Culture of the Game

In this episode of the Culture of the Game Podcast Series, Matt and Edward sit down with three former Men's Basketball All-Americans to gather secrets about their preparation and mindset. Show Notes: 00:14 - Ingredients for success 4:35 - Influences on your game 8:15 - Approach to the game 10:50 - Advice to younger self 15:08 - Playing through mistakes 16:36 - Being in the zone 24:00 - Players creating the culture 25:10 - Doing the mental/emotional work Subscribe to the Youtube Channel, and to the Podcast on Apple or Spotify to get more content updates! Follow us on social media Twitter: @court_sessions, @matt_streich, @edward5789oak Instagram: @matt.streich See below for each All-American's accolades: Micah Elan, Pomona-Pitzer Colleges/Worcester Wolves (British Basketball League) - Program All-Time Leader in points scored (1,700) , assists, and 3s made - 2nd Team All-American - Conference Player of the Year - 16 3s in a 2-game stretch Marcos Echevarria, Nichols College - Program and Conference All-Time Leader in points (2,500) and 3s made - 2nd team All-American - Holds NCAA record for consecutive games with a 3pt make (105) - 3rd in NCAA history in total 3s made - Holds school record with 11 3s made in a game - 16th All-Time in NCAA D3 points scored - 2 time Conference Player Of the Year DeAnte Bruton, Nichols College - 2,000 point club - 4th team All-American - Scored 38, 40, 38 in 3 straight games in the conference playoffs - 1st Team All Northeast Region

The Culture of the Game is proud to partner with CourtSessions Basketball.  With this new partnership for Season 2, the Culture of the Game will expand from podcast audio into youtube and video formats as well.  This brief episode features new Culture of the Game Co-Hose, Edward LeBlanc, and touches on CourtSessions' pillars, values, and goal for changing the way basketball is taught and learned.

Coach Donnie Marsh currently serves as the Associate Head Coach for Men's Basketball at Florida Gulf Coast University. He has amassed over 40 years of college coaching experience at the Division I and III levels. College Coaching Experience: Franklin & Marshall (Assistant Coach) -- Elizabethtown (Head Coach) -- TCNJ (HC) --Florida State (AC) -- Virginia Tech (AC) -- FIU (HC) -- Indiana (AC) -- UAB (AC) -- Texas Southern (AC) -- South Florida (AC) -- Alabama A&M (HC) Coach Marsh was an inaugural participant in school integration following Brown vs Board of Education in the late 60s.  He is also founder of the HBCU Coaches Retreat powered by Athletes in Action.  Show Notes: 3:15 - Maintaining the family nucleus in a nomadic profession 7:30 - Raising a son in the game 10:20 - Lessons from starting as a college baseball coach 17:40 - Defining roles early, expanding roles 22:50 - Take aways from a decade coaching in Division III 26:20 - Social Justice conversations with student-athletes 31:30 - Participating in school integration, 1967 37:20 - The role of sports in continuing the conversation of equality 41:30 - Helping lead necessary conversations 47:00 - Growth from COVID 19 situation 49:15 - Evolving as an Assistant Coach 55:30 - Transitioning from Head Coach to Assistant Coach 58:00 - 3 most important qualities of a Coach 1:06:04 - HBCU Retreat via Athletes in Action "If we educate ourselves, and aren't afraid to ask the tough questions, we have a really good chance of getting this movement in a really good place." Social Media: Twitter: @Marsh9Donnie

Coach Alex Lloyd is currently a member of the Memphis Grizzlies organization as an Assistant Coach on the staff for their G-League affiliate, the Memphis Hustle. Show Notes 2:20 - Current state of the Hustle player development 8:40 - Developing players in partnership with the Grizzlies 12:10 - Conversations about roles with G-League players 17:30 - How the G-League helps you find a role 20:35 - Choosing which skills to develop "In the game, in the future, or too late" 25:30 - Developing skills for the future 29:45: Balancing 1 on 0 training with live game settings 33:00 - Philosophical shifts in development 36:30 - Midrange jumpers 42:30 - Role acceptance is tied to value of winning 46:30 - Commonalities of star players 52:00 - Mental development  57:00 - 3 important qualities of a coach   Quotes: 45:30 - "Guys will search for the voice that will fill the vacuum of their own ambition or uncertainties within the game" 49:56 - "Part of developing a player is developing one that is comfortable communicating -- standing up and communicating an idea."        

