 He is here today to share proven strategies on how you can utilize the same mindset, habits and routines that elite athletes use to perform at a world-class level. Using proven principles from his book, raise your game. He's a great player. He's a great player. He's a great player. He's a great player. He's a great player. He's a great player. He's a great player. You can engage in your game. Alan has worked with global brands such as American Express, Pepsi and Starbucks as well as championship caliber sports programs like Penn State football. In Yukon men's basketball. He is excited to provide you with a series of practical, actionable lessons you can implement immediately to improve organizational performance and achieve higher levels of personal influence impact and significance. Allen is a passionate father of three and he never lets his kids beat him in anything ever. Please help me welcome Allen Stein Jr. Just for a little bit of context, I am an MCPS lifer. I'm 44 years old and I've spent my entire life with the exception of the four years that I played basketball down at Elan down in North Carolina. I've spent my entire life in Montgomery County. I currently live in Gaithersburg, not far from Gaithersburg High School in Northwest. Both of my parents were teachers for MCPS for over 30 years. Both my brother and I matriculated all the way up through MCPS and I was a high school student-athlete at Watkins Mill High School and now I have three young children that are also in MCPS. So to have an opportunity to share with you guys is something that means a lot to me and I really and truly thank you all for making the investment to be here today and the investment with your intention. Back in 2007, Nike basketball flew me out to Los Angeles to work the first ever Kobe Bryant Skills Academy. Nike brought in the top high school and college players from around the country for an intense three-day mini-camp with the best player in the world and I know we've got a wide variety of different sports listening right now and and I know you guys are also a little bit younger than I am. So for those of you that aren't aware, in 2007, Kobe was the best player in the game. Well, basketball was my first identifiable passion. I fell in love with the game at four years old and here 40 years later, basketball is still a major staple in my life and I tell you that because having grown up having grown up in a basketball bubble, I had always heard this urban legend of how insanely intense Kobe's individual workouts were. Well, since I found myself on his camp staff, I figured this was my chance. This was my shot. So my earliest opportunity, I walked up to Kobe and asked if I could watch one of his private workouts. He was incredibly gracious and smiled and said, sure, man, no problem. I'm going tomorrow at four. Well, I got a little bit confused because I had just got done looking through the camp schedule and the camp schedule clearly said that the first workout with the players was the following day at 3.30. Well, Kobe recognized the confused look on my face and he clarified that with, yeah, that's four AM. Well, I wasn't smart enough or quick enough to come up with a reason on why I couldn't be somewhere at four in the morning. So I had committed myself to being there and I figured if I'm going to be there anyway, I may as well try and impress Kobe. I may as well show him how serious of a trainer I was. So I came up with the plan to beat him to the gym. So I set my alarm for three AM. The alarm goes off. I jump up. I get myself dressed. I hop in a taxi and I head to the gym. When I arrive, it's 3.30 in the morning. So it's pitch black outside. And yet the moment I step out of the taxi, I can see that the gym light is already on from the parking lot. I could faintly hear a ball bouncing and sneakers squeaking. I walk in the side door of the gym. Kobe's already in a full sweat. See, he was going through an intense warm up before his official workout with his trainer started at four. Out of professional courtesy, I didn't say anything to him and I didn't say anything to his trainer. I just sat down to watch. And for the first 45 minutes, I was shocked. For the first 45 minutes, I watched the best player on the planet do the most basic footwork and offensive moves. Kobe was doing stuff that I had routinely taught to middle school aged players. Now don't get it twisted. This is Kobe Bryant. So he was doing everything in an unparalleled level of intensity. And he was doing everything with surgical precision. But the stuff he was doing was incredibly basic. His entire workout lasted a couple hours. And when it was over once again, I did not say anything to him. I did not say anything to his trainer. I just quietly left. But my curiosity eventually got the best of me. And I just had to know. So later that day at camp, I went up to him again. And I said, Kobe, I don't understand. You're the best player in the world. Why are you doing such basic drills? And he flashed that million dollar smile. But he said with all seriousness. Why do you think I'm the best player in the world? Because I never get bored with the basics. I never get bored with the basics. Kobe Bryant, the best player in the world and someone that has truly mastered his craft, said his secret is that he never gets bored with the basics. And