Do the Detail

Have you ever complained about the referees? They’re cheaters right, ruining your chances to win close games with their late calls, phantom calls, biased calls, no calls etc. You fallin’ for my set-up yet? Forget the refs because if you’ve ever not done the details that lead to winning you don’t deserve to file a grievance. I mean, I don’t either.

I play in a basketball league on Sunday afternoons and today we lost by one. Let’s start with the end. There’s four seconds left on the clock and we’re in bounding the ball when we throw it away to the other team. Two seconds go off the clock and the other team calls a time out. We’re up 76-75 with 2 seconds on the clock (my wife said all four seconds expired). At any rate, the enemy now has 2 whole seconds to pass the ball in bounds and get a shot off which they do. But we defend well, initially, and disrupt the shooter so that it’s an air-ball (Never hits the rim) but lands in the hands of an unsuspecting teammate who catches it and lays it in while in mid-air. The Buzzer sounded and the refs counted the basket. THE DOG GONE REFS MAN!!! Somebody started the clock late; time had to have expired.

Let me tell you why we really lost and I’ll only address my own mistakes:

• Missed at least two lay-ups
• Missed two free-throws
• Got beaten baseline on a play
• Fell down while driving to the basket and turned the ball over
• Missed two shots in the post against smaller defenders
• Was passive in attacking the defender 1-on-1
• DID NOT PREPARE BY MAINTAINING A WORKOUT DURING THE WEEK WHILE AT A WORK CONFERENCE!!!!!!

Remember, I was just mentioning my own contributions to the losing effort which is not to say I didn’t have help from my teammates. 🙂 Do you make the lists based on accountability because if not you should. The next time you’re prone to blame the officials for your loss, consider this: DO THE DETAIL!

My girls varsity basketball players at Ramona High have had it drilled into them that details have a way of adding up. For every advantage gained by the opponent, there is a detail neglected. No one is above doing the deeds of daily faithfulness to a sport, a job, a role , etc. Two weeks ago I made a promise to my girls during a game that if they did exactly what we’ve talked about all summer, they would be pleased with the outcome. I never used the word WIN. I hate that word. I want my girls to hate that word because WIN is a product not a method. It does not speak to the nuances required to overcome adversity or an opponent who wants to win just as bad as you. My girls concentrated on three things #1 on-ball defense #2 Rebounding #3 Looking to pass the ball to open teammates who run hard up the floor. Three details are all it would take to rally from 10 points behind. We did the detail taking us to overtime and then did it again for two more minutes in OT. The details determined the outcome just like I promised. I’ll make you the same promise if you’ll make me one. Devote time to figuring out your goals, the details associated with them and the support you need to actually do them. Keep me posted!