Every year, one of my challenges is to come up with a suitable slogan for the upcoming season. Sometimes I "borrow" the phrase from others ("Go hard or Go home"), or else I tweak a familiar saying to fit our team ("Bulldog Tough, West York Proud"), while other times I am struck by a simple inspiration, usually sparked by something I see or hear ("There are no wasted moments" - inspired by the movie "Peaceful Warrior" and book by the same name). Once I get it - however I get it - it goes on the back of that season's team t-shirt and becomes my battlecry to the troops as we navigate each season's challenges. This year, however, I found myself approaching the deadline with nary an idea of what our slogan might be for the 2011-12 season. I began scouring the internet, coaching sites, basketball blogs, even books that had been collecting dust on my shelves in my office at home, trying desperately to find that "spark", that one moment that would lead me to our next team slogan. I found it, ironically, on the basketball court.
The current group of of players I have at the JV and varsity level have been very committed to our cause since early March of last year. It is probably not coincidence that this also happens to be my least experienced team at the varsity level since I began coaching here at West York in 1998. I think this has worked in our favor, since I seem to have a group of athletes who are genuinely eager to learn, improve their games, and bring no preconceived notions of "inherited" success to the table. Bottom line: this group seems to understand implicitly that they will not win a single game just by simply putting on the Bulldog uniform - it is up to them to create their own success. Early on, I found myself setting relatively conservative goals for this group and after some time, they would meet those goals and be looking for the next challenge. When we talked about short term goals like getting everyone to lift all three scheduled days during the week, or winning the next summer league game on our schedule, they seemed to respond with enthusiasm and effort. But when I would start talking long term goals - most of which were based on PAST long term goals - Division, League, and District titles - I felt their focus slip and our performance seemed to falter. It wasn't too noticeable at first, but it all seemed to come to a head in the Fall, when we struggled mightily in the Vonnie Grimes Fall League. As a staff, we were baffled at the negative transformation we were seeing happen right before our eyes and try as we might, just could not put a finger on any one particular reason for the downward spiral.
About mid-October, I read an article on-line (peaksportsnetwork.com) about the psychology behind goal-setting. In essence, the article talked about the importance of an athlete being able to focus on the PROCESS rather than the resulting PRODUCT. It talked about giving the athletes process goals ("here's how I want you to do it and here's why I want you to do it that way") as opposed to goals focused on the final product ("here's what I want you to accomplish"). This struck a chord with me. I have always considered myself goal-oriented, but I never thought about what kind of goals I was focusing on. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that nearly all of the goals I set for my athletes - and had them set for themselves as well - were focused on the "finished product". What's more, upon further inspection, all the goals were based on past performance; the past performance of those who came before them. "How fair is that?" I wondered to myself. "Because OTHER athletes on PAST teams accomplished certain things, was it fair - or even necessary - to demand the same from these athletes?" A typical initial answer would be YES - how else can you measure an athlete or a team unless comparing them to a past performance? But my epiphany was this: the truest form of comparison should be based on comparing them to THEMSELVES and their OWN past performance. Following this logic then, I found you can compare, and thus, evaluate an individual and a team on a daily basis by simply focusing on the "doing". To go even further, this self-comparison could actually happen on a drill-to-drill or even play-to-play basis. What we are really talking about then is the constant work the athlete does, the ongoing effort, the step-by-step of every singular act they perform. It is the PROCESS we are focusing on, not the PRODUCT.
Thus was born the slogan for the 2011-12 season: Success is a Process. Immediately after adopting this "new" outlook with the players during an open gym, I saw a noticeable change in the "results". The players' efforts seemed more focused and all I did was tell them, before a particular drill, here is how it should be done and why it needs to be done that way. We didn't talk about final outcomes, because I was determined to not focus on that until it had happened. I was seeing success in the WAY they were doing things - in the process. The by-product of their success within the process: IMPROVEMENT. At the end of the day, what more can anyone ask for, other than constant improvement?
Now, is that to say that we should be satisfied with an outcome that is not of our liking (ie. losing)? Actually, it is the exact opposite - we should never be satisfied with the outcome, regardless of whether it is perceived to be "positive" (winning) or "negative" (losing) because there should always be room for improvement and thus, we must then focus back on the process of getting there. This then makes it possible for us to be displeased after a win when we know we did not "win the right way", through exceptional teamwork, extreme effort, and good sportsmanship. Conversely, although we could be successful in our process and still lose the game, we also know that if we continue being successful in the process, our improvement will continue also and that loss of today may be a win down the road. Thus, although we are not pleased with the outcome, we aren't disheartened either
For the past two weeks, we have been reminding the players of the importance of improving themselves every day, not just as a basketball player, but as a young man. Nearly every situation represents an opportunity for a person to improve and everytime a person improves in something, it is a success. By focusing on the task directly in front of him, a person can enjoy success on a constant, never-ending basis. Confucius once said, "the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step". I do believe he was on to something!
