Well, I sacrificed sleep and binge-watched the entire five-part series “The Playbook: A Coach’s Rules for Life” in one night. Luckily each episode is only just over half an hour in run time and only one season so far. The series profiles legendary coaches as they share the rules they live by to achieve success in sports and life. They talk about their drives, fears and ambitions while offering lots of invaluable life lessons along the way. “The Playbook” depicts an intimate story of what drives these men and women while celebrating their success.

While I watched the entire series, I don’t think I could do each coach justice in one short blog post. So I will focus primarily on the two basketball coaches, Doc Rivers and Dawn Staley, as my Free Inquiry is about coaching basketball. Not to say I wasn’t inspired and enlightened by the other coaches, but you got to K.I.S.B. (Keep It Simply Basketball).

As basketball coaches go, Doc Rivers and Dawn Staley have impressive resumes and even more inspirational lives. Within all that, both their values and aspirations have been primarily focused on the sports they love. With that love, determination, and grit, they have learned so much from the sport of basketball.

From being players to becoming world champion coaches, Doc and Dawn have taken and given so much on and off the court.

What I really took from these two episodes specifically was their knowledge of the sport and their small insights into how to connect with their players and how they view the game of basketball. Doc says, ” coaching is so much more than winning; you get pleasure in watching young kids grow up, you watch them mature, improve as a player and as people.” I love his design for coaching the NBA champion 2008 Boston Celtics. The African methodology and way of life called “Ubuntu.” Ubuntu is the essence of being human; “you have to learn from other human beings, how to be human. I cannot be all I can be unless you are all you can be. The better you are, the better I am.” Doc developed the principles for his players and coaching staff. A great mantra for any team or life in general.

Dawn gave similar teachings and life lessons that I feel would help any coach, such as “don’t focus on being dedicated to the game, be dedicated to the team.” I couldn’t agree more. The kids you coach will get more out of life by developing the skills and values you get from working as a team rather than the skills you learn on the court.

I would recommend this series to anyone who coaches in any sport. It’s not so much about the individual coaches and their accomplishments; it’s more rewarding to learn from their life experiences as mentors. As Jose Mourinho (a world-famous soccer coach) said in his episode, “I don’t coach football players, I coach football teams.”