Monday, April 29, 2013

Trusting the Process (And the System)

I believe the game should be played and taught in a certain way. That way is similar to many and different from many, but it's the way I believe things should be done. I think it's important that no matter what you believe, you have to trust the process and trust your system. That was one of the cardinal mistakes that I made as the varsity coach at South Tama, I didn't trust the process or the system. It was my first head coaching job, I was nervous, and wanted to win. So I tried a number of different things that didn't fit my process in order to try be successful. Of course they didn't work and I wish I would have trusted the process and the system. We would have been far more successful if I had.

What got me thinking about trusting the process was the 7th grade AAU team I coach. We went 2-2 this weekend beating the same team twice and losing to two other solid teams. We are not quite there yet, but we have flashes of brilliance. When we met as a team after those two losses I wasn't second guessing myself or the system that we run. I was able to smile at them and just tell them to trust the process and that we would get better. More importantly it wasn't just lip service. I believe that we will get better as the year goes on. After eight years I have become comfortable with the way we do things and I am able to fully trust the process! I am not sure if there is a more liberating feeling in coaching.

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