as obvious as that may sound to you right now where you're sitting, that was a life changing moment for me. At that moment, I realized that just because something is basic, it doesn't mean that it's easy. If it was easy, everyone else would be doing it. And as high school age athletes, you will know that our society tells us that it's okay to skip steps. Tells us we should always be looking for a shortcut or a hack. And wants us so fixated on outcomes that we forget about the process. But the basics work. They always have and they always will. And the very first step to you all improving performance in any area of your life, whether you're trying to improve your your sport performance, or you're trying to improve your academic performance, whether you're trying to improve individually, or you're trying to improve your entire team. The very first step is to admit that the basics work. But it's also having the humility to acknowledge that implementing the basics every single day is never ever easy. Now I'm here for one reason and one reason only today. That is to share some stories and some tips and some concepts. But more importantly, give you guys a few practical strategies to help you navigate this very tough and challenging time. And let me just tell you how much admiration and respect I have for you all, being able to show the grit and resilience that you have. As we go through these unprecedented times, you know, I try to lead with as much empathy as possible. And in all honesty, when I was your age, I would have really been struggling right now. If you would have wiped sports off of the map for me, when I was in high school, I would have been struggling. So one of the first things I want to tell you is, it's okay to not be okay. And if there's something that's really bothering you, I just want to highly encourage you to talk to someone, talk to a friend, talk to a parent, talk to an adult. I mean, even even get professional help if needed, there's no shame in that. Because this is a really challenging time. And there's nothing more important than your mental health. But aside from that goal of giving you some strategies, we're going to focus on the basics. I'm going to give you some fundamental principles that are going to help you emerge from this pandemic better than you've ever been before. The negatives going on right now around COVID-19 are obvious, we could come up with a really long list. But I'm also a believer that in every crisis, in every challenge, in every loss, there's always a silver lining. And there's a silver lining in this pandemic as well. And for those of you that choose to not only look for the silver lining, but to invest in it and to double down on it, you're going to come out of this stronger than you've ever been. Stronger on the curtain field and stronger off. And that's why I'm here today to give you some of those tools. But I promise you the stuff I'm about to share, you've most likely heard before. You've heard it from your coaches, your teachers and your parents. The stuff I'm going to share with you, you've most likely already know. You know it intuitively and you know it intellectually. But I caution you. I caution you not to zone out or start scrolling through IG on your phone or even worse, just turn this off because you're thinking to yourself, I already know this. But instead, I want to challenge you and empower you to lean in a little closer and ask yourself one of the most important questions you can ever ask yourself as a student athlete. And that is, how well am I actually doing this? See, there's always going to be a gap between what we know and what we do. That's called a performance gap. That is the gap between what you all know you are supposed to do every single day and what you actually do. And I'm hoping to give you some strategies today that's going to allow you to close that gap. One thing you'll see for me as I love to teach in threes. As a long time basketball performance coach and as a parent, my job is to make my message as sticky as possible so that athletes like you all remember what I say. And I found that teaching in threes makes things stickier. So I've got three different pillars that I want to talk about today. Then I'll put a nice big bow tie on this and then I'll answer any questions that you all have. I believe if you type your questions into the chat box, our vendor will help moderate a Q&A when I'm finished. The very first pillar that I want to talk about is I want you all to start working right now in developing a winners mindset. And here's a winners mindset. I'm going to do the best I can with what I have where I am. A winners mindset is I'm going to do the best I can with what I have where I am. I'm very well aware right now that there are so many limitations on what you guys can and can't do right now. Not even just in sport but in school. I realize you've had so many different things, your practices and games and workouts and film sessions and weight room sessions. So much of that has been so heavily disrupted and wiped off the calendar that you probably feel handcuffed right now. But you can still make the choice to do the best you can with what you have where you are. You can still make the choice during the unseen hours to find other ways to continue to grow and to develop both on the field and