AMBUSHED…

I’m coaching my youngest son’s travel basketball team this winter. What a learning experience this has been. We are a very undersized group. Truth be told, we are a bunch of soccer players in basketball jerseys! Our tallest player is 5’5″. Yesterday we played a team with three guys over 6 foot…one guy looks like he’s been shaving for awhile and these are twelve year olds!

Yesterday’s game brought a smothering zone trap that our boys had never seen. They ambushed our guards. Our guards first instinct was to run away from the pressure. Quite normal and oftentimes quite effective.

Here’s what we’re learning about being ambushed. We are teaching our players to ATTACK it. When ambushed we want our players first instinct to be “counter attack!” This is exactly what the U.S. Marines teach their fighters.

Undisciplined warriors, business people, entreprenuers, athletes and artists run when they are being attacked. High performance individuals, teams, and leaders see the ambush for what it really is…another opportunity to ATTACK. Great teams love it when other teams try to ambush them. Instead of running away they run toward.

They make them PAY.

Our team runs on everybody. We “ATTACK the ball” the entire game. All ten of our players KNOW that they will get plenty of opportunities to play. We only schedule the very best competition. We celebrate little victories and big wins the same way. We celebrate defeats as long as we “left it on the court.” We KNOW we are getting better. We are having fun. Very cool.

Extrapolate for work and life.

How do you respond to your competitors attempts at ambushing your best laid plans?

Are you still running and trying to find a “better market” while high tailing it out of the one you’re in?

How disciplined are you and your team when the heat comes?

Do you still LOVE this work and this team?

When was the last time you told them?

How well do you practice for the AMBUSH the competition is sure to bring?

Are you taking it to your opponents or waiting and hoping they won’t notice you’re still in their space?

Are you and your team getting better?

How do you keep score?

How does your team?

Why?

Why?

Why?