Ways Players and Coaches Can Maximize Practice Time

I came across this on Twitter and shared it with all the coaches at Belle Plaine.  Hopefully, others of you who look at my Blog can take something from it or share it with others who could use this to benefit themselves and the players they coach.

8 Things PLAYERS should do to maximize every practice:

1) Be well fueled, well hydrated, well rested, and take care of your body.  Do exercises like these 2-3 times per week:

2) Get to practice early. Don’t wait for practice to start, prepare for it. Making 100 extra shots before every practice will have an enormous compound effect over the course of the season.

3) Approach practice with a ‘game like’ mentality. After all, how you do anything is how you do everything. Want to play well in games? Then practice well every day.

4) Listen with your eyes. Your coach won’t say it if it’s not important. Absorb everything your coaching staff and teammates say by having great eye contact.

5) Leave your comfort zone every practice. Leave it mentally. Leave it physically. Leave it emotionally. You should be drained at the end of every practice. Leave it on the floor!

6) Make your enthusiasm contagious. Raise the level of those around you with constant energy. Be vocal.

7) Be a ‘Glue Guy’ (or ‘Glue Girl’). By definition, glue binds and holds things together. Be the glue on your team.

8) Value the ball for the entire practice. Every drill. Every scrimmage. Every play. Don’t take bad shots or make sloppy passes.

8 Things COACHES should do to maximize every practice:

1) Have a practice plan. Have written out to the minute, the entire practice. You will certainly need to make tweaks and adjustments, but stick as close to the plan as you can. Plan your work and work your plan!

2) Have a theme for the day. Will today focus more on offense? Defense? Drill work? Conditioning? Instruction? Don’t try to do everything every practice.

3) Coach in bullet points, not paragraphs. Keep practice flowing!

4) What 3 things do you want your team to be known for this season? Rebounding? Pressure defense? 3-point shooting? Whatever they are, emphasize them every day.

5) Do NOT allow bad attitudes or poor body language… ever. Those things are understandable, but never acceptable. Nip them in the bud quickly.

6) Focus on quality over quantity. Time efficiency is important. If you can do it in 90 minutes, don’t take 2 hours.

7) Get up shots! The name of the game is to put the ball in the cup. Make sure your players get up a few hundred quality shots every practice.

8) Have fun! While I respect Gene Hackman’s line in Hoosiers, ‘My practices aren’t designed for your enjoyment’… I wholeheartedly disagree. If you find ways to make practice fun, your players will give a better effort. If they give a better effort, you’ll get better results. Then everyone wins!

Tips for Success

If you follow this Blog I like to include information about how students, parents, and teachers can all be more successful by giving more effort, setting goals, or having a plan established to face challenges head on.  You know I also like to find information on Twitter and share it here on my Blog because often times the articles or Blog info relates very well with the message we are trying to convey to students here at Belle Plaine.

The article below pertains to the qualities that most anyone can use to help you experience more success in whatever you do.  The author shares what he has identified as the "Triangle of Succes".  At each corner of the triangle are Mind, Emotion, and Will.  At the center of the triangle and the key to all three corners is Perseverance.  When I speak with students, parents, or entire classes I try to emphasize how these qualities can help them achieve more success and share with them ways to do this.  I give examples of how these qualities have assisted me with reaching goals and I direct them towards people in their life such as teachers, coaches, parents, and other mentors who can help them along the way.  If just one gets the message then the effort was a success.

The Triangle for Success

Success is a direct result of applying the right principles to your professional life and your personal life. The question is what are the right principles to apply in order to achieve success? Over the years of studying, four primary principles of success continue to surface from the ancient writers. I call these four principles the triangle of success.

The “triangle” of success because one principle is placed at each corner of the triangle and the crucial principle is positioned in the heart of the triangle. The heart of the triangle is what promises success to the other three principles.

The other three principles at the corner of the triangles embody the essence of men and women. You will see what I am talking about as I unfold these three.

Mind

The first corner of the triangle is your thinking process; or in other ! words exercising your mind. Learning is a necessary step towards growing. Growth is imperative to achieve success. Aristotle puts it succinctly, he writes, “It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.”

Success follows the ability to analyze a subject, make sound judgments while moving toward your objectives. “You are to be a student, not a follower”, says Jim Rohn. That is exactly what professionals are, they are students. Success is the goal; therefore, continuous training, instruction, and being mentored is the process.

Those who are successful pay the price. They apply the disciplines of learning. They have placed value on education and training. I, personally, think that if you are a student, always applying the disciplines of learning, that your philosophies of life will be improving, better ideas come to your thinking, which all leads to success.

Education is something that no one can ever take away from you. It helps to develop and define who you are.

