Chris Sun

I have some New Year’s resolutions related to self-improvement and hobbies. From a geek standpoint, I thought I should become more knowledgeable about technologies that have become popular for the past few years. So this year, I want to work on the following:

Python. I’m already familiar with it, having written some projects and trying out Django. But recently I’ve learned the importance of “mastering” something. I need to know nitty, gritty details. I need to study the latest updates to the Python language. I need to hang out at Python meetups and have really geeky, esoteric discussions about the language. The remaining goals below aren’t for the sake of mastery, but a hands on introduction.

Hadoop. Set up a small cluster (at least 2 machines) that extracts keywords from documents and aggregates the results.

MongoDB. Write an application where fake students can sign up for fake classes, using Mongo for data storage of course.

Writing an iPhone app using Objective-C

Writing an iPhone app using a framework like Sencha or Appcelerator.

After watching the Broncos-Jets game last night, I decided to write a blog post about one of the most polarizing figures in sports, Tim Tebow.

I’ve become a fan of Tim Tebow, not because of what he does on the field, but because of his character. He believes in good values like honesty, humility, and caring for others. And regardless of what his critics say, he remains steadfast in his beliefs and actions.

Tebow’s teammates, his coaches, Bronco fans, and millions of NFL fans are now aware of Tebow. And regardless of his current and future play, many will remember his character. They’ll remember his loyalty to his faith. His willingness to help others. His strong character in the face of constant criticism. Tebow is setting an example for others. Most people will not care. But a few people (perhaps one hundred, perhaps one million) will change the way live because of Tebow. They’ll be inspired to live their lives differently than others. They’ll devote their lives to helping others. They’ll be friendly, polite, unselfish, humble, and honest. They’ll become the kinds of people that make this world better. And for that, I’m a fan of Tim Tebow.

Certainly, sports isn’t necessarily the place to find role models. Most people believe Tebow’s job is to help Denver win games, not to be a motivational speaker. If you’re over 30, you might remember Charles Barkley’s Nike commercial stating that athletes are not paid to be role models. However, whether they realize it or not, famous people influence the behavior of young people. If a child sees a fight after a hit-by-pitch in baseball, they’ll emulate it one day. If a child sees taunting in a football game, they’ll emulate it. If a child knows that all athletes cheat on their wives, the thought will enter their head. It’s pretty refreshing to see Tebow, someone who is uniquely open about his faith and character. There are lots of religious athletes, but most aren’t so outspoken about it. But Tebow has already gone “all-in” when letting others know what he’s about. After yesterday’s game, Tebow said “… we got to announce that I was building a hospital in the Philippines. This game means a lot but that hospital means more to me because that’s changing peoples’ lives. That’s giving people faith, hope and love, and that’s more important.”

Whether Tim Tebow should continue to be the starting quarterback of the Denver Broncos doesn’t matter to me. I don’t live in Denver and I’m not a fan of the Broncos. I could care less what the Broncos’ record is. But I’m glad that Tebow’s recent success has brought him attention and allowed others to be inspired and live a good, noble life.

I recently attended the Never Too Late Basketball Camp in Santa Barbara, California. It was a fun experience and I learned some new things that improved my game. Below is a long description of the experience.

After a five hour drive, I arrived in the beautiful city of Santa Barbara. Wow, what a gorgeous city. The ocean scenery, mountain background, palm trees, and 75 degree weather make this place a treasure. I highly recommend it as a weekend getaway for those who live in California.

My hotel was the Franciscan Inn, a small, affordable hotel, located about 3 blocks from the beach. This hotel was recommended by the camp organizers, who got a group rate. I shared a room with Gary, a nice guy from San Diego.

The other camp attendees varied in age. There were mainly people in their 20s and 30s. Probably 5 or 6 people were in their 40s or 50s. And there was one guy who looked like a grandpa. One girl attended. All of us had one thing in common, we loved basketball and wanted to get better.

Friday evening practice

All of our practices were at a gym in UC Santa Barbara. Unfortunately, this was a 20 minute drive from my hotel. I carpooled with two other guys everyday, but it would have been nicer if the gym was closer to the hotel.

