Key Word: True North

“Love is the true north, that always leads us home.”

The world has turned upside in many ways since our last newsletter. Who knew that the keyword Comfort would be so necessary during this remarkable time in world history. Life may look very different for you than it looked in March. For us at NBC Camps, our world has been turned upside down. Based on insurance restriction and safety recommendations, we must postpone all face to face training. This has been devastating, to say the least. For many, this time is uncertain, fearful, possibly painful, or even violent, deeply upsetting, and disappointing. For some, this time has been an opportunity to have time to reflect on life priority, time for family, and time to move to a much different pace of life. Whatever circumstances you are in, we want to speak encouragement and hope that through all this difficulty, be walking toward your true north.

True North is the direction of the North Pole from a given point. People use true north to help find their way. People who are lost have no true north. They have no idea where they are. Without a sense of True North a lost person may think he or she is going in the right direction only to find out differently. Most people who are lost can be very close to finding their way to safety only to become disoriented and confused enough to turn and go deeper into being lost.

The phrase “True North” is also used as a metaphor for life. What is your true north? Some people define this type of true north as your meaning and purpose. What is your purpose for your life that will never change? Your true north is the life you are aspiring to live. Once we have our true north, it also provides a warning for when we are off course. True north in basketball and in life is an important concept to keep us moving in the right direction.

During this topsy-turvy, difficult time of life, your true north can provide that insight on what next step to take, how to respond in crisis, and how to live, especially during uncertainty. Let’s take this month to really ensure we are following our True North.

True North Living

Key Ways to Live Your True North

1. Believe your life is of infinite value. You are a miracle, unique, and designed for a noble purpose. There is no one like you and you have incredible potential. When you live like you are a miracle and have great value, you recognize that your life matters. You can have the confidence to live and speak with dignity and power.

2. Believe each person’s life is of infinite value. Each person is a miracle and deserving of our deepest compassion and understanding. We don’t need to agree with everyone, but each person we encounter is of immeasurable worth. One very discouraging research study out of Washington State University found that the majority of people believed a person with a different political ideology was not only dangerous but lower in value than a cockroach. We lose our true north as people when we lose our compassion, ability to listen, ability to love and honor others who are different than ourselves

3. Hard work and wisdom are key tools you need to fulfill your potential. Your potential is time-sensitive. Time has lost some semblance of power in this lock-down time. It’s easy to spin our wheels in unproductive experiences, conversations, or activities. Without our true north, we can allow our situation to dictate our responses, emotions, and actions rather than leading from our internal moral principles and core values.

Self-Check

• Do you feel your daily habits are building the person/player you want to be?
• Leisure, sleep, and play are necessary for excellence. If you are living with too much pressure and stress, not enough rest or imagination time, your body cannot withstand these demands. You need a healthy balance between hard work and rest. You might be under tremendous emotional strain right now. Are you finding ways to enter into peace, rest, healing, and hope?

• Do you feel guilty when you rest or take time to relax? Do you get enough downtime to recover?
• Balance is key. Laziness robs our potential. Too much ease, leisure, and sitting around are not wise. How are you spending your time and energy? Do you choose ways to comfort yourself that create greater future pain for your life?

4. Beware of what can deceive you. We can be deceived and tricked about which way is true north. This can happen through fear. We get mixed up in our thinking and become afraid. Fear increases our heart rate and sends cortisone into our system. High levels of cortisone over longer periods of time is a very dangerous health issue. Learning to navigate fear and anger in difficult times is crucial for our physical health. The world needs us to be living and leading from a place of health and wisdom so that we can move and influence those around us to the healthiest ways to live. Losing our true north can also happen because of pride. We don’t listen to the warning signs and find ourselves lost. Pride is reflected in our unwillingness to listen, to step into the experience of another, to do nothing when someone is in danger or in pain, to use violence or abuse to make our point, to use apathy or silence when we should speak.

5. Love is your compass. Love will help you make the best-informed decisions. When in doubt, filter everything through a lens of what is the most loving act I can do right now? Love is not anemic and weak but powerful and transformation. Love is the greatest power on earth. Love never condones what is evil or what is violent. Love never excuses evil. Love always protects; always perseveres. Love transforms.

True North Basketball

FINDING YOUR BASKETBALL PURPOSE

Losing out on basketball has been brutal. It hurts us deeply. We have been planning all year for camp and its incredibly painful to have to postpone what we love to do. We grieve with many players who weren’t able to finish their seasons. We feel angry and frustrated along with you that we have to postpone camp and wait for healthy ways to play the sport we love. We have run camps for 49 years. This is what we do. But as we step away from these emotions and consider our True North, we find courage. We are so thankful for the hundreds of staff and campers who have overwhelmed us with encouragement and support.

