CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT FOR BASKETBALL

A Character Development Program for Junior High School Basketball

Matthew Topel

Michigan State University

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Abstract

This paper discusses the design and proposed implementation of a character building

program for jr. high boys on the seventh and eighth grade basketball team at St.

Matthew Lutheran school, a small religious school in a wealthy suburb of Detroit,

Michigan. The program uses ten to fifteen minute lessons of various formats to teach

specific skills and train athletes to exhibit positive behaviors such as hard work, respect,

and gratitude. Participants will also use a written reflection journal to expand on the in-

practice lessons and complete activities to make each lesson more applicable to their

lives on and off the court. Rationale for the program, and evaluation of its long term

success are also discussed.

Keywords: Character, Sports, Basketball, Journal

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Purpose

“Sports build character!” is one of the most commonly repeated phrases

surrounding sports in America, and is used by coaches, parents, and adults all around

the country to justify the countless hours spent on youth sports. However, sports do not

build character on their own; instead, character and life skills must be “taught not

caught” (Gould & Carson 2008) by young participants. In order to more effectively teach

these life skills to my own basketball players, I planned out lessons designed to

explicitly teach character-related behaviors through the context of a seventh and eighth

grade boys basketball season. These activities are focused by the program’s mission

statement: “St. Matthew basketball develops skilled athletes who practice the values of

hard work, respect, and gratitude on and off the court”. At the end of the season, I hope

to have players who are demonstrably more effective leaders, better teammates, and

respectful ambassadors of their school and the game of basketball.

Review of Applicable Literature

The success of this proposed character development program depends largely

on the application of best practices in current research-based literature on the

development of life skills in young people. First, we should establish that a basketball

team provides a good environment to learn behaviors associated with positive

character. Authors Hodge, Danish, & Martin (2013) provide a solid starting point for this

research since they establish three basic needs that must be met in order to develop life

skills; Autonomy (believing one has the freedom to make one’s own decisions, and

achieve one’s own goals), Competence (believing that one is effective in his or her

current environment), and Relatedness (believing that one belongs in the current group
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of people, that one cares for the group, and that they reciprocate) (p. 1133). I believe

that all three of these needs can be effectively met in the context of a sports program.

Participants in any sports program are asked to make real time autonomous decisions

during both practices and games. They are taught to develop competency with a new

set of skills, and trained to practice these skills on their own, and in the case of team

sports, athletes apply their new skills while working alongside a group of peers, where

they can satisfy the need for relationships. In addition to meeting the three needs listed

by Hodge, Danish, & Martin (2013), a well structured sports program can also provide

all eight of the features of positive youth development programs discussed in Larson,

Eccles, & Gootman (2004), which include safety, structure, supportive relationships,

belonging, positive social norms, support for efficacy, skill building, and integration with

outside influences. Finally, Gould & Larson (2008) make the appropriateness of sport as

a vector for youth development clear when they state "For each individual, sport is a

possible source for inner improvement." this simple statement clearly shows the

authors’ belief that sports can lead to positive development in people.

While the literature indicates that sports can lead to positive development of

character and life skills, the same literature also states that such development is not

guaranteed. Perhaps that caveat can be most simply summed up by a quote from Joe

Ehrmann’s book Inside Out Coaching (2011). “One of the great myths in America is that

sports build character. They can and should… but sports don’t build character unless a

coach possesses character and intentionally teaches it” (p. 12). For example, several of

the features mentioned in Larson, Eccles, & Gootman (2004) - notably positive social

norms and supportive relationships - require careful cultivation and intentional action on
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the part of a coach or program director. In fact, several articles point to intentional

planning and action as key aspects that are necessary for development to occur. Roth

(2004) identifies the use of targeted development activities as the main factor which

separated youth development programs from youth programs. While those papers focus

on targeted and intentional teaching, Turnidge, Cote, & Hancock (2014) go a step

further to differentiate between implicit and explicit transfer of skills. They argue that

while both implicit and explicit transfer are valuable, explicit transfer will ultimately

provide a more effective way to help students internalize the life skills that a coach or

program director want them to have. Lastly, Camiré, Forneris, Trudel & Bernard. (2011)

and Gould, Pierce, Cowburn, & Driska(2017) emphasize the importance of coaches

using a clear philosophy and a statement of goals to ensure that their mission remains

focused on positive youth development.

