With the Super Bowl coming up I’ve noticed how many players being interviewed have talked about teamwork and team chemistry. Do they suddenly believe in teamwork because their teams are in the Super Bowl or are their teams in the Super Bowl because they believe in teamwork?

In the book Game Plans for Success by Ray Didinger, Coach Marty Schottenheimer talks about how coaches can only do and say so much when it comes to instilling values such as teamwork.

“That direction is much more effective coming from a player that coming from a coach. Players get tired of listening to coaches. When the guy at the next locker verbally kicks a player in the butt, it makes an impression. . . . .

A coach can scream and holler about teamwork, but the teams that really have it are the ones on which the players live it and demand it every day. It comes with a mutual respect and internal leadership.”

I would have to completely agree. Teamwork that is “forced” upon the players is usually short lived and insincere. The only enduring and effective form of teamwork must be genuine and must come from the players. As John Wooden used to say, “The main ingredient to stardom is the rest of the team!”

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At this point in the season I have been thinking about how I can strengthen my team and prepare for a run at the playoffs. My first thought was to concentrate on eliminating any “weak links” but then I read these words written by Bob Starkey, long time men’s and women’s assistant coach at LSU and now an assistant at the University of Central Florida:

I have thought often over the course of the past two years about this particular blog post.  Rarely do you want to tackle one of those life-long coaching axioms.  But that’s what I’m going to do.

“You’re only as strong as your weakest link.”

Now don’t get me wrong — I’m not saying that your team wouldn’t be better if your weakest player had a great attitude and was a hard worker.

But I am saying this: “You’re only as strong as your strongest link.”

I base my premise on years of coaching.  I have been fortunate to have coached some special teams.  During my tenure on the college level I have been to six Final Fours — special teams indeed.

Some of those teams had a player or two that didn’t work as hard as they could have or didn’t have the best of attitudes.  In fact, with a team, it is almost a safe bet that you will have one or two.  But the one thing those Final Four teams had was a player or players that were incredibly committed to having a great team.  They were leaders in their actions and in their words.  The best players on those teams were the hardest workers.  The best players on those teams were the unselfish.  Coach Don Meyer said at the very first clinic I ever heard him speak nearly 20 years ago that “if your best player is your hardest worker than you have a chance to be good…but if he’s not, you could be in for a long season.”

The strongest link is the most important because it is the link that holds the chain together.  The stronger that link, the more links it can “carry” and “lift.”  If you have a team that is top heavy with strong links than you are about to have a great season.

I believe a good coach can minimize the effects of a player with a bad attitude or poor work ethic if they are at the bottom of the chain…but if that weak link is at the top it’s going to break at some point and you will be scrambling to hold it together.

As a coach, I think it is important to recognize that and make sure that you put the necessary energy into communicating and motivating your strongest link.  Too often we get caught as coaches spending 80% of our time on the bottom 20% of our team.

Work hard to find and develop strong links.  Talk to them about how important they are to the success of the team.  Let them know that it is up to them to be the hardest workers when the coaches aren’t around.  They need to be the most enthusiastic whenever everyone else is flat.  Yes, they need to get on their teammates when necessary to hold them accountable but they most also know when and how to lift them when need be.

Make the time to meet periodically with your “strongest link” to coach him or her up.  Give them the attention they need and make sure the team knows that you have his or her back.  Coach your strongest link on what you need from him or her in all areas of the game — including on the floor, in the weight room and in the locker room.

I have also coached teams that had good talent but did not have a strong link at the top and those teams ALWAYS felt short of their potential.

I would add “the strongest link carries the chain.”  How strong is your strongest link(s) and what are you doing to make them stronger?

Starting tomorrow, as we get ready to start the second round of conference play, I am going to make sure my strongest links are even stronger!

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Here are the final 21 thoughts for new coaches. If you have any additional thoughts that I can add to the list I would love to hear about them!