Our first session, started with warmup exercises (e.g. skipping, high knees, butt kickers, carioca, broad jumps). I was surprised we didn’t do any stretches, only exercises. We then split into groups of six people and practiced drills for (1) layups (2) dribbling (3) the drop-step post move (4) passing (5) form shooting (6) shooting when coming off screens. During the form shooting drills, Coach Webster told me to hold my follow through. He said many people interpret the long follow through as taunting, but really it’s just a good thing to practice. If it’s good enough for Ray Allen and Michael Jordan, then it’s probably a good thing to simulate. Coach Webster also said something practical: just take away 1 or 2 things from this camp and work on those at home. Trying to practice every new thing you learn would probably spread a person too thin. And they wouldn’t be good at anything.

After the drills, we practiced a simple 5-on-5 half-court offense. There were no plays, but key principle was: pass and screen away. Whenever the point guard or wing player got the ball, they would try to pass it, then screen for someone else. The screen was always set on the opposite side where the pass was made. Another key point was spacing. The coaches stressed that players should be 12-15 feet away from each other. And no one should ever be in the key, unless they were cutting to the hoop.

The last thing we did was take 40 shots (10 each from 4 spots) to help the coaches gauge each player’s shooting ability. We shot from the two elbows and two corners. I’d say each shot was about 17 feet away. I made 24 of 40 shots. In the right corner, I was 3 for 10. Damn! Clearly, I need to improve in that spot.

Saturday morning practice

Saturday morning’s session began with the same stretches as Friday. Then we did the same 6 drills as Friday night (shooting, dribbling, passing, layups, post up, shooting off a screen).

After the drills, we practiced full court dribbling. The key point here was to alternate hands when dribbling. Left, right, left, right, etc, when dribbling full speed down the court. This is much more effective than dribbling with the same hand. We had a contest where two teams tried to do as many full court layups as possible in a certain amount of time. Unfortunately, my team lost, but I made all my layups.

We then practiced a half-court offense play named “screen down”. Imagine that four players are positioned at the corners of the rectangle in the key (not exactly the case, but similar). The two wing players, at the free throw line area, would come towards the basket and set screens for the players on the low blocks. The players on the blocks would then run out toward the wings, where one of them would receive a pass from the point guard. The goal of course is to have one player either be wide open for a shot or maybe a drive. After practicing this for a while, we scrimmaged against another team. We played a short game and both teams focused on the “screen down” or “pass and screen away” plays. It was kind of ugly in my opinion. Everyone was trying to get used to these fixed plays and usually the defense knew what was coming. But I recognize that the scrimmage help commit the plays to our memory.

After the scrimmage, we practiced a basic 5-man defense. The key takeaways were that as the ball moves from side to side or into the post, every defensive player needs to adjust or rotate. Coach Webster said every defensive player should be able to see the player with the ball and the man they are guarding in the periphery of their vision. Players defending the low block really have the most responsibility. They protect the key and need to provide weak side help when players from the opposite wing drive to the hole.

Lunch
After the morning practice, most of the attendees ate lunch at XYZ in the Santa Barbara harbor. We got a chance to know the coaches and other campers better. The Bulls/Pacers playoff game was on TV and that provided good side entertainment. The Pacers choked, by the way.

Saturday afternoon practice

During the afternoon practice, players got to choose among 4 areas to practice: (1) dribbling (2) shooting with video assistance (3) post moves and (4) 1-on-1 moves. None of the choices excited me, but I ended up choosing 1-on-1 moves. Coach Webster basically taught us to attack the defender’s lead foot.. Usually, a defender will have one foot forward when guarding you. You, the offensive player, should take a jab step toward the side of the defender’s lead foot (the foot which is more forward). If the defender does nothing, then drive to the side of the defender’s lead foot. Apparently, there is absolutely no way for them to catch up, once your first step is equal or past their lead foot. Rick Pitino, in his basketball camps, is able to blow by young players when demonstrating this concept. If the defender backs up when you jab step, they will probably change their lead foot. And when that happens, you should drive to the side of that lead foot. If a defender is “crowding you” and playing in your face, you should drop your head low, pivot into their body, and establish some space (separation). Then you can begin the jab steps. Sometimes, a jab step will lead to a lot of space that can set up a jump shot.

Can’t remember exactly when, but we did the same 40 shot exercise that happened on Friday. I tried a new shooting form that basically involved more lower body (legs) and an exaggerated follow through. This time I made 20 of 40 shots. It’s sucks that I did worse than Friday, but mainly it was because of the new form.

