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What Drives Winning Book

(26 customer reviews)

$26.95

 

A User-Friendly Guide Towards Achieving Personal Excellence.

This book is full of real-life examples and time-tested advice from some of the winningest coaches in sports history, as well as a number of easy-to-follow exercises that will help you better understand what will drive winning for yourself and your team.

 
 

“What Drives Winning is long overdue. Brett masterfully articulates how character building is the ultimate prize in the pursuit of athletic achievement. This book is immensely practical and filled with time tested wisdom.”
– Dr. Jim Loehr, Performance Psychologist

“There is a changing landscape in our profession right now. What I see in this cutting-edge book is our future. Coaching has evolved and what Brett has to offer in What Drives Winning is our PhD. This is a very important book.”
– Anson Dorrance, North Carolina Women’s Soccer

 

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4.92 out of 5 stars

26 reviews

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What others are saying

  1. Lauren Ebstein

    Lauren Ebstein

    I think the information is great and I believe in what the book says. But, I also think its super relatable for my athletes. Its been easy to give them a chapter here or there, or generate team activities from some of the content in the book. Most recently we used the character skills and moral skills and the team picked three each and then had to give examples of what each looked like and didn’t look like.

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  2. Suzy Willemssen

    Suzy Willemssen

    Loved the simplicity–made it very easy to use with athletes. It’s messages are universal and can be put into practice that resonate with any gender, all levels of play.

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  3. Brett Shanklin

    Brett Shanklin

    It is the foundation to building teams that are focused on character development which will lead to results. This book gives direction on how to make this work.

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  4. Will Flautt

    Will Flautt

    I use it as a reference book for team activities and to guide team discussions when I’m unsure how to navigate players to the point I’m trying to make. One specific way I utilized the information: on page 148 a volleyball player mentioned how she thought of a bouncy ball as a good metaphor for handling setbacks. I really connected with that image, because I was trying to find a proactive solution in pre-season to a specific problem the varsity boys soccer team had last year: managing their emotions in a game (i.e. cursing, fighting, etc). [For context, I had coached the varsity girls the previous season and seen from the sidelines what the boys team was struggling with. The next year I took over the boys team as well, and coached both.] Anyway, I used the bouncy ball image with the boys at our first practice after tryouts. Everyone got a small bouncy ball, and together we jogged out to a big slab of concrete by the interstate. I told everyone to grab a small rock when we got there. So, there’s this group of about 40 boys (JV came with us) standing at a wall with bouncy balls and rocks in their hands. I ask who would like to volunteer, and a player steps up. I tell him to throw the rock as hard as he can against the slab of concrete. I tell his teammates to watch what happens when it hits the wall. It explodes into pieces. I tell him to throw the bouncy ball. It flies back into the crowd and they have to dodge around the ball. I tell them that the rock is what happens if you try to ignore your emotions in a game: you run into something hard and get destroyed. I tell them that as young men it might seem wrong to be emotional. But it’s not. It’s powerful. And that’s what the bouncy ball represented: welcoming the emotions from a challenge, and responding in 0001 seconds to any setback. We had zero player misconduct issues on the field the whole year. It all started with a line from the book I connected with and could apply in my own way to our program. Another specific way I utilized the information: the chapter on appreciation; specifically the personification of a sport and writing letters or poems like Kobe’s video and Sabrina’s post online. Inspired, I wrote my own little Dear Soccer poem after Kobe’s death. It was such a meaningful experience for me, that I decided to do a little project with the team. We watched Kobe’s Dear Basketball video together, and then I invited them to write something on their own. It was optional, but 18 different players and coaches wrote something. Right now (during quarantine) I am in the process of turning those poems into a team poem and video project. Basically, every player picks their favorite line, then will record a video saying that line and send it to me. We will see what happens. I think it will turn out nicely.

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  5. Danielle Cyr

    Danielle Cyr

    I shared the specific tools with my players and implemented the culture building strategies (ex: green dot) with our team. Great resource to build specific character skills with realistic activities. Love it!

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  6. Jason Kilgore

    Jason Kilgore

    I have had conversations with leaders and captains with some of the questions and examples used in the book. My entire coaching staff read the book in 2018.

