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Today's post is written by Associate Head Coach Ronda Hubbard:
(Editor's Note: Ronda Hubbard has recently been promoted to Associate Head Coach!!...read her updated bio here)
Things I Am Currently Noticing…
The first thing I have noticed today is that it has been quite a while since the last time Coach Moeller asked me to write a blog. The second thing I almost immediately noticed is that the word “blog” is identified as a misspelled word by my computer’s spell-check. Hmmmmm… how old is this software?
Another observation…. I am a Coach, and I have an outstanding responsibility to live up to the spirit of that title. Philosophically, I am using the game of basketball to teach fundamental core values and principles that can be transferred into the game of life. Sometimes that can be difficult when I myself am still working on the fact that I am a sore loser. Always have been. I have recently found that in addition to communicating well with our student-athletes, I am now communicating with the parents, fans, Lionbackers, and friends of the program more than I have ever done in the past. Blogging is how I am supposed to communicate to all of you, our loyal fans. I feel obligated to share a certain amount of insight so that you, our fans, can relate better and be informed about what’s going on in our program.
The problem is, I like facebook. I have really enjoyed connecting with former players via this tool. It was a former player who actually “forced” me to get on it. I especially love the spur of the moment bursts that can be shared (because this IS how I think). I and everyone else get to quickly blurt out whatever thought was passing through our head at that very moment. We even have a twitter. I enjoy reading Coach Moeller’s ‘tweets’. Some are serious and logical, others are reflective and from the heart, while many are just ridiculous observations. I mean, he actually feels the need to post the weather in Joplin on our twitter. ? Can’t people look that up… If they are THAT interested? :)
So, I get to write to you occasionally and my overriding intent is to avoid boring you. Boring a person should never be allowed. There is simply no excuse for boring another human being. Or for that matter, BEING bored! I would NEVER tell my Mom or Dad growing up that I was “bored”! All the sudden I can hear my Mom yell, “If you are that bored, the garage needs to be cleaned out and the lawn needs mowed.” Boredom….Never. OK, I just realized I got a little off subject. You are even asking yourself right now…. What IS the subject? Let me remind you…. Things I am currently noticing!
Homecoming weekend I noticed a ton of things…..
-Lee Pound does a great job in the Alumni office and deserves more kudos than she gets.
-Dressing up as Gumby is not THAT embarrassing.
-Watching our player, Jasmine, beat the tar out of Coach Jones is the most I have laughed in a long time. Click HERE to watch this hilarious video.
-I love tailgating, especially when ribs are involved.
-I love recruiting, especially when verbal commitments are involved.
-Bart Tatum is doing an amazing job with our football team and I love watching these young men play. They just get better and better each week.
-Coach Mitts does a great job with her team, but also with the Catholic Campus Ministry.
-Even though I am full on ribs, I always have room for a hotdog.
-I enjoy being around our team. They are funny and have a great aura about them.
Now, Of course I could rattle a few more things out, but …. I don’t want to BORE you!
The main thing I have noticed is that this is the best time of the year. Football is in full swing, Basketball practice is a couple weeks away, and the anticipation of taking a bunch of ladies with different backgrounds and meshing them into a team is overwhelming. We are excited around here. Something I noticed quite a while back that has allowed me to succeed and has guided people to success in all areas of life is a very simple question. The question is….
Can you make yourself do something you would rather not do, in order to get a result you would like to have?
This is what we are asking our team right now. When our team can answer YES to this question, they will experience a massive shift in perception of their immediate future. This single concept can dramatically alter the results you are getting, no matter what the venue.
Hmmmmm….. So we want to get to the NCAA tournament…..
It is a GREAT day to be a LION!
Ronda Hubbard
Associate Head Coach
Today's post is written by Assistant Coach Marcus Moeller:
(Editor's note: If you haven't yet, you need to check out MSSU Womens Basketball YouTube Channel!)
In Kenny Rogers' song entitled “Baseball Song” he tells a story about a rather braggadocious young boy who proclaims “I am the greatest, player of them all.” As the song progresses Kenny gives the visual of a young boy standing in a field throwing balls up in the air to himself and swinging his little bat with all his might. After a swing and a miss on the first pitch the boy still proclaims “I am the greatest, there has ever been.” The ball goes up a second time and yet still, the only noise you hear is the sound of the ball hitting the dirt. Strike 2. “I am the greatest, the game is on the line”, utters the confident young lad. Finally the boy throws a third pitch in the air…swing and a miss. Strike 3. The boy, unfazed by his apparent failure utters these very telling words, “I am the greatest, that is a fact, but even I didn’t know I could pitch like that.”
