Every week we take a few minutes to ask our players a question. The question is often directed toward self-awareness in the hopes our players will take the time to listen to their internal voices. All personal development starts with self-awareness.
Last week I asked them to write their definition of mental toughness. There were some great definitions.
"The will and power to push past the doubt in a situation and believe that obstacles are mere challenges."
"The toughness in your mind when your body is past the point of exhaustion and your mind takes control and pushes you forward. It is also being able to move on to the next play with no reaction or thought."
"Mental toughness is staying calm in pressure situations, is getting up after you fall, and is adapting to any situation no matter the adversity."
"To me, mental toughness is when you have nothing left and you're fighting yourself and your mind to think and be positive. Also, it is not allowing anything negative to enter your mind."
After they had written their definitions, I asked them to rate themselves on a scale of one to five with one being the lowest and five being the highest. I was pleased the seniors all rated themselves as a four. A five rating would have been better but a four means they believe in themselves. The others . . . well they were not as confident. They still need to see themselves in a different light. They still need to believe they can achieve.
It is all a matter of the mind!
What I would like to see in each player is the ability to recognize their negative thoughts, to work on replacing them with positive thoughts and to know the power which comes with this process. Negative thoughts are limiting. They have no place for players who want to be mentally tough.
Negative thinkers expect the worst, place the blame on others, fail to trust themselves or others, take on a poor me attitude and cannot see they are responsible for creating what they are experiencing. Due to the way they think, they feel hopeless, worried, fearful, angry and frustrated.
Positive thinkers look for the best in all situations, seek solutions, seek help from others, know what they want and have a plan, and are willing and ready to receive inspiration. They find joy, happiness, success, achievement and fulfillment.
Mental toughness is not something players are born with; it is something they receive from their beliefs. The great thing is every player has the ability to control her mind. It is as simple and as complex as that.
Not one player who thinks she cannot do something ever achieves it. NOT ONE! This is the mind talking. This is controllable.
What I want from every player is her willingness to listen to what she tells herself, to stop the negative thoughts from getting in her way, and to replace them with positive thoughts. When she is able to do this, she is mentally tough and the court is hers to own.
ONE HEART. ONE DREAM.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Active Rest Week
Last week as we pushed our players, provided a few necessary lessons about going to classes, and asked them to get tougher, I kept reminding them next week was active rest week. Our upper class players in full awareness of what was to come were able to push themselves through the challenges.
The freshmen on dead legs and bodies which were sore from toenails to the crown of their heads wanted to know what active rest week meant. Finally, Tiffany Scott, a rookie from Sylvania, OH, gave me the best definition I've ever heard. She said, "I was talking to my mom and telling her we had active rest week next week. She asked me what that meant. I told her I didn't know but everybody told me it was the best thing ever. It was just like Christmas!"
So this week according to Tiffany, we are on Christmas break. This is not exactly the truth. There are no presents involved, no holiday dinners and no festive activities. We are, however, giving the players an opportunity to recover, to allow their bodies a chance to rejuvenate and their minds a chance to catch up to what we've been teaching.
What are we doing this week? In place of running sprints and then running some more, we are playing games. Since NCAA rules don't allow us to have a basketball, we play ultimate frisbee, gator ball, Hungarian dodge ball, and other games which involve a lot of running.
The difference in training is really in their minds. There is not a clock or a timer, no extra punishments for not making the times; only a consequence of sprints for the losers. There is still running involved and sweat . . . lots of sweat.
In weight training, we change our P90X Plus routine and provide something a little less challenging. We don't want them to lose their edge they have gained by pushing them the past three weeks; we do want them to feel revitalized and eager to return to tougher practices.
What Tiffany doesn't know is when the players come back from "Christmas" we push them harder. I guess none of the upper class players explained that concept to her. Oops!
So next week we increase the number of sprints they run, decrease the amount of time they run them in, and we push harder in individual practices. I'm not certain what the upper class players call this week and I probably don't want to know.
Hopefully they enjoy the holiday this week while preparing their minds and bodies for the challenges to come.
ONE HEART. ONE DREAM.
The freshmen on dead legs and bodies which were sore from toenails to the crown of their heads wanted to know what active rest week meant. Finally, Tiffany Scott, a rookie from Sylvania, OH, gave me the best definition I've ever heard. She said, "I was talking to my mom and telling her we had active rest week next week. She asked me what that meant. I told her I didn't know but everybody told me it was the best thing ever. It was just like Christmas!"
So this week according to Tiffany, we are on Christmas break. This is not exactly the truth. There are no presents involved, no holiday dinners and no festive activities. We are, however, giving the players an opportunity to recover, to allow their bodies a chance to rejuvenate and their minds a chance to catch up to what we've been teaching.
