This is part four of a four-part series on LIFE Leadership Fun. To start at the first segment, please click here.

The whole series now boiled down to one game for the Band of Brothers (BoB). If they lost, it was over; otherwise, with a win, both teams would settle it once and for all on day seven. Each team experienced the increasing pressure and grueling exhaustion by reaching our competitive limit. Nevertheless, it is an athlete’s dream to experience true competitive greatness when one’s physical limits are reached and the mental discipline must take over. I took the measure of each man on the court just before passing in the ball to start game three. Every single player was a winner who had his game face on, determined to give his all and contribute to his team’s victory. In other words, no one had cracked, and it promised to be a war to the finish. The final game started with baskets trading back and forth and was tied at 4 points a piece at the first water break. The BoB, however, surged out of the break, scoring three unanswered baskets to take a commanding 7–4 lead.

Ending this run was not an option, and I found myself repeating the words “stops and pops” out loud. Holger and Bill knew exactly what I meant, namely, stops on defense and quick pops on offense. The next offensive series for the BoB was crucial because overcoming an 8–4 lead would have been a tall order. Thankfully, we did not give the BoB any good looks at the rim, and even if we did, we vowed to foul if necessary, as we could not allow an easy shot. Still, their next shot danced tauntingly on the rim, for what seemed like an eternity, before finally rolling off into Holger’s awaiting arms.

PC Team

The next set of events I experienced in slow motion, although the game pace was extremely fast on the court. Holger passed the ball to me, and I quickly launched a bomb from downtown that hit the mark, making it 7–5. Because we had played “buckets” the whole series, the scoring team would keep the ball until the defense stopped them. Bill inbounded the ball to me, and we looked to continue our rally. Over the years, Bill and I have played a ton of basketball together, and when we made eye contact and nodded, I knew exactly what he wanted to do without a word being communicated. For it was time to execute a series of flawless pick-and-rolls and end this game, or we would have to confront the BoB again on day seven. I dribbled to the left into a beautiful screen set by Bill that checked Morgan. Birtles, however, quickly rushed in front of me to stop my wide open shot. Noticing the overplay by Birtles, Bill rolled to the hoop and I hit him with a perfect bounce pass that he caught in stride for the layup, making it 7–6.

Two more beautiful screens by Bill left me open for running layups that pushed us into the lead 8–7. Finally, the BoB stopped our surge, and we traded baskets to make it 9–8 with the BoB dribbling the ball intent on tying it up. A shot by Birtles bounced long off the rim into my arms around the free-throw line. I quickly dribble to the top of the key, hoping to catch the BoB napping, to take a quick shot. I turned to face the hoop and made eye contact with Steve Morgan in a dead sprint towards me. I made up my mind to shoot anyway and arced a moon ball that took forever to come down. Somehow the shot just avoided the outstretched hands of Morgan, and he turned around just in time to see the moon ball swish through the net. PC Team was up 10–8 with just one more point to go!

Bill shot the potential game-winning shot that just missed, but Holger’s offensive rebounding gave us two more shots at victory. Incredibly, both layups rolled on the rim but refused to fall. Three game-winning shots, in other words, but no points! The BoB rebounded and took possession. Steve, guarded by me, dribbled to the right to lead me into Kirk’s screen. However, as Kirk attempted to roll, one of his calf muscles popped, and he collapsed in pain on the court. He was not getting back up, and just like that, the series and summer were over due to an injury. Since we were leading by the required two points, the game ended in our victory, by an injury forfeit, winning day six two games to one and the day series four days to two. Thankfully Kirk, who is a former physical therapist, is recovering nicely and preparing for next year.

