WEB-B-LOG - Blog #10 - 2/24/09
To our senior Kristi Taylor and all the seniors around the nation!
Beginnings and Ends are what people live for – Think about it for a minute – Movies, Dates, Dinner, Class, Vacation, Sporting Events, Life, and the list can go on and on. As a human we get excited about the unknown and once it’s known we are ready to move on to the next unknown. Anticipation of the unknown is why people dream, work hard to fulfill their dreams, and are always looking for the next beginning after the last end.
Kristi is probably looking into the next unknown – ready for a new beginning after graduation – So what am I getting at? I didn’t get to coach Kristi for four years because I arrived just before her senior year so I want to do some catching-up -
We’ve all heard the saying, “it’s about the journey not the destination” – “life is about the dash on our head stone, what we did between those two dates that really matters”. So here’s what I’m trying to tell you Kristi Taylor, your teammates, and seniors around the nation–
#1 – Beginning and Ends aren’t over-rated
Think about all your firsts in life – 1st - day of school, of practice, etc – then think of last – Graduation, Senior Night, etc. They should both make you smile, laugh, and cry!
#2 – Enjoy everyday
Enjoy the beginnings – the nervousness of the unknown – the excitement of a fresh start – but enjoy the journey also – This is where you become you – where you shape your future – you mold the clay – the middle may be more important – it shapes how your next beginning and end will happen!
#3 – Dream Big
Don’t just dream – but MOVE – attack your dream head on and when it doesn’t seem to be going your way – push harder than you did the day before -
#4 – Hold onto your dreams
Don’t get easily discouraged or quit – Lance Armstrong has a great quote in his book – It’s not about the bike – “Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever.”
#5 – There is no such thing as failure unless you quit or don’t give 100% everyday
Where we get in trouble in life is judging ourselves by someone else’s bank account, college degree, neighborhood we live in, etc... If you give everything you have everyday then it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks – because you will succeed over the long road of life.
#6 – Life is full of lessons
Keep your eyes, mind, and ears open – Life is always teaching you a lesson – the day you’re in trouble is the day you think you know it all – Life will teach you hard lessons – Humility, Servanthood, Suffering, Patience, and this list goes on.
#7 – To receive you must give first with no strings attached!
To be respected you must give respect first – to be trusted you must give trust first – to have great friends you must be a great friend first - to be loved you must give love unconditionally first – easy to understand, hard to do!
#8 – Do something in your life that you never thought was possible!
Skydive – Run a Marathon, an Ironman – Fly a Plane – Climb Mt. St. Helens – Write a book – Find a huge challenge and conquer that impossibility – you can’t imagine the feeling inside!
Kristi – as most of my former players know I could go on and on but this blog must end so I will leave you with a small list of must read books and one of my favorite quotes!
Must reads –
John Wooden - Wooden – A lifetime of observations and reflections on and off the court
Lance Armstrong – It’s not about the bike
Dale Carnegie – How to Win Friends & Influence People
Stephen C. Lundin, Harry Paul, and John Christensen – FISH
The list is endless if you want more!
“Every day you may make progress. Every step may be fruitful. Yet there will stretch out before you an ever-lengthening, ever-ascending, ever-improving path. You know you will never get to the end of the journey. But this, so far from discouraging, only adds to the joy and glory of the climb.”
Sir Winston Churchill
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WEB-B-LOG - Blog #9 - 2/18/09
Athletics – Some bad – A lot Good!
Last week was a very productive and rewarding week for our players. All the hard work finally paid off with a huge win at home in front of our loyal fans. It felt so good to see our players battle through adversity in the 2nd half and come away with a win. The locker-room was full of smiles and cheers; it was a good day to be an Aggie.
With all the talk right now on the national sports scene about steroids in baseball, football players shooting themselves, and selfish millionaires worried about their next paycheck before they worry about helping their team win on the field of play- sports is getting a negative rap and maybe it should.
Then again – Maybe NOT! I mean maybe not all sports; College athletics has so much going for it and we need to grab hold and enjoy the daily triumphs.
Nationally
Kay Yow Cancer Fund -This week is a big week for women’s basketball and their fight against breast cancer – you will see Pink all over the court – the women’s teams across the nation are wearing pink for breast cancer awareness.
Coaches vs. Cancer –On the men’s side of the ball - Coaches vs. Cancer has raised nearly $40 million since the inception of the program to support the American Cancer Society.