This brief review has only scratched the surface of research that connects sports

with positive youth development; yet several research-based suggestions can be

applied even within this small sample. First, the literature shows that grounding

character development lessons in team sport skills instruction can be effective if we

include the explicit transfer of life skills to areas outside of the sport itself. We also see

that for these targeted lessons to be effective, they have to be built around a team

atmosphere with positive values and social norms, and that each lesson should be

unified by a clear statement of goals and objectives. In summary, the research shows

that sports can build character given specific parameters to most effectively achieve that

growth.
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Context

No matter how much we review and understand the research surrounding

positive youth development through sports, a new program will not be effective unless

we can also understand the context surrounding its implementation. For this particular

program, I will teach lessons about character and life skills development during

basketball practice for the varsity basketball team at St. Matthew Lutheran School in

Walled Lake Michigan. I should note that while I hope this program expands and is

adopted by many coaches and departments in the future, I am writing these lessons

primarily for my own use as a junior high coach, and, as such, the lessons and structure

are tightly connected to the season length, strengths, and challenges that are present in

the specific environment of St. Matthew basketball. St. Matthew Lutheran School is a

small parochial school with approximately 200 students enrolled in Kindergarten through

eighth grade. The school is located in a wealthy suburban neighborhood in one of the

most affluent counties in the entire nation. Nearly all students at St. Matthew are

Caucasian (only seven non-white students are currently enrolled in the school), and the

vast majority are from middle class families, with few qualifying for free or reduced

school lunch. St. Matthew families pay just under $5,000 a year for each student to

attend. The parents of these students are often personally, as well as financially

invested in their student’s success, and quite willing to volunteer for after school

programs, or work with the students at hope to improve both sport and academic skills.

Roughly eighty five percent of St. Matthew students are also brought up in traditional

“nuclear families” where they are raised by both biological parents in the same home. In

other words, the students and players who will be a part of this character development
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program have a large number of the developmental assets mentioned by Benson,

Leffert, Scales & Blyth. (2013), and thus have a great advantage in the quest to become

productive members of society.

The St. Matthew seventh and eighth grade varsity basketball team typically

consists of eight to twelve boys who range in age from twelve to fourteen years old, and

follow the same homogenous racial and economic patterns as the rest of the school,

that is to say the basketball team is also mostly white, middle class students in a stable

home situation. Basketball practices and games occur after school from 3:30 to 5:00

Monday through Thursday throughout the season, which usually lasts from the

beginning of November to the end of January, and includes a two week break for the

Christmas holiday. During the season, players prepare for and compete in ten

conference games, and two weekend tournaments, including the league championship

tournament. During the past few years, the basketball team has performed well. They

have had seven consecutive winning seasons, and two straight second place finishes in

the league tournament. Despite this success, basketball players do not seem to garner

any additional social standing with their peers, and it is quite rare for even the most

successful athletes to allow their performance to get in the way of academic or social

responsibilities. This ability to stay grounded appears on the court as well, where St.

Matthew athletes from all sports were awarded the Martin O. Roedel Christian

Sportsmanship Award for their consistent display of sportsmanship throughout all sports

seasons.

As we noted in this summary, the future participants in this character

development program have been blessed with many economic and social advantages,
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and have also proven the ability to demonstrate some aspects of character and

sportsmanship on and off the field. Therefore, the focus of this program is not to teach

character to forgotten or delinquent youth, or even to serve as a safe place that

provides rare role models. Instead, the character development program for St. Matthew

basketball is meant to enhance the development of character in these young people

and provide suggestions for how they can use the many advantages they have to help

others.

Program Structure

This character development program is designed as a series of fifteen lessons

that are to be integrated into the seventh and eighth grade varsity basketball practice

times. These lessons will be taught by me personally as the head coach of the program,

and assisted by other coaches and occasional volunteer speakers. The lessons have

various formats, which include direct instruction, role playing exercises, and activities

that give players an opportunity to apply new character and life skills training.

Participants will also be given a personal journal with questions and small “homework”

assignments to be completed outside of practice times. These journals represent the

only added cost of the character development program, and can be printed for about

$25 per team per year. I expect these lessons to take ten to fifteen minutes during each

practice session, and will position lessons at any point during the practice routine,

though I expect that these lessons will work best while players are recovering from

conditioning drills since they are less likely to distract others by talking or “goofing off”.