Only people who are free mid-morning every day can enjoy this type of fun. Further, only people who understand and apply the PDCA process can enjoy the mental chess match of two winning teams engaged in war. Next summer promises to be even better as I am planning to form teams of PC Primers Leader pins. Each three-man team will compete in a Gus-Macker–like tournament at 10 a.m. in the morning while everyone else is working. LIFE Leadership is about Having Fun, Making Money, and Making a Difference, and this definitely fits in the Fun category! Why not get free and join a team to battle it out in a three-on-three basketball tournament? And since some people don’t like basketball, maybe other free LIFE Leaders will initiate a golf/volleyball/baseball/football/etc. tournament.

I thoroughly enjoyed myself in this series. Looking back, I think the key lesson each of the players took away from it was how much fun it can be to incorporate the PDCA process into life. When winners get together to compete, it promises to be a great time. In all the games, no one trash-talked, gave cheap shots, or cheated. Instead, it was just competition at the highest of levels amongst friends and business partners. I cannot wait until next year! Anyone care to join us?

Sincerely,

Orrin Woodward

This is the third segment of a four-part series on the summertime basketball wars between the Michigan LIFE Leadership PC team and the Band of Brothers (BoB). To start with the first segment, click here.

PC Team

One great thing about winners is they never get comfortable with losing. In fact, show me anyone who is comfortable losing, and I will show you someone who loses consistently. The PC team was never comfortable losing. Accordingly, Bill worked tirelessly on his step-through move to counter Kirk’s harassing defense. Additionally, I asked Holger to come over Wednesday morning to practice offensive rebounding and shooting while keeping his hands up, thus reducing turnovers and increasing points. Above all, however, was our decision to return to a man-to-man defense and scrap the zone.

I assigned myself the daunting task of guarding Morgan in the man defense. Although I had a slight size advantage, he had about every other advantage in the game, including playing the game regularly, being a decade younger, and being on a massive hot streak from the previous game. Nonetheless, bolstered with some ibuprofen, I believed I could slow his drives, challenge his shots, and hopefully break his rhythm. It all sounded good on paper, but only game day would reveal the quality of the PDCA.

Although my assignment promised to be challenging, Bill’s may have been even tougher. Somehow Bill, despite being five inches shorter than Kirk, had to shut down his inside/outside game. Remember, it was Kirk’s deadly accurate shot that had toasted us in the contest before. If a defender gives Kirk space, he shoots a ridiculously high percentage. Therefore, Bill agreed to stay in Kirk’s face, chasing him all over the court, refusing to give him any space for his shot. Meanwhile, we coached Holger to let Aron shoot his jump shot but challenge anything inside. Given our poor performance in the previous games, this PDCA had to work, or this series would be over!

Fortunately, day five confirmed our PDCA was successful. We shut down Steve’s drives and Kirk’s outside game. Although Aron hit a couple of wing shots, it wasn’t enough to keep them in the game. Bill had his best day of the series, scoring at will inside and out. Holger also had his best day, rebounding better than ever and scoring on many offensive rebounds. Finally, my long-range jumper kept the defense spread out, allowing Bill the spacing for his drives. The PC team won the first game 11–5 and the second one 11–2. The momentum had turned with our best performance to date, and we looked forward to the next day with a three-day to two lead in the series. Everyone expected Tuesday to be the most intense competition yet, as the BoB faced elimination and the PC team focused on ending the series. We knew we had better finish the series before the younger legs wore us down.

All weekend long, Holger, Bill, and I contemplated what the BoB would do to slow our aggressive defense and inside/outside juggernaut from the day before. Not surprisingly, when day six started, the answer from the BoB was clear. First, they came an hour early to practice at the Columbiaville elementary school. They worked on various maneuvers to check our game plan, even going as far as setting plays called out by number! The level of competition this day lived up to its advanced billing, with neither team giving an inch. In fact, I remember at one point thinking this was exactly what Wooden had described in his book on competitive greatness. It is simply awesome to experience a game that pushes a person to his competitive limit with other winners doing the same thing!