1.   Start your own basketball camp

2.   Become an incredible note taker

3.   Understand the value of attention to detail

4.   Learn how to be a rebounder and passer for drills and individuals

5.   Be loyal to yourself and coaches in your program

6.   Get a job description typed early and follow it to the letter

7.   You go to all the classes and get all the best grades

8.   Be the best at everything you do

9.   Be ready for grunt work and to suck some scum

10.  Be ready to make no money for a while

11.  Have a plan written out for what you want to do and what level you want to work

12.  Start a coaches club –  a network of coaches  that share information with each other

13.  Make your own business card if your program doesn’t provide one

14.  Get to know your boss and help him become better and more successful

15.  Make a portfolio of ideas, strategies, drills, offenses, defenses, etc;

16.  Become proficient with video technology, editing machines, computers, copy machines, fax machines, and telephone systems

17.  Establish goals and work on them everyday

18.  Establish yourself as a winner

19.  Remember the stories of Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Edison, Joe Torre, and John Elway (Perseverance)

20.  Remember only a certain small percentage make it to the “big time”

21.  Pray to God and have faith that everything will turn out for the best.

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While working on my current eBook, A Comprehensive Guide to the 2-3 Zone, I was looking through my files and came across something interesting that I thought was worth passing along to new coaches looking to get on the fast-track of success in this profession.

While there was no author attached to this paper, I don’t think I could have said it better myself!

There are 36 items on the list. Here are the first 15:

1)     Relationships are more important than wins

2)     Learn how to speak well

3)     Be professional in all aspects – Talk, body language, dress – First impressions last a lifetime

4)     You will be judged by wins and losses, you be the judge of your own values, morals, ethics

5)     Work basketball camps to meet new contacts, learn strategy, understand the game

6)     Attend a basketball clinic every fall for new ideas

7)     Learn to recruit – You will recruit everyone you come in contact with parents, referees, students, administrators, high school coaches, high school players

8)     Be positive in everything you do – People are watching (Image) (Perception)

9)     Be willing to do anything for the team within reason

10)  Talent is not over rated – Recruit Talent and Character

11)  Know how to break film and become very proficient with X’s and O’s

12)  If you want to coach at the college level – Have a very good player that you can give to the college coaches

13)  Start your own AAU program

14)  Make sure you are with a program that will promote winning

15)  Become a personal ambassador for the game of basketball

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I cannot think of many things worse than players getting comfortable and complacent with their game! I have noticed that many players become complacent midway through the season when they believe their spot is solidified and playing time is guaranteed. In order for everyone on your team to reach his full potential you must all adhere to Coach Christensen’s 7 Standards of Success:

1) Discipline: Doing the things that have to be done, when they have to be done, all the time no matter the situation

2) Commit to Being Excellent: There are very few things in life that are guaranteed. One of the things that is guaranteed is that life is not easy, especially the quest to become a champion! If you have your heart set on becoming the best you must commit to accept nothing less than
excellence!

3) Be Happy: There are only a few things that you can control. One of them is the attitude you bring every day. The glass is either half full or half empty. How you view the glass is up to you!

4) Be Accountable: If you wish to be successful you must learn responsibility and accountability! Before pointing the fingers at others, you must first hold yourself accountable for your actions, and especially your mistakes and weaknesses!

5) Be Prepared: Like a Boy Scout, always be prepared! Be prepared for class, be prepared for practice, and be prepared for life.

6) “It’s the Parts that Make the Whole”: Nothing great has ever been accomplished without paying attention to all the small details. Make time each day to focus on the small details and the whole will take care of itself.

7) Expect Nothing But Greatness: If you work like a champion, think like a champion, and persevere like a champion then you can expect to become a champion!

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Here are some thoughts on the subject from John Wooden, the most successful college basketball coach of all time:

- Promise yourself that you will talk health, happiness and prosperity as often as possible.

- Promise yourself to make sure all your friends know there is something in them that is special and that you value.

- Promise to think only the best, to work for only the best and to expect only the best from yourself and others.

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

- Promise yourself to be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.

- Promise to forget the mistakes of the past and press on to greater achievements in the future.

- Promise to wear a cheerful appearance at all times and give every person you meet a smile.

- Promise to give so much time improving yourself that you have no time to criticize others.

- Promise to be too large for worry, to noble for anger, too strong for fear and to happy to permit trouble to press you.

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Is it possible to have too much talent on a team? It is if everyone wants to be “the go-to guy” and won’t willingly accept any other role. In an article titled “A Will to Win; Rick Pitino on Motivation” on Allbusiness.com, Coach Rick Pitino talked about the importance of not only accepting team roles but embracing them for the good of the group.

