Thanks to the
http://www.CoachingToolbox.net/ for sharing this list from
Coach Steve Smiley of Sheridan College. Steve is a former point guard for
Coach Don Meyer and doing a great job of coaching.
1. Be the hardest worker at practice today.
Without fail, one of the quickest ways to impact a team is with your own work ethic. Choose to be one of the hardest workers on your team today. Not only does it set the tone for the work ethic of your program, it is also one of the best and quickest ways to enhance your leadership credibility with your teammates and coaches.
2. Be a spark of energy and enthusiasm today.
Let your passion for the sport shine through today. Spread a contagious energy and enthusiasm amongst your teammates. Think about how lucky you are to be able to play and compete. Remember back to when you were a young child and reconnect with the joy you played with back then. Make your sport fun again for yourself and your teammates.
3. Model mental toughness today.
Because your teammates will look to you under pressure, adversity, and stress, be sure to model mental toughness today. Bounce back quickly after errors to show your teammates how to respond to negative situations. Maintain your poise and optimism despite any mistakes you might make so that your teammates can trust and rely on you to get them through the tough times.
4. Connect with a teammate today.
Leadership is all about relationships. Invest the time to build and strengthen the relationships you have with each of your teammates. Inquire about their day, challenges, and goals. Make a special and ongoing effort to get to know every athlete on your team, not just your friends and classmates. The relationship building you do each day will pay off immeasurably down the road.
5. Compliment a teammate today.
Be on the lookout for teammates who are contributing to your team. Call out a teammate for making a hustle play, pushing through a weight workout, recovering quickly from a mistake, getting an A on an exam, etc. Praise the actions and attitudes you want to see repeated. As Mother Teresa once said, “Kind words are short and easy to speak but their echoes are truly endless.”
6. Challenge a teammate today.
Challenge at least one of your teammates today. Positively push them and yourself to make the most of your workout. Make a friendly wager to see if they can be successful at least 4 out of 5 times in a drill. See if you both can improve your times in conditioning. Offer to stay after to help if there is anything they want to work on. Good leaders consistently invite, inspire, and sometimes implore others to greatness.
7. Support a teammate today.
Odds are, at least one of your teammates is struggling with something today – it could be a performance slump, a rocky romantic relationship, a disagreement with a coach, an unglamorous role, struggling with a class, or a sick family member. Good leaders are consistently on the lookout for teammates who might be struggling and are ready to offer an ear to listen, an encouraging word, a pat on the back, or a shoulder to cry on.
8. Constructively confront negativity, pessimism, and laziness today.
As a leader, have the courage to constructively confront the negativity, pessimism, and laziness that will crop up on your team from time to time. Instead of fueling the fire by joining in or silently standing by, be sure to refocus your teammates on solutions rather than dwelling on and complaining about the problems. Left unchecked, these problems can quickly grow to distract, divide, and destroy your team.
9. Build and bond your team today.
Team chemistry naturally ebbs and flows throughout the course of the season. Take the time to monitor and maintain your team’s chemistry. Let your reserves and support staff know how much you appreciate them. Stay connected and current with each of the natural sub-groups on your team. Douse any brush fires that might be occurring and continually remind team members about your common goal and common bond.
10. Check in with your coach today.
Invest the time to check in with your coach today. Ask what you can do to best help the team this week. Find out what your coach wants to accomplish with today’s practice. Also discuss if there is anything your coach is concerned about regarding your team. Discuss your collective insights on your team’s chemistry, focus, and mindset. Work together to effectively co-lead your team.
11. Remind your team how today’s work leads to tomorrow’s dreams.
It’s easy to get bogged down during your season with monotonous drills, tiring conditioning, and demanding workouts. Remind your teammates how all the quality work you do today gives you a distinct advantage over your opponents. Help them see and even get excited about how today’s hard work is a long-term investment in your team’s goals, rather than just a short-term hardship or sacrifice.
12. Represent yourself and team with class and pride today.
Leaders have the awesome privilege and responsibility of representing their teams. Take advantage of this opportunity by representing your team with class and pride today. Hold a door open for someone, sit in the front rows of class and actively engage in the discussion, say please and thank you, dress in respectful attire, etc. These tiny pushes represent you and your team with class and distinction. And they ultimately set you up for a lifetime of respect and success.
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From Boston Celtic assistant Kevin Eastman
“It’s the self-starter in each of us that’s really important. I don’t think you can count on somebody else to motivate you to do something. You have to want to do it personally, and you have to provide that energy. It’s unrealistic and unfair to expect someone else to push you in a positive direction. So you better pick out something you really like to do, because you will have to be your own driving force.”
“Other guys say they want to be a Pro Bowl caliber player… But I want to be considered a championship caliber player because that is what sports is all about, winning championships.”
