2 Signings in 1 Day

It was a big day for Bethel basketball as we signed Spencer Khrin (above) and Cody Cochran (below). Both of these individuals are classy kids and are very well rounded. They are a perfect fit for Bethel College in how they handle themselves both on and off the floor. Their character will be a great representation for our program and I am so excited to start working with these young men. Welcome to the family Spencer and Cody!

Michael Mislan Signs

Today was a very special day as Coach Natali and I drove down to Indianapolis Roncalli High School to sign Michael Mislan. Michael is our first recruit for next year and I could immediately sense the excitement and anticipation he had for playing at Bethel College next season. Michael was recently getting calls and going through individual workouts with numerous D-1 coaches. After discussing D-1 options with other coaches, it was Michael's choice to be at a place where he could grow spiritually as well as academically and athletically. This is the type of person he is! Not only is he a tremendous player, but he represents himself very well off the floor. A student-athlete like this is definitely worth 7 hours in a car down to Indy and back today. Congrats to Michael Mislan and welcome to the Bethel basketball family.

Coaching Quotes from History

Being a History teacher for so many years I've read and studied many different world leaders. What has intrigued me most about some of these leaders is their unique talent with words. Here are some quotes that I think can apply to all professions...especially coaches.

“The army is a team. It lives, eats, sleeps, and fights as a team. -George Patton

“Victory belongs to the most persevering.” -Napoleon

“The secret of war lies in communication.” -Napoleon

“Regard your soldiers as your children, and they will follow you into the deepest valleys.” -Sun Tzu, The Art of War

“Strike hard and fast and do not separate.” -General Heinz Guderian

“Make use of time and space.” -Napoleon

I think in coaching we need to have high expectations and high standards WITHOUT lowering them. I think those expectations have to be realistic. Unfortunately, coaches who place unrealistic expectations on themselves and on their teams set everyone up for failure.

I like what Krish Dhanam’s says about leadership:

-Plan with attitude.

-Prepare with aptitude.

-Participate with servitude.

-Receive with gratitude.

-This should prepare you from the multitudes!

Remember a coach needs to strive for excellence. The greatest enemy of excellence is good.

As a leader of your team your success is not just based on how you perform, but how others around you perform.

What this sign says along the road is clear! We need to communicate our thoughts very well to our team.

Communicate, communicate and then communicate some more!

Finally, husbands..."If you treat your wife as a thoroughbred, you will never end up with a nag.” think about it.

David's worst to his best

David in his worst hour makes it maybe his best hour

How many times do our support systems fail us?

Friends fail us, family messes things up, the boss is out of whack. When all the support systems fail who do we turn to?

1 Samuel 30: 1-25

We need to lead our families in good times and bad. We need to be able to show compassion.

David did a lot of stupid things. Can you think of a dumb thing that you have done in the last 6 weeks? I know I can! David made some real dumb mistakes. Are we capable of doing the same?

It is OK to rest?

-Jesus fights when we can not fight anymore. In what ways has he done so for you?
-Do you feel that Jesus might be angry with you when you sit?
-What was some of David’s actions that we need to apply in our daily life?

Who’s heart can you refresh today?

10 Tips to Successful Practice

Basketball practice is quickly approaching so I thought I would share some things that could help.

Poor practices could be from poor preparation. Most of Coach John Wooden’s practices took him longer to PLAN than they took to RUN. It's all about details---Those who fail to plan; plan to fail.

Here are 10 tips that I take into consideration with practice:

1. Make sure your players know why you do what you do.

2. Don’t ask players or your team to do something that is impossible to do. They will question your ability as a coach and not their ability as a player. Maximize your practices and look to evaluate each practice you have.

3. Post your practices. Your players will know what you have organized and prepared for the day. They will learn that there is a purpose for what you are doing everyday.

4. Don’t ask players or your team to do something that is impossible to do. They will question your ability as a coach and not their ability as a player. You can still be demanding but asking for the impossible is not wise.

5. Don’t stop and correct EVERY mistake. Sometimes you just have to let players play.

6. If we are constantly yelling in practice or in the game then eventually you will be “tuned out” by your players.

7. Try to create 30 second instructions. Any longer than 30 seconds and players attention spans waivers. In games you get about 30-45 seconds during timeouts so create that in a practice setting.

8. When your team is having a “bad practice” always allow your leaders to call a time out in practice and circle the troops. Let your leaders correct the problem, rather than you. This takes communication on your part between the coach and the leader to let them know they have this freedom.

9. Most players will settle for mediocrity, especially in their practices. Coaches need to drive home a commitment to excellence.

