Since we are starting out the Focus Friday blog, I thought it would be a good idea to start at a beginning topic as well. I want to talk about the hard changes from being good, to being great. I have often found that taking a team and rebuilding them from a poor-performing team to a good team can be enjoyable and the rewards pretty apparent. The path from good to great, however, has always held a special place in my coaching/training life. I believe this may be because of my past life in marching band, and specifically percussion. I was part of an extremely successful marching band and drumline. I would later go on to be an instructor for 7 years right after high school. I grew up watching the program as a child, so I got to witness firsthand how things morphed from a very good marching band, into an elite marching band. It is funny because, in my current work, I hear stories all the time about how programs, teams, and even companies go from “bad to good”. How they were able to turn things around. Conversely, I typically hear little about how good teams become great teams. It just does not have the same appeal. The Bad News Bears story will also beat out the story of Alabama football, which has traditionally been good, but now it is probably the most elite program we have ever seen (and that pains me as a Notre Dame football fan). While there are a lot of changes at the beginning of those program turns, like recruiting and staff, one of the biggest things you may notice is how the teams, programs, and even companies prepare for their big events and practice. Some almost do it with the same methodical nature pre-practice as they do pre-competition. For me personally, one of the things I noticed in the marching band’s turn from good to great was how we prepared for things. I will also admit that the change was hard. I was not the most supportive of students. I thought the level the program was at when I came into it was the pinnacle, so why change things? I did not know the heights it could go. Let’s actually call it like it was. I was pretty much as ass about change. While there were a lot of people involved in that change (directors, assistant directors, section instructors, etc.), I have to honestly give the most credit to one person, and he will most likely be shocked that I am thanking him or finding out how much of an impact he had on me as a student and now as a college coach.
John Miliauskas came to our program during my sophomore year as assistant band director. With him came a lot of changes. A lot of changes I did not understand, and I certainly did not embrace them. I could write a whole blog on those changes, and maybe someday I will. For the purposes of this post, I just want to encapsulate the three big philosophies that came with him, whether he knew it or not. Pride, Attention to Detail, and Being Uncomfortable. They may seem like “well duh, of course, you need those things”, but when you are already part of a successful team or program, you may not see them in the same light. You may see them currently as how they make you “good” but not how they can make you great. Most of the changes he made were subtle, but you could sense it. Some of them were not so subtle and it was hard to understand and agree with (at first). I also think he did it masterfully. He could have easily said, “these are the changes I want to make, and here is why”. The way he did it left us to really explore why. It now has become very clear to me that he was using the Socratic Method to get us there. For people who are used to just being told what to do and how to do it, the Socratic Method can be frustrating. That however was the key to what he was doing. Making us figure out how to find the “why” was actually the biggest lesson he taught us. I just wish I would have seen it sooner. Now, I am not sure if he came into the program with those three big philosophies in mind. It is possible he just said, “this is what I am” and they came into existence through the process. I hope to get him on a podcast and actually talk about all this at some point. He is currently the band director at Townson University and doing an amazing job there. So that is the very brief background on the story, and as I said, I could spend days on the topic and at some point, I will. But now I want to hit those big three philosophies so I can end with what any of this has to do with warmups. I do want to preface this next section by saying this is MY TAKE on it. It may be different than those who were also part of it and the concepts were not indoctrinated into us.
Pride was the philosophy that came to mind when I thought about those years. Here is the kicker. Prior to the shift in the program, I was proud of what we were accomplishing as a marching unit and specifically as a drumline. It was not until later that I noticed the shift in the program (and culture) when we subtly changed from being proud to having pride. We use the words Pride and Proud almost interchangeably, but in my opinion, they are not. What I realize now is that when I was thinking of being proud, it was really a state of being. It made me arrogant and self-centered. I was proud of our reputation, I was proud of our work, and I was proud of the marching band. Pride on the other hand is a temporary (can be short, can be longer) state that comes from a sense of achievement. This was a very subtle change in how instruction was given, how we were critiqued, and what we focused on. Again, there was no big announcement, and I am not sure this was 100% of the game plan, but to me, it was a huge part of the change. Instead of being proud of who we were, we took pride in what we were doing. I did not really see it then, but there is a distinction between the two terms and ideologies. I started having (pride) and stopped being (proud). It was taking pride in the little things like being prepared, warmups, sweat equity, being open, and having trust. This simple change from proud to pride, made a major impact on me as a teammate and later as a coach.
Attention to detail was the next philosophy change. This was interesting because when we were “good” (not on the path to great yet), we did focus on a lot of little things. Body angles, tempo, and where we should be on the field (known as your dot to those not familiar with marching band) were all things we looked at closely. However, it was the new attention to detail that came during this time of change that made an impact on us as performers and me as an eventual coach. We now focused on the toe and heel height. We would practice the first steps of a movement pattern ad nauseum. How we arrived pre-competition, and how we warmed up was almost as intense as the practice, it was all the little things that most people gloss over. We no longer took those little things for granted and worked the hell out of them. I liken it to the story of famed UCLA basketball coach John Wooden and how he would spend hours, yes hours, training his teams how to put their socks and shoes on correctly. It is the little things that make us and break us.