In some ways, this pandemic might be the best thing to happen to your basketball game. We have always believed that the best skill elevation happens in the day in and day out grind. Summer is the time to develop those “hardcoded” muscle memory skills that give you the advantage.

We believe with all our hearts that the game of basketball begins with the love and courage to build these individual skills. One of our campers would make his lunch the night before, be up and out the door by 7 am, and spend 10 hours on his local outdoor court developing his shooting, ball handling, offensive moves, and defensive discipline. Creating talent isn’t glamorous, it’s tenacious.

What is your basketball true north? Many of us love the game because of the power of the team— the wonder of being with other people and investing together to build something amazing. This team mindset is a gift for every aspect of life—marriage, family, work.

If you love your team and you miss them, give them a gift this summer by working your butt off to make your handles the best around, your shooting lights out, and your passing like butter. True North teamwork is serving your team and doing your best to be a great teammate.

NBC Basketball has created NBC Virtual Training for you this summer and fall with online courses, virtual camps, 1-on-1 training, and accountability teams to help you stay motivated and accomplish your goals. We have the right training program to help keep you committed to your basketball dreams. Find out more at https://www.nbccamps.com/basketball/camps/nbc-virtual-basketball-camps

True North Coaching

Coach, the uncertainty of the 2020-2021 season might be pressing on you. You might vacillate between giving up and freaking out. One of the biggest obstacles in your way forward is mobilizing your team to get everyone headed in the strongest direction. Here are the best ways to help lead your team during this confusing time.

1. A clear roadmap and guideline are extremely helpful during this time. Progress happens with each clear step.
2. Understanding your students and how to best motivate them is important but more importantly, do you know what de-motivates your team? Do you know the life circumstances your team faces, and can you provide help during this time rather than guilt or obligation?
3. Inspiration is more important right now than anything else. When we are afraid, we lose heart, we lose hope, we lose traction. Providing words of encouragement, being willing to listen, noticing what you do that causes frustration or triggers disunity are really important during this time. This comes from asking good questions and taking time for each student in quality communication sessions.
   • How can I come alongside you during this time?
4. What are the best ways to encourage you?
5. What are the ways I unconsciously cause you to give up or get angry?
6. What feelings are overwhelming you have right now?
7. What tools are you missing in your life right now that would really help you live your true north?

Love is the true north for any team. Where there is no love, there is no team.

True North Parenting

How are you doing parents? This has been an incredibly challenging time for many of us.

Online school may dazzle some but for many, it can be taxing to monitor and keep kids on task. One of the best ways to handle uncertainty in your parenting is to write down a brief mission statement. In many ways, just like basketball has been stripped down to bare essentials, parenting in many ways exposes many of the unhealthy paths that may have distracted us before from our true north.

Busyness can mask disunity and harmony in the home. In our racing from spot to spot, we may have lost the tools to build meaningful conversations and intentional friendships with one another.

External recognition can mask the need to love our children unconditionally. Awards, glory, scholarships, adoring fans are in many ways on hold. Can we help our children find value in who they are not what they do?

You might be finding that time together can still mean miles apart. Your family might have exposed that you might be near one other but not close. True North parenting brings the need to build close relationships based on respect, compassion, and wisdom. Laughing together, reading books, engaging in uniting conversations and discussions, are some of the gifts that can come from this time together.

We can lose our true north as a parent when are critical of our kids, angry, frustrated, fearful, or overwhelmed. One of the quickest ways to tell if you are off course is by the way your kids are responding to you. If they have a frustrated tone, if they are getting into trouble often, if they are wanting to distance themselves from you, reacting negatively to you or your suggestions, the family has lost its true north. One of the best ways to point your family back to true north is to increase love. You do this through your words, your thoughtfulness, your willingness to notice ways you hurt others, and courage to ask forgiveness, your own sense of joy and fun that you bring. It starts with you. As you pour on more love, love will multiply. We believe in your parents! You’ve got this! Speak love often, stop criticizing people in the home, put any critical remark or “helpful advice” on hold for two weeks, and steer your family back on the right track.

About NBC Basketball
NBC Basketball offers intensive basketball and life skills training for athletes who love the game enough to work hard. NBC Basketball offers free monthly newsletters, blogs, stories, tips, and advice. Camps are located in 6 countries and available online through virtual basketball camps. Find out more about NBC Basketball at www.nbccamps.com/basketball.