THE MIND IS SO POWERFUL!!
At 5:45 am on Friday morning, with an audience of only the sunrise, our team ran the annual Jog-A-Thon. This fundraiser marks the midway of our preseason conditioning. The Jog-A-Thon is a 5-mile run (jog, walk, crawl, or limp in some cases) that serves a dual purpose for our program. First, it is a great fundraiser for our program. We are blessed with so many people who are generous enough to give to our program. The second purpose is to drive home a lesson that we think will serve us in a long grueling season…YOUR MIND IS SO POWERFUL.
Several on our roster have never pushed their body to run 5 miles in a row. If you have never run 5 miles in a row, you must have an enormous amount of positive self talk the entire time in order to finish the race. The liberating feeling that some of our girls felt after crossing the finish line after their run is enormous. It is our hope that when we are stuck in a long grueling workout with Coach J, or we are 8 points down with under a minute to play, our girls will remember what their mind enabled them to do on that track during the Jog-A-Thon.
Mental toughness is an absolute necessity in the realm of athletics. You hear sports commentators and analysts talk about it all the time; the thing that separates the good player from the great player is often their ability to control the mind when exterior things are swirling around. We tell our players all the time you can’t go into a shooting slump if you never miss 2 shots in a row. It is important to use your mind to evaluate the reason that you missed the shot and to correct it. The same holds true in life…we like to say in our program that “we NEVER have 2 bad days in a row”. Ever felt like you’ve been in a slump? You allowed yourself to follow up a bad day, with another bad day. If you NEVER have 2 bad days in a row you will never be in a slump.
Now I’m not quite ready to crown Kenny Rogers as some great Philosopher; however, the lesson taught by the young boy depicted in his “Baseball Song”, is one that we must understand and take to heart. When you come see the Lions play this year, watch intently to see if we are mentally tough.
Until next time…It’s a GREAT day to be a LION!!
Marcus Moeller
Assistant Coach
Today's post is written by Jr. Shooting Guard Tercya Ferreira:
Hi…My name is Tercya Ferreira and I am a junior from Sao Luis, Brazil. I am a transfer from Labette Community College and this is my first year at Missouri Southern basketball. I have been very blessed to be a part of the Lady Lion’s family.
Starting this blog today I am going to start by saying I am a Brazilian living in the USA for 4 years now. But I did live most of my life in Brazil. I believe all experiences and cultures are fun. I believe I have the best of both cultures in me.
Finishing high school I had the opportunity to come to the US at the age of 19 and live in a different culture and learn a second language. ..
Therefore, I have listed some things that I like about life in the U.S.
Here it goes:
-1) The cleanliness of the streets.
-2) The organization of streets and highways and the maintenance of buildings and streets is far different.
-3) Open spaces, wide roads, smooth and well maintained. With few exceptions, the US is a country where you can see that the tax money is well spent.
-4) The free school system. Well maintained and well equipped schools.
(I want to add here that a lot of Americans take for granted how great these things are.)
-5) A variety of sports and activities which a lot of Americans like to attend such as, college and professional games, community and school organizations, public events. They are fans of the college that they used to go to.
-6) The fact that everyone has access to the same stuff, theoretically speaking. Black, white, green or gold :), we are all equal.
-7) Safety. One of the few parts of the world where you can leave the door of your house open, your car open, not have alarms in your house and fences. An issue that encourages me to consider moving to the U.S. (My parents have their home in Brazil protected by electrical fences, cameras and alarms)
-8) The fact that the minimum salary is not very low and all people have the same opportunity to succeed.
Now, some of the things that are different:
-1) We don’t have natural disasters, such as, tornadoes, volcanic eruption, and huge storms, which destroy houses, buildings, cars….
-2) We used to cook every day at our own houses to have lunch and dinner with our families. Eating out on the town happens so much in the United States.
-3) In America, everyone farts and belches whenever they like, and all they do is say excuse me. In Brazil; if you fart or belch in public you will turn red and apologize.
-4) In Brazil, we can live in our parent’s home our entire life and no one thinks that's strange. In America, if somebody does that, people think that they must have something wrong with him/her.
-5) The seasons in Brazil are opposite from those in North America. Therefore, it is cooler in July than it is in December.
-6) In my culture, cursing in front of other people can disturb or offend them. It gives the impression of bad education or a bad person. In the U.S., people falsely think it's cool to curse.
