America's Coach

2007-04-11T15:54:14Z

Life Lessons & Wisdom for Gold Medal Success: A Biographical Journey of the Late Hockey Icon Herb Brooks

Author: Ross Bernstein

My Take:

This book is phenomenal. I was able to get much more out of this book than almost every book I've ever read. I highly recommend it to everyone.

Rating:

6 Stars out of 5

Team Building

It's up to the coach to create an environment which has a high level of comradeship, at all times reinforcing team concepts stressing strength of association and the power that can be attained when working together. The team reflects your value system, your instincts, your philosophies, and it is just a matter of how well you can articulate it and sell it to your players.

Pg 52 Americas Coach

On Motivation

Motivation is really a combination of things. Obviously communication is very important. It is the ability to sell a concept. Sometimes it's the all important four words: 'ask questions and listen.' Coaching is selling. You're just selling Xs and O's and you're selling team building. So, to be a good coach you have to be a good salesman. You have to get your players to somehow buy into your system and your philosophies. That is the key. Players must know that you care about them. I am not a touchy-feely type of a person but I try to show my respect and caring for them in other ways.

Pg 53 Americas Coach

On Recruiting

You win with people, not with talent. So the quality of the people is very important in building your team. I always looked for people with a solid value system. Then I recruited kids from a cross-section of different personalities, talents and styles of play.

Pg 55 Americas Coach

On Winners

Winners in my opinion are those who are willing to make sacrifices for the unknown, both for themselves and for the team. Once you have that, then the results take care of themselves.

Pg 56 Americas Coach

On Motivation and Mental Toughness

Motivation and mental toughness go hand in hand. Personally, I hate to lose. At one point in my career I was more scared of losing than wanting to win. I still hate to lose, but my perspective and outlook has changed. My aim now is all about now, today. Alcoholics Anonymous tells us to take it "one day at a time," and whether you are in that group or not, it makes sense to apply that philosophy to sports as well. I try to keep events in their proper perspective, this helps my strength, energy and enjoyment in life. What I am doing is then easy, it flows, it's natural, it's the difference between a standard transmission and an automatic. Then, and only then do I perform my best.

Pg 58 Americas Coach

The Wall in Life Brings Us Joy

In the next few weeks, thousands of area high school seniors will place tasseled mortarboards on heads full of plans, dreams and schemes. How often do these plans work out? What effect does the great novelty of life beyond high school have on a graduate's hopes?

I think back to a question Peppermint Pattie once asked Charlie Brown. 'Do you know any good rules for living?', to which Charlie Brown answers: 'keep the ball low; don't leave your crayons in the sun; use dental floss every day; don't spill the shoe polish; always know before entering; don't let the ants get in the sugar; and always get your first serve in.' Confused, Pattie then wanted to know, 'Do they work? Will those rules give me the good life?' She isn't certain, even though what Charlie told her is conventional wisdom, what everybody already knows.

I am not so old as to have lost my memory of what must be surging through the minds of you who are about to step from the sheltered life of the student into active participation in the prime of your life. We all have anxieties, so what should we do? We should face them, head on. Let me ask you, have any of you ever been right up against the wall; and gone nowhere? What can you do? When every trick in the book has been tried; when every letter of the rule has been followed; is there anything else that can be done? Or is this it; is this the end? Is this wall the limit of possibility? Are we convinced that there is nothing more for us beyond this wall? Have we decided that there is no way through it?

All of us have been up against such walls before. Life is full of walls: between youth and adulthood; between college and our life's work; between people- children and adults, husbands and wives, and friends. History is full of walls. Moses and the people of Israel ran right up against the wall, as did their father Jacob before them. They no sooner escaped to freedom from Egypt when they ran up against the wall of water in the Sea of Reeds. There they were, the sea in front of them, the Egyptians in horses and chariots behind them. The people of the United States of America escaped to freedom from the old world only to run up against the wall in the new world of the Mason-Dixon Line.

Everyone must face such a wall, no one escapes. And finally, as for all of us, there lies ahead the wall of death. What is incredible about all this is that we know there is only one answer to the wall, and that is we must struggle to get through it. But most of us would rather do anything else than face that wall. And not one of us really wants to be there in the first place. How did the wall ever get there between husband and wife? What happened to the bright expectations that contrast so painfully with reality? How did the wall ever get there between parent and child? What happened to the dreams that were dreamed while bringing the child home from the hospital? What happened to the plans for raising the perfect child? What happened to the fun and joy anticipated at the beginning? And what happened to the dreams, plans and joy anticipated when first setting out on life's work?

Something has gone wrong. We know that. We know something is radically wrong. What a vast difference there is between the way life could be and the way it actually is. Yet that is the way life is, and has been from the beginning. And so the way lies ahead of us. We cannot force our partner to fit our dream of marriage, we cannot force our children to be what we want them to be any more than God could force us to stay in the garden. And so we work and struggle with the realities of life and the actualities of existence. That is our choice. Do we face the realities of life and struggle with the wall that stands before us, or do we turn away, refusing to go through the wall, refusing the struggle, refusing to face life as it really is? Of course it is easier to let things slide, to follow the path of least resistance. And yet there are two things we forget. If we decide to turn around again, the wall will still be there, bigger than ever. And if we do not face the wall, we may not see the trap door at our feet.

How difficult it is to have faith enough to run forward against a door-less wall up to the last fraction of an inch in the certain hope it will surprise us and let us through. But we cannot possibly know the door will open if we do not go all the way. The minute we stop, the second we decide that it cannot possibly happen, then the door never opens and we never know what is on the other side.

The 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team ran head on into such a wall. But they refused to stop and instead made the decision to go right through it. It was not that they knew they would win; they could not possibly know that. But they faced the realities of life. They knew how good the Russians were. They knew how badly the Russians had already humiliated them just a few weeks earlier. Beat the Russians? Impossible. Or was it? They knew they were young and inexperienced, but they refused to take the easy way out. They skated head-on against the wall, never once halting and deciding there was no way through; never once telling themselves that they could not win. No stress, no pressure; just joy and happiness.

And yet there is still one more reason. For we have to ask, why do we, or anyone, even start forward toward the wall at all. Because that is the way life begins. The will-to-live, the breath of life, the pull of possibility; we are the ones who decide whether to stop or keep going.

But why the wall, why the struggle? So that our joy may be full. There is no other way, but we never know if we stop before we go go through. So why struggle? And struggle: for what? Which is exactly what the Soviet team expected our team to think. But those kids had not made that decision. And neither should we. Or, are we going to lose out on such a great joy. That joy is peace of mind.

No, you probably will not be as good as you want, or be able to achieve everything you would like if one word is a part of your vocabulary- IF. IF I would have done this and IF I would have don that. IF has become America's disease, a mental cancer that has only one cure all: peace of mind. That is the intangible that will last and endure. And this value is more important than the game ore events that occasion them. It is as simple as that. Our philosophy should be simple. Nobody should convince us that we have ever accomplished enough.

Pg 60 Americas Coach

Values

You have to start with a sound value system, and you can't buy values.

Pg 66 Americas Coach

On Character

At elite levels of competition, coaches and managers are always looking for people with character, or what they call the 'intangibles.' What constitutes good character? I would say self managers who are motivated by challenges, are mentally tough and have good attitudes. All are important and complex, especially motivation and attitude. Those types of individuals, who are highly motivated and have a positive attitude, see possibilities in tough situations rather than obstacles.

Pg 67 Americas Coach

Details

My problem has always been that when people ask me what time it is, I want to tell them how to build a watch.

Pg 67 Americas Coach

The Olympic Games

The Olympic Games have taught me that obstacles exist to be overcome, to believe in a better tomorrow, and to make sacrifices for the unknown.

Pg 76 Americas Coach

On Leaders and Leadership

I don't know if there is any one real definition of a leader. Leadership is not a function of titles but of relationships. You have to wear a lot of different hats as a leader. There is a time to talk and a time to listen, and a good leader knows this. Leadership is a much debated topic. Leaders are visionaries. Leaders are not managers. Leaders give people something to believe in, then they've got something to belong to and then they have something to follow. That is a real key component of a good leader. Most importantly, leadership is the battle for the hearts and minds of others. It is not a spectator sport and it is not necessarily a popularity contest either. Leaders have to show good habits and have to display a sincere purpose and passion for what they are doing.

Pg 104 Americas Coach

On Goals

The joy, fulfillment and self satisfaction you receive when you accomplish another challenging goal is beyond description. It's the Ecstasy of sport. But the agony is just as real. You will and probably already have, experienced considerable frustrations and disappointment and doubt. The key is to know and understand that it's coming. That it's a necessary part of the progress. Don't run from it. Attack it. Fight it. Regroup, and shortly you'll break through, only to find yourself ever closer to achieving your goal.

Pg 111 Americas Coach

On Discipline

Have you ever wondered why certain people almost always succeed at whatever they do? High achievers seem to have a talent for thinking big. They have a sixth sense for knowing when and how to develop their ideas, and a driving ambition that gives them the confidence to do the right thing at the right time. How do these people achieve so much even though they appear to start with so little? The answer is simple, they are disciplined.

On the long, hard road to success, there is one characteristic alone that will determine whether you ever reach your goal. It is not intelligence. It is not talent. It is not luck. And it is not "who you know." It is plain old fashion discipline, but with a new modern day meaning - a meaning from locker rooms, board rooms, class rooms, and family rooms.

But befre I get into that definition, be assured that all the brains, inspiration and education in the world won't get you past the starting gate of achievement and self-fulfillment. With it, thre is truly no goal that is out of reach. Because self-discipline keeps you on the path to success no matter how long it takes or what obstacles may be thrown in your way.

In our quick fix society that aims for immediate gratification, many people think self discipline means suffering and self denial. Today, too many are looking for that short cut in life. Yes we have become a quick fix society, a "now" society. I want it now, what I see on TV because tomorrow is too late. If it feels good, I'll try it, relief is just a swallow away. Temptation resisted is the true measure of character.

Yet nothing could be further from the truth. Self discipline is what enables you to achieve life-long gratification through the rewards that come from the patient planning and realization of your most cherished goals. Though many people seem born wigh an iron will, self discipline is not an inherited trait. One sees it, learns it, witnesses it and feels it. Without a doubt it is the essential factor that lifts one man above his fellows in terms of achievement and success. It is his greatest capacity for self discipline.

Pg 112 Americas Coach

A Speech to Student Athletes

Let me start with issuing you a challenge: Be better than you are; set a goal that seems unattainable; and when you reach that goal, set another one even higher.

Let me first try to tell you 'Why you?' Because, my young friends, you are a select group, selected for physical prowess and tempered through hours of sweat and tears, and of wins and losses. You have exposed yourselves to the greatest laboratory of character available to young men and women of our nation in this day and age. For athletics teaches you: to be proud and unbending in honest failure; humble and gentle in success; not to substitute words for actions; not to seek the path of comfort , but to face the stress and spur of difficulty and challenge; to learn to stand up in the storm but to also have compassion for those who fall; to master yourself before you seek to master others; to have a heart that is clean; a goal that is high; to learn to laugh, yet never forget how to weep; to reach into the future, yet never neglect the past; to be serious, yet never to take yourself to seriously; to be captivated by an idea; to lose yourself in something bigger than you are; to be modest so that you will remember the simplicity of true greatness, the open mind of true wisdom, the meekness of true strength.

"For the cowards never started, and the weak died on the way." Because you are thus equipped, you have an obligation to your family, your school, yourself, your nation, and your god. And obligation that demands you take these lessons you have landed so dearly, and expand upon them. As William James once said, 'The great use of life is to spend it for something that outlasts it.' And, as Green Bay Packers Coach Vince Lombardi once said, 'Each man, whatever the degree of talent bestowed upon him, has a moral obligation, not only to himself but to society, to develop that gift to its utmost.

The only thing that makes you different from an animal is the fact that you are capable of dreaming dreams and seeing visions and following through to make them come true for something besides the selfish. Every one of you here is either part of the problem, or part of the answer as far as our nation is concerned. And now you say to me, 'All right, coach, I want to be part of the answer, what can I do?' What can you do? You can accept my original challenge: Be better than you are; set a goal that seems unattainable; and when you reach that goal, set another one even higher.

You now face a new world. A world of change. The thrust into outer space of the satellite, spheres, and missiles marks a beginning of another epoch in the long story of mankind. We're faced with a world that will require courage, determination, a fighting spirit and inspiration. These glowing objectives that once depicted the wonders of the All-American boy may now well become a requirement for survival.

Since the beginning of the history of man, 19 of 21 great civilizations have risen and died. They have all followed the same path. First, people in bondage, then a rise to spiritual faith. Then courage, liberty and abundance. Then to selfishness, to complacency, to apathy, to dependence and back again to bondage.

In an effort to solve the problems of yourself, your community, and your nation- by your very presence here tonight, you possess all the greatest of all admirable character traits - courage. What is courage? Let me tell you what I think it is. An indefinable quality that makes a man put on that extra something, when it seems there is nothing else to give. Ladies and gentlemen, I dare you to be better than you are. I dare you to be a thoroughbred. I might best describe this by telling you a story about the courage of a man taken from the Bible: the story of Eleazar.

Let me refer to a story in the Old Testament, a story a lot of you have never heard. it is not about Goliath. It is about a young captain in King David's army. His name was Eleazar. One day King David called his captains together and said, "We have lost most every day to the Philistines and unless we win tomorrow, you come to the point of no return. Unless we win tomorrow, as a nation, we are sunk." He said, "is there anyone that can lead us to victory?"

And one man spoke up and said, 'There is a young captain named Eleazar. He hasn't had much experience, but he seems to have what it takes.' "Send for him.' He was called in and King David told him the situation, how they were at the end of their rope and how he was chosen to lead the forces tomorrow. he said, 'Well, I want 10,000 men, and equip them as best we can.' They went out that next morning to do battle against the Philistines.

But the Philistines were giant-like, awesome people, and when they came face to face with them, some of Eleazar's men dropped their swords and retreated ungloriously. But the Bible says in the 23rd chapter of second Samuel that Eleazar and a few of his men fought so valiantly for the Lord God Jehovah, that they won a great victory that day.

The story then ends with this sentence: 'His hand clave unto the sword.' Because after the battle was over, if you read between the lines, he threw himself down on the ground almost totally exhausted. His lieutenants came up and they tried to get the sword loose from his hand, but he had gripped it so tightly that they couldn't get the fingers off, and they had to go down to the brook and get water. They bathed the back of his hand, loosened the muscles and pulled the fingers off one by one. Then they found that he had gripped the sword so tightly that the hilt of the sword had eaten into his hand. It was a bloody mess, and the story ends, "his hand clave unto the sword."

Remember, Eleazar won his great victory for two main reasons. Firs of all, because he took the sword with a tight grip. Nothing half-hearted, but with vigor and dedication of purpose. Lord, deliver me from the namby pamby kind of people who do things half way. Second, because he lost himself in something bigger than he was, he didn't know the sword was biting into his hand.

He was too busy doing battle. He was too busy fighting for the team. You know, all of us are walking 24 hours a day, 365 days a year toward a little plot of ground. I'm walking toward it; nothing is stopping me. And I don't want a very fancy marker, but you know what I'd really like to be worthy of? A small stone with the words upon it, 'His hand clave unto the sword.'

The Lord didn't create each of us alike: Some are bigger. Some faster. Some taller. Some even a different color. But, my friends, we all can have dreams and desires. How about you? Would a little extra effort on your part bring your grade point average up? Would you have a better chance to make the team if you stayed after practice and worked on your blocking?

Let me tell you something about yourselves. You are taller and heavier than any past generation in this country. You are spending more money, enjoying more freedom and driving more cars than ever before. Yet many of you are very unhappy. Some of you have never known the satisfaction of doing your best for the team; the joy of excelling in class; the wonderful feeling of completing a job- any job- and looking back on it knowing that you have done your best.

I dare you to have your hair cut and not wilt under the comments of your s-called friends. I dare you to clean up your language. I dare you to honor your mother and father. I dare you to stand with your hand over your heart and sing the National Anthem so all can hear. I dare you to go to church without having to be compelled to go by your parents. I dare you to unselfishly help someone less fortunate than yourself and enjoy the wonderful feeling that goes with it. I dare you to become physically fit. I dare you to read a book that is not required in school. I dare you to look up at the stars, not down at the mud, and set your sights on one of them that until now you thought was unattainable. I dare you to be better than you are. I dare you to 'clave unto the sword.' I dare you to be a thoroughbred.

