The art of war

By Engr. Carlos V. Cornejo

This might be one of the most referenced books in business, sports, war, and personal growth. Written in the fifth century B.C. by Sun Tzu, it contains 13 chapters on military strategies, tactics, and skills for winning a war. It remains one of the most influential strategy texts today. Seven lessons can be derived from the 13 chapters, but I’ll mention only five that I was able to apply while coaching a basketball team.

Proper planning and preparation

Never go to war without planning. If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail, and there is no other outcome. This applies to taking an exam, applying for a job, or playing in a tournament. Most sports teams rely on their talent to win a game. The basketball team I coached won games because we added practice to our talent. Basketball drills and rehearsing plays not only helped our team prepare for situations that required a specific play but also increased the sense of teamwork among the players. It also increased my players’ confidence because they knew other teams did not practice.

The battle is won in the mind before entering the battlefield

If one or two of my players complained after seeing that our opponents were much taller and bigger than us, I would tell them they should not play anymore. Assuming that the other team is stronger means a player is already expecting to lose rather than overcome obstacles and foster a “can-do” attitude. It means you have already lost the battle before it has even started. I would tell my players that we were in a tournament and not on vacation or sightseeing. Challenges were expected, and how they tackled those challenges would build their character, both individually and as a team.

Act with precision and strategy

In a tournament, the noise and cheering of the crowd can distract players and destroy their focus. I would always tell my team during practice to expect the entire crowd to be against them so they would get used to the hostile atmosphere. Especially during more intense situations, when the game was on the line, I would remind them to focus on the game, not the crowd, and to welcome the pressure instead of being afraid of it. The pressure is there to bring out your best instead of your worst. This can also be applied when speaking to a large crowd, giving a report, or facing a job interview.

Variation of tactics

As they say in the NBA, playoff games are won when you know how to adjust. As a coach, you cannot always stick to your plays but must adjust to what your opponents are devising against you, and if you fail to counter their tactics, it could lead to defeat. As a coach, you need to be knowledgeable about the different situations that frequently arise during crucial moments of the game. It means you should have done your research or homework. I once read in a basketball book that if your opponents are bigger or have a deeper bench, and your team has a last-second shot, you may have a choice between tying the game with a 2-point shot and sending it into overtime or shooting a 3-pointer to win. The book advises choosing the 3-pointer because there is a strong probability that you will lose the game in overtime. We actually applied this tactic once and went mad celebrating as if we had won a championship.

Use spies

This does not mean planting a secret spy among the people on your opponent’s team but scouting the other team’s style of play. In one instance, when our team was playing in a championship game, I first scouted our opponent and found that its huge, tall center was quite dominant in rebounding and scoring. I reckoned that if we let this big fellow play his usual game, we would surely lose the championship. So, I assigned one player to play man-to-man defense against him while the rest played zone defense, and it worked to perfection because we forced him out of his comfort zone. As they say, keep your friends close but your enemies closer by knowing their strengths and weaknesses.