court and off. And in order to do that I want each and every one of you to make the following commitment. You're not going to make excuses. You're not going to blame anyone or anything. And you're not going to complain. If you can get rid of that trilogy. If you can get rid of making excuses blaming others and complaining. It's like taking a weight vest off of your shoulders. You'll be emotionally more nimble. See I use absolutes very sparingly but I can promise you all that making excuses, blaming others and complaining will do nothing to improve your situation or to make you a better student athlete. But I also know that it's an easy default. You all have plenty of valid reasons to blame complain and make excuses right now. Plenty of them. But it's not going to help your situation. So if you can have the maturity and the emotional intelligence to get rid of those three things and hold yourself fully accountable for making sure that despite how how crazy the world is right now, you're still going to make a commitment to improve and to develop and to get better than that's going to separate you from everybody else. The second pillar I want to talk about is what I just call filling buckets. When I talk about filling buckets, I want you guys to be very intentional and purposeful about recharging the batteries and filling up the bucket of the most important relationships in your life. And as a student athlete, there's three relationships that I want you to focus on. The first is the relationship you have with yourself. And I know that sounds a little Pollyanna, but but hear me out. In order for you to be the best student athlete that you're capable of, you have to take care of yourself first. You have to make sure you're getting quality sleep. You have to make sure you stay hydrated and are eating a healthy diet. You have to make sure you take care of your body. And again, I know there are limitations to what you can do right now. But you can still make progress in these areas during the unseen hours if you're intentional and you focus on them. So you have to make sure you fill your bucket first. See, the very first step to improving any team is improving yourself. So I want each and every one of you to make a commitment that you're going to come out of COVID-19 as a better version of yourself and you're going to do that because right now you're intentional about filling your own bucket. And this is not just about your body. This is also about your mind. I want you all making investments in what you read, what you watch and what you listen to. There's a huge difference between spending your day scrolling through social media and spending your day taking online courses or listening to podcasts or audio books or reading books or watching motivational and educational videos on YouTube. See, if you'll make the small deposits each and every day now, once this pandemic is over, you'll be able to make a massive withdrawal. The second relationship that I want you to focus on is the relationship you have with your teammates. And I know that you're not able to see or be around your teammates right now near to the degree that you'd like. But you can still find ways to be a great teammate. Not every one of you can be the best player on your team. But every single one of you can be the best teammate on the team. So don't worry about being the best on the team. Focus on being the best for the team. And I'll ask you a question that I think is incredibly important for you to ask yourself periodically. And that is, are you the type of teammate that you want to play with? Do you support your teammates? Do you love them? Do you challenge them? Do you hold them accountable? Do you push them? Do you do everything you can to make them the best player they can be? See, if you have that attitude where it's team first, where it's we over me, you will be an invaluable asset to your team. And then the last relationship that I want you to focus on is the relationship you have with your coaching staff and your coaches. And I want you to do everything you can to be proactive and intentional and purposeful about being coachable, about listening to your coaches with your eyes and your ears, whether you can see them in person or you have to do everything virtually and online. I want you to be as easy to be coached as any player on your team. I want you to have the humility and vulnerability to understand that your coaches just based on time and life experience, most likely no more about your sport than you do. And I don't say that to diminish you. Again, that's based on their age and their life experience. But you need to be open to the things that they can share with you. Because if you allow yourself to stay open and coachable and soak up all of the knowledge and things they can pour into you, again, that puts you on a head start to becoming the best version of yourself. So I want to make sure that you guys are really focused on those three relationships, the relationship you have with yourself, the relationship you have with your teammates and the relationship you have with your coaches, which reminds me, you know, I've had an opportunity to work with a lot of different basketball players in my life, some really elite players. And my all time favorite player is who was just hired by the Brooklyn Nets as the