I had one of the greatest college teams of all time at Kentucky in 1996. On that team there were seven guys who went on to play in the NBA. I started the five best players and we lost the second game of the season because it wasn’t a group that was cohesive. And then I took a walk-on point guard and made him a starter.

He was totally willing to sacrifice for the good of the team and worked to make the other players better. He didn’t care about scoring; he didn’t mind doing the dirty work. He just wanted to make the other people better. The other player who became a substitute still played the same amount of minutes and I made him understand that this was just about making the team better – it has nothing to do with your significance to the team.

We didn’t lose another game until the end of the season and we won a championship, all because that young man accepted his role.

I’ve written many times that I believe that there are guys (and girls) who play basketball and then there are basketball players and there is a HUGE difference between the two groups. Someone who gladly accepts and magnifies his role for the sole reason of helping his coach and his teammates is the ultimate basketball player!

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People all over the world are making New Year’s resolutions to raise their fitness level and to get in better shape. Maybe you’re one of them. If not you should be! Coaching can be an extremely stressful profession and it’s crucial that we don’t get so caught up in competing and helping others that we sacrifice our own health and well being. In a recent P90X  Newsletter, Chalene Johnson, the creator of the TurboFire Fitness Program shared 20 fitness tips that should be read and implemented by all basketball coaches:

1. Keep a water bottle with you at all times and drink from it often. Water should always be your drink of choice. To kick things up every once in a while, try adding lemon, lime, cucumber, or a few berries to liven up the flavor without adding significant calories.
2. Look at exercise as a pleasure and a privilege, not a burden or chore. Think positively about the changes regular exercise will produce. Rather than obsessing about your next meal, get excited about your next workout!
3. Eat well-balanced meals and remember that excess calories, even if they’re from food that’s fat free and high in protein, will turn to excess weight. No matter what the latest fad diet says, extra calories equal extra weight!
4. Limit caffeine and exposure to even secondhand smoke.
5. Focus on short-term fitness goals with an emphasis on completing daily exercise.
6. Keep a daily log of what you’re actually eating. This includes every time you grab ahandful of chips here or eat the crust of your kid’s sandwich there, and ALL of your snacking.
7. Enjoyan occasional (once a week) “unhealthy” treat, but never an unhealthy week or unhealthy vacation.
8. Enjoy contributing to the health of others by having a partner or friends to exercise with, as well as recruiting others who want to feel better and have more energy. Have a neighbor who’s sitting on the porch every morning when you walk by? Ask him or her to join you on your walk!
9. Avoid monotony by taking up new forms of exercising, or using things that keep you motivated and inspired, like new shoes or great music.
10. Subscribe to fitness magazines to keep focused on health as an overall way of life.
11. Invest in the right tools—good shoes, a portable MP3 player or iPod^®, fitness equipment, a new series of tapes, etc.
12. Makeit your goal to do some form of exercise 6 or 7 days a week. If some days you exercise once in the morning and once in the evening, even better! If you’re eating right, exercise will fuel your energy level!
13. Don’t compare your body to others’. Instead, work to be your personal best.
14. Ifyour diet is unbalanced, take daily vitamin and mineral supplements for total
    health.
15. Work to take your exercise to new levels of intensity.
16. Create an exercise schedule the day before instead of leaving it to chance or waiting to “find” the time. If our last three Presidents of the United States can make time to work out every day, you can make time too!
17. Move beyond the boundaries of weight loss and into total fitness. Measure success by the way your clothes fit, not some number on a scale.
18. Stick with eating plans you can maintain indefinitely. Remember that no matter how hard you’re working out, if you’re consuming too many calories, you’ll never see the muscles that lie beneath layers of fatty tissue.
19. Get adequate amounts of sleep, but remember that people who exercise regularly fall asleep faster and sleep more soundly.
20. Limit alcohol intake to special occasions.

www.beachbody.com

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Mike Dunlap is the Associate Head Coach at St. John’s University and has taken a much larger role in all aspects of the program as Head Coach Steve Lavin recovers from prostate cancer. He has won two NCAA Divsion II National Championships at Metro State and has also coached at Arizona, Oregon,  and with the Denver Nuggets. The following is a list of 10 items that Coach Dunlap feels are often neglected or overloooked by many coaches:

1. Take time to explain what we want from our players.
We must strive for clarity first.

2. Demonstration after we tell our players what we want; there must be a demonstration each time.
We need to give our players a picture demonstration before we get into repetition.

