Measure of Success.
- Take a team with enough talent to win 80% of their games, and push them to winning 90%.
- Take the team with talent to barely win one game and compete to win 50%.
- Take the kids who can barely walk and chew gum at the same time and make them exceptional at one thing.
- Take the kid who’s a natural and drive them to be stellar.
Fundamental skills every day.
- One of the most incredible things I’ve witnessed in sports is Cal Ripken, at the pinnacle of his career, carry a tee out to home plate before team batting practice and hit a bucket of baseballs.
- Skill work, done right, every time, every day.
Players win games, coaches lose them.
- Let the players bask in the glory of success for all their hard work.
- Step out to take the bullets for them in defeat.
Make your players better,every day.
- There should be times when they hate you. Push them anyway.
- There will be times when they are happy with their results. Point out their flaws and how to fix them.
- There should be days when they curse you, call you names, and regret the day you were born. Make them better, anyway.
Always get better.
- Need to. Want to. Have to.
Self-assess.
- Be brutally honest with yourself.
- Push yourself harder than anyone else does.
- Work harder than anyone else does.
Winning games is not easy.
- It takes a lot of things to go right in order to succeed.
- Hard work is the magic.
Be honest.
- With parents, kids, and administrators, no matter how hard the truth is.
Enjoy the now.
- A very, very small percentage of athletes move on to a higher level of play.
- Enjoy the sport everyday that you are allowed to participate.
- This time is golden.
THE COACH HAYS 