Coach Alex Lloyd is currently a member of the Memphis Grizzlies organization as an Assistant Coach on the staff for their GLeague Affiliate, the Memphis Hustle. Coach Lloyd, a Pomona College 2006 alumnus, is a former SCIAC Men's Basketball Player of the Year for Pomona-Pitzer Men's Basketball. He has also spent time coaching overseas for the Belize National team and in China, as well as stops with the San Antonio Spurs organization and Texas A&M University. Show Notes: 2:30 - Role of coaches in climate of social and racial inequality  7:00 - The role of sports 14:50 - Coach Lloyd’s international coaching experiences 15:00 - Belize 21:00 - China  24:40 - Choosing Pomona College 29:00 - Advice for high schoolers when choosing a college to attend 32:45 - How the Claremont Colleges prepares you for life after college 38:20 - How Pomona Pitzer basketball prepares him for life as a coach  43:40 - Returning to Pomona with the hustle  45:30 - The Back Abbey 45:45 - Heroes, The Press 46:30 - Commitment to individual improvement at the Division 3 level  Quotes: “Value the people where ever you go”

German Srulovich is an American basketball coach that has spent time working in the NBA, EuroCup, and Division 1.  In this conversation, we talk extensively about his time in Israel, as well as some non-traditional FIBA Concepts on both sides of the ball that are likely to make their way to the American game in the near future.

Coach Finnie is the Head Women's Basketball Coach at Houston Baptist University.  When she assumed the position in 2013, she made history as the first international ever to become a head coach in NCAA Division 1 College Basketball. 2:50 - Navigating Covid-19 with international students 5:30 - How school location/fit effects international recruiting 10:50 - Assimilation process from Day 1 14:50 - Making everybody feel valued 18:00 - Speaking "the same language" 23:30 - The prospecting process 25:00 - Recommendations for coaches who want to start recruiting internationally 27:30 - Making dreams come true 32:20 - Pros and Cons of recruiting international student athletes 34:00 - On court and skill level translation to the college game 39:00 - Societal context of the club model internationally 45:45 - Coaching the Scottish National Team 53:30 - Using visualization 52:15 - 3 necessary qualities of a coach 54:30 - WBCA International Chapter  

Tim Pederson is the Senior Director for College Partnerships at Opendorse. Opendorse is a Digital Marketing Company based in Lincoln, Nebraska that is currently partnered with over 10,000 students, major institutions, and professional sports entities all over the USA.  In this educational conversation, we talk about the examples of ways student athletes at all levels will profit using social media, what schools are doing to prepare for NIL, and how they can support their student athletes through the process.  Show Notes: 3:27 - The beginning of Opendorse 6:36 - Tim's role, relationship with schools and athletes 8:10 - Social media platforms used/benefits of Linkedin 10:40 - Defining Name, Image, and Likeness 13:08 - Examples of ways students will make $$ 15:44 - Educating, preparing schools and SAs 18:30 - Opendorse Ready Program 23:52 - How often should athletes be posting? 26:00 - Potential advantage for female athletes 27:10 - How to capitalize if you aren't the D1 "star quarterback" 32:10 - What are universities doing to get ready? 35:42 - The recruiting battle of the next decade 39:22 - Building a foundation/adjusting standards now 44:44 - Deciding factor for recruits? 46:30 - Tools/systems schools should have in place 47:58 - Compliance involvement 52:30 - Agent's involvment 57:37 - Coaches and Admin getting up to speed Links and Resources: opendorse.com @opendorse (Instagram and Twitter) @Timdpederson (Twitter)

Coach Scott Faucher is the Head Coach of Men's Basketball at Assumption University in Massachusetts.  In 2019, he was named to the National Association of Basketball Coaches 30 Under 30 List, while also leading the Nichols College Bison to their first ever Elite 8 Appearance. Empowering players to have a voice and ownership of their development/success has never been more vital to create buy in than in the culture of 2020. Scott is one of the best I have been around at organically creating that environment. This conversation is a deep dive into his philosophy and approach in that arena. Show Notes: 3:20 - Player development during quarantine 9:00 - Player creativity in the gym 10:30 - Refining coaching philosophy 14:10 - Balancing live play w/ skill work in practice 17:40 - Competitive development and decision making 19:00 - Perspective from growing up in basketball family 22:30 - Fostering relationships as a young head coach 24:20 - Using trust to fuel honest conversation 26:30 - Player ownership of the program 30:30 - Addressing a player who is having a tough time 32:50 - Challenges in developing relationships 34:00 - Creating the environment organically 37:30 - Peer to peer assessments 42:00 - Growth from friction 43:10 - Scott's 3 most important qualities of a coach 45:15 - Practicing patience 47:00 - Teaching younger age groups 48:25 - Book/Podcast Recommendations (Basketball Immersion, Culture Code, Leading with the Heart, Inner Game of Coaching) Quotes: 17:57 - "You're trying to establish a winning mindset with it where you are keeping score with every that you are doing, so you want everything to matter." 22:47 - "At the end of the day, no matter what you do, it has to be about your players. As a young head coach, that's magnified. If you make it about yourself, the players wont buy into that. You have to develop that trust with them." 25:40 - "I think its about giving the players a voice in your program first where sometimes you don't even need to be the one addressing certain issues...that's the ideal situation." 34:00 - "That ownership piece is not only for the players, but for everybody involved in the program..that could be the manager, assistant coaches, athletic trainers, strength staff...they have to know how important they are and feel like they have a voice in the program as well." 35:00 - "As much as possible, have things come from them. We hardly want to go into any meeting simply talking at the team." Social Media: Twitter: @CoachScoFaucher      

