Championship Effort*

*Modified from a basketball message

Opportunity arrives at the Veterans Memorial Middle School Gym tonight in the form of the Westborough Rangers. They are undefeated and haven't lost a set. What matters is how you play. 

1. Set the bar high. Bring enthusiasm and fight to the floor every day. There is only today, being in the moment. It's your journey. 

2. "Always do your best." Our best won't always get championship results. It leaves no regrets. Don Miguel Ruiz's The Four Agreements is Tom Brady's favorite book. 

3. Give honest feedback about effort. If players want more, they must do more, give more, sacrifice more. 

4. "What's your why?" You're here to reach a standard of excellence. 

"Champions behave like champions before they’re champions." - Bill Walsh

5. Model excellence. Players see everything. What's our commitment to planning, preparation, and practice? If coaches don't give our best, why should players?  

6. "How you play reflects how you live your life." After a lackluster effort by a former group, the head coach asked me to say a few words. The girls had been pushed around and didn't respond, showing no fight. Six months later a player told me that message really got to her. 

7. Be relentless. A girl gave the most consistent effort that I've ever seen for a young player. She earned All-Scholastic efforts as both a freshman and sophomore. In Relentless, Tim S. Grover wrote, "Being relentless means demanding more of yourself than anyone else could ever demand of you, knowing that every time you stop, you can still do more. You must do more."

8. Build winning habits. In The Vision of a Champion, Anson Dorrance describes Mia Hamm, working out alone in a park, "The vision of a champion is someone who is bent over, drenched in sweat, at the point of exhaustion when nobody else is watching.”

I had this poster printed for each of the girls.

9. Excellence isn't a sometimes habit. Excellence travels. Brad Stevens said that he never coached a great student who was a bad defender. Kayla Wyland's mother told me that the league basketball MVP was as pleasant and helpful at home as she was tough on the court.

10. Champions don't skip steps. UCONN Coach Geno Auriemma says that when competitors understand and want to do it right, they won't accept mediocre execution in practice. Champions are born in practice.