"The Will To Win Is Not Nearly As Important As The

Will To Prepare To Win"

February, 2007
The title above comes from an oft' quoted maxim in sports. It holds special
meaning for me, though, because it was often used in presentations by
Coach John Wooden, when he was Head Basketball Coach at U.C.L.A.

In the mid-70's, at the beginning of each season, I used to take my high

school teams down to U.C.L.A. to observe their practice and to absorb the
practice ethic Wooden and his staff elicited from the players. Everything
about each practice session was well planned, well choreographed and
drilled to perfection. Coach had everything on a 3x5 card, with each minute
planned. Not one minute was wasted and not one ounce of energy was
expended that was not part of Coach's plan for the practice session and the
next game. The influence of taking all this in for each of my players was
like an epiphany of sorts for some and nearly so for the rest. I took my
managers, stats keepers, the players and my young sons to "sit at the feet"
of the guru of Division I basketball--the winningest coach of all time.

What we learned was, in a 'nutshell', that they were champions because

they were talented, but even more importantly was that they practiced like
they wanted to be champions. They exuded the confidence of champions,
but worked like they were on a mission to prove themselves. They
practiced the "will to prepare to win".

When Coach Wooden came over to talk with us, whatever he said was no
less powerfully received than if Moses himself had brought the word down
from the mountain. When he told the players to work hard to be the best
they could be, by preparing like winners, and to listen and follow my (Me,
Coach Ronn) plan to become the best they could be--well, that cemented
my status in the eyes of our team. When my feet came back to the ground
and my hat size normalized, I had a lot of work to do to live up to the
responsibility and challenge Coach had tossed into my lap. For me, those
lessons set the stage for the teaching-coach I was to become. (And, I have
used 3x5 cards with my daily practice outlines for the 30+ years since
then.)

Nobody knows any more about winning than Coach Wooden. No one coach
has amassed the number of NCAA titles than Coach did while at U.C.L.A.,
nor as many in a row as his teams won.

Few people know that coach wooden spent nearly 2 decades coaching the
Bruins before they began winning NCAA titles. So, the adage about 'willing
to prepare to win' is underscored by all the years he spent preparing his
teams to be winners. The maxim he so often quoted was one he had
quoted for many years before his teams hit the big time.

When I came to know him, he was already through most of the winning
years, and unbeknownst to all of us, was winding down his tenure at
U.C.L.A. This was when Bill Walton was there finishing his collegiate playing
career. In fact, they both finished together--Coach to retire, due to his
beloved wife, Nell, being ill, and Bill because he was graduating.

None of my early basketball coaching “mentors” knew my name or would remember

me, but they influenced my early growth in becoming the teacher of the game into
which I evolved.

Their influence will be noted on many occasions within my soon to be published book,
"Basketball On A Triangle: A Higher Level of Coaching and Playing", but none more
than John Wooden, the winningest coach of all time.

Called the Wizard of Westwood, he fashioned U.C.L.A.’s ten NCAA championships

over a period of twelve years. His philosophic approach to dealing with the young
men he coached, more than anything else, gave me the foundation for later bringing
spirituality into my coaching.

In 1974, the summer before Coach Wooden retired from U.C.L.A., I was working at his
camp in Southern California and had the opportunity to ask him what other avenues I
might pursue to expand my coaching horizon. I told him that good high school
coaches were a dime a dozen and I wanted to be more than just a good high school
coach. I knew that one pretty much had to have played college ball and/or have very
good connections in order to break into the college ranks. Coach Wooden suggested
that I look into international coaching opportunities. From that moment, a whole new
era began for me.

Now, many years, games, countries and international miles later, I am the coach I
always aspired to be. No, I'm not even attempting to be Coach Wooden resurrected;
no one probably ever will be. But his example, his teaching, his philosophy gradually
seeped into every pore of my coaching body, mind and spirit.

I am a teaching-coach. I strive to bring a spiritual basis to my teaching for each

coach and player I work with, to be the best they can be, without having to be better
than someone else. I teach that everyone needs to take responsibility for
themselves. One has no control over how good another player or coach is, nor how
well they prepare. Each individual does, however, have control over how good they
are and how well they prepare. Winning is not about beating someone else. It is
about preparing well and being the very best you can be, regardless of the score. If
that sounds a little like Coach Wooden, well, I took notes from the master.

Coach Wooden was a three-time All-American player at Purdue U. Recently, their

alumni magazine conducted an in-depth interview with the living legend. Here is
where you can read the entire interview:

www2.itap.purdue.edu/periodicals/special/wooden/wooden.121006.transcript1.html

There are several sites you can click on, along side the picture of Coach Wooden,
which I found to be very interesting, including an enlightening sidebar article written
by Bill Walton.

www.billwalton.com/wooden.html

Thanks for sharing this space with me again. See you next month.
Yours in Sport & Spirit,

Coach Ronn