Questions with Josh Steinberg

Questions with Josh Steinberg:

1. What do you believe you brought to (or can bring to) the team?

I believe that on the court I bring leadership and defensive aggressiveness to the team. I also have the ability to get the whole team involved in a game. I believe that these components of my game are some of my strongest attributes. Off the court I like to be able to connect with my teammates; for instance, I met some of my closest friends through basketball. This plays a major roll into our teams performance on the court as well, and I like to be able to bring the team together.

2. How do you deal with the pressure of having to perform in front of the crowd?

I deal with the pressure of performing in front of a crowd the same way I always enter games but with a little extra fire. I enjoy playing in front of large crowds because its fun, anytime one team makes a shot the place erupts, especially in a high stakes game. It does make me a little nervous but I try to get in the flow of the game and enjoy it.

3. How do you channel your frustration when the referee’s decision doesn’t go your way?

When a referee makes a call that does not go our way I try to stay calm and focus what I can control, energy and effort. I channel my frustration by not taking it out on the ref; I use it to up my intensity and performance during the game. It is a difficult thing to do, but definitely a skill I would like to master.

4. What is your fondest memory of this past season?

My fondest memory of this past season was our basketball programs first CIF win (and our schools) with a first year varsity program. Being a part of that game was definitely the most exhilarating part of the season. The gym was over capacity by a couple hundred people and you could not hear anything, it was the best environment I’ve ever played in.

5. What aspect of your game comes easiest to you?

The aspect of my game that comes easiest to me is my vision of the court. When in games I can see a cut or pass quickly that other people have to take time to think about. It is pretty easy for me to make a play for my teammate by seeing a mismatch and giving them the ball, or driving, engaging the defenders and kicking to them for a shot.

6. What has basketball taught you that carries over into the other areas of your life?

Basketball has taught me responsibility and leadership; both are very important life skills that basketball continuously helps me to develop. In basketball every team member has a responsibility and if not every person does what they are supposed to it’s difficult to win. As a guard, leadership is a vital component in being successful. I learned this through being one of the leaders on my team by helping and encouraging my teammates and by being an extension of our coach on the court. These same concepts can be carried over into school and life as well, and I am glad that I have been able to progress these skills through basketball.

Magic Elite

Be a coach who asks questions!

Be a coach who asks questions.

Find your own voice.  What does this mean?  Many experienced coaches say this and younger coaches don't really understand it.  Here is what this means.  In the beginning of your coaching journey, you are like that person who was your loudest influence, by that I mean your former high school coach, maybe the person who coached you in college?  In the beginning you lean on that loud or impactful voice, but you have to find out and discover who you are.

Who was your loudest voice?  What did you learn from them?  How did they impact you good and bad?

Sometimes you will have to start from scratch.  There comes a point in every coaches life where there has to be an internal question asking what is your own personal measurement going to be.  Not the outside pressures.  There is one coach at the end of the year who is fulfilled.  One person who has won it all.  If that's what is important to you, just winning.  There will come a time in your career where you are winning so much that it's hard to keep feeding the monster that has been created.

Here is the decision that I believe you need to make.  Make the decision to approach coaching with the desire to win the Championship.  But the measurement of achievement is going to be:  Am I a better coach today than yesterday?  If at the end of the year you can say to yourself that you did a better job this year than last year, then you are feeding the monster inside of you, your own personal measurement.  It will be rewarding, you will keep your focus on why we do what we do.

So what's your measurement of success going to be?

Ask yourself how does it feel to be coached by me? There have been many times in my coaching career where I have not been who I have wanted to be.  You know going through a practice and leaving and not liking yourself that much.  After a game and talking to your team and walking out and feeling awful for what you said?  It's like this when winning is the thing that is driving you.

So ask yourself what does it feel like to be coached by you?  You know the higher the level the more pressure and you feel the entire world is watching, you feel you need to get the players you have to the top, it happens quick and soon you don't even realize what is going on.

Having great people around you is important so that you can be reminded of that little thing, "how does it feel like to be coached by me?"   No one is perfect so there will be days when you are not what you want to be.  But by being aware it will help you.  You will treat your players differently because you will be aware of your own standard, how does it feel, how does it feel to be coached by me?

I know there was a time that you didn't like how you coached someone?  How did that feel?

There is power in asking questions.  As coaches we usually are the ones who tell them where to go, tell them what to look for, what move you expect, etc.  But the real power is when you ask and they answer.  Try it, you will discover so much, because at first whatever question you ask they will try to please you the coach.  I usually tell my players right on the spot, I don't want the yearbook answer, I want you to tell me right then and there what were you looking at, what were you thinking.  I am looking for them to have a conviction in their belief of what they are doing!

