Being a basketball player does not imply merely wearing the uniform and just being a member of a squad. There are many more important phases to think about if you want to be a winner not only in basketball but in life as well. Ask yourself these questions, and answer them honestly.

1.         Are you coachable? Can you take coaching? Can you take criticism without ever looking for an alibi? Are you a “know it all”? Will you always do your very best to try to improve?

2.         Are you possessed with the spirit of competition which fires an intense desire to win? Does it bother you to lose?

3.         Are you willing to practice or do_you want to practice? You must want to work every day with the same zeal, speed, and determination you use during a ball game. Do you have two speeds‑‑a Practice speed and a game speed? The great playes of the past were the ones who had one speed, and it was the same every day, every practice, every game. If you loaf and cheat in practice, you will loaf and cheat in a game.

4.         Are you willing to make sacrifices? Conditioning to play is not fun. It is stark punishment at times. Training is exacting; the responsibility is heavy. It is rough and includes personal denials in order to remain in tiptop condition, but it has its rewards. You thrill with an inner glow that reflects a feeling of happiness when you are able to dive and save a ball from going out‑of‑bounds. The only way for you to remain in good shape is never to get out of it.

5.         Do you have an ardent desire to improve? Will you practice the things you cannot do three times longer than the things you can do? Are you willing to put in long grinding hours, concentrating on a skill until you have perfected it? Are you eager to work so diligently at the skills you lack that they eventually become your strongest assets?

6.         Do you have the ability to think under fire? Can you concentrate on the work to be accomplished at the moment? Can you shut out from your mind a previous failure, success, rule infraction, or personal insult in order to give undivided attention to the offensive and defensive maneuver in the here and now? Games are not won by yesterday’s score, but by what is happening now, at this moment.

7.         Are you willing to be impersonal‑toward your opponent? Do you shut out all personal feelings about your opponent except to beat him as often and quickly as you can, in accordance with the rules? Our experiences have taught us that the moment a player becomes personal he plays only to release individual grievances and ceases to play basketball as a team member.

9.           Do you believe in your school, your team, and your coach? Your school is as good as you make it. Your coach is a genuine employee of your school given the responsibility of coaching, not his team, but your team. Are you willing to work toward that spirit of oneness so that everyone possesses the feeling of belonging through their contribution? Will you keep uppermost in mind that when a coach blisters the team with criticism his remarks are never meant to be personal affronts? The only intent is to pressure you to want to correct your mistakes so that success for everyone results. Despite his scathing remarks he loves all of you as if you were his very own.

10. Will you strive daily to improve your muscular coordination and speed.  Basketball is a game of movement and daily drills will tend to speed up your reaction time. Speed and coordination are necessary ingredients in a winning combination.

Finally, remember this saying: Hard work guarantees nothing, But lack of it does.

* Remember that the clock is your ally. Try to avoid stopping it.

* Take care of the basketball. Make sharp crisp passes.

* When the opponents are pressing you, press them back, but don't foul.

* Put particular emphasis on stopping penetration by giving good defensive help.

* Don't foul! Particularly do not foul a shooter! Remember that your opponents may be taking some hurried shots in their  effort to catch up. Hurried shots often mean bad shots.

* Get out on 3 point shooters, but again, players must be coached to get arms up high without fouling.

* Slow the game tempo.

* Constantly emphasize blocking out on the boards. No second shots.

* Keep the ball in your best free throw shooters hands.

* Keep offensive spacing to minimize double-teams.

Yours for better basketball,

Glenn Wilkes

Coaches:

When you are behind late in the game, the enemy is the clock, not the opponent. Seconds can be extremely valuable and every effort should be made to prevent time from running off the clock.

When you properly use fouls and time-outs during the last few minutes, the game can be significantly lengthened. Don't ever let your players give up!

Emphasize to your players at this time:
     1. Create 5 second violations.
     2. Look to steal the inbounds pass.
     3. Look to take a charge.
     4. Rebound aggressively at both ends of the floor. Place particular emphasis on offensive rebounding since the team leading may not want to run.
     5. Commit a foul (on the right opponent).
     6. Push the ball on offense, but take care of the basketball.
     7. Drive hard to the basket since opposing players have probably been told not to foul.
     8. Substitute at every dead ball in order to set up your press. Tom
Davis was a mater of this when he was coaching at Stanford and Iowa.
     9. "Help" the referees. Try to influence them to call a foul on your opponent that will stop the clock or change ball possession.

Yours for better basketball,

Glenn Wilkes

* Players must be coached in the art of fouling and clock manage-ment. They must know how, when and who to foul.

* In order to keep your oppoents out of the bonus situation as long as possible, players must be taught not to commit fouls early in a period.

The basketball coach must never forget that he is a leader and not merely a person with authority. The youngsters under his supervision must be able to receive proper guidance from him in all respects and not merely in regard to the proper playing of the game of basketball.

Paul Biancardi of ESPNU gave this message to campers attending
the Nike Hoop Jamboree in St. Louis:

* You are here to improve...not to prove anything.

* Cultivate relationships. Introduce yourself to other players and
coaches, take advantage of this opportunity, and start to make
friendships.

* Improve your people skills. In my career I have observed a
great many young people who cannot converse/talk/ express
themselves. Too much texting, not enough talking.

* Improve your knowledge and understanding of the game. Read,
observe, and ask questions. Learn what you don't know.

* Improve your skill level, especially in areas that are weak.
Everyone has the will to win, what is important are those who have
the will to prepare to win.

* Improve work habits. It is no coincidence that some of the
greatest players of all time were the hardest workers (Kobe,
Lebron, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson). To be great, you must become
a great worker.

* Are you a leader or a follower?

