SINCERITY. Some people we know always have their cards face up. We know where they stand and we know where we stand with them.  There is no sham, pretense, hypocrisy, apple-polishing, show, arrogance or equivocation.  They are real all the way through.  This is an essential ingredient in getting along with people.

PERSONAL INTEGRITY. This refers to the special qualities of decency, honesty, loyalty, fair play and honor.  An individual with a real personal integrity has a deep sense of  responsibility and dependability.   He is sound.  He keeps his promises.  He lives up to his commitments.

HUMILITY. If one picks out the great leaders of our present, of our past, one invariably finds the character trait humility.   Maturity is usually combined with modesty.  Never is it present in the smart alecks, the know-it-alls, the self appointed saviors, nor the persons whoknow the answers before they hear the questions,

COURTESY. This means much more than just being thoughtful or polite to other people, It means tolerance.  I have my eccentricities and peculiarities and I approve of you having yours.  You are just as good as I am, and I’ll respect your right to speak your piece even if I don’t agree, this is courtesy in its largest sense.  Can you, under pressure, remain gracious, considerate, and courteous?

WISDOM. There isn’t any escape from the fact that, even though an individual might, be sincere and humble and courteous, unless he has the wisdom to make the right decisions and actions, to do the right things at the right time, to give correct guidance and counsel when  it is indicated, he doesn’t get along with people.

CHARITY. Maybe this is the most important attribute for any personality.     In its broadest interpretation it means the capacity to love.  It implies acceptance of the fact that we all have weaknesses; we all make mistakes.  To be able to get along with people requires the charity of forgiveness.  Are you big enough and generous enough to love your neighbor as yourself?

Six Qualities of Character Essential for Maturity by: Horace E. Hudson, Cooperative Extension Service, The University of Georgia

Adopted from materials on Character and Moral DevelopmentUniversity of Illinois, Cooperative Extension Service inAgriculture and Home Economics, Urbana, Illinois

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In my opinion, one of the most important life lessons to be learned in competitive athletics is that you can work very hard and sacrifice, but not always come out on top on the scoreboard because the other team is also working hard.  It is a different lesson than a classroom, because most high school students can earn successful grades in most classes where they do work very hard.  They are not competing against others for the grades, only against a standard.  I like to use this thought to help players to come to terms with losses when they have put a lot of effort in and seemingly not gotten a return on their investment.

The road to becoming a good basketball player is not by any means an easy road.  It is a road paved with hard work, sweat, skinned knees, and sometimes tears.  Along the way you will find victory and defeat, encouragement and discouragement, disappointment and joy, praise and criticism, success and failure, but you should always retain the satisfaction of knowing you did the best you were possibly capable of doing.  Success is this self-satisfaction.

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But, the most enjoyable part of working on the site has been having the opportunity to correspond with basketball coaches and players from around the world and at varied levels of coaching through the site.  It has given me another reason to stay in touch with former players who are now coaching, coaches I have coached with, coaches I have coached against, and coaches who publish other basketball websites.  I have even developed a friendship with Coach Josh Stinson from Perfect Practice as we have worked together on HoopClinics.

My goal each week is to throw out some ideas in the daily e-mails from various coaching topics, some that I have used and some that I don’t use, but that I hope the visitors to the site and the newsletter subscribers might be able to use.  Each week my plan is to vary what I send out, but to put out a defensive topic, an offensive topic, a drill, something on leadership/inspiration, and something on program development.  I know that not every e-mail is going to be used by every coach every day, but I hope that by offering a variety, everyone can find something they like and that fits their coaching situation and the abilities of the players they coach. I strive to mix up the delivery method and offer some videos, some written ideas, some of my interpretations and adaptations of coaching concepts, some ideas from other websites or newsletters, and anything else I can think of to offer variety and that you might find useful.

I have done my best to keep up with the feedback and requests.  I appreciate all of them, and know that it is one area that I want to improve on in the coming year.  Please feel free to leave an ideas that you would like to see explored in the coming year in the comments below.

There have been a couple of side benefits from doing this project.   One is that I have been discovered on face book by several students that I taught as a classroom teacher and friends that I had lost touch with.  I have enjoyed corresponding with them as well.  The second is that we are putting together a reunion for this coming summer of our players, managers, and coaching staff from a school that I coached at 10 years ago.  I am really looking forward to that!

For the most part, things have gone well.  There are always problems in any project and I am still learning how to get all of the e-mails through and help each of you be able to open the videos.  I know that many servers block some of the channels that I use because others use them to send out offensive and unsolicited e-mails.  I will continue to work to improve those things.

I do thank you for the time that each of you have taken to look at the site and the e-mails and for the feedback you have offered.  Please leave a comment below if you have any suggestions for the coming year.  I still have a long way to go to meet my goals of the number of visitors per day and the number of subscribers to the newsletters, so anything you can do to let others know about the site who might be interested in taking a look would be appreciated!

Brian

The Coaching Toolbox has hundreds of resources for basketball coaching including basketball practice, basketball plays, basketball drills, basketball quotes, basketball workouts, basketball poems, and more!

