Program Blueprint

This post was written by T.J. Rosene, Head Men’s Basketball Coach at Emmanuel College (Franklin Springs, Georgia), for PGC Basketball.

Do players like playing for you, or do they dread coming to practice every day?

Are you even aware of how they feel about you?

Are you pursuing a career where you will one day be a character in their athletic horror stories or the hero that changed their lives?

I am sure you have heard the quote from Billy Graham before, “One coach will impact more young people in a year than the average person does in a lifetime.” If we assume that this statement is even partially true then you, as a coach, have been empowered with one amazing task and one amazing burden.

The first video is 12 minutes with 24 time National Champion Rugby Coach Jack Clark was posted by whatdriveswinning.com.

If you go to that site, you will be able to view other similar videos with other coaches who have built highly successful Division I programs in various sports.

Even though these coaches do not coach basketball, most of the principles that they apply to their jobs are applicable to coaching basketball.

This video is a You Tube video, so please make sure that you are on a server that allows you to access You Tube videos.

At the beginning of this video, Coach Clark discusses the “buckets” that make up the job of a coach.

Those buckets are operations, applied science, coaching, and culture. The majority of this presentation contains his thoughts on developing high performing teams.

Make sure that your sound is on, then click the play arrow to view the video.

Jack Clark on High Performing Teams

The mindset Coach Clark instills with his Cal Rugby teams is “Grateful for everything. Entitled to nothing.” Clark feels that if we are willing to work for everything that we have, that we become more resilient.

To create a value system, you must connect your beliefs together. The system allows the team to process everything that comes before them both on and off the field in a way that is based on values. The beliefs must be complimentary and can never be contradictory.

To establish your programs’ value system, you must spend a lot of time thinking about

The Cal value system is: Selflessness, Constant Performance Improvement (not necessarily improving results), Merit, Toughness, Leadership

Anson Dorrance

The second video is of 21 time NCAA Division I Women’s National Championship Coach Anson Dorrance of North Carolina Women’s Soccer. This video was also produced by whatdriveswinning.com

The exercise Coach Dorrance discusses at the beginning regarding letters the day of the national championship game could be used in other settings such as senior night, or even prior to the first game of the year.

He also discusses the core values of the North Carolina program. Here is a link to those: Core Values of a Championship Program

This post is a system that Coach Jonathan Klein of Cedar Ridge (Arkansas) High School uses to identify what they need to emphasize and practice the most each year. These are Coach Klein’s rankings to use as a template to develop your own. For a system like this to work, each coach needs to come up with your own rankings that fit the needs of their teams. He redoes his list each year for the needs of that particular team.

The purpose of the post is not to decide if you agree or disagree with his rankings, but to get together with your coaching staff to develop your own to help you determine what you need to spend the most practice time on.

He also included a blank pdf of his template as well as a word document that you can modify for your own.

Click this link to download the blank pdf template.

Click this link to download the Word Document.

As always, you can download this post by clicking on the green “Print PDF” at the end of this article.

PHASES OF BASKETBALL
RANK OF IMPORTANCE
You Can’t Be Good At Everything… Choose What You Want to Be Great At and Make That Your Identity!

What I Want To Be Great At: (Max Of 3)
1) Half Court Zone Defense – The 1-3-1 is my primary defense and we will run it several different ways in the half court and 3/4 court situations. We will run this to the point of perfection.
2) Half Court Offense – In this phase of the game we want a non-stop controlled attack on the opponent. We will constantly attack the defense looking for a weakness to exploit while protecting the ball. We will not turn the ball over and will not shoot just for the sake of shooting. We will attack until we find the shot that we want, not the one the defense wants us to take.
3) Transition Defense – We will not give up easy baskets, especially lay-ups! Guards get back on the Release of the Shot!

