Chapter 58 Pre-Game Preparation
Chapter 59 Visualization
Chapter 60 Take Enough Practice Before the Game That on Your First Shot or Swing You're Ready to Play
Chapter 61 Quiet Time Before Games

SECTION 7 - GAME TIME

Chapter 62 Playing Against the Weak Opponent
Chapter 63 Are You More Concerned about Somebody's Feelings than about Winning the Game?
Chapter 64 Playing Hard
Chapter 65 Play the Best, You'll Rise to the Competition Level
Chapter 66 Shaking Hands
Chapter 67 Puke or Place
Chapter 68 Five Situations that Will Determine Whether You Win or Lose In the Close Game
Chapter 69 Are You Hungry?
Chapter 70 Time, Score, Momentum
Chapter 71 Anyone, Anyplace, Anytime
Chapter 72 Feeling Loose - In the Zone
Chapter 73 Finish Your Masterpiece
Chapter 74 Know the Playbook

SECTION 8 - LEADERSHIP

Chapter 75 Be a Leader on the Court
Chapter 76 Making Others around You Better
Chapter 77 Help Your Team Win Anyway You Can
Chapter 78 Why We Wear #3 and #1

SECTION 9 - COACHING & MENTORING

Chapter 79 My Wife Says Let Them Learn From Their Own Mistakes
Chapter 80 A Father's Job
Chapter 81 You Are Your Most Important Coach
Chapter 82 Know Yourself, Trust Yourself
Chapter 83 Four Years
Chapter 84 Stay Out of Trouble
Chapter 85 A Prophet is Not Known in his Own Town
Chapter 86 Jealousy Has Killed More Championships than any Other Disease
Chapter 87 Familiarity Breeds Contempt
Chapter 88 Reward Excellence or Excellence is Lost
Chapter 89 Becoming Great - Overcoming the "Wait Your Turn" Attitude

SECTION 10 - DEALING WITH YOUR COACH & TEAMMATES

Chapter 90 The Coach is Always the Most Valuable Player
Chapter 91 You Are Interviewing For Your Next Job Everyday
Chapter 92 You're On the Bench… How to Get Off of It
Chapter 93 Leave No Doubt in the Coach's Mind
Chapter 94 Poor Coaches Want the Credit, Good Coaches Want to Win and Get Everybody Involved
Chapter 95 It's Time to Meet with Your Coach or Boss
Chapter 96 Be Appreciative and Say Thank You
Chapter 97 Your Coaches Confidence When You Fail
Chapter 98 Leaders Develop Relationships Before they Reprimand
Chapter 99 Don't Talk About Your Teammates or Your Coach Behind Their Back
Chapter 100 Starting Seniors and Senior Phase Out
Chapter 101 Rarely Have I Seen a Parent Change a Coaches Mind
Chapter 102 Ladder 49
Chapter 103 Be a Great Teammate
Chapter 104 Don't Let Your Parents Call the Coach

SECTION 11 - BE A WARRIOR

Chapter 105 What is a Warrior and Why I Love Them
Chapter 106 My First Warrior
Chapter 107 The Cantigator
Chapter 108 Life is an Hourglass
Chapter 109 There Are Two Kinds of People
Chapter 110 Competitive Warfare

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"It takes talent to become great,
but desire is the most important."
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Chapter 23 -Twenty Minutes in the Morning

Twenty minutes in the morning! If I could go back to high school and junior high and know what I know now I can't imagine how much better an athlete I would be. One of the things I would do differently is I would set my alarm clock 20 minutes earlier and get up and do some kind of work out each day. It might be a two or three mile jog; it might be juggling a soccer ball; it might be working on some special shots in basketball, doing some receiver routes for football or jumping rope; but I would put in my 20 minutes every day.

Twenty minutes of extra practice time multiplied by 365 days a year is 7,300 extra minutes, or 121.6 extra hours of practice. Assuming a typical practice lasts an hour and a half, that is like getting in 81 extra practices per year. Considering the fact that a normal season is approximately 3 months long, and you only practice 5 days a week, then 5 days a week times 12 weeks would be 60 practices a season. So, by creating those 81 extra practices a year, you're basically getting an extra season and a half of practices just by working on your own. I can assure you that an extra season and a half of practices will make almost anybody better than someone that doesn't put in the extra time.

Success is a choice; being great is a choice; and the choice is yours. The question is, are you really willing to pay the price for success? If you go back to chapter one you will see that on the Wall of Fame, the seventh honoree is Jesus and under his name it says "Are you willing to pay the price for success?" More than anything else in life, it is your desire and your ability to be disciplined to pay that price that will make you successful.

On the next page you will find a true story about Ron Burton who was a football player. This true story is told by Oscar Rowan, an All-Pro tight end for the Cleveland Browns. I think you will find that Ron was lucky--he had a coach that believed in him early enough and gave him the challenge early enough to make him great. I hope that you will take the Ron Burton Challenge as well and that you have read this book early enough that it could really help you.

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Leadership is doing what's right
when no one is watching.
- George Van Valkenburg
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Chapter 51 - Corner Cutters

The world is made up of corner cutters. It could be your spouse, your coworkers, your boss, your friends, your family, and yes, yourself. We all have been corner cutters at times, trying to make things a little easier on ourselves. Whether it's not making up your bed right or studying just to pass the test and not to ace it, or running eight laps around the gym and cutting the corners, being a corner cutter is no way to get through life.

