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How to Win

What Is True Toughness?

“Continuous effort — not strength or intelligence — is the key to unlocking our potential.”
~ Liane Cardes

Was there ever a game where you wished your team had been tougher?

In January, ESPN.com columnist Jay Bilas addressed the subject. He was writing about basketball in particular, but his comments apply to all sports and can transform the way coaches coach and players play.

The article, which can be read in its entirety here, contains this conclusion:

Toughness has nothing to do with size, physical strength or athleticism. Some players may be born tough, but I believe that toughness is a skill, and it is a skill that can be developed and improved.”

This is incredibly exciting news for coaches and athletes. It means that with the right approach, teams and athletes can be tougher, and they can do it without tattoos or extra trips to the gym!

Coaches must do these two things:

First, identify, as the writer of the article did, the aspects of your sport that involve real toughness.

Second, find a way to teach these aspects. Remember, they are a skill, and players can acquire skill!

Here is an excerpt from the article:

“I have heard the word ‘toughness’ thrown around a lot lately. Reporters on television, radio and in print have opined about a team or player’s ‘toughness’ or quoted a coach talking about his team having to be ‘tougher’ to win.

“Then, in almost coordinated fashion, I would watch games and see player upon player thumping his chest after a routine play, angrily taunting an opponent after a blocked shot, getting into a shouting match with an opposing player, or squaring up nose-to-nose as if a fight might ensue. I see players jawing at each other, trying to “intimidate” other players. What a waste of time. That is nothing more than fake toughness, and it has no real value.

“I often wonder: Do people really understand what coaches and experienced players mean when they emphasize “toughness” in basketball? Or is it just some buzzword that is thrown around haphazardly without clear definition or understanding? I thought it was the latter, and I wrote a short blog item about it a couple of weeks ago.

“The response I received was overwhelming. Dozens of college basketball coaches called to tell me that they had put the article up in the locker room, put it in each player’s locker, or had gone over it in detail with their teams.

“Memphis coach John Calipari called to say that he had his players post the definition of toughness over their beds because he believed that true “toughness” was the one thing that his team needed to develop to reach its potential. I received messages from high school coaches who wanted to relay the definition of toughness to their players and wanted to talk about it further.

“Well, I got the message that I should expound upon what I consider toughness to be. It may not be what you think.

Toughness is something I had to learn the hard way, and something I had no real idea of until I played college basketball. When I played my first game in college, I thought that toughness was physical and based on how much punishment I could dish out and how much I could take. I thought I was tough.

“I found out pretty quickly that I wasn’t, but I toughened up over time, and I got a pretty good understanding of toughness through playing in the ACC, for USA Basketball, in NBA training camps, and as a professional basketball player in Europe. I left my playing career a heck of a lot tougher than I started it, and my only regret is that I didn’t truly “get it” much earlier in my playing career.

“When I faced a tough opponent, I wasn’t worried that I would get hit — I was concerned that I would get sealed on ball reversal by a tough post man, or that I would get boxed out on every play, or that my assignment would sprint the floor on every possession and get something easy on me. The toughest guys I had to guard were the ones who made it tough on me.

“Toughness has nothing to do with size, physical strength or athleticism. Some players may be born tough, but I believe that toughness is a skill, and it is a skill that can be developed and improved. Michigan State coach Tom Izzo always says, “Players play, but tough players win.” He is right.

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