Top 3 Things Junior Athletes Can Learn From Giannis
This is Dr. Eric Wallace and I am going to be as authentic as always, but I am writing this from a zone of isolation. I unfortunately came down with the Coronavirus earlier this week. I was symptomatic and I am vaccinated. I am not going to get into any political you know what or what’s right or wrong, just as little bit of a surprise and alteration to the original plan for what was going to happen in late July and early August. I am currently in a hideout, essentially, and trying to get a lot of stuff knocked out. I am trying to take some time for myself. I think any time we get sick, we need to listen to our body a little bit and realize maybe it was time to slow down. Tough start to the week...never ideal timing and never an ideal situation, but certainly not the end of the world. I am recuperating still and starting to feel better each day. On that note, I hope everyone is doing well!
It is July 29th, which means it is my wonderful wife’s birthday. Happy Birthday Beth! Soooooo part of the story as well, last week we had a monstrous occasion here in Wisconsin. Our Milwaukee Bucks...MY Milwaukee Bucks. Yes, I have been a long time dreadful Milwaukee sports fan. We have had some really good seasons lately. We finally did it! We finally had a parade in downtown Milwaukee! So I went downtown Tuesday night and wanted to be part of the action. I have no idea if that’s where I got it from. I did not go to the big Deer District and what not (and it's neither here nor there), but we celebrated. We had a great time and great week. Health concerns are scary and life happens, but I was not going to miss that occasion for much. Maybe my wedding or my kid’s birth, as those things are probably more important. But not going to miss a chance at a world championship celebration. So, that could potentially be why we’re at where we’re at this week, but who truly knows.
Top 3 Things Junior Athletes Should Learn From Giannis
I do want to focus on the man and I want to relate it to our junior athletes that we work with. We have not talked about our junior athletes enough, and I want to talk about them now. This blog post is going to be about the top 3 things I want our junior athletes to learn from Giannis. THE MAN! THE GREEK FREAK! In my opinion, the face of Wisconsin sports now...and it's not even close. He is unbelievable, and I’m not one for saying, “I know who these athletes personally.” I don’t know what is going on in these athlete’s lives. I don’t think they need to be role models necessarily. I think they worked very hard to get to where they are at and they can do what they want. We don’t need to have an opinion about everything, in my opinion.
Background on Giannis
But Giannis is the man. If you don’t know, he came from a very poor background in Greece. He didn’t start playing basketball until I think 15 or 16. He used to sell shoes on the street to try and help his parents. He came to Milwaukee when he was 18 and got drafted. There was obviously potential there but Milwaukee kind of drafted him on the fly in the mid-rounds. He came to Milwaukee all by himself. No family. He didn’t really know anyone. He had a really thick accent. He wasn’t this obvious rookie of the year star or anything like that. The man just went to work. He just put in the work. He knew what he wanted.
Man, it's an awesome story. If you like humility. If you like somebody that is not afraid to be themselves and be authentic, you guys have to follow this guy. Anyways, that’s a little bit of the history of Giannis.
What I want to talk about though, in relation to Giannis, what are the top 3 things that our junior athletes can learn from him?
Stay In The Moment
The first thing that our junior athletes can learn from Giannis is to stay in the moment. To stay present. You’ll hear it all the time, the great athletes talk about being present in the moment. Michael Jordan talks about that being his key to his success. The ability to just stay present in the moment. To not worry about what has happened in the past. To not worry about what might happen in the future based on the circumstances. Just staying in the moment. Personally, I know that staying in the moment is challenging, but it is something that we can get skilled at. Staying in the moment, while I am talking to our junior athletes, is universal. This is also universal to the individuals that we work with who are in pain. Staying in the moment of: this is where I am at, this is what I am working on, not worrying about where I was yesterday, not worrying about where I am going to be tomorrow….this is very VERY challenging when we have pain, trying to improve performance, or trying to improve times. All you can control is the present moment.
Junior athletes - you strike out, you hit a bad shot, you make a mistake in the outfield, you miss that free throw - it’s so SO easy for us to dwell on it, BUT if you dwell on it and you get another chance at something...you are likely to mess up again because you are so busy dwelling on what happened. Stay in the present moment. If you are thinking about the future - “I have to get that scholarship,” “we have to win the next 3 games,” - it's the future...it's not even real! There is a philosophical debate or conversation that we can have which is much larger than this obviously, but the future is not even real. What’s real is right now. Stay in the present moment.
Giannis’s quote went something along the lines of: focusing on the past, that's your ego. Focusing on the future, that's your pride (and I would argue that if you’re a junior athlete, that might even be your parent’s pride. Is it you? Or is it some other influence coming in and putting stuff in your head that is getting you too focused on something that's not real?). Focusing on right now (this instant, this at bat, this shot, this workout, this time I get to relax and recover, this time with my friends, this time in the summer), that is humility. I think it helps us all be humbled but really you are going to be amazed if you can train the mind to focus on the present how your performance is going to sky-rocket.
Now, I don’t want to give you suggestions and not have actionable steps. So, what are some of the things that you can do?
Practice mindfulness, meditation, prayer, or breathing. Whatever that looks like or is for you. You have to practice being in the moment. Your brain doesn’t automatically just flip a switch. Your brain wants to go to the past, it wants to go to the future. Junior athletes, you have to start practicing being in the moment. I know it sounds weird. Meditation, deep breathing, or putting the dang phone away for 10-15 minutes. It’s just getting the brain in the habit of focusing on now, focusing on your breathing, or focusing on the noises around you. Sorry kids, this is going to sound really REALLY goofy and hippie and what not, but it is incredibly important. We just had an NBA champion...an MVP use a quote like this to basically tell us his little key to success.