Locally here at Cameron
United Way – I believe almost every team this fall participated in the United Way work day all across Lawton. It was a great team building and community building experience for our team.
Goodyear Walk – Our team this fall participated in a walk at Goodyear to help get local youth out and active in the community. Seeing the smiles on the young kids running with our players was awesome.
Boys & Girls Club – Many of our teams helped the Boys & Girls club this winter – clean, paint, and play with the kids at the club.
Salvation Army – Coaches and Staff in our athletic department rang the bell to help the Salvation Army during the Christmas season.
And more . . . .
Marian Wright Edelman once wrote, “Education is for improving the lives of others and for leaving your community and world better than you found it.” – Here at Cameron, like many other colleges across the nation, we are working hard to give back to the communities that give so much to us.
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WEB-B-LOG - Blog #8 - 2/9/09
FINDING YOURSELF!
It is 6pm on February 7, 2009, I’m sitting in my office after another loss – All kinds of thoughts are going through my head – my emotions have feelings that I can’t explain and certainly have never felt before. Losing is a hard thing to handle and changing a culture is a difficult task to start with, but when other factors that you can’t control delay or slow the process it becomes very frustrating!
So you ask questions – look for answers – SELF-EXAMINATION – Wonder why me (this question never helps solve anything) – why now – wonder why this team – and you ask these questions over and over in your head until you get sick of asking them – than you find new questions – better questions – less self pity and more self-growth – How is the shaping me as a person? As a coach? As a husband – father? How can I take this experience and move forward with more force than I had the day before?
These are the right questions to ask yourself – What can I do today to move this program one step closer to our goals? – asking the right questions and finding the right answers is the key to success over the long haul.
There are a ton of quotes that fit the situation our players and staff are feeling right now – here are a couple that I really like!
From the “Wooden” Blue Book
I am not what I ought to be,
Not what I want to be,
Not what I am going to be,
But I am thankful that
I am better than I used to be.
Or
Quotes for Coach Mike Krzyzewski
"I define passion as extreme emotion."
"When you are passionate, you always have your destination in sight and you are not distracted by obstacles. Because you love what you are pursuing, things like rejection and setbacks will not hinder you in your pursuit. You believe that nothing can stop you!"
I believe these quote hit home and hopefully they hit home with everyone reading this blog –
So I will leave you with a sum of my thoughts!
“Find passion in your soul, be committed to being better today than you were yesterday, and don’t let any distractions get in your way of your passion.”
There may only be 6 games left in the regular season but I can tell you right now we will push forward toward of goal of being a program of Champions!
P.S. – It’s a boy! :)
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WEB-B-LOG - Blog #7 - 1/26/09
Blog Blog Blog
I’m sure everyone is tired of hearing about our “TEAM” or what I’ve been doing lately – so I thought we would have some real fun with the team this week – I asked the team to come up with some funny moments so far, some events that stick out, or even some behind the scenes moments that you – the reader could get to know our team a little better – So here’s a couple –
Senior Point Guard
Kristi Taylor – at least we think she is – the reason that I say that is every day before practice Kristi is out there on the court playing one-on-one with Kristi Taylor - dribbling behind her back, between her legs, and shooting jumpers – well every once in a while you’ll see Kristi jogging after her ball all the way to the other end of the court and I’ll ask her – “Kristi what happened – how’d the ball get all the way over there?” – Kristi will calmly look at me and said, “Coach, I got fouled.” – Since Kristi is playing one on one by herself – I’m guessing she is officiating too.
Cameron’s American Idol Contestant
Contestant #1 – Caeti Radley - Hard working kid that smiles everyday unless she is about to screen you or block you out – Caeti is the singer in the group and every team has one - the only difference is Caeti really isn’t a singer – She knows every song on the radio but that doesn’t mean her vocal range is from Beyonce to Taylor Swift to Blondie! Amber Schroer might pass Caeti up as our Next Cameron American Idol – she’s working hard every day singing back-up for Caeti!
Funniest Home Video
Coach Lowe is a little afraid of heights and since the entire team was walking across a bridge in Colorado that was 1000 feet above the canyon base Coach Lowe was a little scared to say the least – I believe his knuckles are still white from squeezing the side of the bridge as he slowly slide his way out there – then came the PICK-UP TRUCK – that was it – the bridge started to sway and the wooden boards under our feet started to make those fun creaking and cracking noises – Coach turned and ran for the edge about as fast as cat being chased by a dog – BIG DOG!