Being uncomfortable is the last philosophy I want to touch on. We had gotten really good at efficient and quality practices. We would practice beginning of the show to the end. We had gotten very good at being very good. The next subtle change, ok I lie. It was not very subtle. It was like a ton of bricks the first band camp (side note, please spare me your American Pie band camp stories. That schtick has run its course). We would now practice the show in what seemed to be a completely random, on-a-whim, style. We would do 20 measures of the opener, then work on the last 10 measures of the show, and then go to some “random” spot in the middle. It was so frustrating. It was also genius. The method of bouncing around the show and learning (and cleaning) was crazy at first. What I (and most coaches) now know as blocked vs random training was so foreign to me. As soon as I would get in the groove of what we were working on, it would get switched to a different section that had nothing to do with what we just spent the last 45 minutes on. What I didn’t realize at the time is how that method was going to not only make our learning stronger and stick better but would also help us be our best when we were uncomfortable. Much like all the other changes made, I did not see it at first. But I soon realized that as a group, we could pick any random spot in the show and perform it amazingly now. In the past, we would have had to go in the exact order we had been working on for it to be our best. A great example of how this worked was when we did our nightly run-throughs. This was basically us, as a unit, doing the whole show to end the practice for the night. It would typically be from start to end. One of the changes is that we would do multiple run-throughs and a lot of times we would start at, again what I thought was a random point. We would do the full show as well, but the “random” start points were designed to make us uncomfortable which made us work harder.
So did this all work in a practical sense? I can say with 100% certainty that for me it worked. I can give a real situation scenario. In my Junior year, I was playing the first bass drum. I had the distinct (and completely nerve-racking) pleasure of having the first notes of the show. I would basically play three notes solo, and it would bring the entire band in. We were on the field for regional championships (think conference championships that then move you on to the final championships). It was a cold night, and my drum was tuned pretty tight. I hit the first two notes and the drumhead exploded. It did not simply break, it exploded. The drum came up and hit me in the nose, it knocked all the other sticks I had on the top holder to the groups, and I couldn’t see anything. I fully admit I freaked out. My section leader and a few other players calmed me down quickly and I regained my composure. We were about 30 seconds into a 7-minute performance. Once I realized I was physically OK and I got my senses back, all the subtle changes we had done over the past two years took over. My attention to detail let me focus on what I could control. I worked to make sure my marching and movements were the best I could produce. I thought about the toe height, the heels, and the turns. All the little details are often overshadowed by the focus on playing the music. I became comfortable being uncomfortable. I had no right drumhead. I did the best I could with my left hand and again focused on the details (thumb position, stick angle, etc). I remember the moment I also felt the most comfortable in an uncomfortable situation. We had a big percussion solo, and there was a point where the bass line was center, and we did a turn to feature a note run we did. I realized that other than the players close to me on the field (and the judge who gave me the most extensive look of pity when it happened), no one knew what happened. The minute we did the turn, I saw the drum staff standing there and they saw it. It was a mix of shock, sadness, and blank stares. I literally still have dreams of that exact moment. I remember our head instructor Terry coming up after the show and telling me how crazy it was because he saw me shrug and chuckle a little and just keep on going. We would go on to win the Chapter Championship and take the best percussion. I am not going to sit here and lie and say the situation wasn’t devastating to me. I had a ton of emotions going through me. I was sad, hurt, angry; you name it. The truth is, however, that those small changes in instructional philosophies and techniques got me through it. So, I have a 100% buy-in.
When I am training coaches and running a course, I often get asked what knowledge I use the most or who I learned the most from. The truth of the matter is that everything I am today as a coach and educator started on the hot asphalt of a high school parking lot for the marching band. It all started with a foundation and vision that I did not understand or appreciate at the time. I know I never said thank you to John for those lessons in life and coaching, but I am now. John, THANK YOU! Beyond me showing how those changes worked and how they can still work to this day, it is important that he and all the others (Terry, Carol, Mark H., Mark L, JP, Kenny, Brain P., Frank, Bud, Rob, and a slew of others that I know I am forgetting) know how their methods, delivery and buy into the bigger picture that was being presented shaped my life and career.
So how does all of this roll into this week’s Focus Friday? Here are the actionable items I am challenging all of you as coaches to look at. Chances are we will do a deeper dive into each area down the road.
Pride – How is your program showing pride without being proud? How do you recognize and reward pride? Maybe instead of asking “what are your most proud of in this match”, you can ask “what do you take the most pride in from this match”? It may seem like you are asking the same thing, but remember we are looking to change the focus from proud (a state of being) to pride (a sense of accomplishment). Find those areas where you can show your sense of accomplishment.
Attention to Details – What are the little things that you gloss over on a regular basis? Maybe it is how you put equipment away in the closet. Maybe it is how your water bottles are all over the team bench and unorganized. Perhaps it is your warm-up routine (next week’s topic BTW) where you just got through the motions. Think of John Wooden and the shoe story. Where is that level of detail in your program?
Being Uncomfortable – How are you making your program uncomfortable to foster growth? Are you doing too much for them, hand-holding, so they look good? How can you mix up the repetitive and mundane of each practice to make it uncomfortable and challenging? Are you preparing your team to deal with the unknowns and randomness of the competition?
Remember, we can’t have growth and learning without reflection.
