Lead the Brickie way
This is for our leaders — captains and accountability leaders. Know the standard, grow through The Path, and hold your brothers accountable. We develop a culture that shapes leaders. Nothing here is saved off your device.
The Brickie Standard
Zero Hour — the five -sets
How we carry ourselves, on the field and off. Leaders live these first.
- Change Your Best — your best isn't good enough; yesterday means nothing.
- Mindset — maximize effort & potential; don't let circumstances dictate behavior.
- Spiritset — freedom from distraction; manage focus, not time.
- Healthset — sweat more in training, bleed less in war; win it before the battle.
- Heartset — stack days; hard work + purpose, pride, passion. The inside measure of a man.
Fourth quarter = four fingers up. Be at our best when the game's on the line.
What it means to lead here
You were chosen by your teammates and coaches. That's a responsibility, not a badge. Lead by standard, not by mood.
The leader's job
- Set the standard — first in, last out, loudest in encouragement
- Hold your brothers accountable to TEAM RULES, grades, and the weight room
- Own the pride point system for your team — track it and push your guys (new system coming)
- Run point on accountability when a teammate slips
- Be a DOER, not a complainer — carry the mindset + spiritset
- Govern the sideline — kill negativity out loud and keep the team neutral in adversity (the verbal governor). Your words set the team's mind.
- Represent the program in the school, community, and online
How leaders are chosen
- Team Leaders: the team votes ten players to lead. Leaders draft their teams and own them.
- Accountability Leaders: coaches select a small group in each class to lead the accountability group.
- Term: leadership runs from after Thanksgiving through the following season's end. If a leader steps away mid-year, that team nominates a replacement.
Built on the best to ever lead
Our leadership curriculum, organized under Zero Hour's PATH — Purpose · Attitude · Trust · Honor. Each session takes one idea from an elite leader or performance mind and turns it into a rep you run. Work a pillar at a time; tap a session to open it. Grow the mindset and spiritset of a leader.
P · PURPOSE — play for something bigger
1 · Start With Why — Simon Sinek
People don't follow what you do, they follow why you do it. Leaders start with why. Brickie: know why you play and why you lead — and be able to say it in a sentence. Rep: write your "why" and share it with your unit this week.
2 · Leave the Jersey Better — James Kerr, Legacy (All Blacks)
You're a link in a chain — players before you built this, players after inherit what you leave. "Leave the jersey in a better place." Brickie: you carry the Legacy and Coach Don Howell's standard. Rep: name one way you'll leave the program better than you found it.
3 · The Process — Nick Saban
Don't stare at the scoreboard or the whole season — win the next rep, the next day. "Be where your feet are." Purpose shows up in what you do today. Rep: set 3 daily non-negotiables and hit all three every day this week.
A · ATTITUDE — own your response
4 · E + R = O — Above the Line — Tim & Brian Kight, Focus 3
Event + Response = Outcome. You don't control the event; you control your response. Stay above the line — press pause, get your mind right. Below the line = BCD: Blame, Complain, Defend. Brickie: this is our "Above the Line." Rep: catch yourself dropping below the line once this week and reset on the spot.
5 · Neutral Thinking + Control the Controllables — Trevor Moawad / Ken Ravizza
Don't chase positive — get neutral: judge nothing, play the next play. What you say out loud matters — negativity out loud tanks performance. Control only what you can: effort, attitude, prep. Rep: kill one negative sentence out loud and replace it with the next behavior.
6 · Growth Mindset + Grit — Carol Dweck / Angela Duckworth
Add the word "yet." Talent is a starting line; effort + perseverance over time wins. Grit = passion + perseverance toward a long goal. Rep: reframe a weakness with "…yet" and attack it daily.
T · TRUST — own everything, serve first
7 · Extreme Ownership — Jocko Willink
The leader owns everything — no excuses, no blame. When it goes wrong, it's on you; fix it. Brickie: be a DOER, not a complainer. Rep: own a mistake in front of your guys and say exactly how you'll fix it.