Warm Scarves
Packing for our trip to Colorado we talked about packing warmer clothes – So Caeti packed her every homemade scarf that she had in Lawton – She packed every color, every length, every width, and every material scarf and she packed them all – Before we left Lawton the whole team was picking on her for packing all these crazy scarves but when we arrived at the Royal Gorge and it was 30 degrees and icy – Caeti started to open her bag to grab a scarf for herself – the entire team ran to her asking to borrow one – I think Caeti had the last laugh!
See ya next week!
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WEB-B-LOG - Blog #6 - 1/15/09
Well we’re back from Christmas break and school has started – Most players and coaches love Christmas break because you get some downtime at home to recharge and then get back to two-a-day practices (players are like pro’s – just eat, sleep, lift, running, and play – NOTHING BETTER!) Over the break we went on the road shorthanded and played really well – winning at Eastern New Mexico and battling a very good Top 20 West Texas A&M team –VERY PLEASED! - Now we start LSC (Lone Star Conference) North play which is what all the HARD WORK is about – Competing for a birth at Bartlesville – (Conference Tournament) –
Over the past 2 months our program has been through a whirlwind of emotions, trials, and some more trials –we have lost 2 kids to knee injuries, 1 kid to a back injury and possibly another, plus we only started with 10 players – so what does a new coach think about the situation –
MEET FORCE WITH MORE FORCE
NEVER LOSE HOPE
WORK HARDER TODAY AND TOMORROW WILL TAKE CARE OF ITSELF
Abe Lincoln had it right when he said, “Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any one thing.” He had it totally right!!!!! Resolve can only be revealed in tough times – Anyone can smile, say and do the right things when life is going their way but the true spirit of a human comes out when tough times hit and not just once but over and over – how does that person respond?
I know how we will respond – and it’s going to be fun ride – finding your spirit is what life is all about!!!!!
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WEB-B-LOG - Blog #5 - 12/17/08
“Tis the Season”
This is the best time of year – college football bowl season, basketball is on every sports channel you can find, final test are over for our players, there is a little chill in the air (even in Oklahoma this morning), Christmas cookies, and a little snow on Christmas morning wouldn’t be all bad.
Christmas break is such an important time for our team and its development – This is the time when individual players have the opportunity to work on their game a ton. With classes over and just hoops on their mind it’s a great time to get extra ball-handling in, extra shooting in, and even extra conditioning. You can always tell when the players get back from Christmas break what they did on those days off with their family and friends. It’s easy to see how important their individual success is and the success of their team, because it will be evaluated over the next three weeks on how much work they put in during this time. There are always a few who run tons, a few who run some, and a few who run none. Always remember this – EITHER YOU ARE GETTING BETTER OR GETTING WORSE YOU NEVER STAY THE SAME– IF YOU AREN’T DOING SOMETHING TO PROGRESS - YOU JUST REGRESSED! – you have all heard this quote but I don’t’ think it ever gets old –
EXCELLENCE – “Excellence is the result of caring more than others think is wise, risking more than others think is safe, dreaming more than others think is practical, and expecting more than others think is possible.”
Since I won’t be blogging again ‘til after Christmas, I better put in my Christmas wish list:
#1 – Gina get’s everything she wants and more for Christmas (happy wife is happy home)
#2 – Runners – hopefully our player’s condition big time over the break so we don’t have to when we get back
#3 – Safe Travels for everyone that is heading somewhere over this holiday season
#4 – An Elf for Craig Martin (SID) – that way he doesn’t have to do all the little stuff like posting this blog
#5 – Rest & Peace for all our Military around the world – Mr. Rundles the whole team is thinking about you
#6 – Jump Stops – All 5 in a stance - Rebounds – Baskets – Perfect Passes – Steals – Assists – did I say Baskets – Healthy Players – tons of foot odor spray & home games – I wouldn’t be a very good coach if I didn’t at least ask for those things!
Enjoy your holiday season and Merry Christmas!
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WEB-B-LOG - Blog #4 - 12/10/08
“Home At last”
After a long week on the road and returning at 6am Sunday morning from Kingsville, TX – I was thinking about what to write about this week – The trip? Our game? Up-coming finals? – What would be interesting, entertaining, and give some perspective on our season. Gina and our players would probably say nothing I wrote could be any of those things - but I’ll try.
