To us “winning” means always doing our best, as individuals and as a team. If we have done all that, we have “won” no matter what the score may be. “Win-Win” means that we have all contributed in some way, however small it may seem at the time, because basketball, like life, is made up of constantly new opportunities to learn and to do better.“Win-Win” means being successful with each other. But we know we cannot be successful with others if we haven’t paid the price to be successful with ourselves. Paying the price to be successful with ourselves means being responsible, beginning with the end in mind, and putting first things first. I cannot talk my way out of a problem I have behaved my way into. We cannot have the fruits without the roots. The most important thing we bring to the team is not what we say or what we do, but what we are.As a team, we are always making deposits in an Emotional Bank Account with each other. A deposit is when we do something for a teammate that helps them, by practicing hard and applauding our teammates when they practice hard, when we acknowledge a good act on the part of another teammate, when we are honest, courteous, and polite with each other, when we show a teammate how we depend on them, and when we show a teammate that they can depend on us. When we act in keeping with our values, we become self-aware and independent. That allows us to make meaningful promises and commitments to our teammates. When we are considerate and honest with our teammates we are acting with maturity. By doing that, we are paying our teammates a great compliment.We know that as a team there is plenty of everything for everybody – plenty of opportunities for each person to contribute in their own special way, plenty of ways to be a part of something that is special, this TEAM. We know that one person’s success ...
