ARE YOU PREPARED WHEN YOUR NUMBER IS CALLED?

Another great passage from Coach Urban Meyer's book "Above the Line."  We read this one to our team last week.  Players all want more playing time, more opportunity, but what are they doing to maximize that opportunity when it arises.  This is a great story:

The outcome is that you are prepared to make the play when your number is called.  There is no better example than Kenny Guiton.

In 2012, Kenny was a junior backup to quarterback Braxton Miller.  Throughout all of our practices that fall, Kenny was the most mentally and physically engaged player on our team.  When Braxton was running players, Kenny was 10 yards directly behind him, make the same reads and checks, executing the play mentally.  Then, when the ball was snapped to Braxton, Kenny would perform the correct motions just as if he were taking the life rep.  That was our culture at work.  He was preparing in case his number would be called.

That October, Kenny's number was called.  We were down against Purdue by 8.  On the last play of the third quarter, Braxton went down and was injured for the rest of the game.  Kenny game in.  It was the final drive of the game and down by 8 points with 60 yards to go, forty seconds left on the clock, and no timeouts left.  He led the offense down the field, and threw the game-tying touchdown pass to receiver Chris Fields with only three seconds left in regulation.  On the very next play, Kenny tied the scored on a perfectly executed pass play to tight end Jeff Heuerman for the 2-point conversion.  After taking the game into overtime, running back Carlos Hyde dived over the line for the game-winning score.

We won that game and kept our undefeated season intact because Kenny Guiton fully embraced our culture of competitive excellence.

Our third core believe is power of the unit, and it means that our players have an uncommon commitment to each other and to the work necessary to achieve our purpose.

People see the remarkable performances of these players on Saturday, but they do not see the tireless work that those players and their unit leaders put into training and preparing to compete.  And they did the work not knowing when, or even if, their numbers would be called.

THE STRENGTH OF THE PACK

We in coaching have all read, heard and shared the first two verses of Law of the Jungle from Rudyard Kiplings' "The Jungle Book":

Now this is the Law of the Jungle --
as old and as true as the sky;
And the Wolf that shall keep it may prosper,
but the Wolf that shall break it must die.

As the creeper that girdles the tree-trunk
the Law runneth forward and back --
For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf,
and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack.

I've always loved this passage because it speaks so much to the value of team.  This morning I got the following passage from my dear friend Joe Carvalhido which puts even more value on being a part of the pack:

"A wolf pack: the first 3 are the old or sick, they give the pace to the entire pack. If it was the other way round, they would be left behind, losing contact with the pack. In case of an ambush they would be sacrificed. Then come 5 strong ones, the front line. In the center are the rest of the pack members, then the 5 strongest following. Last is alone, the alpha. He controls everything from the rear. In that position he can see everything, decide the direction. He sees all of the pack. The pack moves according to the elders pace and help each other, watch each other."

THE PRICE OF TEAMWORK

As a follow up to the "The Price That Must Be Paid," here are some great thoughts from John Maxwell on "The Price of Teamwork."

Sacrifice:

There can be no success without sacrifice. James Allen observed, “He who would accomplish little must sacrifice little; he who would achieve much must sacrifice much.”

Time Commitment:

Teamwork does no come cheaply. It costs you time-that means you pay for it with your life. Teamwork can’t be developed in a microwave time. Teams grow strong in a Crock-Pot environment.

Personal Development:

Your team will reach its potential only if you reach your potential. That means today’s ability is not enough.  Or to put it the way leadership expert Max DePree did: “We cannot become what we need to be remaining what we are.”  UCLA’s John Wooden, a marvelous team leader and the greatest college basketball coach of all time, said, “It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts.”

Unselfishness:

“When you give your best to the world, the world returns the favor.”

-H. Jackson Brown

And if you give your best to the team, it will return more to you than you give, and together you will achieve more than you can on your own.

WHAT IS YOUR TEAM'S PRACTICE MINDSET? HOW AS COACHES CAN WE ASSIST

The following is a great passage from the book "Toughness" written by Jay Bilas which speaks to the mindset of a player in regard to practice.

How many players start practice with the intention or goal of simply “getting through” practice? Instead of “getting through” a workout, players need to “get from” a workout-to get the most from it, and the most from themselves. No player ever got better by just getting through something. True toughness is competing through the end of a practice or workout after having prepared yourself mentally to compete. That is a key mind-set of the toughest players.

A key question for us as coaches is how can we help our players with this process? There are several things that have served me well and here are a few.

NOTEBOOKS

We often begin the day in our film room or meeting room.  We might watch some video clips or go over things and I've found that notebooks are a tremendous way to get a point across to a team and have them hold on to it because they are writing it down.  We never have one of these sessions before practice that we don't outline a couple of objectives for practice.  Here is an older post about the topic of Notebooks.

