Coaching From the Inside Out
As thousands of fans make their way to the exits, there is a sense of danger in the half empty arena – it was not a good night for Team USA and Coach Herb Brooks was not happy. It was anything but our best effort, remembered Jack O’Callahan and you could see the steam belching from Herbie’s ears…
The roar from the crowd no longer reverberated from the stands; a half hearted performance is unacceptable from Coach Herb Brooks. As players begin to exit, they are stopped and turned around and instructed to go back to the ice. Coach Brooks reminds them that if they don’t want to work during the game then they’ll work now. For the next hour the words “Again, Again, and Again,” followed by screeches of a whistle fill their head while doing “Herbies.” Lungs burning, hearts pounding, legs quivering is the only thing they feel. No one knows how man “Herbies” they did that night. This is the night that made 20 members of the 1980 Olympic Hockey squad a team.
I chose this project because, like any assistant coach, my dream is to become a head coach. My project is to analyze what characteristics made Herb Brooks a great coach. Great coaches like Herb Brooks know more than just drills and plays. Knowledge of the mechanics of the game is only one part. Philosophy and how it’s communicated are just as essential.
Coach Brooks expected his players to be focused and mentally tough on and off the ice. More than anything else, he wanted his players to be men of character. He wanted them to succeed in the Olympics and in life. Brooks not only coached hockey but he taught life lessons and he expected the best from everyone.
This project and the philosophy of Coach Brooks helped me to be a winner in the classroom and on the soccer field. To win and earn the respect of your players and a nation takes more than just talent. It takes a philosophy deeply rooted in values, discipline and courage. Herb Brooks will be an inspiration for me in the future.
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Miracles Along Our Journey
Our journey to Lake Placid, NY began with four chatty and very excited girls wearing several layers of warm clothing, and more luggage than Newark International Airport on Christmas Eve It was a bitter cold morning, and a long six our car ride, but in the end it was all worth it.
When I arrived in Lake Placid on Tuesday, February 22, temperatures were in the single digits. Although our car was filled with happy sounds of anticipation, I silently said to myself, What am I doing here? What about all the work I have to do for my classes? Then I stopped and remembered, if I were ever going to successfully design my collage, I would need hundreds of pictures, and there was only one place to get them.
Before another thought ran through my mind, we were in front of the Town & Country Motor Inn, a kind of European-looking motel. The parking lot was filled with snow, the air was cold, and we soon realized that we needed to add on more layers of clothing, but the reception was warm and friendly. The agenda for the day was longer than I ever imagined, and I wondered how we’d do it all.
We would see authors, interview friendly locals, use dozens of rolls of film, go to a winter beach party, finish off with a panel discussion, and somehow manage to squeeze in dinner at a good Italian restaurant. It was the tightest schedule imaginable with very little time for relaxation – to be quite honest it was a marathon and I wondered if I would be able to finish the race. There were no options, so after a brief meeting we were off to visit the community, cameras in one hand, and notebooks in the other. We stopped and clicked at virtually every place along Main Street, and suddenly 4 degrees wasn’t so cold after all.
At the Bookstore Plus we met Wayne Coffey, author of The Boys of Winter. He was an engaging man and he would become part of the profile I intended to write on the many faces of Lake Placid, NY. Before the journey was over, I met a parade of people including John Malcolm, Karen Tomich, Dr. John Lucas, and even Mike Eruzione and Patti Brooks. Suddenly my anniversary poster was beginning to fill with images – I had taken over seven rolls of film in just the first day.
The three-day event was one of the most incredible moments of my life, and incredible journey of many valuable lessons… lessons in life I will never forget.
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48 Hours in Lake Placid - Perspective in Warp Speed
Coach Herb Brooks instilled values in his players. I decided to study five values of Coach Brooks: perseverance, dedication, motivation, preparation and inspiration and show how he taught these values to his players. Dr. Anthony Mussari, a carbon copy of Herb Brooks, teaches these values in his senior seminar and practicum classes. I will show how he teaches his students these values in the classroom and how they relate to Herb Brooks and our Miracle at Placid Project.
I chose this project to learn more about Coach Brooks and his values. I wanted to know if the values Brooks emphasized had anything to do with successful team building. In doing my research, I noticed that our teacher, Dr. Mussari, has many things in common with Coach Brooks. I want to show people how leaders like Herb Brooks and Dr. Mussari teach values that enable their players and their students to be successful in life.
