Top 535 Quotes & Sayings by John Wooden - Page 9

It is difficult for young players to learn - because of the great emphasis on records - but, ideally, the joy and frustration of sport should come from the performance itself, not the score. While he is playing, the worst thing a player can think about in terms of concentration - and therefore of success - is losing. The next worst is winning.

Confidence - Poise and confidence are not possible unless you have prepared correctly. Failing to prepare is preparing to fail. Poise and confidence are a natural result of proper preparation.

Never be thrown off stride in how you behave or what you believe in because of outside events.

When everyone has good players, teaching will be a telling difference.

The best players don't win championships. The best team players win championships.

The courageous struggle for a noble cause should be considered success itself.

Acquire peace of mind by making the effort to become the best of which you are capable.

Generally speaking, individual performances don't win basketball games

If you lose self-control everything will fall.

When the legs go, the heart soon follows

The player who puts the ball through the hoop has ten hands.

The close games are usually lost, rather than won. What I mean by that is games are mostly won because of the opponent making mistakes during crucial moments.

You've never heard of them- and you never will .

Do not get so concerned with making a living that you forget to make a life.

The person who is afraid to risk failure seldom has to face success. I expected my players to make mistakes, as long as they were mistakes of commission. A mistake of commission happens when you are doing what should be done but don't get the results you want.

The greatest ally you have to get things working well and the players performing as a team is the bench. Don't be afraid to use it, either for the star player or anyone else.

Helping others is perhaps the greatest joy! You cannot have a perfect day without helping others with no thought of getting something in return.

Success is mine when I work my hardest to become my best, and I alone determine whether I do so.

Always think of passing the ball before shooting it.

It's always about focusing not on the mistakes but on the lessons learned from them.

All change may not be progress, but all progress is the result of change

When we aren't alert, we miss opportunities to improve ourselves. We should always watch for circumstances or situations that can help or harm us and be eager to learn from these encounters.

Good coaching is about leadership and instilling respect in your players. Dictators lead through fear - good coaches do not.

It is most difficult, in my mind, to separate any success, whether it be in your profession, your family, or as in my case, in basketball, from religion.

When I was coaching I always considered myself a teacher. Teachers tend to follow the laws of learning better than coaches who do not have any teaching background. A coach is nothing more than a teacher. I used to encourage anyone who wanted to coach to get a degree in teaching so they could apply those principles to athletics.

I found the bench to be the greatest ally when I had to make individuals comply with what was best for the team

The team that makes the most mistakes usually wins, because doers make mistakes

When you get to be 95, travel doesn't come as easily.

Goals should be difficult to achieve because those achieved with little effort are seldom appreciated, give little personal satisfaction, and are often not very worthwhile. There is a price to be paid for achieving anything of significance.

Do passing drills that come from your offense.

You have not taught until they have learned.

I think anyone's success depends on working hard, Industriousness and Enthusiasm, enjoying what you are doing. You can't work your best if you're not enjoying what you are doing. No way you can force yourself to.

You have success within. It's up to you to bring it out.

I don't think I was a fine game coach I think I was a good practice coach.

You control the terms of the conflict. Make them play your game. Don't try to play theirs.

One of the greatest motivating things that a coach has is the bench. They all love to play, all of them. You sit them on the bench, and they come around pretty good.

Details create success.

The outstanding coach is a teacher that gets all his squad to accept the role that he considers to be the most important for the welfare of all.

We almost have to force or drive ourselves to work hard if we are to reach our potential. If we don't enjoy what we do, we won't be able to push as hard as we need to push for as long as we need to push to achieve our best. However, if we enjoy what we do and if we're enthusiastic about it, we'll do it better and come closer to becoming the best we can be.

I would not tolerate profanity from anyone, anytime. I'd blow the whistle, pull you from the court and put you on the bench and talk to you before I would put you back in.

I wanted my players to always be searching, especially for truth. I wanted them to know what they believed and be able to defend it. Truth will always stand the test of scrutiny.

As a leader, you will receive a large amount of praise and criticism and you should not unduly affected by either.

You cannot attain and maintain physical condition unless you are morally and mentally conditioned. And it is impossible to be in moral condition unless you are spiritually conditioned. I always told my players that our team condition depended on two factors / how hard they worked on the floor during practice and how well they behaved between practices.

I also wanted my basketball players to know that I really cared about them. Forget basketball; as a person, I cared, I cared about their family.

Effective leaders are, first and foremost, good teachers. We're in the education business.

I discovered early on that the player who learned the fundamentals of basketball is going to have a much better chance of succeeding and rising through the levels of competition than the player who was content to do things his own way. A player should be interested in learning why things are done a certain way. The reasons behind the teaching often go a long way to helping develop the skill.

I always stress condition with my basketball players. I don’t mean physical condition only. You cannot attain and maintain physical condition unless you are morally and mentally conditioned.

Place the team above yourself always.

We are all equal in that we can all strive to become the best we are capable of becoming. We can always improve but we shouldn't compare ourselves to others. We get in trouble when we start trying to measure up to someone else.

You can't make good decisions that are going to be meaningful, productive, when you lose control, and you have to maintain mental control, emotional control and to be able to perform physically up to your own particular level of competency; you have to keep your emotions under control.

When you are through learning you are through.

One of the greatest motivating factors is the pat on the back, although with some individuals, you have to make the pat a little lower or a little harder.

A Dominican monk, Father Henri Didon, used it as a watchword for his pupils in sports at Arcueil College in Paris. Baron Pierre De Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympics, made it the Olympic Games ideal adopted at the Antwerp Games in 1920. I never mentioned winning to my players. I mentioned constantly that all I wanted them to do was the best they could. If they're good enough, the score will be to their liking; if they're not, it won't be but that's nothing to hang their head about. Sometimes the other fellow is just better than you are.

A leader must listen to those under their supervision.

Big things are accomplished when we master the little things.