What I Want To Be Good At: (3-5)
4) ELOB Offense – This is a controlled situation for us and I want to score on 90% of these possessions!
5) Defensive Rebounding – All 5 players will: 1) Clear Space, 2) Attack the Rebound, & 3) Flow Quickly into Offensive Transition
6) Half Court Man Defense – This will be a change-up defense for us. We will be a strong defensive team and do not want this as a weakness for us, however it is secondary to our 1-3-1
7) Full Court Press Defense – A good press defense thrown into the game at the right time can change the momentum of a game very quickly. We will utilize press defenses to capitalize on various weaknesses of our opponent and place ourselves to be in a position to win at the end of the game
8) Transition Offense – My transition offense fits into our Half Court Offensive Philosophy of letting our players use their skill, instinct, and talent to play basketball. We want to push the ball up the floor as cleanly and quickly as possible to keep the pressure on the defense and allow us to get 25% of our game points from our offensive transition.

What I Can Live With As A Weakness: (2-3)
9) ELOB Defense – ELOB points can change a game, however – Our focus here is to keep the opponent from scoring, make them settle for just getting it in.
10) Offensive Rebounding – My Offensive Philosophy is to be patient and take high quality / high percentage shots. Because of this I believe in getting the maximum amount of defenders back in transition as early as possible. On any offensive shot, all guards will sprint back and form an umbrella around the goal. The Post player(s) will attack the glass for an offensive put back and then sprint back on defense.

What I Can Live Without Practicing: (At least 1, something you squeeze in only if you have time)
11) Free Throws – This is simply a focused, form shot that relies on mental toughness. We will not spend a lot of practice time on this; instead we will leave it up to the players to work on this before or after practice on their own time

These are some of the notes presented by Mike Neighbors at a PGC/Glazier Basketball coaching Clinic in Chicago.

Mike is the Head Women’s Coach at Arkansas. He gave this talk when he was coaching at Washington.

The topic of his presentation was how coaches can “Get Better at Getting Better”

You have to take the time to consciously think about and consciously plan how every important aspect of your program is going to get better.

Getting Better does not happen on its own without a coaching staff being intentional about it.

To achieve your potential, you must have a 5:1 ratio of practices to games.

For every minute you spend in practice/meetings, it takes 2 minutes to prepare and plan.

Practice makes permanent, not perfect, so as coaches, we must set up systems so that our players are practicing the right way.

• • What do you care about?
  • Can your players verbalize what you care about?
  • At Washington, we play with 2 goals in mind.  Get a quality open shot every possession on offense.  On defense, don’t give up a quality open shot.
  • If you ask our players about how we play, they should be able to tell you those two things.
  • You either coach it or you tolerate it.

• • Be good at the things that you do a lot in your system.
  • We play packline defense, so we have to execute 350 to 400 closeouts per game.  That is something we need to be very good at.  What are those areas for your program?
  • For those important precision skills, we employ a coaching technique called “Front of the line, back of the line.
  • Using closeouts as an example, we require that a player closes out exactly as we teach it in a closeout drill, with zero error every time.
  • If the closeout is executed perfectly, the player goes to the back of the line in the drill and the drill continues.

• • If they did not do it perfectly, the next player in line goes and the player who just went goes to the front of the line for some instruction from the coach who is running the drill.
  • After the first week of practice, the players decide if the performance is front of the line or back of the line.  You will find that the players are harder on each other than you are on them.
  • You can see a more detailed description of Coach Neighbors front of the line/back of the line concept at this link:  Front of the line/Back of the Line
  • In our peer passing drills, the passer won’t feed the post if the post player doesn’t shape up properly.
  • Ghost defensive drill.  5 defenders no offensive players.  Give the players a scenario or an offensive play that your upcoming opponent runs.  They must talk each other through the whole play/action.  Great drill for players to learn what you need to defend and a great drill to force players to communicate on defense.