The most important value I learned was preparation. I went into the project and the trip to Lake Placid with great enthusiasm. I did research, but it wasn’t the most appropriate research. My knowledge of the coach, the team and the Olympics was superficial. I was not as well read. When my mother told me to buy Wayne Coffey’s book, The Boys of Winter, and read it before the Lake Placid trip, I blew her off. When I got to Lake Placid in February, I was not prepared. I learned my lesson the hard way. Since then I have read several books on Coach Brooks, Lake Placid and the Olympics.
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The values I learned from Herb Brooks are perseverance, dedication, motivation and inspiration. I now realize that these values are essential to anyone who wants to grow and become a better person. Moreover, these values may very well be the keys to success in life. On my journey to becoming a successful event planner I will remember these values and they will help me to become more focused, more prepared and more industrious.
The Miracle at Lake Placid Project helped me to learn how I can incorporate these values in every aspect of my life
During the last few months, I learned that it is important to become immersed in the projects I am working on. I have to stay focused and persevere to the end. Nothing is accomplished without a lot of hard work, time and dedication. I want to excel as an event planner. I want to reach my potential. I want to do the best I can therefore, I must set high standards, and work hard to reach them. What I now believe and what Coach Brooks taught are best described by Craig Dahl, the St. Cloud Head Coach and former Brooks assistant: “He left a legacy of helping people and of demanding that they strive to be the best that they can be. He demanded excellence. It wasn’t always about winning and losing either. I mean he was totally satisfied if he felt that he had gotten the best effort out of his team or out of a person, because then he could build on that.”
The same could be said of our teacher and coach of the Miracle at Placid Project.
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Olympic Symbolism and Herb Brooks
Like a time capsule, nothing creates a link with the past more effectively than the Modern Olympic Movement. This movement was founded by French educator Baron Pierre de Coubertin whose dream of world unity was realized in 1896 when the first Olympic Games were held in Athens. His vision and determination created a movement that has, like no other, united athletes and nations all over the world in peaceful celebration and competition. The meaning and values of the Olympics are universally conveyed by symbols; among these are the rings, the motto, and the flame, each one transmitting a simple and direct message recognized worldwide.
I chose to learn more about the Olympic movement and the symbols that represent it because I believe in the importance of values and the messages they transmit, having a unique identity that sets them apart. I believe values are what make a person who they are, and what makes other people want to be like them. Without understanding the meaning behind the symbols you see in this small New York village, you can’t fully understand what an impact the “Miracle at Lake Placid” was.
During the course of my research, I began to see a connection between the values of the Olympic Movement and the values of Herb Brooks and the 1980 Olympic Hockey Team. I came to the conclusion that both are very similar.
“Citius, Altius, Fortius” means Faster-Higher-Stronger. This is the Olympic motto and is the philosophy of the Olympic Movement. These three words are meant to encourage athletes to give their best during competition and to view this effort as a victory in itself. Translated it means that being first is not necessarily a priority, but that giving one’s best and striving for personal excellence is.
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One aspect of the tough-as-nails philosophy of Coach Brooks was that if you worked hard, you could achieve anything. He truly believed that if he could teach his players a new style of hockey and get them in top physical condition, they could play against anyone, even the Soviet Union. He expected them to work harder, be faster, and most of all he dared them to dream. “They were mentally tough and goal-oriented,” said Brooks of his squad. “They came from all different walks of life, many having competed against one another, but they came together and grew to be a real close team. I pushed this team really hard, I mean I really pushed them! But they had the ability to answer the bell. …Throughout the Olympics, they had a great resiliency about them. I mean they came from behind six or seven times to win. They just kept on moving and working and digging… it was just an incredible experience for all of us.”
Brooks also believed that if he pushed his players hard and long enough, their dislike of him would bind them together as a team. He believed there is no “I” in “Team.”
He continually stressed the importance of dedication to the game and to each other, even if it was a united hatred of him, instead of each other. He even went so far as to say that “the name on the front of the jersey is more important than the one on the back.” This concept of unity can also be found in another recognizable symbol connected with the Olympic Movement- the five interlocking rings (blue, yellow, black, green, and red). This symbol was designed by Coubertin to represent the five parts of the world that were joined together in the Olympic Movement: Africa, the Americas, Asia, Australia and Europe. They are interlaced to show the universality of the Olympics and the meeting of the athletes of the whole world during the Olympic Games.