Poise does not improve our physical skill, but rather is the state of mind with which a performance is offered. Poise is understood by few. Poise is leased by many but owned by none. Poise is relative. Everybody has a little, but few have enough. Poise is not always passive. Poise is ready to fight, but always within the rules. Poise provides us with the ability to remain focused on our objective rather than aimlessly gazing at distractions. As our temptation to become distracted intensifies, our needed amount of poise increases. It is impossible to have too much poise.

Poise is readiness. Poise is not a fancy word for composure. Poise may choose to avoid conflict, but does not equate with passive play. Poise is more concerned with winning a game than with merely avoiding a fight. Poise is capable of an aggressive box out. Poise does not conflict with a foul that prevents a basket. Poise is capable of a crushing screen. Poise does not preclude crashing the offensive boards. Poise allows us to execute the demands of the game while maintaining an awareness of the rules and a genuine respect for the competition.

Poise lessens the impact of pressure. Poise is the buffer which prevents pressure from damaging our performance.  Poise removes all competition except the other team. Our preparation and strategy will prepare us for a particular opponent. Poise can either be a key component to winning or a major cause of defeat.

Poise is always needed. There is not a good time to be without poise. Everybody is aware that poise is needed on occasion, but few realize that it is called upon constantly.  Poise must be a great strength in order for teams to achieve greatness.

There is little, if any, correlation between talent and poise. We all can develop poise if it is perceived as important and worthwhile to do so.

Poise provides us with the opportunity to do our best.  Without poise, distractions will serve to detract from our performance. You and your teammates must develop poise in order to make any sincere effort toward achieving meaningful objectives. Anything other than our best is not acceptable. Poise is a necessary component to any pursuit within a competitive environment.

The Coaching Toolbox has hundreds of resources for basketball coaching including basketball practice, basketball plays, basketball drills, basketball quotes, basketball workouts, basketball poems, and more!

For coaches, Coach Schilling breaks down the “Mandatory Moves,” how to teach them, when to apply them, and it shows Coach Schilling re-teaching and emphasizing the specific teaching points that allow these players to show some improvement during the drills.

I believe that better players and not just better plays is what leads to offensive success in basketball. If you are in agreement with that, then you should take a look at Coach Schilling’s DVD “Mandatory Moves.”

Here is a link to a segment from the Video:  Ed Schilling Mandatory Moves

Here is a link to more information about the DVD:  Ed Schilling Mandatory Moves

The Coaching Toolbox has hundreds of resources for basketball coaching including basketball practice, basketball plays, basketball drills, basketball quotes, basketball workouts, basketball poems, and more!

I have always attempted to find a way to get a local official or two to come in and work a Saturday pre-season scrimmage during one of our practices.  It really doesn’t have to be a Saturday practice, I just found that it was easier for many officials to come in on a Saturday than a week night.  I also like to use Saturday’s for pre-season scrimmages.

I am not talking about a public scrimmage, just the section of the practice that you use to go 5 on 5, but I make this one game like with a manager doing the clock, playing four quarters, etc…  I pay them the going rate for a JV game.  If you can’t afford two or three (which we usually can’t), then we have assistant coaches be the second and third officials.

I have found that the officials like it because it does help themto prepare for the new season.  It helps our players because I ask the officials talk to them about new rules and just some quick thoughts on what it is like to be an official.  I think it helps to humanize the officials to the players and gives our players a different perspective on them as people.

We also expect our players to hand the ball to officials rather than tossing it or throwing it.  I think that helps show respect to the officials.  We also address them as “yes sir” (ma’m for lady officials), “no sir”, and respond with “thank you sir” when receiving a handoff or a bounce pass from the official.

I have found as Coach Meyer says that “you get what you expect, inspect, and  accept.”  We strive to expect and then remove players from the game, who show disleasure with an officials call, no matter how much the crowd reacts.  My feeling is that regardless of how much we dislike a call, we cannot lose our poise and focus on playing the game and becoming upset with the officiating does not help the performance of our team.  I am not saying that we are perfect in this regard, but that is what we strive for in practice and in games.

Hopefully, this year’s NBA finals will serve as an example to basketball players at all levels as to the importance of mental toughness and putting the team first over individual statistics, flashiness, and publicity.

I believe that the Celtics ultimately won the championship on grit and unselfishness. There is no denying that they do have offense talent, but in my mind, it is not as superior to the Lakers’ talent as the scores would indicate. I don’t know what the stats are for the hustle and toughness plays, but those scores would be even more lopsided than the actual scores of the games. To me, grit and unselfishness are two parts of the foundation of a great defense.

The mental toughness to stay focused on the prize despite all obstacles was a joy to watch. Every time one of the players from the bench was called on, he contributed. It did not matter if he hadn’t played or played very little the game before, I did not see pouting and moping. They stayed ready and it showed in their play. I thought it took a lot of mental toughness for Ray Allen to come out of his shooting slump from the earlier rounds of the playoffs and shoot as well as he did in the finals. Paul Pierce took the ball hard to the basket time after time knowing that he was going to get hit, but he continued to go to the basket, rather than settling for mid-range jump shots. Perkins coming back from his injury to play. We could go on and on, but one of the most impressive things to me was the way the Celtics bench was into every play of every game. Not many players can help a team from the bench, but the Celtics seem to have found a handful of them.