• • Keep in mind at the start of each season, you have not taught until your players have learned it.  You know your offenses, defenses, drills, and entire system.  It will be new to new players on your team and your veterans will not know it as well as you.  Take the time to re-teach until they learn!
  • Properly prepare so you don’t have to repair.
  • Players cannot access the creative side of their brain unless they are comfortable with what is going on.
  • It takes your best players 5 seconds to reconnect their concentration to the action when you yell their names during a live ball.  It takes average players 10 to 15 seconds to reconnect.

• • Washington coaches only talk during dead balls.
  • Exercise in helping players to develop  the next play mentality.  When Kelsey Plum was a freshman (Kelsey became the all time leading scorer in Women’s Division I history in February, 2017), and made a mistake in practice, Coach Neighbors could tell that her mind would be on that mistake for the next several possessions.  To help her learn, he started a stopwatch as soon as she made a mistake and stopped it once she had refocused.  It showed 2 minutes and 36 seconds.  He took her out of the scrimmage, called her over and showed her the time on the stopwatch.  She asked him what the represented.  He said it was the amount of time that it took you to get you concentration back after you made a mistake.  He told her that he would need to take her out of the game every time that she made a mistake for 2 minutes and 36 seconds so that she could regain her focus unless she was able to improve that on her own.  The improvement  in her next play mentality over the next few days of practice was remarkable.

• Find ways to help narrow your players’ focus in practice.
• Examples of ways to narrow your player’s focus:  If you are practicing half court defense.  Put a score on the clock and set the time at 3:00 to go in the game and play that defensive segment with the last 3 minutes of a game intensity.  Count free throws in practice only if they swish.  A miss is minus one for the shooting team.  You can be creative and come up with ways that narrow the focus of your players
• Send the players home with 3 bright spots and 1 deficiency to work on.
• Feedback is huge for today’s players.  Make it immediate, honest, and actionable.
• During practice, he has an assistant coach taking iphone videos and then emailing them to players when there are specific teaching points so that the players have them right after practice and can see themselves doing or not doing the teaching point.

Many of these concepts came from a book called “Practice Perfect” You can find out a little more about the book (and read a part of it and/or listen to a segment by clicking on the image to the left:

Here are a few more concepts from the book:

• Never mistake activity for achievement–John Wooden
• Measure success by the results and your players’ improvement, not how much energy is expended in your activities
• A high rate of activity isn’t enough–coaches must be intentional about what their athletes do.
• Practice isn’t only worth re-engineering when it is bad, it is also worth re-engineering when it is merely good.
• To be significantly better, you need to be significantly more productive for every minute you practice.
• “Even relatively small, but significant changes, can increase the rate at which people develop by a striking degree”

I think the summer is the best time to spend time growing as a coach. Here are some ideas I have gathered from Texas A&M women’s Assistant Bob Starkey’s Hoop Thoughts blog.

The first portion of this post are some notes that Coach Starkey took from former NBA and current Loyola Marymount Coach Mike Dunlap.

Drills — need time and score
Keep personal records
Keep team records
Using notebooks is paramount to learning.

Coach Dunlap takes a notebook everywhere…even a restaurant
“Never know when someone will drop some knowledge on me.”

When a child has a problem, find an object they love and work through the object. Has best conversations with players while they are shooting.

Your office can be the worst place for a meeting with a player.

Must have a goal/game plan watching film with your team: What do you want to get out of these video clips.

Steph Curry is special because he has mastered the ability to make space.

Coaches, when you are in practice, don’t pick a space and stand…be moving.

Nick Saban: “You can only be where your shoes are.”

Wooden: he rotated during practice and staff rotated with him (Dale Brown taught this — probably got it from Wooden).

Practice Building:
Practice plan: Has 4 to 5 rewrites and has them with his staff
Doesn’t adjust practice seasonally
They are a “1 more” program
Promise less, do more
Look for reasons to shorten practice

Players don’t get better the last third of the season because of the lack of attention to skill work.