Willie Nelson’s song “On the Road Again” had it all wrong. In the song he wrote – “On the road again – just can’t wait to get on the road again.” – I can’t believe that any of our players or coaches feels that way – We were on the road for a total of 3100 miles from Nov 15th -Dec 7th – and with a new group of players going 3-3 over that span is not bad. We saw things like – double OT winners – after the buzzer losers – snow – Pike’s Peak – turnpikes – sand – Gulf of Mexico & “White Boy” from I love New York (of course our players know who that was in an instance).
Being on the road the 1st month of the season can sometimes make or break your season – if you don’t have tough players that won’t battle, you could easily use the road as an excuse for a slow start or even a bad start. We don’t believe in that – we don’t believe in EXCUSES –
In today’s world it’s so important to teach our players words like – servant hood, humility, toughness, team, discipline, courage, pride, accountability, family, failure, poise, believe, trust– I could go on for a long time about each of these and more – society just doesn’t demand excellence anymore but in athletics we can teach excellence – learning to hold yourself to a higher standard of living -
One way to help our players understand the meaning of these words is by using the “blue” John Wooden book as a reference and to help our players understand the strong correlation between basketball and life. We use the “Wooden” book to help teach– in the book there is a page with - TWO SETS OF THREES – (all our former players – you can turn to page 6) as a corner stone of our program and our teachings –
1st Set of 3 2nd Set of 3
Never Lie. Don’t Whine.
Never Cheat. Don’t Complain.
Never Steal. Don’t make Excuses.
The 1st set of 3 may seem like a no brainer to you and to our players but the 2nd set of 3 is something that every one of us has to remember. We all have a tendency to whine, complain, or make excuses for not getting the results we are suppose to. Teaching our players daily through words, actions, and constant reminders our players soon understand to “raise their personal bar of standards” to a new height and that is when a team of individuals unites and become special! Together We Will get it done! No EXCUSES!!!!
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WEB-B-LOG - Blog #3 - 12/2/08
Thanksgiving Week –
Another fast week arriving back on campus from Colorado late Sunday night, turned around and traveled to Wichita, KS to play Newman University on Tuesday. It was going to be a good test to see if the team would be resilient and show toughness. They did. We started a little slow but battled and survived with a road win. After the game, it was vacation time for our players; we took 5 days off for thanksgiving. I’m sure if any coach is out there reading this they just said, “WHAT, he gave them 5 days off in the middle of the season.” – remember basketball is by far the longest season really starting in late August with skill work, conditioning, and weights ending in March – which is about 7 months of continues training with no real downtime – so we gave our players some time to go home, recharge, and reflect on all the things in their life to be thankful for – (hence it is thanksgiving)
Recharging and reflection are good things and needed especially during such a busy time of year. Recharging is the easy one to do – My wife (Gina) and I spent our 1st Thanksgiving Day starting Thanksgiving Day traditions –
Traditions
#1 – Sleeping In – I believe that was her vote!
#2 – Thanksgiving day Wal-Mart run – It’s sad but true we all knew Wal-Mart would be open to pick up any last minute thanksgiving day dinner supplies like the 5 gallons of cooking oil we needed – that story is still to come
#3 – Movie Time – We went to “Four Christmases” – again her vote – I wanted to see the “New Bond” movie but Gina has to watch enough of sports, game film, and more games this time of year so a little laughter was good for the both of us.
#4 – Tom Try Not to Burn Down The House – We deep fried a turkey – my vote - Might I say – “Unbelievable” – if you’ve never deep fried a turkey you must tried it at least once – (this is where the 5 gallons of oil was needed) – Thank god for Gina or our house would’ve been covered with bubbling grease and turkey. It’s amazing how fast you can cook something in 5 gallons of 400 degree oilJ
The Best Tradition of All
#5 – Reflecting on what we are thankful for! I’m not going to get into my list – it would be too long and Gina would be annoyed with me.
Hope everyone enjoyed their turkey day and got some much needed down time.
P.S. – Shout Out to my Little Bro “D” he turned the big “18” on the Nov. 26th!!!! Happy Birthday!!!!!
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WEB-B-LOG - Blog #2 - 11/24/08
Wow, it really is going to be a year to remember – We are on the plane right now, flying from Colorado Springs to Lawton. It was another weekend and another split – no OT but that doesn’t mean we didn’t have excitement.
