2018 Best Leader of the Year Finalist: Thomas Gardner
We are pleased to introduce you to one of our top finalists, Thomas Gardner. Congratulations, Thomas!
BAND’s Best Leader of the Year Award is an esteemed honor for leaders with an extraordinary ability to band people together around a shared vision.
We are pleased to introduce you to one of our top finalists, Thomas Gardner. Congratulations, Thomas!
Thomas Gardner coaches youth basketball with Portland Supreme, a competitive (AAU) basketball team for kids ages 5–14. Before he started coaching, Thomas played NBA basketball for the Chicago Bulls and on a number of international teams across the world.
During his final year of college, he began playing professionally in Belgium before being signed by the Chicago Bulls. He later joined the Atlanta Hawks and played in numerous international teams throughout his professional career. After receiving a serious injury, he decided to end his NBA career after six years and shift more focus onto his family.
One of his friends invited him to start coaching high school basketball in Modesto, California. He moved on to start an AAU program in Modesto before leaving to coach in Oregon. He says that coaching was always his true calling.
As a player, Thomas only had to be responsible for himself, but as a coach, Thomas had to learn to be responsible for an entire group. Some of the lessons that Thomas tries to share as a coach were lessons that Thomas learned from his coaches when he was a young man himself.
It’s important for Thomas to teach his players that their actions affect more than just them. It doesn’t matter if someone has an A or is the best player on the court if they aren’t holding themselves accountable for their actions. Thomas learned this lesson late in high school and wants to prevent his players from making the same mistake.
During his senior year of high school, Thomas would often skip his English class on game days. He was still getting an A in the class, and Thomas felt that there was no point in checking into class because he would have to leave after ten minutes anyway.
But when his coach learned that he was skipping class, he told Thomas that he wasn’t going to get his uniform and would be unable to play. Thomas responded that he never went to class on game days, and he remembers his coach asking him, “does that make it right?”
That day, Thomas had to walk into the gym without his uniform. His mom, who was sitting in the bleachers, asked him what was going on, and Thomas had to yell across the gym in front of everyone to tell her that he wasn’t going to play. He remembers being booed by everyone in the crowd. His team also lost the game that day.
He expects the kids on the team to be accountable for their own attendance. If they’re late, it’s their own responsibility — if their parents aren’t able to bring them, the kids need to arrange for another ride.
Thomas wants to teach his players that there are more opportunities in life outside of basketball and that it’s important to have good grades and be well-rounded to prepare for their futures. Even though he can come off as strict, Thomas tries to be transparent about what everyone’s responsibilities are.
After graduation, Thomas was sought after by a number of college recruiters but ultimately decided to attend the University of Missouri under Coach Quin Snyder.
When Thomas first started playing under Coach Snyder, he wasn’t too fond of him. His freshman year, Coach Snyder would never call Thomas by his name, and simply referred to him as “Number 3.” In the first fourteen or fifteen games, Thomas didn’t even play. But he kept persevering and proving himself in practice and eventually earned a spot on the starting roster.
His sophomore year, Thomas hit a slump and lost his starting spot. He was so disappointed he called up another school and was considering transferring to Washington. But Coach Snyder caught wind of this and confronted Thomas about it.
That summer, Thomas decided to stay in Missouri and build his relationship with his coach. He went over to Snyder’s house and got to know Snyder and his family on a personal level. That summer, Thomas gained a newfound respect for his coach and the next season, he rejoined the team and had one of the best years of his basketball career.
One of the most important parts of being a coach is understanding that each person on the team has different needs. Some respond better to strict coaching, while others need more leeway.
Understanding and helping them to develop on a personal level through strong communication is important in order to inspire their growth, not just in basketball, but in the rest of their lives.
Coach Thomas points out bad body language when someone misses a shot and their heads hang down or they throw a tantrum. He works with them to deconstruct the reason behind this and inspires them to have more confidence in themselves and in the rest of the team.
“I’ll never take you out for missing a shot, but I’ll take you out for how you react to missing a shot.” — Thomas Gardner
At the end of the day, Thomas encourages them to focus on their strengths and how they can work together with everyone. It’s important for them to accept their own mistakes, and play to their own strengths. All of the kids in the program are a part of the same family, and they’re all accountable for their own success.
We are very pleased to honor Coach Thomas Gardner as one of our top nine 2018 Best Leaders of the Year Finalists. His incredible ability to motivate his team is an inspiration to everyone here at BAND, and we hope that his story has inspired you!
Please be sure to check out all of the other amazing stories from our Finalists, and vote for who you think deserves to be named BAND’s 2018 Best Leader of the Year!
