The Buck stops here.

I love watching the former TV series with my son, “The West Wing,” it’s great drama, pressure, events that we can talk about. Last night’s episode that we watched, had a series of events in the Arab world, suggesting that there was going to be an Arab Spring, who would have thought, that my sons and I would be able to watch this and say, “like when we used to live in Bahrain.”

I used to coach in Bahrain, a small island in the middle east. It was fantastic, I had a 5 year contract and moved our family to be there, it was awesome. Then the Arab Spring movement came, first in Tunisia, then to Egypt, in year 2 of my contract. Both movements were significant but different than in Bahrain. My team told me that they were going to protest on Feb 14th, which was within their right. Needless, to say complete different situation, the police force in Bahrain was all from outside of the country, no one from Bahrain. Thus, you can imagine, there was a shot toward one of the protesters, it changed the course of things to come, led to a huge uprising against the Monarchy of 200 years. No change was to happen, in fact, martial law was eventually imposed from Saudi Arabia and we had a decision to make. Stay or return.

Things changed dramatically from me being the Head Coach of the Professional team to now wondering what is the next step? Return to USA, and do what? I love how many people think it’s just easy to go return to the NCAA or NBA, haha, oh man.

On the desk of President Harry S. Truman was a small saying, it simply read, “The Buck Stops Here.” He understood that the health and well-being of the country laid squarely on his shoulders. He steered the ship. He was responsible…it began and ended with him.

In the same sense the Buck stops with each and every one of us when it comes to our life. We are constantly creating who we are in this moment. If we don’t like who we are or where we are, then we learn to walk in a new direction. It’s not easy. In last night’s episode, fictional President Jud Bartlett, took the advice from a former President and went to listen to Abraham Lincoln for advice on what to do next. Once you can walk in a new direction, you are on your way to reinventing your life. Enjoy this life. Get the most out of it. Reinvent yourself over and over again. The Buck Stops Here!

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John Saintignon has an extensive background of an experienced and successful basketball coach at the International Professional, NCAA Division 1, NCAA Division 2 and High School levels — and a three-time NCAA All-American as a player and a professional player. Coach Saintignon has been helping players and their families navigate through the NCAA process of helping them get a college scholarship, having wrote a book on the subject while at Oregon State University, “ What does it take to get a college scholarship?”, as well as preparing them for the court. Coach Saintignon trains the athletes and provides performance nutritional advice working alongside Advocare to help his athletes reach their fullest potential. FB: JSSportsNet and at www.advocare.com/130423949

Saintignon was the Head Coach of Fuerza Guinda of the FIBA Americas; Coach Saintignon led his team to a Playoff finish. During the 2011-2012 season of the NBA lockout, Saintignon was instrumental in getting NBA players into jobs overseas having placed Jarron Collins and Mardy Collins into the CBA in China, Salim Stoudamire into Italy, Sam Clancy into Argentina, James Porter into Japan, Calvin Hampton into Bahrain. Over a 100 players have come through Los Angeles to get player development training including the future Hall of Famer NFL Defensive end and Superbowl winner Simeon Rice who came out to LA to train for 3 days in strenuous basketball training with Coach Saintignon.

Saintignon has been a coach in high school, college and professional basketball in Arizona, California, Oregon, Mexico and Bahrain. Most recently, Saintignon was the successful Head Coach in the Premier League in the country of Bahrain in the Middle East since March 2010, leading his team to a Final Four finish. Prior to that he was the Assistant Coach at Cal State Stanislaus University in the CCAA Conference and an NCAA Division 2 institution. Saintignon was also the Associate Head Coach and Director of Player Development for the Culiacan Caballeros of the top league in the Mexican Professional Basketball League (LNBP). As a first-year franchise, the Caballeros went to the LNBP playoffs in a top 6 finish.

Prior to coaching professionally, Saintignon was the Director of Basketball Operations and Assistant Coach at Oregon State University in the Pac-10 Conference from 2006 to 2007. Before landing in Corvallis, Saintignon was a teacher and Head Coach at Desert Edge High School in Goodyear, Ariz. His previous high school coaching experience included being the Head Coach at Canyon del Oro High School in Tucson, Ariz. (2001-04); Bonita Vista High School in Chula Vista, Calif. (1995-01); and Mar Vista High School in Imperial Beach, Calif. (1992-95).

Saintignon led his team at Canyon del Oro to the state tournament twice and was named the Coach of the Year in 2001-02. At Bonita Vista, he was also named the league’s coach of the year after leading his team to the CIF championship in 1999, the first CIF Championship earned in the schools history. At Mar Vista, Saintignon earned Coach of the Year honors by taking his team to the league championship in 1994-95, and the schools first since 1964.

As a guest speaker in Italy, Croatia, China, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Bahrain, Mexico Israel and Argentina, Saintignon has earned a reputation as an authority on player development and has produced several DVD’s on getting athletes better through individual training; “Advanced Guard Workout” is the title, as well as attacking on offense with his Secondary Break philosophy, called “On the Attack: Mastering the Secondary Break.”

Saintignon graduated from the University of California at San Diego in 1990 with a bachelor’s degree in Economics, and a Master’s degree from Liberty University in Sports Administration. He played one season at UC San Diego and three seasons at the University of California at Santa Cruz. In 1985-86, he was the Leading Scorer in the United States (USA) as he led the entire NCAA Divisions with 31.2 points per game scoring average. He earned All-Conference MVP and All-American candidate honors all three of his years at UC Santa Cruz as he scored more than 2,450 points in his career where he is the All-Time scoring leader in University history as his number was retired this year. He went on to play professionally in Spain and Mexico for four seasons earning various honors including several All-Star selections.

A native of Tucson, Ariz., Saintignon graduated from Salpointe Catholic High School where he was inducted into the Athletic Hall of Fame in 1998. Saintignon has been married for 16 years to Angelica and they are proud parents of their two sons, Vicente (14) and Sebastian (11).