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A college coach once said, “The will to succeed is important, but what’s more important is the will to prepare.” As coaches, we do everything we can to make sure our teams are prepared for the game. We give them training, exercise, motivation, uniforms, and equipment. We want them to succeed and win when they face the opponent. Nothing would be worse than to show up to face an opponent without being prepared.
Whole Person Development Questions for Coaches to ask… A resource from Ed Gomes
Everyone wants to win. As coaches, we are probably more conscious of winning than most. After all, many times our livelihood rides on winning and losing. But we must be careful that our desire to win does not become our only emphasis with our athletes. We cannot push our players to win “at all costs.” The great coach John Wooden once said, “I don’t know whether always winning is good. It breeds envy and distrust in others and overconfidence and lack of appreciation very often in those who enjoy it.” How important it is for coaches to walk that fine line between wanting their teams to succeed, and acting as though winning is the only thing.
Discussion:
Summary:
I am training for a marathon—a grueling task that is even more difficult because I’m training alone. Some training runs have been up to 18 miles—all on my own. When I run it’s just me, the trail, and my MP3 player. Before I decided to do the marathon I told God I wanted to run for His glory. With a month of training to go, I realized something had become all too familiar to me. Even when I didn’t have on headphones, I was singing in my head. I had been listening to my MP3 so often that the songs were in my mind all the time. When I focused on the words, I realized something was wrong.
My very first day of coaching high school girls’ tennis fell on a hot August afternoon. As our practice was about to end, the only thing left was the distance run. I had my stopwatch ready to call out the time of each player as she finished. I knew this was going to be tough that first day; nobody was in great shape at the end of the summer after too many afternoons spent lying on the couch in air-conditioning.
After our fastest runner crossed the finish line, she immediately turned around to see how far back the other players were and saw one young player far behind everyone else. Without hesitating she sprinted back to that last runner and began to run alongside her for the last leg. Our fastest runner did not want anyone to have to finish last or alone.
Maybe it’s my athletic background as a player and as a coach, but there is something in me that dislikes the word quit. Of course, at one time or another in our lives, we have all had to face that word in choices we have made. There will always be difficult circumstances in life—some so bad that it is hard to see an answer. It is at those moments that we are faced with the alternative of quitting. The world would make that choice easy, asking,“If you don’t like the way things are going, why don’t you just quit?” It applies to our marriages, our relationships, our jobs, and even to our faith.
Chosen Topic: Teamwork
Dictionary definition: “The cooperative or effort of a group of persons acting in the interests of a common cause.”
My definition: “Putting the team’s goals and needs above my own. It goes hand in hand with selflessness and can be seen in every player and coach on successful teams.”
We coach human beings, not robots. Each player has needs and hurts that must be met and healed. When players know we care about them as people rather than simply players who perform for us, they will respond positively.
Head coaches, though, sometimes find it difficult to get close to players. We must be “the heavy” in many situations, and not every player will like our decisions, even when we are confident our choice is the best thing. One way to smooth over this type of pressure is to encourage assistants to be involved as well; athletes need to know there is someone they can go to when the head coach is not their first choice. It’s our job as coaches to care for our players, regardless of how they’ve performed.
Chapel – Ambitious
1 – Introduction – Think about the goals toward which you are ambitious.
• Team goals – post-season play / playoffs
• A conference championship
• All-conference awards (Academic also)
• All-American awards (Academic also)
• Simply another win, today.
• This is good ambition. It’s not selfish and it benefits everyone associated with the team.
• I see similar altruistic ambition in a man named Caleb in the Bible.
As I watch sports today, I get this feeling that too many athletes think they created all the talent they have inside. Jersey popping, chest beatings, and trash talking are all about prideful attitudes that lead to arrogant behaviors on the field. These athletes showcase their demeanor as much as their true talent. God has a better plan.
When God gives us talents and gifts, He wants us to use them—not in some prideful, selfish, ego-driven way, but faithfully to serve others and bring Him glory. Romans 12:6 states that we all have different gifts and are to use them. Many people have gifts but rarely use them, and when they do, it is for their own glory, not God’s. Again, all gifts we have received are God-given, not man-made.
Legendary coach John Wooden coined a phrase “competitive greatness,” striving to be the best we can, not trying to be the best.