head coach. That's Steve Nash. And if you didn't know back in the mid 2000s, Steve Nash won back to back MVP titles, which puts him in very rare company in the NBA. And the very first year that Steve Nash won the MVP in the NBA, he only led the NBA in two statistical categories. He led the NBA and assists, which if you follow basketball, you know that means you like to share the sugar and pass the pill and get his teammates involved, which is certainly a sign of a great leader and a great teammate. But the other statistic that Steve Nash led the NBA in were touches, physical touches, high fives, fist bumps and pats on the backside. How could I possibly know that Steve Nash led the NBA in high fives, fist bumps and pats on the backside? Well, it just so happens, there was a research team from UC Berkeley. And they were conducting an official study to see if showing signs of enthusiasm on the court led to more victories. So they had a team of researchers watch every minute of every NBA game and make a tally mark every time a player gave a high five of fist bump or a pat on the backside. Well, the Phoenix Suns who Steve Nash played for at the time were so enamored with this study that they hired a full time intern to count just for Steve Nash. And in the very first game that the intern counted, Steve Nash delivered 239 high fives, fist bumps and pats on the backside. He was a furnace of human connection. Now I realize with with practicing safe social distancing and doing everything each and every one of us can to be responsible to slow the spread of COVID-19. Now is not the time to be giving high fives, fist bumps and pats on the backside. But here's what I want you all to do. I want you to think how can you give an emotional equivalent of a high five fist bumper pat on the backside? What can you do to fill the bucket of your teammates and of your coaches and of yourself that is the equivalent of a high five fist bumper pat on the backside? This is where the technological savvy that you all have can be a great asset. I want you guys to think of ways to create digital high fives, fist bumps and pats on the backside. If you know that one of your teammates is a little down in the dumps and is a little depressed with what's going on, can you send them a DM or a quick video message or even FaceTime them as a virtual high five fist bumper pat on the backside? Can you do something to help lift them up? Can you do something to help your coaching staff? If you know your coaching staff is having difficulty rounding everybody up and getting through to everyone, is there something you can do to assist your coaching staff? I want you all to be very cognizant about making deposits every single day into the buckets of your teammates and of your coaches. And here's how you keep track. Here's a homework assignment for you all starting tomorrow morning. I want each and every one of you to wake up and I want you to put 10 rubber bands on your left wrist. And every time you do something to fill the bucket of either yourself or your teammates or your coaches, I want you to take one rubber band off of your left wrist and I want you to put it on your right wrist. But here's the rub. You can't go to sleep until all 10 rubber bands are on your right wrist. You can't go to sleep until you know for a fact that you've done nothing short of 10 tangible things to fill your bucket, a teammate's bucket or your coach's bucket. And these assists are anything you do that is extra, anything you do that's not expected, anything you do that goes above and beyond what you're supposed to do. And if everyone on your team can make a commitment to dish out 10 assists every single day, then not only individually, but collectively as a team, you'll start to strengthen your culture and you'll start to see your progress go through the roof. But we have to be intentional about it. And now the third pillar, and that's the ability to what we call play present, to be in the present moment. With all of the uncertainty that lies ahead, all of the uncertainty with the pandemic, the best way to combat uncertainty is to be in the present moment, to be where your feet are. And in fact, the only way that you can maximize your athletic ability, and your sports specific IQ on the field or court, is if you are in the present moment. If you want to win the moment, you have to be in the moment. And speaking of when that's what I want you to learn how to do. W-I-N. W-I-N stands for What's Important Now. I want each and every one of you to develop the mental toughness that no matter what is going on in the world, no matter how catastrophic or chaotic things get, that you're able to block out all distractions and focus on what's important right now. When you're doing your online schooling and you're doing a Zoom call with your teachers, that's what's important at that moment. After school, if you decide to work on your game or work on your body or do something to improve yourself as a student-athlete, that's what's most important. When you're having dinner with your family, engage in the conversation and be fully present, because that's what's important. When, what's important now? Now, because of my love for threes, let me unpack playing present. The first step to playing present is to always move to the next play, no matter what happens on the