Finally, this one is special for Coach Jones…I know he loves Brazilian Soccer so…
“The ONLY soccer team in this world to have won the important ‘World Cup’ 5 times is Brazil's soccer team. Brazil is also the birthplace of one of the best soccer players of this century, Pele.”
I hope you guys enjoyed some of the information about Brazil. Thanks for reading!!
It’s a GREAT day to be a LION!!
Tercya Ferreira
Jr. Guard
Today's post is written by freshman combo guard Myriah Hicks:
As an incoming freshman to Missouri Southern Women’s Basketball and pre-season, I had no idea what to expect. The only thing that I had to go off of was the things that I had heard from the returning players. Some of the things I didn’t think sounded too hard, while others I became really worried about. The main thing that they had to say was come in with a positive attitude and give maximum effort, 100% of the time. Now I know that those are two points that all of my coaches stress to us every day. Academics is also very important around our program, and is stressed even more than excellence on the court. Grades come first around here. Being here for a week I have already had two study halls, and yes, some of my other teammates are in there as well. This place is no joke! You come in, sit down and get your books, do your work on the computer if needed, and no talking or texting!
I can say that the first week went well. Monday we didn’t even know what to expect, all we knew was that we had the infamous Coach J! After the first day of 4-400’s and 4-200’s, I knew that I was in for something that my mind and body had never been through before. I also found out that we have “gears” that we never knew existed. High school pre-season is a joke compared to college, and I have only been through one week here. My coaches in high school had me thinking that I was working hard every day, but the coaches here show you how hard you can really work. The key is striving to reach your potential and always giving everything you have on the court, track, and in the weight room. They stress that the same amount of effort should be put forth the rest of the season.
Honestly, I thought that all pre-season was going to be was working out all day and never getting time for anything else. We have done a lot more than just work out. We have been making bonds with our teammates and coaches ever since we got here. For only having 3 returners here, I would say that we get along very well with everyone and we have a type of bond that is only going to get stronger as the season continues. No one is to be left out on our team. We have done things together like all going to campus craze (including coaches), eat dinner with our boosters and boys team, and going on a scavenger hunt.
The most awesome thing that I have experienced so far this pre-season is leadership. Over the summer we were assigned the book, “Talent Is Never Enough.” We all meet as a team on Wednesdays. Only being there for the first week, I can already see the purpose of “Leadership.” The name stands for itself. I thought that it was really awesome that while Coach Mitts was going over the book, some of her main points in the 2 chapters were some of the same things that I had underlined while I was reading the book! For some reason, I just thought that was so awesome. That already, not even being here a week, I know that I value some of the same things that my coaches and teammates also value! Week 2…here we come!
Until next time….It’s a GREAT day to be a LION!
Myriah Hicks
Freshman combo guard
Editor's Note: MSSU Women's Basketball now has it's very own YouTube Channel. Details coming VERY SOON!
Today's post is written by Associate Head Coach Ronda Hubbard:
During this first full week of conditioning our staff wanted to help our players take control of their lives. Sounds a little “much” for mostly 18-21 year olds, but I remember being 18 and having a coach “flip the light on” to my own potential. In the classroom, on the court, and as a person. The most important concept I ever gained at a young age was BELIEF, in myself. I found out right away that I really couldn’t believe in my teammates or the coaches if I didn’t FIRST believe in ME! The second most important thing I learned was to do everything with PASSION. If you watch our coaching staff….. we have a lot of PASSION. We are loud, animated, demanding, and we ask our players to resemble us. We have tried to establish this week that we must make HARD WORK our PASSION. Our team seemed to get it right away. While we only have three returners after graduating seven a year ago, there are many faces that are already stepping up to take on leadership roles.
Speaking of Leadership. We had our first one this week as well. The first two chapters of Talent is Never Enough. (hope you are following along with us!) The topics? BELIEF and PASSION. Seems that every successful person, book, team, or organization knows the importance of those two words. So, we have enforced this week that we, as a team, cannot live in a way that is inconsistent with our expectations of ourselves and our team. I think one of the “coolest” things to watch with our team this week, besides the natural improvement, was the identification of the two types of people in the world. ON the floor there are the people who “want to get things done” and then there are the people who “don’t want to make mistakes.” You can guess who looks silly in workouts. The ones tip toeing around trying to do everything just perfect! These players are moving at a snails pace! The others are flying around. It’s fun to watch. Learning to play at a faster pace is always a big challenge in the beginning.
