Coaches balance "competitive character" with common sense - intensity with perspective. Here's a great quote from Clint Hurdle, "don't hide from The Standard you helped to create."
I like the saying, "Learn to love your losses." That's how humans grow - by making better decisions. Our parents teach us, "Don't play in the traffic" and "If you play with fire, you get burned." Seek growth as individuals and teams within "The Standard."
Coach Scott Celli and his assistants teach The Standard. It’s never been “We win every game.” Slogans don’t win games. Standards do. Teamwork makes teams more. Play consistent, aggressive volleyball and — as Bill Walsh said — “the score takes care of itself.”
Coach Clint Hurdle also says in "Hurdle-isms":
"A slogan that's not posted in a clubhouse or on a whiteboard: “Let's be OK.” I understand there are days that OK is the best you've got. However, when you can look around the room into each other's eyes and see your teammate coming up short, you can raise him up. That's what good teams do. That's what good teammates do. There are no weak links."
Empathy matters. Years ago we had lost a Middle School basketball game. Our best player said, "I played terrible. We lost because of me. I'm sorry." Her teammate, Bella Federico, went up to her, put her arm around her and said, "We win as a team and we lose as a team." Bella didn't allow the team or her teammate to stay "not OK."
The Standard isn’t perfection - it’s connection. It’s how teams hold each other accountable without tearing each other down. When everyone owns it, nobody hides from it.
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