Values Of A Program

 

Commitment: Commitment, as it relates to a team is: “A pledge or promise to do something.” A true commitment is transforming. It transforms talk into reality. It transforms words into action. It transforms fatigue into tirelessness. It transforms obstacles into ideas and questions into answers. 

Pride: Pride is a personal commitment. Pride is the honest self-respect for having done your very best. Pride is an attitude that separates excellence from mediocrity.

Toughness: Being physically tough is important. However, mental toughness is one of the most vital factors necessary for success for anyone, or any group, in any endeavor. The ability to handle, fight through, deal with, adjust, adapt, process, accept, perform, and navigate all of the things one must face is in direct proportion to how much success is realized. Doing what is required of you at all times requires a degree of toughness. Doing it with your absolute best effort requires more toughness. Mental toughness requires you to do what is needed when the alternative is easier.

Selflessness: Understanding ones role, while always working to improve and upgrade that role is a part of selflessness. A player who is not a starter is always trying to work his way up the ladder, but while doing so he must help those who play ahead of him prepare for competition, ready himself for the role that he will play in the game, and do this with a positive, selfless approach. 

Accountability: Actions must be responsible and appropriate. Everyone must act, on and off the court, and be able to give satisfactory reasoning or explanation (or accounting) of our actions. Everyone is collectively responsible and accountable to each other.

Honesty: Honesty is an absolute must. Without honesty, trust deteriorates, and the effectiveness of the squad is diminished. Ultimately, there must be blind trust in one another that each person will carry their job, will always do their best, will cover each others back, and will tell each other the truth. 

Integrity: One of the first definitions of integrity is "complete, unbroken, whole." Further, it is described as, "honest, sincere, sound, principled." Both of these are key when you are part of any team. 

Responsibility: This is an absolute must, to be responsible. To be ready to assume your obligations and to be reliable and dependable when it comes to fulfilling those obligations. Responsibility means that you can distinguish between correct or incorrect action and willingly accept that you are accountable for your decisions and behaviors. 

Trust: When you are involved with a team, each team member must know that the others have their back and that they themselves have the backs of all the others. 

—The Coaching and Leadership Journal

Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success