Tag Archive for 'john wooden'

John Wooden legacy

The legacy of the great coaches is always current and it is important not to lose this memory: Here below the thought of John Wooden

“That’s what really matters: if you make an effort to do the best you can regularly, the results will be about what they should be. Not necessarily what you’d want them to be but they’ll be about what they should; only you will know whether you can do that. And that’s what I wanted from them more than anything else. And as time went by, and I learned more about other things, I think it worked a little better, as far as the results. But I wanted the score of a game to be the byproduct of these other things, and not the end itself. I believe it was one great philosopher who said – no, no — Cervantes. Cervantes said, “The journey is better than the end.” And I like that. I think that it is — it’s getting there. Sometimes when you get there, there’s almost a let down. But it’s the getting there that’s the fun. As a basketball coach at UCLA, I liked our practices to be the journey, and the game would be the end, the end result. I liked to go up and sit in the stands and watch the players play, and see whether I’d done a decent job during the week. There again, it’s getting the players to get that self-satisfaction, in knowing that they’d made the effort to do the best of which they are capable.”

 

Book review: Coach Wooden and Me

“Coach Wooden and Me” is a stirring tribute to the subtle but profound influence that Wooden had on Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as a player, and then as a person, as they began to share their cultural, religious, and family values while facing some of life’s biggest obstacles. From his first day of practice, when the players were taught the importance of putting on their athletic socks properly, to gradually absorbing the sublime wisdom of Coach Wooden’s now famous “Pyramid of Success”; to learning to cope with the ugly racism that confronted black athletes during the turbulent Civil Rights era as well as losing loved ones, Abdul-Jabbar fondly recalls how Coach Wooden’s fatherly guidance not only paved the way for his unmatched professional success but also made possible a lifetime of personal fulfillment.
Full of intimate, never-before-published details and delivered with the warmth and erudition of a grateful student who has learned his lessons well, it’s at once a celebration of the unique philosophical outlook of college basketball’s most storied coach and a moving testament to the all-conquering power of friendship.

Three sentences to think

John Wooden’s three sentences for parents, athletes and coaches to compare with their thoughts:

“The best thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother.”

“Ability may get you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there.”

“A coach is someone who can give correction without causing resentment.”

Coach the mind with John Wooden

Some of the John Wooden‘s best sentences to remember when we lose our confidence.

“Ability may get you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there.”

“Don’t let yesterday take up too much of today.”

“A coach is someone who can give correction without causing resentment.”

“It’s the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen.”

“The importance of repetition until automaticity cannot be overstated. Repetition is the key to learning.”