1. Be an excellent teacher.

Coaching at the end of a tight basketball game is more of an art than a science. But, I feel better as a coach having gone through as many scenarios in my mind and come up with how I am going to handle them as I possibly can. I think teams will be more successful in tight games if your players have practiced various end of game situations and know how you, as their coach, will react to them. It is often difficult to communicate at the end of the game when the gym is loud and you are out of or rationing your timeouts, so it is essential that your players are sure about the strategy in advance.

John Wooden Inspirational Quotes #1

Success is peace of mind that is the direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming.

John Wooden

Got this from one of Don Meyer’s clinics.  The Warrior in the title is from our school mascot, so change as needed to use in your program.

Be more concerned with your character than your reputation.  Your character defines who you really are...your reputation is only what others only think you are.

1. Ohio State rule: No catch-shoot shots allowed.

2. It is tough to win when your leader is emotionally fragile.

3. Players must understand that playing with less dribbles is best:
         2 dribbles you play
         3 dribbles the coaches start thinking
         4 dribbles you sit

4. Be attached to a few core things but open to everything.

5. These two people cannot have a bad practice: (1) Your best
player and (2) the head coach.

6. You have to know how to coach the immature player. They will not
see the big picture nor beyond themselves.

7. If you cannot coach your best player, you cannot coach your team.

8. Good or bad, your team will be known for something.

Yours for better basketball,

Glenn Wilkes
www.basketballsbest .com

Imagine there is a bank account that credits your account each morning with $86,400. It carries over no balance from day to day.

Every evening the bank deletes whatever part of the balance you failed to use during the day. What would you do? Draw out every cent, of course?

Each of us has such a bank. It’s name is TIME.

Every morning, it credits you with 86,400 seconds.

Every night it writes off as lost, whatever of this you have failed to invest to a good purpose.

It carries over no balance. It allows no over draft. Each day it opens a new account for you. Each night it burns the remains of the day.

If you fail to use the day’s deposits, the loss is yours. There is no drawing against “tomorrow.”

You must live in the present on today’s deposits. Invest it so as to get from it the utmost in health, happiness and success!

The clock is running!! Make the most of today.

To realize the value of ONE YEAR. ask a student who failed a grade.

To realize the value of ONE MONTH, ask a mother who has given birth to a premature baby.

To realize the value of ONE WEEK, ask the editor of a weekly newspaper.

To realize the value of ONE HOUR, ask the lovers who are waiting to meet.

To realize the value of ONE MINUTE, ask a person who just missed a train.

To realize the value of ONE SECOND. ask someone who just avoided an accident.

To realize the value of ONE MILLISECOND, ask the person who won a silver medal at the Olympics.

Treasure every moment that you have! And treasure it more because you shared it with someone special, special enough to spend your time with. And remember time waits for no one.

Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That’s why its called the present.

(Out of Marc Levy debut book, If Only It Were True!)

Since team building is a huge part of the art of basketball coaching, you can never have too many resources for team meetings, bulletin boards, or player's notebooks. Here is one that we hope you will find to be useful with your team:

1. Keep skid chains on your tongue.  Always say less than you think. Cultivate a low, persuasive voice.  How you say it often counts more than what you say.
   
2. Make promises sparingly and keep them faithfully, no matter what the cost.
   
3. Never let an opportunity pass to say a kind and encouraging word to or about somebody.  Praise good work, regardless of who it is.
   
4.  Be interested in others; their pursuits, their work, their homes and their families.  Make merry with those who rejoice; with those who weep, mourn.  Let everyone you meet, however humble, feel that you regard him as a person of importance.
   
5. Be cheerful.  Don’t burden or depress those around you by dwelling on your aches and pains and small disappointments.  Remember, everyone is carrying some kind of burden.
   
6. Keep an open mind.  Discuss but don’t argue.  It is a mark of a superior mind to be able to disagree without being disagreeable.
   
7. Let your virtues, if you have any, speak for themselves.  Refuse to talk about the vices of  others.  Discourage gossip.  It is a waste of valuable time and can be destructive and hurtful.
   
8. Take into consideration the feelings of others.  Wit and humor at the expense of another are never worth the pain that may be inflicted.
   
9. Pay no attention to ill-natured remarks about you.  Remember, the person who carried the message may not be the most accurate reporter in the world.  Simply live so that nobody will believe him.  Disordered nerves and bad digestion are a common cause of backbiting.
   
10. Don’t be anxious about the credit due you.  Do your best and be patient.  Forget about yourself and let others “remember.”  Success is much sweeter that way.

Winners don't complain;
they are too busy getting ready for the next challenge.

An obstacle is what you see when
you stop focusing on your goal.

Before you defeat anyone else,
you must first learn to defeat yourself.

Martial arts is
99.9% mental and .1% physical

We cry in the dojo
so we can laugh on the battlefield.

Being good
is an all the time thing.

Martial arts begins and ends with
Respect

Coaching can be a very time (24/7) consuming endeavor. There will never be enough hours in the day. Therefore, making the most of the time that you have is vital. In almost all cases, the real problem is not a lack of time, but actually a poor usage of time. In addition to a well thoughtout program master, time management and efficiency is a key ingredient to any success. With proper time management you can get more things done, in less time, and with less stress.

1. Be the hardest worker at practice today. Without fail, one of the quickest ways to impact a team is with your own work ethic. Choose to be one of the hardest workers on your team today. Not only does it set the tone for the work ethic of your program, it is also one of the best and quickest ways to enhance your leadership credibility with your teammates and coaches.

What makes one person a winner and other people losers? How they think!  Your self image determines your ability and your success. You will be ready mentally if you are thinking success.  For instance:

A WINNER is always ready to tackle something new...  a loser is prone to believe it can't be done.