The lessons themselves are built around three themes: hard work, respect, and

gratitude. These themes directly reflect the program’s mission statement - “St. Matthew
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basketball develops skilled athletes who practice the values of hard work, respect, and

gratitude throughout their lives on and off the court” - and provide a simple way to

summarize key points of the character development lessons so that players can be

reminded of them during pre-game talks or short timeouts. A general outline of

instruction can be found in Figure 1, but additional details are provided in the sections

below.

Reflection Journal

Each player in the program will receive an individual reflection journal to record

their thoughts about the lessons, and complete various surveys or activities. These

journals have three purposes; first, they enhance the lessons by providing a starting

point for several discussions or by providing additional time for students to apply the

lessons to their individual lives. Second, journals provide an opportunity for quiet

reflection, a practice that was encouraged by some of our readings (notably Ehrmann

(2011)), and is largely lacking in today’s culture in which students can fill every moment

of their time without deep examination of themselves. Finally, reflection journals provide

a valuable means of assessing student growth. The contents of the journals will not be

shared with anyone outside the coaching staff, but I plan to examine the athletes’

journal entries periodically to assess whether the lessons are understood and

internalized. In short, I believe that the use of a reflection journal is essential to the

success of this program, and that teaching the lessons alone, while beneficial, will not

have the same effect.

Unit 1: Hard Work

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The character development program begins with a series of lessons on the value

of hard work in basketball and in life. At the end of the first practice, players will be given

individual reflection journals, and told that these are private journals that will not be

graded, but instead will help them get the most out of our practice and game time

together. After distribution I will instruct players to complete Activity 1 before practice the

next day. This first activity (Figure 2) asks players to identify the situations that they can

and cannot control about their basketball experience. Sometime during the next practice

I will discuss the list, and identify three factors - preparation, effort, and attitude - that all

athletes can control. I will also explain that these factors can be controlled in any

situation in life, and that I expect to see athletes who put forward maximum effort and

have a great attitude as we prepare for the season ahead. The list and discussion for

Activity 1 are loosely based on the work of Walker & Walker (2013).

After establishing situations athletes can control, the next few lessons will use

three stories to help students apply the idea of controlling their effort in a basketball

context. First, I will share the story of Michael Jordan being cut from his high school

team, the effort that he gave to get on the team the next year, and how he became a

great player. After hearing that story, students will use their journal write a brief

reflection about the meaning of the quote “Hustle beats talent when talent doesn’t

hustle.” (See the format for all reflection journal questions in Figure 3, Figures for other

reflection questions have been omitted to keep this proposal within the appropriate

length parameters). In order to make the lessons about hard work and hustle more

personally relatable, I will bring back a successful high school player who graduated

from St. Matthew as their first guest speaker. This player’s brief talk will focus on the
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effort that he put in to improve his game, and the amount of hard work that it takes to

succeed at the high school level. The presence of this alumnus at practice will also

serve as a more relatable role model for the students on the team. Once again, students

will be given a reflection question that asks them to apply the graduate's story to their

own life on or off the basketball court. As a final story, I will share some of the statistics

and stories about Pete Maravich and the legendary dedication to practice that allowed

him to become such a skilled player. Once again, the focus is not on the talent Maravich

was born with, but the amount of time that he put into developing his skills, and the

importance of practicing outside of team practice time. After this story, students will

have one more reflection - this time asking them to assess their own work ethic outside

of practice.

As the unit of explicit instruction about hard work comes to a close, the players

will have become familiar with the practice routine, and the use of their journal for

additional reflections. More importantly, players should show evidence of internalizing

the lessons on hard work. In order to assess their internalization of hustle and hard

work, I will implement a series of drills designed to push endurance and reward hustle.

During these drills I will praise those players who show improved effort regardless of the

end result, and use elements of the stories and “what you can control” questions to

remind struggling athletes of the lessons that they have heard during the past weeks.

The use of hustle drills, and effort-based praise, will continue throughout the season

even as we move on to other focuses of explicit instruction.

Unit 2: Respect
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After receiving instruction about the importance of hard work during the earliest

part of the season, players will be preparing for the first games, and with those games

comes a whole new set of challenges. In this unit players will be taught practices of

good sportsmanship and teamwork. The lessons begin by examining how they can be

respectful and empowering teammates, and then move on to discuss sportsmanship

with regard to officials, fans, and coaches. Sometime during a practice session, I will

call players over to discuss how they can be good teammates during practice times.

