The title of this article caught my attention as I looked at the front page of the ESPN app (Spring ’23). It is an article written about the French World Cup team’s victory over England in the quarterfinals. Here are a few quotes from the article of note.
I remember reading an article back when I was coaching football receivers regarding focus. The article had two stories. The first story was about Steve Largent. Steve, at the time (1989), led the NFL for touchdown catches above notable receivers like Jerry Rice. Steve was asked how he had done this in spite of the fact that self-admittedly he was not the speed or size athlete like Jerry Rice and the others. He said it was an issue of focus.…
About a year ago I ran across a book called The Wesleyan Way. It is a book written about the Wesleyan Christian Academy Men’s Soccer Program. I wanted to share a breakdown of their program with you. Robbie Hinton and I both read the book. We would like for our programs to look like this. If you are interested in formulating a plan to match the below let me know, and we can sit down together and see what we…
One of our coaches sent me an article this week. This is a topic we have not ever discussed. What words do we use with players that are not getting the playing time they “want” or “think they deserve”? How can we help them? The name of the article is “7 Habits of a Godly Benchwarmer.” I have highlighted the 7 traits below and either a line or two from each section that really struck me or my response to…
As you get deeper into your season, here is another story on the power of goals. One of my favorite books is Goals by Brian Tracy. There is a particular story in the book that I think is powerful and worth sharing. Tracy refers to a study from another book, What They Don’t Teach You at Harvard Business School, by Mark McCormack. The study was conducted between 1979 and 1989. In 1979 the graduates of the MBA program were asked,…
I never won a state championship as a high school player. I did watch one from the inside (and how it developed) when I was at Westminster (my previous school). Please forgive the length but this is a story worth telling. This particular soccer season started with lots of predictions of bad results. The team had lost a D1 player the year before and there was only 1 senior on the returning team. To my recollection there were maybe 2-3…
One of my favorite books (and movies) is When the Game Stands Tall by Neil Hayes. This is the story of Coach Bob Ladouceur and the De La Salle high school football program in California in the late ’90s and ’00s when they held the longest winning streak for a high school team at over 150 wins over 7 years. The book is about the coach and how the team did it. As I read, it I took notes on…
At one of our leadership meetings, Mr. Hinton talked about Patrick Lencioni’s book “The 5 Dysfunctions of at Team.” I think there are really good insights for us as you all begin to build your teams this season. Lencioni presents these in a pyramid format with each level progressing toward further dysfunction, and in the end, a dysfunctional outcome. I want to present to you his thoughts on dysfunction from a sport’s team perspective, and then as if a team…
I will admit that the movie Facing the Giants is hokey and not the best cinema in the history of cinema. But, I have always loved the death crawl scene. I love the fact that the boy was able to accomplish more than 70-80% more (100 yards vs. 20-30 yards like he said) than he thought he was capable of. I love the fact that the boy used that moment later in the movie to go the extra four downs…