CORE CHARACTER STRENGTHS
SELF-CONFIDENCE
“Those who think they can and those who think they can’t, are both usually right.” -Confucius
We strongly believe in the importance of mindset. We strive to instill a growth mindset in all of our students, to develop a self-belief that they can grow and achieve in whatever they put their mind to. We also aim to build self-confidence by focusing on the growth and improvements that students are achieving, and recognizing the hard work and perseverance that it took to get there, rather than solely focusing on performance. Furthermore, we endeavor to be positive and offer authentic and timely praise and feedback, to build students’ self-confidence and recognize what they are doing well, instead of only focusing on what students need to improve. In addition, in our coaching language we refer to “weaknesses” as “(skill) development gaps”, to ingrain a growth mindset around skill acquisition and to emphasize for students to view them as “opportunities” to grow and evolve.
OPEN-MINDEDNESS
“A wise man never knows all, only fools know everything.” -African proverb
We stress the value of open-mindedness to our students, as we believe that this is the first step to developing a growth mindset and challenging the way that we think. Being open-minded enables students to be receptive to feedback, allowing them to actively listen to the information, digest it, and make actionable changes, where necessary, to improve and grow. We believe that open-mindedness is an important character trait in life, as it makes us adaptable to change and receptive to alternative ideas and viewpoints, enabling us to work well, with others, as part of a team.
INDUSTRIOUSNESS
“The difference between try and triumph is just a little umph.” -Marvin Phillips
We view industriousness as an essential ingredient to success. We want our students to truly enjoy working relentlessly on their basketball skills and to view their hard work as a part of their basketball journey to relish. We stive to facilitate this process by delivering fun, engaging, and challenging training sessions where students are motivated, supported, and encouraged to work hard and push past their comfort zone. In addition, we emphasize the value of hard work in the learning process and how this can accelerate students’ learning curve. As students move through our programs, we aim to continuously build their work capacity by providing development sessions that are progressively more physically and mentally demanding.
PERSEVERANCE
“We may encounter defeats, but we must not be defeated.” -Maya Angelou
We strongly desire to for our students to be fighters, to be able to deal with adversity, and to never give up. We know that in basketball, and in life, things don’t always go our way and that bouncing back, when we are down, is an essential life skill. We strive to make perseverance a part of our student’s DNA by setting demanding standards, in some drills, that challenge the students to really push themselves to be able to succeed at the task. We also emphasize that while it is okay to fail, what is more important is how we react to setbacks.
SELF-REFLECTION
“Life can only be understood backwards but it must be lived forwards.” -Soren Kierkegaard
We want our students to be critical thinkers and to be self-reflective. Effective reflection is powerful as it can inform future decision making, attitudes, behaviors, actions, and outcomes. We believe that this is a key component for students’ learning process and is essential for continuous growth and improvement. In addition, it has value in helping our students better understand aspects of their performance, both physical and mental, that went well and areas that they would benefit from further improving. We aim to develop self-reflection by dedicating time, within our development sessions, for our students to reflect. We strive to support this process by providing a fun and safe learning environment, where students feel supported, and by asking appropriate questions to prompt effective reflection.
AMBITION
“He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life” Muhammad Ali
We encourage our students to be ambitious, not to put limits on themselves, and have a vision of what they desire to achieve on their basketball journey. We aim to facilitate this process by educating our students about goal setting and inviting them to set some goals to challenge themselves. Furthermore, we aim to inspire our students’ ambition by sharing examples of athletes, such as Steph Curry, who refused to put limits on themselves and believe that anything was possible. We think that developing a growth mindset, along with having a vision of where they want to get to, will go a long way towards helping our students to achieve their goals and maximize their potential.