I THOUGHT YOU WANTED TO WIN A CHAMPIONSHIP

Rookie Chicago Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau was recently named NBA Coach of the Year.

Successful coaching involves a lot of things but at the top of the list is motivating your players. You can train them all you want. You can get them in peak condition. You can design great plays, but all that is useless if you can’t motivate your players to make the extra effort required to separate them from everyone else.

Because in the final analysis, winning championships comes down to effort under pressure, performing at your peak when the stakes are the highest.

Coach Tibs showed he knew how to motivate players even before the season began.

Preparing for the season as a new coach with a young team required massive preseason activity. He had the players in the gym all summer, running plays, learning a new offense, learning a new defense along with endless conditioning drills.

Late one Friday afternoon, after a particularly strenuous day, he called out to his center, Yannick Noah to come back out on the court for some additional work. Yannick was not excited about the idea.

“Come on coach!” he said. 

“Its Friday night. Let’s go get a beer. Its time to relax.”

The rookie coach knew just what to say. He didn’t argue, he just said,

“I thought you wanted to win a Championship.”

Case closed. Back to the court.

The rookie coach showed at that moment he knew exactly how to motivate players.

The Bulls finished the season with the best record in the NBA and made it all the way to the conference finals of the playoffs.

Coach Tibs knew that the way to get the best out his players was to go for something great. When you’re going for a championship, you’ll pay the extra price because you know it’s going to be worth it.

If you want the best …out of people you are leading or even children you are raising then give them a Big Goal, something special to go for. 

Give them a reason to make a special effort, give them a championship to go for!