
501(c)(3) Helping high school student-athletes excel in the game of life. Building the Game behind the Game! #GameBreakers
NYC + HOU + MN
Joined March 2009
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Making a greater impact together! Excited to partner with you. Let’s have some fun 🙌🙌 #AMP
We've partnered with @UWANTGAME to pilot the Athlete Mentor Program, designed to help student athletes balance academics and athletics while preparing them for future success. Learn more and read a recap of yesterday's kick-off session.
bigstwincities.org/athlete-m…
UWantGame retweeted
Great coaches make it about the players! Simple and I truly hope coaches take something from his example. Show up and do the right things. This is so great to see Pat win like this.
UWantGame retweeted
Joe Mazzulla on why he wrote handwritten thank-you notes to staff throughout the Celtics organization after their championship.
“It’s easy for parts of the organization to feel not as valued as others...It was just important that everybody knew…everything they do is the most important thing for the team, for the organization.”
“Everybody matters” is a good message, but it means more when you tell someone how their work actually makes a difference.
Some people can see their contribution on the scoreboard. Others may wonder how much their work even matters.
Part of leading is helping people connect what they do each day to what the team is trying to accomplish.
🎥: Boston Celtics' View From The Rafters
UWantGame retweeted
One of the biggest mistakes we make is measuring our success against someone else’s.
Katie Ledecky nails it:
“You don’t have to win the race. You just have to win your race.”
Focus on your growth. Your progress. Your journey.
UWantGame retweeted
Karen Sampson On Coach’s Wife Truths: “You’d Better Not Marry a Flower." Kelvin Sampson’s better half knows exactly what this season means and why it could be an extra emotional one. @PaperCityMag papercitymag.com/culture/kar…
UWantGame retweeted
“You gotta stop living in the past. You can’t unscramble eggs!”
Coaches: Bookmark this. You’ll use it.
Pure Coaching GOLD 🔥
UWantGame retweeted
Stephen Gonzalez, Asst AD for Mental Performance, talking to Dartmouth basketball about the power of emotional regulation:
"Get out of the bucket!"
"People are going to go in the bucket. You will too, but you choose to stay there."
(@StevePGonzalez)
UWantGame retweeted
So many gems from Natalie Nakase talking about her history with the Aces 🥹
- How her and Becky connected over being basketball sickos.
- Said she’d cry if she talked to A’ja, Chels, Jack, KB.
- Talked about meeting A’ja for the 1st time and how she pours into people.
UWantGame retweeted
Kelvin Sampson says the team has no distractions:
“I think the last eight years, we’ve won about 240-something games. It’s because we have no distractions. We’re consistent. The one thing about this program is our consistency.”
“I don’t recruit problems. I learned a long time ago — if you don’t want problems then don’t recruit them. It’s not an accident that we have great kids.”
“If I don’t want to coach them, then that means I don’t mind coaching against them. And a lot of the guys we take, I don’t mind coaching against them. Check our record.”
UWantGame retweeted
The vibes are high at Celtics training camp, but Joe Mazzulla had an interesting disclaimer:
NEW: My notebook from Celtics training camp in Charleston, South Carolina.
- Jordan Walsh talks feeling free (and like a vet)
- Mandatory team yoga??
- New player development coaching assignments
And much more!
celticsblog.com/boston-celti…
UWantGame retweeted
Damian Lillard says too many highly regarded young players are surrounded by “yes men” that tell them they are great
Once they get to the next level, when their talent isn’t enough to get them through, they struggle with working hard and being stable 🗣️
UWantGame retweeted
Von Miller reveals after Texas A&M coach Mike Sherman suspended him, he packed everything he owned into his truck and started driving to Florida to transfer, when he called his he dad told him not to quit, so he turned around and led the nation with 17.5 sacks the next season
“I had everything I owned in this blanket, and I went to my car. I threw it in the back and I’m driving home. I called my daddy. I’m like, ‘Daddy, man, I’m leaving. Coach Sherman kicked me off the team. I ain’t coming back until I do this and that.’”
“I’m thinking my dad is going, ‘All right, we’re going to find something else.’ He said, ‘Pull that truck over, turn around, and go back to school. You’re not quitting.’”
“I was like, ‘That was not the answer I was looking for.’ He was like, ‘You’re not just about to quit when it gets hard. You’re going to turn that truck back around. You’re going to go back to school and you’re going to fix it.’”
“I had tears going down my face. I was like, ‘Man, this is going to be so hard to fix all of this.’ I turned around. We had a meeting. Coach Sherman told my dad the exact same thing that he told me, and my dad agreed with Coach Sherman.”
“There was nowhere I could go. I just had to face the music. I had to face the truth. That spring was a hard one, but I got my grades up. I made it to all my classes. I went through the checklist of everything Coach Sherman wanted me to do.”
“That following year, my junior year, was the best year that I had up until that day. I led the nation in sacks. I had 17 and a half sacks. My life had totally changed. That was all a testament to running straight through the storm. The shortest way through the storm is straight. I put my head down and I worked, and my life totally changed that offseason.”
UWantGame retweeted
NBA veteran Harrison Barnes just bought a small Iowa bank — putting in $25M of his own money.
We discussed why he did it, his "Dream Team" board, and what 14 years in NBA locker rooms taught him about banking.
Full Q&A in Monday's Bank Slate.
thebankslate.substack.com/
UWantGame retweeted
Over the years, Duke has learned that building a team goes way beyond X’s and O’s. When young players come in, the coaches have to teach chemistry, teamwork and what it really means to trust the process.
Moments like this may not seem huge, but seeing a coach go through the same pain right beside you hits different. It shows the players he isn’t just there to lead them. He’s willing to struggle with them too.
You can’t ask your players to hang in there if you’re not willing to hang with them. 💙😈
‘I Never Want It to End’: The Surprise Economic Boost for World Cup Host Cities wsj.com/business/hospitality…
He’s 17 Years Old and His Family’s Financial Adviser wsj.com/personal-finance/hes…
UWantGame retweeted
Free agency is here and, right now, my TL is all LeBron, all day. Where's he going, what are the Warriors doing, etc. That's fine. He's LJ. I get it! But I'll tell you what I'm actually watching, and it isn't LJ and marquee guys. It's the OGs.
Don't get me wrong, I love this young NBA. These kids are so skilled it's almost unfair, and athletic in a way that's crazy. Different game now. A better one in a lot of ways, and I mean that.
Here's my thing, though. When I came into the league I didn't know anything, not really, and it was the vets who raised me. Guys like Ervin Johnson and Lindsey Hunter and Ray Allen taught me how to carry myself, how to be a pro on the nights nobody's watching. Taught me about money. Shoot, taught me about golf, about how to be a man. I needed that. Most of these young guys need it too, whether they know it yet or not.
So yeah. Harrison Barnes going back to San Antonio, that one was obvious. Russell Westbrook getting tied to DC? I love it for AJ Dybantsa and them. And if you've got a young roster you're trying to grow, you have to call a Khris Middleton or a Mike Conley. Get somebody in that locker room who's seen it, lived it, and can pass on that knowledge.
They can still give you minutes, sure. But that's not really why you sign them. You bring them in for the kid who's got all the talent in the world and no idea what to do with it yet. The vet pulls him aside when the coaches can't. Shows him the little things nobody teaches you in college. Shows him how to play the game, but also live the life.
Each one teach one. That's how it used to worked in the NBA. Let's make sure the young guys get that same guidance.



















