Friday, October 10, 2008

THINGS I'VE LEARNED FROM COACH (#16)

If you have ever attended one of Coach Meyer's clinics or academy, he will at one point early on let you know that one of the common denominators of successful people is that they are great note takers.
I don't believe I've ever met anyone that takes more notes than Coach Meyer. He once told me that he attended Bob Knight's first coaching academy at Indiana University and took a 145 pages of notes. Coach said it "got me over the hump as a coach." And as he is quickly approaches Coach Knight as the all-time victory leader in men's college basketball, he still takes notes.

It is common place for me to get a packet of notes from him in the mail from the most recent clinic that he has spoke at -- because when he is not speaking, he is in the bleachers taking notes and trying to improve as a coach. I return the favor as often as I can because I know he enjoys reading about the game.

He even takes great notes on himself. Coach Meyer carries a handheld recorder with him at all times. He is constantly talking in to it to remind him of something involving his program or his craft. He utilizes it in games as well, pulling it out and talking in to it while walking the sideline.

One of the things that Coach Meyer shared with me during our last visit together in July when he was speaking at a clinic here in Baton Rouge, were notebooks in which he jots down his messages from the dictaphone. Written on the notebooks were "Dictaphone Notes 2007-08" and "Dictaphone Notes 2008-09." Each evening he replays the dictaphone and transcribes each message into the notebook.

I've been using a handheld recorder since my very first Coach Meyer Free Coaching Clinic at David Liscomb in Nashville. I now have my own notebook to write down my recordings. It is a tremendous way to help me go over those things I learned from the day as well as to help prepare for my tomorrow. First, saying it into the recorder and then writing it to paper is a powerful way to burn it to my memory and then bring it to action.