Leadership Part 1

Part 1: Developing Real Relationships To Lead

Leadership is something that everyone has in them and we all use them in different ways.  Some for good and others for things that are not relevant! Here is a blog post about turning negative leadership into positive leadership within a team through relationships and trust!

Leadership is defined simply as influence! It's that simple, if you can influence just one person then you you have leadership capabilities! Now the key to leadership on a team is developing it to accomplish a common goal - winning! 

Every coach and player can agree that at some point or another you have had players on your team decide to get together to go out and party or maybe a group of them miss curfew. Clearly one of them had the bright idea to go out and the others followed! So I love when this happens early in the preseason so I figure out who my leaders are and who players listen to!  They become my project because I truly believe if they are willing to stand up against the rules, it's simply a matter of getting them to buy in. 

How do you get them to buy in?

(See last blog post about buying in, it has great ideas from Kevin Jackson)

In this scenario when there is leadership but it's used to break a rule: First of all, punish them and see how serious they are about fixing their mistake. Spend more time with them teaching them about why commitment is so important to success. Learn more about them, their story and their motivation! 

Talk to them about how this will not only benefit the team but also explain how commitment and sacrificing now will pay off in their future. Give examples from your own personal experiences so they get to know you the person - not just the unrealistic image of you "the perfect coach."  I tell my players all the time about mistakes I made as a player and the lessons I learned from them to show them I am human and that I overcame it! 

In practice if I make a mistake, I will apologize sincerely and show my team that this team is a safe environment for us to all work together, make mistakes, be accountable and get better together! They usually look weird when I do it the first time but maybe the second time, they respond back to me the same way I respond to their mistakes "It's ok coach, you got it next time." This is a sign that they believe in you as a leader and this kind of rapport is when you will be positioned for success! 

Now I'm into coaching hard and tough and building mental toughness but I never make an "example" out of a player who actually takes responsibility for a mistake especially if it's openly in front of the team. Most players don't realize they are making mistakes so that's where we coach them and teach them. How we criticize and coach our players in front of the team is how they will lead each other and how they will reciprocate accountability to us! Do not try to embarrass or throw anyone under the bus because they will begin doing it to each other, then eventually to you! Instead teach them how to lead, influence them to take responsibility and work together and they will do just that! 

Buying In

"Buying In" is something coaches say around the world to players on their team or program. That statement is one of the hardest things we deal with today when it comes to our teams and maybe even staff members. You ever ask yourself, "what is it I need to do for my team or staff members to buy in to the vision I am trying to put forth?" 

First thing is you first have to distinguish between buying in to you the individual and buying in to the program. As much as those two categories are similar, they are very different but both very important. A big difference between buying in to the individual and the program, is the individual sets the vision and the program is the vision and also will still be established or around if the individual who sets the vision has gone elsewhere. It's not enough to just give commands and expect to be standing with a victory of buy in at the end of the day. However, showing banners and trophies is not enough either. One tip I can give you to get the "Buy In" you want for your program is a simple word called invest. 

I encourage all coaches who are trying to build a strong culture with everyone from the staff members to the players on one accord to invest into them. If you show investment in others, others would invest in you and that would make it much easier to get the "Buy In" you are looking for. If it's a staff member, invest some of your time in them. Invest your open mind. Invest your trust in them. If it's a player, invest some of your time in them. Invest your trust in them. Invest the encouragement of them taking ownership in their team. Invest in them that you care if they are enjoying playing the game they love. 

Being a coach is so hard at times. As a coach, we all know we wear so many different hats added to just the pressures of wanting to win, building great programs, and building a great legacy. However, when it comes to that phrase "Buying In" we must never forget the investment it takes to accomplish this and we can't be stuck in our ways so much that we miss out on the things that caused us to have a vision for our program.  

 

Four Days With The Marine Corps

I wanted to take the time to talk about the awesome experience I had with the Marines and other coaches around the country at the WBCA/USMC Leadership workshop in Quantico, VA. I also wanted to let others know about some of the great leadership topics that were covered and to encourage others to be great leaders and develop great leaders.

The experience that I went through at the Marine Leadership Workshop was priceless. I am one of very few that can say they have been through the life and a day of a marine in training without actually being one and I did with others that are coaches from various sports such as women's basketball, men's basketball, track & field, baseball, golf, swimming, strength & conditioning, and a athletic director. I did everything from marine lectures, critical thinking exercises, field exercises to accomplish squad missions, to combat with pogo sticks, hand to hand combat, and training on obstacle courses.  All things were with a purpose to provide different insights to leadership tactics while working with other people and helped us to truly form a bond. I honestly don't know how anybody can go through an experience like this and not come back changed in a great way.

