Solent Suns Coaches's Blog

Winning isn’t enough.. December 13, 2009

So far we’ve made real progress at all levels of the club. The U16s are playing their best basketball in years, the U18s are unbeaten and the senior team are in a good fight for the top places in this year’s Women’s Division 2 championship. Most coaches would, it’s fair to say, be over the moon. Not me…

After each game I make a point of talking to my respective teams and individual players about their performance, our goals and my belief that they can achieve more (I know Lee has similar discussions with the U16s). Sometimes the girls and women look at me bewildered. After all, they’ve probably just dropped 80-100 points on a team, winning by a respectable margin. Surely the coaches job is to pat them on the back and celebrate the victory. I must confess to being really poor at that. I’ve really got to work on this part of my post game talk. I am ,needless to say, really proud of what we’ve all achieve so far this season. Nevertheless, I feel I’d be doing the players, the coaching staff and our supporters a real disservice, if I didn’t point out how muh more we’re capable of.

I’m reminded of an incident that happended when I was back in middle school. I was a good student, but far from being the most capable student in my year. There were kids who regularly topped the acheivement tables and recieved acholades for their academic prowess. I on the other hand got good marks, finishing in the top 5 of my class and tip 20 in my year. In Year 8 I sat a maths test that would determine which group I studied in for the following year. I worked really hard for the test, but never really expected to get more than abou 70%. That would have been good enough for a place in the top set. I took the test and got 96%. I was estactic! Not only did I get the top mark in my class, but I also got the top mark in my year. I was excited about going home to tell my mother about my achievement. When I gave my mother the good news you can imagine my disappoinent when she replied “what happened to the other 4%?”

That story has stayed with me for a long time, not because of my mother’s high standards, but because she later explained that by settling for less than 100%, I had missed an opportunity to achieve my full potential. Since that time I’ve had to learn this lesson several times. I’ve given almost 100% and got less than 100% back and each time I’ve regretted not doing more. Sometimes because I was lazy; sometimes because I was disorganized; sometime because I didn’t know my own limits; and sometimes because I lacked the support from the right people to help me realise my goals.

As a coach I don’t want my players to look back at their efforts and think “if only I’d done a little more.”. There is nothing more painful than the pain of regret.

I know some of you think I’m a bit miserable or grumpy after a win, but for me winning isn’t enough. I measure success based on what we’re capable of, not just whether we win or lose. If we lose playing the very best game we can, I’ll be happy. Until we reach our potential, individually and collectively, I will continue to ask more of you. I hope that by doing so you not only achieve more, but you’ll enjoy more and you’ll acquire skills and lessons that you can use in other parts of your life as well.

If achieving your potential is something that you want, then I look forward to hearing from you. I don’t have any magic tricks or sure things to make them happen, but I’m happy to look at ways that we can meet the challenges we face head on and get a step closer to your dreams.

CJ