I've just finished watching our Canadian women's basketball team play, their pre tournament and initial round robin games. I must say I've been incredibly impressed, proud, frustrated, disgusted and amazed every single game. These women remind me of a quote from the book "Parenthood" by Bill Cosby my mother would often reference to all of her children.
"I love you, that does not mean I have to like you right now!"
I love lots of things in the game of basketball: guts, toughness, big shot making, intensity, hustle, pressure defense, teamwork, pace, passion . . . the list could go on and on.
Watching their games I constantly saw things that made me love this women's team. I also saw things that made me want to throw heavy things through my TV/computer screen:
Things I loved:
- We were tough. We played physical and gritty for full possessions of in your face offense and defense fighting and reading screens over and over again. Battled on the boards vs. teams twice our size and backed down from no one at any point.
-Coach McNeill. Like most of my favorite coaches she is nothing like me, and is constantly amazing me. She was intense while being composed. In moments where I would have been losing my mind, she was not only having focused and reasonable dialogue with players but was getting immediate results from timeouts and subs. She was determined, tough, committed and focused. Her team took on these traits in every way.
- Defending off ball action. For being outsized and athleted in most games, our women shut down teams screening games and cutting to the rim. Most teams found players to make tough shots, long threes or broke us down off the dribble in transition in order to score. 5 on 5 stopping other teams stuff I was very impressed with our effort and understanding.
- Adjustments. I think of all the teams I watched Canada did the best job of adapting from quarter to quarter. We would correct mistakes, make new reads and find ways to compete to get back into ball games. My congrats to the coaching staff and players on staying mentally tough, while being creative through many tough games.
I didn't like you right then (but I still love ya'):
- Possessions took years. We were playing with such a small margin for error, I was dying for possessions where we could get a quick turnover or an easy look in transition. To the point when we doubled a wing entry or got a rare fast break layup you'd have thought we were winning the Super Bowl in my basement. I love fast paced basketball, and by my own admission my solution to just about every problem I face as a coach tends to be better ball pressure, and cleaner transition offense. So for me watching us work 20 seconds off a clock and end up with a contested shot, or forcing teams to take long threes late in the clock time after time (only to give up the o-board and repeat process) caused me no end of frustration. Just personal preference, and as I stated previously I've got huge respect and love for the Canada coaching staff who know much better than I what they need to do to win.
- Make a jumper. We back screened as well and effectively as anyone at the tournament. The issue was eventually teams would load up on the paint and play under daring us to flare or pop and make shots. I have no idea what I found more frustrating the games where we would miss the majority of them, or the games where we had missed the majority of them before so we didn't shoot them and forced it into traffic for a turnover. The sun can't shine everyday, but even a broken watch is right twice a day (to mix a couple of metaphors.)
- Take it to the rack. Like most Canadian basketball fans, one of the most entertaining things for me to watch is Steve Nash circling and probing NBA defenses making individuals and teams look foolish. So you can imagine my feelings at watching us need to catch the right player, in the right matchup, in a late closeout (that rarely came because who closes out hard when you aren't making shots) in order to dribble drive the rim. In moments where I was dying for us to get an easy hoop we were forced to resort to waiting and reading on screens for match ups rather then just breaking people down.
- Breakout. I kept waiting for us to push the ball down, if not to fast break to at least get some action in transition before the longer defenses loaded up. I waited a lot. This is not a criticism of anyone on Team Canada, but as a fan I wanted to see us making some easy shots and plays to make runs. When we went on runs it was generally long stretches of great defensive stops and the opposition missing free throws, while we would show better offensive efficiency and make free throws.
In a nutshell I loved and continue to love our Canadian women's national team. I'm as proud of their effort and competitive spirit as I could be. The fan in me that grew up loving the "Bad Boys" in Detroit went crazy for our intensity. The fan in me that loves to fun and run and prefers "West Coast" NCAA to east coast, kept going crazy wanting us to score.
So conflicted.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Saturday, September 25, 2010
How I Win?
I'm taking on a new challenge this year in moving to girls full time. This will mean not only CP and provincial teams with high end young women in the other seasons, but all winter with some much less committed (yet still lovable) JV girls in our school.
After having a pre-season meeting and sharing my expectations with the boys team I'd planned on coaching, I left the seniors with a message about "Sandpaper" (See previous entry.) Now that I'm changing gears and trying to build a new culture in our girls program I've given great consideration to the message I want to start off with to the ladies:
I only know one way to win - Create a culture of us against the world!
