Players First is a good read about how John Calipari runs a player driven program. Down below are some great nuggets I took from the book.
- A great exercise is to list the meaning and higher purpose of your job as a coach. Calipari's list was: nurturer, protector, challenger, teacher, promoter, and father.
- From my exercise: I believe my purpose is to lead, teach, mentor and motivate. And included in that is developing leaders and problem solvers.
- To get players to change you must first get them to accept what they are not good at.
- Calipari and his staff use the term "surrender" as a way to teach players how to be less selfish. They want their players to surrender: to instructions, to physical conditioning, their ego, to being in the present and not in the future, and letting coaches define the player's game and trust that coaches have their best interest in mind.
- Players are best when they play with a calm demeanor. They can still play full of passion and intensity but they can not be fueled by anger, hate, or rage. Anger, hate, and rage leads to playing out of control.
- Make sure you are spending time developing emotional maturity and rewarding your players when they are calm under pressure. Remember players feed off their coach, so make sure you are modeling the same behavior you expect from them.
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