#435 Before the Buzzer | Building the Foundation for a Successful Season | w/Montrell Cade

So, you know, when I thought about this and just thought about some of the things that Kobe talked about, is the idea of control what you can control.

So this isn't anything new, especially if y- if you've been in officiating long enough.

I'm sure that you've heard this, um, from whether it's your local assigner, whether it's been another Zoom call or a camp that you've attended.

The idea of control what you can control, um, puts a lot of the onus and responsibility on ourselves.

So something that I thought about with as great as Kobe was, is that, um, there are a lot of things that he couldn't control, but he was able to persevere regardless, right? So couldn't control the people that he played with.

He couldn't control who were the coaches of the team and what type of role they wanted him to utilize.

Um, couldn't, uh, couldn't control who was the owner of the team or the GMs.

He had his one role as a basketball player, right? And inevitably, the captain and the leader of the team, and then when he became that franchise player, there are other things that he realized, "Okay, these are things that I need to focus on, and I can't spend my time thinking about, you know, what, uh, what time are they gonna have us come to practice, or what time is the airplane gonna get here, or what snacks are gonna be in the locker room." Those are things that, you know, he doesn't have any control over, but, you know, the amount of work that he puts in.

In the video, you know, we kind of talked about when he was in high school.

He would get there early, um, just so that he can get some extra shots up, and then even afterwards, would do his homework and would make sure that he had enough time to continue to work on his game.

So again, you know, things that were well within his control, he took advantage of those opportunities.

So for us as officials, we have to think, "What are the things that we have the ability to have control over?" So I've got a quick, uh, a quick poll here.

So, um, if you scan this QR code, um, I'll also put the, the link in the chat as well.

Um, but this will take you to a, a Poll Everywhere.

Um, so just a little activity that I have just for a little bit of engagement for everybody.

Um, let me get the link as well.

So if you click on that or copy and paste it into your respective browser, then it should take you to a, um, take you to a page that will show you, um, just the prompt for this next activity.

All right, so I'm gonna switch over, and I'm just gonna show some of the responses, um, that we have from, from this, uh, from this poll.

So a lot of good words that are being thrown around.

We have, uh, attitude as one of the biggest one.

Um, we see preparation in there.

Uh, what else do we see? Um, composure.

A lot of words thrown around.

Uh, demeanor, physical presence, effort, rules.

Again, all things that are well within our control.