PRE-PRACTICE

This is a short period at the beginning to do position work.  It's also quality time between a coach a small, select group of players.  As a coach, you can set the tone in terms of what needs to be accomplished as a player and a team for this particular day.  Here is an older post about the topic of Pre-Practice.

EMPHASIS OF THE DAY

We believe this is a great way of focusing a team's attention for a practice.  Picking a phase of basketball or an intangible and making that a special focus for that day.  We will have specific drills to highlight it as.  Here is an older post about the topic of Emphasis of the Day.

PRACTICE STATS

If its going to be important, find a way to measure it.  We keep practice stats everyday.  We might keep a special stat on a specific day to compliment a particular emphasis -- and we share it with our players...often in the middle of practice to let them know how they are doing.  Here is an older post about the topic of Practice Stats.

INDIVIDUAL PRACTICE GOALS

Something I started last here with our freshman post player Khaalia Hillsman was to have an individual practice goal.  I created some cards for her and placed them in her locker.  Each day she has to pick something that she wants to give extra concentrated effort on.  I let her pick it...she writes it down...she gives it to me when she first comes to practice.  I then make sure I am watching her to see how she is doing.  I compliment her when she is successful and remind her when she falls short about her goal.  After practice, I give her a grade on her goal and from time to time support that grade with video.

GOOD TEACHERS ARE ABOUT GROWTH, NOT SYSTEMS

Good teachers care less about proving they have a great system than about finding the best way to make each student grow.  "This one needs a spur," said Plato, one of history's great teachers, about a student who seemed a little too lazy and self-satisfied.  "That other one needs a brake," he sad about a know-it-all too eager to rush ahead in his lessons (who happed to be Aristotle).  Extraordinary coaches also know that sometimes the same person who needed a spur last week needs a brake this week.  Good coaches cut through clutter and chaos.  They direct your attention to the details that make a difference.

From "Resilience" by Eric Greitens

RELENTLESS EFFORT

The following are excerpts from a chapter titled "Relentless Effort"  from Coach Urban Meyer’s book “Above the Line.”

In our world, at the end of the day it is pretty simple; either you worked harder than your opponents or you got out worked.

At Ohio State, we have made relentless effort part of our DNA, and here is why: great effort can overcome poor execution, but great execution cannot overcome poor effort.  Toughness and effort are the foundation of our success.  I place a premium on relentless effort because in all my years coaching, I’ve never been in a football game where the team that played the hardest didn’t win.

One of the ways we accomplish this is by embracing what we call the grind.

We believe that being elite is not about how talented you are.  It is about how tough you are.  To achieve anything great in life, you have to fight for it.  Every day.  The grind is mental and physical.  In fact, it is more mental than physical.  Physical ability is important, but it will only take you so far.  You won’t be achieve excellence until you train your mind to take you there.

The principle of relentless effort applies to everyone, not just college football players.  Here’s the not-so-hidden secret for achieving extraordinary success: clarify what you really want, then work as hard as you can for as long as it takes.  Toughness can achieve things that talent by itself can never accomplish.

Success is cumulative and progressive.  It is the result of what you do every day.  Both successful and unsuccessful people take daily action.  The difference is that successful people take action Above the Line.  They step up and act with intention, purpose, and skill.
For every goal you are pursuing a process is involved.  There is a pathway you must follow.  To achieve your goals you must commit to the process with daily Above the Line behavior.  Not just once or twice, but repeatedly over time.  Success is not achieved by an occasional heroic response.  Success is achieved by focused and sustained action.  All achievement is a series of choices.  The bigger the achievement, the longer the series and more challenging the choices.

Goal clarity is essential, but so is the process clarity.  For every goal you have set, be exceptionally clear about the process necessary to achieve the desired outcome.

Sometimes it’s a grind. Sometimes tedious and uncomfortable things are required for success.  And that means doing what needs to be done even though you don’t feel like it.  It will be uncomfortable, maybe even for long stretches, and it will be tempting to settle for an easier way that is more convenient and less difficult.  But don’t compromise. Don’t give up.  Step up and embrace the grind.

Relentless effort (not talent or intelligence) is the key to achieving great things in your life.  Struggle is part of the process.  It is hard and often painful.  But it’s also necessary, because it’s in the struggle that great things are achieved.

Do you decide what to do based on what is comfortable and convenient, or based on what is productive and necessary?  Following your passion isn’t always 100 percent pleasurable.  Sometimes it means doing things you don’t’ want to do for the sake of achieving your goals.

If you want to win in the future, you must win the grind today.  And then tomorrow and the next day and the next. Many people give up – they compromise – must too easily when life gets difficult.  Be the exception and step up to the challenges you face.  The grind is when it gets tedious, tiring, and difficult.  But that’s what separates the elite from the average.