You Are Here > Popular content / Popular content
Years ago when I first started coaching high school players, I made the mistake of throwing far too much at them in a short period of time. After just getting out of college, I tried to install things my players were not even close to being able to implement, but concepts that seem familiar and easy to me.
Hockey Chat: On the business side of hockey, it’s all personal. Although the good players create a fun game to watch, many teams (all that I know of) spend time with the community as well. In turn the community spends money on tickets and merchandise which in turn goes back into the players salaries. Both the players and fans appreciate each other and enjoy the relationship. If the players were rude and disowned the fans then the fans would fall away and not support the team.
When you are playing a sport, teammates are the most important people with you on the court or field. Sometimes it’s hard to love them, and it can be even harder to stand up for what you believe in when you are around them. The devil is always around, wearing a disguise, making it harder for you to stand up for your beliefs. He can even be wearing the same jersey as you.
I learned this lesson during my basketball season. I was the newbie, the one no one knew. On the day of tryouts I only knew one other girl. Yes, I saw the others in the hall, but I didn’t talk to them. It was hard to start a new season with only a couple real friends.
I fell in love with my wife in 1993. In 1999, I fell in love with our first child, Jaycee. Then, in 2002, a new love entered my life when I was tricked into running a marathon. And I have been addicted to long-distance running ever since. I have completed the Oklahoma City Marathon and the Gardens of the Gods 10-Miler. What is significant about this addiction is that I had absolutely no running history before 2002. In college I was an All-Conference, 305-pound offensive lineman. I once told a running back that if he ran more than 40 yards, he better have some sort of moves because I was done blocking after 40 yards. But, oddly, the running addiction has gotten a hold of me.
Coaches travel across the country recruiting future players. Each coach works to sell his or her school and wants the future stars to pick them. Those blue-chip recruits are in high demand, and every coach is inwardly saying, “Pick me! Pick me!” This is a great analogy for godly wisdom, as illustrated by Solomon.
In Proverbs 8, we read that “wisdom” calls out to us and pleads her case as to why we should pick her. (I’m sure that Solomon knew what he was doing when he labeled wisdom a “her,” but I won’t go there today.) Choosing wisdom is invaluable. Nothing is better. Think of the best thing you could ever want. Nope! Guaranteed it’s not better than godly wisdom.
Hockey Chat: There is a term in hockey known as being “back on your heels”. It means to be playing lazily and timidly. Hockey is not a game for the weak hearted because it takes desire to want the puck, strength to work and win board battles, and clear mindedness to know the right plays to make.
Before He was ever crucified, Jesus gave the perfect summary of the foundation of Christianity. I just saw this in His Word for the very first time. I was thinking about Easter and thinking about the cross, when I remembered something Jesus said in Matthew 22:34-40.
In reviewing results from New Year’s road races this year, I noticed a few that were prediction runs. Unlike typical road races, the awards in a prediction run do not go to the person with the fastest overall time or for an age group. The winner in a prediction run is the one who finishes with the time closest to what they listed before the race started.
After routing Oklahoma University for its second straight national title, USC coach Pete Carroll was asked when preparation for the next season would begin. Carroll replied:
“It’s already going. We live this thing. If you’re competing, then you’re always competing. That’s just part of it ... I have people tell me, ‘Just relax.’ Don’t tell me to relax. I’m having a ... ball. We get to do this for six months, be on top of the college football world. We’ll likely have a great chance at being the No. 1 team coming into next year. Shoot, that’s awesome, awesome stuff.”
In today’s world it seems like every one defines success in numbers of wins and losses. Not everyone is going to win all the time so it is not a very good measure of success. With all the pressure put on players and coaches to put up the big win numbers we are all losing sight of why we really play the game.
John Wooden defines success as, “the peace of mind that is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best you are capable of becoming”. How many times have you seen people wanting success but not wanting to put the work in to achieving it? I like to work out on the stationary bike and treadmill.
Hockey Chat: When you’re on defense, one of the worst things you can do is let your opponent stand in front of your net waiting to tip the puck, get a rebound, or just screen your goal tender. Detroit scored buckets of goals against Colorado in 2007 doing just that and swept them right out of the playoffs. You cannot let that guy stake his position there. It takes work to get him away but if you let him stick around, he’s bound to cause trouble.
Hockey Chat: Brain Buckets. The 79-80 season was when the NHL made new comers wear the head gear. Prior to that it wasn’t thought of to be a need. But ask anyone whose taken a wack without it how much it is needed. It’s one of those things that we don’t really use in the game (head-butting a puck into the goal is not very effective). But when a stick comes up to high, or our skate slips out from under us, those hockey helmets are what saves us from a potentially deadly injury.