Another well-known feature connected with the Olympic Games is the Olympic Flame. From the moment the flame is lit to the moment it goes out, a very precise ritual is observed. It is ignited during the opening ceremony, and burns day and night during the games. Only when the Olympic Flag is lowered at the end of the closing ceremony is the flame extinguished. The tradition of the Olympic flame began during the ancient Olympic Games over 2700 years ago in Greece and symbolized the death and rebirth of Greek heroes.
Herb Brooks also had a ritual; he would bring his players down and then build them right back up again. Ultimately, Brooks’s use of negative reinforcement galvanized the group into a team that would simply not accept defeat, regardless of the odds it faced. In the end, the 1980 US Olympic Hockey Team, prevailed against the longest of odds, defeated one of the best hockey teams ever to lace up skates and won the Olympic gold medal. “Citius, Altius, Fortius.” - that’s what it took to bring a team and a country together.
Other well-known symbols identified with the 1980 Winter Olympic Games can be found on many of plaques found in Lake Placid. In the Olympic Center there one dedicated to all the participants of the 1980 Winter Olympic Games. The Olympic Emblem, as well as the Olympic Rings can be found on this plaque. The symbols on the emblem represent the mountains surrounding the Olympic region, as well as a double Olympic cauldron, commemorating the games already held in Lake Placid in 1932 and in 1980.
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Plaques
The second aspect of my project was to create a photo essay on the plaques found at Lake Placid. I chose this project because much like understanding the meaning behind the Olympic symbols, you can’t fully understand the impact that was “Miracle at Lake Placid” until you understand the people who contributed to this event and helped made it happen. As you drive into the village of Lake Placid and walk on Main Street symbols from the past can still be seen- the torch remains at the horseshow grounds, the site of the Opening Ceremonies, the ski jumps can be seen over the trees, pictures, plaques and murals adorn most of the walls at each Olympic Venue; and memorabilia can be seen in shop windows. In the village, I could feel the spirit of the place and when I think back to all the events that happened there- ‘wow’ is what comes to mind.
Some of the most prominent plaques in Lake Placid can be found outside along the walkways and are dedicated to legendary athletes such as Jack Shea, Rev. J. Bernard Fell, and Sonja Henie, who put the Placid games on the map in 1932. The plaques that honor these people contribute to the mystique of the place- it is what causes people to become nostalgic and re-live the great events of the past.
Winter Olympics speed skating legend Jack Shea was the patriarch of the first family with three generations of Olympians and the winner of two gold medals in the 1932 Lake Placid Olympic Winter Games. He was a local hero who made it a personal quest to help persuade the International Olympic Committee to stage the Winter Games in his hometown again in 1980. “I felt I would like to accomplish one more medal, to bring the Olympics back to Lake Placid,” Shea said. Shea became a member of the 1980 Lake Placid Olympic Organizing Committee and was the first vice-chairman of the Olympic Regional Development Authority, (ORDA) managing entity of the 1980 Olympic facilities. His name is one of the four on a plaque outside of the Olympic Speedskating Oval. The 1932 Olympic Area inside the Olympic Center is also dedicated to Shea as well as a bench outside the Olympic Center.
Rev. J. Bernard Fell was another key contributor to the 1980 Winter Olympics. He was elected President of the 1980 Lake Placid Organizing Committee in 1978 and if weren’t for him and his committee, the Winter Games in Lake Placid probably wouldn’t have happened in 1980. His plaque is a bust which can be found outside the Olympic Center Oval. The site of the Opening Ceremonies, where the torch is erected is also dedicated to Rev. Fell.
Sonja Henie, a Norwegian figure skater, dominated the 1932 Winter Olympics with her speed, jumps, and choreography and won the second of her three gold medals at Lake Placid. An Ice Fountain in front of the Olympic Center is dedicated to her accomplishments and is absolutely stunning when it is lighted at night.
There are other symbols of the games found in Lake Placid including the flags in the front of the Olympic Center on Main Street, a gift to honor the counties and their athletes who participated in the 1932 Winter Olympics and the impressive plaque dedicated to all the participants of the 1932 Winter Olympic Games.
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