Four Box Passing

Below is an passing exercise I haven't done, but I want to play with a little:

2 v 0 Finishing

Below is a finishing exercise I did with the pro team this morning (Dave Brandt often did a version of this at Navy):

Two Box Passing

Below is a passing exercise I did with the pro team this morning:

Passing Square

Here is a passing warmup I did with the pro team a few days ago:

I Stand By The Door By Sam Shoemaker

Scott Stevens read this poem ("I Stand by the Door" by Sam Shoemaker) during his sermon on Sunday:

"I stand by the door.

I neither go too far in, nor stay too far out,

The door is the most important door in the world --

It is the door through which men walk when they find God.

There's no use going way inside, and staying there, 

When so many are still outside, and they, as much as I, 

Crave to know where the door is.

And all that so many ever find

Is the wall where the door ought to be.

They creep along the wall like blind men,

With outstretched, groping hands, 

Feeling for a door, knowing there must be a door, 

Yet they never find it ...

So I stand by the door. 

I admire the people who go way in. 

But I wish they would not forget how it was

Before they got in. Then they would be able to help

The people who have not even found the door,

Or the people who want to run away again from God.

You can go in too deeply, and stay in too long, 

And forget the people outside the door." 

Brad Stevens And The Celtics Have A Special Brand Of Toughness By Zach Lowe

Here is a great article on Brad Stevens and the toughness he's instilled in his Celtics team.

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"Toughness is king." - Celtics staff

"Toughness is being able to physically and emotionally perform your task through any condition." - Unknown

"If things are going well in a home game, do you get caught up in that, or do you keep playing the right way? If things are going like they were going in the second quarter last night [when the Sixers went on a run], do you say, 'I have a job to do and I'm going to do it, and I don't care that everyone is going nuts over this [Joel] Embid dunk?' That is toughness. It sounds cliche, but the hardest thing to do is stay in the moment and do your job." - Brad Stevens

"Do use your youth as excuse. Expedite your learning curve. If there's film to watch, or something your need to work on with a coach, go do it." - Brad Stevens

"Gather enough tough players and it can have an exponential effect on a team's collective toughness. They inspire each other to more intense fury. They hold everyone accountable; even brief moments of lethargy and weakness are unacceptable. Wyc Grousbeck, the team's owner, compares them to a crew rowing together: they feel when one guy is giving only 90 percent, and either push him harder or eventually replace him." - Zach Lowe

Pep Guardiola: What Man City Boss Said On Monday Night Football

Here's a good interview with Pep Guardiola from "Monday Night Football."

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"I try to convince them to run like the most humble team in the world, that is our secret, and they know. If they don't do it they don't play, they go alongside me on the bench. I can forgive absolutely everything, mistakes, but if they don't run they are not with us. They have to fight. I don't like to see players saying 'I'm good, the other 10 play for me', I don't like that. You run because after that they are going to run for you. Our physicality in terms of sprints are always high, that is one of our secrets, more than tactics, our spirit, consistency, competition; try to run, that's good."

My Favorite Lines: Above The Line By Urban Meyer

Below are a few of my favorite lines from Above the Line by Urban Meyer. You can find all my notes HERE.

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"We don’t control the events in life, and we don’t directly control the outcomes. But we always have control over how we choose to respond. How we respond means everything. We call it the R Factor." - p. 43

"How you feel is not always the best guide for you what you should do." - p. 47

"Make sure the habits you have today are in alignment with the dreams and goals you have for tomorrow." - p. 51

"Embrace discomfort. Discomfort marks the place where the old way meets the new. Discomfort indicates that change is about to happen. Push through the pain. If it doesn’t challenge you, it will not change you." - p. 52

"If you permit it, you promote it." - p. 74

"Here’s the not so hidden secret for achieving extraordinary success: clarify what you really want, then work as hard as you can for as long as it takes." - p. 91

"Success is cumulative and progressive. It is the result of what you do every day. ... Success is not achieved by an occasional heroic response. Success is achieved by focused and sustained action. All achievement is a series of choices. The bigger the achievement, the longer the series and more challenging the choices." - p. 91

"It’s your training versus his training." - p. 102

10-80-10 Principle: "At the very center of it, the nucleus, are the top 10 percenters, people who give all they’ve got all the time, who are the essence of self-discipline, self-respect, and the relentless pursuit of improvement. ... Outside the nucleus are the 80 percenters. They are the majority  -- people who go to work, do a good job, and are relatively reliable. ... The final 10 percenters are uninterested or defiant. ... How well you perform as a team is going to depend on the work you do with the 80 percenters. That’s why I devote more time to them by far than to either of the 10 percenters." - p. 161-162

"I can’t relate to lazy people. We don’t speak the same language. I don’t understand you. I don’t want to understand you." - p. 164 (Kobe Bryant)

"If your habits don’t reflect your dreams and goals, you can either change your habits or change your dreams and goals.” - p. 174

Real Sports with Bryan Gumbel: Nebraska Women's Bowling

I randomly caught an episode of Real Sports with Bryan Gumbel featuring the Nebraska women's bowling team and their coach, Bill Straub. The program has won 10 NCAA National Championships since 1991. Here's a trailer for the episode:

I'm struck by how much consistency exists amongst successful athletic programs across all sports -- and even more broadly, successful organizations in any arena. Again and again: there's no secret sauce, just small things done well, over and over and over again. 