First thing, I was really impressed with how the marine corps set a standard of excellence. I have never witnessed a group that has such a passionate attitude about the job that they do and also the discipline and attention to detail that they practice with everything they do in their everyday walk of life. One of the first things the marines instructed us on is their definition of leadership; which is the art of influencing and directing others to obtain their obedience, confidence, respect, and willing cooperation to accomplish the mission. We as coaches can use this definition with our teams and staffs in our programs. All of us want to have a successful program and be winners but sometimes we need the right balance of different elements to achieve that like those that are in the marines definition of leadership. We have to always remember when we are trying to develop great leaders within our team and our staff is that "you have to know how to be a great follower before you can lead."  The marines pointed out some great leadership points for us all to keep in mind when we are thinking of an approach to building leaders:

1. You will not become an effective leader in a one seminar or overnight. You must practice the techniques that you learn consistently.
2. Ask yourself are leaders born or developed? or Both?
3. Hold your people to a standard.
4. When in charge, take charge!
5. Good leaders care for their people. You can not fake this; they will know.
6. Have a good balancing act. (mission accomplishment vs. troop welfare)

The marines core values are: Honor, Courage, and Commitment. What are your team core values? Values such as these provide a foundation to build on when the marines are building their platoon and are great for when we as coaches are building our teams. Coaches, we have to stay committed to what our core values are and believe in them. Get your team to have a sense of pride in them and don't let them waiver from it. The marines also talked a lot about legacy. What do people say about you? What does your team say about you? That is probably something we as coaches think about from time to time, I know I do. One of my desires as a coach is that I hope that whenever I am done coaching, I have affected each and every one of my players lives in a positive way to be life changers. I understand that if I want to have this affect on them, I must teach them how to be life changers. Coaches, understand that we can not have a standard for something on our team if the players don't know what that standard is. Be the example.

The things that I have discussed on this post are only a small portion of my experience with the marine corps and there is much more information I could share and will at a later time. However, I do want to leave you with one last food for thought. "Who you are, is how your team will act."

Relentless Rebounding

Rebounding is a huge key to winning games and championships! Rebounding is an inevitable part of the game that is one of hardest skills to develop and usually takes time to make it a habit. Rebounding requires technique, timing and toughness! 

Rebounding must be practiced daily in every drill! Anybody can rebound because that's the one stat that any player at any position can get if they choose to. Dennis Rodman made a career out of it and he was undersized.

We teach rebounding from the shell drill with 4 people out on the perimeter and 4 lines on the baseline.  Start with no ball and just have players react in the whistle:

1. Contest - high hand on the ball with chopped feet! This is important for players to not jump into a close out because they will get beat by the pump fake and by the time they land, their box out chances are pretty much out the window. 

2. Swim - turn to feel the player with your body and both hands need to be up in the air ready for rebounding. That is a huge point of emphasis that we develop is where their hands are. Players will want to hook and hold with their hands, but it's a foul and if you have to use your hands to hold a box out, what will you use to grab the rebound?

3. Box Out - Butt in Gut! This requires players to move their feet and feel their opponent. We like to do several drills emphasizing just this part with the ball on the ground and holding their opponent off for 5 seconds then advance to 10 seconds. Have offense go live and try to get the ball. 

4. Pursue with 2 - force the issue with attacking rebounds with both hands. This  decreases turnovers and jump balls.  

5. Chin It & Pivot - Pretty self explanatory but maybe the least practiced technique that really makes a diffence in traffic especially once fatigue sets in. 

These are fundamentals we use for rebounding daily. Now we break it down from the shell drill and we move on based on the team's attention to detail.  As we practice with no balls just on the sound of the whistle, the players must say each technique as they are doing it. So they will yell "Shot, swim, box out, pursue with 2, chin it & pivot" this helps them with remembering each step. 

After a few reps at about 50% speed, we crank up to about 75% speed. Then we add one ball for each group to close out based on the balls position (on ball, deny, help) the offense will catch and shoot.    The players have to now box out from varies positions. Advance the drill to live offense, then disadvantage defense by dropping off a defender but the three offensive players still have to get the rebound.  So many variations to improve rebounding. 

Make sure these basic fundamentals are developed before going too advanced. The more you get excited about rebounding, the more your team will. We stat practice and our top two rebounders for the week will start in the game! It keeps players focused on it and anybody with double digit rebounds is getting a big time shout out after the game! We may even allow them to pic where the team will eat post game meal!  Rebounding deserves a lot of attention and focus but with time and technique your team can get better!  This is how to develop Relentless Rebounding! 