Nevertheless, only one team could win the series, and the BoB felt it should be them. They blew our doors off in game one. No, they didn’t just win; they annihilated us by a score of 11–2! Later, I learned one of their PDCAs was a realization that the team that had won the first game eventually won the day’s contest; therefore, they poured everything into game one for the victory. The BoB played with reckless abandon, letting no shot go unchallenged and owning every loose ball. How could anyone keep up a pace like this? The PC team didn’t panic after the blistering defeat but did make some adjustments. Holger promised to step up his rebounding, while Bill committed to take the ball to the rim and pass it back to me if he was double-teamed. Despite our team being exhausted from the physical pounding in game one, I believe the BoB team members were even more spent, as it is practically impossible to play that hard for any length of time. They had truly left it all on the court in game one. Our offense finally started to click, and we came back to return the favor on the exhausted BoB by trouncing them 11–2 in the second game.

The whole series pivoted upon the final game. Would the PC team pull it off, or would the BoB send the series to day seven? To be continued tomorrow.

Sincerely,

Orrin Woodward

This is part two of four on LIFE Leadership summer fun. Apply the same principles to your life that were applied in this basketball series, and you will meet with uncommon success. To read the first segment click here.

Band of Brothers PDCA

Band of Brothers

Like winners do, the Band of Brothers (BoB) upped their game the second day, playing like there was no tomorrow! Day two began with us back in our man-to-man defense, with me assigned to cover Kirk Birtles. I use that word loosely, as he and Aron Radosa played like they were on pogo sticks! Every time I turned around, they were airborne for another rebound! The BoB simply killed us, as Birtles and Morgan hit nearly every shot, and on the occasional miss, Radosa was there with the rebound. Although I was personally shooting better than day one, the PC team was no match for the BoB freight train. Even though we squeaked out a second-game victory, it didn’t matter, as we were humiliated in game three. Without a doubt, if someone had recorded the day’s competition, he would have concluded the PC team was incapable of competing against the BoB athleticism and intensity. Fortunately, however, the PC team also had some experience with the PDCA process. 🙂

I hate losing—simply HATE it! But I had to concede to the BoB that they had earned their victory. Nevertheless, Thursday couldn’t come soon enough, as I found myself envisioning a different outcome and practicing daily in preparation for the upcoming battle. Bill and Holger felt the same way, and day three was a day of redemption. Our main PDCA was a switch from man-to-man into a zone defense. This allowed Holger to utilize his size as well as his shot-blocking and rebounding skills underneath the hoop without having to chase Aron around the court. Bill and I completed the zone defense by challenging every pass, discombobulating the BoB strategy. In essence, this hindered Morgan’s ability to drive to the basket, slowing his impressive playmaking abilities. We focused on stopping their inside game and forcing the BoB to beat us on outside jumpers. Our zone threw the BoB out of their rhythm and spacing, leading to poor shot selection. Furthermore, Holger’s defense denied easy layups to anyone entering his space. This was the perfect PDCA at the time, and we won both games to take a 2–1 series lead.

The BoB are champions, however, and would not take this defeat lying down. All weekend, they planned their strategic response. Interestingly, when either team lost, they seemed to dive into why and make adjustments. In contrast, when our team won, we seemed to stand pat, expecting what worked yesterday to work again. This, however, was a huge mistake and why I teach to find a victory in every defeat and a defeat in every victory to continue the PDCA learning process. In an effort to verify that knowledge isn’t wisdom until its applied, the PC team repeatedly neglected this crucial principle, and the BoB capitalized on our error.

Day four started with us in the same zone defense that had previously worked so well. But the same cannot be said for this day. The BoB made adjustments that tore our zone apart. First, they ran picks to clear Kirk and Aron for wide-open, mid-range jumpers and hit them consistently. Second, once we started overplaying the jumper, Steve drove in and hit shot after shot off the backboard! I couldn’t believe how well they were shooting, and Bill, Holger, and myself seemed powerless to stop it. Somehow, our team fought back and tied the first game but could not hang with the fresher legs of the BoB and lost in overtime.

The second game, our zone defense looked even more porous. Jumper after jumper from Kirk and Steve killed us. Holger attempted to adjust by coming out to defend the shots, which only led to Aron killing us inside. We lost 11–4 and were never in the game. I had to commend the BoB again. They had sliced and diced our zone defense with their PDCA and left no doubt they could handle our zone defense in the future. In fact, at the time, I had no idea how we could stop their new style of play. On a personal note, adding insult to injury, Steve Morgan switched to guarding me personally, refusing to let me shoot my long-range bombs. Indeed, he did not give me an inch of space and neutralized my ability to consistently score outside to spread out their defense. Meanwhile, Kirk stepped up his defense and blocked Bill’s shots repeatedly, proving their defensive switch was the perfect PDCA. We now were in a full code red as the BoB had evened out the series at 2–2, but even more important, had the momentum going into Thursday’s event.

To be continued tomorrow.

Sincerely,

Orrin Woodward

PC Team

What a summer it has been in Michigan. In fact, it may be the best summer of fun since Laurie and I purchased the property in the Columbiaville area. The LIFE Leadership promotions we ran on Saturdays were blessed with great weather and taught the communities how to Have Fun, Make Money, and Make a Difference. Moreover, because I desired to stay in shape but loath treadmills or any other fitness activity not involving competition, I asked Bill Lewis if he thought some of his free RT guys would be interested in a little three-on-three driveway basketball.

At the time, I had no idea what a big part of the summertime fun this would become. For Bill Lewis, Holger Spiewak, Aron Radosa, Kirk Birtles, Steve Morgan, and I became engaged in a basketball war in a best of seven series that will be talked about for years. It all started when we divided the teams into the PC Members (the old guys) and the Band of Brothers (the younger guys). This created two teams that refused to back down, let down, or stay down. In fact, only minutes into the first game, I realized that shooting around with my teenagers was not proper preparation for the level of intensity required to compete in these games. Not surprisingly, my timing was off the whole first day as I attempted to adjust to the level of competition.

My teammates, on the other hand, picked up the slack. Holger Spiewak, despite not knowing the game of basketball, had starred as a soccer player in his younger days, and his athleticism reminded me of a young Dennis Rodman with the Detroit Pistons. However, the quintessential basketball player and stalwart of the PC team was Bill Lewis. His playing on opening day carried us to victory, as his outside jump shot, inside drives, and quick passes allowed the PC team to win all three games. After the games, I suggested maybe we could do it again on Thursday, and an epic series was born.

Band of Brothers

I believed, since we won each of the first three games, we would really hurt them on Thursday after I started playing at the new rhythm and speed of the game. My thinking, however, foolishly missed one very important point, namely, the PDCA process. The Band of Brothers (BoB) consisted of three great athletes who understand and implement the PDCA process daily in their lives. With the inside/outside combination of Radosa and Birtles, a competitive series was  guaranteed as these two relentless rebounders pack solid muscle on their chiseled, near 200-pound frames. Moving them out of their post, in other words, was practically impossible. Interestingly, both starred in football and baseball in high school (but thankfully for us, not basketball), and neither comprehends the word quit.

The final BoB opponent was Steve Morgan. This gentleman did play basketball in high school (and in pickup games across Michigan) and thus quarterbacked his team. His knowledge of the game allowed him to make the needed adjustments to check our strategies. This ensured that neither team would run away with this series and that every victory would be earned. Steve played the point guard position, distributing the ball to whomever had the hot hand. And if we relaxed at all on defense, he would drive right past us for easy hoops. Above all, Steve’s killer instinct, upping his intensity and focus when the game was on the line, made each game a war. Nonetheless, because of our impressive victory on day one, I was lulled into passivity and only awoke after the BoB storm of day two.

To be continued tomorrow.

Sincerely,

Orrin Woodward