Author Archives: Jordan Mottl

About Jordan Mottl

Diversity is an old wooden ship. Stay tuned, more to come.

Gang Showers are Just the Beginning

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The Magic of the Locker Room

There isn’t such a community like it. Times of intense focus, sadness, joy, bliss, depression, fear, doubt… the same arena of arguments, fist-fights, chants, hugs, high-fives, and of course the crack-whip of a wet towel.

Ladies and gentlemen welcome to the locker room.

Of course, a rambling locker room narrative would provide a window into this world of cinder blocks and male nudity (I apologize, but I do not have much experience in the female locker room). But instead let’s elucidate and illuminate the locker room bonds with some descriptions of colourful cultural practices that are the community glue of this brotherhood.

! Disclaimer: This is not to endorse or condone, but merely to give perspective of this community – this strange and powerful community.

! Apology: To my locker room brothers for letting the outside world in. Email Johan Horn with complaints.

The cultural rituals that occur within a locker room include a wide spectrum of oddities, actions, quasi-rituals, and those things you just don’t know how to classify – those in-betweenies. And lets jump right in there, ladies and gentlemen…

Genitalia Trickanominous aka Penis Puppetry.

Yes kids, the Windsurfer, the Brain, the Helicopter, the Cobra… these are just a few of the locker room testes spectacles that many have been amazed and disgusted by. Like a car crash, it is difficult to look away from someone who genuinely believes their scrotum, and the shapes it can make, is art. If you are so lucky, and coach left an overhead projector in the locker room, you may be privileged to PMM – Penis Mass Media. Secondary sources have reported this is the most difficult form of Genitalia Trickanominous as it involves a great understanding of angles and balance. Penis Puppetry, interestingly enough, is a distant cousin to…

Sport Specific PDA’s.

I do not believe any other place has dished out more high-fives, ass-slaps, chest bumps, and various handshake combinations. You do well – high-five. You do bad – low-five. You do okay – butt-slap. Just standing around? Four knuckle-bumps, a Slap-the-Walrus, followed by a wiggle-three and a chest-to-balls. Physical Displays of Affection are everywhere. Of course during the times of extreme emotion there is always the ol’ stand by: the hug. You will often see the hug in combination with the following two…

Tears: Witness the definitive trope of masculinity and break it down completely. Weeping, sobbing, sniffling sorrow – the lowest of the lows.

Bliss: Out-of-body, transcendent mind numbing, Richter-scale joy. The highest of the highs.

Following tears and/or bliss is usually some sort of personal interaction. Whether that be with media, friends, or family it is best to provide explanation using…

Clichés. 110%. A win is a win. We’re proud that we left it all out there. One day at a time, one play at a time. Digging deep to do whatever you can, kind of community. Clichés are not only found in post-game Q and A, but also in…

Half-Time (The Inspiration): A quote, a feeling, a moment – a new lens on a bad situation. Experiencing one person’s actions or inactions, which completely change the course and determination of many. Incredible. Powerful. Memorable. However much like the ‘Force’, inspirational half-times have a powerful dark side…

Half-Time (The Snap Show): Throwing the chair, kicking the exercise bike, yelling and screaming, grab you by the throat, this is full on abuse, kind of community. Please use sparingly if at all.

Whichever Half-Time arises, it may be addressing…

Fear and Courage: The self-doubt knowing that you can’t do it, but the resolve to go down giving it your all. This is a magical, deeply powerful decision. It inspires an internal freedom to do your best. This same attitude helps with…

Dancing: Dance like no one is watching? How about dance with 15 other pairs of left feet after a win. You’d see moves that would keep you up at night. Except for those few who can dance. For those bastards there are…

Pranks: Two of my hilarious favourites include: The Garlic Pour. This involves a generous helping of garlic powder added into someone’s game shoes. By Half-Time the mixture of foot sweat, heat, and garlicky-goodness creates a smell so bad that the prankee is quarantined through the remaining game/practice. Managers, trainers, team mates, and coaches will take joy in repeatedly reminding the individual of the their state. Amazingly enough, the Garlic Pour is re-activated by heat. The prankee will not be rid of this smell until they buy new shoes.

