The Coach In Me

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.