Toughness - How LONG You Can Play HARD

"It's not how HARD you can play...It's how LONG can you play HARD."
Sharman White @coachswhite

Preparation - Pep Talk Won't Help

"The best pep talk from a coach won't help the player who has cheated his preparation." 
Sharman White @coachswhite

Pay The Price - Squeeze Every Ounce Of Juice

“I’ve always been comfortable as a kid growing up to think that when my career is over, I want them to think of me as an overachiever despite the talent that I have,” Bryant once told Yahoo! Sports' Marc Spears. “To think of me as a person that’s overachieved, that would mean a lot to me. That means I put a lot of work in and squeezed every ounce of juice out of this orange that I could."

 

Toughness - You Have To Feel Some Pain

Kobe Bryant: "Whatever your program is, the key is to push yourself to a level where you're hurting. You can't gain conditioning without going through it. You're going to have to feel some pain, you're going to have to feel like your lungs are burning, and you know, you want to spit up blood, that sort of thing."

Commitment - No Vacation

 

Young Money Magazine: Did you have to sacrifice your personal life in order to become a business success?

Mark Cuban: Sure, ask about five of my former girlfriends that question… I went seven years without a vacation. (from the time I got fired from a job, and started MicroSolutions) I didn’t even read a fiction book in that time. I was pretty focused.
 

Toughness - Right Pinkie

Study the parts. His right pinkie, for example. He dislocated it during the 2007-08 season, trying to intercept a pass. Another avulsion fracture, this one also shredded a radial collateral ligament. Most players would have opted for surgery. Bryant played on. He not only appeared in all eighty-two regular-season games; he was named league MVP, the first time he ever won that honor. He also led the Lakers to the 2008 Finals, where they ran into a hungrier, more complete Boston team. "A buzz saw," Bryant says. The Lakers lost in six.

Immediately after the Finals, fans assumed Bryant would schedule the long- delayed finger surgery. Again, no. He wanted to be ready for the Beijing Olympics, a lifelong dream. For once he'd be surrounded by the world's best athletes.

Isn't he among the world's best athletes every night?

"This was different," he says. "These are the best of the best."

After helping the United States win gold, Bryant postponed surgery a third time. He didn't want to miss training camp. As the 2008-09 season got under way, the point was moot, the pinkie mended. Then, swiping at a ball in possession of LeBron James, Bryant dislocated yet another finger-his right ring finger this time. The pain was blinding, like nothing he'd ever experienced.

Over the following weeks, before each game, Vitti would stabilize Bryant's ring finger by bracing it to one of its neighbors. His hand reduced to a talon, Bryant was forced to develop a new shooting technique. He'd done this before, several times, including 1999, when he broke the fourth metacarpal. (He learned to shoot with a protective glove.) Now he did it again, only better, leading the Lakers back to the Finals. This time they won, besting Orlando in five.

Excerpt from GQ.com
By J.R. Moehringer
March 2010

Pay The Price - Kobe Bryant

Jay Triano, the Raptors assistant coach who spent time on the U.S. coaching staff, had the pleasure of witnessing Bryant's individual workouts.

The scene was a quiet high school gym.  The team's daily practice was long done.  Most of the rest of the multi-millionaires were long gone.  Triano called it "incredible."

"He's not just going through the motions when he's shooting jump shots.  They're game shots, at game speed," Triano said.  "And the repetitions...over and over and over.  Like, three-point shots.  There are a lot of NBA guys, you'll watch them make 25 from each spot.  He's like, 100, 200 from the corner every night.  And you'd think he'd be done and he's going on to the next spot.  And he goes back and he shoots fadeaways and he shoots 'em off the bounce.  I was just like, 'Holy smoke.'  You get tired throwing the ball back, let alone shooting it." 

Pay The Price - Pay Up Front

"You have to pay the price for success up front.  Everybody wants to do it. Not everybody is willing to do what they have to do to do it."
Nick Saban

W.I.N Today - Working Against Ourselves

“We're not working to be better than other teams,” says Alabama center Barrett Jones. “We’re working against ourselves.”

“Our goal, as players, is to do our job—and do it the best we can,” said Tide safety Robert Lester. “Then do it better than the last time.”

Excellence - The Best Will

Kevin Eastman -Boston Celtics Assistant


I’ve been very fortunate in my career to work with, talk to, and help improve some of the best players in the game. As I look at our 2012 Olympic team, I remember working with Kevin Durant when he was a sophomore in high school; with Lebron James as he was entering the draft after his senior year in high school; and with Kevin Love, Chris Paul and Andre Iguodala as well. Then there are those not on the 2012 team, including Derrick Rose, Rajon Rondo, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen.

More than what I may have taught them, I think about what they have taught me while I had the opportunity to be around them and observe them in action.

From my observations, this much I know — “The Best” will:
-Outwork others
-Be more disciplined than others
-Have greater drive than others
-Be much more competitive than others
-Do things that others think aren’t important
-Do the unrequired extra work
-Always want to know what they can do to get better
-Want to be coached, want to be driven, and want to learn more

Teamwork - Old Ball Player

"The difference between the old ballplayer and the new ballplayer is the jersey. The old ballplayer cared about the name on the front. The new ballplayer cares about the name on the back."
- Steve Garvey (Former MLB first baseman, Business Leader)

Excellence - Demanded

"You're not allowed to be average in anything you do - we demand excellence."  Jeff Capel

Toughness - Gets You Through The Year

Phil Beckner - Weber State Basketball:  "Toughness is one of the most underrated characteristics of good teams.  You need speed, talent, athleticism, and skill but toughness gets you through the year."