The second favourite remains nameless (feel free to submit titles). While in the shower, engaging a rookie (chosen for their high level of ignorance) in a conversation while secretly urinating on their feet.  It is quite a sight to see one person looking another in the eyes, conversing in candor, while getting peed on. Quite a sight.

Yes, gang-showers are just the beginning. Putting numerous people in high-emotion and close-conduct breeds an interesting community. Take off their clothes and add competition, you cook up emotionally charged, scrotum antic, soup. I hope this insight into the Locker Room Community made you crave a ‘ladle’. If it didn’t, well we locker-roomers know “It wasn’t pretty, but we’ll take it”. Because when it’s all said and done “It was a total team effort in there”.

Trees can Change the World; Trees made of Wooden

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John Wooden, at age 99 passed away of natural causes in the early morning of June 5th 2010. Undoubtedly, he was one of the greatest coaches of all time, developing one of the most powerful ideas for building a community of change for the greater good, by demanding that everyone “Should not measure themselves by what they have accomplished, but by what they should have accomplished with their ability.”

But, it is safe to say Wooden (known affectionately in the basketball world as ‘Coach’) would dismiss the spotlight on his awards. For Wooden, his very philosophy shy’s away from the results. Wooden was concerned with the process of realizing results. He passionately concentrated on the effort involved in achieving the reward. And the reward was secondary. This was the foundation of his and his team’s success on the court and in life.

“Success is peace of mind.” Wooden said. “[It is] The direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to do your best, to become the best that you are capable of becoming.”

This idea to focus on, and worship, effort is the foundation for modern coach-centered leadership for sport, business, and even parenting. And what a beautiful thing an idea is. Transcendent through individuals, great ideas take on a life of their own. In the coaching world they are often described as coaching trees. These trees map the relationships that link individuals through the merging, adopting, and evolution of philosophy. Wooden’s philosophy has made a remarkable journey as his success orientation has been passed through players, coaches, and learners to all corners of the globe. Wooden’s coaching tree is worth growing because of the positive community of people it creates and empowers.

Unbeknownst to me, I was introduced to Wooden’s philosophy. Before I had even heard the name John Wooden, a branch of his tree saved my academic career. Now I have grown my own branch of the Wooden tree and let me tell you, it is magic when you see a 13-year-old embrace it and change his life through it. My branch of the Wooden Tree is called ‘Process Not Result’, where my athletes are taught to focus on the process (effort) not the result and how to apply that to everyday life. I am not naïve enough to believe that my actions will cause the tipping point and enable the grand ‘result’. But I do believe that collectively, through the effort one day that tipping point will come.

Wooden’s idea of … “Knowing you made the effort to do your best, to become the best that you are capable of becoming.”… is central to success in any aspect of life not only sport. And after listening to the news stories that surrounded Wooden’s this morning, this concept is more important than ever as it is central to all social change. It is central to developing youth into better people and the leaders of tomorrow. It is central to inspiring those around you. It is central to instilling confidence. It is central to believing you can be the change. It is central to hope. It is central to changing the world. It is central to relieving the crushing pressure and exhaustion that individuals, who strive to be the change, must endure. It is central to knowing while we, alone as individuals, will not be in the headlines for the next positive social revolution, collectively by being part of the process, part of the effort to do so, we will have a stake in positive change.

So when we hear these stories of blockades, and environmental disasters, we are hearing stories of the results of negative ideas, and toxic interactions. John Wooden is largely a story of the process. A story of the effort needed to change the world. Pass this idea on, you cannot ensure the result, but you can control the process of achieving the result. Grow this tree, this tree made of Wooden.

Here are some additional ‘Woodenisms’ to help grow your Wooden tree:

“Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out.”

“Be prepared and be honest.”

“You can’t live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you.”

“What you are as a person is far more important than what you are as a basketball player.”

“If you’re not making mistakes, then you’re not doing anything. I’m positive that a doer makes mistakes.”

“It isn’t what you do, but how you do it.”

“Failure is not fatal, but failure to change might be.”

“Consider the rights of others before your own feelings and the feelings of others before your own rights.”

“Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.”

“It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts.”

“It’s the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen.”

“Success comes from knowing that you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming.”

Lessons in Community from…Phoenix?

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On Saturday night $teve Ca$h and the Phoenix Suns were ousted from the playoffs in game six, after a hard fought and competitive series with the LA Lakers. $teve, who if you haven’t already guessed by the mildly humorous dollar sign usage – is what the kids call “cash money”, renewed his contract in 2009 with Phoenix a relatively small NBA market.

