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…
Words matter. Think back to a statement that one of your coaches said about you that stuck with you. Maybe even made you who you were as an athlete. Probably that statement began to create in you a part of your identity. Most likely that statement is something that STILL defines you today as an adult.
I think I mentioned to you all that I am engrossed in the Fox reality series Special Forces (Wednesday nights). As one more week on grit, I thought you might find value in these quotes from the first two episodes. “Deep inside everyone wants to know if they have the courage to be a hero” “If you take it seriously you will find out what your true limits are.” “Do you trust the person next to you to fight for…
Here is the promised continuation of comments from the book Grit by Angela Duckworth. *Teachers and coaches that assign values to players without a system of drills to show improvement are fixed mindset and create an environment where the player feels hopeless because they feel they have no control over their fate. *A fixed mindset about ability leads to pessimistic explanations of adversity, and that, in turn, leads to both giving up on challenges and avoiding them in the first…
I watched a show on Fox called “Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test.” Sixteen celebrities are put through ten days of physical and mental tests in Jordan. The goal is to finish. You are only eliminated if you are medically disqualified or if you quit. The “winners” are those who finish. Here is the trailer – Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test | IMDb.
I am from a broken home. My parents divorced when I was in the 6th grade. I went to a rural school, was an “A” student, and played football, basketball, and ran track. One night in the 9th grade I told my mom that I was way ahead on my school work (true) and wanted to sleep in to get extra rest because I had a football game the next night. She was fine with it and in my young…
If I were to count up the number of conflicts over my coaching and administrating career, I would guess that 90% of them involve playing time. This is not a complaint towards parents. Actually I want to start by defending them. As it has been said many times, it is so much easier to deal with conflict when you see it from the other’s perspective. Let’s see it from different perspectives.
The next section of our athletic handbook is entitled, “The Expectations of our Parents.” I wanted to go over this section for three reasons. One is that most of you are parents, so we want you to adhere to the same standards toward your children as we expect from others. Two is that we want you to know these statements so if and when a parent brings a situation or wants to engage in a conflict, you can remind them…
The section of our handbook that is labeled “The Purpose and Goal of Classical Christian Athletics” says the following: Key lessons taught by athletics include the competitive mindset, mental toughness, physical training, conflict management, goal setting, team building, accountability, and overcoming failure. These skills are essential to the growth of an individual seeking success in a fallen world and keep us focused in reaching our full potential. Equipping students to face and overcome issues creates transformational experiences and the need…
The purpose of this email is to bring you information that will hopefully motivate, inspire, and encourage you. It also serves to remind you of our vision and mission as well as where I believe we are at this point. This is not an email where I will include operational notices or details. Those will come in separate emails from me or Chris Cathey. This is more about the “why” rather than the “what.” The school is launching a new…