8 · The Laws of Combat — Jocko Willink
Cover & Move (team over self) · Keep it Simple · Prioritize & Execute (handle the biggest thing first) · Decentralized Command (empower others to lead). Rep: simplify one thing and hand a teammate a real responsibility.
9 · Leaders Eat Last — Simon Sinek
Trust is built when the leader serves first and puts the team above himself. Trust = character + competence + connection. Rep: do something for a teammate with nothing in it for you.
H · HONOR — humility + the standard
10 · Sweep the Sheds — James Kerr, Legacy
The most successful team in history cleans its own locker room — nobody's too big to do the small things. No one is bigger than the team. Nobody looks after the Brickies but the Brickies. Rep: do an unseen, unglamorous job for the team.
11 · The Standard, Not the Scoreboard — Bill Walsh + Nick Saban
Hold the standard of performance every rep — regardless of score or opponent. Do that, and the score takes care of itself. Rep: hold a teammate to the standard when it'd be easier to let it slide.
12 · Competitive Greatness — John Wooden
"Be at your best when your best is needed." Success is the peace of mind of knowing you did your best to become the best you're capable of. Don't be afraid of greatness — go claim it. Rep: define your best, then chase it in the fourth quarter (four fingers up).
Run these in your Leadership Series (Thursdays) and live them through Accountability. Coach sets the order — a pillar or a session at a time.
Do the work. Measure it. Grow.
Reading the Path doesn't make you a leader — reps do. Rate yourself, commit to goals, run your weekly reps, and reflect. It all saves on your device so you can watch yourself grow.
- Know your job — read Leader Roles and The Standard.
- Take the PATH self-assessment below — that's your baseline.
- Write your first commitment card and give it to a partner.
- Each week: run a Path rep, log a quick reflection, review your card.
PATH self-assessment
Rate yourself honestly, 1 (never) to 5 (always). Retake it monthly to track growth.
Commitment cards
A goal isn't real unless it's specific, measurable, and has a deadline — and you commit it to a teammate. (De La Salle's culture-changer.)
Path reps + reflection
Run a session's rep this week, then log what happened. Reflection is where the growth locks in.
Own your response — daily reps
The Attitude pillar isn't a mood, it's a rep. Mind Reps is your private daily tool for exactly that — get to neutral, govern your self-talk, reset after mistakes. It saves on your own device; no coach or teammate sees it. Do a rep a day and bring the receipts to your reflection here.
Your snapshot
Rep the response before the moment
Leadership is decided in hard moments. Read the situation, decide YOUR response (E + R = O), then open the read. Stay above the line.
The ref makes a terrible call against you.
Below the line: chirp the ref, throw your hands up, tank the next play. Above the line (your R): you can't control the call — control the response. Say it neutral ("that happened, it's over"), breathe, and give the next play everything. As a leader, you set the sideline: govern it — no negativity out loud, get your guys' eyes to the next snap.
You throw a pick / blow your assignment on a big down.
Below the line: relive it, drop your head, press and make it worse. Above the line: run the next-play reset — breathe, "that's over," name the next behavior, go. A mistake is a moment, not who you are. Leaders reset fastest and pull teammates back to neutral with them.
Down 14 at halftime, the sideline is deflated.
Below the line: "here we go again," blame, hang your head. Above the line: neutral resets the room — the score is a fact, the job doesn't change: win the next play. As a leader, kill the negative talk out loud and point everyone at the next controllable behavior. The standard, not the scoreboard.
A teammate skips a summer workout — and he's one of your best players.
Below the line: ignore it because he's good, or blast him publicly. Above the line (your R): address it privately and directly — the standard is the standard regardless of talent (Walsh/Saban). Extreme Ownership: ask what you could've done to get him there, then hold him to the plan. Loop the accountability group if it repeats.
You're down 14 at halftime and heads are dropping.
