Coach Mac Has Motivating Words for VReds Womenâ??s Basketball Team

A long, long time ago, well before many of today’s Canadian Interuniversity Sport athletes were even born, there was a team in Pittsburgh that made a slogan so popular, it’s still used today.

It was 1979 and the Pittsburgh Pirates were on top of the baseball world. The Pirates defeated the Baltimore Orioles in the Fall Classic that year using the slogan We Are Family along the way to winning the World Series.

It was a song from that era, closing in on the end of the disco dance craze if you’re seeking time lines and music. Sister Sledge was the name of the band that released We Are Family.

You can look it up.

That team of Pirates is still held in high regard in Pittsburgh and every once in awhile, you still hear We Are Family associated with teams today that form a bond that is hard to describe unless you’re in the inner circle.

Welcome to the University of New Brunswick and its band of Varsity Reds athletic teams. We Are Family. Which is exactly why Jeff Speedy, the Head Coach of the nationally-ranked women’s basketball team, tapped some expertise located just up the hill from the gymnasium he calls home.

UNB head hockey coach Gardiner MacDougall knows a little bit about CIS success. He has engineered two men’s hockey teams to national championships and is in the thick of CIS rankings on a regular basis including this year. Something must be working right.

That prompted Speedy to contact his coaching ally to deliver some words to his women’s team. MacDougall is renowned for his motivational work amongst players and coaches.

Why not spread the message?

“I’m 41 years-old, but I’m not naïve enough to think I can’t still be out learning something new every day,” said Speedy when asked why he would bring another coach from a different sport to meet with his squad. “Gardiner has had incredible success at UNB and what he’s done and what his teams have done is what we want to do. I think it can be a huge motivating factor for our student athletes.”

The hockey coach had a captive audience with the VReds. The team talked about its work ethic, something that has been paramount early this season in terms of a strong pre-season and a No. 5 CIS ranking entering 2010-11.

The VReds have been together since school started, have gone on a bonding excursion and have been there for each other from Day 1. That’s hard to teach, hard to coach.

Speedy can draw up more drills than you can shake a stick at, but it comes down to the players.

Which leads to trust.

“You need to have complete trust in yourself, your coach and your teammates,” MacDougall said. “You have to go out to every single game and every single practice and have a purpose. Your best players have to be your best players and that leads to accountability when facing adversity.”

The VReds have shown an up-tempo style of play that can catch opposition flatfooted. Take a second to watch and UNB players are gone. Hesitate on offence? A UNB defender will be there to snatch any inch away from you.

Team commitment.

“If you never make a mistake, you never make a discovery,” said MacDougall. “Winning is a journey. Teams that win championships become very special in your lives. For a lot of you, you’re going into new territory being ranked this year in the CIS Top 10. That in itself is a journey, so enjoy every game. The bigger your dream, the more fun it is to make that journey.”

MacDougall talked about team intensity being broken into different components including involvement levels and commitment to many facets of the game such as the classroom and the weight room.

“As a coach, you want to measure the synergy of your group and have your team face accountability,” he said. “You want to follow the BEST acronym which is Better Every Single Time. If you can say that or follow that, you’ll be successful.”

MacDougall and Speedy would be the first to tell you they’re not much when it comes to singing, but they can follow the lyrics of that advice.

At UNB, We Are Family can be re-invented some 31 years later. Never to late to dust off a classic.