Big believer in finding time to player 1/1 and 2/2 late in the season…create tournaments (got to play for something)

Coach Dunlap wants them “going out of practice with their voices humming”

Always teach heavy stuff in the beginning

Know the ingredient of a good drill:
1. time
2. score
3. rotation (likes assistants teaching players as they rotate off)
4. element of surprise
5. rebounding

Izzo has assistants charting rebounding at practice.

Drills have to have purpose — have to connect to your philosophy.

Necessity is the mother of invention.

Coach Dunlap’s power word is “Servant”

Qualifications for an assistant coach.

#1 Be a servant — it’s not about you
Be interested in the process…if you’re good, they’ll find you

#2 Shut your mouth
The head coach needs your eyes to see what he/she can’t see
Know you…do you

When players “push back” they are testing you.

Make your questions to players more specific

No ball rebounding (ball kills the drill)

“Get the ball out of the drill when you want to get it right.”

Add by subtraction — take the dribble away

Simplify questions

Don’t give away your standards…don’t allow them to lower the ball.

Compliment them when they ask a good question
Let them answer it
Allow them to be wrong
That’s teaching

I was willing to wait 20 years to get the dream.

Most of us aren’t willing to pay the price.

Success = change in behavior

What are the trends…think of common denominators

Sunday Morning piece by Charles Osgood on 3 guitar players with the same teacher…teacher asked what was the key for the one who became a star: “The start could deal with discouragement.”

Nick Saban: “Be great where you are at.”

The second section is a presentation from Coach Starkey’s on “Extending Your Career”

“While I am assigned to talk to you about extending your career, I’m going to go a different direction saying that extending your career should not be the goal. The goal is to become the best assistant coach you can become on a daily basis and an extended career will follow.”

I think the first thing we need to decide in coaching is what is our “Why.” We must have an overriding purpose for coaching — it has to be the centerpiece of our culture and what we stand for. For me, the growth of the student-athlete has to be #1 on the priority list.

“It doesn’t matter where you coach, it matters why you coach.” -Don Meyer

I spoke about studying Nick Saban and the philosophy he has in regard to the process. The process is keeping focused on the task at hand — executing as well as you can with what directly lies in fornt you at that very moment. Coach Saban does not want his players looking at the scoreboard. His belief is that the time and score have absolutely nothing to with the intensity and concentration you need to utilize on the very next play.

I believe the same is true with our careers. If we are getting up in the morning thinking about extending our career or looking ahead at that next job than we are taking away energy that we need to utilizing on what is really important — today!

One of the areas that I spoke about was Professionalism. I firmly believe that ethical choices are a full-time job. It must be character over victory. Don’t let a short-time gain for a win be overshadowed by a poor choice you made to try and get an edge.

Of course, our biggest obstacle is winning. We are expected to win immediately and constantly. And don’t get me wrong, winning is important as the following thought from Vince Lombardi points out:

It’s true. If we want to continue to impact young people through coaching…if we want to have a positive contribution to our communities — we have to win — to keep our jobs.

We can’t let winning be a conflict of interested. We can’t be overly consumed or blinded so much in trying to win that we turn our head to discipline and our culture. The best coaches are willing fight for the culture even if it might cost them a victory.

That’s not to say winning isn’t important. Certainly we have to teach winning to our teams. As a young student at Marshall University, the basketball coach at the time, the late Stu Aberdeen spoke about the importance of winning. As he explained, when we are on the operating table fighting for our life, we better hope that the doctors and nurses have a strong desire to win. Coach Aberdeen explained that should we ever be falsely accused in a court of law, that we better hope our attorney has driven to win.

As I mentioned earlier, ethical choices are a full time job — and I do believe there is a right way to win and a wrong way to win. If you are a principled person that means a great deal. I posed the question to the coaches at the symposium — “are you willing to lose your job?” Do you believe so much in the principles of integrity that you would walk away from a job that did not share in your beliefs?

