Basketball Plays Pick and Roll Plays

Personality Traits of Winning Athletes

DRIVE: Desire to win or be successful; sets and maintains high goals for themselves in athletics; responds positively to competition. Desires to attain athletic excellence.

AGGRESSIVENESS: Believes one must be aggressive to win; will not allow others to push them around in competition.

DETERMINATION: Willingness to practice long and hard; often works out willingly by themself; persevering, patient, and unrelenting in work habits. Works on skills until exhausted.

GUILT-PRONENESS: Accepts responsibility for own actions; accepts blame and criticism even when not deserved; willing to endure much physical and mental pain.

LEADERSHIP: Enjoys the role of leader and may assume it spontaneously; attempts to influence or direct others in a postive way.

SELF-CONFIDENCE: Have unfaltering confidence in themselves and their capacity to deal with things; handles unexpected situations well; speaks up appropriatelyfor beliefs to coaches and players.

EMOTIONAL CONTROL: Tends to be emotionally stable and realistic about athletics; will rarely allow feelings to show and performance is not affected by them; not easily frustrated by bad breaks, calls or mistakes.

MENTAL TOUGHNESS: Accepts strong criticism without feeling hurt; can bounce back quickly from adversity; does not need excessive encouragement from the coach.

COACHABILITY: Receptive to coaches’ advice; considers coaching important to becoming a good athlete; accepts the leadership and cooperates with authorities.

CONSCIENTIOUSNESS: Tends to be exacting in character, dominated by sense of duty; will not attempt to bend rules and regulations to suit own needs; places the good of the team above personal well being.

TRUST: Accepts people at face value, believes what the coaches and teammates say and does not look for ulterior motives behind their words or actions; tends to get along well with teammates.

The Way to Victory

Victories of life are won not on the fields nor in the marts where the deci­sive struggle takes place, but in the obscure and forgotten hours of prepara­tion. Success or failure lies in the hands of the individual long before the hour of final test comes.

In the higher fields of success there are no accidents; men reap precisely what they have sown and nothing else; they do well precisely what they have prepared to do and they do nothing else well.

The world puts its force into us when we put ourselves in right relation with it: Experience makes us constantly wiser if we know how to rationalize it: Time deposits all manner of treasure in our imagination and memory, if we hole the doors open.

Nothing is lost upon a man who is bent upon growth, nothing wasted on one who is constantly preparing for his work and his life by keeping eyes, mind, and heart open to nature, men, books and experience. All things that he has seen, heard, known and felt come to his aid at the critical moment to make his thought clear and keep his illustration luminous, his speech eloquent and inspiring.

Compliments of Indiana State University

212–The Extra Degree

If you haven’t seen the video below yet, I think it is worth three minutes to take a look at. It drives home the point that success is not that far away and why it is important to continue to give that little extra effort to get there!

Make sure that your speakers are on before you click on this image…

If you liked that video, we have several other similar ones in our basketball videos section. Click the link below and then click the “Inspiration” tab when you land on the videos page.

I received this from Coach Phil Beckner in the June issue of the Weber State Newsletter.

All coaches know the importance of effective leadership within their team. Leadership can be provided vocally and through actions, and both forms are proven to be effective in different instances.

Teams are driven by their leaders and the examples that they set and communicate to others. As coaches, we sometimes forget that the leadership from our players is just as, if not in some cases, more important to our team than our own guidance and coaching. This is why it is vitally important that we work to develop strong leaders within our team.

Some players are naturally born leaders who come into our program with all the traits and desire to do whatever it takes to help their team be successful. Other players need time to develop and learn what it takes to lead. What you do with your team in the off-season can be very influential for these types of leaders.

Alan Stein wrote an article entitled, 5 Steps to Being a Great Leader, in which he listed the steps as being:

1. Learn from your mistakes
2. Lead by example
3. Put others’ needs first
4. Have confidence
5. Set a high standards.

Coaches can use all of the workouts, practices, and games that occur in the off season to encourage these steps to their players. For players who are already established as leaders on their team the off season is an important time for them to set the team standards and build trusting relationships with the new team members.

Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski believes that character is key to leadership and the close relationship that a coach and his leader build in the off season will be
important during a tense moment during the season. A team’s best player will have a lot of influence on that team and it is important that a good relationship is built with that player to ensure that their influence is positive.

The more you help them develop and become secure leaders, the easier it will be for them to share their leadership and empower others. Look for instances this summer to test, strengthen, and determine who the leaders of your team are. Make it a point to build the leadership in your team both on and off the court, because leadership is too valuable to your team’s success to wait for the season to develop it.

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

From our basketball poems file… We have more basketball poems, prose, basketball quotes,
and inspirational articles in our FILING CABINET.

If you think you are beaten, you are.
If you think you dare not, you won’t.
If you like to win, but don’t think you can,
It’s almost a cinch that you won’t.

If you think you’ll lose, you’re lost.
For out in the world you’ll find
Success begins with a fellow’s will;
It’s all in a state of mind.

For many a game is lost
Ere even a play is run,
And many a coward fails
Ere even his work is begun.

Think big and your deeds will grow;
Think small and you’ll fall behind;
Think that you can and you will;
It’s all in a state of mind.

If you think you’re out-classed, you are;
You’ve got to think high to rise.
You’ve got to be sure of yourself before
You can ever win a prize.

Life’s battle don’t always go
To the stronger or faster man,
But sooner or later, the man who wins
Is the fellow who thinks he can!