“The best of all things is to learn. Money can be lost or stolen, health and strength may fail, but what you have committed to your mind is yours forever.”

–Louis L’Amour (1908-1988)

Emotions

Your emotion is the second corner of the triangle. Passionately pursuing after your objectives leads to success. This is not to say that your objectives come before people in your life, but the principle is to be well taken-success is dependent on your inner drive to achieve it.

The truth is, you will do what you want to do. If you want something bad enough you will dwell on it all of the time doing whatever is necessary to reach your goal. That is passion. Kahlil Gibran said, “All that spirits desire, spirits attain.”

Perhaps G. W. F. Hegel says is best, “Nothing great in the world has ever been accomplished without passion.” You see what I mean when I said above that these principles surface every where I studied? These are the principles that made men and women great.

The reasons that they do surface is that these principles are at the core of who and what we are made of inside. You were designed with a purpose and the driving force within you motivates you to accomplish your purpose in life.

“Dwell not upon thy weariness, thy strength shall be according to the measure of thy desire.”

Arab Proverb

Will

The third corner of the triangle is your will. Eventually, you have to step out and do what you desire. If you never decide to reach for your dream, you will remain in the stands with the majority of people in life.

Perhaps you have fear, hurt, or insecurity, holding you back; if you permit these or any others to control your actions success stands aloof. A mentor at this point may be more helpful, than, reading a book or two. At times we need someone to hold us accountable so that we will do the necessary follow through.

Depending on your temperament exercising your will towards your objectives may take a lot of courage, but courage is what guarantees that these others will work. If you don’t have the courage to start you never will know, now will you?

I can not stress it strong enough that taking action is one of the most important principles to achieving your dreams. Jim Rohn, says, “Some are always picking the fruit, while others are always, examining the roots.” Consistent action will produce results. It is the law of sowing and reaping. You reap what you sow, in other words, you get what you deserve, not what you need. Plant enough seeds and you will find growth. It is the law of ratio. Ask enough people and someone will join or buy.

“The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather in a lack of will.”

– Vincent T. Lombardi

Perseverance

Now, what is in the heart or center of the triangle that will enable you to succeed? Every successful person has this. Do you know? I will give you a clue it begins with a P, now you fill in the blank, P__________. It is perseverance! Perseverance is the inner strength to get back into the battle after you have been wounded. As I observe those who succeed and those who don’t, it appears to me that the difference is in perseverance.

Those with perseverance don’t stop until they reach their goal. They are relentless! Just when you thought they were down and out this time, sure as the world, they manage, some how, to get back up again.

I love to visit Chocolate World. It is located in Hershey, PA. They make, obviously, Hershey’s chocolate. You get to take a tour to see how they make all of that chocolate and at the end of the ride you get a piece of free chocolate and/or the opportunity to buy all the chocolate you want. But, the significant part of the tour is reading “bits and pieces” of Milton Hershey’s life (the founder). He, like so many others, failed three times in the business world, before he was successful. He had a dream and would not let go of it.

Was he ever discouraged? You know he was. Did he ever want to quit? Who doesn’t? Did others talk bad about him? I think some still do. However, those are not the right questions to ask. Better questions are: “Did he quit?” And “What kept him from quitting?” Or, “How did he persevere?”

No, he did not give up. He persevered through the hard times and some unbearable problems. How did he do that? What kept him going? The same way thousand’s of others did it. The big “P” was in the center of the triangle. Perseverance was the heart of their passion, attitude, and will.

Napolean Hill captures the three corners of the triangle when he writes, “Create a definite plan for carrying out your desire and begin at once, whether you ready or not, to put this plan into action.” As you add perseverance to this success formula it is one sure way to, at least, do your part to succeed. There are never any promises how life will turn out, but one thing for sure, neglect the right principles and you are removing the possibilities of success.

I will conclude with the words of Abraham Lincoln, “Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any one thing.”

About The Author: Dr. John E. Neyman, Jr. is a Pastor, author, speaker, and relationship coach. You may contact Dr John at drjohnneyman@gmail.com or visit his site at LeadersExcel.com

Giving Your Best Effort ALL the Time

As teachers, coaches, and parents we emphasize to our students and children that giving your best effort is one of the most important things one can do no matter what it is your doing.  Winning or getting the "A" doesn't always define success.  The first basketball team I ever coached achieved great success and finished 12-12.  They worked hard all season, improved tremendously, played as a team, and displayed great mental toughness.  As teachers we've all had students who received a "C" but completely outworked students with "A's" and "B's".  Effort doesn't insure success, but without it, you don't have a chance.

I came across a few of these examples that show what 99% effort would result in should it be reality in certain cases.  

