The Basketball Podcast: EP345 with Bridgette Mitchell on The 3 C’s: Commit, Care, Connect

Bridgette Mitchell Quotes:

“We call them the Triple Cs. Our pillars for our program are Commit, Care and Connect. The commitment piece is extremely important and we talk about how you’re committed to things no matter how your sentiments change. You can be tired one day or you can be cranky another day. Whatever you committed to, be a woman of your word. So, if you say you’re going to do something, do it. And that requires you to do hard things.”

“Caring is sometimes challenging because when you care about somebody, you hold them accountable. You really challenge them to be the best version of themselves. And that’s what we talk about at great length in our program. Coming into practice, are you committed to being 2% better? If so, why are you doing the same drill that we did yesterday the same way?  You’ve got to get better at it. That’s something that’s really important to us. If you can’t commit to caring about the program, about your teammates, and about yourself, then there won’t be a true connection.”

“That C for connect is something that’s really important to us because you’ve got to get below surface level with building relationships and being genuine. We believe that those three things will allow us to have the kind of culture and mentality that’s required to not only win championships, but to win in life. My staff and I tell our players and I tell their parents, I want them to leave here being strong, intelligent, impactful and of the character that’ll go change the world. You have to commit, care, and connect.”

“I encourage all assistant coaches to not just be flies on the wall, but actually be building your resume and the things that you like, the things you dislike, your takeaways from every program that you’re an assistant coach at.”

“Summertime is not just development for our players on our team for getting their skills right, it’s also development for my staff. We are . . making sure that things make sense when we’re diagramming so that they [the players] can be in the most successful position.”

“We’re putting battery in our post players’ back like, ‘You’re the best offensive rebounder in the country. Yes, she’s going to shoot it. I don’t care if you get the ball or not, but you’re going to get your chance by getting this rebound.’  So, we’re instilling that every person matters and every person brings value through various drills throughout the season.

“We want to score within the first eight seconds of the shot clock. In order to do that, everybody has to run their lanes. Any of our players, except for our five, can bring the ball up off the dribble. But one through four, if you get the rebound, I want you to immediately look to up pass. Did anybody sprint the lane ahead of me so that we can pass it up? If not, I can attack off of the dribble. I’m going to push the tempo to see if I can get us in a situation where we can score within the first eight seconds.”

“I think that with young women in sports, there’s too much fear instilled. It’s less about fear, it’s man, go for it. You did this already. Yeah, you might fail. There’s going to be times like that first few against the clock, they might fail. But then on that fourth and fifth time when they get it, that’s now the standard. You’ve done this already. Let’s keep improving. And I think that young women have to see that, yeah, you’re going to fail, but you can also succeed and you will succeed.”

“We talk about compiling mistakes. We’re not going to compound one mistake with another. That’s the rule for everybody . . Some people have a shorter leash than others, right? You got to be locked in because your reps matter. And so, if you go out there and you turn the ball over, then you’re not the first back, then your girl scores, that’s three errors in one thing. That’s going to be hard for you to not get subbed out. Instead, I get the turnover, I’m going to be the first one back. I’m going to be the most talkative, loudest hustling back and it’ll be like, cool, I can live with that mistake. Come on, next play . . And so, there is a level of balance that has to take place, but it’s also a level of focus. If you want to win games, we can’t have too many errors. So, teaching that throughout the practices and preparation for games is really important.”

Bridgette Mitchell Breakdown:

Bridgette Mitchell Selected Links from the Podcast:

Bridgette Mitchell
Keturah Jackson
Leah Metcalf
Taylor Donaldson