Coach Ed Science
  • Home
  • Intro
  • PS (1-4)
  • PS (5-9)
  • PS (10-14)
  • PS (15-18)
  • PS (19-21)
  • Space Exploration
  • Warriors Hoops
  • Summer Basketball Camps
  • Flying Pumpkins, 2020
  • Literacy
  • #getBETTER Hoops at Home
  • Coach's Corner
  • NOVA Nation
  • Villa Drills
  • Improving Your Shooting
  • Footwork Drills
  • Bball Skills & Drills
  • USA Basketball Tips
  • Things to Ponder
  • Motivation
  • Sportsmanship
  • Thoughts from Paul Harvey
  • Cool Links & Games

Coach's Corner

“It never ceases to surprise me at the infinite capacity of the human mind to resist the introduction of useful knowledge.”
- Thomas Raynesford Lounsbury

Team First, Self Last (Jack Clark, Part IV)

1/16/2019

0 Comments

 
​Jack Clark has led the University of California's Rugby teams to 28 National Championships in 33 years with a simple mantra: "Team First, Self Last". In an interview with Jan Stenker for Unconditionally Strong Clark discussed his approach:
 
"We say team first, self last and we mean it. Sometimes one of the students will ask for a meeting because they want to talk about playing time or something. They'll sit down and they'll start asking the question and they'll be fumbling around with it. Finally they'll just say, "You're going to ask me what's best for the team, aren't you?" And I say, "Of course." That's the first lens that comes down on every decision we make. On a day-to-day operational basis, what are we doing, why we are doing it and who's doing it gets filtered through what's best for the team. The team likes that. There's merit in that. We process any piece of business that comes before the team right through that system."
 
Coach Clark asks his players to think about and use their experience to become experts in team. Clark and his players recognize that being a good teammate and being a good player are separate skill sets. Coach Wooden also felt both were essential and thus required.
 
"We celebrate team, talk about it and build on it. Growing up our players have all been on teams for 10 years. They've had good teams and bad teams and good teammates and bad teammates and everything in between. I want them to use all of that experience to recognize the differences, I want them to feel like they're an expert in Team. A value like selflessness, this idea that in making decisions, team comes first, self comes second — you get this done and it solves 10 problems. If your choice is that you just wait for individual drama, 65 guys all have something wrong." Try to process all that on a daily basis and you spend more time keeping everyone's nose pointed in the same direction than you do actually trying to improve as a team."
 
Clark feels that as a Coach he has the unique opportunity to make his players experts in Team; a skill that will help them well beyond graduation. He put it this way:
 
"How will world poverty be solved? How will education be solved? How will a devastating disease be solved? Is it going to be some brilliant dude or gal that says "I've got an idea here"? No, it's going to be groups of people pulling together in a team. I happen to believe that if you matriculate this program with a PhD in team that you're going to be really well prepared to go participate on one of these meaningful teams somewhere — maybe in your own family. Maybe it's in a business. I think it's a wonderful skill to have."
 
How do you teach your team members to be experts in Team?
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Dave Edinger has been coaching basketball for 37 years at the high school, middle school. and international levels. As a head coach, his teams have won 572 games.

    Archives

    January 2022
    December 2021
    September 2021
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    June 2016
    May 2016
    March 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    September 2015

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed