Playing hard means effort. Competing means denying the opponent anything. A competitor dives for loose balls, boxes out, secures rebounds not because it's their job but because they won't let the other team have it. Coaches spot the difference immediately.
Chapters
Coaches love competitors. And there's not a lot of competitors out there, by the way, because some of you think you're a competitor, but you're not. Because there's a big difference between playing hard and competing. There's a lot of players out there that play hard. Most of you, most of the time play hard. But that doesn't mean you're competing. There's not a lot of players who compete. There's a difference. And it's really hard to put into words what that difference is. The best I can kind of do is, playing hard might mean diving on the floor for a loose ball. Competing might mean diving on the floor and making sure you get the loose ball and nobody else does. Playing hard might mean blocking your man out. Competing might mean blocking your man out and making sure your man doesn't get one rebound the whole game that you get them all. There's a difference. And again, it's hard to put into words, but a good coach will recognize a good competitor in a second. Coaches love competitors. And the other thing about playing hard versus competing, if all you do is play hard, if all you do is show up for practice every day and show up for games every day and just play hard, well, sooner or later that starts to feel like work, starts to feel like a job. It's not that fun. But when you learn how to compete, that's the real.
