On May 17, 2000, the Field Museum unveiled Sue, the most complete and best-preserved Tyrannosaurus rex fossil yet discovered. Sue is 42 feet (13 m) long, stands 13 feet (4 m) high at the hips and is 67 million years old. The fossil was named after the person who discovered it, Sue Hendrickson, and is commonly referred to as female, though the fossil’s actual gender is unknown (taken from Wikipedia).

Three Lessons From The Field Museum

On my first day in Chicago, I decided to visit the world-famous Field Museum, one of the largest and most comprehensive Museums in the world.  The museum collections contain over 21 million specimens, of which only a small portion are ever on display.  Museums are a good case study for coaches and teachers.

How do you take a broad subject—The History of the World, in this case—and distill it down and package it in a way that your students can follow along?

A couple of things I took from my visit that apply to the building of great teams, businesses and organizations:

KNOW YOUR PLAN:

Failing to prepare is preparing to fail

• I could not help but marvel at the level of precision and planning that was in place every where I looked.  From the architecture and design of the physical building, to the great level of detail that was used to bring each exhibit to life, a visitor cannot go to the Field Museum without marveling at the sheer volume of information. Some specific instances: 

• Fossils:  The process of discovering fossils, artifacts and the cataloging, preservation and preparation for display of these artifacts demands high levels of attention to detail. Any misstep in the process, and a priceless piece of history is lost forever.  Just take a look at the T.Rex fossil remains of Sue above as evidence.
• The Displays:  The level of care and detail that goes into the writing for each of the captions used to describe each artifact, the source of the artifact, and the time period of that artifact. These word choices directly affect the visitor’s experience by making each exhibit easy to follow.

TEAMWORK:

It’s the little things that make the big things happen

• TERMITE TEAMWORK:  I could not help but think to teams when I read the excerpt below on Termites in the African Savannah. Each termite has a specific role, and that perfect execution of roles allows their species to thrive in a variety of extreme climates and conditions.

DOING THE DIRTY WORK

You have to have folks willing to fulfill the thankless roles that help the team succeed

• DUNG BEETLES AT WORK:  I know this will be a stretch for some.  But as I read about the Dung Beetle (below), I could not help to connect it to the thankless role players out there on all of the great teams, who embrace doing the dirty work, and who also understand how that work directly leads to good for the group .
• In the building of the Field Museum, a landfill had to be created to fill in part of Lake Michigan on the Chicago shoreline.  And, of course, there are tons of thankless roles filled on a daily basis to ensure that each museum visitor has a great experience.

A Journey to Learn From The Best Minds Basketball Has to Offer

I am writing from the great city of Chicago. Landed here yesterday and am on the first leg of what I hope will be a great learning adventure.

I have always thought it would be great to go out and watch the best coaches in different parts of the country to get a sense for how our game’s best minds and teachers tackle the challenges set out in front of them.  In addition, the ability to watch how players in different regions of the country approach the game is an area that I find intriguing as well.

This is the first leg of what I hope will be a nationwide circuit.  The plan is to hit the Midwest, East Coast, Northeast, West Coast, Pacific Northwest and the Southeast.

I will be taking notes, and sharing in any discoveries I make through our Hoops 101 Nation Blog in the hopes that some of my discoveries will be of value to any coaches, players or fans of the game out there.

Driving Questions

Here are some of the questions I will be seeking answers to:

1. How do you ALLOCATE your PRACTICE TIME? What percentage of time do you devote to different phases of the game?
2. What DEFENSIVE SYSTEMS do you use and why did you settle on those systems?
3. What OFFENSIVE SYSTEMS do you use and why did you settle on those systems?
4. What is your COMMUNICATION system?  How do you communicate changes in defense and offense quickly and efficiently?
5. What EVALUATION systems do you use to be able to measure the effectiveness of your overall attack?
6. How do you enforce ACCOUNTABILITY?  Coach to player?  Player to player?  Player to coach? Coach to Coach?
7. How is FEEDBACK given in your program? Coach to player? Player to player?  Player to coach? Coach to Coach?
8. Describe your TEAM CULTURE and what role that plays in your team’s overall success.

This is my first foray into official BLOGGING.  I have found that I have profited a great deal from the willingness on the part of so many to willingly share.

It is my hope that some will be able to learn from the The Ultimate Hoops Trip, and that by writing, I, too will be able to better process what it is I observe.

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Upcoming Schedule

1. Butler Bulldogs
2. Purdue Boilermakers
3. Indiana Hoosiers
4. Michigan State Spartans
5. Michigan Wolverines
6. Detroit Pistons