R.I.P coach Wooden
Wed. 9 June, 2010
1 Learn. So I completely forgot to mention John Wooden in one of my previous posts. He passed away the other day. For those that don't know him look him up on Wiki. To put it short, he's the greatest basketball coach of all time. He won 10 NCAA Men's National Titles over a 12 year period coaching the UCLA Bruins. At one stage he won 88 games in a row and had 4 undefeated seasons during that time span. Those numbers, those records will probably never be close to matched as long as people play the game of basketball. So what did I learn from all this? Alongside learning Wooden's history as a player and coach, I also learnt some of the things he said to his players. He didn't just teach them how to be great players, he taught them how to be great men and leaders and set them up for a successful life. One quote from John Wooden that really was the money ball for me was "At the end of the game, only you will be able to determine whether you won or lost. It doesn't matter what the scoreboard reads, if we get more points than them but you didn't give your all, you're a loser". That quote is true for basketball, it's true for all sport but most of all it's true for life.
1 Learn. So I completely forgot to mention John Wooden in one of my previous posts. He passed away the other day. For those that don't know him look him up on Wiki. To put it short, he's the greatest basketball coach of all time. He won 10 NCAA Men's National Titles over a 12 year period coaching the UCLA Bruins. At one stage he won 88 games in a row and had 4 undefeated seasons during that time span. Those numbers, those records will probably never be close to matched as long as people play the game of basketball. So what did I learn from all this? Alongside learning Wooden's history as a player and coach, I also learnt some of the things he said to his players. He didn't just teach them how to be great players, he taught them how to be great men and leaders and set them up for a successful life. One quote from John Wooden that really was the money ball for me was "At the end of the game, only you will be able to determine whether you won or lost. It doesn't matter what the scoreboard reads, if we get more points than them but you didn't give your all, you're a loser". That quote is true for basketball, it's true for all sport but most of all it's true for life.
2 Improve. So the improvements I made related to that quote. That quote stuck with me the whole game during our men's league game vs the Cromwell Suns (last years finalists). If there was any stage of the game when I started to drag my feet, when my lungs were burning, when my legs didn't have the energy to explode up, I thought of that quote. I didn't want to be a loser. I hate losing. One of my games ended in a draw earlier on in the season and I got pissed off. My biggest challenge during the game was the challenge of trying to stop my man from getting rebounds. In the past I have been weak in that area, especially against the guy I was guarding. I tried to hit that challenge head on by playing more physical and not giving up on any play. At the end of the game he only got a couple of rebounds over me but no points for his effort. In my mind, I was a winner.
3 Contribute. My contribution for the day came by helping out a person with zero driving skills. I parked my truck up where I had to stop for at least 15 minutes. I was partly blocking a driveway but left enough room for a bus to get through. A few minutes went by, a few cars went through, when an Australian tourist pulled up in a Toyota Echo. I think its save to say that car isn't in the people mover category. So I stopped working and waved him on to come through the gap. He reluctantly crept forward then shook his head looking at me. I went up to his window and said "you're fine. There's heaps of room bro" with him replying "maaaaayte, eets too narrah" (translation: mate, its too narrow). So I told him to reverse up while I move the truck over. Normally I would be swearing and getting ready to punch something but decided "this is my chance to contribute!". Funny how changing your mindset changes the way you look at things. I even gave him a friendly hand gesture as he drove by (with more than one finger)
4 Enjoy. The greatest enjoyment of the day came at the medical centre. My partner is halfway through her 2nd pregnancy and today was the day when we could get a good look at the little boy or girl growing up inside. It was amazing. There's only one other feeling better and that will be when I meet him/her for the first time. We decided not to find out the sex. We got told a million different things last pregnancy (it's a boy, no it's a girl, I think its a teddy bear, Is that a tennis racket?) therefore we're looking forward to the surprise. Also more enjoyment came from our ugly win over Cromwell. final score 31-19, we couldn't get buckets if we were in a room full of watertight, vertical cylinders with open tops and flat bottoms. Score at the half: 13-3
5 Action. OK action was baaaad. Didn't make time to learn about forex, didn't get a dunk (came close but didn't want to risk the ball bouncing out. points were of a premium so I lay'd it up), I finished work a little quicker because I was motivated by getting to the scan but still wasn't as fast as I could have been. The one goal I did accomplish was my positive thinking. Day 2 complete with no negative thoughts. Next set of actions? Take another step towards becoming a trader and take my family with me. Positive thinking day 3.Search Amazon.com for John Wooden
The greatest coach of all time (Official)
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