Rob Miller: Basketball coach, public speaker, discipline enthusiast, blunt and to the point. All of these things can be be used to describe the five hour long, discipline-based speech for teams looking to succeed in any sport. He starts off by telling you he has absolutely no intention of sugar-coating the truth. As my tumbling coach would say, “He doesn’t blow smoke up anyone's ass”. This was surprisingly refreshing. Discipline is a long known component to any successful team, and while everyone says you need it, almost no one knows how to actually get there. Rob Miller delivers the no bullshit key to success; all you have to do is follow the rules.

The most memorable thing about Rob Miller is his stage presence. A quick Google search tells you that the average human attention span is approximately eight seconds long, while the average goldfish has an attention span of nine seconds. Yikes. Another quick google search shows that a little relatable humor can go a long way in increasing the attention of an audience. Not only was Rob funny, but he related to his audience. At one point he joked about the lack of an off season in cheerleading, and we all laughed because it was 8am on a Sunday after a nine hour competition and most of us can’t remember the last time we had free time. Like I said, relatable.
Another cool thing about Miller’s speech was it’s transferability into all sports. With an audience of cheerleaders he, of course, related it to cheer, but Rob himself is a basketball coach, and some of the examples he used and stories he told were about renowned football teams and small time baseball leagues. In other words, he targets a large group of people: those who love both sports and success.

The last and possibly best part of Rob’s workshop, if you will, were the breakout sessions. After he talked for a while, he would give you time to talk with your team about how to apply the knowledge he gave you to your everyday practices. Every team is unique, and you have to come up with your own code, as he put it. Every 20 minutes or so he gave time to discuss our own code of conduct and the consequences for not holding ourselves to that standard. It really puts us at a certain level of understanding with our teammates.

Overall, Rob Miller gave a useful speech and workshop on how to become a better, more successful team. Five hours is a little lengthy, but I still didn’t consider it a waste of time. If you’re a coach in need of a little team motivation you can get in contact with Rob Miller in Linkedin. You can also watch a shorter version of his speech on Youtube.