Tiger Woods hobbled his way to his 14th major championship at the 2008 U.S. Open with a playoff win over Rocco Mediate. "It was a long week—a lot of doubt, a lot of questions going into the week—and here we are, 91 holes later," he said. Two days after the tournament it was discovered that Woods had a torn ACL and a double stress fracture in his tibia. His season was over.
As coaches, we have the opportunity to exert a powerful influence on the young people we coach. This influence is partly related to our coaching style and personalities. It is also related to the role we play in the lives of student athletes. We determine whether or not a young person will make the team and be a significant contributor.
We have all witnessed “in your face” coaches whose intensity rises to the level of demeaning individual athletes. The “in your face” style works on occasion if it’s used to challenge young athletes to improve their skills. However, when it is carried to extremes, it causes much more harm than good. No one wants to be humiliated by someone they respect and who determines their success on the team.
I so enjoy going to Huddles to share about Christ. Recently, I visited Northwestern University and spoke to their group. As I was praying and waiting to speak, a football player came in and sat down. Now, I used to attend many practices, and I had seen this player in competition. And I’m sorry to say, but I had thought only an act of God would bring this young man to the Lord. He had been a player who used foul language, seemed angry all the time and was the first to rumble when the occasion was presented. So I was surprised to see him at FCA, but thankful.
All athletes need to go through this, but most would probably rather skip it if it were possible. It’s probably the part of sports that is the least fun. Yet this is also the part that separates average athletes from top athletes.
Have you figured it out yet? It’s training. Athletic training involves many different things. Proper eating, weight training and practicing are all necessary in order to get into top playing condition.
As Christians, we need to be training ourselves spiritually. This involves getting sin out of our lives and removing those things that may not be sin but are a hindrance in our respective walks with Christ. An example of this is when sports in your life begin to take away from time that you need to be devoting to God.
Sometimes athletes believe that rules are a part of the game in order to make sure that nobody cheats. Other times athletes think rules are against them, preventing them from doing what is seemingly necessary. They see officials as being out to get them. Neither of these is true.
What would sports be like if there were no rules? What would a basketball game be like if we didn’t have to dribble? What if there were no fouls? What would football look like if there were no out-of-bounds lines? What if runners did not have to stay in their lanes? It would be utter chaos.
I am hooked on a TV show. When I first heard of it, I wondered why anyone would watch a show about people who are uncool by the world’s standards. I was wrong. “The Biggest Loser” is about people who want to change, to transform how they live. The change these folks make in a short amount of time is truly remarkable.
This was the prayer of King Solomon as he was about to take office. Rather than ask for riches or power, he asked for wisdom and understanding. Solomon knew that the key characteristic for an effective leader was wisdom to make good decisions. His decisions often concerned life or death situations. Our decisions are more often about whether to pass or run, a fastball or curveball, inside or outside, man to man or zone.
Solomon also desired an understanding heart to judge the people. Solomon knew, and the best coaches know, that leadership is all about people, not systems. Coaches will be at their best when they are in tune with their players’ hearts.
Imagine this: You are on the field, the mat, the court or the track, and the stands are full of cheering spectators. The crowd is watching your every move. As athletes, we thrive under these circumstances.
But do we remember that every day, whether competing or not, we have heavenly and earthly witnesses watching our every move? We must realize that we don’t compete or perform to please the crowds; rather, we should strive to please God alone. We should compete to show God’s glory to those who are watching us.
Hockey Chat: As a team we share in the hustle and bumps in order share in goals and victory. Some of us are apparently better than others, but none of us are perfect and we all blow the play or miss the shot sometimes. But we hustle and try for our goal again and again. Forget who blew the play and missed that shot and press on toward the goal we all came out for.
In the sixth game of the 1998 NBA finals between the Utah Jazz and the Chicago Bulls, Scottie Pippen was suffering great pain in his lower back as a result of taking charges in game three. The Bulls medical staff worked on Pippen during halftime so he felt well enough to start the second half. Michael Jordan commented about Pippen, “We knew Scottie was hurting, and just his presence gave us a lift, offensively, defensively, and emotionally.” What a testimony of one player’s influence on his team. Of course, the Bulls won the game and the 1998 NBA title.
As the father of a high school senior who is currently faced with some difficult but exciting decisions about his future as a college student-athlete, I’ve found myself thinking a lot about how he’ll make his final decision on such an important issue.
There are many things to consider when you’re looking to find the school that represents the right fit for you. In my son’s case, he’s listed academic quality as his most important priority, but after that, things like quality of campus life, his future coach, tuition costs, etc., all come into play.
Ministry
Sport
Book of the Bible
FCA Bible Topic