🏆 My Ford vs. Your Cadillac

Have you ever met a coach that spends so much time talking about another team's “talent” level that they rarely talk about their own team?

Author

Greg Berge
May 04, 2023

Good morning! A warm welcome to the 121 new subscribers who joined this week. We are happy to have you on board!

Here's what's coming:

  • Ford vs. Cadillac 🚘

  • Drew Brees GOLD 🥇

  • John Wooden and Character 🏀

  • Read Time ~ 5 minutes.

Let's dive in.

Thanks to our sponsors who keep this newsletter free for 4500+ readers.

If you're a college student or a college sports fan...

You're gonna want this in your inbox. Subscribe to The GIST's brand new college sports newsletter to get 'the gist' of what's up in the NCAA and your fave conference in less than 5 minutes. Sign up for free

💭 ONE THOUGHT

“Is My Ford Better than Your Cadillac?”

Have you ever met a coach that spends so much time talking about another team's “talent” level that they rarely talk about their own team?

They may come across as jealous or envious. They sometimes say, “Well, if I only had that team….”

This is a dangerous place to go.

“Comparison is the thief of Joy.”

High school coaches do not get to pick their talent. In most cases, they do not recruit. Coaches get what they get. Coaches get what they develop.

In some seasons, you may have great talent. In others, you may not. No matter your talent level, a coach's job every season should always be to get the most out of the team they have.

How can you get this point across to your team?

I believe there is one such story that does it better than most.

The story comes from John Wooden and his book “A Lifetime of Reflections on and off the Court.”

I use this story to focus our player's attention on what we can control: making the best team we can make.

I also read it to remind myself of my purpose as a coach.

It is a story about building teams.

We all have a certain amount of talent on our teams. Some teams may have the potential to be “Cadilac” Teams. In contrast, some teams may be “Ford” Teams. Some may be a “Mercedes,” and some may be a “Chevy.”

Whatever the talent level, we will have strengths, and we will have limitations on our teams.

No matter our car, all we can do as a coach is build the very best “Ford” or the very best “Cadillac” that we can.

Here is the story…

Preparing UCLA for a basketball game with Louisville or Arizona or Duke, or Michigan, I would tell my players, “We can’t control what those other fellows do to get ready. We can only control what we do to get ready. So let’s do our very best in that regard and hope that will be good enough, yes, to outscore them. But let’s not worry about that. Instead, let’s worry about our preparation.”

Let’s say I want to build a car—maybe a Ford or a Chevrolet, or a Plymouth. I want to build it the best I can. Will it be better than a Cadillac or a Mercedes? That’s irrelevant.

If I’m building a Ford, I simply want to build the very best Ford I can build. That’s all I can do: to come close to my level of competency, not somebody else’s. I have nothing to do with theirs, only mine.

To worry about whether what I’m building is going to be better than what somebody else is building elsewhere is to worry needlessly. I believe that if I’m worried about what’s going on outside, it will detract from my preparation inside.

My concern, my focus, and my total effort should be on building the very best Ford I can build. I did that in coaching high-school teams and in coaching college teams. My focus was on making that team, that group of individuals, the best they were capable of becoming, whether it was a Ford or a Cadillac.

Some years I understood we were building a Ford. In other years I felt we were building a Cadillac. The effort put forth in all years was the same: total.

And I was just as proud of our well-built Fords as our well-built Cadillacs.

Each and every season, we will build a different car.

What type of car will you build this season?

Whatever it is, make sure it is the best version of that car that it can be.

Share this story with your team. Remind them to control the controllable. Do your best to build the best Ford or the best Cadillac you can.

This is all you can ever do!

Good Luck!

Want more on John Wooden? 👇

Want to improve your life in 5 minutes a week? Try mental coach Patrik Edblad’s newsletter and get his best-selling book, The Self-Discipline Blueprint, for free! Get it HERE.

📜 TWO QUOTES

“Sometimes all you need is just for somebody to believe in you in order to be able to accomplish maybe what you never thought you could.” 

– Drew Brees

“It doesn't matter if anyone believes in you; you can still have everything you want if you believe in yourself.” 

- Candy Valentino

🐦 THREE TWEETS 

🙋🏼‍♂️ POLL QUESTION OF THE WEEK:

In your opinion, what is the biggest benefit of focusing on what you can control as an athlete?

Login or Subscribe to participate in polls.

Last Week’s Poll Question:

📚 BOOKS & FREE RESOURCES

Check out all of my Books and FREE Resources at: https://gregberge.carrd.co/

👀 LOOKING FOR MORE?

If you are looking, here are a few other resources and services I provide:

  1. Let's Connect: Find me on Twitter.

  2. Interested in Sponsoring an Issue? Reply to this email, and I will get you the info.

  3. More Resources: Check out my Website for more opportunities, services & resources.

Contact Me: Greg Berge, [email protected]

Reply

or to participate.