We then prepared for a scrimmage by practicing 3 more offensive plays. Play #1 was a basic pick and roll by the point guard and right wing player. The other players would basically clear out and just hang out on the left side. Play #2 was the UCLA back pick for the point guard. The point guard would pass to a player on the right wing. Then a player on the low block would come toward the free throw line and set a back pick for the person guarding the point guard. The point guard would then cut to the basket, receiving a pass from the wing player, and hopefully getting a wide open layup. Play #3 was a double screen for the player on the low left block. The players on the right side would simultaneously set screens, and the low left block player would run to the right side and receive a pass. Presumably that player would have an open jump shot or easy layup. We also learned an out of bounds play called “Box”. This was kind of cool and basically involved setting screens, then setting a screen for one of the screeners. Kind of hard to describe, but a neat play to see in action.

After practicing these plays, it was time to execute them in a scrimmage. Unfortunately, during the scrimmages it became clear my body was done for the day. I almost cramped in both legs and my left glute also felt tight. A trainer stretched my legs and I felt better, but I knew I couldn’t play. I was highly confident my right calf was about to blow. The good news is my teammates played well. In one of the scrimmages, they blew out the other team. Jump shots were being made at a high percentage and the other team struggled offensively.

Saturday evening

The reward for having completed a “two-a-day” was a long evening to explore downtown Santa Barbara. State Street seems to be THE place to hang out. There are tons of restaurants, shops, and a few clubs. We ate a Japanese restaurant and I loaded up on food. Everyone had burned thousands of calories during the day, so it was totally ok to pig out.

Sunday morning

The last practice was pretty loose and fun. After warm up exercises, there were 3 contests. The first was a big game of Knock Out. I ended up doing well and finished 3rd out of 36 people. Then we had a 3 point shooting contest, which I sucked at. I can make NBA 3 pointers, but really my sweet spot is about 18 feet. The last contest was to see who could make 6 full court layups in the fastest time. Only 6 people were picked to compete. I wanted to compete, but a selfish teammate ended up participating. I’m confident I would have done really well.

After the contests, we played another scrimmage. Since I sat out most of the Saturday afternoon scrimmages, I was eager to play and kick butt. Our team played awesome together. Everyone contributed and was shooting well. I decided to play within the flow of the offense, rather than force anything (which some of my teammates did). And in the flow I scored on a fast break layup and an open 3 pointer. My team was really happy afterward since we blew out the other team and everyone played well.

There was a final buzz scrimmage where teams rotated in and out on every change of possession. I played good defense and made some jump shots.

Sunday Lunch

The camp ended with a group lunch at a downtown restaurant. Every player was given an award. I was given the “Slinky award”, apparently because when I drive by people, I move really fast like a “slinky”. Whatever. Anyway, it was good to recognize how players had improved during camp. Coach Webster told a story about blocking Michael Jordan’s shot during an NBA preseason game. Coach Bzomowski was very appreciative about the positive attitude and teachability of all of the players.

The Staff

The leader of the camp is Steve Bzomowski. He was a former assistant coach at Harvard and also once a scout for the Minnesota Timberwolves. Steve taught all of the post moves skills and constantly reminded people to hustle. He was really disappointed if people didn’t hustle on a fast break. Fortunately, I always hustle, so I never let him down. Keith Webster was a player at Harvard during the time when Coach Bzomowski was there. Every player was assigned a coach, and Keith was mine. He did a great job of motivating and stressing defense. Fred Hodson, an assistant at Indiana Wesleyan focused a lot on shooting. He had a video camera and laptop ready to analyze player’s form. The three other coaches were players on the UCSB team. I’m curious to see if any of them has a successful career. I was surprised to learn that UCSB made the NCAA tournament. So there is a chance these guys could go far in the future.

Final Thoughts

Overall, I’m glad I went. I love basketball and I love learning with proper instruction. As a teenager, I became a good tennis player mainly because I took lessons for a few years. I wish I had the same education in basketball as well.

If you’ve gotten this far in the blog post and are considering attending a Never Too Late camp, I should say that these camps are aimed at people who didn’t play on their high school team. Most of what is taught are basics and fundamentals. If you’ve played high school or college ball, you’ll easily be the best player and might be disappointed by the competition. If you’ve never had proper basketball instruction or you don’t mind practicing the basics, Never Too Late is a great experience. I’m pretty sure I will return next year.