Below the line: panic, blame the refs/each other (BCD). Above the line: E+R=O — you can't change the 14, only the response. Neutral thinking (Moawad): next play, not the scoreboard. Be where your feet are. Your calm out loud sets the team's — what you say matters.
A younger player is struggling in class and about to be ineligible.
Above the line: Leaders eat last (Sinek) — go to him, get him to tutoring, pair him up. This is the accountability group's job before it's the coaches'. Serve first; his eligibility is the team's problem, not just his.
A captain is dogging reps in practice.
Above the line: hold the standard peer-to-peer — respect + directness. Sweep the sheds: nobody's too big to do the small things right. If a leader won't produce, that's a leadership conversation, not a shrug.
Two teammates get into it and the locker room takes sides.
Above the line: Cover & Move — team over ego. Get them together, keep it in-house, re-anchor on Brotherhood + the shared why. Don't let it fester or go public.
You made the mistake that cost the rep / the drill.
Above the line: Extreme Ownership — own it out loud, no excuses, say how you'll fix it. That's the moment your teammates decide whether to trust you. Owning it is strength, not weakness.
Bring these to your Leadership Series — read the situation, let leaders commit a response out loud, then reveal and discuss.
Learn from the best to ever lead
The sources behind The Path. Read/watch one per pillar — leaders are readers.
Purpose
- Start With Why · Simon Sinek — lead with why, not what
- Legacy · James Kerr — the All Blacks; leave the jersey better
- The Process · Nick Saban — standard not scoreboard
Attitude
- Above the Line / Focus 3 · Tim & Brian Kight — E+R=O, the R-Factor
- It Takes What It Takes · Trevor Moawad — neutral thinking
- Mindset · Carol Dweck & Grit · Angela Duckworth
Trust
- Extreme Ownership & Dichotomy of Leadership · Jocko Willink
- Leaders Eat Last · Simon Sinek — serve first
Honor
- The Score Takes Care of Itself · Bill Walsh — the standard of performance
- Wooden on Leadership · John Wooden — the Pyramid + competitive greatness
Read now
AJ Forbes — "Goals are a Culture Changer" ↗ — De La Salle's commitment cards and how to set a real goal. This is the model behind our commitment cards.
Brothers hold brothers accountable
This is player-led. When a teammate slips — grades, missed class, skipped tutoring, off-field behavior — the leaders handle it first. Coaches stay out of it unless it gets serious.
Coming off the break — this is the bar
Leaders set it and hold it, starting now. We win in the off-season — no slippage.
- Full effort, finish every rep — no dogging it
- Bring energy; be a spark, not a drain
- Above the line — own your response (E+R=O), no blame/complain/defend
- On time is late — be early, be ready
- Do the little things right, every time
- No excuses — handle your business (grades, class, gear)
- Live BRICKIE — Brotherhood to Excellence
- Purpose · Attitude · Trust · Honor in everything
- Hold your brother to it — that's on us, the leaders
Hold the standard by PATH
When a brother is off, don't just punish — diagnose. Which pillar is missing? Build the plan around it.
- Purpose — does he know why he's here and who he's playing for?
- Attitude — is he above the line, or stuck in Blame/Complain/Defend?
- Trust — is he owning it, or making excuses and letting the team down?
- Honor — is he holding the standard and doing the small things right?
The plan you give him should rebuild the pillar he's missing — and point him to that Path session.
How it works
- A teammate messes up (academics, class, tutoring, behavior) and accumulates negative points.
- When it hits the line, he comes before the accountability group.
- The leaders devise a plan he has to follow — you own the rules and the punishments.
- Further delinquency → he meets with Coach Schreiber and may face a game suspension.
What leaders own
- Academics — grades, class attendance, tutoring sessions
- Off-field behavior and how we represent the program
- Setting the rules and consequences your group decides on
Incoming freshmen get educated by an accountability specialist on the real stuff — drugs, alcohol, gambling, how to treat people, and spiritset development.