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  7. Scott Harris

    Scott Harris

    Used this as a book study with my coaching staff (I’m a High School A.D.). Also, my coaches used many of the lessons with their teams.

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  8. Phil Young

    Phil Young

    Used many examples with our team that was very relevant to high school athletes

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  9. Kelly Ford

    Kelly Ford

    The sabrina story. Showed all to my team this spring and they completely related and helped us have some fantastic discussions

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  10. Rachel Ward

    Rachel Ward

    We used the letter to your sport. It was An amazing exercise that I have used with every team I have coaches. I think it helped bring people together but also allowed us a coaches to open up when I wouldn’t normally do that.

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  11. Ruby Rojas

    Ruby Rojas

    Great information

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  12. Roy Snyder

    Roy Snyder

    Refocused what I do on the most important long term outcomes instead of the ephemeral feelings of “victory.”

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  13. Matthew Neidigk

    Matthew Neidigk

    The examples of the character skills and using the stories with our team to get their thoughts

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  14. Tim Seymour

    Tim Seymour

    I truly use the book at least once or twice a week with students, players, and even my own son. I use concrete examples from the book that will help me show kids what I’m trying to have them understand or something they need to work on to develop.

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  15. Eliot D Smith

    Eliot D Smith

    I think what made this book unique for me was the way to approach coaching in a different way. Trying to use the stories that Brett provided and to really focus on character with my team. I gained so much more knowledge on how to become a better coach.

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  16. Karen Johns

    Karen Johns

    The What Drives winning book helps you to start identify how character is the driving force behind goals and outcomes. The best coaches in the country share their view and beliefs.

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  17. Glenn Detulleo

    Glenn Detulleo

    I really enjoyed the focus on positive ways to inspire athletes

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  18. Matt Heckel

    Matt Heckel

    This book has so many useful tools for developing team chemistry.

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  19. Jenny Levy

    Jenny Levy

    I liked reading about real individual athlete / team challenges and solutions.

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  20. Craig Denney

    Craig Denney (verified owner)

    The book brings to light the many different ways of winning in coaching sports. 99% of them are not on the scoreboard but in the relationships that are developed.

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  21. Jon Hsu

    Jon Hsu

    It addressed an area of athletics that I’ve always known is important, but have struggled to deal with in a practical way. The approach in the book of taking a case study and providing tools/ideas around specific character traits has been very helpful. For example, I have a player who struggles to move past his own mistakes during games. I found it convenient to be able to turn straight to the “Resilience” chapter and look at how other coaches have worked with players with similar issues (almost like a reference book).

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  22. Scott Doan

    Scott Doan (verified owner)

    We did weekly coaching sessions to discuss the topics and grow together.

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  23. Eric Sutz

    Eric Sutz

    It opened the door to examine what kind of person and coach I wanted to be. It allowed me to step back and examine where I was and where I want to be when it is all over. What I want on that tombstone of my coaching and teaching career. I have used many of the activities with my students and with coaches.

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  24. Jamie Lew

    Jamie Lew

    Love the activities. Haven’t used any on our team yet but plan to.

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  25. Jen Conely

    Jen Conely

    Team enjoyed what we did – went over the performance and character traits – strengths and areas where they wanted more growth.

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  26. Scott Zachmann

    Scott Zachmann

    Specifically, one great moment a few years ago that still impacts our team today was when we asked the team to write down the leading goal scorer in NCAA Soccer, MLS, Premier League – anything they wanted. And NONE had an answer. Then we wrote down our favorite teacher. Took the team 2 seconds to have that written down. Then they wrote all reason this teacher was so great. We chatted about how those great characteristics were human qualities. We ended the meeting with put up a sign in the classroom that simply said, “nobody remembers your stats, they remember who you are as a person”. I wish I could explain the release of all that negative energy and the connection they instantly made to life beyond just soccer (i.e how many ‘likes’ they have). It changed everything for our team and program. And for me, I started to realize too that wins or losses will not define me. How I treat and care for others does. It was a great moment. We also bought each player a book. And one activity we still do today that they LOVE is to just flip open to any page and read for 3 minutes, then we share out and talk about what stuck with them. 20 players in the room, you can really get some discussions going. We use that activity before games. 15-20 minute meetings before warmups and 95% of it is the book. 5% tactical. It’s so fun!

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