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

Building people to win a championship

Winning Championships is going to take a dedication to building people along the way.

Start with a theme.  Do you have one?  I have used many:  One year I wanted us to be a unit, playing the same type of music, so I used one sound, one beat.  I went off of what an orchestra sounds like, so we kept trying to keep with that theme.  Another was coming to work every day.  So I had to figure out ways to get that done.

Punch in and punch out, time card, blue collar worker, hard hats, lunch pail, a stone cutter mentality.  You get the point.  This is what I talked about daily, but I also had to show our players the same.  I did this with companies as well, when I would walk in and show their employees how to get everyone to buy into what you are trying to establish.

I hear of every business, team, saying that we are building a culture?  We are changing the culture?  What does that mean?  How?  By making them work harder?  There has to be more to it?  For example we clocked in every day, even brought a hard hat to symbolize as well as having a rock at practice to show the process over and over again, to reinforce what the message was to be.  We even had our players clock in, with time cards, to let them know that we wanted no distractions upon entering the gym floor, prepare for what we were going to do for the day.

What's your theme for your team?

When I was recently in China speaking, I told the audience of coaches about the lunch pail and what it symbolized and why we chose to use it.  In the box, I know my own boys, like it when I write something in there from time to time or put a nice treat for them.  But I also know when you see the people with a lunch pail in their hand, they are going to work, blue collar, usually outside, tough conditions.

For my players, I would put things in their lunch pail to help them remember and feel good and reflect upon things that will help them during the season.  Like a bouncing rubber ball, to symbolize what I have been trying to promote to them all along, being resilient, having a next play mentality, bounce back!

We would as a staff, put in definitions so that our players would know what it meant, like Resilient:  Bounce back from Adversity, move to the next play.  And then images, of our own players if we had it, or others that we could find that would capture the moments.

You think you could use this with your team?  Your company and employees?

One of the best exercises that was ever given to me was by one of my college coaches during my senior season at UCSD.  I was struggling, trying to help others, to fit in, to not shoot too much, to get everyone else involved.  My coaching staff wanted me to shoot the ball more and score more points so that there would be a triple threat on the team and make us a difficult team to play against.  I was not sure how I was fitting in.  My coach told me to go back to my house during the break that was offered for 2 days and go back to the place where I fell in love with the game.  To remember the smell, the sights, the inner self talk, and it was just remarkable for me to do that.  It brought me a smile, it reminded me of why I loved the game, why I played it.  Needless to say, I returned for our December Tournament and was selected MVP of the tournament and helped our team to win the championship.

I tell my athletes and others when they struggling to put that in the lunch pail to remember what that is like, even though physically don't have to travel there, mentally can be done.

In closing, just ask your players/employees what they want to be remembered for?  Remember earlier I talked about in a previous post about the performance skills and moral skills that are necessary.  Have them decide which ones they would like to have, now you do the same.  What would you like to be remembered for as a coach?

See if you can begin at this moment before the season begins to write your own awards banquet speech using those character skills you chose.

Thank you all for the continued feedback.  Stay tuned more information coming by way of a video channel and podcasts, so much to look forward to!

Pursue your Passion.

Coach John Saintignon
Coach Saintignon
OC Magic Basketball Club
@stignon

A Hero's Journey

60-or-so years ago, a writer named Joseph Campbell traveled the globe researching the greatest "Heroes" in our history:  People like:

Moses

Buddha

St. Anthony

Prometheus

Osiris

People like that. Legends.

Mr. Campbell broke down the common paths that every single one of those Heroes followed on their way to legend-status.  And created what we now call "The Hero's Journey."

Here's the basic idea:  At some point in our lives, we are all "called” to do something.

It might be to travel.  It might be to write a book.  Or, it MIGHT be… Basketball.

Doesn't matter:

We are ALL hard-wired to feel this "call" deep down inside of us.   Something pulling us into action, pulling us to become who we are "meant to be."

We don't have a choice in this, either.

It's been programmed into us through decades of  rituals where:

• A young man is sent into the jungle for the first time - alone - to bring back food for his tribe, or die in the process.

• An apprentice travels far and wide to meet "the teacher", who then puts him through dozens of intense trials before he is finally allowed to learn his craft.  I can relate to this one with my Karate Sensei’s, :)

• A boy living under a set of stairs gets a letter from an owl summoning him to a world-famous school of witchcraft and wizardry where he continuously battles a series of dark and powerful forces, before finally defeating the un-nameable superpower who threatens to destroy the world if no one stops him. 

This "call to action" happens to everyone, whether we like it or not. 

Those who REFUSE the call never get to go through their own personal series of trials; Never conquer their own "Hero's Journey.” And are now stuck in purgatory for the rest of their lives:

Never quite becoming who they ARE, deep down.  Never quite realizing their dreams.  Never experiencing the life they could have lived.