OFF the floor, there are two types of people as well. As stated in Talent is Never Enough….there are the firelighters and firefighters. We are impressing upon our team that they need to be firelighters and stay away from firefighters. Their PASSION has to be protected. Firefighters run around putting out other people’s passion, their belief. They doubt. They resist change. Firelighters (which I am encouraged to tell you we have a lot of) ignite others. Our workouts have shown that we have a lot of people positively influencing each other. Even when Coach J is running the dog out of them!
Lastly, we are talking a lot about Responsibility and Accountability, especially as they apply to relationships. The major question I asked is “In a relationship, what is the percentage of shared responsibility in making the relationship work?” Now, remember, we are talking about teammate to teammate, student to teacher, player to coach, daughter to Mom/Dad…. And so on. The answers from our players are the typical. “50-50” or “51-49”. They express these answers with such confidence. I even had a player tell me “80-20” which is a good answer considering the Pareto Principle, but incorrect. The correct answer, as we explained to them, is “100-0” Only when you are willing to give 100 percent responsibility for making the relationship work, will it work. Otherwise, the relationship left to chance will always be vulnerable to disaster.
We believe that these concepts are true for every area of our lives and we are trying to instill these in our players. We are always 100 percent in control and have 100 percent responsibility for everything that has occurred in our lives as a result of our action or inactions. The Lions are learning to TAKE ACTION, TAKE RESPONSIBILITY, BELIEVE IN THEMSELVES, THEIR TEAMMATES, THEIR COACHES, and to do EVERYTHING with a great deal of PASSION!
Keep your eye on us and see if you don’t agree! :) Until next time……It's a GREAT day to be a LION!
Ronda Hubbard Associate Head Coach
Today's post is written by Sr. Point Guard Randi Henderson:(Click on the picture for enlarged image)
I have a great topic today...our Coaches! First of all, I must start by saying I am not sure if the coaches know some of the information that I am about to tell you. Anyway, here it goes.
Coach Mitts, she is our head coach although sometimes it seems like she isn’t because she gives her coaching staff so much credit for the hours they put into our success. We all call Coach Mitts our mom. She always talks about our team being a “family” and how we should treat everyone of our teammates as you do any sibling. She is the one who loves to have attention. We all know that if we need to get “brownie points” for the day just go into her office and say “Hey Coach Mitts you look awesome today!” She loves to hear positive things and is always willing to help even in the hardest of times. On the court, she is quite opposite. She loves seeing players going hard and she loves scorers!! But, she has no sense of time management on the court; one time she kept us in the same full court drill for over an hour! To sum Coach Mitts up, she has motherly skills off the court but on the court she wants to see PRODUCTION! :)
Coach Hubbard is next. Almost every recruit that has been here thinks that she is the head coach because of her dominant personality. We like to joke around and call her Coach Hub-a-dub or Sergeant Hub. She means business all the time. She loves giving players personal development books to read. Coach Hub-a-dub is EXTREMELY organized. I think even former players are scared to walk into her office and touch a pen or book lying on her desk. She is like our dad in so many ways. The one who will discipline, not give in to any excuse and the one who keeps everyone in line/on time.
Okay, so we have our mom, Coach Mitts and our dad, Coach Hubbard. Next up is our uncles, Coach Jones and Coach Moeller. What would we do without our uncles? Well, Coach Jones is known as the unemotional coach. He does not care if you broke your hand, fell walking down the stairs, or if your cat is sick. I am told though that outside of basketball he is very supportive. He likes to make jokes and that is what we all love about him. Us players like to joke around about his daily attire (like jersey shorts with a polo... questionable decision) however on game day he is always the best dressed. On the court, Coach Jones will get after the post players and anyone who is slacking on defense. He is a great recruiting coach and every single one of us MSSU players are so thankful that he is here, because we know he is capable of a big time recruiting job.
Our other uncle Coach Moeller a.k.a. Mighty Mole, Co Mo, or Coach Mo-Mo has some serious feminine attributes. We go bowling all the time and boy, he looks kind of like a twelve year old girl. I once heard him sing a Brittany Spears song in the office when no one else was around and when his hair gets too long, he likes to comb to one side with his fingers. We all make fun of Coach Moeller and he makes fun of us. He is great to have around because he is not too much older than a couple of us. I must say even in just a year Mighty Mole has developed into a great coach.
The players and the coaches get along great here at Southern. We all love to laugh and have a great time but more than that we all love to WIN! So, when we are on the basketball court very little is funny, but we are all enjoying the game that brought us together as a family. Thanks for reading.
And until next time...It's a GREAT DAY TO BE A LION!
Randi Henderson
Sr. Point Guard
