I’m a firm believer that teams eventually adopt a coach’s personality, beliefs, temperament, etc. I once heard the late Don Meyer say that a coach must sweat with the players. I was never quite sure what he meant, but I eventually took it to mean that if you’re competitive, your players will be competitive; if you work hard, your team will work hard, if you believe in transforming players, they’ll believe it too! Players will absorb your “world-view”.

The Read & React is a fertile ground for exposing what a coach truly believes about his or her players. It will challenge a coach to live out his/her convictions regarding the game, players, culture, and what kind of changes you can really make in a player’s life.

Do you really believe that players can improve their skills on a daily basis?

Do you really believe they can be taught to encourage, support, and build each other up?

Do you really believe that players can increase their basketball I.Q.?

(I already know the answers. You wouldn’t be reading this is you didn’t believe a certain way!)

If positives transfer, then so do negatives. If a coach cannot Flush the Emotion, Fix the Problem, Forget the Mistake, and Forgive Him/Herself on a moment by moment basis, then how can he/she expect their players to play through their turnovers, to learn from their mistakes, to stretch themselves without the fear of failure?

The Read & React attracts a certain type of coach. If you’re reading this, then you are that type of coach and I’ll bet you believe what I have tried to say thus far: that teams adopt the coach’s personality. This dynamic inspires me to examine myself on a day-by-day basis, especially during the off-season. If the Read & React reflects my players, and my players reflect my beliefs, my personality, etc., then I am caught in a circle of constant self-improvement. This circle keeps me coming back year after year, not for the wins, not for the trophies, but in pursuit of becoming a better person.