"It's My Own Fault"

This morning I was observing my student-teacher with his Sociology class. They were going over a test they had taken the previous day. A girl in the class had missed a question, and she asked where the information to answer the question had been covered. The student-teacher explained to her, and finished by saying,"Ok?"

After hearing the explanation, the student's reply,"It's ok, it's my own fault."

My first thought was that her comment is not something you hear everyday, whether in class or just in routine everyday encounters. Refreshing.

The first step toward success is accept responsibility for your actions.

The best part of the story is that the student is a varsity girls basketball player!!

Disease of Failure- Ergophobia & Enissophobia

Many things can prevent athletes from reaching their goals. But often players may not know what is wrong. Some players may not realize it, but they may be victims of ergophobia and/or enissophobia.

Ergophobia is the fear of work. Their are athletes who can find 1001 excuses to miss workouts or practices. And in some cases their individual excuses may be legitimate but when you add it all up, they are not investing the time and effort needed to successful. And other athletes may go to workouts or practices regularly- they may never miss a day, but they are just putting in their time. Instead of lifting 150lbs, they settle for lifting 100lbs. 150lb's would be work. Instead of taking shots at game pace, they go 3/4 speed because it is more comfortable. This athlete is horribly disappointed and frustrated when their season starts. They are the kid who doesn't make the team or the kid who does not play as much as they would like. And they are frustrated with their situation because they just can't understand,"I went all the time, why aren't I playing."

Put First Things First

"Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least."

- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Michelle Wynne- Great Coach

What should you look for in assistant coaches in a basketball progam? This is a topic that head coaches talk to each other about, and it is a topic that is presented over and over in coaching clinics.

I have been fortunate to have many very good coaches and only a very few bad coaches in our program.

Bad assistant coaches may not only not help the players improve and develop their skills, but in some cases may actually cause the players to lose enthusiasm for basketball in general or for the varsity program and coaches in specifically. I did have one junior high coach who so poisoned the young players against the high school that sadly their players were never able to overcome this negative attitude to reach their full potential.

Good coaches at lower levels develop skills and enthusiasm in the players so they are able to become successful at the next levels. One of the best assistant coaches I have had in 30+ years of coaching was Michelle Wynne. At one point she coached freshmen girls and then later coached junior high girls at Churchill.

What made Michelle such a good coach in our program?

John Wooden- Enthusiasm

"Simply put, I mean you must love that which you do.  Your heart must be in it.  Without enthusiasm you cannot work up to your fullest ability and potential; you're just going through the motions.  And just going through the motions won't bring you to the level of competitive greatness we seek whether in basketball, business, or life."- John Wooden

Great website on everything Wooden....

http://www.coachwooden.com/index2.html

Meeting Famous People- Top 10 List & More

After President Obama was here a couple weeks ago, I wondered who some other people can claim they got to meet. I got answers from the following- Andie Allison, Steve Cheesman, Jessica Howard, Michael Rux, Dan Sullivan, Todd Rudolf, Jay Redfern, Aaron Frey, Libby Derry, Curt Allen, Craig Hillier, Jay Barshinger, Thom Sigel, Amanda Gunther, Jaque Gohlinghorst, Jay Hatch, Emily Cline, and Mark Massey

After their replies, I chose to rank the top ten most impressive “meetings.”  Here is my top ten (actually 12) of famous people they met.

Top Ten List of Meeting Famous People

12- Meeting Michael Jordan twice would be higher but people from Quncy cannot be put in top ten.

11- Tweeting with Jenny McCarthy- I think this is start of how politicians get in trouble.

Tie- 10-Being at Pat Summit's house and getting to pet the dog- impressive. And having Pat Summitt give you advice to be patient.

9- Having Ted Kennedy’s nephew stay overnight at your house- more impressive if actually could remember which one it was.

8- Telling Coach K to put his ring away- rudeness drops this.

7- Kick Brooks & Ronnie Dunn- would be higher but I don’t know who they are.

6- Having lunch with Eddie Matthews & Warren Spahn after the 1962 all-star game- this would move up if the senility of the individual had not prevented him from remembering details.

5- Shaking hands with both Obama and Clinton- conversation with both should have moved it up.

4- Lunch with Jerry Mathers- would move up if he was still 12 years old.

3- Meeting John Wooden, Adolf Rupp, Kareem, Bill Walton, Dr. J- if it had been at one time, it would have been easily #2.  It sounds like one of those dream suppers.

2- Interview with John Grisham- it might have made #1 had he not made the rude comment about my hair.

1- Coaching Cindy Crawford- I don’t think anyone can beat that.

Pat Summitt- Advice to Coach Allison

After President Obama came to Galesburg, I decided to work on a Q/A with people about their encounters with the "famous." I am still hoping to get a few more people to respond and then I will put it up on the blog. In the meantime, I thought it was timely to share what Coach Andie Allison returned to me.


Andie said the following:


I would have to say my example for the most famous person I have ever met is appropriate for current news in the sports world. Two summers ago, when heading to team camp in Tennessee, I was lucky enough to meet Pat Summit. 

