How Do You Carry Yourself? (1)

Do you get ejected like LeBron James did few weeks ago? Do you practice your mouth guard toss to be as good as Steph Carry's? You better not. LeBron James was ejected from a game for the first time in his careers at age of 32. After about 14 years in the NBA. 14 years. Thats a lot of year. Many games and tons of minutes on the court. So don’t get confused by the hype around it. It’s not the celebration of him being out-of-line. It the surprise of him being out of carchter.

Like him or not, he should be admired (among other reasons) for the way he carried him self from the high school days, transitioned into an NBA candidate, draft selected into a rookie, and all the way to his All-Start days. But this post is not about LeBron and not about those big moment I have described. Exactly the opposite. It is about those little things. It is about ones behavior right after a promotion. How he or she would treat a peer. Will they come prepare to a meeting / practice/ game? Will they be there on time?

Some players lose their heads after being selected in the draft into the NBA. Others get confused a similar way after they receive an offer for a full scholarship from a big school.

But even one passed all these hurdles and stood up tall and went through these challenges. Now it is the time to show up at (your own) next level. To show up at your own new step up place. You are just starting up in the college team of your dreams. Or High School for that matter.

How do you carry your self? Do you show up for every practice? Mentally too? Do you treat your peers with respect? Competitive, and challenging - but with respect? Are you coachable and looking to get on-board with the coaching staff and the team spirit since day one? Some think they do and 3-4 weeks in they find themselves head to head with the head coach to learn to understand all they were doing is to show off that they know the game of Basketball and never bought into the system. They never looked to be part of the team. Now, even if you are the greatest leader of them all. And especially if you are. Than you have already knew…. It is about the team, not about your stats.

Now, of course there is much more then that. There is much more than what a player would do (show up on time, or late) or say on or off the court. There is the body language that sometimes will speak even Lauder.

So few weeks ago a friend (Coach Gilad Armon) came to visit in the South and told me he would like to go and watch a game of Maine at Mississippi State Mississippi State Women's Basketball. Why? may I ask. "A former player of mine", he said, "Freshman PG Dor Saar, is playing for the Maine Black Bears and could be a nice game." The date was already penciled in my iCal.

The hospitality of Mississippi State Athletics - lady Basketball Bulldogs and their kindness to my friend, daughters and I is a reason for a whole different blog post. These bulldogs are in a league of themselves. On many levels. And I have been around college basketball for longer than I am willing to admit. So salute to you Coach Schaefer and your crew.

Lets go back to Freshman Dor Sa’ar and talk about those little things we were referring to.

As the game goes along, I see Dor leading her team and gaining more confidence. Some of her shots fall in. And most of them don't. She keeps calling the plays; some of them work. But most of them don't. But she keeps hustling. And rebounding. And sprint back to defense after a team mate miss an open lay-up she passed the ball to. And could get an assist for. She did not even blink. Did not hang her head, no faces , none of these hand gestures that you sometimes see out of frustration. Nothing but respect to her team mates. Sprint back to defense to stop the ball and off to the next play. Now at this point, mid 3rd quarter Maine Black Bears are down 25. In front of 7,500 people who are enjoying the state raising hail. Next time down, this freshman calling a play and running it through as if the game is on the line. This is some resilience. This is determination worth noticing.

There were better players than Dor on the court, no doubt about that. There were exciting players that few days later won SEC Network player of the week (Teaira McCowens) and National Honors (Victoria Vivians) but this Freshman, there is something about her….I have never seen her playing up till that day. But the way this girl carried her team in a tough situation and kept her composure, fighting and pushing herself and team mates, I was very impressed. And this will stay with me for a long time.

Thinking about yourself, as a baller, you never know who sits in these bleachers. You never know who watches you. Or who will get the tape of the game. Wait, what? I mean the video. Not the tape, physically tape. So my little advice to you is, think about a role model you look up to, count their opinion or want to impress, and when things do not go your way, think if they would be proud in the way you handle it. Would they approve the way you react.

For me, in the basketball environment it was always team manager Azri Barnea and my long time High School late Coach Dov Ben-Ari.

Tag, like and share with your role models that left a good impression on you and helped in the process to create a better you.

Tag, like and share with your role models that left a good impression on you and helped in the process to create a better you.