The second part of the process of staying in this business is becoming a continual learner. There must be a fire within to constantly be searing knowledge to help you grow as a person and a teacher.

My suggestion to the coaches in the audience was to become an expert at something in the game: post play, shooting, zone defense, etc. Pick something and learn it at the highest level. I think it is always important to be a good recruiter but don’t be labeled as such because you don’t excel in other areas.

Today there are so many ways to improve. We had just come off of a Final Four season at LSU and one summer I went to Oklahoma to watch Sherri Coale and her Sooners practice for three days in preparation to go overseas. The next year we again made it to the Final Four and I headed to Duke to watch Gail Goestenkors to again observe several practices before going overseas.

Today there are so many clinics to attend: Coaching U, Nike, PGC/Glazier. There are tons of great blogs and Youtube loaded with information. Have you attended an NBA or WNBA practice session? If not, you are missing out on some of the game’s best teachers.

One other factor in being a continual learner today is the not just accept but to embrace technology. Whether it’s social media, apps for our phones and iPads or every improving methods of watching and breaking down video — it’s all there in front of us to help us improve.

The next part of extending a career is to find balance. I spend a great deal of time in my office — always have and always will. But I find a way to incorporate my wife with our program. She has always been a big part of our culture. Whether it’s having the team over to decorate our Christmas tree, throwing a Mardi Gras parting in February or just having them over for an occasional home cooked meal, Sherie has always been active in helping us serve our student-athletes.

It’s also important to plan family time. Schedule time for your spouse and children though out the season — an honor those commitments. I learned most of this the hard way. I once coached eight consecutive summers without a vacation. I stayed up all night in the office two nights a week during the season watching video and getting scouting reports ready. Then my wife was diagnosed with breast cancer! It was an amazing paradigm shift for me and give me instant perspective.

Coach Don Meyer also talking about having “your time,” where it is just you. It can be a time of meditation or reflection. For me, I like to do it early in the morning while everyone is still asleep. I can catch up on some reading or spend some time writing in my journal.

Yet another example of helping you with balance is creating a circle of influence. A handful of people that your believe in and trust. Most importantly, these people need to be someone that love you enough to tell you the truth. Someone that can tell you your full of crap when you are. Some can be coaches but it’s always good to have some non-coaches in your circle.

Part 4 of an extended career is the handling of your finances. I shared with the coaches, and especially tried to get through to the younger ones that my biggest regret in coaching wasn’t a decision on the floor but it was not getting involved with a financial planner early in my career. I have had one the past 20 years and the results (and security) are amazing! Many young coaches don’t think they make enough money to work with a planner — that’s actually all the more reason you do. One of the first things that Kay Martin of Ameriprise was talk to me about short-term and long-term goals. Part of that process was to create an emergency fund that would pay into gradually to where we would have three months worth of salary to live on should anything happen. Well, we have far more than three months now and its a great feeling to have that type of security — not just for me but for my family.

I also have a special tax accountant that understands my profession and helps to keep that organized and more importantly, helps me maximize all of the possible exemptions and write offs available to me.

“You must gain control of your money or the lack of it will forever control you.” -Dave Ramsey

Next on the list of theories for having a long career is your ability to be flexibility. It is a game, no a world, that is constantly evolving and changing. As assistant coaches we have to adjust to changes on our staff…we tend to change jobs a couple of times we must adjust to head coaches…we must adjust to administration…we must adjust to the times. The best way to adjust is to stay open minded — be a good communicator (which means a lot of listening as an assistant coach).

We must also adjust to the players. This does not mean give in and allow the players to dictate policy. But I firmly believe every player has a story and it is our job as coaches to learn that story. Our ability to know them at a deeper level is critical for us to help them. At UCF, we utilized Bill Rogers (who worked with Pat Summitt’s Lady Vols along with some professional teams) in order to learn about their personalities. What was their leadership potential? What were the primary motivators for each individual? How did they best learn — were they audio, visual or physical learners? And then we adjust how we teach to meet them in the middle, where they can best be taught.

