10 C's to becoming
a successful player
WHETHER YOU are the most talented player on your high school team, or a younger player who is just starting to play organized basketball, you need a strong foundation for how you will carry yourself on and off the court.
The 10 C's remind you of your real purpose: Make the team an extension of your values. Give the 10 C's to your teammates. Help them understand what they mean and how important they are to the success of the team. Most importantly, lead by setting a example.
These characteristics serve as the foundation to the overall development players who want to the best that they can be. The 10 C's transcend winning and losing, the media, the distractions and pressures of the game.
In fact, the 10 C's firmly ground individuals when the pressure heats up. If you are grounded or "complete" in your powers, then the place for you is "in the fight," as Oliver Wendell Holmes put it.
- Concentration.
Without it, you can't fight the fight. When your step onto the court, demand concentration of yourself and your teammates. Pay attention to detail. Learn from your mistakes. Your goal should always be to have a perfect practice and improve each time you step onto the floor.
- Condition.
This includes reaching peak physical condition through strength training, nutrition, quickness, sleep, agility and plyometrics (exercises that help increase your foot speed and vertical leaping ability). These areas need to be addressed if you are going to be successful player on the court. Whenever possible, work out with your teammates and other players who strive to get better.
- Commitment.
This often becomes part of a team slogan, a T-shirt or bumper sticker. Make it your personal slogan. Write it down and hold yourself accountable.
A dedication to self-improvement, skill development and the daily pursuit of excellence, though, defines commitment. Do what's right and have a plan. Be sure to define your goals and strive everyday to reach them.
- Control.
This represents your behavior, language and poise. Profanity has no place in a practice or game. Profanity is a sign of weakness and loss of control. If you are in control, you will function better as an individual and will be in position to help your team.
- Confidence.
You will gain more confidence with repetition. Your confidence will increase when you learn to be consistent. Always remain positive and your confidence will remain high.
- Challenge.
It's what motivates you every morning. You need to be the best that you can be. You will get better by raising expectation levels and welcoming pressures created by challenges and expectation. You have to be grateful for challenges. Without them, you really don't grow.
- Character.
Sports, to some degree, can develop character. However, sports truly reveals character. In the long run, it's not what we've done but what we've become through all of our experiences. It's the most important of all the C's because it simply is the most lasting and growing trait.
- Courage.
You grow in courage as you face your fears. That means different things to different people and teams. There are many ways to define courage and many excellent models and examples.
- Caring.
You can reach your goals easier and faster by helping your teammates reach their own goals on and off the court. You must care for others and be unselfish to be successful in basketball and in life!
- Class.
Conduct yourself with class. Why entertain the alternative if it only diminishes you?