Doc Rivers and his staff certainly deserve a lot of credit for keeping the team together and focused on what it took to win the championship. That was a great job of basketball coaching. I believe that as long as the basketball plays you run and the defensive rules you use are sound, there are many ways to approach those the Xs and Os of basketball that will work. But, there is no substitute for mental and physical toughness and putting the team first.

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It seems like sometimes when you are observing from afar and you say or write nice about someone, you end up being proven wrong shortly thereafter. I am going to take that chance today and write some kind words about some of the things that I have observed and that have been presented by the broadcasters of the finals. Certainly, there is no doubt that talent is the most significant factor in winning, but in my opinion, these two teams are examples that the intangibles make a differene too. Feel free to disagree and leave a post stating so, but this is the way it looks to me. I am sure that there are other people I am leaving out, but these are the ones that the media has mentioned this postseaso

I am focusing this post on the unselfishness and team play of the Celtics, but that is not to say that the Lakers don’t have that as well. I would like to mention one Laker in particular. I don’t think that it is a coiincidence that Derek Fisher left in 03-04 and that the Lakers have struggled since. I realize that 03-04 was also Shaq’s last year in LA and that with Bynum playing well early this season and then adding Gasol in Februrary have given them the best inside presence since then. But, it just looks like Fisher is a solid team first guy who also has skills. It is hard not to root for someone who came back to LA for his family, even though the team was in turmoil at the time. He doesn’t seam to mind playing fifth fiddle. To me, every team needs a guy like him.

I know that Sam Cassell has had some problems throughout his career, but it looks like he is fitting in very well with the Celtics. When called upon, he has scored as they have needed and when on the bench, it looks like he is providing leadership and support for those who are on the floor. I would guess that the Celtics knew what they were getting when they signed him late in the season.

Along those same lines, Ray Allen’s scoring average is down about 10 points per game from last year and it is the lowest PPG that he has had in almost a decade. It does not seem to be bothering him. It is nice to see that he is coming out of his slump from earlier in the playoffs. I think most of us like to root for guys that show unselfishness.

I really know very little about Eddie House, but you have to hand it to him for not playing in several of the early round playoff games after playing more minutes during most of the regular season. I thought that his hustle in game 7 against Cleveland was key. That is not to downplay Paul Pierce’s scoring, but I thought that House contributed all he could when it would have been very easy to mope and pout.

When I saw the halftime piece on Leon Powe, it is hard to not look at him in the same way. I did not follow the regular season and did not even know who he was until the playoffs. Even during the first rounds, he didn’t do much to distinguish himself. But after seeing him interviewed about growing up homeless and losing his mother four days prior to playing in the high school state championship, you just want to see him succeed. At least I do.

Certainly there are more talented players than these guys, but I respect their toughness. I hope that I haven’t jinxed them and they are all going to do something to show that my assessment is wrong. I just think that it is nice to look at some good things because there are times when players who feel entitled forget that this is a team game and cross that line of fierce vs. furious.

The Coaching Toolbox has hundreds of free resources for basketball coaching and for basketball players.

Teleseminar interview #5 at the Coaching Toolbox is now live and you can access it here. Our guest is sports psychologist Dr. Brian Goonan and his topic is “Fierce vs. Furious.” In the interview Dr. Goonan explains that a “fierce” mindset is an asset to an athlete involved in competition, but that the athlete needs to have mental breaks to maintain that mindset during the active segments of the competition. The extreme mindset he describes as “furious” is counterproductive in that it keeps the athlete at a peak of competitive mental arousal which is impossible to maintain throughout an entire competition.

The interview is a 15 minute segment of Dr. Gs ideas on the subject. He will be back to discuss the subject further later in the summer. He has a lot of information that basketball coaches and basketball players will find useful.

The Coaching Toolbox has hundreds of free resources for basketball coaching and for basketball players.

In my post earlier this week, I mentioned the article at the Coaching Toolbox dealing with Momentum Killers and Momentum Getters. Our feeling is that mental toughness plays a big part in dealing with the ebb and flow of the momentum of a basketball game. The work that Steve Siebold has assembled is one of the best resources for ideas on developing and coaching mental toughness. I believe that it is critical for any coach to study and work at improving mentally toughness in order to nurture it in his or her players. As one of my high school English teachers once stated;

You be must be what you is
Because if you be what you ain’t
You ain’t what you is.

We can only teach intangibles to the degree that we possess them. In a roundabout way, I am trying to say is that when you listen to the teleseminar interview with Steve Siebold, I hope that you get some good information that you feel will help you as a coach (and a person) to grow in your understanding and application of his mental toughness principles. I have learned a great deal from his books and blog and I am glad to be able to have the this blog and our website to share with all of you what I feel is a great resource for mental toughness.

The Coaching Toolbox has hundreds of free resources for basketball coaching and for basketball players.