Actually, here are Mr. Campbell’s exact words:

"Often in actual life, we encounter the dull case of the call unanswered; for it is always possible to turn the ear to other interests. Refusal of the summons converts the adventure into its negative.  Walled in boredom, the subject becomes a victim.  His flowering world becomes a wasteland of dry stones and his life feels meaningless. Whatever house he builds, it will be a house of death. All he can do is create new problems for himself and await the gradual approach of his disintegration.”

- Joseph Campbell

The Hero with A Thousand Faces, 1949

Harsh - and wise - words.

And here's where you come in:

Someday, you're going to be "called" to do something.

I can't tell you what that thing is.  But if you're here, reading this right now, I'm guessing you've already had your first call and it won't be your last.

The future holds many, MANY more adventures.

And when those calls come, just remember:

The journey is NOT optional.

Not for a True Elite.

But your journey today:

Finding the best training and coaching available seeking out the best players to match up against.  Like this Saturday at J Serra High School at 10 a.m., where we have NBA players, college and high school players all playing on the court; on their quest to be the best.  Exposing yourself to high pressure game situations drilling yourself every single day, alone, in the gym never backing down from a single challenge along your path.  And, finally becoming the player (and PERSON) you're meant to be. 

Like I said:

If you're here, right now, reading this.  Your call to action has already come!

All you have to do now is take it.

We have a few of our players on that Hero's Journey right now, Gage, Luis, Ivan, Gianni, Ryan, Andre, Clarissa, Julia, Spider, Amazon.  

Coach John Saintignon

Coach John Saintignon

Twitter

Orange County Magic Basketball, Inc.

Pursue your Passion!

What players on a team think?

Yesterday, I had a great conversation with several of our coaches on Orange County Magic who are navigating their respective High school teams and their formation and organization challenges that are going to come up.  How many players to keep on a team?

Now each coach has their own perspectives on their formation of their teams and why they do what they do.  I personally didn't want to carry more than 12 players.  I wanted the team to have enough to count on each other, keep rooming lists even, and to make sure that I had the 12 that were committed to the team.  But there are some interesting ideas as it relates to this as I posed with my experience in High School and then going to the PAC-10 conference where I heard this term, minutes.

Before I go into that, I want to share with you what I shared with Coach Sean and Coach Ron.  Some questions that I asked them to ask of their players.  I did this when I was a high school coach and also with my individual meetings with players in the PAC 10 and my professional teams abroad to get my own perspective so that I could get to the heart of things as we entered into the season.

Teams are fragile.  If for example you carried 12 players as was usual with my team, here is what I discovered, see if this is true with your own experiences?

Players 9-12 want to play.  Players 6-8 want to start.  Players 4-5 want more shots.  Players 2-3 want to be the best player.  And the best player wants to play at the next level.  This was true of my high school teams, NCAA Division 1 and 2 and of course, even my professional teams abroad.

There is nothing wrong with this as you have been teaching your players all along to want more, to strive.  It becomes a problem when it outweighs the teams needs.  You know everyone needs to sacrifice for your team to be successful.  Your players need to see this and feel that they are part of the solution.

Here is how I got to the heart of the matter.  Try this.  Ask your players these questions and see what you discover.

1.  How many minutes will you average this year?
So of course, this varies if you are a high school coach because the maximum amount of minutes that you can hand out is 160 minutes (5 players x 32 minute game), if you are a college or overseas coach the maximum you can hand out is 200 minutes ( 5 players x 40 minute game).  Ask your players this question, how many minutes will you average this year and then add up all those minutes.  I usually discovered about 300 minutes was the norm.  OK,  that was impossible.

2.  Next question that I would ask.  Will you start?
In basketball you can only start 5 players, but the responses were usually around 9 players who believed they should or would start.  Again impossible.

3.  How many points are you going to average?
When I added this up, we were always going to be the highest scoring team in the country, :).  I tell you.  Usually added up to nearly 160 points per game.  Again not impossible, but you know.

What this proved to me and my coaching staff was that we needed to really address the players that sacrifices were going to have to be made by all, roles were going to have to be embraced and rewarded, recognized by the coaching staff.

This type of early discussion allowed everyone to feel that they had a role and an important part that was going to be rewarded and recognized.  These were daily efforts on our behalf to make sure we paid attention to all these little details in terms of player relations on and off the court to make sure we were centered and ready to drive toward our goals together as a team.

Before the other distractions come, you know outside expectations :)

Here is Coach Bill Parcells, I know it's a football hall of fame speech, but the message is clear about the locker room, the sacrifices that a team makes, why it is special and how winners and losers handle things.  Enjoy.

Bill Parcells What Makes a Team Great

Let me know your thoughts.  I love hearing from you.

Coach John Email

Pursue your Passion!

Coach John Saintignon
John Saintignon
Orange County Magic Basketball

What is your master plan?

OK, so where do we begin the season?  How do we make sure that we are teaching our players all that they need to know for a successful season?  How do you stay on track?

You need to start.  You need to create a master plan so that you have a reference point to look at.  Really, to keep on track and stay on track.  Sometimes we as coaches tend to focus on a few things and run out of time during the season and don't cover something and wish we had.