I’ve written about this before, but recently I’ve been thinking again about people who take action and people who just observe. As an entrepreneur, you become the driver, the quarterback, the actor, and “the show”. And many people are watching and giving feedback. Let me just say: It is much more rewarding to be a part of the show than part of the audience.

The picture below shows two Muppets named Statler and Waldorf. Whenever Kermit, Miss Piggy, or other muppets performed they would heckle and give cynical feedback. There are many people like Statler and Waldorf in real life. But, I’ve learned to tune these people out. I hope no one lives their life as an observer only. I hope all people perform in “the show”.

I think many entrepreneurs aim too high initially. The media glamorizes Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and other large successes. Furthermore, the venture capital industry wants entrepreneurs to go for billion dollar exits and promotes these kind of companies. But this causes many people to “go for the moon” when smaller successes are more practical and just as rewarding. There’s nothing wrong with “going for the moon”, but a small success can (1) build your confidence and (2) give you credibility in the eyes of investors and employees and (3) can lead to profits that help bootstrap your next venture.

Two of examples of this are: Mark Pincus and Gurbaksh Chahal.
According to Wikipedia, Pincus’ first company Freeloader Inc. was sold for $37 million dollars. I’m sure he gained confidence from this and later on he started 3 more companies, which are also successful. Now he’s well known for Zynga, his fourth company. I don’t think Pincus would have started Zynga without his prior successes. By being successful in the past he is now financially secure and able to take more risk with Zynga. He’s able to “go for the moon” because whether he fails or succeeds, he’s already set for life.

Gurbaksh Chahal started ClickAgents in 1998 and later sold it for $40 million. Chahal used some of his money from the exit to fund his next company Blue Lithium, which was sold to Yahoo for $300 million. That is some awesome compounding of his money.

One could argue that the first businesses of Pincus and Chahal were “big” successes. But both were less than $50 million and VCs usually don’t care about companies that could one day sell for $50 million. They raise billions in capital and are forced to find billion dollar exits.

So I highly recommend that entrepreneurs build a small success. You can make good money, learn a lot, gain confidence, and later on leverage your success toward building a bigger success.

The things below are obvious, but over the past 3 years they’ve been reinforced in my head so many times that I truly understand them now. Previously, I never had any context to understand them.

Importance of networking (the real value of business schools and alumni associations)

Networking is important because businesses need help from other businesses. This could be a partnership, a sales lead, or even a reference to another business. Networking is the real reason to attend business school. I’m sure the classes are useful, but the network provides the most value.

The “vibe” of the cities. When I was a student at New York University, people used to tell me about the “vibe” of the city. I kind of felt that “vibe” was subjective and was “in the eye of the beholder”. But now I realize certain areas have obvious vibes. The Bay Area has a technology and engineering vibe. Los Angeles is the place to go for entertainment (movies, TV, music). New York has lots of “vibes” like finance, fashion, and art. Washington D.C. clearly is a political hub. The reason I bring up “vibes” is because they tell you where to go in life. If you’re interested in a certain field, go to the center of that industry. If you want become an actor, there’s no point in living in the Bay Area. Just move to L.A..

I’m a huge sports fan and also an entrepreneur. And one pattern that I’ve noticed among successful athletes and entrepreneurs is that many of them start at a young age.

For sports, it makes a lot of sense. If you practice hitting a golf ball at a young age, like 2 years old for Tiger Woods, you’ll have mastered the skill by the time you’re 20. Andre Agassi, Venus and Serena Williams, and the Bryan brothers all played tennis at a young age and eventually reached the pinnacle of success. Jeremy Lin, recently signed by the Golden State Warriors, was encouraged by his father to play basketball at a young age.

From an entrepreneur standpoint, if you start a lemonade stand (or other simple business) at a young age, you can learn a lot. I recently read Tony Hsieh’s book “Delivering Happiness” and he had a few simple “ventures” even before he graduated from college. This included selling silk worms, a button making service, and a pizza parlor in college.

Starting at a young age does not guarantee anything. But it allows you to experience success and failures. And those learning experiences help you in future experiences. Learning the value of marketing at age 12 is better than learning at age 30.

It’s probably obvious that an early start helps in every field. But when you’re young you don’t realize the benefits of practicing something for a long time. If you aren’t passionate about golf, or playing piano, or a lemonade stand, you’ll probably give up at some point. There’s nothing wrong with that, but the people who are passionate and continue end up with a huge advantage later on in life. So anyone who finds out what they are passionate about at a young age has a good chance of success.