but I think it is very applicable to all sports. The title is "Tennis Player Michael Joyce's Professional Artistry as a Paradigm for Certain Stuff about Choice, Freedom, Discipline, Joy, Grotesquerie, and Human Completeness," and it can be found in Wallace's collection of essays, A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again. Reading your post immediately reminded me of that essay. It's worth checking out if you're ever browsing around a Barnes and Noble or Borders.
Cool, thanks man, one of the great books I have read about the subject is "Competitive Fire" by Michael Clarkson, it is a great book I think. Really explains the mentality athletes need and the sources of motivation they use.
Offense: Offense is penetration to the hoop and dish, it is that simple. Dribble to the basket off of dribble penetration, defense does not come in, you go to the basket, if they do sag in you kick it out to the open man. Pick and roll always works and really can not be stopped if you have the players to run it. Players have to learn how to go around screens properly, use screens and set screens as well. They must also move always on offense, no standing around, always moving in some way and being well conditioned is a must on both ends. Throwing up 3-point shots early in the offense is ok, being loose 3-point shooters is very important. Also the best offense is really on the fast break, because then you do not have to play against defense and really its just between you and the hoop. All players don’t have to be able to shoot, but you need a balance of shooters, ball handlers and role players. Players that can slash to the basket and players that are setting the picks. Ideally I would rather have a athlete than a shooter though because athletes if they are a true great one, you can not defend that, if a player is superior athletically then is when you might have something great. Quickness at the guard position is necessary on offense and you have to be able to get any mismatch you can, be it a height mismatch, speed mismatch or just talent mismatch in general.
Defense: Its what champions are made of, without defense you cannot win, it is as simple as that. Defense is about heart, passion, and competitiveness. A player is not a true player and competitor if they don’t play defense. Defense is want to, an attitude and a mindset; defensive players are defensive not only on the court but emotionally as well. You just have to have a passion for stopping people from being able to do something they normally do. Take pride it stopping the offense and be insulted when you are scored on. Footwork is huge, you have to make the players realize they will not stop anyone with their hands, you must slide your feet and stay in front of your man no matter what. They move left; you move left, they move right, you move right. Players have to keep their hips straight, not turn from side to side; they have to shadow the opponent. In terms of strategy I am all about man-to-man pressure defense, of course you can switch it up with different defenses like a 2/3 or a 3/2 every now and then also. Zone man-to-man defense is also a good idea as well if a team moves a lot. However, basically it is staying in front of your man and the basket, playing hard, playing aggressive, not giving easy shots and not letting a player get on a role. Can’t let the offensive player get confidence in what they are doing and don’t let easy dunks occur because those give teams a lot of energy.
Mentality: Got to love to compete, love a good fight and just be aggressive basketball players. Have to ideally be calm under any situation and confident in their abilities as a player. Intensity is great, and I love passion but players have to tone it down sometimes, stay controlled and harness that aggression and not just let it out during one play. Zero doubt, the belief that there is no way they will lose, it is not possible and ever-single game they play they know they will win. Anyone not on your team is the opponent, anyone not us is against us. That is the type of mentality I want on my basketball team. Of course, they also have to know when to leave it on the court, cross the lines you can put on your preverbal war paint and become a ‘warrior’ but remember this is a game, and once the game ends the no mercy competitor has to stop.
Fast break: Running the proper break is very important, if you have good defense you can create a lot of easy offense. You have to have a primary ball handler taking the ball up court most of the time, but that also means you need rebounders that can rebound single handedly in the post. Once the rebound is got, the PG or primary ball handler should but near mid court, get a mid range outlet pass from the post or forward and start the break. The shooters that can’t finish should go wide and set up for open outside shots, the athletic slashers and finishers should cut to the hoop and there has to be proper spacing as well. If the team has a lot of athletes, you can really intimidate the opponent if you can finish strong aggressive lob passes or big dunks on the break. Players like to run and you need the mentality of always attacking the tin. Especially for big men, they have to run, if they can run and the opposing big man cannot run, they can get so many easy shots. Early set up of the offense is very key, quickly getting organized before the defense is set and scoring because of it.
Ball handling: Nothing wrong with a little street basketball style I believe. Its all about creation off the dribble, creating off the bounce, crossing a guy up and taking it strong to the basket. Basketball revolves around penetration because it can create two types of offense, personal offense or offense for another player that becomes open off of a sagging defense. Players that are strong with the basketball are also key, they have to be able to dribble in traffic and be so tight with the basketball they do not lose it very often. I think of it kind of like football and a guy like Barry Sanders, he knew how to juke players out, make them stop and once they committed he went the other way, I think those are the best ball handlers as well. If you have guards that can handle the basketball like that, you really got something special.
Shooting: Obviously, you need 3-point shooters, those are always key, teams must have shooters you cannot win with just athletes you have to get shooters to become good. The Bulls did not start to turn it around until they got Hinrich and Gordon, two very solid shooters. You also need good shot range shooters especially as big men, if a big man can hit a shot 15-20 foot shot, they will become that much better because of it. Shooting from the free throw line is also key, but most of that is confidence and the same can go with just regular shooting. So, the proper mental techniques for shooting also have to be taught. Make the player focus on the release and not if the ball goes in or not. All players know when the release is good and can tell if the ball is going into the hoop or not, but as long as the release is solid the shot is, because then its just a matter of accuracy and not technique. Practice, practice and more practice as well, can’t become a great shooting sitting on the couch.
Rebounding: It’s your ball, that is what you have to believe. Boxing out is also very huge, you have to get your butt into the guy and start backpedaling with the arms stretched long as well. Also players must anticipate rebounds, if a player shoots on the left side most likely it will come off the to the right side. If the player shoots from the top of the key the ball will not go off to the left or right but mostly down the middle. I honestly believe its mostly passion though to get the basketball.
The game.
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