field or court, no matter what happens in the classroom, and no matter what happens in life with this pandemic, I want you to learn how to focus on the next play. See, I spent most of my career working with basketball players, so that's what I'll use as the example and you guys can figure out the best way to translate that to your specific sport. But when a basketball player turns the ball over or misses a shot or if the referee doesn't make a call, the best thing they can do is quickly move to the next play. Well, why would I want, as a performance coach, want a basketball player to focus on the next play? It's the only play they can do anything about. See, as an athlete or as a basketball player, you can't do anything about the shot you just missed, the ball you just turned over, or the referee's inability to make a call. You can't do anything about those things. They're in the past and they're unchangeable. So anytime you spend complaining, blaming, or making excuses for those three things is time not spent in the present moment which means you are not able to be at your best. So no matter what happens, learn to move to the next play. The second pillar of playing present is to control the controllables. There's only two things in this world that you have 100% control over 100% of the time. That's your effort and your attitude. I'm sure that if I could give you all access to unmute yourselves, and I had each of you tell me whether or not working hard was a choice, you guys would all readily agree that working hard is a choice. That when you give a great effort on a test in school or out of practice or a game that you chose to give your best effort. Well, if working hard is a choice, that means not working hard is also a choice. There has to be another side to that coin. And I want each and every one of you to own and have accountability over the fact that your effort is a choice and you need to give your best effort in everything you do as consistently as possible. There is never an appropriate excuse for not giving your best. The second half of that is your attitude. And this is incredibly applicable to what we have going on in the world right now. Obviously, you have minimal control over everything that's been thrown at you. You don't have any control over the fact that all of your schooling is now virtual. You don't have any control over the fact that sports have been heavily disrupted and canceled. But what you do have control over is your response to those things. And if you want to be a high performer on the court and field and in the classroom, you will choose a response that moves you forward. Now, the opposite of that is what I mentioned earlier. Many people will choose the response of complaining and blaming others and making excuses. And that will not only not move you forward, that will move you backwards. So I want each and every one of you to take control and have full ownership over your responses to everything that happens. And that's not just true on a macro level with what's going on in the world. That's even true when you guys are on the court or field. When something happens in the game that doesn't go to your liking, how do you bounce back from that? How do you respond on the next possession or the next play? If you want to be a championship-level player and be on a championship-level team, then you have to make the conscious choice to have the attitude to always move in a positive direction and choose a response that is favorable. And then the third pillar is learn how to trust, respect, and appreciate the process. I know everyone tends to be outcome-based. I know you guys want to win championships. But in order to win a championship, you need to be able to focus on the process and develop a championship-level process. The best way I can describe the process to you is if you had to build a brick wall, I wouldn't want you focused on the wall. I'd want you to focus on laying perfect bricks. See, if you can take each brick and lay each brick with care and precision, make sure that each brick is laid as perfectly as you can, there's a very good chance the wall will just take care of itself. And every single thing you do as a student athlete is another brick on your wall. Every meal you eat is another brick. Every time you work out is another brick. What time you put yourself to bed is another brick. How much you pay attention during your online classes is a brick. Whether or not you do your homework and the work that's required is a brick. So I want to make sure you all are doing the best you can to lay perfect bricks. And when you do that, it does not guarantee you the outcome you desire, but it greatly increases the chances of getting it. And that's ultimately what high performers are in the business of doing. As student athletes, your job individually is to do everything in your power to increase the chance that you will be successful and that you will help your team be successful. And learning how to focus on the process will do just that. Now, to put a big bow tie on all of this, let me summarize and then I'll finish up with another story. So in order for you all to not only come out of this pandemic as just a little bit better, but to actually thrive when you come out of this is to be very intentional about looking for the silver linings. I want you