Questions with Francesca

How did you stay motivated after losing a game?

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

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

What are you thinking when you get benched in a game?

Do you have any rituals that you must perform before a game and why?

What was the most important game you played? Why?

How do you want your team mates to remember you?

If you didn’t play basketball what sport would you like to play? why?

1. I work out everyday to improve and win games. If I lose a game it means I did not work hard enough. So I just go back to the gym and work harder. Next time I will win that game.
2. A big crowd can be a huge obstacle for basketball players especially during clutch games or plays. Most of the time I personally don't think about crowds and people around me. I just stay focused on what I have to do on the court.
3. I just go on and look at the next play.
4. I start questioning myself on what I could have done wrong and how I could get better at it . Sometimes I know  the answer already other times I do not. So instead of questioning myself too much I just get ready for the moment I will sub someone or I will start in the game.
5. No I don't have any important rituals but...I make sure to stretch a lot! Lol
6. The most important game for me was the CIF final game in 2016. We won that game by 1.  I also have another favorite game and that is the State semifinal game that we lost by 1 and it was also my last high school game. I cried. We should have won that game.
7. I want them to remember me as a nice and funny person first and then like a great teammate and player.
8. I would have probably done canoeing. It's tough but fun at the same time.

www.ocmagic.org

Questions with Jordan

How did you stay motivated after losing a game?

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

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

What are you thinking when you get benched in a game?

Do you have any rituals that you must perform before a game and why?

What was the most important game you played? Why?

How do you want your team mates to remember you?

If you didn’t play basketball what sport would you like to play? why?

Jordan Williams:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qwF97NdOCw&feature=youtu.be

1) After a loss, I am usually upset because I wanted to win. I have that competitiveness in me. I stay motivated by thinking about what I could have done better. Then when I realize what I need to work on, I go to the gym to work on what I needed to work on so that I never get that taste in my mouth again.

2) What I do to deal with the pressure when having to perform in front of a big crowd is putting my headphones in, go sit in a place where I am isolated, visualize what I want to do in the game and where I want to be in the future with basketball.

3) I get frustrated when a call does not go my way so I try not to show it and I just flip the page and get ready for the next play. There is no point in dwelling on the past. You have to move on because basketball is non-stop, play after play.

4) When I am benched in a game, I think about the reason why I was taken out. I think about my last run and what I did during that time that could have helped or hurt us. Then after that, I  think about what I need to do better for the next time I get put in. 

5) I have some rituals before a game. The night before, I lay in bed and visualize the whole game. On game day, I put my headphones in, tune everyone out and visualize again how I want to play. It is almost like a reminder. Before that, I always say a prayer before the game to remind myself where I come from and also that God is always first.

6) I have not really had the most important game because I try to look at every game the same and prepare the same. I feel like if I look at one game as "higher than another" or "more important", then I will not play like I know I can.

7) I want my team mates to remember me as a leader, and that person that always pushes them to work harder. I also want to lead by example and work harder than everyone so I can motivate them. I feel like if my team sees me going hard, then they will  be motivated and

realize what it takes to get where they want to be. I want to be remembered as the hardest working person that they knew.

8) If I did not play basketball, I think I would play football. I love the spirit that football players have and they have so much love for the game like I do with basketball. I like to be around that passionate atmosphere because it lifts my spirit and makes me feel confident.

Questions with Greta

How did you stay motivated after losing a game?

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

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

What are you thinking when you get benched in a game?

Do you have any rituals that you must perform before a game and why?

What was the most important game you played? Why?

How do you want your team mates to remember you?

If you didn’t play basketball what sport would you like to play? why?

After losing a game, of course, I was upset with myself, but I never gave up, I always wanted to do more so that the same things couldn’t happen again. I always thought that my team and I could do better in the next game, I had confidence in my abilities and in the ones of my team mates.

I don’t care about the crown, I play of my team and for myself, no one else. There is no point of feeling the pressure when you know that all you have to do is play the sport that you love and never give up.

Every time I try to don’t get mad to referee’s decisions because they’re human like us and everyone can make mistakes. It happened that some decisions sometimes made me upset but I don't blame them, I don't go up to them and say that what they called was wrong, I just go back and do something good in the next action.

When I get benched I think about all the practices before the game, I think about what went wrong but in the meantime I cheer for my team mates to do their best because I know that if I am on the bench it is because someone can do better than me in that moment.

I don’t really have any rituals before a game because I just get on the court and play; I want to do my best every time, I want to be successful.

I think the most important game for me was the first one in U.S. with St. Paul High School because it’s from that game that I realized that i was opening a new page of the book of my life; I realized I was in the place I always dreamed about and I couldn’t ask for anything else, I was living my dream and I still am.

I want my team mates to remember me for who I really am, on the court and outside. I want them to remember everything we faced together, form winning a game and be happy to losing a game and be sad. I want them to remember that I will always be there for them.

I don’t think I would be able to play any other sports, I mean, this is my life, this is what makes me happy but if I have to choose I would probably say swimming because that sport was the one I used to play before basketball.

www.ocmagic.org

Questions with Mike Moran

How did you stay motivated after losing a game?

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

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

What are you thinking when you get benched in a game?

Do you have any rituals that you must perform before a game and why?

What was the most important game you played? Why?

How do you want your team mates to remember you?

If you didn’t play basketball what sport would you like to play? why?

Mike Moran:  Former Player from San Clemente High School, 1st team all league, now at Chapman College as a freshman.

I stayed motivated after losing by completing forgetting about that game, and refocusing on the next game. I deal with the pressure of having to perform before a crowd by not thinking about the crowd watching me, and the pressure is always on the other team. I channel my frustration when calls don't go my way by just forgetting about it and moving on to the next play. When I get benched in a game, I'm thinking about what I can do better if coach decides to put me back in. Before a game, I always stretch and listen to my music in order to relax myself, but also mentally prepare myself. The most important game I've played was against El Toro during my senior year. We needed to win in order to clinch the outright South Coast League championship. I want my teammates to remember me as someone who always put the team first before anything else and as someone that stood down to no one. If I didn't play basketball, I would have played football because I'm a physical player that likes contact and I would make a good WR.

www.ocmagic.org

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

Staying in the Go mode

Winning the championship will require your team to eliminate excuses.  There has to be some sort of a message that will convey that no excuses will be allowed on the team.  You first have to start with your team having to discuss and discover why they make excuses in the first place.  Sometimes it's because we are all a little afraid of going all in.  We will make an excuse just in case it doesn't work out.  Then we will be able to justify it.

Examples:

A few times I would have the floor intentionally left dirty to see the reaction of my players as they weren't as quick, fast, and to see what excuses would arise because of that.

Other times, I would leave certain lights in the gym off so that it was darker than usual.  All the while, I was asking our players, what are you going to do when we are on the road and these conditions exist?

I wanted to eliminate those excuses early and pose a variety of obstacles in their way.  Like intentionally having our basketballs either over inflated or under inflated so that the excuse of the ball could be overcome and we would adjust.  I believe in having these situations in your practice to help with the overall message, going forward, all in.

Playing Green, All In.

We as a staff always needed to show our team what it looks like for us to be in an all in situation.  I would look for pictures of us playing in tough situations, mainly of us going through tougher situations through my 12 week conditioning program.  I always wanted them to have a visual of what it looked like to be all in.  A variety of methods, like stop lights, with Red light, Yellow light and Green light was used to describe what it looked like to play in a Green light situation.  I even used a particular shooting drill to prove this point by calling it Green Light Shooting.  I wanted them to know that you had to be all in to get the goal, but once you did, then in the game you would have the
Green light to shoot.  Talk about a confidence booster!

Trust:

We all have situations where there are players who aren't on the same page.  How can you get them trust each other.  Over the years all coaches have used many methods to get this done, I have.  One that I have used that is dramatic but gets the point across I used with my HS team one year on a retreat I took them to in Palm Springs.  I paired up the players and had them swim one end of the pool to the other, arm in arm, using one snorkel, they had to stay underwater.  Very difficult indeed, one that required us as a staff to first show them that it could be done and how.  Once they saw that we as a coaching staff could do it, they were more inclined to believe and get it done as well.

Team Meals:

It's customary to have teams eat together but how can that be used to build trust?  Early in the  preseason we had our teams have their wrists tied together and eat.  This made them have to take turns helping each other eat.  They had to rely on each other.

Body Language:

I am a huge believer that how the players acted when they came out of the game would establish that culture that we were always talking about, pushing for one another.  But you have to pay attention to it.  There are more players on the bench than are playing in the game.  I wanted them to know on the bench that they were the energy of the team and to be supportive of those in the game.  Also, I paid close attention to the body language of anyone who got subbed out and how they came to the bench.  This provided us with excellent attention to what we were emphasizing since I taped it and reviewed it often with our players and coaches to make sure that we were all in.

Coach Saintignon
Orange County Magic Basketball, Inc.

Perspective

We should be able to talk candidly about our coaching perspective.  We all can agree that if we have a player who is driven, you must realize that you are in a position of power.  They will do anything you say.  They also will accept abuse in anyway that you deliver it because they desperately want the success.  

When you have those players that are extremely driven they are the ones that are most at risk, because they are the ones willing to do anything, sacrifice everything and do whatever is necessary and take whatever you dish out to them because you hold the key to what they are seeking! 

If you get players into survival mode as I stated earlier in another blog, then you will have them fighting like dogs.  That anger subdues choking, it subdues fear.  That chemistry of fear and anger can't live together.  Some coaches believe that if you make the player angry that they will then play better.  You can call them names, infuriate them and all the nerves go away, that's what the screamer coaches realize.  It's manipulation as opposed to allowing them to figure things out and how to control their own nerves.  

Is there a different way? 

Humans tend to perform much better when they are driven.  When they see the opportunity to do something extraordinary for a cause much bigger than themselves.  They respond in a special way when they realize all of their hard work and suffering isn't about them anyway.  

Great coaches know this power, the power of fighting for a loved one.  They do it for a cause that is more than their own validation, or their own self interest and thus more sustained results.  

Coach Wooden was very tough.  He was a taskmaster.  However, he always had his players best interest in mind.  It was never about him.  It was about the players and what he did with them, how he taught them, would affect them the rest of their lives.  

This is what he told me how he would determine what a success he had been later in life, 10 years from the time that they left his supervision. 

The real report card.  This is when the season is over.  As much as all of us want to be at the top and accepting the championship.  The real sense of satisfaction is going to come later.  Like at the reunion, the wedding of a player, etc.  This is where you know it was a truly meaningful experience, one that shaped their lives and that they are grateful for.  It's at this moment where you will not feel any better as a coach.  

Sometimes the job gets in the way however.  We just get into the mode of winning games.  We forget how to value moral character.  How can you prove you value character if you don't measure it and reward it everyday?  How could you implement into your practice today?  Start by recognizing that person that was most unselfish, encourages the most and reward that person.  That person doesn't have to run at the end of practice for example because this was measured, rewarded.  The players will see that this is a value to you and they will try their best to achieve it.  

During one Final Four that I attended, I heard a coach say to another, "You can tell what a coach values by what they are willing to lose for."  So true because we are always afraid of what can happen if we don't get the wins.  We are tested each day.  How much do I value winning and how much do I value developing people?  

This comes back to your perspective.  Are you playing for today?  Or are you playing for a perspective that is going to ultimately determine the success of those under your supervision as a person.  

Ask your players:  How can you tell if a coach values winning over developing people?  I am interested in learning what you discover?

Pursue your Passion! 

Coach John Saintignon

Orange County Magic Basketball