3. Building blocks are the only way to develop a player.
For example, if we do not address a players feet and be specific about how we want him to pivot then it will cost us down the road. Do not rush your teaching. We should do one thing at a time.

4. Teaching your team to be physical takes technique, sequential instruction, and patience.
It is easy to call a player a “nutless wonder” without considering that most players have never been taught the finer points of hand to hand combat. If we would spend a little more time with football coaches we would figure out how to teach our team to be physical.

5. Be objective about an all out effort.
We demand that a player go at 100% effort. What is 100% effort and has there ever been a player who knew what that meant. Probably not? For instance, put a heart monitor on a player and measure their heart rate. The instructor can be more objective about individual effort this way. Yet, we talk and sometimes yell at our players about going “all out” all the time. What a stupid statement when you really think about it. How can a player read and think? For example, a good offensive player must learn how to changespeeds with cutting and ballhandling. This requires that the offensive player control his body and NOT play at 100%. Too many times we buy into the myth of the 100% effort and forget about going after a player’s intellect before asking for a quality effort.

6. Demanding perfection.
What a bunch of crap! The more a person chases perfection the less they can enjoy each act. How can a perfectionist be happy with anything? The least enjoyable person to be around is the perfectionist; I find a lazy dog to be just as unpleasant. Demand that people do the right thing, yet do not fall into the trap that nothing is ever good enough. If you are always chasing perfection then how can you teach a player to enjoy a job well done? As Coach Wooden stated, “A man must find balance, be it emotional, physical, spiritual, or intellectual.” Why is it that certain coaches will say that they were devastated by the loss at the end of a 33-1 season? If you believe in your preparation and teaching process then how can any loss devastate you? In other words, losing is part of sports; you learn from it and move on. A disciplined mind comes in many different forms and being mentally tough also requires that you must accept the brutal reality that no one is perfect and a quality effort is a joy in and of itself regardless of outcome.

7. Follow through.
If you want discipline in your organization then follow through with consequences for actions. Our discipline breaks down when we do not quickly punish the transgression. How come so many coaches fall prey to this area? Because it could hurt the outcome of your season if you lose a certain player. My experience tells me just the opposite. For example, George Gwoldecky, head hockey coach at Denver University, benched his best player for the national championship game. Coach Gwoldecky made a statement for all time- period.

8. Take care of ourselves first.
Whether it is our mental and physical health (i.e eating, exercise, prayer, reading, etc) daily schedule, finances, family, and other personal matters, we need to address those things first. Why? Because if you are not in order how can you fully give to your team, staff, and school? You cannot.

9. Apologize.
We demand so much from others and we want them to see their mistakes and fix them. In short, we set ourselves above our own vulnerabilities; we should openly admit our errors. Once you have done this in front of your team it will be much easier for them to acknowledge their mistakes. This is an imperative act by the head coach if you want quality communication.

10. Allow for failure.
Part of learning is the margin of failure and sometimes you just have to let the players fall flat on their rumps. This is difficult but necessary.

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We all know that basketball is a great vehicle to teach and reinforce impoortant life skills but it can also provide an opportunity to identify some personal qualities and charactersistics. In his book Values of the Game, Senator Bill Bradley, a former NBA star and champion with the New York Knicks, shares a great example of this truth in action.

I can learn more about people by playing three on three with them for 20 minutes than I can by talking with them for a week. I once hired a new director for my US Senate offices. I liked him but it wasn’t until I played basketball with him that I knew I’d made the right choice. I found out that he was a hard worker (he went for rebounds), competitive with a fierce desire to win (he played tight defense), and unselfish (he screened away from the ball).

Just think about your own team for a second. The players who work the hard on the court generally work hard off the court as well.  Players who are selfish on the court also seem to be selfish off the court. Motivated self starters in the gym are usually motivated self starters in other areas of their life too. I guess whoever said Basketball doesn’t always build character but it most certainly reveals it was exactly right!

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