DON MEYER: "We like to refer to past players in the program. They don't have to be great athletically; charachter and commitment to what the program stands for means much more."This has been a special part of the LSU program down through the years. There are many "war stories" of great deeds on and off the court among past Lady Tigers. We refer to them as alumni or Lady Tigers -- we don't ever use the word "former" -- once a Lady Tiger, always a Lady Tiger. We have also occasionally named a drill after a former player.
We have a drill for working on catching tough passes called "Temekas" because when Temeka Johnson first came to LSU she would rifle passes to our players at a velocity that they were not accustomed. We had another player that gave us a great conditioning drill that she got while playing for Minnesota in the WNBA. We liked the drill and called it the "Dorsey Drill" after Latasha Dorsey. Of course it was a difficult conditioning drill and the players kindly asked Latasha not to share any more of those with the staff.
Equally important is making those players that have since moved on always feel welcome when they return. We have a newsletter for our alumni and a private Facebook page for them to communicate with each other. We have an alumni weekend each year that has come to be a very special part of our program.
Within the past three weeks we have had three alumni return to campus and we asked them to each address the team and talk about what playing at LSU means to them. It was perfect for a team with 8 new players. Keia Howell was someone who played the game tremendously hard and with great passion. She talked about that to our team. Cornelia Gayden gave us much as she had -- not just in 
games but in practice. She got emotional talking to our team. Finally last week Temeka Johnson of the Los Angeles Sparks came by and focused her talk on the most important word in the Lady Tiger vocabulary -- LEGACY. What are going to leave for the Lady Tigers of the future. And, acting as if she were a coach, she gave the team a weekend homework assignment. They were to write first what the word LEGACY means to them and second, what did they want their legacy to be when they left. She told them that she thought they should "begin with the end in mind" (a Stephen Covey phrase that we teach our players). If they know of the legacy that they want to leave, they can wake up every day with that thought in mind and let that serve to guide them. The players we have this year are certainly young and inexperienced, but if they live up to the words the scribed we will be in great shape.
games but in practice. She got emotional talking to our team. Finally last week Temeka Johnson of the Los Angeles Sparks came by and focused her talk on the most important word in the Lady Tiger vocabulary -- LEGACY. What are going to leave for the Lady Tigers of the future. And, acting as if she were a coach, she gave the team a weekend homework assignment. They were to write first what the word LEGACY means to them and second, what did they want their legacy to be when they left. She told them that she thought they should "begin with the end in mind" (a Stephen Covey phrase that we teach our players). If they know of the legacy that they want to leave, they can wake up every day with that thought in mind and let that serve to guide them. The players we have this year are certainly young and inexperienced, but if they live up to the words the scribed we will be in great shape.We could have gave the players that "homework assignment" and believe me, we do that often. But it is something special when it comes from a player that has already walked in their shoes.
