Through the first few weeks of September, Noel Pratts '21 went through the litany of individual drills that had become the norm for basketball practices during the COVID pandemic.
In her previous three years on the women's basketball team, Pratts thrived in the chaos of an open court, using her athleticism to disrupt opposing ball-handlers and speed and boundless energy to get to the rim. With practices limited to fewer participants over short periods early on, things seemed to have crawled to a relative standstill.
"It was a big change," Pratts says. "It was frustrating because you want to get into playing, but it was a step-by-step process going from small groups to three-on-three to getting to where the entire team could be together."
Rather than be deterred, Pratts says she clung to four words that have become the women's basketball team's mantra: "Chop wood, carry water."
The term comes from a book by the same name, written by Joshua Medcalf and assigned to the team by head coach Greta Grothe over the summer.
Assigning books isn't a new practice for coaches. Former Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers coach Phil Jackson famously gave his players books he thought would help with their mental approach to the game. After talking with coaches who had done the same in the past, Grothe decided this summer was the right time to employ this technique.
"We had 11 newcomers this year, so I wanted to see how we could bond as a team before coming back to campus," Grothe says. "At first, there were some eye rolls, but once they read it, I think they enjoyed it. They presented it in groups a few chapters at a time and got to know each other on a personal level."
The book follows an American named John, who buys a one-way ticket to Japan to become a samurai archer. Its title comes from the unusual training methods of sensei Akira, who starts John off on several mundane tasks like chopping wood and carrying water before ever picking up a bow and arrow.
Grothe noted the parallels to "The Karate Kid" in which Mr. Miyagi (or Mr. Han in the updated Jackie Chan version) has his pupil perform a series of seemingly unconnected chores that have practical applications to martial arts training. "It's very Mr. Miyagi where [John] is chopping wood and carrying water every day, and he doesn't see the purpose," Grothe said. "But in what he was doing, he was getting stronger and more disciplined without realizing it."
The book is about falling in love with the process of doing something rather than the outcome. "Your greatest challenge during your time here will be faithfully keeping your focus on the process while surrendering the outcome," Akira explains to John.
For the women's basketball team, a conference championship might be the ultimate prize each year, but by the team's new mantra, the goal has shifted from titles to one of constant self-improvement. "Instead of focusing on winning a championship, we have to remember to do the little things first," Pratts says.
Be Faithful in the Small Things, Control the Controllable
In the book, Akira tells John the story of Ben Hogan, a professional golfer whose career was almost derailed when his car was struck by a bus, leaving doctors to question whether he'd ever play again. "But he trained hard, day in and day out, and went on to win a major," Akira explains. "He said, 'Everyone thinks greatness is sexy, it's not. It's dirty, hard work."
Winning a major was out of Hogan's control, but the amount of work he put in to get his muscles moving back to where they were before the accident was. In this, the book lays out four steps: Dream BIG. Start small. Be ridiculously faithful. Focus on what you can control.
"There are a lot of things we can't control right now," Grothe says, speaking about regulations required to keep the Southwestern community safe during the pandemic. "So, right now, we control what we can."
People often compare basketball to jazz because of its free-flowing, improvisational nature. Five teammates work in tandem, reading and reacting to each other and their opponents. When student-athletes returned to campus, basketball practices were limited to groups so small they could do little beyond individual skill development, taking the team back to basics.
Players broke the game back into its components, working on simple things like the footwork of a one-dribble pull-up or drive to the rim, positioning their feet to take the proper angle defending against ball screens, and the hows and whys of coming off screens on offense.
"The book harped on doing the little things right and, no matter how you're feeling, showing up to do the same every day," Lauren Fulenwider '22 says. "Even though we haven't been able to a lot of team stuff, especially in the beginning, it was important to focus on yourself and what you can get better at."
Build Your Own House
In the book, John didn't touch an arrow through his first few weeks of training. Inpatient, he asked his sensei when he'd be allowed to start shooting his bow. Soon enough, Akira promised.
The wise Sensei then told the story of a Japanese architect named Kota, who, after years of designing some of the country's finest houses, was ready to retire. Before accepting his retirement, Kota's boss requested one more job for an important client.
Reluctantly, Kota accepted the job. With his heart ready to move onto the next phase of his life, Kota went through the motions of designing the house, building it to basic requirements but lacking in the architect's usual flair. At the end of the job, the boss surprised Kota with the keys to that house, offering it as a parting gift. Immediately, Kota felt regret, acknowledging if he'd known he was building his own house, he would have given it the same level of craftsmanship he'd given his entire career.
"The only thinking that is truly significant about today, or any other day, is who you become in the process," Akira says to John. "Each of us is building our own house. Sometimes, you might think you are building for your school, family, company, or team, but you are always building your own house...I hope you build wisely."
It would have been easy for the Pirates to look ahead to scrimmages and more intricate group work, but skipping steps in the process would have built a shoddier house. With the foundations laid, the team has ramped up its workload.
As restrictions have eased and the team has moved into more extensive group settings, each player's work has infused each coordinated movement with sharper execution.
"We're incorporating a little more every day," Erin Torro '21 says. "We're starting to prepare for when we play games and just like [John] chopped wood and carried water for so long he got better, every day we do the same drills and add a little more to the whole puzzle."
Surrender
"I think my favorite part of the book was when [John] was so excited for this tournament, he thinks he's going to go out there and defeat his rivals," Torro says. "And he just completely fails. He's terrible at it; he finishes dead last. His sensei tells him he can't rush the process; you're not going to be perfect at it, you just need to chop wood and carry water."
The moment comes several years into John's training. After having progressed from chopping wood, carrying water, and working on his stance to shooting at a target only seven feet away, John had done enough to begin shooting at targets more than 100 feet away. Confident, he told Akira he'd win the tournament. After failing miserably, performing far below his standards, Akira explained that mindset was his problem.
"John, I knew this was going to happen. As soon as you told me your goal was to win the tournament last week, I knew you had allowed your focus to shift away from the process and onto the uncontrollables," Akira explained. "You cannot play present if you are focused on winning or the outcome. When you surrender to the outcome, you are freed up to be at your best, to be in the moment, and to trust your training."
The mindset is one of goal vs. mission. Someone who sets a goal to become a doctor might find many roadblocks that prevent that outcome, Akira explains, while someone who takes on helping the sick as their mission can find many avenues to achieving it.
In the same way, if winning a conference championship is the goal, many uncontrollable things might prevent that from facing better competition or a bad call, or even having the season wiped out due to a pandemic. But if the mission is to improve to the best of one's ability, only the person in the mirror can stop that.
Trust the Process
From the Philadelphia 76ers' "Trust the Process" to the San Antonio Spurs' "Pound the Rock," several basketball mantras are predicated on mastering the journey versus the outcome. For the Pirates, chop wood, carry water was a fundamental mental shift at a time when the team had little choice but to limit itself to the basketball equivalents of those tasks.
"We need to do what we can to the best of our ability," Grothe says. "We need to be positive and focus on what we get to do. Let's do those small things great and build onto next week."
Greatness, Akira explains, is "a bunch of small things done well, added up over time, that most people think are too small to matter." In a time where circumstances have removed us from things we've taken for granted, the Pirates have found purpose in the little things like chopping wood and carrying water.
For more SU Pirate photos, please see Carlos Barron Photography