Our guys have just finished their 3rd week of summer school, and two weeks from now this session will be over and they’ll be headed back home. While it’s important for us to be able to get together – and especially to get the freshmen on campus to get a head start academically – it’s also important that our guys get some time at home and get to enjoy their summer. I’ve learned a lot over the years about the value of separation. We are building a championship culture and the environment is certainly demanding. We want our guys to compete at a very high level when they get back in the fall, and we want to peak as a team in March. To do that, it makes sense that we all get away from each other for a bit during the summer.
When we met as a team at the beginning of June we talked about one simple goal for this summer session – to make it clear what was acceptable, and what was unacceptable, in our program. We have a lot of new faces in our program, and the foundation of our culture is the way we compete every day, both on the floor and off. Competing is perhaps the most important value in our program. It’s pretty easy to tell your guys you want them to compete, but we want to make sure we define it for our guys in behavioral terms. To get it right, we have to show them what competing looks like. Competing is being prepared for class every day, and being prepared for study hall to get your work done. Competing is making sure you eat right even when you have a very busy day scheduled with few breaks. Competing is giving a great effort in the weight room even when you are tired. We don’t just want our guys to hear the word ‘compete’ – we want them to see exactly what competing is. And not being ready to compete in our program is unacceptable.
The adjustment to college is always challenging for freshmen, and that’s where this summer session is really valuable. We have to face this challenge on a couple of different levels – first of all, we have a lot of newcomers, so we have a lot of new guys who aren’t really sure what to expect. But we are also still in the process of establishing our culture, and this is the first time we’ve been together in the summer as a team. Our returning players are still getting used to what is expected of them every day. So it isn’t as simple as just bringing in some new guys and dropping them into the culture of your team. We’ve made a lot of progress, but that culture is still a work in progress.
One thing that seems clear to everyone is the personality that has changed around our team. Our veteran guys have expressed how much fun they are having with the young guys, and tell us how the locker room is more fun and upbeat. We do have some great personalities on the team, and a lot of our veteran guys are just feeling comfortable letting their personalities come out a little bit. We’ve tried to encourage it as a coaching staff – we want our guys to be themselves. We’ve got great kids in the program, and the best way to get the most out of each other is to let those personalities come out.