10. How are you creating adversity in your practices? Be creative.

A Small Coaching Tip

One of the best things a coach can do is look to improve...get better...find a different way of getting things done well.
We ask that out of our players so we need to ask that out of ourselves. All top businessmen are constantly looking to find out what is working in their professions.

I love to listen to Lou Holtz on ESPN. I loved to listen to him when he coached at ND. I have been told that he was constantly asking questions of other coaches when he coached; always picking their brain. Here he was a very successful coach and he was not giving answers, but asking questions.
Who ? What ? Where? Why? It allowed him to think and improve.
I think in all professions that is a must. The company that becomes complacent or the program that becomes complacent will eventually fail.
In over 30 years of coaching I have been able to see great coaches coach. I love to watch them in “their classroom”--the practice gym. During my years in coaching I have seldom, if any, (well, Digger when he coached at Notre Dame) have been turned down by a coach or a staff to watch what they do in practice.
Think about getting out to talk or watch someone else before the season starts. I find those opportunities are better than going to a clinic. They are also MUCH cheaper

Iron sharpens Iron

"Practice? We Talkin' Bout Practice!?!

There are many different takes on practice. Allen Iverson's take: “I'm supposed to be a franchise player and we talkin' bout practice, man. Not a game!"

and then there's Coach John Wooden's take: "“I feel that practice is the key to success. Creating a classroom environment for my players is so important. In most cases I spent many nights planning my practices. I have kept all of my practice schedules over my career. My practice plan and thoughts on practice took longer to plan than the actual practice time with my players in most cases.”

There are so many variables when it comes to practice. I know very little about how each sport should practice, but here are some thoughts and questions that you can ask yourself to help you become a better coach in practice:

Do you play checkers or chess with your team? In practice, do you move the pieces all in the same way or do you move them differently?

* TEACHING AND LEARNING*
Do you create an environment for teaching? More importantly, do you create an environment for learning? The difference is critical.
In practice different people learn different ways. Can you use video to help in practice? Maybe filming when they don’t know it.

Here are three steps that I try to use when we go through a practice & preparation session:
1. Recreate the event
2. Rehearse the event
3. Restart

*Teaching tips*
-Coaches normally talk too much in practice. I've noticed that attention spans of players are getting shorter and shorter these days.
-Don’t just stop play when an error is made. Stop play when something good takes place. That might be more of a teachable moment.

*ARE YOUR TEAMS MENTALLY TOUGH?*
Mental Fitness and Physical Fitness
If that is important to you as a coach how do you create those challenges in your practice?

A Coaches impact in practice.
-What are your expectations? The Coach sets the tone.
-Do you supply the energy and enthusiasm that is required in practice? If you don't, who will?

*VERBAL MESSAGES*
General rule: Criticize in private, praise in public.
-Be sincere
-Be specific

Don’t let things “build up” with a player “The reaction” usually doesn't fit the crime.

*COMMUNICATE*
-Communicate in practice, especially to your leaders!
-Know your team’s trigger points. What gets them to act the way you want them to act?
-How do they feel both mentally and physically?
-Do you coach differently in practice? Do you allow others to coach in practice? Do you allow the players to coach themselves in practice?

*THOUGHTS*
-How can I be a better coach in practice?
-What areas do I need to improve on?
-Do I maximize my player’s time and space during practice?
-Do I create the atmosphere I need for my team to have the best chance of success through my practices?
-Who is the very best coach in my field and what do they do in their practice that I can apply to my practices?
-Do my players become better each day through our planning of practice?
-Never be afraid to let your players see you sweat in practice.

Let's take back Indiana High School Basketball

Over the years since the end of class basketball I have waivered back and forth on which side of the fence to be on. Their many pluses and minuses. Those have been debated by school administrators, coaches and even state legislators. I have come to the realization that what was special about Indiana High School basketball is no longer special.

It can be seen specifically in one area. Attendance. For those who can remember, (and that generation is getting older) packed gyms at the sectional, regional, semi state and state was a common site. Those great days are gone.
I realize as well that we will never be able to capture that lightning in a bottle again but I have a proposal that I would like to see people begin talking about all over the state. It would not be as hard as some people think. Here is what I suggest

We are use to the Olympics. Every four years we get excited to see a special event take place. I believe if we had the Olympics every year it would not be special.

Here is what we need to try................................................... Let's go back to the original state tournament for basketball. Try it and if we like it do it every four years, both boys and girls.

As part of Indiana History and the legacy as Hoosiers we have our students across our state experience something that their parents and grandparents remember as students.

