THE POWER TO CHOOSE...THE POWER TO TEACH

The following comes from Jim Tressel's book "The Winners Manual."

"Attitude is not something that comes by instinct. It has to be practiced over and over or relearned over and over. The more our players study and practice this fundamental, the more they believe they can decide how they feel. They realize they have power over their attitude. Their coach doesn’t have that power. Neither does the referee or their professor. How they approach their attitude is their choice. We have to choose to have a good attitude. And we have to keep reminding ourselves, in the midst of newspaper publicity or things other people are saying, that we are going to be in charge of how we think. That’s a powerful principle in the life of a football player, a trash collector, a pastor, a dad, a stay-at-home mom, or someone who works in an office."

I strongly believe in what Coach Tressel speaks of in terms of us all having the ability to choose our attitude. But as a coach, I think it is important that not only can attitude be learned but it can obviously be taught. That is as important a responsibility as a coach can assume. It is far me important that our ability to teach them how to dribble, pass and shoot. In fact, the success of teaching them the fundamentals of basketball will only improve if we can properly help them understand the importance of attitude and that they have the power to choose.

We must look for instances where we can bring forth what a good attitude looks like and share that with the team as well as individuals. The best coaches I have worked for have made a far bigger deal in the locker room and to the media over a player's attitude...their ability to sacrifice...their leadership...their effort...their understanding of their role -- than that of a player's ability to lead the team in scoring. A good coach will make sure that he mentions a player that didn't get in the game but had a role in the victory because of the way he/she practiced to get the team ready. Coach Don Meyer at Northern University refers to these as teachable moments. We must hunt them out as coaches and make the most of them.