As a chess coach, I’m always looking for ways I can use some of the things other coaches do. Not just chess coaches, mind you, but coaches of sports teams as well.
I’ve written about it plenty — maybe only once here on Medium so far — but chess is a team game. The pieces and pawns represent the players on a sports team. Each one has to be in the right place and doing what they’re good at in order to achieve success.
So I was thrilled to see the new Netflix series, “The Playbook: A Coach’s Rules For Life,” and though I’m not a TV watcher at all, I figured this was definitely worth my time!
The first episode follows Glenn “Doc” Rivers, NBA head coach (recently fired from his job with the Los Angeles Clippers!) and wow, it did NOT disappoint!
I’m a huge sports fan and spent the majority of my life as an athlete, playing everything from football to basketball to soccer, tennis, baseball, and even some water polo, and though I always loved competing no matter what the sport was, basketball was the one I was good at.
I was never an NBA-caliber player, mind you! I was good — I could score, I could rebound and play solid defense, but I lacked certain fundamentals that kept me from ever taking my talents beyond high school. I also topped out at 6'1", and though height has been proven to be ‘overcome-able’ by certain guys (look up Spud Webb!), I was not one of those guys!
Maybe it’s because Doc Rivers played and coached in the NBA and that was “my” sport, or maybe it’s because what he has to say resonates with viewers no matter what, but this episode featured five very compelling “rules” Doc laid out and explained.
I’ll do my best to summarize and give my brief take on each.
1. FINISH THE RACE
This one came from Doc’s father and I loved the story he told about how it came to be. He was in first grade and his teacher actually sent him home for saying he wanted to be a pro basketball player when he grew up!
She told him to, “Be realistic.”
I won’t spoil it for you since the details of the story are what made it so poignant and memorable, but his dad’s advice to him was that whatever it is he decides to do with his life, the most important thing is to finish the race.
In other words, see your vision through til the end.
I hope when he played his first game in the NBA he left a ticket at will-call for that teacher! He proved the power of believing in one’s self above all else.
2. DON’T BE A VICTIM
A very powerful segment in which Doc explains how he and his team, the Los Angeles Clippers, approached a tremendous public controversy over team owner Donald Sterling’s racist remarks during the playoffs in 2014.
An audio recording had been leaked in which Sterling was heard voicing his disapproval of his mistress associating with Magic Johnson, a former NBA superstar who is black, and putting pictures of her and Magic on her Instagram page. His disdain for minorities was evident, and with a player base that was 75% black at the time, the scandal rocked the entire league.
There was talk of the Clippers boycotting their game in protest, and millions of people were calling for the removal of Sterling as the team’s owner.
Doc called his team together and told them that he wasn’t about to let anything get in the way of the team’s success, and that while the choice was theirs as to whether or not to play, boycotting the game would take the focus away from Donald Sterling and get everyone talking about them instead.
He convinced his players that by choosing not to play, they would be letting Sterling get in their way and stop them from what they were there to do. The choice not to play would mean Sterling would be the winner in the end, and they would become victims.
He then explained that he owed that lesson to his parents, who lived by a “never be a victim” mentality, and talked about some of what he had experienced growing up — being called the N-word and being discriminated against.
He credited his parents’ philosophy with giving him the strength to push through those things and to never be a victim.
3. UBUNTU IS A WAY OF LIFE
This one is tricky to explain, especially since there is no real direct translation of the word ubuntu, a word that originated in Africa. The best approximation is that in order to be human, we have to learn to be human from other humans. The idea is that people need each other.
But as Doc explains it, he is quick to point out that ubuntu isn’t a word, it’s a way of life. It goes much deeper than its definition.
He was able to indoctrinate his team into this way of life so completely that not only does he credit the ubuntu way of life with leading that team to a world championship (the previous season their record was 24–58!), but to hear the players speak in post-game interviews made it clear they had all bought in to this idea that they needed each other.
It’s really an amazing display of how a coach took a single concept that originally had nothing to do with the sport he coaches and turned it into the one thing that led to success in that sport!
4. PRESSURE IS A PRIVILEGE
This one I really love and it hit home for me because there was a time in my life when I used to run from pressure and shy away from it. Many of us do. But if Doc Rivers were to catch you doing that, he’d have something to say!
His view is that if you’re facing pressure, it’s because you’ve been good enough so far to reach that point where there is pressure. It’s not something to shy away from, it’s something to celebrate! Be proud that you’re in position to feel pressure.
Pressure means that whatever is going on is important to you. Usually very important. That’s a good thing!
The alternative is to go through life without ever really investing in yourself or in anything you do to the point where nothing really matters to you. I can’t think of anyone who would consciously choose to live that way!
But when we run from pressure instead of facing it head on, that’s just about what we’re doing. We’re demonstrating that whatever is happening isn’t important enough for us to rise up and square off against it so that we have a chance of coming out on top.
Walking away from a challenge never did anyone any good.
5. CHAMPIONS KEEP MOVING FORWARD
This was my favorite of all his rules, and really captures the essence of success, as I see it.
One of Doc’s idols from the time he was a kid was Muhammad Ali. Doc put it well when he said that a lot of people think champions never get hit. That’s not true, he says. Champions get hit a lot! Champions are the ones who, every time they get hit they keep moving forward.
Get knocked down? Pick yourself up and keep moving forward.
If you’re a fan of Disney movies, I guess you could think of this rule as, “Just keep swimming.” ;)
That, to me, is the true key to success. If you want to win, if you want to get wherever it is you want to go in life, the one big thing you have to do is to keep moving in that direction.
The only way to truly fail is to quit.
I can personally attest to this. There was a time in my life when I was a restaurant manager who had — momentarily it turns out — given up on my dreams of becoming a chess teacher.
Then I attended a one-day entrepreneurial seminar that changed my trajectory completely.
There were a lot of great speakers who talked about all things business… But the keynote speaker ended the entire conference with a strong speech featuring these closing remarks, quoted from Winston Churchill:
“Never give up… Never give up. NEVER GIVE UP!”
I still remember it like it was yesterday and I still get chills because that was the moment I decided I would do it.
And it was also the moment I realized that the only true failure is giving up.
Thank you for your time spent here. I hope I’ve given you something to think about, or at least entertained you for a bit! Drop me a line anytime: coachrob@kidsnchess.com