National Record Banner

The Streaks have something new for the gym to recognize setting the national record for three pointers made in a season. The girls were excited to see the banner. And from a coach's standpoint it is exciting to see the energy level running "the system" has brought to our program. This past weekend I had 7 players text to get into the gym to shoot on the Gun. On Monday night we had 12 players lifting and shooting. So in the last 2 days we had over 1400 threes made. Who knows, maybe we can break our record this year.

Beau Spencer- Great Announcer & Super Tweeter

Beau Spencer did not work long at WAIK but he sure made a positive impression with his work in covering sports. He made all of the high school athletes feel important. Beau was able to cover the games without focusing on the refs or second guessing strategy.

Since I have gotten onto twitter, Beau is definitely one of the top to follow. I enjoy following his observations.

You went to Annawan High School. What sports did you play?

I played baseball all the way up to high school.  We didn't have a high school team, so I "retired" from the game after 8th grade.  Played football and basketball my freshman and sophomore years.

 Great basketball players coming out of Annawan- Tanner Carlson and Val Wancken. Where do you fit into the basketball tradition? 

Actually, Tanner grew up right behind me and he would mix it up with us neighborhood guys.  I can say that I beat him.  He was about 8-years old, and I was in high school, and then he ended up with the better stats, so on paper he may be better...but I proved it on the court, LOL.

(It should be noted that Tanner Carlson is student teaching with me this fall. I think probably it was actually Beau in college and Tanner as a 6 year old if Beau won!)

John Wooden

"Promise to be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own."

 

- Coach Wooden

Pat Summitt- My Perspective

I recognized that Pat Summitt was an effective coach. But like many people, I had seen those angry faces that tv caught of her on the sideline. As a result I was never a big Pat Summitt fan. She just seemed too angry, too in your face.

No one is a bigger Tennessee fan or Pat Summitt fan than Brenna Saline. Brenna has more orange stuff than anyone should legally possess. Brenna was upset that we never went to Tennessee camp when she was in high school. I always gave her a hard time about the Lady Vols, and some of it was probably how I really felt.

Jason Shay got a job coaching men's basketball at Tennessee, and instead of going to a fall clinic, I decided I wanted to go down and watch them practice. Jeff Houston, Jaque Gohlinghorst, and I went down to Knoxville one fall to watch the Vols and Lady Vols practice. The first day our timing did not workout to watch the women, just the men. The next day there was a problem and some doubt if we would be able to watch the women practice. That evening, Jason made a couple calls to the women assistants and it didn't sound like it would work out.

Massey Vacation

Growing up, my family always took car vacations. So this summer we went west on a car vacation. Clark Griswald would be proud of us- we put in 3400 miles in 9 days.
- Galesburg
- Fort Collins and Colorado State University (my wife's is an alum)
- Rocky Mountain National Park
- Grand Junction, Colorado
- Moab, Utah (Arches National Park and a raft ride down the Colorado)
- Grand Canyon
- Oklahoma City (the memorial is very powerful)
- Lawrence, Kansas (KU)
- Galesburg

With Cam the Ram at CSU. It has to be one of the prettiest campuses
and cities in America. I give it a big thumbs up.

Allen Fieldhouse- Vacation Visit

Our family took a trip west and on the way back stopped at the Kansas University. My last visit to KU was in 7th grade, a few years ago. My mother's college friend was married to a KU professor. They loved their Jayhawks and continued to attend games into their 80's. As a result of that visit, I have always had KU as one of my teams when the Badgers are not playing.

On our visit, we got to see much of Allen Fieldhouse. The one bad thing was that they were sanding the floor so we were not able to go out on the floor. It is an impressive, old building steeped with tradition. As you walk around the building it is like being in a basketball museum. You know you have history when your first coach was the man who invented the sport- James Naismith.

Entrance to Allen Fieldhouse, it certainly looks like it would
have a wild atmosphere. But UW record in Kohl Center might
dispute their clam.

Screaming Mom

The following story was posted on a coaches' email exchange. Read and enjoy....

I have a circumstance worth mentioning:

I was warned about a parent before a season began.  I was told she will be constantly loud yelling at her daughter, coaching her from the stands, and occasionally yelling at the officials.

Stephen Curry Workouts

Stephen Curry is one of the great shooters in the NBA. In college he almost took his team to the Final Four with his shooting. This is an article written about Curry in the SFGate.com by March 11, 2010|By Scott Ostler

Stephen Curry is the Phantom of the Opera. He even brings his own music.

Late at night, 10 or 11 o'clock on non-game nights, Curry lets himself into the Warriors' practice gym in downtown Oakland, and shoots. Typically, he'll go an hour and a half, long enough to reach a goal, like sinking 500 shots.

He'll bring along a buddy to rebound, and an iPod sound dock loaded with rap (Lupe Fiasco is his favorite), R&B and heavy metal.

These sessions are on top of the half hour or so of extra shooting Curry does after team practices, launching from beyond the three-point arc, a robot rebound machine spitting a ball to him every few seconds.