If we had to live with 99% effort, we would have:

• ·      One hour of unsafe drinking water every month,
• ·      Two unsafe plane landings per day at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport,
• ·      16,000 pieces of lost mail every hour,
• ·      22 checks deducted from the wrong bank account every week,
• ·      500 incorrect surgical operations every week,
• ·      12 babies given to the wrong parents every day,
• ·      20,000 incorrect drug prescriptions each year, and
• ·      800,000 credit cards with incorrect information.

100% effort makes sense.

Aaron Kampman Speaks at Belle Plaine

Just prior to Christmas Break students at Belle Plaine took break from classes and had the opportunity to welcome Aaron Kampman to Belle Plaine.  Kampman who is originally from Kesley Iowa, played football in high school for Ed Thomas at Aplington-Parkersburgplayed and then for Hayden Fry and Kirk Ferentz at Iowa before moving on to the NFL for a 10 year career mostly with the Green Bay Packers.  Since retiring from the NFL, Kampman has begun speaking with various groups, schools, and businesses about goals and dreams.

Kampman's message centered around the idea of an oak tree and how ones dreams and goals in life are much like the growth of a mighty oak with its beginnings as a tiny acorn.  Everyones goals and dreams start out as an acorn and the growth of those goals are dependent on a number of key things that will help them grow.  One of the keys to the growth of our dreams and the acorn is the things around us or for the acorn the soil.  Are the things around us restricting our growth or nurturing our progress?  The things that can hold us back are like weeds that can destroy our dreams.  Aaron identified a couple of those weeds that our students at Belle Plaine deal with specifically included alcohol, drugs, and the negative effects of technology and social media.

Another key to achieving our goals and dreams is the support we have all around us.  In the case of the oak tree, the sunshine that is necessary for it's growth.  Mr. Kampman identified three key areas that we all can look to for support.  The first area he spoke about was friends.  He shared that friends can also hold us back from our goals and dreams if they are exposing us to things that will be detrimental to being successful.  Aligning ourselves with friends who challenge us and bring out the best in us are key.  Friends can also be a big support if one of the other two areas is not very helpful.  A second area of support is teachers and coaches.  These individuals have the knowledge and skills to help students reach their goals and are people that students can go to with almost any need.  Aaron shared that he had several teachers and coaches who helped get him started towards achieving his dreams.  The final important area of support is ones family.  Whether it's parents or siblings, family can be one of the most important elements to attaining dreams and goals.  For some however, family support may not always be there or best the best role model and that is when the other two support groups become even more important.

Aaron's message was presented in a way that all students could understand and apply to themselves in some way.  He shared personal successes he experienced as well as challenges he faced and how he was able to move forward at all times.

The response from students and staff was very positive and it was great having Aaron come to Belle Plaine.  He remainded for nearly 30 minutes after to sign autographs and speak with students.

Growing Technology at Belle Plaine

This Wednesday at Belle Plaine teachers will again spend time learning about tools and strategies they can use in the classroom to support and enhance the level of learning among our students.  This year we have two primary areas of emphasis within our professional development.  One initiative is the implementation of the PLC Process among teachers.  In a nutshell, a PLC or Professional Learning Community is a group of teachers who work together to support and collaborate with one another through all phases of the learning process.  To fully and effectively implement this within a school takes time and effort by everyone and can be a challenge especially at the high school level where teachers can tend to hunker down within their own classroom and content world.  So far during the early learning stages teachers have been open and willing to listen and try a new approach that has many all-around benefits to teachers and students.

The second area of emphasis among teachers at the Belle Plaine Secondary is within the area of technology.  Tech has been a focus for teachers at Belle Plaine the last couple years, but with the looming 1:1 implementation approaching it has been taken to another level.  The focus of the district this year is on teacher training and network upgrades.  With plans in the works for system improvements over the summer of 2015, we hope to be ready for the implementation phase sometime during the 15-16 school year.  It's exciting to see the changes already taking place with the use of technology within our school and it makes me even more anxious to take the next step to full 1:1 computers for all students 7th through 12th.  Many of our teachers are embracing and accepting change with how they teach and infuse technology within their classes.  Students are also experiencing the changes and finding new ways to engage in the learning and demonstrate understanding.

As we move closer to this change within our school system it is important to always review the process and understand the change process.  In this it is key to know the process as it pertains to technology.  Below is a 10 step process from Life of an Educator by Dr. Justin Tarte, for beginning a technology revolution.

10 tips for starting a technology revolution

I've had the opportunity to work in several different capacities in my education career. In all these roles I've been a vocal advocate for integrating more technology in education.Ideally, we really shouldn't be having a separate conversation about technology, but the reality is we still have quite a lot of room for improvement in this area. Some of the 10 following tips have been learned the hard way, while others just happened to work out well. Either way, these 10 tips should hopefully provide some assistance as more and more buildings and districts start their very own technology revolutions...

