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Overplay Drill

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Defending the Flex Cut

99 Wisdoms from Wooden

This page is in honor of Coach John Wooden (1910-2010). Much can be learned from this great man known quite simply as Coach. He was so much more than simply a basketball coach, however. He was a great leader, teacher, husband, father ... an example for us all. What follows are 99 of Coach Wooden's quotes (one for each year of his time on earth); words to live by, if you will.

(I will be adding a new John Wooden quote daily until we reach the total of 99. Check back each day to find a new quote and be sure to get real-time updates by following Hoops U. on Facebook and Twitter.)

1. "Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best you are capable."
   [Printable Version of Coach's Pyramid of Success]
   
   
2. "We don't have to be superstars or win championships.... All we have to do is learn to rise to every occasion, give our best effort, and make those around us better as we do it."
   
   
3. "I never yelled at my players much. That would have been artificial stimulation, which doesn't last very long. I think it's like love and passion. Passion won't last as long as love. When you are dependent on passion, you need more and more of it to make it work. It's the same with yelling."
   
   
4. “If you do not have the time to do it right, when will you find the time to do it over?”
   
   
5. "I've never stopped trying to do what's right. I'm not doing it to earn favor with God. I'm doing it because it's the right thing to do."
   
   
6. “The best competition I have is against myself to become better.”
   
   
7. “Time lost is time lost. It’s gone forever. Some people tell themselves that they will work twice as hard tomorrow to make up for what they did not do today. People should always do their best. If they work twice as hard tomorrow, then they should have also worked twice as hard today. That would have been their best.”
   
   
8. "Basketball is not the ultimate. It is of small importance in comparison to the total life we live. There is only one kind of life that truly wins, and that is the one that places faith in the hands of the Savior. Until that is done, we are on an aimless course that runs in circles and goes nowhere."
   
   
9. “Do not permit what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.”
   
   
10. “Be more concerned with your character than with your reputation. Your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.”
    
    
11. "Earlier in life, I put family in front of faith. I've fixed that. But I always tried to keep work fourth on the list. I was proud when [my wife] Nellie told an interviewer, 'I never could tell whether John had a good practice or a bad practice, because he never brought it home.'"
    
    
12. "The coach is first of all a teacher."
    
    
13. "If you keep too busy learning the tricks of the trade, you may never learn the trade."
    
    
14. "I discovered early on that the player who learned the fundamentals of basketball is going to have a much better chance of succeeding and rising through the levels of competition than the player who was content to do things his own way.  A player should be interested in learning why things are done a certain way.  The reasons behind the teaching often go a long way to helping develop the skill."
    
    
15. "I will get ready and then, perhaps, my chance will come."
    
    
16. "We can give without loving, but we can't love without giving. In fact, love is nothing unless we give it to someone."
    
    
17. "Happiness begins where selfishness ends."
    
    
18. "Some of my greatest pleasures have come from finding ways to overcome obstacles."
    
    
19. "Earn the right to be proud and confident."
    
    
20. "We're all imperfect and we all have needs. The weak usually do not ask for help, so they stay weak. If we recognize that we are imperfect, we will ask for help and we will pray for the guidance necessary to bring positive results to whatever we are doing."
    
    
21. "Ability may get you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there."
    
    
22. "We can plan a roadtrip or a workday down to the last detail but the unexpected will always arise. If we are not malleable, we will get left behind."
    
    
23. "If I am through learning, I am through."
    
    
24. "Failure is not fatal, but failure to change can be."
    
    
25. "The man who is afraid to risk failure seldom has to face success."
    
    
26. "Remember, results aren't the criteria for success -- it's the effort made for achievement that is most important."
    
    
27. "Don't let yesterday take up too much of today."
    
    
28. "Each of us has a huge capacity to learn and to achieve. Being ever alert makes the task of becoming all we are capable of becoming so much easier."
    
    
29. "It is what you learn after you know it all that counts."
    
    
30. "You may be better than the rest, but you are not a success until you have made the effort to become the best you can be."
    
    
31. "Goals achieved with little effort are seldom worthwhile or lasting."
    
    
32. "Players with fight never lose a game; they just run out of time."
    
    
33. "Be most interested in finding the best way, not in having your own way."
    
    
34. "If we fail to adapt, we fail to move forward."
    
    
35. "As long as you try your best, you are never a failure. That is, unless you blame others."
    
    
36. "I grew up on a farm. We learned that there was a season to plant, a season to water, and season to harvest. The planting and watering could be laborious, but without those stages, there would never be a harvest."
    
    
37. "Tell the truth. That way you don't have to remember a story."
    
    
38. "As I grow older, I appreciate things that I didn't appreciate much when I was younger. I am thankful more than I used to be. I've been reasonably healthy, and I feel blessed. And each morning I can think, this is going to be a good day!"
    
    
39. "If we magnified blessings as much as we magnify disappointments, we would all be much happier."
    
    
40. "Much can be accomplished by teamwork when no one is concerned about who gets credit."
    
    
41. "A leader's most powerful ally is his or her own example."
    
    
42. "Never make excuses. Your friends don't need them and your foes won't believe them."
    
    
43. "Approval is a greater motivator than disapproval, but we have to disapprove on occasion when we correct. It's necessary. I make corrections only after I have proved to the individual that I highly value him. If they know we care for them, our correction won't be seen as judgmental. I also try to never make it personal."
    
    
44. "Never be disagreeable just because you disagree."
    
    
45. "Be slow to correct and quick to commend."
    
    
46. "Be more concerned with what you can do for others than what others can do for you. You'll be surprised at the results."
    
    
47. "Being true to ourselves doesn't make us people of integrity. Charles Manson was true to himself, and as a result, he rightly is spending the rest of his life in prison. Ultimately, being true to our Creator gives us the purest form of integrity."
    
    
48. "Don't permit fear of failure to prevent effort. We are all imperfect and will fail on occasions, but fear of failure is the greatest failure of all."
    
    
49. "I believe we are most likely to succeed when ambition is focused on noble and worthy purposes and outcomes rather than on goals set out of selfishness."
    
    
50. "Being average means you are as close to the bottom as you are to the top."
    
    
51. "You cannot live a perfect day without doing something for another without thought of something in return."
    
    
52. "I wanted my players to always be searching, especially for truth. I wanted them to know what they believed and be able to defend it. Truth will always stand the test of scrutiny."
    
    
53. "If I did only what I wanted to do, I would not be obedient to the Creator. Sometimes He wants us to do certain things that we may not feel like doing. When it comes to what God asks of us, we need more than good intentions -- we need to follow through fully."
    
    
54. "There is no substitute for work. Worthwhile results come from hard work and careful planning."

John Wooden: Thinking Like a Champion

This 1994 video has recently been re-issued on DVD. In this Q & A with former UCLA great Keith Erickson recorded, Coach Wooden discusses his philosophies on life and athletics.

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