Listen to the clues of those who have come before you that are where you want to be. You can learn from their mistakes, but man we also need to learn from their success as well.
What’s Popular Isn’t Always Right
And I love this about Giannis, but what we can learn from Giannis is that what’s popular isn’t always right. I know this is another one, junior athletes, it's going to be challenging for you to listen to this and not have this be a, “my stomach is turning, I’m overthinking this.” What’s popular isn’t always right. Looking at Giannis, he does not do what a lot of NBA stars do. He doesn’t go in the movie Space Jam, he was asked and turned it down. He doesn’t train with a bunch of other superstars in CA or FL, he trains with his brother and focuses on what he can control. What’s popular isn’t always right.
Typically where I’ll go with that is what’s popular is something we are probably going to try and compare ourselves to. We might look at somebody else and say, “well they are doing that workout program,” “they are joining that gym,” “they are playing for that AAU team,” or “well they are doing it so it must be right for me.” I know it’s challenging and maybe it is right for you, but don’t just assume just because everybody else is doing it that it will be right for you. YOU CAN DO YOU! A lot of times what is popular is not going to benefit you because if you stop and think about it, you are only doing it because everybody else is doing it. There are plenty of ways to get to where you want to go and not have to follow the crowd.
What’s popular is not always right. I mean that in sports. I mean that in training. I mean that in life. A lot of times if you see 90% of people going one way, and you want to stand out and you want to differentiate yourself in a very very busy and noisy environment that is youth sports, maybe go the other way. Maybe do something different. Look at things from a different angle. Nobody is saying you have to go off and start your own team or train in isolation or anything like that, but just remember when it comes to all these new things/gadgets/training regimens/latest and greatest to get you into the professional leagues....what’s popular is not always right. I will leave it at that.
If you look at Giannis, he has done things his way. He hasn’t followed the masses and HE STILL GOT THERE. People can join super teams or people can join buddy systems and get it done, but there is no reason/rule that says I have to do what’s popular here otherwise I’m not going to get to where I want to go.
Never Forget Where You Came From
Lastly, the 3rd thing junior athletes can learn from Giannis is to never forget where you came from. Parents may not have necessarily liked how I talked about the 1st two things, but #3 is going to be hitting home with the parents. Never forget where you came from. I mean this in every which way possible. If you look at Giannis, his work ethic and his ability to put his head down and go after the thing he wants stemmed from him remembering what it was like. He remembers where he came from. He remembers not having much. He remembers watching his parents struggle and sacrificing and doing all these things for him just so he could go to school with clothes on his back. He’s using that for fuel.
I talked before about not focusing on your past, but we can learn from our past. We can use our past as fuel. We don’t want to use it as a crutch. We don’t want to use it as a reason we are not going to go after something, but we can use it as fuel. That goes the other way too. I’m the first to say that I came from a very well-off background. I was spoiled. I was the youngest in my family. My dad did awesome. My mom did great and took care of us. I really had it good. I didn't have to scratch and claw. Now, in my life, I look at that and I am so incredibly grateful. I am probably able to be in a spot where I am because of some of this stuff. I am not going to let that go. I am not going rest on my laurels because look at the opportunities I had. You can take these things both ways. If your parents have shelled out money for AAU, given you training with private coaching, signed you up to work with people like us, at every single game, missing work, some might be working 3 jobs to pay for things..whatever it is, never forget that. Never forget that somebody probably laid down something before you. It might have been a former player, it might have been a former coach, it might be a parent...but never forget some of the sacrifices other people are making so that you can do what you want to do and get to a place where you want to go.
I think it's really really important to use it for fuel, but not focus on it. Never forget where you came from. Make sure that you are grateful for those people that are laying down the road for you. And trust me, sports are changing...I get it. Everyday it is becoming more of a business and more cut-throat.
People will sniff out an athlete who is not humble or grateful. If there are 2 players that have equal skills, maybe even slightly off. Maybe you have slightly more skills than somebody else, but your attitude is that of lack of gratitude and lack of humility...the coach is going to take the other player 9 out of 10 times. It’s important to remember where you come from. Giannis exemplifies the ability of that to a tee and it shows every single day in how he communicates, how he works, the gratitude that he shows for his coaches, the organization, his teammates, and his parents.
Those are the big 3. I am still celebrating the Bucks winning the world championships. I couldn’t help but think of our junior athletes. You think of the whole process of Giannis starting as rookie to where he just got this last week...how can these 3 things not stand out to you. They are slapping me in the face and I certainly hope all of our younger athletes are looking at this individual and staying, “he’s on to something.” Certainly different strokes for different folks. Some people are a little bit more flashy. You have to learn the log of lessons when there is success.
One of my favorite quotes is:
“Success leaves clues.”
I just want our junior athletes to look at this individual, pick up on some of the things that I think are unique about him. If you are going to be a student-athlete, or you are going to be in the community, the “athlete” part is part of you...but it’s not your whole you! There’s a bigger you in front of that athlete. I know some parents and coaches are probably going to be ticked at me for saying that, but sports are just a microscopic portion of all this if you stop and think about it.
It’s about YOU as an individual. Some of these things you can take and apply in all other aspects of your life. Sports, yes...but a lot of you are not going to be fortunate enough to go on and play professional sports or play for the next 20 years of your career. Take these things. Put them somewhere else. Put them into work. Put them into relationships. Man, you are going to be a happy individual if you can focus on these things.
GO BUCKS! WORLD CHAMPIONS 2021! We did it baby! Giannis...somebody to follow!
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