Team Spirit

Every team has their own culture or set of values.  They have core missions and attitudes that they strive to personify.  Our team at Swarthmore College is known by their “SPIRIT.”

“Spirit” to us means believing in Servant Leadership.  It means doing all you can and whatever you can to help and assist your team and teammates.

It means having passion for the game of basketball.  Loving it so much that you strive to be the best you can be.  It means understanding the intangible rewards that come from working your butt off with a group of people you care about to achieve your goals.

It means being a person of integrity.  Doing the right thing, even when no one is looking.

It means taking responsibility for your actions.  Fulfilling your obligations and commitments, and when you don’t – admitting your mistakes and making amends.

It means having the desire to get better, and to work towards getting better – 1% everyday.

It means playing together.  Working together. Coming together.  Believing that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

Servant Leadership

Passion for the game

Integrity

Responsibility for your choices

Improve 1% everyday

Together. One heart.

My 9/11 Story

I was in my second week as a high school physics teacher at W.T. Woodson HS.  A typical suburban American HS in Virginia, 15 miles from the Pentagon.  I had finished my lecture and the students were quietly working on their homework problems.

It was approximately 10 am and the crackling of the classroom loudspeaker startled us from our work.  It was the voice of our Principal, asking for everyone’s attention for a very important announcement.  “Due to the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Towers and on the Pentagon….”

I don’t remember what he said after that but my state of numbness was jarred back to the moment when he finished by saying, “Teachers, if any students in your classroom have parents that work at the Pentagon, please send them to the office.” Two students got up to leave.

That’s when it hit me.  There’s no teacher training for moments like this.  Use your best instincts; keep moving, finish the lesson plan. It was nearing the end of class and by now the murmurs amongst the students began.  They convinced me to turn on the TV in the classroom.  We all watched and listened to CNN together.  Reports of a 4^th plane crashing caused stirring.  Then, with television cameras focused on the burning twin towers, the first tower began to fall. Imploding like a sand castle on the seashore.  Me, with a class full of 16 and 17 year olds, no one moving, nobody talking, just watching history unfold in disbelief. The bell rang to end the period and the students quietly filed out.

School throughout the Northern Virginia area was cancelled for the next couple of days.  When classes resumed, surprisingly there wasn’t much talk or discussion about the events of the world that had just unfolded before our eyes.  Maybe there just wasn’t time.  There were lost lesson plans to be made up. Or, perhaps it just hadn’t sunk in yet.

Later in the year we came across a word problem in our textbook-- a very typical physics word problem having to do with the acceleration due to gravity that caught everyone’s attention.  “If you drop a penny off the top of the World Trade Tower, how fast is it going when it reaches the ground?”   There was a long pause as that question sunk in.  After several moments of silence a student suggested, “let’s use the Empire State Building instead.”  Good idea. We did.  And we moved on.

September 11^th, 2001 was ten years ago.  In my minds eye it’s as vivid as yesterday.

The Golden Rule...And Newton's 3rd Law

You get what you give.

You reap what you sow.

Treat others as you would want to be treated.

I’m not sure that the people who first verbalized those nuggets of wisdom had scientist Sir Isaac Newton in mind, but his 3^rd Law of Motion seems relevant: “For every action there is an equal an opposite reaction.”

As a leader when you are deciding a strategy or a game plan you are deciding which “action” to take.  Part of your thought process is predicting what the “reaction” will be to your action.  It’s amazing to me the number of people who don’t think through the possible reactions or consequences to their actions.

It never fails.  Every year as a coach I have at least on one occasion a student-athlete that says, “I had an exam this morning, I pulled an all-nighter last night, I’m exhausted, my body aches and I just can’t run anymore.”  My response to them is – “Well of course you are exhausted!  How did you think you would feel?!  Did you really think your body and mind would be able to function properly when you haven’t slept in 48 hours! Did you think through the reaction (tired, lethargic) to your action (staying up all night with no sleep)?”

Actions and their reactions have much to do with teaching styles of coaches and teachers.

One of my favorite thoughts is from well known educator and author Haim Ginott:  I’ve come to a frightening conclusion.  I am the decisive element in the classroom.  It’s my personal approach that creates the climate.  It’s my daily mood that makes the weather.  As a teacher, I possess tremendous power to make a child’s life miserable or joyous.  I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration.”

So, show enthusiasm – get ethusiasm.

Show poise – get poise.

Show positive energy – get positive energy.

Smile – and the world smiles back!  The laws of physics tell us so!

Newton's First Law of Motion...Change

One of Oprah's favorite questions is "What do you know for sure?" I think she's referring to our personal gut feelings or our self awareness. I might not have a good answer for her along those lines, but as a former student athlete who studied physics in college and who later taught high school physics, I'll give you my scientific answer:  In a world that is constantly changing there is one thing you can ALWAYS rely on.  ---The laws of physics in our universe have been the same throughout history.  Gravity has always been here. This I know for sure. It’s what keeps the moon in orbit around the earth and this little blue planet of ours in orbit around the sun.  I have a feeling this law just might apply to other aspects of our lives.

“An object at rest will remain at rest and an object in motion will continue in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.”  This is Isaac Newton’s first Law of Motion.  Otherwise known as the “Law of Inertia.”  Inertia can be a funny term to understand.  Physicists will tell you you should think of inertia like “laziness.”  This means there is a natural tendency of objects to keep doing what they were doing unless something forces them to change.

  

So, how does someone change? If  you don't like the path you are on, how do you change?Let’s look at the example of Casi. She is a heavy person and wants to lose a few pounds. How does she change her state?  Or what about someone like Sandy who is just getting back into running and wants to lower her 5K time by 2 minutes.  How does she change her state?  How does she improve?  How do Casi and Sandy overcome “Inertia?”  The laws of physics tell us they need to apply a force in order to make that change.  (Reminds me of one of my favorite Michael Jackson songs “Man in the Mirror.” –“If you wanna make the world a better place take a look at yourself and make the change…”)

If you are an athlete who wants to get better, to improve, you do something different – you change something.  You might change the frequency of your workouts, or the intensity, or you might change the number of reps you perform.  But you make the decision to change something.  Making a decision to make a change is the first and most important step in conquering inertia.

Many people are familiar with the phrase – “If you always do what you’ve always done, you will always get what you’ve always gotten.”  (sounds to me like just a different way of stating Newton’s First Law!) Therefore, if you want a different result, you need to apply a different strategy – a different force – a change. A new plan.

If you are a coach taking over a new program, particularly a program that hasn’t been successful, it’s a good chance you were hired to “change” something.  You were hired to change the recruiting, get different or better players; change the culture or work habits; or change the relationship with fans and boosters. 

What is your strategy for change?  How will you apply Newton’s First Law of Motion to your life and situation?