Whether at clinics, via email or phone conversations, I often get the question “what are the attributes for being a successful coach?” There are several in my opinion, most of them are obvious. But one that is critically important is that you must be a problem solver. Coaching is about solving problems.

Not enough resources? Solve it.
Not enough post players or shooters? Solve it.
Lacking in facilities? Solve it.
Team chemistry problems? Solve it.

I’m not sure that there is not at least one minor problem per day in coaching — but you have to solve it. Solving problems to me begins with attitude. Working for Coach Dale Brown I learned that we were not to use the word “problem” but we were to use the word “opportunity.” Coach Brown would tell us not to come in his office with a problem unless we were ready to offer a solution. When people ask me what made Coach Brown so successful, again there are several reasons. But one was he was a solution-oriented person when it came to problems. He would amaze me with his attitude — almost excited that a problem has arose because he loves the challenge of defeating it.

The final area I touched on was to become organized and primarily I was talking about improving your ability to document everything. All conversations I have I follow up with the person I was speaking to with a short email of bullet points. I do this with my players as well. If I meet with a player to go over video, we both take notes and I email them to her. Of course discussions of behavior — both positive and negative — are followed up with an email.

I’m a big believer in writing handwritten notes — even with all the technology today. I love to write a handwritten note to a player and stick it in her locker. I also screen shot text messages — positive and negative with players for my files. I want as complete a written file on dealings with players, coaches, administrators, media and anyone else on the professional level.

We live in a time where you need to have your bases covered.

The final suggestion for extending your career? Enjoy the ride! Embrace the grind — even the problem solving. The best coaches I’ve been around get a rise our of solving a problem. You must be passionate about what you do but you still need a plan — the role of an assistant coach is never easy but it is important. Accept that role and challenge yourself to be the very best your can be.

This article was written and contributed by Scott Rosberg

Last week I wrote about 5 team themes that I have used with my teams through the years to help develop our program’s culture. If you missed that post click here to read it. Today, I am going to talk about five more of the themes I have used through the years. Also, if you are interested in more themes & quotes or more information on establishing team themes with your teams, I highly recommend you pick up a copy of Bruce Brown’s book 1001 Motivational Messages & Quotes at the Proactive Coaching website.

Perseverance

Perseverance is about staying the course when things get tough.  It is having the mental toughness to fight through difficult circumstances. It is having the ability to recover quickly enough from some mistake to get oneself back on the road to success. As you make your way through life, understand that there will be problems along the way.  Don’t let the problems stop you from moving to where you want to go.  Get back up quickly, dust yourself off, and attack your situation with the same determination that you had before your setback.  Not only will you be showing perseverance, but you will also be another step closer to the goal you are seeking.

“The man who wins may have been counted out several times, but didn’t hear the referee.”

H.E. Jackson

Winning & Losing

Too often young people and people involved in athletics focus way too much on the scoreboard as a determiner of success. While the scoreboard is there for a reason and winning the game is a goal of competition, there is so much more to success than just winning a game. With all the teams I have coached through the years, I tried to instill in them a focus on many more things that determine if we were successful: how hard we played, how smart we played, how well we played together, whether we achieved our potential.

People often compare themselves to others.  I tried to instill in my players the idea that they should compete against a vision of their best selves and that we should compete against a vision of what we could be as the best team we were capable of becoming.  Every day that you wake up and get out of bed, you will be moving one way or the other – toward success or failure.  The choice of which direction you go is one that you make every day.

“Success is peace of mind that is the direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming.”  John Wooden

Adaptability

The ability to adapt to the various situations one finds oneself in is important in all aspects of life. In athletics, it is critical to team and individual success because athletic endeavors are fraught with adversity, and the adversity comes in many forms. On any given day, in any given situation, a person may have to deal with a myriad of problems and dilemmas that could affect his or her focus on the task at hand. The ability to adapt to problems is crucial to getting through those problems and growing from them.