Why do you think that coaches don't ask questions?

After the game, those post game thoughts.  Writing things down has a dramatic impact on how we process things.  Give your players the power to do that, right after a game.  To write down what their thoughts are is one way, not a play by play, just a simple analysis of their own involvement in the game.  Then respond to each player.  Sometimes you have to go backward to gain that common ground before you can move forward!

Advice.  One of the best things I have ever done is have those that have experience talk to those that do not.  Seniors to freshman, veterans to rookies.  "What do you wish you would have known as a rookie?"  The usual advice is trust yourself, don't be afraid, let others in, connect to others that you meet.  Not once has there been advice to work on your jump shot more, or work on 2 ball drills.

What would you tell yourself if you were 19 years old again?

Coach John Saintignon

We all have fear and failure

You know that we all have fear and failure.  Sometimes we get fixated on just winning championships and while we are very proud of that, sometimes those wins are empty.  As I suggested in the earlier blog, what do we become as a result of the chase?  How did you get there?  How did you treat your players during that time?

Here's some of the best advise that I can share with you that was shared with me a long time ago.  Know that there is a 1/3 of the people that you meet that will be trying to drag/bring you down.  They will be trying to take the life out of you.  Selfish people, trying to only look out for themselves.
There is also the middle 1/3.  These are the ones who just go with the flow.  At the beginning of the season for example they are at the top 1/3.  When you are undefeated, when everyone is starting the game, going to be all league performer, they love the coach, the team, the school, the whole world!

But during the middle part of the season it isn't going so well.  That middle 1/3 now go to the bottom 1/3.  A person not starting anymore, goes to the bottom 1/3.  Your at the bottom of the conference race, they go to bottom 1/3.

Then you have the top 1/3.  These are the players that go out and give you all they have each day, they give you energy every day.

You must learn to build armor.  Protect yourself from the bottom 1/3, the people that talk negative, the school administration, maybe even your own team.  Don't bring that bottom 1/3 home with you.  Everything that you have done that day is going to be second guessed by the bottom 1/3 that day.

Key to remember to enjoy your coaching:
A.  Don't let the bottom 1/3 drain the life out of you.
B.  The middle 1/3 are interchangeable, they will go with the flow.
C.  The top 1/3 will always give you the energy on good and bad days.

Ask yourself who are you going to protect yourself from personally and professionally?
How are you going to do that?

Each of us have a strong voice and weak voice.  I was thankful that early in my life I was surrounded by people who taught me to believe in myself.  You have to master this ability to have a strong voice to stay at the top of any profession.  But each of us has a dark side that we have, that weak voice.  Things like I want to quit, I am horrible, I don't look good, we can't win, etc.

Ask yourself are you contributing to your players weak voice?
How can you help them build that strong voice?

So here is the trick, to know when this is happening to the player and give them a solution on the spot so that they can correct during each of their moments in their lives.  For example, I provide each of my players during a workout for example, when things are tough, I want them to ask themselves a better question.  I want them to listen to the weak voice, I don't want them to ask themselves bad questions, like why am I missing the shot?  Their weak mind will tell them dark things, like you are too slow, not quick enough, you don't want to be here, why are you here?  Instead, I want them to ask themselves a better question.  Such as, what can I do to make this basket?  Now their mind will listen to the strong voice, the one that is providing solution, it will come up with solutions, like shoot the ball higher, snap the wrist, quicker.

Our real goal is to provide our players with a belief in themselves.  We have to create conditions for them to do that.  We have to give them a blue print to follow.  We must convince them when they can't see yet.

I know each of us have done this in some form or fashion, you probably didn't realize it, but you were giving your players a blue print for how to handle things, like the creating of belief in the pressure moments:  Something like this has gone on in each of your locker rooms.

We have been here before.  This helps your players reflect on the past and to know what each of them do well.
You are here again.  Reminding them of their good , why they have earned the right to be proud of where they are at.
Now let's go out there and show them.  Let's have some fun.  Giving your players the right to belief, and know that everyone will celebrate on the other side of reaching this success.

I also spoke in one of the earlier blogs as well about failure and how much of a role I believe it played into each of my practices, learning from it daily.  We as coaches get comfortable talking about winning no problem, but we can't really talk about the failures with such ease.

I wanted to make sure that each day in practice there was a built in disadvantage in practice where we were going to have to focus on failure recovery.  We had to learn how to handle it, not only by being placed in difficult situations but to each other, by saying my bad, next play, and perhaps a fist pump to signify that we are moving on, teammates saying, we got you.

