Leadership & Friendship Thoughts From Dick Bennett

One of the challenges we face with our team in teaching leadership is the concept of holding each other accountable. Too many times our players know what to do, but hesitate in "calling someone out" for fear of how they might react.

I have been re-reading Dick Bennett's book and he spoke to this exact concept:

From Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay on “Friendship”

There are two elements that go to the composition of friendship. One is truth. A friend is a person with whom I may be sincere. The other element is tenderness {love}. When a man becomes dear to me, I have touched the goal of fortune.

Dick Bennett to his Wisconsin team:

“It is amazing how close you guys are off the floor. You really like each other. But the thing you lack for one another is a real love. You do not love one another to the point where you will say the things that need to be said, because you do not want to ruffle each other’s feathers. Well, that is just not good enough…I do not wish to treat friendship daintily, but with roughest courage…If you truly loved one another, you would make each other do what has to be done. In this case, you would chase each other down if someone was going to be late for a meal. You can’t always be best buddies and look the other way. Sometimes love is not always kind, it is tough. Until you experience that, you will not come together for a single purpose.

Analyzing Our Defense

• 
  We are spending a lot of time analyzing our play from last season. What we did well, what needs improvement. Most importantly we are looking at the WHY? Then, working on the HOW to correct and improve for next season. Listed below is an outline we are using for our defensive analysis:
  
  
  ANALYZING OUR DEFENSE
  1. One on One Defense
  a. Focus on our player’s ability to fight through
  i. An off ball screen
  ii. An on ball screen
  iii. Closeouts
  iv. Shot pressure
  v. Ball pressure
  vi. Coverdowns
  vii. Blockouts
  2. Post Defense
  3. Vision
  4. Opponents Scoring Sequence
  a. How are they scoring on us?
  i. Transition
  ii. Put backs
  iii. Vs set defense
  iv. Out of Bounds
  v. FT’s
  5. Penetration
  a. Where does penetration occur?
  b. How did they generate the penetration?

The Five Enemies of Perseverance

From John Maxwell’s Talent Is Never Enough

The Five Enemies of Perseverance

1. A Lifestyle of Giving Up
a. If you desire to be successful and to maximize your talent, you need to be consistent and persistent.
b. Talent without perseverance never comes to full fruition.
2. A Wrong Belief That Life Should Be Easy
3. A Wrong Belief That Success Is A Destination
a. Pat Riley—“Complacency is the last hurdle any winner, any team must overcome before attaining potential greatness. Complacency is the success disease: it takes root when you’re feeling good about who you are and what you’ve achieved.”
4. A Lack of Resiliency
a. Jerry West—“You can’t get much done in life if you only work on the days you feel good.”
5. A Lack of Vision

Chris Gardner's Thoughts From "Pusurit of Happyness"

Thought's From The Pursuit of Happyness

Christopher Paul Gardner is a self-made millionaire, entrepreneur, motivational speaker, and philanthropist who, during the early 1980s, struggled with homelessness while raising his toddler son, Christopher, Jr. Gardner's book of memoirs, The Pursuit of Happyness, was published in May 2006.

Thoughts:
1. Find Your Passion
2. Are you willing to do the work to put yourself in position to do it.
3. Everything we learn is transferable, take those skills to the next opportunity.
4. Too many people sleepwalk through life.
5. Start right now, where you are.

John Maxwell On Choices and Talent

From John Maxwell’s Talent Is Never Enough

People who neglect to make the right choices to release and maximize their talents continually underperform. Their talent allows them to stand out, but their wrong choices make them sit down.
Anyone can make choices that adds to talent.

Thoughts on Attitude

ATTITUDE:
1. Only disability in life is a bad attitude.
2. You can name 5 or 6 people who walk in the door who will pick up a room.
3. Cancer starts with one bad cell.
4. You can modify behavior but you can't rehab character.

Lou Holtz on Teaching

"Without the ability to teach, it is really difficult to perform the responsibility of a coach."