Another important part of adaptability is the idea that people need to adapt to each other and to the teams or groups they are part of. When people are selfless and they give up a part of themselves for the good of others, they are showing their adaptability to something bigger than themselves. Everyone, including the leader, needs to have the flexibility to adapt for the good of all. When all members of a team, group, or family understand the importance of maximizing their strengths while giving of themselves selflessly, anything is possible.

“The art of life is a constant readjustment to our surroundings.”  K. Okakaura – Japanese Author

Courage

Courage is oftentimes a misunderstood word, and it is especially misunderstood by young people. So often, people believe that courage is something that is dramatic or newsworthy, like running into a burning building to save a baby. While that certainly is a courageous act, courage occurs in many other instances in life that are not anywhere near so dramatic, and yet can be almost as important for the people involved.

True courage is often seen in the everyday elements of life, the decisions that people make on a regular basis. These decisions can be those that are made alone or in groups and teams.  As we explore the concepts of courage, we start to see that courage is all around us, and there are many moments that provide opportunities for us to display courage. Choose to live courageously every day by making the right decisions that affect everyone in the best way possible.

“Courage doesn’t always roar.  Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says I’ll try again tomorrow.”  Mary Anne Radmacher – Author

Leadership

A leader needs to learn to lead in a variety of ways.  Leadership is not about telling other people what to do. The best leaders realize they are there to serve those they lead.  Leadership is about helping others to realize the potential they have, and then helping them to rise up to that potential and achieve what they are capable of. But leadership does not have to come from one person in an organization. In fact, the best organizations have multiple leaders at multiple levels. In athletics, while the head coach is the ultimate leader, there are assistant coaches who lead as well. Then there are players who have natural leadership tendencies that allow them to lead their teammates. Finally, sometimes, certain players are bestowed the title of captain, giving them a responsibility to lead the members of the team.

However, any and all members of a team can be leaders, no matter the organization and no matter who the individuals are in that organization. It is critical for the ultimate leaders of the organization to recognize the importance of letting the natural leadership of various individuals within the organization come to the forefront.  It is also important for the leader to sometimes recognize that he or she has to cultivate that leadership to come forward.

“Leaders are chosen to serve; there is always trouble when a leader forgets this.”  Unknown

These two posts have been just a small sampling of the kinds of themes you can use with your teams and just a glimpse of some of the ideas you can talk about with your teams when discussing them. Each of the themes in these two posts is in my gift book for graduates, Inspiration for the Graduate. There are also many more quotes in support of each of the ten team themes covered in the book. Also, the first page is set up for you to write your own personal message to the graduate. The cost of the book is $7.95 plus shipping, or you can get a 10-Pack Bundle for just $70.00 plus shipping. To order Inspiration for the Graduate or to download a free PDF of the Introduction and First Chapter of the book, just click here.

About the Author of this Article

Scott Rosberg has been a coach (basketball, soccer, & football) at the high school level for 30 years, an English teacher for 18 years, and an athletic director for 12 years. He has published seven booklets on coaching and youth/school athletics, two books of inspirational messages and quotes for graduates, and a newsletter for athletic directors and coaches. He also speaks to schools, teams, and businesses on a variety of team-building, leadership, and coaching topics. Scott has a blog and a variety of other materials about coaching and athletic topics on his website – www.coachwithcharacter.com. He can be reached by email at [email protected].

Scott is also a member of the Proactive Coaching speaking team. Proactive Coaching is dedicated to helping organizations create character and education-based team cultures, while providing a blueprint for team leadership. They help develop confident, tough-minded, fearless competitors and train coaches and leaders for excellence and significance. Proactive Coaching can be found on the web at www.proactivecoaching.info. Also, you can join the 200,000+ people who have “Liked” Proactive Coaching’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/proactivecoach. Scott can also be reached through Proactive Coaching at [email protected]