Get to Know The Jacksons

The Jacksons

You may be visiting our blog because you have met Kevin and myself personally and want to read more about what we do.  Some of you may be visiting our blog for the first time and do not know much about us.  Either way, thank you for visiting our blog! Feel free to use any of our ideas or leave a comment if you have any suggestions on hot topics in women's basketball!

Check out this article by the Houston Chronicle about Kevin and Brenita Jackson and how we are changing the lives of our players in a positive way:

http://www.houstonchronicle.com/sports/article/Couple-a-winning-team-on-and-off-San-Jac-court-6038415.php?t=631aa98610b37d840b&cmpid=twitter-premium

Scoring at a High Level

Basketball is a game that has and always will be won by the team who scores the most points. As defensive minded coaches, my husband Kevin and I have always taught our players to commit to defending people so we can take the ball back to go score! It's fun for players and fans to be apart of a high scoring game. 

*San Jacinto College ranked #2 in the nation in scoring points per game (86.4).

Our team broke several records this past season but one that really stood out is points per game that our team averaged 86.4 which is the best in San Jac's history. In our second game of the season our team broke the single game record in scoring 134 points.  Since our team scored so fast and fluently, teams really had to either try to slow us down or attempt to outscore us - which was hard to do with this group.  We had 4 players average 10 or more points and several others between 6-9 points per game. We truly were a team by committee.  With the new rules being passed by the NCAA, the game is moving towards a more offensively inclined format so we had to adjust our approach as coaches.  Here are some techniques that we used to increase our scoring which fueled us to the fastest turn around in the country from 3-27 to 23-9 and a nationally ranked team all season.  Our team drew large crowds and faithful fans who enjoyed watching our team play.

• Teach fundamentals and skills starting on the catch of the ball so players are trained to be in triple threat position: Ready to shoot first, pass second and dribble third.  This also cuts down on turnovers and increases our percentages to score.

• Encourage ALL players to be an option at all times even if we are running a play, each person has got to be an option.  If someone is not an option, they come out the game for forcing us to play 4 on 5. We need everybody to contribute!

• Make practices uptempo, fast, energetic and engaging to simulate a game. Players should be talking the game, cheering for their teammates, counting together and being responsive to coaching in each drill in order to create a positive and necessary habit.

• Find out which plays/drills get your team going! You can ask them or just observe for yourself and use them. People naturally get more engaged the more you involve them.  It might be an Out of Bounds under play they love because your team always scores. Or maybe your posts are going hard running in transition so we want to reward them by feeding them the ball on the next play. 

• Set a specific goal and time on every drill and challenge your team to overcome the goals.  Never have a drill without a goal or time limit. Players need to understand that they don't have all day to reach their goals. They have a short window of opportunity and they need to have a sense of urgency and work together to reach their goals.

• Always give direction and motivation to keep their confidence and intensity level high. This matters a lot with coaching women because we tend to get down on ourselves easier when not performing to a certain expectation. Keep the focus on improving and getting better and the results will come.

• Make offensive rebounding apart of every drill! Even rhythm shooting or just working on free throws - get obsessed with offensive rebounding. Even on a bad shooting night, offensive rebounding and put backs can win you a game! My favorite measuring tool if we are crashing quick enough is if rebounds are hitting the floor. I don't care what drill it is, if rebounds keep hitting the floor, we are going to get beat! Force the issue and get them habitually focused on rebounds!

Our philosophy started on the defensive end by getting steals and defensive rebounds so we could start the break. The more we have to get the ball out of the net, the slower transition will be. We probably spent 50% of practice on conversion from steals and defensive rebounds.  This set the tone on what kind of team we were going to be and we needed to be in really good shape to play this style of basketball for 40 minutes.

Teamwork on Staff

The most fundamental concept for any successful team is learning how to work with others as a team. The same applies to a coaching staff.  Teamwork and unity can overcome flaws and mistakes if everyone is committed to the common goal of winning!

 Some chemistry happens naturally while other chemistry is developed through communication and patience.  The more you get to know somebody and understand them, the better you can work with them. It's the same advice we give to our players but this can be challenging for any staff. 

Here are some key points to building chemistry on a staff:

1) Communication is Key - talk to each other and get to know one another for better understanding.  It's important for everyone to have a good relationship with each other and with the head coach. Relationships take hard work and time so be patient.

