Sports serve quite a few purposes. They are fun. They promote a healthy lifestyle. They provide social outlets. But sports, especially youth sports, have a deeper purpose of teaching life lessons. Life skills like character, teamwork, perseverance, work ethic, and adversity should be talked about and exemplified in every arena of sport.
I am writing this as a reminder and as a check up. Make sure the coaches in your life are teaching the right values and drawing connections between events on the court and what happens in life. A good coach will equip young people for success in all aspects of their lives, not just on the court or field. This doesn’t just happen automatically. It must be a priority.
As an athlete, make sure you are surrounded by coaches and teammates that help you grow as a human. As a parent, be intentional in your conversations in the car about the game, your attention to the details that really matter. Sports are fun, but they are so much more if we intentionally focus on human development.

Reminder to stay tough with the 16 day shot challenge from last week! Shoot every day… if you haven’t started yet or you missed a day, stay with it. We have 9 days left. Shot Challenge
#getbetter

There are 16 days left in July. I’m putting out a shooting challenge for all the competitive players who read this. Use these 16 days to improve your shot with consistency and commitment. The challenge is 16 days in a row of working on your shot! Get level 1 in each of these days, and try to level up to 2, 3, and 4 as much as you can before August is here.

Level 1: Form shoot every day. Make 50 form shots from just in front of the basket. Lock out your follow through and exaggerate the freeze at the finish. Goal: Don’t miss any form shots and count how many you can swish.

Level 2: Make 50 midrange shots. This is easier with a rebounder, but also simple to complete alone. Make 10 shots from 5 spots at about sixteen feet. Goal: Try not to miss two in a row.

Level 3: Triangle Shooting from 7 spots. Make a catch and shoot jumper, then a pull-up jumper to your right, then a pull-up jumper to your left (total of 3 makes per spot). This is a total of 21 makes. Repeat around the key again this time going two dribble pull-ups.
Goal: 21/35

Level 4: Celtics Shooting 2 minute drill. Shooting from 5 spots you must make two in a row to move to next spot. Must get around the key and back in two minutes to win. Total of ten makes on the clock! You will need a rebounder for this.
Goal: Win the drill in 2 minutes.

It’s July 16th…let’s make ourselves better shooters by July 31st! #getbetter

In today’s world, when we want something we often want it now. We expect instant results and get frustrated when feedback or success is slow. In reality, most good things take time. We must practice patience as we grow and develop, convincing ourselves that in time the right things will fall into place with enough hard work.

The metaphor I’ve often heard is the oven over the microwave. We live in a microwave society where people expect things instantly (average human attention span is 8 seconds!). Likes on a post, success at a new skill, we want it quick and easy. But growth works more like an oven…invest the time and energy consistently, understanding it could take awhile to be great.

Be wise and play the long game—which means delaying the gratification that you are so programmed to want. Try not to get caught up in instant gratification but work and believe that persistence will pay off. And make sure you are working on and towards the right things. Getting better at anything (a new job, shooting a jump shot, parenting, any skill) doesn’t happen in a microwave, it happens over time as you get reps and work at it, even when you don’t always see the results you want along the way. The ability to delay gratification will serve you well.
​#getbetter