After hearing some student responses, I can chime in with additional thoughts such as

“We should use positive encouraging language when talking to each other”, “We should

provide help or advice to a teammate only if they ask for it”, and “We should never try to

make a teammate look bad or intentionally hurt their feeling by our actions in practice”.

The theme of respecting teammates is continued in the next lesson where respecting

teammates during a game is examined. For this respect lesson I will have part of the

team run a drill while another part cheers them on. The cheering group will practice

positive and negative cheers as directed by me, and after a while players will tell the

cheering teammates how they felt about each type of cheering. After the lessons on

respecting teammates the athletes will complete an activity in their reflection journal. For

Respect Activity #1, players will write about a time that they saw someone (or

themselves) disrespected in practice, and how it could have been handled better; while

in Respect Activity #2, they will fill out a checklist of appropriate and inappropriate ways

to cheer for your teammates (Figure 4). I will also continue to monitor and evaluate

player’s respect of teammates during practices to see if further discussions are needed.
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After discussing how to show respect to teammates in practice and games, the

lessons shift focus to how players can respect officials and spectators while on the

court. To demonstrate respect for officials, I will meet with the two team captains outside

of practice to discuss several ways that players could show disrespect to an official.

These include disrespectful body language, slamming or throwing the ball, and angrily

questioning a call. The captains will intentionally display all of these behaviors during a

scrimmage situation the next day, so that I can call these out as negative examples to

begin a discussion of how players can positively interact with a referee, including

specific behaviors such as handing the ball to the referee and respectful ways to ask

questions of an official. Players will then practice these skills by writing a reflection

question in their journal where they pretend to ask a question of an official. We will also

discuss respecting the fans by not responding to their comments, and giving their best

effort on the court. To close out the unit on respect, players will discuss, and then

practice, asking questions of me, their coach. The discussion will include appropriate

times to ask a question (during practice, before the game, and while on the bench), how

to ask a question, and questions that should not be asked (“When can I go in?”, “Can I

play point guard?”, and “Can we switch offenses?”). Players will once again include a

short reflection entry in their journal. This time the reflection will ask why some

questions are not appropriate to ask a coach during the game. The overall goal of the

discussion and journal entry is not only to discuss respecting the coach, but also to

establish that it is the coach’s job to handle decisions about playing time and strategy:

the player’s job is to be prepared, work hard, and approach every situation with a
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positive attitude. In this way I can close the second unit by reconnecting with the

continuing themes of Unit 1.

Unit 3: Gratitude

Players at this point of the program should have learned all character

development skills that they need to practice effectively and play a basketball game with

effort and good sportsmanship. The focus of this program now shifts from basketball-

specific life skills to off-the-court character. As mentioned earlier, the players of this

program often come from families that are very financially successful. With this financial

ability and success often comes the unpleasant tenancy to look down on people who

have less. Each of the lessons in this unit is meant to remind players of the advantages

they enjoy and their duty to give back to the community and those less fortunate.

As an introduction to Unit 3, players will be asked to complete a checklist

adapted from Benson et al. (1998) (Figure 5). After completing this checklist, I will use

these answers as talking points to remind players of the many blessings that they have.

I will further expand on this point by staging an unfair version of some drill (e.g.

“lightning” with people starting from different locations, or an endurance drill where

some people have to work for longer than others). This unfair drill can be used to launch

a discussion on the concept of “privilege” to share with players that even though some

people try their best to get ahead in life, they may have so many disadvantages to

overcome that they don’t succeed. After this illustration, players will be asked to write a

reflection in their journal about the meaning of privilege, and how they can use their

advantages to help others.

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The last three lessons of Unit 3 are focused on the idea of giving back. First, I will

take some time during the practice to discuss the players’ previous journal reflection,

and move players to the idea that as people with privileges, we should use our

advantages to give back to the less fortunate. The team will then brainstorm specific

ways that they can give back by listing them in their reflection journal. During the next

practice, we will meet and discuss the ideas that they had, and then vote on a way that

they, as a whole team, can best serve others. If needed, I will provide recommendations

for local organizations such as soup kitchens, donation centers, or elder care centers.

