SWENSDAY STUFF

That’s Really Neat
Swen Nater

It is surprising how many players do not know how to wear their equipment properly and how careless they will become about their appearance if the coach does not assume the proper responsibility in this regard.
1. The wrinkles must be smoothed out of their sock feet
2. The shoes must be laced snugly but not tightly
3. The shirt tails must be tucked in
4. The supporter must be kept smooth
5. The hair and fingernails must be kept short

The above is straight out of Coach Wooden’s book, Practical Modern Basketball. It was written in 1966. In the seventies, he added, “Sideburns no lower than the tops of the earlobes.” for obvious reasons.

When I attended UCLA, during practice, I remember numerous times when a coach would tell a player, “Tuck your shirt in.” They also checked our hair and fingernails. Our socks were to be pulled up not scrunched down. When we entered the practice court, they looked at our shoes to make sure they were laced properly. Prior to the first practice, Coach Wooden had all of our feet measured and we received shoes that were usually one-half size smaller than our street shoes. He didn’t want the foot to slide forward when we came to sudden stops. Regarding the athletic supporter, he just took our word for it that it was properly put on.

Coach was anal about these things, in part because of safety and maximizing performance. For example, hair that was too long would get in your eyes and shoes that were laced too tightly would eventually cause injury. But he also had another reason; he wanted us to be neat. He believed, if you are not neat in practice, you won’t be during games. 

But Coach went a step further. He believed neatness outside of practice and games carried over to the court. In other words, he believed we should be neat all the time. When on the road, we left the locker rooms clean. When travelling, we wore blue blazers, white shirts, and ties. And, we were always clean shaven. (Not a problem for me because I had no facial hair at the time.)

Every team, club, company, and classroom has a culture and that culture is always established and created by the leader. That leader develops the culture by example, by setting of rules, and, more importantly, making sure those rules are followed. UCLA Basketball’s culture was one of neatness. Coach Wooden set the example by always being well-dressed, clean, and groomed. He helped us clean locker rooms. As if we were his own children, he disciplined us to do the same. He set the rules and believe me; he followed through.

The perfect backdoor play for the score, the timely offensive rebound, the unexpected steal, the blocked shot that set up the fast break, the rapid passing that left the opponents dizzy as they watched the ball go through the net once again. Our play was near-perfect and, yes, neat. It all started with the socks, hair, fingernails, coat, white shirt, and tie. Neatness was just the way we did everything. Now, isn’t that neat?