Random thoughtsFrom Pete Carril

These are some thoughts from Pete Carril and his book The Smart take from the Strong

• -The essence of character is what I call mental and physical courage.  
• Mental courage--You are a shooter and have missed your last 5 shots, you are down 2 points and wide open. Will you shoot or pass it?
• Physical Courage--Where you are so exhausted you cannot move, yet you keep moving.
• Everybody makes such a big deal today about team play because theres such a scarcity of it.  Greed is a reason.  A player has to be selfish in the pursuit of the development of his skills, but he cannot be selfish when it comes time to blend them in with what is good for his team.
• I viewed playing sports as a privilege, not a right.
• Repetition is the key to success-- doing what you have to do over and over and always doing it right.
• The object of my defensive strategy is to contest every pass and shot.  To force the opponent to move the ball under continuous pressure.  I want the other team to play offense longer then they are used to.  
• A good defense plays good defense almost all the time.  Shooting is a variable; 50% of the time you miss.  Contesting a jump shot is not a variable. Skill is a variable.  Work is not a variable, not a skill...ITS an attitude.
• There is a technical part and a life part to defensive play.  The life part consists of 3 things that must be prominient in good defense.Courage, intelligence, and energy.  IF you have a good dose of heart, head, and legs working for you, you can become a good defensive player.  If your legs tire out, your heart surrenders, and you wont move your leg.  When you are tired, do you have the courage to fight through screens?
• If you don't use your head, you're in trouble.  Defense starts by asking yourself how you guard the man with the ball.  Even if you're a little slower, you can be a good defensive player as long as you have these attributes to compensate.
• There are 3 conditions that make for a good man to man defense. 
• Contest and pressure the ball
• Your guys cannot get picked off and must go over screens
• all shots must be contested.