Sell it as an academic opportunity just not an athletic experience. It is a great Indiana history moment as a history education major I can see this taking off.
We would put everyone back where they were before class basketball. Each school would return to their last original Sectional site. You would have to add schools that have joined the IHSAA but it would be fairly simple to do.

Start in 2014 that would give everyone plenty of time to prepare.

If the attendance is bad then bag it. I would love to hear what people think and pass the idea on and see what others think.

Taking Time to Celebrate

We all have teams we lead and teams we are on either in the business world or on the athletic field. Here are some random thoughts that I am working on and would like to share with you. Please feel free to chew on them or spit them out.

I apologize in advance for the grammatical mistakes there may be. It's the price for watching game film while typing and thinking.

*Building morale and celebrating victories*
Getting people/players to stop thinking about themselves and on the team goals. This is a tough road for the leader. I have come up with 5 steps that I think can solve this problem. I feel that the leaders can take these 5 action steps to counter the issues of self on your team. Remember you will never rid yourself of selfish desires on your team. Jesus found his team struggled with selfish thoughts and desires.

*5 actions steps*

#1. Goals
-What are your goals you want for your team?
Three parts to goals
a. Vision: A leader who has vision, but cannot share that vision is going to struggle. What is your team vision? How are they going to get there?
b. Responsibility: Each player/coach needs to accept their role for the team.
c. Sacrifice: Each player needs to sacrifice for his/her team.
All three of these components need to be a part of your team goals.

#2. Leadership (a difficult one to work on)
-Make sure all of your leaders are on the same page. Meet with them. Share your vision and then have them lead and pass on that vision to their teammates.
-The past 7 years, Bethel basketball has incorporated a team "theme" or "motto" which reinforces the leadership plan for the team. They see the posters in the locker room, around campus and here the theme repeated throughout the course of the season. "One Heartbeat," "Band of Brothers" and "Defend the Legacy," are some of my personal favorites. "A History of Victory" will be the theme for the 2009-2010 season.

#3. Roles
Make sure that each team member knows their role. Each player needs to have a sense of responsibility to do their part. This is a hard one. Many know their role, but it might be hard to accept it. You may have a player who's role is to be the encourager, supporter and motivator on your team while he may want his role to be a scorer. We have to spend more time with the people who feel they do not have a significant role on the team to help them realize just how valuable they truly are.

#4. Respect:
- respect your teammates and the mentality.
-Do you have my back? Do you care about me as your teammate? As a person?
-As a coach, ask yourself this question: "Does your team hang out together both on and off the floor?" The disciples hung out a lot.

#5. Spread Your Praise
-In order to have ownership in something we as leaders need to acknowledge their contributions. How can I praise the guys who don’t play?

*Another thought on leading people*
Celebrate the victories in your life.
-After a down season in 2006 I learned a valuable lesson, "DON'T TAKE WINNING FOR GRANTED!" Celebrate your victories. Many times I've walked into a locker room after a team has won and no one is really excited. In a way I thought that this was good, but as I see kids today I think they need to get excited when they win. As coaches we need to show that excitement. Authentic celebration is a key part of leadership. Take some time to celebrate the little things. Have a good week in sales?--Celebrate! Did a player or person reach a goal you gave them?--Celebrate! I've learned to celebrate and get excited when people reach their goals...it's OK to do so. It may be for only 5 minutes, but take the time!
-I've found out that it isn't fair to your team to “wait” to celebrate “only when we win the championship" because itt might not come. Were the successes along the way through the process important? We need to stop and recognize success when it comes. Think of ways to celebrate things your team accomplishes. What is wrong for the leader to jump up and down and get excited when someone does something significant? We should not take winning for granted. Celebrate and share the victory together.

*Why celebrate?*
1. it acknowledges team goals
2. it builds and validates the needed effort for the next challenge
3. it motivates the team to work harder
4. it improves attitudes
5. it can rally others around the team to get excited about what you are doing

*Strategic celebration*
In the locker room is the best place to acknowledge and bring forth your teams effort after a victory. In the office at work, in a meeting--these are great places and moments to show what your team has done. Do you have times set aside to just celebrate?

Recognize players keep it personal
-Celebrate as a team and as coaches together.
Next point
Determine when to move on: when they get off the bus or when they come to practice the next day. Don’t over celebrate your victories. There has to be a closure and time to move on and your team needs to know when that time is.