Coach Scott Waterman is the Head Coach at Academy of Art University in Downtown San Francisco. Scott spent 17 years as an Assistant Coach at the Division 1,2, and 3 levels before assuming his current position in 2019. This conversation is a reflection of his first year as a Head Coach. 3:00 - Morning runs for sanity and energy 6:45 - Proceeding during quarantine 8:30 - Take aways from coaching journey 10:30 - Becoming the ultimate decision maker 13:50 - Prepared vs over prepared 18:00 - Building relationships and recruiting to bring a new culture 23:00 - Using your players as a resource to evaluate a recruit 24:45 - Creating buy in with new faces 32:35 - Scott's 3 most important qualities of a coach Quotes: 5:40 - "the biggest thing I learned this year is as a head coach you cant have a bad day, you can't take a minute off" 11:20 - "that was the hardest thing, going from the assistant with all the answers to the guy with the ultimate answer" 28:00 - "they spend so much time with a basketball, doing stuff without a basketball, even for five minutes...is huge"

Adam is currently a Professor and Coordinator for Sports Science at the University of Vermont. This episode is from the archive in 2018, when Adam was working for the New York Rangers of the NHL as a Performance Analyst. Show Notes: 3:40 - Role of a sports performance analyst 5:45 - Quantifying physiological stress, role of heart rate 10:30 - Projecting stress levels, practice stress 13:00 - Communication with players 15:30 - Coaches' receptiveness to the science 19:00 - Balance point of optimum physiological performance 21:05 - Application to amateur athletics 25:30 - Youth specialization in sports 30:20 - When to start specializing 32:30 - Where the field is headed Quotes: 29:20 : "One would think that specializing in a single sport would increase your likelihood for becoming a pro in that sport....when it actually increases your susceptibility for injury and the likelihood that you'll drop out or get burned out by the sport, and decreases the likelihood that you'll actually become a professional in that sport" Social Media: Instagram: @Adam.Virgile

Ben Chase is an Assistant Coach on the Women's Basketball Staff at Army. In this podcast, Coach Chase discusses how his team departed from a traditional style of basketball practice and embraced small-sided games as their primary focus. Show Notes: 2:54 - Qualities of student athletes at Army 5:10 - Perspectives from coaching collegiate men's and women's basketball 10:14 - The "why" behind decision making/small sided games (@Noah Laroche) 13:34 - Maximizing participation and development in practice 16:24 - Coaching intent over execution 21:46 - Applying military adaptability to a growth mindset 22:14 - Playing with principles instead of rules 24:00 - Adjusting to small sided games 28:06 - Adding constraints/adjusting scoring values to emphasize shot selection 32:00 - Making practice intentionally sloppy 34:00 - Situations, not drills 36:38 - Getting more "real reps" Quotes 14:44 - "Fun is probably the most underrated part of the college athletics experience" 27:00 - "We feel good when it looks good..If you're really embracing this mindset and practice framework, every time it starts to look good, you have to make it harder so it looks sloppy again." 33:22 - "We want them operating in the zone of optimum performance" 37:32 - Real rep = a shot that has preparation, execution, and reflection Books Mentioned: "Mindset" "Team of Teams" Social Media: Twitter: @ArmyCoachB

This episodes provides an introduction to Squadz Inc., a revolutionary pickup sports app that currently features over 11k users, and is changing the way we play. Founder and CEO - Nikhil Panu @npanu32 Community Manager - Matt Bergland @mattbergland Marketing Associate - Micah Elan @shmeekah 3:00 - Inception of the idea 7:30 - Different runs for different levels 8:10 - Feedback and expansion 11:25 - "Make the world your playground" 12:50 - Pickup sports vs organized sports 16:20 - Pickup sports in a social context 18:20 - Squadz games vs adult leagues 19:50 - Squadz' commitment to on-demand access Instagram:@squadzteam and @squadzsf Twitter: @squadzteam Facebook: Squadz squadz.com play.squadz.com

