Reaching Success With John Wooden

In the search to become a better instructor, teacher, human...a talk with John Wooden really grabbed a hold of me. The wisdom rolled off his tongue so quickly that I had to keep stopping and going back to listen to the waterfall of knowledge that was spilling out from his mouth. Like a musician trying to learn a new song I was writing down each of the sentences that grabbed a hold of me and resonated with me. These are some of the phrases that I noted starting with John's definition of Success.

Success - "Peace of mind, attained only through self-satisfaction and knowing that you made the effort to do the best of which you're capable." - J.W.

"Never try to be better than someone else, always learn from others, and never cease trying to be the best that you can be. That's under your control, if you get too engrossed, involved, or preoccupied with the things that you have no control, it will adversely effect the things over which you have control." J.W.

"If you make the effort to do the best that you can do of with which you're capable and trying to improve the situation that exists for you, then I don't think that other people can judge that. It's a lot like reputation. Reputation is what other people perceive you to be. It's your character that is what you really are." - J.W.

"Character is much more important then what you are perceived to be. You'd hope that they'd both be good but doesn't always happen that way." - J.W.

"No written word, no spoken plea, can teach our youth what they should be. Nor all the books on all the shelves. It's what the teachers are themselves." (Use this in a teaching guide)

"Education first, basketball second, little precedence for social activities cause otherwise if you let the social become more important than the other two then you'll not have any for very long." -J.W.

3 Rules for his teams
1. Never be late.
2. Had to be neat and clean, no profanity.
3. Never criticize your teammate.

We must Believe that things will work out as they should providing that we do what we should. Often times we don't do the things that are necessary to make those things become a reality.

According to Coach John Wooden, this poem was written by George Moriarty, a former major baseball umpire.

Sometimes I think the fates must grin as we denounce them and insist,
The only reason we can’t win is the fates themselves have missed.
Yet, there lives on the ancient claim - we win or lose within ourselves,
The shining trophies on our shelves can never win tomorrow’s game.

So you and I know deeper down there is a chance to win the crown,
But when we fail to give our best, we simply haven’t met the test
Of giving all and saving none until the game is really won.
Of showing what is meant by grit, of fighting on when others quit,

Of playing through not letting up, it’s bearing down that wins the cup.
Of taking it and taking more until we gain the winning score,
Of dreaming there’s a goal ahead, of hoping when our dreams are dead,
Of praying when our hopes have fled. Yet, losing, not afraid to fall,

If bravely we have given all, for who can ask more of a man
than giving all, it seems to me, is not so far from - Victory.
And so the fates are seldom wrong, no matter how they twist and wind,

It’s you and I who make our fates, we open up or close the gates,
On the Road Ahead or the Road Behind.


Another set of 3's
Don't Whine, Don't Complain, Don't make excuses...just do it the best to your ability cause nobody can ask more than that.

You can lose when you outscored somebody in a game and you can win when you're outscored.

As a player..."When you see somebody and they didn't know the outcome I hope that they can't tell by your actions whether you lost or won."

"If you make the effort to do the best you can, regularly, then the results will be about what they should be. Not necessarily what you'd want them to be but they'll be about what they should. Only you will be able to know if you can do that. Score is the biproduct of the other things, not an end within itself." -J.W.

The journey is better than the end.

Assume that a rebound is coming off every time.

http://tobefree.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/pyramid_lg.jpg

These are principles that worked for John and mostly deal with character development. It's a belief of mine that as people develop in their life they become a reflection of themselves in their playing. The connection between who they are on the ice and who they are off of the ice is too strong to ignore. The trick is finding the best ways to inspire, educate, relate, and connect with each other as we are coaching or playing.

What are your thoughts on some of John's words of wisdom? Do you feel like there is a link between personality and how people perform in sport? I love to hear feedback and I'll make sure to check and respond to your comments as they come.