“I’ve always had a passion for the game, and the game has changed at every level from high school to college to the NFL, but I still have the same passion and I still get excited for games today, just like I did when I was playing in junior high. There’s something about when you wake up in the morning knowing you have a game that day.”
Here is an excellent column form the late, great Jim Rohn. As a player, when things don't go well, you have a tendency to blame everyone but the right person. It's a teammates fault -- it's the coaches fault -- the lighting in the gym is bad -- the officials screwed me! You have the absolutely power to control what you can control and that is enough to push forward towards you goals. Please read what Jim Rohn has to say on this:
"That’s the only thing 
If you want to be an outstanding player, associate with players that have what you want -- work ethic, dedication, enthusiasm. If you want to improve as a student, befreind good students. Learn their study habits and regiments for school work. Your assoications are an extremely important part of your growth and development. Here is what Darren Hardy of Success Magazine says about it in his book, "The Compound Effect."
“What you do in practice is going to determine your level of success. I used to tell my players, ‘You have to give 100 percent every day. What you don’t give, you can’t make up for tomorrow. If you only give 75 percent today, you can’t give 125 percent tomorrow to make up for it.’”
Not that Kobe Bryant never loses, but beat him at your own risk. Decline a rematch and . . . well, that's not an option. "If you scored on him in practice or did something to embarrass him, he would just keep on challenging you and challenging you until you stayed after and played him so he could put his will on you and dominate you," says Shaw, Bryant's teammate from 1999 to 2003. This included not allowing players to leave the court. Literally. "He'd stand in our way and say, 'Nah, nah, we're gonna play. I want you to do that [move] again,' " Shaw says. "And you might be tired and say, 'Nah, I did it in practice.' But he was just relentless and persistent until finally you'd go play, and he'd go at you."
Another personal attitude of success is the desire to be a competitor. Surprising as it may seem, many top-level players shy from the desire to be “the man” when the game is on the line. One of the ingredients of becoming a clutch performer is the ability to muster mental toughness in the most tense situations. Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter says, “When I come to bat in a pivotal spot, I want people to say, ‘Uh-oh, here he comes.’” Jeter wants that responsibility of being considered “the man.” In 1941, Ted Williams told Time magazine, “Naw, there ain’t no tension for me hitting in the clutch. I’d like to have the bases loaded every time I come up.” In contrast, Raul Mondesi with the Dodgers in 1999 did not want the challenge of hitting in the cleanup spot, projecting an attitude of “I can’t hit in the fourth spot.” The result was, he didn’t.
One of my most favorite inspirational examples about persistence is the story of an Asian Bamboo species that even after five years of watering, weeding, and fertilizing is barely visible. Then, in a span of about six weeks, it grows two and a half feet a day to 90 feet and higher. It grows so fast that you can literally “hear” it growing. The question to ask is did the bamboo grow 90 feet in six weeks or did it grow 90 feet in five years? Obviously it grew 90 feet in five years, for all the time when growth wasn’t visible it was developing a massive root system that would later support its magnificent growth.
"Confidence doesn't come out 
In this post, Brian Tracy talks about how we view ourselves and the utiliziation of that vision in striving for excellence:
There's a rodeo bull rider I know, a fellow named Tuff Hedeman. He's won three world championships in his sport, which is very difficult to do; he's the Joe Montana of bull riders. After he won his third one, Tuff didn't rest his bull rope to party or go to Disney World or hit the talk-show circuit. He just moved his gear on to Denver where the title hunt would start all over again...and as Tuff said:.jpg)
"Only a man who knows what it is like to be defeated can reach down to the bottom of his soul and come up with the extra ounce of power it takes to win when the match is even."
The following comes from "Success Is A Journey" by Brian Tracy:
Written by Mike Wells at Indy.com:
“I never hit a shot, not even in practice, without having a very sharp, in-focus picture of it in my head. It’s like a color movie. First I ‘see’ where I want it to finish, nice and white and sitting high on the bright green grass. Then the scene quickly changes, and I ‘see’ the ball going there: its path, trajectory, and shape, even its behavior on landing. Then there’s sort of a fade-out, and the next scene shows me making the kind of swing that will turn the previous images into reality.”
The benefits of positive attitudes are:
“A winner is someone who 
A great post by Rick Warren on serving faithfully and continually -- can you always be counted on -- by your coach, your teammates, you family!
This comes from www.sportleadership.com and will make it into our team notebook this year.
Each day, as a student-athlete, you make personal choices that help define who are you are and what you want to be. Because you are part of a team, often those choices you make can effect not just you but your teammates as well. It should be a enough to motivate you to give thought to those decisions and to understand why it is so important to your future. Here is what the late Jim Rohn has to day about this topic: