Page 266 - How to Create a Winning Organization

Wooden on Leadership
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Let me also highlight two other items on the accompanying list
worth comment: Point number 1, “Close each early practice with
wind sprints,” was never used. I didn’t like wind sprints during
practice because they were designed simply for conditioning. I felt
I could get our team in condition by running drills at high speed.
Thus, we could accomplish two things at once. That item may be
on the list because I was thinking about giving it a try. In any case,
it was never incorporated into our practices.
But point number 11, “Teach more talking on defense and of-
fense,” was very important—a reminder to me that communica-
tion between players is essential. During a game, teammates must
constantly be talking to one another, warning one another, en-
couraging one another in all areas of the game. I even designated
the number 5 player (a guard) as “the director,” the individual most
responsible for initiating communication on plays, both offensively
and defensively.
Communication is essential in sports. The same is perhaps true
with your team. Do you stress and teach good communication? Of
course, it starts with the leader. Are you a good communicator?

SOME DETAILS OF A VERY GOOD SEASON
As I mentioned in Chapter 14, “Don’t Look at the Scoreboard,” at
the beginning of each season I would write down my predictions
for UCLA’s upcoming games. Those predictions were based on
many things, including what you see here: the starting time of the
game, day and date, opponent, final score, location, and the names
of the officials.
All this and more was factored in before I wrote down my “best
guess” on the outcomes of UCLA’s games for the coming year. Then
I would seal my predictions in an envelope and forget about them
until the season concluded. Obviously, I didn’t literally forget about