Sitting in a dorm room preparing for the first of three weeks of camp in the mountains of NC, there's only time for a quick post. In the recently released book, "Eleven Rings - The Soul of Success", great NBA coach Phil Jackson talks about how he knew the 2008-09 Lakers team had the seeds of greatness from the first day of training camp. The team would go on to post a season-record of 65-17 and would win the NBA Championship. One of the biggest differences Phil Jackson saw early in training camp was in star player Kobe Bryant. From the beginning of training camp that year, Kobe made a great effort to connect more closely with his teammates. In prior years, Kobe made little effort to spend time with his teammates. Jackson credited Kobe's effort as a major factor in forging a more cohesive team focused on something bigger than themselves, understanding that "what we achieve is bigger than what you can achieve".
The challenge for each of us is to think about what we as individuals contribute in the area of team cohesion. What efforts are we making to connect more closely with our teammates? And, are we as individuals more committed to the team achievements than we are to our own achievements?
Lastly, this is our last week of just easy aerobic running. The following week you should begin using the aerobic conditioning schedule contained in the summer notes. If you want to however, you could do an aerobic speed fartlek workout this Tuesday as a little extra credit and to get a little jumpstart on the training schedule.
The challenge for each of us is to think about what we as individuals contribute in the area of team cohesion. What efforts are we making to connect more closely with our teammates? And, are we as individuals more committed to the team achievements than we are to our own achievements?
Lastly, this is our last week of just easy aerobic running. The following week you should begin using the aerobic conditioning schedule contained in the summer notes. If you want to however, you could do an aerobic speed fartlek workout this Tuesday as a little extra credit and to get a little jumpstart on the training schedule.