2) Respect Each Other - this does not mean being a "yes man" or agreeing with everything someone says, it just means listen and hear one another. It's ok to agree to disagree but all communication needs to be with respect.

3) Capitalize on Strengths - once you conquer the first two this third key will come to the forefront with time. Some strengths are easy to find while others may take trial and error to find. Figure out what each staff member is good put them in position to be successful.  This will create a more functional staff and create symmetry within the program.

4) Encourage the Positive Openly - this is a concept that works well with players too and catches on pretty easy. Find something positive that someone is doing and acknowledge it - this makes others want to do the same and increases productivity.  People will want to be around you and want to listen to you. This is a concept that cannot be faked and made up.  It will cause people to shut down if you are lying or making something up.  They will also shut down if you constantly give credit to one person so be genuine and all inclusive.

5) Conflict Resolution - Understand --> Conflict is natural and normal but it cannot be ignored.  It's great if coaches can resolve things without always alerting the head coach but sometimes it's inevitable.  Head coaches have to address problems from a neutral perspective and come to a resolution. It's not about who's right, instead get to the bottom of what is right vs. what is wrong.  People will only trust and commit a program that operates in honesty and integrity. 

6) Get Over Taking Credit - the more credit you want, the less credit the team will have.  In order to have a successful program or team, everyone must be willing to sacrifice and the return will come in wins!

Remember: You should rather have a championship team than an All American or MVP on a losing team.  The difference is all about a selfless mentality and sacrificing personal gain for the team's success.  It's exactly what we preach to our players and the best way to get them on board is to lead by example.  

Recruiting

One of the biggest challenges for any college program is recruiting. It is the lifeline of your program.  The key is recruiting the right players for YOUR style of play.  Even if a player is talented, if they  do not fit into your program's culture then they will end up being unhappy and possibly transfer.  A recruiting philosophy is the first step to developing guidelines and standards so that every coach is on the same page about how YOU recruit. There is no right or wrong way, just YOUR way that matters!

This is our basic recruiting philosophy that we used at San Jacinto College:

1) Recruit early and frequently - we have no limitation on viewing periods so watch as many games as you can. We will watch them play with their high school and AAU teams to evaluate their consistency and level of play. Also a great way to see how they play against various levels of competition.  Don't be afraid to go after the big fish! Especially if they give you a serious ear and listen!  You will know right away if they like you.

2) Evaluate their work ethic by watching their high school practice.  This is huge for us to build relationships with our players and their coach.  Some coaches have even asked us to speak to their team after practice or run a drill in practice.  Get involved and see what that player's work ethic is like and how she responds to coaching. 

3) Communication - the biggest part of retention in the long run is having a direct relationship with the player.  Get to know the high school and AAU coach so they can help you but don't depend on them to do your job. Get to know their parents to gain their trust - if we don't establish trust this can be a deal breaker.  The most important relationship is with the player. Make sure each coach on staff has a good relationship with the player and she gets along with her future teammates. These small things go a long way.  Use social media to get to know them but also as a way for them to get to know you and your program more. If their social media is alarming have a conversation with them and give them the benefit of the doubt.  We normally don't engage them through social media until they sign! All communication will usually be through text, a few phone calls, maybe some emails, but most kids want to text.

Remember, players normally choose the school they feel the most wanted by so the more they see us at games, practices and random "good luck tonight" texts - they will remember you. Try to personalize everything: hand written notes, remember their favorite song and text them when you hear it on the radio, send them info about your program and highlight things specific to their major and interests.  Once you build a relationship with them and decide this is a player that can help you, then set up a visit. We try to bring them in on game day so they can see our style of play. 

*2014-15 season featured 3 WBCA All Americans that we recruited

On the visit, we like to show our campus in a specific order:

1) Start at gym - talk about history of program, show improvements we have made so far and goals they will help us reach 

2) Show academic path - degree plan ready in a folder as we see classroom sizes are small and walking distance, career center where they can get leads in the jobs in their industry 

3) Show tutoring center & library to connect them ahead of time with resources available (Parents love this)

4) Tour science building (newest building on campus) to show the commitment to growth and expansion by the college

5) Meet campus Provost - he normally has the recruits names and where they are from ahead of time and he always has funny stories for us

6) View the apartments where the team lives and all amenities - Big selling point!

7) Tour the city of Houston and meet team for lunch/dinner - great time for players to talk to recruit and parents to talk to coaches

These are some things we used that worked for us and a great reference for new head coaches looking for some ideas on how to start! Be yourself and you will attract the right fit for your program.  

Happy Recruiting!