We come into this life all naked and bare;

We go through this life with worry and care;

We go from this life, We know not where;

But if you're a thoroughbred here;

You'll be a thoroughbred there.

You can preach a better sermon with your lives than with your mouths.

Pg 120 Americas Coach

The Difference Between Managers and Leaders

Managing is taking care of what has already been created. Leadership is, on the other hand, moving foward to create something new. Not all managers are leaders. Leaders tell us not what is, but what can be.

Pg 126 Americas Coach

Why Does Anyone Stay With The Challenge?

It's having a dream of what you might do or become with yourself, and inching forward each day toward the realization of that dream.

Pg 144 Americas Coach

The Pursuit

To me the Olympics are not about 'dream teams,' they're more about dreamers. They're not about medals, but the pursuit of medals. The Olympics are not about being No. 1, they're about sacrificing and trying to be No. 1.

Pg 138

The Common Denominator of Success

The secret of everyone who has been successful lies in the fact that they formed the habit of doing things that failures don't like to do. It's just as true as it sounds and it's just as simple as it seems. Understand right now that success is achieved by the minority and therefore is unnatural and not to be achieved by following our natural likes and dislikes, nor by being guided by our natural preferences and prejudices.

Successful people have a purpose strong enough to make them form good habits and thus do things they don't like to do in order to accomplish the purpose they want to accomplish. This purpose, or commitment, has to do with the ultimate loyalty. It can be to preserve a tradition; uphold an ideology;do a certain kind of work. In a sense, commitment is one's reason for living, one's 'calling.' It gives an overall direction and purpose for life. Remember it is easier to adjust to hardships of poor living than it is to adjust ourselves to the hardships of goal setting. If you doubt me, think of the things you are willing to go without in order to avoid doing the things you don't like to do.

All of which seems to prove that the strength which holds you to your purpose is not your own strength but the strength of your reason for living. Form good habits and become slaves unto them. Then they will evolve into your commitment and purpose for existing. For in the last analysis, your future is not going to depend on economic conditions or outside influences over which you have no control. Your future will revolve around your commitment in life.

Make your purpose practical, but be careful not to make it logical. Make a purpose of the sentimental or emotional type. Remember needs are logical, while wants and desires are sentimental and emotional. Your needs will push you just so far . . . but when your needs are satisfied, they will stop pushing you. If however, your purpose is in terms of wants or desires, then you will keep pushing long after your needs are satisfied until your desires are fulfilled.

Pg 153 Americas Coach

Team's Are Remembered, Not Individuals

The name on the front of the sweater is much more important than the name on the back. They'll forget about individuals in this world, but they'll always remember the teams.

Pg 162 Americas Coach

What is Courage?

What is courage? Let me tell you what I think it is. An indefinable quality that makes a man put on that extra something, when it seems there is nothing else to give.

Herb Brooks

Dreams

Herb Brooks

Goals

You must have goals in your life, or otherwise be prepared to be used by those people who do have them. Where there are no goals, neither will their ever be significant accomplishments, only existence. Do you just want to exist?

Hard Work

A Canadian newspaper columnist wrote, 'When the Americans were down they never quit working, and even when they were up they worked even harder.'

Don't Just Want to Be on the Team

There are a lot of guys who just want to be on the team. Once they slip on the uniform, or a white shirt, they are satisfied. They think they've got it made. But the true achievers are those who are determined that their team isn't going to finish second.

Brookisms

-You're playing worse every day, and right now you're playing like it is next week.

-Gentlemen, you don't have enough talent to win on talent alone.

-If you make a mistake out there, make it by co-mission instead of by o-mission.

-Boys, I'm asking you to go to the well again.

-You can't be common, the common man goes nowhere; you have to be uncommon.

-If you want to bring a hard hat and lunch pail to work, that is fine with me.

-You see the tiger, you walk up to him, spit in his eye, and then shoot em'.