What It Takes...Examples from Basketball as a Model

One theme here is "what price excellence?" You tell your family, your friends, and yourself that you're doing "whatever it takes to be successful." We don't know what we don't know. 

Don't know Chris Brickley? Brickley is an NBA trainer. I grew up with his uncle and know his father. That and three bucks buys a coffee. 

• Twice named Athlete of the Year at Trinity High School in Manchester, N.H.
• Led the state in scoring as a senior when he averaged 28.7 points
• Played his senior year for Louisville in 2009-2010

“Coach Pitino taught me a lot about work ethic.”

The Knicks hired Brickley as a player development coach in 2013.

The Knicks wanted his training methods kept in-house. 

New #Nets guard D'Angelo Russell talks to the media pic.twitter.com/UgxYL9NlQ7

— Rob Lopez (@r0bato) September 25, 2017

As a player, you decide your commitment, your sacrifice. Kevin Eastman says, "You own your paycheck." 

Study the process of how players become great. 

Brickley wanted to become his own brand. He has. 

Players "don't know what they don't know" about the level of work necessary to become successful in professional sport. Note the intensity and emphasis on change of direction, change of pace, and finishing. 

LeBron James spends a million dollars a year on all aspects of training. 

And it's not just guys. 

If we want to be great, match our work to our dreams. 

Lagniappe, courtesy of Brett Vroman. "Underdogs as heroes

"More recent research has tackled this memory and changing status aspect, and commented on how inspirational underdog stories capture our attention. If anything such stories should, as Nadav and his colleagues have stated, ‘influence probability estimates for future underdog success.’ "

Melrose has excellent strength training facilities, but not so many girls have participated. My daughters had trainers in high school and could both bench press 125 pounds.