“If you think the world is selfish and rotten, go to the cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer overlooking Omaha Beach. See what one group of men did for another on D-Day, June 6th, 1944.” — Andy Rooney
Gerry McNamara told Syracuse on day one of summer practice that championships are built on what you do every single day.
Not one great performance, not one great season, but every day consistently & repetitively.
And when your coach pushes you harder than you think you can handle, that’s not them working against you….
That’s them telling you they already believe you can do it. The pressure is the compliment.
Great teams don’t make excuses. They make adjustments.
No…
“Yeah, but the refs…” “Yeah, but they’re more talented…” “Yeah, but we were tired…”
Accountability starts when the excuses stop.
Every championship team has one.
A player who rarely scores.
Rarely starts.
Rarely gets mentioned in the newspaper.
But if you asked the coach which player they couldn’t afford to lose, this name would be near the top of the list.
And that’s what most fans never see…
We celebrate stars. We should. You need talent to win games.
But championship teams are usually built on players whose impact never shows up in the box score.
They’re the first to celebrate a teammate’s success.
They’re the voice in the huddle after a tough stretch.
They’re the player who could complain about their role but chooses to serve the team instead.
I think about the term domestique in professional cycling.
A domestique doesn’t ride to win the race.
They sacrifice their race so someone else can.
No spotlight.
No headlines.
Just impact.
Every great team has a version of this player.
The teammate who makes practice better.
The teammate who keeps the locker room connected.
The teammate who helps the stars become stars.
What makes them special isn’t talent.
It’s maturity.
It’s humility.
It’s selflessness.
And if you’ve coached long enough, you know this truth:
Many championship runs are carried by players who never receive the credit they deserve.
The best teams don’t just have great players.
They have players willing to play a role.
And that is often the difference between a good team and a championship team. 🏆
Who are these players on your team and how do you celebrate them?
Our junior sharpshooter, Asher Green is celebrating a birthday!!!!
Debasish Mridha pontificated, “today you have added another candle of knowledge and wisdom to your life. May it give you the power to enlighten the whole world.”
Hope ur day is awesome!!! #BTC#UBUNTU
The happiest of birthday wishes goes out to our guy, Wesley Fleming-Taylor.
George Harrison stated, “all the world is birthday cake, so take a piece, but not too much.”
Enjoy your cake today and hope the gifts are plentiful!!!
#BTC#UBUNTU
The best coaching staffs I’ve been around had this in common:
They genuinely liked being around each other. They could laugh together, hang out together, and talk football for hours.
Yet they still respectfully disagree in a meeting and then walk out aligned. That kind of trust matters, and it’s not easy to build. It takes time and effort.