I learned how to get this done as I was a high school coach and visiting clinics and hearing NCAA coaches at UNC and UCLA talk about it, but how did they put it together?  That was never shared?  How much time did they spend on things?  I asked them for information and dug deeper as I had a thirst for how to become the best coach that I could become.

Here is what I put together after gathering information from many coaches across the country.

Coach Saintignon Master Plan for Basketball

I used this especially during the season to make sure that I was staying on track.  One thing you will have to keep in mind is that you will always have to modify, adjust and adapt.  This is true in all things.

University of North Carolina Practice

Coach Bobby Knight Indiana University
*Please note that there are typos, this was a document sent to me, so I had no control over the spelling.

This gives you a little idea to help you during your season in your preparation phase.  Should anyone want more, please email me at johnsaintgnon@gmail.com and I would be happy to help in anyway that I can.

Pursue your Passion!
Coach John Saintignon
OC Magic
Coach John Saintignon

Winning, Losing, Results

So we are at that time of year where as a coach and player there is the talk about winning and losing and the results that are being produced is at the forefront of many discussions.  There are many things that can derail us as coaches, players that I want to see if I can remind to see if this helps a bit.

As I stated before all of us can get off the rails so to speak and get caught up in disappointment because of the thinking that we can win, or deserve more.  We can lose sight and turn away from what is most important during the course of the season.

We all experience success, we all have an ego that say we deserve this or that.  We believe that maybe we are talented enough that we can maybe take it easy here or there, ease up on some of the development that should be occurring or the training that should be happening.

One of my greatest moments of coaching was the time that I spent learning from Coach John Wooden.  As I was coming up and winning, thinking that what we did was a direct result of my teaching, etc., Coach spoke in parables, quotes, and with poems.  One in particular that has become my favorite that he usually recited to me to make his point, was "IF" by Kipling.  I was reminded that winning and losing were impostors.  To treat them both the same, according to Coach Wooden, he used to tell me that you are not as good as people say you are and your not as bad as they say either.  The players that you work with on a daily basis, they are why you coach.  They are under your supervision and are you giving them the attention that they deserve and not just only talking about winning or losing and the end game, the results.  Are you concerned with them as individuals as this is a short lived game, it doesn't last forever, but your relationship just might.

I began to change as a coach each time as I am sure everyone who came in contact with Coach Wooden, did change.  It's easy many would say coming from someone who won National Title after Title and UCLA with the best of the best.  But he was pointing out to all of those who looked for his advise, what was important.

I once had a team that I was playing against in a tournament, I believed that we were good, I saw that the talent level on the other side of the floor during warm ups wasn't that great and noticed that our own players thought that they were just going to run them over as well.  We weren't serious as a staff and also as players during the warm up.  I didn't address the situation as I should have right then and there, as a result, we ended up getting beat that night because we didn't approach the game the same as we would have had it been the championship round of the tournament.  We were the better team, only on paper that night.  I was so frustrated, furious as I knew we should have been better, I second guessed myself, took it out on the team, coaching staff, when I knew all along that it was my fault, period.  So to this day, I take every opponent serious, as all the championships that I have won as a coach, were formed during that lesson learned that night.

The bottom line is that when you experience success we all think that we can cut corners from time to time and still achieve the end result, the win.  Many of us get caught up thinking that we are bigger than the game.  This comes from us only focusing on winning.  We can get caught off the rails and make it so that we believe it's all about the X's and O's and not about the Jimmy and Joe's.

So ask yourself?  What are you doing each day to make your players better people.  Is your message only about the sport?  Only about winning?  There is much more to this than just getting the W.  That night we lost I should have addressed the importance of respect for each opponent and that we owed it to ourselves to give our best effort regardless of who we were competing against.

We can become consumed with winning.  We can forget about getting home to your significant others.  Your family, children.  We make up excuses that we don't have the same talent, we don't have the same facilities to compete with others.  We need to practice longer, stay in the office so others will notice that we are giving all to this team.  We can think that we need every advantage to achieve what we want and the thing that we usually sacrifice first is our family.

There are incentives to winning as well that have been placed, with bonus structures, raises, etc.  This has now become a performance based industry.  Including AAU.  Winning supports your ego, yes, it also allows for those players to come to your programs, which leads to them going to NCAA., which allows players to continue with your program.  So it's now come to this, winning is everything.  Here's the problem.  99% percent of us aren't winning the ultimate national championship in the sport.  So here's the question.  How do you want to be remembered?  Maybe the focus from winning should be to developing people.  And make that the national championship that you are trying to create.  Coach Wooden told me that he knew he did a good job, 10 years later, when those that were under his supervision, were doctors, lawyers, parents, businessmen, etc.

The lessons learned from sports are lifelong.  What lessons are you imparting to those under your supervision?  Make this season your best, use your own definition of the results your looking for.

I look forward to helping.

Coach John Saintignon
www.ocmagic.org
www.johnsaintignon.com