After choosing their method of service, I will make arrangements with parents and any

necessary organizations to allow the players to serve together. After the service project

is complete, players will write about their experiences in their reflection journal. To close

out this unit, I will invite another guest speaker to discuss the more “invisible” needs in

the community. This could include a food collection worker who can discuss the

problem of childhood hunger, a local pastor or social worker who can share some

stories about people in need in the community, or even a former player whose family

struggled with financial or other burdens. After this personal story, the team will once

again write out their reflections on the real life applications of gratitude.

The goal of Unit 3 is to get the members of this well-off team to realize the

advantages that they have, and learn how to leverage these advantages to help others

who are less fortunate. As the program draws to a close, however, I will remind students

that the character skills that they learned (hard work, respect, and gratitude) have

applications far beyond the basketball court, and I will continue to find specific ways to
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illustrate how each skill can be transferred to settings in school, relationships, and future

careers.

Evaluation of Effectiveness

As mentioned earlier, one means of assessing athlete retention of these

character building lessons is through each player's reflection journal. The short form

checklists, such as those seen in Figure 4, are a quick way to see if the player can

correctly identify the sportsmanship application of our lessons on respect. Meanwhile,

the long form reflection questions provide a deeper insight into the athlete’s

internalization of these explicit lessons. These journals, however, should not be the only

form of evaluation for a character development program since they do not provide

opportunities for follow up questions, or allow for changes in participant perspectives

over time. For these reasons, I plan to use an interview procedure adapted from

Martinek (2003) in order to provide some additional perspective. Martinek suggests

interviewing participants in groups so that they feel more supported and are comfortable

giving negative feedback about the program, so I will conduct the interview with two

groups of boys according to grade (seventh and eighth grade separately), and perform

the interview at least one month after the season concludes. We will begin with

Evaluation Activity #1 (Figure 6), a card sort task where the participant groups are

asked to rank the importance of various aspects of the basketball season according to

their own perspectives (winning, learning fundamental skills, learning strategies, scoring

points, making friends, hard work, respect, and gratitude). This question will allow me to

see if the content of the lessons was retained, and to evaluate my own effectiveness at

promoting the program’s values to its participants. After the card sort has been
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completed and discussed, we will begin the interview questions (Figure 7). These

questions will focus on transfer: that is the ability of each athlete to take the skills

learned and apply them in their lives outside of sports, and allow me to see if the

learned behaviors have been internalized.

While both the journal and interview questions can provide valuable insight, I

know adolescent behavior allows for an athlete to say one thing, and do something

completely different on or off the court. Because of this potential disconnect between a

young person’s behavior and the “right answer”, I believe that the best evaluation of

internalized character skills comes from actual observations of each student-athlete’s

behavior. Some of the specific skills taught in these lessons can be easily evaluated

through observation. (For example, watching how a player interacts with referees,

coaches, and fans can tell me as the coach if he has internalized the lessons on respect

and sportsmanship); however, the overarching goals of the basketball program are to

develop “skilled athletes who practice the values of hard work, respect, and gratitude

throughout their lives on and off the court”. To evaluate this deep and lifelong character

acquisition, we need to turn to some other methods.

A 2004 article from Izzo, Connell, Gambone & Bradshaw provides a way to begin

evaluating lifelong traits without waiting a lifetime for behavioral observations. In this

article, the authors promote a theory of change (TOC) approach, which seeks to

“understand what happens to participants during and after the program that leads to its

ultimate success” (p. 308). The TOC approach is supported by a logic model that works

backward to determine the skills I hope to have displayed at each level of development.

The logic model for this character building program can be found in Figure 8, and shows
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the character specific goals I am looking for at every level in this lifelong continuum.

Since each level builds on the previous one, I can conclude that athletes who display

the character goals in the junior high level have a higher likelihood of continuing

character development into adulthood. Ultimately, this means that I can evaluate the

effectiveness of the program’s lifelong goals by observing the specific behaviors that

display respect, gratitude, and hard work in the junior high participants in the program.

Closing Remarks

Many people may look at this character building program and dismiss it as small

or short sighted. They may see the fact that, at least for now, the program will only be

used by one team, affect only a dozen people a year, and say “why bother?”. But this

isn’t about numbers, or changing the way that the world looks at sports. Character

building is about changing the way these few young people see themselves, and how

they see others. Providing them with skills and training will help them long after their

basketball careers are over, and, with any luck, give them the push that they need to

help others for years to come.

