Gaining the Winning Edge by Rick Newkirk, founder & Head Coach of the St. Louis Comets AAU Girl's Basketball Club.

MENTAL ATTITUDE:
What makes a good player great? Sound basics? Size? Strength? Shooting ability? Speed? I believe its Attitude (the ability to accept situations and make them work in your favor). Losers never seem to know why they lose. They blame the referees for bad calls, the gym conditions, the court surface, their teammates, etc. Winners on the other hand play above the problems. A wise man once said, " It's not what life hands us, but what we do about it". I was once asked, what is the most important measurement on a basketball court? With out a doubt, it is the six inches between your ears. Winning and losing comes down to whom can stay focused. Great players never let their opponent or outside conditions control their game. They are mentally tough, mentally conditioned. It’s easy to get frustrated when pressure and mistakes happen. The more you dwell on it, the more mistakes you'll make. I can’t count the times I've seen players get the ball stolen and then commit a personal foul because they were out of control, or becoming outraged because someone was talking about their ancestors. If an opponent can pull you out of your game, who wins? Once you're mad, you're through! Referee calls, turnovers, fouls, missed lay ups, are all like the Civil War. Once they happen, they become HISTORY!

SPORTSMANSHIP:
Show sportsmanship! It’s easy to be a good winner, but it takes real class to hold your head up after a tough loss. Great players never take losing well. If you tried to give 87% during the game*, and you were beaten, there is no shame in having lost. Give credit to the team who played better on that given day. Learn from it and let it go. The respect you'll gain from opponents and fans on both sides are well worth it.

CONDITIONING:
Stay in shape! A hero is no braver than the ordinary person, but they are braver five minutes longer. Spend as much time caring for your body as you put into your game. Eat well, get the correct amount of rest, run three times a week*, and most of all stay away from drugs and alcohol. Working out on your own isn't easy, but as Coach Lombardi said, “fatigue makes cowards of us all”. To lose a contest because you run out of gas in the fourth quarter is unforgivable. If you lose a contest, make sure it was because they were better players, not in better shape.

UNTIL THE FAT LADY SINGS:
Never give up! Winners never quit. "The person who wins may have been counted out several times, but they didn't hear the referee" (Jansen). Finding a way to win is the mark of a great team. I have watched as our team made up nine points in ten seconds. Nothing is impossible when you believe. "Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle" (A. Lincoln). You will be surprised what can happen when you never give up.

COMMITMENT AND HARD WORK:
Work hard and be aggressive. Never be out hustled or out fought. The team who is persistent usually comes out on top. Show enthusiasm! Nothing is ever work, unless you would rather be doing something else. Make a commitment to excel and you will never stop improving. When things you did yesterday still look big to you today, you haven't done much today. There is no substitute for practice. Don't count the days, make each day count! The only person that keeps you on the bench is you!

TEAMMATES:
Strong players criticize themselves, not their teammates. Everyone has room for improvement no matter what the level of play, and talking about someone else’s shortcomings never helps improve your game. Take an interest in your squad and friendships will grow along with the success of the team. Remember, there is no "I" in team. It takes five players working together to become successful.

LEADERSHIP:
Never be afraid to take charge. When a teammate gets down pick them up with some encouragement and get it back on track. At practice, be the first one on the court and the last one to leave. Talk on the court, direct traffic, let people know when someone is open or when there is a flaw in the defense. What you see plain as day may be hard for someone else to see. Never take any opponent for granted, respect everyone’s ability. Be a player who used the word "can" not "can't". Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm. Be a total player!

FINAL THOUGHTS:
Play hard! But never take yourself so serious that you forget to smell the roses. Enjoy the game, many lessons about life are taught from your adventures on the hardwood. Take what it has to give you and apply it to what life throws your way. Remember, we cannot always control what goes on outside, but we can control what goes on inside. Be mentally tough and never let what happens during a contest take you out of your game. Concentrate on what is important, experience, and learn from it. Be the best you can, and the best will come back to you. Champions are made, never born. Ability can get you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there.

*Originally the author of this article had 110%, but Coach Reggie changed it to 87%. It is impossible to give even close to 100% because even if you did everything perfectly, if you think back on it, there’s always something you could have done better. A smart person once said, “Hopefully you aren’t one of those guys walking around thinking you give 100%. Because you don’t. You loaf. Everyone loafs. And the guys that come closest to giving 100% know this better than the others. No one gives 100%. There are so many things you can do in a basketball game, so many opportunities to help out a bit more on defense or to overplay a bit more, or to run back faster or block out better… the list is endless. Good players know after a game, even a game in which they played well according to the papers, that they could have done more, could have hustled better, could have made a few more things happen IF ONLY THEY HADN’T RESTED AT THE WRONG TIME, if only they had put out just a little more. It is not simply a matter of conditioning. Of course good players are going to be in good condition. A good coach gets even mediocre players in condition. It is simply that you can always do more. Your only chance to approach your potential is to strive constantly to do more—always with a nagging sense of inadequacy, of having loafed and failed. Satisfied players are rarely good ones.”

*The coach who wrote this feels three times a week is good for running, but don’t forget that every coach has a different opinion of what a player should be doing. Don’t rely on articles to tell you when to condition, if you need or want a workout, you should ask your present coach.

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Questions for practice discussion…

How much should you strive to give in each performance?

According to this article… What are some things that truly make you the best player?