Championship Mentality

It just looks different.

I talked about this the other night with some Recruiting Coordinators/Coaches. I've heard a lot of "motivational" things lately. Maybe because it's 2 years since the death of Kobe Bryant, the NFL playoffs are going on, or NCAA basketball tournament season is upon us. One that hit me was:

"Many athletes want to be a part of the result, they don't want to be a part of the process"

and another...

"Don't be upset by the results you didn't get from the work you didn't do"

At first I thought maybe they weren't really connected, but in reality I think these two statements share a huge link.

I remember talking to recruits when I first became a head coach and we started talking about the plan we had for the program and what we wanted to accomplish. We never talked about where we were right now; we only talked about where we wanted to go. Most parents and athletes that were concerned with our current record or ranking in the conference were not athletes that lasted very long on our board. We knew that the journey towards what we wanted wasn't going to be easy. We wanted athletes that wanted to be a part of the long haul, not just the short term. Several recruits called me when they committed saying, "I want to come play for you and win a conference championship." At this time we were just a year removed from being 12th out of 13 schools. They wanted the result, for sure. But they also wanted to be a part of the process that was going to lead them to that result. Those kind of athletes are unique in my opinion. Everyone wants to be a part of a winning, team, club or program. But I think few want to be a part of a "losing" team and MAKE that team a winning team. There's a distinction there. Winning a championship at any level is hard. Nothing about that road is easy. You will fail multiple times on your way. Failure is not the result; it's just a part of the process.

Nick Saban has this great line about athletes thinking they have choices. He said that to win at that high of a level, you don't have choices and you don't have options. There is a way to win championships. You first have to treat the program you are in like a championship program. If you aren't doing everything you need to do in order to win at your level, then you shouldn't be disappointed you don't get there.

That leads us into the next quote. Winning is hard work. It very seldom happens by accident. Even when you lose, it takes a lot of work to put yourself in a position to even have a CHANCE at winning. The athletes I had as a head coach always worked their tails off. They understood that if they wanted to be successful, nothing was going to be easy; it came at a cost. Time, energy, sweat and probably some tears. It's not easy. If you don't see the results right away, as many of our athletes and committed athletes didn't, you can easily get discouraged. But with a focused goal and a focused mentality, you are able to see the results of all the hard work. Those athletes, I think, were able to see that all of their hard work was paying off. But if you aren't willing to have that championship mentality, if you aren't willing to put in the work, then don't get mad when you don't get the result you wanted.

It just looks different.

You want to get better? Watch some film.

You're struggling with a skill? Take a lesson or two.

Don't like your position on the depth chart? Figure out how you can get better.

Don't like your teams record? What can you do to change it?

What are your goals? What are you going to do to accomplish them?

A few emails, texts and phone calls aren't always easy, but they might just be the thing that gets you to where you want to go. They are a part of the process. Do the work - get the result. It's not always easy and it doesn't always happen right away. If you're discouraged, get back in the fight. Stay focused on your goal. It will guide you to where you're trying to go.