YBCA

I suppose I would define it as concentrated maximum effort?

One of the things I have really noticed this year is how often I hear “coachspeak”.  If you really listen to what some of these coaches say, it is either totally vague and ultimately meaningless or is so obvious you wonder why it needs to be said.  In fact, I bet you could let one of the girls give the pregame lockerroom talk and it would be exactly what the coach was going to say anyway.  

I make a habit of telling my girls what words “look like”.  If I say I want to see competitiveness on defense that sounds great, but what does that look like?  Well, to me it means that a player should want to stop her player and the other team from scoring with every ounce of her being.  It means that she should take it personal if her girl gets a rebound, drives right past her, or knocks down a jumper in her face.  It means that they should be proud and consider it a victory each and every time her and her teammates get a stop.  

I say that I want to see fearlessness on offense. Ok, that sounds fine, but that probably means 15 different things to everyone in the room, so I tell them what it looks like.  I tell them that it looks like having no fear of dribbling (posts), no fear of playing against just one defender (everyone likes to pick ball up too easy), no fear of making mistakes, no fear of trying new moves or ideas, NO FEAR OF SHOOTING even if you airball 3 in a row, no fear of driving in to the basket.

I tell them that I want them to be cool.  I used to say “good attitudes” but I found that carries a little bit of a negative connotation, so I changed it to being cool.  What's that look like?  Well it means cheering for your teammates from the bench, running off the floor when subbed out and giving everyone fives when you come out, it means looking us in the eye  when we talk to each other, it means encouraging your teammates rather than berating them for mistakes.  To me, thats just being a cool person, so thats why I say that…

I loathe meaningless phrases and talk so I try to paint a picture of exactly what I want things to look, I think it works .

Intensity can go back to alot of things, most of which both of you have pointed out.  However I think their is a place people don't look at very often that has a great deal to do with intensity.  TEACHING!!!  Regular contributors of this forum already know this but the majority of coaches, trainers, parents, teachers, etc. act as if intensity is an all or nothing property.  You have it or you don't.  They want it or they don't.  The coach pushes them hard or not enough.  All problems are at their roots, problems in the subject matter being taught whether its a classroom or a basketball court.  It's been said that people change for 2 reasons:

1. they care enough they want too
2. they hurt enough they have to

Anyone with common sense will tell you most people would rather go through option one, however how many times have we seen a coach or parent use method 2 to “inspire” someone to be better.  I have been guilty of this myself at times.  We should focus more on method one if we want to inspire greatness and intensity in the largest number of people.  In my classroom the thing we use the most is analogies.  The Old testament is to Judaism as The Bible is to Christianity.  People have to see a connection that what they are doing has meaning in their lives beyond this moment and the next.  When we can do that as coaches and teachers we will see intensity because the students will care, want to learn and show enthusiasm, competitiveness and a desire to keep learning.

I'm not saying you have to teach a history lesson on the court but we can apply any sport to life principles if we just spend a little time thinking about it.  So I guess this rant comes down to 2 things for me if you want to inspire greatness or “intensity”

1. Show them how this applies to their life beyond this moment
2. Give them a reason to love the sport/class/etc.

Usually once you get number 1 done, number 2 takes care of itself.