all to work relentlessly on developing a winner's mindset. I want you to do everything you can to stop complaining, blaming, and making excuses. I want to make sure that in addition to that, that you guys are doing everything you can to fill buckets. You're going to fill your own bucket. You're going to fill the bucket of your teammates and you're going to fill the bucket of your coaches. And then whether on the court, off the court, or in the classroom or just in life, I want you to focus on being present. And in order to play present and in order to win the moment, you have to focus on the next play. You have to control the controllables and you have to respect, trust, and appreciate the process. Well, when I opened up, I told you all the story about the first Kobe Bryant Skills Academy. What I did not tell you was there was a player there. He was a college counselor and he did not have the resume or physical stature of the other college counselors, all of whom were going to be NBA draft picks, first round draft picks. But there was something different about this young man and it was palpable. The most impressive was at the end of the first workout. And these were designed like NBA training camps where the players would go through two or three pretty grueling and intense workouts each day for three straight days. And at the end of the first workout, just based on proximity, I happened to be standing pretty close to him. We had never been formally introduced, but he tapped me on the shoulder and he said, coach, will you rebound for me? Cause I don't leave the gym until I swish five free throws in a row. I know you guys play a variety of different fall sports. So I don't know if any of you have never shot a basketball, but if you've never shot a basketball, let me tell you, five swishes in a row is a really high standard. For those that do play basketball, you know that a swish by definition is the perfect shot. It doesn't touch the rim. It doesn't touch the backboard. It gets its name from the sound it makes by going nothing but net. And this young man was not going to leave the gym until he swished five in a row, which means he could swish four in a row. He could hit a little bit of the rim on the fifth one. He'd still be mathematically perfect. He'd still be five for five, but that wasn't good enough for him. He'd start over. And if memory serves, it never took him longer than 12 to 15 minutes to swish five in a row. That young man was Stephen Curry. And Stephen Curry will go down in history as the greatest shooter that this game has ever seen. And it's not by accident. It's not by luck. It's not even because his dad played in the NBA. It's because he's willing to hold himself to unparalleled standards and he's willing to be intentional about developing winning habits. And that's one of the thoughts that I wanna leave you all with before we completely wrap up and jump into the Q&A. I wanna ask you all, are the standards and the habits that you have right now, are they in alignment with who you hope to become when this pandemic is over? Are you laying the bricks now for the wall that you will have when this pandemic is over? See, the easiest way you guys can get great clarity on making sure that you are improving during this unprecedented, challenging and difficult time is to ask yourself the following question. I want first, I want you guys to get a crystal clear view of the student athlete you want to be when this is over. And then the question you ask yourself with every decision you're going to make in a given day, from who you follow on social media to what you watch on Netflix, to when you go to bed, I want you to ask yourself, is this decision in alignment with me being the best student athlete that I'm capable of? If the answer is yes, then do it. If the answer is no, then I caution you not to. And if the vast majority of decisions you make on a daily basis are in alignment with you becoming the best student athlete that you're capable of, then when this pandemic is over, no matter when that is, you'll emerge as the best version of yourself in every single area of your life. And that's a thought that I want you all to have every night before you go to bed. I want you to ask yourself, say I just traded 24 hours of my life for the progress that I made today in my cool with that trade. And if your answer is yes, then you know you're making progress. And I don't ever want any of you to be stifled or demotivated by perfection. Don't worry about perfection. Instead, be challenged by and inspired by progress. Progress is where it's at. Right now at this very moment, I'm not worried where you are. What's most important to me is the direction that you're headed. I know right now at the time of this recording that you are not the best student athlete that you're capable of because you still have room to grow. You still have room to improve. And I just want to make sure that you guys are cognizant and aware of the fact that your arrow for improvement needs to be going up. That every single day you get just a little bit better. And if you can make that commitment to yourself and you can make that contagious with everybody else on your team then you'll definitely emerge from this as a better version of yourself in every area of your life in the classroom and on the field or court.