Final thoughts
1. Build relationships that last a lifetime.
2. Don’t expect your team to play with passion, they first need to feel your passion. Pass on the passion!
-Go to practice or a team meeting and not coach or teach with any passion and see what happens. I'm sure you could predict the outcome. As a preacher once said “passion starts in the pulpit.”
2. What gets rewarded gets repeated, my dog knows this one
3. Coach the way you are, don’t be anyone else. You will be miserable by not coaching “your way." You can not be someone else. You can model after someone, but you still have to be who you are.
4. What are the needs of your team? What can you do to help them meet those needs?
-Do they need a father figure? Do they need some direction and discipline? Do they need someone to talk to?
5. Remain sensitive to change.
-Don’t be afraid to change. Change practice, change the lineup, hange a drill change, change your underwear :)
6. Meet with your team leaders often! (people forget the mission...quickly!)
7. Learn from others
-Find the best people to learn from and study them.

I pray that in the weeks ahead that with all of our busy duties that we find time to celebrate. We all need to celebrate our Savior and be reminded what he has done for us. Good luck and God Bless

-Coach Lightfoot

Leadership in Coaching

I find that developing leaders is a very difficult thing to do. Here are some of my thoughts as we all try to lead our teams, our communities and our families.

* Teams reflect the personality of their leader.
1. People see what people do.
- Followers normally take 6 months (about the length of a basketball season) to mirror back what their leaders do!
Ask yourself the question: "Have I as the coach reflected what I want projected to my team?"
-Adolf Hitler led people and many of them began to ACT and THINK like their leader.
-Gandhi showed compassion and many followed his leadership of non-violence.

* Followers tend to reflect a leader’s:
1. Vision
2. Values
3. Attitude

* The leader sets the tone.
2. Do you play checkers or chess with your team? The boards are exactly the same. Checkers all have the same ability and move the same way. Chess pieces, however, are all different. Many mediocre Coaches and leaders play a lot of checkers with their players. Good coaches and good leaders learn how to move chess pieces knowing their strengths and weaknesses. You have to know the strengths of your players and your team. Tap into the strengths of your team...Jesus did this with his disciples.

Get the most out of your team by:
A. Know your team’s strengths and weaknesses.
B. Find their trigger points
-what gets them to act?
C. Find their love language.
D. Know their learning style.
-Do they do their best analyzing? Watching? Doing?

* A leader should always encourage.
3. People who you lead will go down unless you fill them up.
- “Encouragement is the oxygen to the soul!”
-61% of people in the workplace receive no praise or encouragement and is the #1 reason why people leave their jobs!

When we encourage we should look to:
1. Be sincere
2. Personalize it
3. Be specific
4. Try to do it in public
5. Communicate
-Let them know what is up. Remember people are “down” on what they are not “up on.”
-Make sure your leaders know your vision. Communicate you plan to them so they are up on what is going on.

I hope that these things can be of service to you before you head into your school year and your season. -Coach Lightfoot

How to Be a Talent-Plus Person

Here are some thoughts I have developed on what forms and makes a talent-plus person

13 Ideas to be a Talent-Plus Person?

1. Belief lifts your talents.
2. Passion energizes your talent.
3. Initiative activates your Talent
4. Focus directs your talent.
5. Preparation positions your talent.
6. Practice sharpens your talent.
7. Perseverance sustains your talent.
8. Courage tests your talent.
9. Teaching ability expands your talent.
10. Character protects your talent.
11. Responsibility strengthens your talent.
12. Relationships influence your talent.
13. Teamwork multiplies your talent.



Bethel College Basketball

How Good Do You Want To Be?

Nick Saban: How Good do you want to be?

I have heard that this book was a good book for a coach to read.
Here are some notes that I took:

*The Basics: Work to DOMINATE your opponent.
1. Be a team and do things together.
-everyone accomplishes more.
2. Being positive affects your team.
-be a positive coach/teammate.
3. Individual responsibility for self determination.
-be responsible for what you do.
4. Be a champion on and off the floor

-Be relentless in the pursuit of your goals, resilient in the face of adversity and overcome your own errors and mistakes.
-Your opponent should never determine your level of competitive spirit.

-Be focused on the process of being a champion.
-Champions take on an attitude of dominance everywhere they go.

-Eliminate clutter in your life.

*Foundations for a championship team:
-Develop a good product
-Know the competition
-Teamwork
-Create a culture of expectations
-Branding your product
-Discipline
-Commitment
-Toughness
-Effort
-Pride

*5 Lessons Coach Saban has learned:
1. Work with a purpose
-Invest your time, don’t spend it. Investing time can impact the results dramatically.
2. You don’t always get what you want, but you always get what you deserve.
3. Promise a starting time, but not a quitting time.
4. Patience is a necessity for success. The pyramids took 76 years to build!
5. Enjoy your work. 80 % of Americans dislike their jobs.