Edward is the Founder of CourtSessions Basketball Academy, is a Director at Point Guard College, a national lecturer on Coaching Coaches, and trains basketball players ranging from middle school to the NBA Edward talks about his experience being a coach for coaches, learning through discovery, and shares stories from his experience working with young athletes and NBA talents Show Notes: 4:50 - Coaching coaches 10:00 - Managing confidence and ego 10:20 - Keep it moving (Kobe) 13:25 - Balancing positivity and discipline 15:30 - Learning through discovery/coaching through questions 20:45 - Building mental toughness 29:55 - Mentors (MJ story from Tex Winters) 36:00 - Ed's introduction to working with NBA players, a new approach to the game 42:00 - Building relationships with players 44:00 - Setting parameters for teaching 51:30 - Ed's 3 most important qualities of a Coach/Teacher Quotes: 19:20 - "If you want to be a good coach, you are going to have to be ok feeling like a bad coach often." 25:40 - "I'm committed to being more mentally tough, because I know I don't have some of the other separators people have." 27:00 - "If you're so overwhelmed with anxiety and fear, you're actually going to miss the lesson...Life will keep throwing you the same problem until you solve it." 34:00 - "Coaches need to speak truth, players need to accept truth, and change it. Truth is temporary" 39:25 - "If you love something enough...it's going to push you to the brink of quitting it" 44:00 - "Discipline and standards cannot be a moving target" 49:00 - "If you see the elephant in the room, you've got to go attack it" How to Reach Edward: @courtsessions edward@courtsessions.com edward@pgcbaskebtall.com @edward5789oak (twitter)

Kevin is the Founder of Kreation Talent Agency and represents professional basketball players all over the world. In Part 2, Kevin talks specifically about international basketball and what it takes to be successful as both a sports agent and a professional athlete in that realm. Show Notes: 1:40 - Sustainability and growth 4:38 - Creating relationships with international clubs 5:45 - Knocking on doors in Macedonia 10:00 - Differences in the international game 12:00 - Helping clients adapt to different style of play (Brandon Holloway) 14:40 - Expectations for American imports overseas 19:20 - Advice to clients going overseas (JoJo Cooper) 22:45 - Differences in coaching/leadership style 25:00 - Transitioning from college to being a pro 29: 00 - Advice to younger self: save money, do something you love 31:30 - @TimFerriss @SusanneCraig 33:00 - Misconceptions about sports agents 35:00 - Humility and avoiding comparison 36:20 - 3 necessary qualities of a sports agent Quotes: "Comparison is the thief of all joy" Kevin's Social Media Links: www.kreationtalent.com Instagram: kevintarca kreation talent Twitter: @KevTarca @kreationtalent

Kevin is the Founder of Kreation Talent Agency and represents professional basketball players all over the world. Kevin talks about his travels, creating your own sports agency, and building relationships with clients 4:00 - Food! 6:50 - Prepping clients for a new culture 9:00 - Creating Kreation, differentiation 14:00 - Building a network 20:24 - Learning from doing 22:50 - lessons in client recruiting 25:11 - The recruiting process 27:30 - Developing trust with potential clients 33:11 - Tough conversations and The NBA Talk Kevin's Social Media Links: www.kreationtalent.com Instagram: kevintarca kreation talent Twitter: @KevTarca @kreationtalent Quotes: "You Win Or You Learn" "It's not about who you know, it's about who knows you." "If I'm the hardest working or smartest in the room, than I'm in the wrong room"

Meg is is the Founder of the Meg Gaudreau Shooting Academy in Austin, Texas. She is also a Director at Point Guard College Meg talks about Point Guard College, her perspective as a female in the sports industry, her shooting academy, and the role of confidence. Podcast Notes: 3:00 - Point Guard College 9:05 - A Female Perspective of the industry 14:40 - The Meg Gaudreau Shooting Academy 16:45 - Teaching Confidence 20:30 - Dealing with slumps and failure 22:10 - Being in "the zone" 23:56 - Meg's game winning shot amidst her slump 25:25 - Peer Leadership 27:15 - Fatherly Advice 29:00 - 3 Qualities of a Coach/Leader Contact Meg: Twitter:gaudreau_megan Instagram: meggaudreaushootingacademy www.mgshootingacademy.com mgshootingacademy@gmail.com

Dr. DiBernanrdo has a PhD in Sports Psychology from Boston University He talks about his mindfulness and meditation work with athletes and coaches, as well as the application in the sports world. Show Notes: *Coaching is teaching -- 5:55 *Mindfulness pioneers in athletics -- 8:28 *EQ -- 10:00 *Rob's mindfulness program -- 10:50 *The student athlete's response -- 17:35 *Meeting challenge with support -- 19:35 *Concentration practice, applying mindfulness -- 21:29 *Flow/Being "in the zone" -- 22:50 *Why more teams aren't yet using mindfulness -- 26:23 *How it applies to coaches -- 30:05 *Implementing it into your culture -- 32:58 *Role acceptance and role clarity -- 35:43 *Peer leadership and team unity -- 40:12 *How to get started -- 44:08