Wooden: A Lifetime of Observations and Reflections On and Off the Court

The Worst Punishment of All

The worst punishment I could give a team was to deny participation in what was very hard work. I wanted my players to understand that practicing together on our UCLA basketball team was indeed a privilege, a privilege that could be taken away from them.

If they weren’t working hard in practice I would say, “Well, fellows, let’s call it off for today. We’re just not with it.”

The vast majority of the time the players would immediately say, “Coach, give us another chance. We’ll get going.” Usually that was all it would take, the threat of taking away their privilege of practicing. Keep in mind that our practices were physically and mentally grueling.

On rare occasions when that didn’t work, when the players continued ...