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Figure 1

Instructional Sequence for Character Development Lessons

Unit 1: Hard Work

 Make the most of what I have

o Activity: What I can control vs what I can’t
o Discussion: How do I make the most of what I can control

 Everybody needs to work at success

o Story: Michael Jordan gets cut and quote “Hustle beats talent when talent
doesn’t hustle”
o Journal: Reflect on Jordan’s challenges and applications of the quote

 Hard work will help me too

o Guest: Past player comes in to talk about successes and work ethic
o Journal: What are my goals for this season, and how can I achieve them

 We have to practice working hard

o Assess: How well do players hustle in hard drills at practice
o Journal: Self assess hustle in practice today

 Hard work happens outside practice too

o Story: Pete Maravich dedication
o Journal: Self assess work outside of practice

Unit 2: Respect

 Respecting teammates in practices

o Discussion: How to be a good teammate in practice
o Journal: Remember one time where you or someone else disrespected a
teammate

 Being a respectful teammate while on the bench

o Discussion: How to encourage teammates
o Drill: Practice encouraging comments during 3 on 3 drill
o Activity: List do’s and don’ts of cheering from the bench

 Respecting officials
o Negative Example: Student outburst during scrimmage
o Discussion: How to interact with officials
o Journal: Ask questions of an official

 Respecting the spectators

o Discussion: Why we don’t talk to fans
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 Respecting the coach

o Role Playing: Positive and negative examples of communication
o Journal: Why some questions are not asked

Unit 3: Gratitude
 What advantages do I have?
o Activity: Checklist of blessings

 How do my advantages affect my life?

o Drill: Use an unfair drill to illustrate privilege
o Journal: How did it feel to be part of this unfair drill, and what is the
meaning of privilege?

 What should I do with my advantages?

o Discussion: Why we should give back
o Journal: List some ways our team can help others

 Serving others
o Service Project: Find and participate in a service event to help those in
need
o Journal: Reflect on service project

 I can serve all the time

o Guest: Past player or community member comes in to discuss their
struggle and how others can help
o Journal: How can I help those in need right in our community?
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Figure 2

Hard Work Activity #1 What can I Control?

Please check the boxes for any part of a basketball game or practice that YOU can
control.

 My height and size

 My jumping ability

 The effort that I put into practice

 The amount of times my teammates pass to me

 The amount that I pass to my teammates

 The calls that the referee makes

 My attitude about the referee’s calls

 The size of the other team

 The skill of my opponent

 The amount of effort that I put into the game

 The speed of the person I am supposed to guard

 How much I hustle while playing defense

 If my shots go in

 How much I practice shooting

 When I get to go in during a game

 How well I understand my position when I go in the game

 My preparation

 My effort

 My attitude
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Figure 3

Hard Work Activity #2: Reflection

In practice today you heard a story about how one of the greatest basketball players

ever was cut from his high school team. You also heard Coach Topel say, “Hustle beats

talent when talent doesn’t hustle” restate this quote in your own words. How can this

message motivate you throughout this season?

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Figure 4

Respect Activity #2: How to Cheer

Check the box below for each phrase which represents a good way to cheer on your

teammates.

 “Great hustle, Pete!”

 Facepalm after a bad turnover

 Jump up to celebrate a big play

 Run on the court to give your teammate a high five

 Cheer loudly when your teammate blocks an opponent’s shot

 Cheer loudly when your opponent shoots an air ball

 Yell mean things to an opponent who blocked your teammate’s shot

 Yell at the referee for making a call you disagree with

 Cheer when your teammate makes a freethrow

 Cheer when your opponent misses a freethrow

 Cheer while your opponent is shooting a freethrow

 Yell instructions to your teammate while they are playing

 Cheer for your team

 Cheer against the other team

 Be encouraging
CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT FOR BASKETBALL
24

Figure 5

Gratitude Activity #1: Count Your Blessings

Read the following statements which are adapted from an article by Benson et al.

(1998). Check the box if you agree with each statement, and record the total number of

boxes checked in the blank at the bottom. We will discuss your responses during the

next practice.

