There are literally hundreds of different ways to dissect a championship team. We can look at overall speed, agility, quickness and raw athletic power, defensive ability, game time offensive and defensive execution, shooting ability, passing, rebounding, ability to perform in the clutch, and the list goes on and on. I believe in stripping things down to basketball most basic form, and as important as each of the aforementioned elements are in their contribution to a championship season, there is a basic question that must first be answered by each athlete individually, and by each team collectively.
1. Are you willing to emotionally commit to a championship run?
At first glance, this question appears so basic and so easy to answer as to appear almost laughable. Many coaches are much more interested in discussing the need to commit the necessary practice intensity, time, blood, sweat and tears in individual and team practice sessions to give them the right to play for a championship, but as we will discuss, this is not nearly as important or difficult as truly committing to a championship run emotionally. Well what's the difference?
The primary goal of our mind is to preserve life. Put someone in a room that is on fire, and all of a sudden the need to eat, brush your hair, wash, play basketball, expand your knowledge through education, or anything else, becomes relatively unimportant. And so in this instance, the mind makes it a primary priority to get the heck out of that room. For the mind, a close second to life preservation, is preserving the self-esteem. Unlike the body, which can at times heal itself, the mind's self-esteem has no such function when damaged, and damaged self-esteem left unchecked leads to depression and ultimately total dysfunction. So what's my point? To emotionally commit to something is to put our self-esteem on the line, feeling the potential for damage and emotional pain if we do not succeed and come up short, suffering the anguish of realizing we are not all we thought we were. Many athletes will give you 100% practice and game intensity and yet you will never know that they have not emotionally committed to a goal of a championship, and this is one of the most misunderstood concepts in sports and our overall understanding of how the mediocre mind vs. the mind of a champion operates.
Many coaches will just be pleased with athletes that will physically commit close to 100%, because truth be told, just that type of commitment alone is not always common. But intensity alone does not win championships. Athletes who have decided that they TRULY care about playing for a championship will also take care of the INTANGIBLES that are critical for championships. These athletes lead better, they hold each other accountable in practice and in games vs. always relying on the coach to make corrections, they ask more questions about the offensive plays and defensive sets, they flat out care more, and they flat out find more ways to win. Do you see how different this is from just mere practice and game intensity? But here is the downside. In my years of working with countless teams and programs, many athletes find it easy to verbalize this emotional commitment vs. truly making the emotional commitment. Why? The reason relates to not wanting to risk the emotional pain of coming up short and the damage to the self-esteem - of not being all you thought you were. One of the axioms I use often is that the pain of not achieving your goals will always be greater than the pain it takes to achieve them. Forgive the poor grammar that I am about to use for emphasis, but 'truly caring aint easy,' yet it is critical to win a championship. How do you know your athletes have emotionally committed to the task of winning a championship, and not just verbally committed? You will see it in their eyes after every loss, you will see them with a desire to put someone in the 7th row with a legal, ethical, but extremely powerful and determined box-out in the game following that loss because it was a must have rebound. And you will see it on the practice floor, when you basketball into the gym and hideout just to observe your team practice for a few minutes without you around; and you will see a team practicing with the intensity, energy and focus of a team that wants to win a championship, treating every play like a life or death possession.
However, the thing that is truly amazing about an athlete's self-esteem is that truly 'putting it on the line' emotionally, and truly caring about playing for a championship, only creates a fear and 'faade' of damage to the self-esteem. True, the pain of defeat (if it occurs) is real enough, but the real result of truly committing to something on this level is ultimately a heroic rise in self-respect and self-esteem that few things in life will ever equal. I tell athletes to be a 'hero to themselves.' And yes, they can be and will be if they ever have the courage to commit to something in life on this level. As a result, their self-respect and self-esteem can only be improved, regardless of the end result. And there are so very few things in life as sacred, pure and inspirational as emotional commitment on this level. The great Bill Russell, one of the greatest winners in the history of all sports - winning 11 NBA Championships in 13 years - once said that "the heart of a champion has to do with the depth of our Commitment."
For the athletes who are able to give this type of emotional commitment to you, the physical follow through in practice intensity and game intensity will be a formality. These athletes will show up to EVERY practice, and their games will be a mere extension of the way they practice. They take pride in themselves, and pride in their team. It is a type of commitment and mindset that few discuss, yet it is a type of commitment and mindset that wins championships.
Spencer Wood M.S., C.S.C.S., P.E.S., Member A.A.S.P., is an internationally renowned speaker, author and trainer of athletes and coaches in the area of Winning Mental Skills and Toughness Training.