Five-time All-Pro Green Bay Packers lineman Jerry Kramer played from 1958 to 1968. In 1959, Jerry wanted to quit until one day Coach Vince Lombardi told Jerry he could become the greatest lineman in the NFL. Jerry decided to give 100 percent and became one of the greatest. He understood competitive greatness.
Coach Wooden defined competitive greatness as a real love for hard battle, knowing it offers the opportunity to be at our best when our best is required. These three concepts help me grasp competitive greatness:
Guests include North Carolina State’s head women’s basketball coach, Kay Yow,former NFL player and current FCA staff member Danny Buggs, former Air Force head football coach Fisher DeBerry and FCA’s President Les Steckel
STV profiles D-I quarterbacks to watch this winter -- those who compete for more than the glory of the gridiron.
Included: Florida QB Tim Tebow, Texas QB Colt McCoy and Tennessee QB Erik Ainge.
When I think of a person who is determined, I think of someone who is strong and resolved; has deep inner convictions that drive their actions; ready to sacrifice; focused on their goal; and not easily distracted. I think of a person who refuses to give in and fights to the end. Teams that are determined will always give it their all. Determination is a great quality if it is for the right reasons.
The Book of Daniel begins with Nebuchadnezzar besieging Jerusalem. Defeat happened quickly, and God handed the king of Judah to Nebuchadnezzar who declared defeat of Israel’s God and proclaimed his god, “Marduk,” more powerful. But the game was not over. Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, knew that God always wins and chose to trust Him.
One thing I love about FCA is how it ties our athletic lives into our faith. A lot of similarities can be drawn between Christianity and sports.
I own a funeral home, and I therefore attend a lot of funerals. One sermon I’ve heard a few times that I really like is about the dash. The dash that is talked about is the dash put on a headstone between the date of birth and the date of death. The point the pastor makes is that what is important is what is lived out in that dash between your date of birth and your date of death.
Mike Sweeney of the Seattle Mariners, FCA Regional Director for Georgia/South Carolina Dicky Clark, Bible teacher Chip Ingram & FCA President Les Steckel.
How encouraging it is to find someone firm in his or her faith in the world of sport. It is obvious that some people are drifting spiritually. Many athletes are looking for a new gimmick to improve their performance, so they try Jesus the way they may try a lucky charm or a new color of shoes. Often a superstitious faith comes with feigned or half-hearted devotion to God. These people do not want to obey their creator; they prefer to have a “genie in a bottle” that will obey them. When convenient, they may go to church or read their Bibles, but they are often drifting with the current. Sometimes the drifters get anchored to God—sometimes they flounder and fade away. An eccentric friend who often talks in Christian jargon asked a colleague of mine, “When did you wake up?”
For the three Witten brothers, family life was once enjoyable. Growing up in Vienna, Va., a bustling suburb of Washington, D.C., their childhoods were filled with rambunctiousness and athletics. Their father, Ed, was a huge sports fan, so he signed up Ryan, Shawn and Jason for two football leagues — a city league in Vienna and a Fairfax County league. He put them in two basketball leagues, too. He taught the boys to run, throw, catch and dribble. It was a warm slice of Americana. But, over time, the Hallmark moments were less and less frequent. Ed and his wife, Kim, hit financial straits. Alcohol and drugs added to a charged atmosphere.
Cell phones . . . how did we live without them? At the touch of our hands, we can be in contact with anyone, anytime, anywhere. What a great communication tool.
As a coach, I used to wish I had cell phone access to my players on the floor. Often they would not hear my voice or would choose to ignore it when they did not like what I said. But if I could have called them during a game, I know they would have answered the phone.
OK, that would be a little strange, but spiritually we have that kind of access. Anytime, anywhere, we have direct, open-line, no-towers-down communication with God through Jesus Christ. It is not long distance, but hopefully a local call if we are in constant contact with Him.
Chris is an awesome long snapper. He never misses a snap. Punt, kick, he's always on the mark. This fall, he started to come down with a condition that made him extremely dizzy and faint. It was an inner ear disorder that causes vertigo. Vertigo is a sensation of dizziness that makes you feel like you are being whirled around in your environment. And it is definitely not a good condition for a long snapper in football.
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