When we run laps at Mighty Bluebird Field, if I catch one person cutting a corner even by a step I make the whole team redo the laps. When we're running line drills, I require each athlete to touch the line on the turn and on the starting line. If anybody misses touching that line even by one inch I make the whole team start over and rerun the line drills. Why do I make such a big deal out of inches and cutting corners? I do so because in sports that's often the difference between winning and losing. Hopefully it teaches the kids a more important lesson in life.

In business being a corner cutter can be even more serious than in athletics. Can you imagine corner cutting if you were an airline pilot, an airline mechanic, a sky diver, a taxi cab driver, a neurosurgeon, a heart surgeon, or had any other job that might involve someone's life? Certainly we don't want corner cutters when it comes to those professions. Even if you're working in the financial world--let's say you're an investment broker, an insurance agent, or a bank loan officer-if you cut a corner you could end up with a commitment unfulfilled and a lawsuit soon to follow. I can tell you that as the employer of 30 employees at The Hatcher Agency I know who my corner cutters are, and I know the ones who will absolutely never cut corners. When I have a huge prospect or client that I want to make sure is taken care of, you can be sure I don't give that case to the corner cutters. In fact, corner cutters don't last very long at The Hatcher Agency. If you've ever cut the corner on me just one time, it causes me not to trust you for a long, long time with my most prized clients. All clients want to know that they can count on you to do it right when nobody's watching, to execute, and to not cut any corners when taking care of their client.

This next sentence may be the most important sentence in the book if you could remember it the rest of your life. If you will agree not to cut corners and to do whatever you're doing to the best of your ability, and if you'll agree to take on whatever project you're doing and try to do it better than anybody else in the world then you will be a millionaire someday. I don't care what it is you're doing, if you become the best in the world at it, you'll become a millionaire. I don't care if you want to be a cook; I don't care if you want to be an aerobics instructor, a physician, a painter, a builder, a coach, an architect…if you absolutely refuse to cut corners and work to be the best in the world at your profession, you will be paid handsomely for it. Think about it…think of the best person in any possible industry and you'll find yourself a millionaire. Find that millionaire and you'll find someone who is not a corner cutter.

I teach my kids when we're in practice that it actually feels good to know you're not cutting corners, that you're running a little further than the other guy, that you're doing a little extra, and most importantly, that you're not cheating yourself. In the end, corner cutters will never be as satisfied with their life. Those who don't cut corners have the satisfaction of doing a job right, and that satisfaction stays with you for the rest of your life.

After reading this chapter I hope that as you go through your day you will notice the corner cutters in life. A building that hasn't been built to top notch standards, a person who is wearing a wrinkled shirt and hasn't taken the time to iron it, a limousine driver who doesn't take the time to roll out the red carpet, a man who doesn't take the time to open the door for a girl, you'll see corner cutters everywhere everyday. Just make sure you're not one of them and again, we'll see you at the top.

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Individual commitment to a group effort -
that is what makes a team work, a company
work, a society work, a civilization work.
-Vince Lombardi
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Chapter 102 - Ladder 49

If you've seen the movie, Ladder 49, you probably really enjoyed the high action film. I certainly enjoyed the action in the movie, but I loved the movie for a different reason. As a 44-year-old coach the days of my going to practice every day with my teammates are long gone. I miss being in the locker room and traveling on the team bus, eating on the road, spending the night in hotel rooms, and most importantly going to battle on the field together. Those days will go by for most of you in four years of high school. A select few of you will get another four years in college, and one in 100,000 of you may get to participate in professional sports. Some of you may play team tennis or adult softball or some other sport which will prolong your participation, but it's not the same once you get out of organized sports.

What I loved about Ladder 49 was the camaraderie involved in being a fireman. Those firemen lived together; they shared their lives together, and bonded just like teammates. Their commitment to each other is even greater than that of a football team in that they're not just playing a game; they're risking their lives for each other and for the public. By coaching I feel like I get to have some relationship with the athletes and the other coaches, but Ladder 49 reminded me those beautiful years of time spent together on a team vanish quickly. Don't waste the opportunity to give it your all and participate in sports while you have the chance. You will develop some of your greatest friendships during these times that will last a lifetime. I've always said your best friendships are forged when you're doing battle together fighting for a common goal. I still know the people that I can truly count on in the crunch based on the way they responded when we played sports together and they are still my very closest friends.

Between the Ears

Table of Contents

SECTION 1 - PHILOSOPHY

SECTION 2 - ORGANIZATION AND PREPARATION

SECTION 3 - PRACTICE

SECTION 4 - ATTITUDE

MOTIVATIONAL POEMS AND STORIES

SECTION 5 - NEGATIVE WIZARDS

SECTION 6 - PRE-GAME

SECTION 7 - GAME TIME

SECTION 8 - LEADERSHIP

SECTION 9 - COACHING & MENTORING

SECTION 10 - DEALING WITH YOUR COACH & TEAMMATES

SECTION 11 - BE A WARRIOR