*Ability to persevere during difficult times:
-The author of Chicken soup of the soul was rejected 140 times
-Dr Seus’s first book was rejected 23 times
-In 1968 John Akhwari from Tanzania ran in the Olympic Marathon and finished over an hour after everyone else. When asked why he didn't quite or stop the race he said, ” My country did not send me 7 thousand miles to BEGIN a race, they sent me to FINISH the race!”

*Two more feet
-In 1849 a miner dug for gold and finally gave up, sold his claim and left. The next miner in that exact area dug down just two more feet and found one of the largest gold deposits ever recorded in history.

*The competitive spirit:
-Don’t look at the scoreboard...compete against you.
-Find honor on how you compete
-Worry about things only YOU can control.
-Stay focused at all times, but don’t have tunnel vision.
-Champions can NEVER relax.
-Success is never final and failure in never fatal.
-Lessons should be learned in success AND failure.
-Complacency allows teams and people to fall!

*Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan will never allow success to create complacency. It motivates them to reach for a higher standard. What is your capacity for success? How do you handle it?

*Know the competition
-It is critical to know as much about your opponent as possible.

1. Anticipate
-Noah anticipated and prepared as he built the ark awaiting the great flood.
2. Prepare for adverse situations.
3. Embrace change.
4. Change can lead to a better choice.
5. Make a decision and never look back

*Teamwork
1. Do not allow mistakes to go uncorrected.
2. Talent is defined as "putting skills into productive use"
3. Trust your teammates.
- Ben Franklin said before the revolutionary war, “We must, indeed, all hang together on this or we shall hang separately.”
4. Teams must take ownership of themselves.
5. Teams that play hard often end up lucky.

*A review of the “Disease of Me.”

-7 issues that destroy a team
1. Not dealing with success.
2. Chronic feeling of feeling unappreciated.
3. Feeling cheated out of one’s rightful share.
4. Resenting teammates.
5. Selfishness.
6. Forming cliques.
7. Individual frustrations even when the team performs well. (The "POOR ME" Syndrome)

*Looking for Dominance
-There is no I in team but there is an I in WIN.
-Fundamentals
-Do not blink
-Having skill is not having talent.
-Create a nightmare for your opponents.
-Very good teams make other teams quit.
-Dominant teams do not look at the scoreboard.
-You always come with you’re A-Game.
-Do not allow complacency
-Enjoy playing the best...even on their turf!

* Leadership
1. Being a leader is about vision, organization, and anticipation.
2. Great leaders stand up through adversity.
3. Great leaders create ownership by their team.
4. Great leaders embrace future leaders.
5. Great leaders pick their battles.
6. Great leaders do not rush to make changes because of failure.
7. Great leaders hire good people and not “yes” men.
8. Great leaders make tough decisions.
9. Great leaders do not have all the answers, but they find them.
10.Great leaders are not always very popular.

*Communication
1. Communicate with your staff.
-They always need to know what is to be expected of them.
-Are you making your assistants better coaches?
-Always be clear with your expectations.
2. Listen twice as much as you talk.
3. Teach your players how they need to communicate.
4. Communication does not always mean talking.
5. Choose your words wisely.
6. Be wary of the Internet.
7. First impressions are so important.
8. Don’t let problems linger!

*Motivation
1. Pre-game talks are over-rated!
-What is said during the week of practice is more important. A message is more important than a motivational talk.
2. We all motivate differently.
3. Passion is a key to motivation.
4. Strive for intrinsic motivation.
5. Discipline is not punishment. It does not motivate. Discipline is done for people to change their previous behavior.
-Punishment just makes people suffer

*Education
-Coach Saban talks about how he got a poor grade on his report card as an eighth grader His father took him to a local mine shaft, took him down to the bottom and turned the power off and asked him if this is what he wants to do the rest of his life?

*Doing the right thing
1. It takes a lifetime to build a reputation but only a few seconds to lose it. Example: Woody Hayes hitting an opponent.
2. Be honest.
3. Do the right thing.
4. Never take anything for granted.

Leading During Difficult Times

I really enjoyed the National Leadership Conference this past week. It seems like every year I learn so much from each speaker.
Leaders need to be energized when the challenges are great. We need to prepare for tough times. Bill Gates at Microsoft plans as if Microsoft would go under in two years.

Leaders should not be afraid of change. Sometimes we need to think in different ways. Jesus was unconventional in the way He did things. We need to be willing to change as leaders. Culture is changing...how about our leadership styles?

Leaders need to be dynamic, flexible and creative! So it is a tough time for leaders, but a great opportunity to "step up."

Our greatest resources are PEOPLE. Leaders invest in people and relationships trump even vision.