I used a 2 minute drill in practice where there was going to be a clear failure recovery system in place and the pace would just dictate day to day who was feeling better, who shot better, attrition was in place, you name it.  If you want more details just email me and I will send to you:  Coach Saintignon email

The last thing I want to leave you with is the notion of leaving a lasting legacy.  We all hear of this?  What is it?  You know that we each get a sentence out of our life that will be summed up by our players.  Think about someone who has died, and you walk up to them and ask them who was it, they will give you and entire life of that person who lived, summed up into one sentence.  Coach Bob, he was a great coach.  So you get the idea, we only get one sentence.

I have been on the journey.  You will be remembered by how you treat those players that were under your supervision.  How you think, act, speak, that is your pattern of behavior.  That becomes your character and thus your legacy.

What's your sentence going to be?

Coach Saintignon
OC Magic Basketball

What do you want your child to get out of the sport?

We all want to have our son/daughter be the highest performing player.  But I want to ask you, what do you want them to get out of the sport?

What do you believe your role is as a parent to help them?

I wanted my sons to learn that there is adversity and to learn how to overcome.  Learning how to make adjustments along the way, find solutions.  But I wanted their character to be developed.  So I felt that the role I had to play was to reinforce that at home as well.

When I am watching or scouting a game, I watch the game within the game.  But most importantly, I watch what happens with the player, do they acknowledge others, are they happy to be playing, giving high fives, making eye contact with the coaches, the body language when they are taken out of the game and when they are being given instruction on the bench.

Ask yourself how much time are you talking to your child about being an athlete or being a better person?  Because when you address the person you are addressing the development of their character.  When you talk about them as an athlete, you are talking about their performance.

At our house, we keep it simple.  My parents, didn't care how many points I scored when I was playing, when I was at home, I was a son, a brother and I had responsibilities to keep up, regardless of how popular I was.  This provided me with a grounding, and a perspective that I pass along to my own sons.

I always pay attention to interaction, if they are acting too cool, or if they are enjoying being a kid and showing passion.  We try to remind them once in a while by placing notes in their lunches about how much we love them, how special they are, loving them as a person, not with what they do.  We also try to surround them with a close knit inner circle that cares about them as a person.  Their family, sensei's, teachers.  We also believe in having them talk to people, listen to people and to become problem solvers.

We want to raise our children with the understanding that we are here to serve, that we might perform fantastic in a play, in a competition, however, we are still just trying to become great young men and grounded and grateful for the opportunity.  I tell my players all the time to respect the game.  No player was born to play the game, they had to work at it, the minute they didn't treat the game or others with respect, the game spit them out.

Coach John Saintignon

What do people remember?

Let me tell you, many coaches just don't really pay attention to this side of the game.  But I want you to at least think of how these questions pertain to you and pertain to your athletes.

Ask yourself, do you feel like your identity is tied to your results?  Like if you play well, you feel good.
Do you see results out of your control?
Do you see how you are allowing something that is outside of your control to affect the way you feel about yourself as person?

Most of us will have answered this with a yes.  This is where we can begin.  On common ground to discover truly what people remember.

Ask yourself now who was the leading scorer in the NCAA 3 years ago?
What is the name of your favorite teacher?
Why did you pick that teacher?

You discovered like many of us, we don't know who the leading scorer was in our own sport!  That is a common answer.  But each of us can pick that special teacher.  Usually because the teacher got to know the student.  There are many responses that can be had, see if you think of any of these?  Supportive, got to know me, made learning fun, challenged me, helped me.  Sound familiar?

What was the purpose of those questions?  Who was the leading scorer, favorite teacher, how come you picked them?  It's a reminder.

What do people forget?
What do people remember?

1.  People forget stats.
2.  People remember who you were as a person.

How do you want to be remembered?

Value the person more than the player.  Our identity, if it's tied to you as a player then you will feel dejected if you miss the shot.  If the identity is in yourself as a person, then you will be able to show how to bounce back, how to use the adversity.  Totally different way of approaching and looking at it.

Focus on Character skills:  There are Performance skills and moral skills.  Pick a few.  Performance skills such as to name a few:  hardworking, resilient, competitive, positive, etc.  Moral skills such as:  unselfish, trustworthy, respectful, caring, etc.

Ask yourself can these skills be developed?

What about the performance skill you selected, if you developed it, would it make you a better player?
What about the moral skills you selected, if you developed those, would it make you a better teammate?
If you grow these skills it actually makes you a better player and teammate which will lead to better results.

Let's not forget that developing the character of our athletes is more important than the play they run, or the points they score.  If you focus in on the character development, you will get better results.  The players want the better results, what you as a coach have to develop is the Character Development to help them get there as well as the skill development.

Give this some serious thought.  What are your thoughts?

Coach John Saintignon
John Saintignon
Orange County Magic Basketball
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