Attitude by Jay Wright

Author:Jay Wright [Barkley, Charles]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2017-02-27T00:00:00+00:00

BEYOND BASKETBALL

The Invisible Contributions Can Matter the Most

Try never to overlook the humble efforts made by members of your team. It is a leader’s job to identify those instances that others might not see and emphasize that a seemingly simple gesture can generate many positive ripples.

The final game before Christmas usually brings a short break in our season. We would not play again until December 28, which allowed us to give the players the chance to return home for a few days to celebrate the holiday. Many of our guys left with their families directly after the alumni reception that followed the Delaware game.

Kris would have to delay his departure until after the MRI was completed the next morning. Our coaching staff made sure to text Kris that night because we know how difficult a period this can be. As an athlete, when your body has been potentially compromised, all sorts of dark thoughts can creep into your head.

What we didn’t know at the time was that one of Kris’ teammates had his back.

Rather than go to his family’s Philadelphia home that night as planned, Darryl Reynolds elected to stay on campus so that Kris wouldn’t have to spend the night alone with his worries. It was a small gesture, and one that our staff was totally unaware of.

We always tell the players: What you do speaks so loudly, we can’t hear what you say.

What Darryl did was show his character when no one—staff, teammates, or anyone else—was watching.

In the accounts of the Delaware game, there was little mention made of Darryl’s four points and six rebounds in twenty-two minutes. But his small gesture of kindness was its own kind of leadership. Leadership that we all respected.

Kris had his MRI the next morning. Following the appointment, he hopped in the car with Nate Britt Sr. for the ride home to Maryland while they awaited the results. During that ride, Mike Duncan and Jeff called me with what we would come to call our Christmas gift: The MRI revealed no ligament or cartilage damage. Kris had suffered a right-knee sprain and would be officially listed as day-to-day.

I couldn’t wait to get ahold of Kris and tried to reach him to no avail. I then tried the Britts’ home phone number, thinking that perhaps they had already arrived. Melody answered, and when I gave her the news, she cried. I asked Melody to have Kris call me as soon as he got home, which he did a little later.

When I gave Kris the news, we all exhaled.

As a coach, you understand that the wrong twist or turn of a joint can totally alter the look of a season. It’s why we say that we’re never quite sure what twists and turns a particular season will offer.

Kris’ knee would require only rest, and the timing was perfect: That’s exactly what he’d get over the three-day Christmas break.

For a few hours, we were reminded that adversity can crop up at any moment. In this case, it lasted less than twenty-four hours.

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