Navy Men's Soccer (Dave Brandt): Style of Play

Some clips illustrating Navy men's soccer's style of play under Dave Brandt:

Joleon Lescott’s Defensive Masterclass

Below is a good video of Joleon Lescott demonstrating how to step / drop the back line (0:50 - 1:12):

10-80-10 Principle

I'm in the process of typing up My Favorite Lines from Above the Line by Urban Meyer and decided to give this concept it's own post. The following is an excerpt from pages 161 - 164. 

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There is a theory about human behavior called the 10-80-10 principle. I speak of it often when I talk to corporate groups or business leaders. It is the best strategy I know for getting the most out of your team. Think of your team or your organization as a big circle. At the very center of it, the nucleus, are the top 10 percenters, people who give all they’ve got all the time, who are the essence of self-discipline, self-respect, and the relentless pursuit of improvement.

They are the elite--the most powerful component of any organization.

They are the people I love to coach.

Outside the nucleus are the 80 percenters. They are the majority --people who go to work, do a good job, and are relatively reliable. The 80 percenters are for the most part trustworthy and dutiful, but they simply don’t have the drive and the unbending will that the nucleus guys do. They just don’t burn as hot.

The final 10 percenters are uninterested or defiant. They are on the periphery, mostly just coasting through life, not caring about reaching their potential or honoring the gifts they’ve been given. They are coach killers.

The leadership challenge is to move as many of the 80 percenters into the nucleus as you can. If you can expand the top 10 percent into 15 percent or 20 percent, you are going to see a measurable increase in the performance of your team. By the end of the 2014 season, our nucleus group was close to 30 percent. We did that by challenging our top 10 percent to identify and go get some of the 80 percenters and, in turn, influence the 80 percent to elevate their level of play, deepen their commitment, and give more of themselves for the program. We wanted our top 10 percent to be leaders who influenced and motivated others. This is essential because leadership is about connecting. Leadership is an activity that happens person to person and heart to heart. It’s about engaging deeply with others and inspiring them to be better.

When I coached Tim Tebow at Florida, he was a leader and an influencer. He’d come in my office and we’d say to each other, “Let’s go get an eighty today and get him into the top ten.” It was a daily, intentional priority for Tim and for me.

How well you perform as a team is going to depend on the work you do with the 80 percenters. That’s why I devote more time to them by far than to either of the 10 percenters. As much as you love your top 10 percenters, you don’t need to motivate them because they are doing it by themselves. Everybody -- coaches, staff, trainers -- wants to be around these elite people. They are positive, high-achieving people, and it’s fun to associate with them. But remember, your goal as a leader is to build and motivate your whole team, and the way to do that is to focus your attention on the 80 percenters.

On the other end, the bottom 10 percenters are not really worth wasting any energy on. It took me a while to realize this. For years I would try to change them. I would look at their corner-cutting ways and take it as a challenge to make them see the virtue and satisfaction that comes with working hard and getting results. It was probably arrogant on my part to think I could get them to change. The lesson I learned was this: time is a nonrenewable resource. If you waste it, you never get it back, so it’s essential to pick your battles wisely.

We talk about that at length at Ohio State. The hours you spend trying to motivate a guy who doesn’t care about getting better or about being there for the team are hours you would be much better off investing elsewhere. Players under stress from problematic family situations or dealing with drug-related issues, my staff and I will do whatever we can to help. If you want to get better and battle through adversity, we will be right there with you. The bottom 10 percent that I’m referring to are the players who have only one gear and don’t want to find another one. I had a player once who was the quintessential bottom 10 percent guy. He had the natural ability not only to make it to the NFL, but to be a really good NFL player. He was smart and had many advantages to capitalize on. He was on scholarship for four years, but the money that the school spent on him was wasted. He did little as a player and even less as a student. I talked to him. Mentored him. Other coaches did as well. We tried to help him see how he was slacking his way right out of a degree. Our efforts proved futile.

When we discover that a player is willfully resistant to our efforts and refuses to take advantage of the resources we provide, we redirect our attention elsewhere.

Kobe Bryant expressed it well. “I can’t relate to lazy people,” he said. “We don’t speak the same language. I don’t understand you. I don’t want to understand you.”

Old Practice Plans

Below are sample practice plans I created for a coaching seminar in 2013:

Attacking Moves 1

Attacking Moves 2

Cutting

Passing & Receiving

Ball Striking

Quadrant Passing

I haven't run this yet, but here's another idea for a passing warmup:

I would dictate the first few patterns, then let players play freely within the rules of the exercise: 

1. You and your partner must always be in different lines (horizontally and vertically).

2. You can never receive the ball in the same quadrant two times in a row.

Poles Passing

Below is the passing warmup I ran this morning:

... and another I did in a small group session: 

Curriculum: Future Stars Development League

Below is the curriculum I created in 2013 for a youth development league:

And here is a video demonstrating the eight skills featured in the curriculum: