When the season first starts, every team is in the championship hunt. Every team sets their eyes on the final prize – winning a championship and being crowned #1. However, now that most of us have reached the halfway point in our season, conference/district play is ramping up and the pressure to win is increasing game by game. It is essential that ever player on your team is approaching every day with a championship mindset.
Legendary Hall of Fame football coach Bill Parcells once said, ‘In order to win, you have to figure out what makes you lose.’
That is a powerful concept.
So before you can win a championship, you need to figure out what will prevent that from happening.
Here are 11 characteristics that will definitely prevent you from winning a championship:
- Entitlement: Players don’t feel they need to earn a championship. They think it will happen automatically based on tradition or last year’s success.
- Arrogance: Similar to entitlement, players don’t think losing is even possible. They lack respect for their opponent and for the game itself.
- Selfishness: Players think ‘me’ and not ‘we.’ They are more concerned with individual stats than with winning.
- Complacency: Players think ‘good enough’ is good enough. It isn’t.
- Lack of Confidence: Too much confidence (see #2) is a major problem. But so is a lack of confidence. You have to believe you can win it all.
- Lack of Effort: This one is obvious.
- Lack of Trust: Players need to trust their coaches and teammates; Coaches need to trust their players and coaches. Lack of trust on either side will create dysfunction and dissention and cause the entire ball of yarn to unwind.
- Lack of Conditioning: It is a long season. If players run out of gas mid-way through, they can’t finish the race! Plan your practices accordingly to give your players the most energy on gameday.
- Lack of Commitment: Winning a championship requires commitment on and off the court. Staying up late on your computer the night before a game or getting in academic trouble shows a severe lack of commitment.
- Lack of Leadership: Coaches can’t be the only leaders on the team.
- Lack of Role Acceptance: Basketball is a team game. Every player on the team, from the leading scorer to the last player on the bench, has a specific role. To win a championship, every player on the team must know, accept and take pride in their role.
Want to win it all this year?
Develop a championship mindset and create at championship culture by extinguishing these 11 Championship Killers.
