Coaching girls instead of boys in basketball had several advantages. One of the biggest was that most girls didn’t watch SportsCenter on ESPN. That means they didn’t see the Top Plays of the day. This helped me reinforce one of my mantras to them. Don’t try to make a great play. Make good plays over and over again and again.
Basketball is different from sports. A great play will result in only two or three points out of many. Trying to make a great play often ends up in a mistake. To win games the goal is to make mostly good plays and minimize poor plays. Here’s an example. If a player tries to make a difficult pass, it often results in turning the ball over to the other team. Instead make three of four easier passes that usually result in getting a good shot. It’s not fancy, but it’s effective.
One of the NBA players I admired most was Tim Duncan. He won five NBA championships and many individual awards. He made some great plays, but he also consistently made good plays and very few poor plays. His nickname was The Big Fundamental. I’m pretty sure this came from the type of person he was. His coach Gregg Popovich had a lot of wonderful things to say about him. This stands out to me. “In 19 years Tim was never once late to a practice, team meal, workout, meeting or bus. That’s a standard of discipline and reliability you tend to take for granted.”
Accomplishing great things almost always takes a long time. Therefore, it requires constant effort day after day. It’s wonderful to accomplish something great. In my opinion it’s even more important to have great character. That is certainly something that comes from being steady. It is not a sometimes thing.
I believe in the saying, virtue is its own reward. Being virtuous is a worthwhile life in and of itself. However, it also has many positive results. Maybe the greatest of those comes from birds of a feather flocking together. By doing my best to have consistently good character, I find that is the type of people I attract in my life. I have positive, happy relationships with them.
In my post Shoot First, I wrote about putting relationships first. Those result from being good, one day after another, not being great one day and lousy the next. Having great relationships with people of high character to me is better than being famous, traveling to amazing places, or owning fantastic stuff. It’s true greatness. Nothing more complicated than perception.
May you have enough today, one moment at a time
THIS HELPED ME 