There are three things we need to do in order to live this attitude:
1. Be special.
2. Be emotionally honest (Vocally).
3. Be Hostile.
1. Be Special.
We need to earn the right to special, but also embrace and understand we are different. We can't act, want, and react to the world the way people who aren't on this team do. Cute boys, friendly girls, our parents, and our community are who we represent the best elements of, but they are not who we are. They make decisions and choices based on motivations that have nothing to do with selfless sacrifice to make you and your teammates the best. We need to be special. You can't make common/popular decisions. You won't be spending your time the same way as most people. Our interests, efforts and allegiances need to lie in very different places then the students you interact with everyday. You must work harder, sacrifice more, and have higher expectations for yourself then you can currently imagine. You will be more humble in public, and more arrogant about your abilities in private. We must not only be different, but better.
2. Be emotionally honest.
Winners don't mitigate. Mitigating is a social behavior we learn to share potentially unpopular ideas to superiors. We must be direct, honest and constant. We are a team, a family by choice not chance. If you can't say what you are thinking, and we can't take what you say and feel to make us stronger, then we won't amount to much anyway. On the floor and off the floor we need to be able to trust and anticipate each other. We can't do this unless we are constantly in each others ear about who we are, what we stand for and how we need each other to succeed. This not only requires the confidence to speak loudly about exactly what you need and feel, but the maturity to see and hear the truth from others with the focus of getting better.
3. Be Hostile
There is no such thing as a big game player. There are players and teams who in big games and big moments continue to achieve while others fall away simply because they can still play confidently in those moments. They can succeed where others fail because they've done it day in and day out in tougher circumstances then they face in the game. We need to be brutal. Our practices need to be more intense, more pressure packed, more physical and more competitive then any situation we could face. As soon as there is a ball and a score we need to play with the sibling rivalry that exists in families. You'll love each other once its over, but there is no way you are losing to each other or anyone else. You must compete ever second of every play, drill, and exercise as if not winning that moment will cost us a championship. This intensity and mild paranoia will breed frustration, focus that frustration into effort and aggression. Don't get mad, make us better.
After having a pre-season meeting and sharing my expectations with the boys team I'd planned on coaching, I left the seniors with a message about "Sandpaper" (See previous entry.) Now that I'm changing gears and trying to build a new culture in our girls program I've given great consideration to the message I want to start off with to the ladies:
I only know one way to win - Create a culture of us against the world!
There are three things we need to do in order to live this attitude:
1. Be special.
2. Be emotionally honest (Vocally).
3. Be Hostile.
1. Be Special.
We need to earn the right to special, but also embrace and understand we are different. We can't act, want, and react to the world the way people who aren't on this team do. Cute boys, friendly girls, our parents, and our community are who we represent the best elements of, but they are not who we are. They make decisions and choices based on motivations that have nothing to do with selfless sacrifice to make you and your teammates the best. We need to be special. You can't make common/popular decisions. You won't be spending your time the same way as most people. Our interests, efforts and allegiances need to lie in very different places then the students you interact with everyday. You must work harder, sacrifice more, and have higher expectations for yourself then you can currently imagine. You will be more humble in public, and more arrogant about your abilities in private. We must not only be different, but better.
2. Be emotionally honest.
Winners don't mitigate. Mitigating is a social behavior we learn to share potentially unpopular ideas to superiors. We must be direct, honest and constant. We are a team, a family by choice not chance. If you can't say what you are thinking, and we can't take what you say and feel to make us stronger, then we won't amount to much anyway. On the floor and off the floor we need to be able to trust and anticipate each other. We can't do this unless we are constantly in each others ear about who we are, what we stand for and how we need each other to succeed. This not only requires the confidence to speak loudly about exactly what you need and feel, but the maturity to see and hear the truth from others with the focus of getting better.
3. Be Hostile
There is no such thing as a big game player. There are players and teams who in big games and big moments continue to achieve while others fall away simply because they can still play confidently in those moments. They can succeed where others fail because they've done it day in and day out in tougher circumstances then they face in the game. We need to be brutal. Our practices need to be more intense, more pressure packed, more physical and more competitive then any situation we could face. As soon as there is a ball and a score we need to play with the sibling rivalry that exists in families. You'll love each other once its over, but there is no way you are losing to each other or anyone else. You must compete ever second of every play, drill, and exercise as if not winning that moment will cost us a championship. This intensity and mild paranoia will breed frustration, focus that frustration into effort and aggression. Don't get mad, make us better.
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