1 - Make sure the administration is on board...

This first tip is not always 100% necessary, but I can say from experience that it will certainly make things easier. Approach your building and district administration with concrete examples of how integrating more technology will increase student engagement, thus increasing student learning opportunities. Additionally, provide real life examples of how social media and technology have improved your abilities as an educator. Share with them how social media and technology can be a valuable asset when it comes to educator growth and development, as well as how these tools can be used as a foundation for professional development.

2 - Lay the groundwork and foundation by asking simple questions...

In order for this technology revolution to start you must have an idea of where your fellow colleagues are when it comes to technology knowledge and background. Simply take some time to both formally and informally ask questions. This will help you when it comes to knowing where to start, as well as what information could be skipped over and/or re-emphasized to get the technology revolution underway. Additionally, use these questions to find out what pieces of technology and social media are already being used, and in what ways they are being used.

3 - Some educators will be advanced...but most will not be - GO SLOW...

I have probably heard "You need to slow down" more than any other comment thus far in my career. The excitement and passion some educators have for technology and social media is awesome...however, this excitement must be contained and released on a slow and controlled basis. Going slow ensures you won't lose anyone simply because you were going too fast. Remember, some of these concepts and ideas are 100% brand new, so consequently going slow and not overwhelming anyone is key.

4 - Do not drown your fellow educators with too much too soon...

Please don't forget that our colleagues are learning and have similar characteristics and qualities as our students do. Furthermore, you can't and shouldn't give them too much to bite off at one time. Take it slowly and present one or maybe two concepts at a time. By limiting yourself to one or two concepts, your fellow educators have a much better chance of fully grasping those topics before moving on to any new ones. A stressed and confused brain shuts down...make sure you don't help in creating a room full of shut down brains.

5 - Support and encourage your shining stars...

As the year progresses and the technology revolution is more underway, a few sparks and shining stars will begin to emerge. These educators will be embracing the technology revolution. They will even be using some of the concepts they have learned in their classes. These educators need to be encouraged and supported, because they are taking a chance and a risk by trying something new (in case you didn't know, this is really difficult for most educators). Allow these "superstars" to discover and explore, but keep them also in close contact. Be there to help at the first sign of struggling, but only if they want help. These shining stars are the first sign of a successful technology revolution. They will be alone and at times alienated for trying something new, they will need your support and guidance.

6 - Use the largest, loudest, and most listened to group in the school - the students...

Invite and encourage students in your school to help teach and lead social media and technology sessions. Can you imagine a better way to get students more involved and engaged than this? This will also help educators to realize it is okay to not know all the answers. We can learn from students just as we expect them to learn from us. The students are and will continue to be a great resource that unfortunately, most schools never tap into...let's change that.

7 - Get constant feedback from your colleagues...

Just as educators use formative assessments to get feedback and information from students, we need to get feedback and information from our colleagues. Ask them how these new ideas are impacting their classrooms; ask them if they are using any of these tools to grow professionally; ask them if they see value in learning about technology and social media integration. You have to not only ask these questions, but you also have to respond to their answers. Simply asking the questions is not enough, you will need to change, modify, and adapt based on their responses. This is a vital key moving forward as you continue the technology revolution.

8 - Offer your time to help others (off the clock)...

Busy is the default. We are all busy, but when you are starting a revolution, you will need to offer your assistance and services when others are available and have time. This will require you to stay after school to help. This will require you to use your conference period to answer emails and trouble shoot problems people might be having. It is absolutely crucial you are available to help answer some of the questions your colleagues WILL have. The first stages of any revolution are the most difficult...this one will be no different.

9 - Help make technology and social media applicable to their class / content area...

When somebody asks, and they will ask, "How does this work for me in my class," you will need to have an answer. Put yourself in their shoes for a moment and think about how these new tools can have a positive effect on their classroom. Provide your colleagues with lists and resources of other people teaching the same or similar classes. If your fellow educators don't see how technology and social media integration can help them or their students, they will not take part in the revolution.

10 - When you get discouraged, don't - the revolution will be long and hard...

As hard as it is to imagine, there will be fellow educators who will be critical. They will purposely try to derail the technology revolution. They will talk in the shadows about how this is just one more thing and by next year it will be gone. They will relish in any setback or problem that arises. DO NOT LET THEM GET YOU DOWN. You see value in what you are doing, and you know it can positively affect the lives of both students and educators. Remain steady in your resolve and do what is best for the kiddos. Your colleagues will be looking to you for leadership and inspiration, and it is your job to be the unyielding voice of optimism and hope. Are you ready for the revolution...?