Let the journey begin...
The current group of of players I have at the JV and varsity level have been very committed to our cause since early March of last year. It is probably not coincidence that this also happens to be my least experienced team at the varsity level since I began coaching here at West York in 1998. I think this has worked in our favor, since I seem to have a group of athletes who are genuinely eager to learn, improve their games, and bring no preconceived notions of "inherited" success to the table. Bottom line: this group seems to understand implicitly that they will not win a single game just by simply putting on the Bulldog uniform - it is up to them to create their own success. Early on, I found myself setting relatively conservative goals for this group and after some time, they would meet those goals and be looking for the next challenge. When we talked about short term goals like getting everyone to lift all three scheduled days during the week, or winning the next summer league game on our schedule, they seemed to respond with enthusiasm and effort. But when I would start talking long term goals - most of which were based on PAST long term goals - Division, League, and District titles - I felt their focus slip and our performance seemed to falter. It wasn't too noticeable at first, but it all seemed to come to a head in the Fall, when we struggled mightily in the Vonnie Grimes Fall League. As a staff, we were baffled at the negative transformation we were seeing happen right before our eyes and try as we might, just could not put a finger on any one particular reason for the downward spiral.
About mid-October, I read an article on-line (peaksportsnetwork.com) about the psychology behind goal-setting. In essence, the article talked about the importance of an athlete being able to focus on the PROCESS rather than the resulting PRODUCT. It talked about giving the athletes process goals ("here's how I want you to do it and here's why I want you to do it that way") as opposed to goals focused on the final product ("here's what I want you to accomplish"). This struck a chord with me. I have always considered myself goal-oriented, but I never thought about what kind of goals I was focusing on. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that nearly all of the goals I set for my athletes - and had them set for themselves as well - were focused on the "finished product". What's more, upon further inspection, all the goals were based on past performance; the past performance of those who came before them. "How fair is that?" I wondered to myself. "Because OTHER athletes on PAST teams accomplished certain things, was it fair - or even necessary - to demand the same from these athletes?" A typical initial answer would be YES - how else can you measure an athlete or a team unless comparing them to a past performance? But my epiphany was this: the truest form of comparison should be based on comparing them to THEMSELVES and their OWN past performance. Following this logic then, I found you can compare, and thus, evaluate an individual and a team on a daily basis by simply focusing on the "doing". To go even further, this self-comparison could actually happen on a drill-to-drill or even play-to-play basis. What we are really talking about then is the constant work the athlete does, the ongoing effort, the step-by-step of every singular act they perform. It is the PROCESS we are focusing on, not the PRODUCT.
Thus was born the slogan for the 2011-12 season: Success is a Process. Immediately after adopting this "new" outlook with the players during an open gym, I saw a noticeable change in the "results". The players' efforts seemed more focused and all I did was tell them, before a particular drill, here is how it should be done and why it needs to be done that way. We didn't talk about final outcomes, because I was determined to not focus on that until it had happened. I was seeing success in the WAY they were doing things - in the process. The by-product of their success within the process: IMPROVEMENT. At the end of the day, what more can anyone ask for, other than constant improvement?
Now, is that to say that we should be satisfied with an outcome that is not of our liking (ie. losing)? Actually, it is the exact opposite - we should never be satisfied with the outcome, regardless of whether it is perceived to be "positive" (winning) or "negative" (losing) because there should always be room for improvement and thus, we must then focus back on the process of getting there. This then makes it possible for us to be displeased after a win when we know we did not "win the right way", through exceptional teamwork, extreme effort, and good sportsmanship. Conversely, although we could be successful in our process and still lose the game, we also know that if we continue being successful in the process, our improvement will continue also and that loss of today may be a win down the road. Thus, although we are not pleased with the outcome, we aren't disheartened either
For the past two weeks, we have been reminding the players of the importance of improving themselves every day, not just as a basketball player, but as a young man. Nearly every situation represents an opportunity for a person to improve and everytime a person improves in something, it is a success. By focusing on the task directly in front of him, a person can enjoy success on a constant, never-ending basis. Confucius once said, "the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step". I do believe he was on to something!
Let the journey begin...
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