Coach John Wooden on Victory With Honor and Coach as Teacher

Most of y'all have probably seen this already, if not, you really must see it. It is an interview with legendary coach John Wooden talking about Victory with Honor. The idea of coach as teacher and to remember that we ultimately we teach people not basketball. Here is the youtube link below (about 10 minutes long),



Some notes from the video, if you want the coles notes version without watching the video:

Victory with Honor

- there is too much emphasis on winning today

- the coach is first and foremost a teacher

- before Coach Wooden was a coach, he taught English for many years

- the 4 laws of learning in English, are the same applied to coaching

- the teacher has to be more concerned about the entire learning process, than just in the content. Same goes for sports

- its easy to get carried away with win loss record

- Coach Wooden was more disappointed in parents who were concerned with their children getting an A or B than in whether they really learned anything

- Our society is too concerned about athlete first, and not student before athlete

- high school coaches, are really just teachers

- it made Coach Wooden a better coach, the fact that he taught English before. It helped in organization skills, and helped in dealing with athletes as individuals

- the job of the coach is therefore to analyze each individual and help them achieve their maximum potential

- each player is different, therefore they must be treated differently

- Please always ask, "what is your most successful team??" Coach Wooden's response, "I won't know in 25 years."

- most treasured medal or prize according to Coach Wooden was the academic medal, it holds the most value for individual achievement