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Sunday July 25th , 2010 Rvi se jako Lev! Motivation in basketball reveals itself in many forms. Basketball players draw their motivation from many places and some use mindful tricks to be at their best. Basketball teams, on the other hand, often have a motto or a theme to help the focus. Before any team tips off their season or takes the floor for their first practice, you can bet the coaching staff has sat through meetings to discuss everything from lineups and rotations to set plays and systems. While most of these result in basketball basics, many times motivating a team moves a coach or a staff to creativity. True motivation is more about personal relationships and knowing personnel than some gimmick or mind game. Motivation can come from within (intrinsic) or from outside (extrinsic), motivation can be positive or negative and motivation is specific. In motivating individual players, positive intrinsic motivation can lead to fantastic achievements on the basketball floor. In motivating teams, creating a positive theme that clearly captures the meaning of the team can be a big step toward special chemistry. Ten years ago as a young American coach working in Europe for the first time, I had the dream of combining the best basketball from America with the best in basketball from Europe. My basketball adventure continues to this day. Ten seasons ago I worked with my Chemnitz 99ers team drawing on the experiences of my past while keeping an open mind and open eye for the future. During that preseason, we traveled 40 kilometers across the northwest Czech border to the industrial town of Chomutov for a friendly game against the second division team. It was there that I met Pavel Budinsky. Quickly we discovered a common passion for basketball and shared dream --- to bring the best of American and European basketball together. We played more exhibition games. We sat in Pavel's Chomutov office together talking basketball. We attended each others games. We went to must-see sites in Czech and hockey games in Chomutov. After our seasons finished, Pavel visited me in the USA for three weeks observing the Dodge City Legend USBL team where I served as an assistant under former Chicago Bulls forward Cliff Levingston. Pavel worked Duke's summer basketball camp and enjoyed a fantastic life experience in the USA. Coaching both Chomutov and BK Decin to successful seasons, Pavel worked his way up the coaching ranks in the Czech Republic. 9 years later, after being named the Head coach of the Czech National team, our dreams to bring the best basketball from Europe and the USA together continue. As Pavel explained his game plan for the summer, he described his goal of laying the foundation for basketball success starting with an aggressive, positive attitude and an improvement in the Czech Basketball mentality. Of course there is alot of hardwork ahead and the road is long --- relegated from Group A to Group B, Czech Republic fell to a group for European qualifiers and must win back into the top levels of international basketball in Europe. Unfortunately for basketball in the Czech Republic, the best young players Jan Vessely, David Jelenik and Tomas Satoransky are not with the team this summer. But this summer is not about the players who are not with the team, it is about the players that will wear the red, white and blue colors of their country. At training camp in Liberec, Czech Republic, a team building activity took the players to the top of a mountain just outside the city. Overlooking the Liberec region, the team sat together in a hotel restaurant. As an American who is working on his Czech, most of the conversations around the room did not register. I only caught a couple of key words. But when the Czech chatter quieted down and captain Petr Benda addressed the team, all eyes and ears were on the hardworking, skillfull post player. In that moment, high atop the mountains just outside of Liberec, the battle cry for the Czech Republic national team was born. Toasting to everyone in the room, the captain's eye sharpened with determination as he spoke the words 'Rvi se jako Lev'. Of course, I had no idea what that meant but along with it I went. Then they translated it and explained it to me. Like a symbol of America is an Eagle, the symbol of the Czech Republic is a Lion. The words 'Rvi se jako Lev' mean fight like a Lion. Immediately, I loved the motto and how the words captured the theme of the team. Possibly the ultimate in positive intrinsic motivation, who would not go through the roof to fight like a Lion on the basketball floor for your country? Although it is something small, I absolutely love the fight like a lion chant and what it means to this team. As a reminder, for every huddle, to begin and end daily practice, team captain powerfully yells 'RVI SE JAKO' to which we all respond 'LEV'. Simply, Awesome. Follow all the fast breaking ratiopharm Ulm and international baketball action all season long on Taylorhoops.com! GO ULM! MIKE T
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