Wednesday, November 5, 2008

DON MEYER ON TEAM ATTITUDE

I think I've blogged on this before but thought I'd be a little more detailed at this time. All good basketball programs have traditions — parts of their program that are important on an annual basis. At LSU, we have several and we want to share one with you. Each fall, for the past eight years our teams watches the video “Team Attitude” by Coach Don Meyer. It is one of the best things we do each year for our team and it will be the same for your program as well.

First, a few words about Coach Meyer. We consider Coach a great friend to our program. This does not however, make us special or unique as Coach is a great friend to many in the coaching circle. It is hard to imagine anyone that has had a greater impact in the game of basketball than Coach. First, through his camps, he is able to teach and touch a variety of players. His camps are for both male and female players on all levels starting in elementary school and running through college. In past years, we've had two players, Sylvia Fowles and Tae Tae LeBlanc that attended his College Position Camp. In fact, his camps are attended by players throughout the nation.

He also has dedicated his life to helping coaches become better at their craft. He does this through videos, books, clinics and his annual Coaching Academy. We would strongly recommend book-marking his website
http://www.coachmeyer.com/. Besides his videos and books you can receive updated info on his clinic tour as well as motivational items you can use with your team.

Coach's videos are the best available. They are very detailed and always involve practice and game footage to help you better understand his concepts to coaching. But it is his Team Attitude video that has become a staple of our program. It is part of a video series that he worked with Jerry Krause on that is specific to players.

Team Attitude has Coach delivering the philosophy that has made his program so successful on an annual basi
s. It is sprinkled with testimony from some of his players which is important for your players to hear.

The primary base of the video is the acrostic to the word attitude and how it relates to his team.

Coach goes into each word of the acrostic and explains it importance to the success of a program and how it is implemented into his program. He also takes some to time to go over things he does as a coach to develop team attitude including how he utilizes notebooks and gear.

We think this is a must video to show our team every year. We will go one further — studying Coach Meyer is a must for you to becoming a better coach! It is hard to find a coach that hasn’t been to one of his clinics or doesn’t own one of his tapes or books. But if you’re one — visit his website.