Effective Communication

There really is an App for that!

This past season we decided to start a group chat with our players to communicate to them any important information about games, deadlines, practice times etc.  through an app called Group Me. Then we started a group chat with just their parents that we could communicate game times, gym locations, team events and status updates on our national rankings!  The parents really enjoyed getting these updates from our staff and truly bought into our culture and made sure that every game there was at least one designated parent that would update the group line on play by play of each game.  You could literally see the dialogue of our parents go from "How is my baby doing" to "Are WE winning" and really caring about our team sustaining our national ranking throughout the season.   This app helped us communicate with three different groups about important information and keep the focus on our TEAM first and off of the individual.  Our parents even coordinated who would bring half time sandwiches, fruit and Gatorades to the team.  They decorated our entire banquet and even sponsored drinks and cake for the event.  This was a great use of technology and any parent or family member that wanted in on the app we just added their number so they could get updates. 

 The app has a calendar that you can add events to and each person can RSVP.  They do not need to download the app in order to receive alerts.  If they do download the app, they have the option to like messages and pictures.  Its a controlled way to communicate with each other and even offers options to do conference calls.  We do one conference call at the beginning of each season to go over the checklist that each player needs to have before move in.  Parents are encouraged to listen in so they can get the information first hand.  This was a great way to avoid having the same conversation multiple times and also helped iron out any wrinkles in the communication chain!

Opportunity

March madness is such an exciting time of year especially for basketball players, coaches and fans.  This time of year is thrilling because it is no longer about records or what you did yesterday.  The winner will be who can win now and today!  There is something exciting about one chance, one opportunity and winning the big game!  It is what every team prepares for all season long. 


As a coach, I always encourage my players to make the most of their opportunity because you never know when you will get another one.  This is one of the most challenging tasks to get accomplished but also one of the most valuable for any team.  The opportunity to play college basketball is not something that every high school athlete gets to experience.  In fact, according to a recent study by the NCAA only 3% of high school athletes go on to play college basketball.  So the opportunity to sign, get a college education and play the game you love should be appreciated!  When you watch NCAA basketball, you will see arguably some of the best basketball on TV because these players are hungry, they are trying to prove themselves and they are fighting for the coveted championship! 


Only one team will win the national championship and it is not always the best team in the nation.  It is the team that makes the most of their current opportunity!  Each game is an opportunity broken down by each possession that are multiple opportunities for a team to execute, work together and accomplish everything they have worked for up until this point.  Is it all just a game?  Players who understand appreciating an opportunity will seize it!  They understand that failure is not in losing the game; instead failure would be not recognizing that this is an opportunity to do what you love with your team!  This stage is where stars are born and teams make history!  Each game you will see players overcome their fears and let go of their inhibitions in order to have that one opportunity to be the champion!  There will only be one.

As for the other teams that do not win, they will go into the off season training and preparing to position themselves again next March to win again.  They hope to learn from their mistakes, improve as a team and begin again more wisely as Henry Ford stated.  Opportunity - athletes prepare for it all year long.  The question is, how long are you willing to prepare for your opportunity?  Will you be ready to take the risk, let go of your inhibitions, forget your fears and go after what you want?  Win or loss, recognize and appreciate each opportunity and live a life that you can be proud of!

Effort & Energy

One of the hardest things to do is getting your team's best effort and energy.  Those are two words that coaches hate to discuss because most of us feel it should be an automatic.  Although it may seem like it should be automatic, the habit must first be formed.  Giving constant effort and energy first as a coach is a great way to set the tone.  Second, having a coaches meetings before practice to communicate how you need your staff's energy spent for the day will help them know how to give their best effort.  Third, effort and energy must be a standard at every practice and meeting so that the players understand to bring their best every time they step into any environment.  When my team struggles with effort or energy, the next practice we address it immediately because that is a non-negotiable.  The players need to understand they have to take ownership and if they expect the best results, they need to first give their best energy and effort!


The truth is, you will not always get their best energy and that is because you are still teaching them to form the habit.  As long as they can admit they could give more, then they should be willing to get after it in the next practice.


Sometimes the best cure for a lack of effort or energy is a break away from the normal routine to try something new.  I sometimes like to throw something different at our players to keep them on their toes.  One day I told them to come to practice with their favorite sunglasses.  When they showed up we had music and literally had a dance off on center court before practice.  Our manager voted on the winning team and the girls had a blast!  The icing on the cake was them seeing me - their head coach get out and dance too and it made them all laugh.  Practice that week was full of energy and effort....our team had fun getting better.