Many speculated the $teve would test the free agent waters and sign with a New York or Cleveland where he would lay the foundation for a big market championship run. Na$h now reaching the twilight of his career, surprisingly opted to stay with his Phoenix franchise despite the long-shot odds of the Phoenix Suns making a championship run.

Why? Community. In 2009, after extending his contract Na$h stated:

“I really love Phoenix, being a part of this community and the fans have been fantastic for me… Obviously, you want to win a championship but chasing that can be really fleeting and it’s a much more stable and challenging outlook to be a part of group that you really love and enjoy. All of those things greatly outweigh the search for a title somewhere else.”

After Saturday’s elimination loss $teve echoed those comments, referring to community as the catalyst to make the “whole greater than the sum of its parts”. And the Phoenix Suns achieved that this season. Pre-season odds had them fighting for just a taste of the first round of the playoffs, instead the Suns finished with a 54-28 record, 3rd overall in the Western Conference.

How did $teve build such a community of overachieving high-performance? While there isn’t a single reason, lets start with being a model for teamwork.

$teve Ca$h is a leader who generates an atmosphere of friendly collegiality and is a model of respect, helpfulness, and generosity to the greater good. This energy draws others into active, enthusiastic commitment to the collective effort, and builds spirit and identity. This community identity is an incredible motivator in the face of challenge and adversity. Knowing that everyone around you is in support of each other and in support your well-being is the foundation of trust that every great community is built on. As community builds there comes an understanding that the relationships you forge beyond the simple task obligations, and ties are cemented into family bonds. It is these ties that fuel individuals to push beyond their perceived limits for the good of the whole.  These bonds are what $teve placed ahead of million dollar raises and championship chances in 2009.

“All the clichés really are true” $teve said. “You can be greater the sum of your parts”.

The Science of Play

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Play, an extraordinary phenomenon that can be witnessed from the animal to the human world. In nature it provides critical survival skills and this is the same for human beings. Good ol’fashioned unstructured play is one of the BEST ways to develop muscular and cardiovascular strength, flexibility, coordination, cognitive development, along with bone density in children. Kids do this naturally so we adults sometimes need to stay out of their way. Tumbling, falling, running, wrestling, dancing all contribute to physical literacy which refers to the basic human movements (running, jumping, throwing) and the ABC’S (agility, balance, coordination, speed). And that’s just the physical stuff, let alone the powerful community-building elements of kids playing.

But play is under attack. In our haste to protect our children, we are impeding kids of valuable physical adaptations and critical psychological coping mechanisms that play provides. We have systematically replaced playgrounds with rubber cushioned surfaces. Where kids used to skin their knees, their bodies now operate un-stressed in the protection of an artificial environment. And mom and dad are heavily involved, co-playing and coaching, not letting children problem solve with self-exploration and trial and error (Marano, 2004). Increased micromanagement of organized sport has in effect robbed children of independent thought. “Go here, line there, shoot here” are all good efficient coaching methods but when was the last time you saw a neighbourhood pick-up game organized by children? Yes, traditional coaching is the best way to refine skills, but young children should not be robbed of leadership skills, mental agility, and social curiosities.

By over protecting children on the playground we lay the foundation for dependence and a more fragile physical body, for it is not how well we succeed, but how well we fail that has the biggest impact on resilience and growth. By learning at an early age independent problem solving, a valuable life lesson is taught and in the process children develop and enhance physical characteristics. The majority of bone growth, for example, occurs early on in life. In fact the much of bone endurance and integrity comes before the age of 12 years. Stressing the bones through falling, crawling, tumbling, and play increases bone diameter and density so that they become stronger and more durable (Klavora, 2008).

Pre-School and Child programs should ensure a safe environment in which a participant can explore and learn about movement. Progressive programs for ages 3 – 10 ensure that participants feel free attempt all kinds of movement challenges that promote independent thinking and problem solving.

So next time it’s play time, watch from afar or challenge children to independent tasks – “How many ways can you get from here to there?” Play is a survival tactic nature has used since the beginning of time. In the long run it’s best to learn from failure and through self-exploration.

For more information look at http://www.nationofwimps.com