 My family loves and supports me

 I am willing to ask my parents for help when I have a difficult situation

 I receive support and encouragement from 3 or more adults (not including

parents)

 I live in a safe and caring neighborhood

 My school (classmates and teachers) cares about me

 My parents help me with school and support my education

 The people in my community care about young people like me

 I give back to the community through serving at least 1hr a week

 My parents set rules in my house and care if I break them

 My school provides clear rules and consequences if I break them

 My parents and other adults model positive, responsible behavior

 My best friends model positive, responsible behavior

 My parents and teachers encourage me to do well

 I spend three or more hours a week practicing or performing some type of art

(music, theatre, painting, etc.)

 I spend three or more hours a week participating in sports or clubs

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT FOR BASKETBALL
25

 I send 1hr a week or more with religious activities (church, youth group, classes)

 I spend time with my family when not in organized activities

 I want to do well in school

 I am actively engaged in learning at school

 I have 1hr or more of homework most nights

 I want to help other people

 I want to do something to fight poverty and hunger

 I stand up for my beliefs

 I tell the truth even when it is not easy

 I take responsibility for my actions

 I know how to plan ahead and make choices

 I can resist negative peer pressure

 I have control over most of the things that happen to me

 I try to solve conflict without violence

 My life has a purpose

_______/30 (Total boxes checked)

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT FOR BASKETBALL
26

Figure 6

Evaluation Activity #1: Card Sorting

Instructions: Cut out the following cards and have participant groups arrange them in
order from most to least important.

Winning Learning
Fundamental
Skills

Learning Scoring
Strategies Points

Working Being
Hard Respectful

Showing Making
Gratitude Friends
CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT FOR BASKETBALL
27

Figure 7

Evaluation Activity #2: Interview Questions

Instructions: The following interview questions should be asked to groups of basketball
players. Note their responses or follow up questions in the space below, or on a
separate piece of paper

1) Do you think that the character building lessons in practice were helpful for our team
this season?

2) Have you been able to apply these lessons to any area outside of basketball since
participating in the character building program? Can you give any specific examples?

3) What lesson(s), if any, did you find most helpful for life outside of basketball?

4) Are there any topics you wanted to discuss that we did not look at in our character
building program?
CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT FOR BASKETBALL
28

Figure 8

Logic Model for Character Development Program at St. Matthew Lutheran School

Developmental Character Goals

Level
Adult (22+)  Display Hard Work by doing their best and continuing to improve
in their chosen profession.
 Display Respect by treating their spouse, children, bosses, co-
workers, and all people as human beings with dignity and
teaching others to do the same.
 Display Gratitude by consistently and intentionally giving back to
the community through charity, activism, and volunteer work, and
teaching others to do the same.

College Age (19 -  Display Hard Work by putting their best effort into classes, career
22) opportunities, or extra-curricular clubs, and continuing to improve
as a worker or learner.
 Display Respect by treating fellow workers, students, professors,
and all people as human beings with dignity, and encouraging
their peers to do the same.
 Display Gratitude by making the most of the college or career
opportunities available to them, and serving the community
through volunteer efforts and activism.

High School Age  Display Hard Work by putting their best effort into classes and
(15 - 18) extracurricular activities, and continuing to improve as a student.
 Display Respect by treating all classmates, teammates, and peers
as human beings deserving of respect.
 Display Respect by recognizing the authority of, and listening to,
parents, teachers, coaches and others in authority, even if they
disagree.
 Display Gratitude by making the most of the advantages that they
have received, and actively seeking out occasional ways to give
back to the community.

Jr. High (11 - 14)  Display Hard Work by putting their best effort into classes and
extracurricular activities, and continuing to improve as a student.
 Display Respect by treating all classmates, teammates, and peers
as human beings deserving of respect
 Display Respect by recognizing the authority of, and listening to
parents, teachers, coaches, and others in authority, even if they
disagree.
 Display Gratitude by recognizing the advantages that they receive
and making the most of them, and by participating in service
projects organized by others.
CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT FOR BASKETBALL
29

References

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Camire, M., Forneris, T., Trudel, P., & Bernard, D. (2011). Strategies for helping

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Ehrmann, J., Ehrmann, P., & Jordan, G. (2011). InSideOut coaching: how sports can

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Izzo, C.V., Connell, J.P., Gambone, M.A. & Bradshaw, C. P. (2004). Understanding and

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Larson, R., Eccles, J., Gootman, J. (2004). Features of positive developmental settings.

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