POST THREE. BEST FRIENDS.
Coach Rich had to miss practice but he gave me a message to relay to the team. “Leave it all on the floor for your last game, starting today.” I loved it. It connected our practices to the final game that would decide our fate: Preparation for an event becoming a part of the event itself. Yes! Most of all, it held the promise of getting us to raise the intensity level in practice, which had yet to approach the level of an actual game. I started practice by relaying this message but I felt like they were just hearing words. I thought it was brilliantly simple. They thought it was simple. I was struggling to share the brilliance.
In these moments where I find myself flailing away to articulate something they think they already know, I feel my limitations as a leader, and sometimes I just have to eat it. But I was determined, so we went over what “leaving it on the floor” means...
This discussion basically amounted to Brian shouting, "Try really hard!" and others occasionally chiming in with other cliche's. I finally asked them what the pronoun "it" referred to, in the phrase "leave it on the floor." The best we could do was comparing the phrase to "not leaving any gas in the tank." I ate it. We moved on.
I announced the theme of today’s practice: "Best Friends." I told them that whenever they impress me as basketball players, it’s in a game, and that is a problem. The other team brings out the best in them, but they need to work on bringing out the best in each other. So many of the guys are friends, and they'll reach an unspoken agreement to help make each other look good. I said this wasn't doing each other any favors. The idea was that to be your teammates “best friend” in practice doesn’t mean you go easy on him- it means the exact opposite. Only then will they turn their potential into skill, only then will they improve. I always tell them that the only way to get better is to play people better than they are. They don’t do that enough, so I needed them to start being better, for each other. In practice: best friend means toughest opponent.
This seemed to get through, and there were even some head nods and grunts during my metaphor-heavy diatribe. As I moved them through every drill, it looked to me like they felt they were battling harder-- and they were. But an hour and a half into practice, the intensity level still wasn’t anywhere near where I knew it could be. They seemed all too satisfied, and I just couldn't let them kid themselves. I announced that we were having a one-on-one competition. I said they had five minutes to get some shots up and work on their moves. I told them to use the five minutes wisely, because I was participating in the competition, and I was about to be the best friend they’ve ever had.
3 comments:
so what had happened? how did you leave "it" on the floor? cliff hangers are the worst!
i like this best friend idea when it comes to teams...wonder if i can make it work on the battle grounds of academia land when it seems quite the opposite prevails.
keo
tune in next time! I know, cliffhangers are the worst. I can imagine it working in a debate-team kind of setting, devil's advocate style, but besides that, it would take some real creativity to apply in academia land. Not impossible, I bet.
First let me apologize to my best friends sister for never reading her blog until forced to do so by her guest blog-o-spotter, william wagner "golden boy" mcfadden. That being said...I will be at the game tonight rain or shine (games are usually played outside at the park using dim street lights from across the street.) I will be the adult in stands (who has an elementary school teaching credential) heckling the poor youths on the opposing team.
a couple of thoughts:
1)To coach, is to be reminded how much you love the game, and how much the kids may not. But it is also to save the game, in a way preserve the game. To coach is remembering how hard you used to work when you played and how listening to your coach was vital to your success and the success of the team. The toughest task in coaching is convincing your guys how important all of "this" really is. Its the intrinsic nature of things you want to pass on to them, working hard because THEY actually want to get better. NOT just working hard, out of fear they may be yelled at.
2)Coaching is teaching and Ive found that coaches who yell and scream are actually yelling and screaming at themselves. They become mad that their players havent been taught how to do something, and because the coach can't teach, he or she yells (so it appears they are coaching) lol!...
-that being said I had a great football coach once say, "dont get down when I push you hard, get down when I stop pushing you hard, because then you'll know I dont give a shit anymore."
I have a poster in my classroom that reads: "there's a difference between...talking and teaching / listening and learning". I think it means you have to do your best as a teacher, but that is only half of the equation, the student must also be held responsible for their learning. convincing fifth graders that understanding the causes of the boston tea party is important is easy once they are convinced that "learning" in general is important no matter what the academic subject is.
The only muscle you cant workout in the gym, ...is heart. You have to show and always give your best. I hope tonight I see will's players playing as hard as I know he'll be coaching!
good luck tonight ROOMATE!
I'll be there front and f@ckin' center!
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