What are we doing this week? In place of running sprints and then running some more, we are playing games. Since NCAA rules don't allow us to have a basketball, we play ultimate frisbee, gator ball, Hungarian dodge ball, and other games which involve a lot of running.
The difference in training is really in their minds. There is not a clock or a timer, no extra punishments for not making the times; only a consequence of sprints for the losers. There is still running involved and sweat . . . lots of sweat.
In weight training, we change our P90X Plus routine and provide something a little less challenging. We don't want them to lose their edge they have gained by pushing them the past three weeks; we do want them to feel revitalized and eager to return to tougher practices.
What Tiffany doesn't know is when the players come back from "Christmas" we push them harder. I guess none of the upper class players explained that concept to her. Oops!
So next week we increase the number of sprints they run, decrease the amount of time they run them in, and we push harder in individual practices. I'm not certain what the upper class players call this week and I probably don't want to know.
Hopefully they enjoy the holiday this week while preparing their minds and bodies for the challenges to come.
ONE HEART. ONE DREAM.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Getting Tough With P90X
A few years ago I was sick and unable to get out of bed, running a high fever with chills and aches all over my body. Since I am not a television junkie and, in fact, not a person who likes to be still for longer than 25 minutes, the illness was driving me crazy. I needed to move even when going to the bathroom five steps away was enough to completely exhaust me.
Lying in bed, mindlessly watching game shows and old movies, I found an infomercial for P90X which is an extreme workout. So I watched and visualized myself working out, and then when I was getting better and my thoughts became more rational, I realized it was my players who should be getting the benefit of an extreme workout. Right then and there I purchased the entire P90X package.
In fact, not only do I have the original series, I actually have all of Tony Horton's workouts which by the way the Golden Eagles have come to love. Well . . . not all of them. In fact, I'm pretty certain the newcomers are not very fond of P90X. It is the way they shake and nearly pass out which makes me think this. Upon further review, maybe it is just the coaching staff who loves the workouts.
What I love about the workouts is how much they challenge the players. Who wouldn't want to try to do a combination of lat pulls and push-ups for two minutes? Who wouldn't want to do a lunge while executing a bicep curl or a tricep hammer curl? Who wouldn't want to do a combat push-up for a minute and a half? Who wouldn't want to go from one challenging exercise to another with only a 20 second rest?
The problem I've found is not the exercise; it is the puddle of sweat accumulating at the players' feet. This puddle seems to grow in size and depth until the sweat has formed a miniature swimming pool. With the sweat pool all around them, their hands tend to slip during push-ups and their feet slide every which direction. If they wouldn't sweat so much I'm certain the exercises would be easier.
While I understand P90X is probably not sport specific for basketball; it is a mental toughness workout. When players can go through a 40 minute workout with only two 30 second breaks, continue through an exercise when their breaths are pounding in their chests and their muscles are next door to total exhaustion, then I know they will be able to talk themselves through a double overtime, a week with three games in it and a long road trip.
If the P90X is not enough, we manage to do a little 40 minute conditioning workout before hitting the weights. Our goal here is simple enough: we want the players to sprint so hard they feel their heartbeats in their toes. If they are able to stand up and walk easily out of the gym after a conditioning workout, we have failed to make them better. Somebody should be on the floor unable to move, struggling for breath and praying thankfully that sprints are over for the day.
Preseason is about mental toughness and mental toughness is what the game is. If we can succeed in creating the right mental attitude now, the games we play will be so much easier.
I believe we are on the right path. I love the heart, the desire and the passion and I love TONY HORTON and P90X.
ONE HEART. ONE DREAM.
Lying in bed, mindlessly watching game shows and old movies, I found an infomercial for P90X which is an extreme workout. So I watched and visualized myself working out, and then when I was getting better and my thoughts became more rational, I realized it was my players who should be getting the benefit of an extreme workout. Right then and there I purchased the entire P90X package.
In fact, not only do I have the original series, I actually have all of Tony Horton's workouts which by the way the Golden Eagles have come to love. Well . . . not all of them. In fact, I'm pretty certain the newcomers are not very fond of P90X. It is the way they shake and nearly pass out which makes me think this. Upon further review, maybe it is just the coaching staff who loves the workouts.
What I love about the workouts is how much they challenge the players. Who wouldn't want to try to do a combination of lat pulls and push-ups for two minutes? Who wouldn't want to do a lunge while executing a bicep curl or a tricep hammer curl? Who wouldn't want to do a combat push-up for a minute and a half? Who wouldn't want to go from one challenging exercise to another with only a 20 second rest?
The problem I've found is not the exercise; it is the puddle of sweat accumulating at the players' feet. This puddle seems to grow in size and depth until the sweat has formed a miniature swimming pool. With the sweat pool all around them, their hands tend to slip during push-ups and their feet slide every which direction. If they wouldn't sweat so much I'm certain the exercises would be easier.
