Our Great Coach on this episode is James Wade.

James is a retired American basketball player and now Coach.

He played for 13 years as a professional in France, Spain, Czech Republic and Belgium. After retiring he stepped into coaching eventually working as an Assistant in Russia and in the WNBA with Minnesota and San Antonio.

He became head coach of the Chicago Sky in the WNBA in 2018, and went on to lead them to their first championship in 2021. He was also voted the 2019 WNBA coach of the year.

James is a coach with a strong sense of purpose; from humble beginnings his sense of curiosity has taken him all over the world and ignited his drive to learn, evolve and in his words, “be a role model for the black or minority kid that feels different.”

He is authentic in the way he communicates and connects with people, and this allows him to find the right balance between applying the necessary pressure to help people perform; while also being mindful of their overall wellbeing.

James and I spoke before Christmas 2021, he was back in France where he lives, and the time and space away from the season in the USA gave him time to reflect, and added to the depth of the discussion.

Some of this parts of our chat that stayed with me afterwards were

His twin focus on the values of accountability and communication, and he uses this to understand each player as a human.

The role that sacrifice has played in his life, and how he uses it priorities collective over individual happiness.

And the need to identify things that are important to winning, building standards around those things, and not settling when they are not met, but at the same time not fighting for every little detail.

This was a terrific conversation; fueled by a little Christmas spirit, and I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

And just before we go to the interview, If you're a first time listener, you can check out our library of interviews with other great coaches at our website; the greatcoachespodcast.com

If you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at paul@thegreatcoachespodcast.com or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com

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