We landed in the Springs on Thursday around noon, got our SUV’s and off to the Royal Gorge. We arrived to icicles hanging from the road signs and frost coming from every breath that we took. Bobbi Coleman, our lone freshman from Phoenix, bundled up like she just landed on the North Pole. After everyone on our team got some extra layers on, we were off to see the Royal Gorge Bridge (the world’s highest suspension bridge) – the bridge had a thin sheet of ice covering it so the team was slipping and sliding all over – Whitney (Null) got all excited like she does and ran out on the bridge and the next thing we know Whit was sitting on her back-side! Once Coach Lowe saw Whitney eat it, that was enough for him to call it quits and walk back to safety. (At least that’s his story – I think the team may have another one – he’s a LITTLE afraid of HEIGHTS!!!!) All in all it was a great start to a fun trip.
Once we arrived to Pueblo – it was all business; our kids did a great job of preparing and competing for 80 minutes this weekend. We escaped with a 77-67 win over New Mexico Highlands, both teams really played hard. We also had a surprise visitor in the stands – a former player “Z” from Northwest College came down from Laramie, WY to watch the Aggies. On Saturday, we decided to play really hard but we left our shooting touch in the locker-room for the entire 1st half. Our team decided to bring it with us the 2nd half and attempted a comeback but ran out of time. CSU-Pueblo is a very good team and it was another good early season road test.
 Sunday morning came and it was time to head back to Lawton, OK, but before we did we decided to drive up the Pikes Peak Highway and visit the Garden of the Gods. We got a beautiful day, 65 and sunny. We drove as far as the Pikes Peak Reservoir got out took a couple pictures and traveled back down to the Garden of the Gods.
After traveling with our team 2 weekends in a row – I made a checklist of things to bring on every road trip.
1. Bottle of Aspirin – for the driver and passenger of the car that has the “singer” in it!
2. Another bottle of Aspirin – for all the players with the bumps, bruises, and concussions
3. A leash – for some of our players cell-phones – they have tendencies to misplace them
4. GPS – anyone that has ever been on a trip with me – we like U-turns
5. Febreeze – Basketball ball shoes can take on their own special smell – some players shoes can be detected within a 50ft radius
Well, we have a short week ahead of us, Newman University on Tuesday and than our team gets a much needed rest from the road. Enjoy Thanksgiving with family and friends
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WEB-B-LOG - Blog #1 - 11/18/08
Hello, from the office computer here at Cameron University in Lawton, Oklahoma. We’re going to start a little blog from yours truly (Coach Tom Webb – Head Women’s Basketball Coach). I’m ready to share all my great thoughts (LOL) with cyberspace and all the AGGIES out there! In the blog, I plan on talking about some of the experiences throughout the season, up/downs, and everything in between. Also I would like to have a little Q/A at the end of the blog, so if you have any questions about our team, coaching, or just want to pick the brain e-mail me at my Cameron e-mail address (twebb@cameron.edu) and I will try to answer a question or two at the end of the blog.
Right now, I wish I was taking a run up the Wichita Mountains or kayaking at one of the nearby lakes. Instead I’m breaking down film from this past weekend. I don’t know if my heart can take watching these films too many more times, but when I’m done I’ll hopefully get a run in before it gets too late. It’s Nov. 18th and the temperature right now 64 and it’s suppose to be 75 tomorrow. BOY IS THAT A NICE CHANGE!!!!!
Well, one week in the books and it’s already starting out like a year to remember. I’ve been coaching basketball for 11 years and I’ve never had an opening weekend, or any weekend for that matter, where both games we played ended in double OT & OT. I’ve never been in a double overtime game where the same player (Kristi Taylor) made the game tying or winning shot in regulation, overtime, and double overtime to win a game at the buzzer. What an exciting start to the 2008-2009 season. If this is how every game is going to be played, I’ll need a lot of Rogaine.
We travel to Pueblo, CO. this weekend to play two games. I’ll make sure that I take some great pictures of the Royal Gorge and Pikes Pike. Our players are very excited about seeing some snow, I don’t know if I am. I’m still wondering if the airlines will allow Rogaine on the plane because if it’s another weekend like last I will need a whole bottle.
Enjoy the weekend and I will report back next week hopefully with good news and lower blood pressure.
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