While I understand P90X is probably not sport specific for basketball; it is a mental toughness workout. When players can go through a 40 minute workout with only two 30 second breaks, continue through an exercise when their breaths are pounding in their chests and their muscles are next door to total exhaustion, then I know they will be able to talk themselves through a double overtime, a week with three games in it and a long road trip.
If the P90X is not enough, we manage to do a little 40 minute conditioning workout before hitting the weights. Our goal here is simple enough: we want the players to sprint so hard they feel their heartbeats in their toes. If they are able to stand up and walk easily out of the gym after a conditioning workout, we have failed to make them better. Somebody should be on the floor unable to move, struggling for breath and praying thankfully that sprints are over for the day.
Preseason is about mental toughness and mental toughness is what the game is. If we can succeed in creating the right mental attitude now, the games we play will be so much easier.
I believe we are on the right path. I love the heart, the desire and the passion and I love TONY HORTON and P90X.
ONE HEART. ONE DREAM.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
There are memorable moments every preseason--moments where athletes push past their self imposed limits, where they gain muscle and watch with wondering eyes in the mirror as biceps bulge, where sweat is left in puddles at their feet as they run past the final line in suicides, and when a leader is formed by a moment of pure passion.
While I could write about any of the above with a certain amount of awe and pride, I want to share with you the moment when a leader was born.
Last week as we were running timed suicides, the players kept forgetting to touch the lines. We believe every line should be touched because it is a sign of doing the little things right. We can't allow small things to slip. Small things become larger events and we want our players to live up to high expectations.
With each misstep, the players suffered a consequence of a minute of planks or a minute of boats. Both of these exercises are tough enough on their own but within the confines of fatigue, they become much harder. Holding a plank after sprinting all out feels like having an elephant sit on your back as you hold yourself completely level on a horizontal plane.
We had gone through about seven of these when Lindsey Kentner decided enough was enough. Before I continue with this tale, you should know a little bit of history about Ms. Kentner. She is a level-headed, intelligent and calm player who in the midst of the greatest game will never blink an eye. She is not one to cheer or pound her chest or do cartwheels even after she makes the most impossible of shots. She just shoulder shrugs and sighs as if this is an every day experience.
In fact, prior to this moment I am about to divulge I don't believe I ever witnessed more of an emotion than a slight smile curling on the edge of her lips. Oh, there was the one time when she mildly raised a fist in the air after hitting the game-winning three point shot. That was an extreme display of emotion for her.
Then the improbable happened. She exploded. She ranted and raved. She told her teammates in the most passionate tone that their behaviors were simply unacceptable. It was not the single curse word she let slip which made her point; it was her passion. She didn't just want her teammates to come up to the next level; she implored them to get there. NOW.
It was beautiful--such an act outside of who she was that I almost called practice right then and there. She had to reach so deep inside herself, to touch a place where she never went to get there. This is what we want from our players--to reach out and touch a place inside themselves they didn't know existed. This is growth. This is expansion. This is success.
ONE HEART. ONE DREAM.
While I could write about any of the above with a certain amount of awe and pride, I want to share with you the moment when a leader was born.
Last week as we were running timed suicides, the players kept forgetting to touch the lines. We believe every line should be touched because it is a sign of doing the little things right. We can't allow small things to slip. Small things become larger events and we want our players to live up to high expectations.
With each misstep, the players suffered a consequence of a minute of planks or a minute of boats. Both of these exercises are tough enough on their own but within the confines of fatigue, they become much harder. Holding a plank after sprinting all out feels like having an elephant sit on your back as you hold yourself completely level on a horizontal plane.
We had gone through about seven of these when Lindsey Kentner decided enough was enough. Before I continue with this tale, you should know a little bit of history about Ms. Kentner. She is a level-headed, intelligent and calm player who in the midst of the greatest game will never blink an eye. She is not one to cheer or pound her chest or do cartwheels even after she makes the most impossible of shots. She just shoulder shrugs and sighs as if this is an every day experience.
In fact, prior to this moment I am about to divulge I don't believe I ever witnessed more of an emotion than a slight smile curling on the edge of her lips. Oh, there was the one time when she mildly raised a fist in the air after hitting the game-winning three point shot. That was an extreme display of emotion for her.
Then the improbable happened. She exploded. She ranted and raved. She told her teammates in the most passionate tone that their behaviors were simply unacceptable. It was not the single curse word she let slip which made her point; it was her passion. She didn't just want her teammates to come up to the next level; she implored them to get there. NOW.
It was beautiful--such an act outside of who she was that I almost called practice right then and there. She had to reach so deep inside herself, to touch a place where she never went to get there. This is what we want from our players--to reach out and touch a place inside themselves they didn't know existed. This is growth. This is expansion. This is success.
ONE HEART. ONE DREAM.
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