Our new Head Coach is doing a great job of communicating to our players during these crazy times. Our city allows him to work out with the kids twice a week. No contact but they can do drills. A guy here in the area who owns a Training Center for high school athletes came up with a brilliant idea: He started a “league” in the area so the schools can at least play 7 on 7 each Friday. It is outside the jurisdiction of the Virginia High School League. Guys are getting a chance to compete in the “off” season.
Something that our HC passed along to the players a couple of weeks ago showed a lot of wisdom on his part. Not only is he a great X’s and O’s guy but he cares about building character in his players. Thus, when he presented his acronym for PRIDE, I was all over it! I have built my “Character Coach” talks around each of the words that each letter represents. Let me show you…
“P”= PERSEVERANCE. One of my favorite Bible verses is Phil. 3:14. It exhorts us to “press on… towards our goal.” By telling us to press on, God is saying that there is going to be press-ure! We must push through it. Remember the children’s book, The Little Engine That Could. That little engine persevered!
“R”= RESPECT. This is something that we all clamor for. We want respect! I shared the “Golden Rule” with the players. I saw a few eyebrows go up when I said, “if you want people to show you respect, then FIRST show it to them!” That got them thinking. I pointed out that the Golden Rule actually was something that Jesus stated in the Bible.
“I”= INTEGRITY. Oh how this character trait is missing in society today! At one time, to say “a man is only as good as his word” was a truism. Not so much anymore. Challenging young people to be honest and to exhibit honor is a bit of an anathema in our culture today. I still emphasized how much respect a person who shows integrity can earn.
“D”= DETERMINATION. I shared on here a while back about Stephan Curry’s story about The Stone Cutter. Check it out if you don’t know the tale. It is a prime example of what determination can get you. “Never, never, never give up and never give in!” Keep on Hammerin’!!!
“E”= EXCELLENCE. Let everything you do be done with excellence. Don’t settle for average. Strive to be the best you can be. I saw a young man at the fitness center this morning who had this printed on his t shirt: “Proud… but still working hard!” Sooooooo good! If we are striving for excellence, we don’t have time to get puffed up. We appreciate what we have accomplished because we know that we went about achieving our goal the right way. You should feel good about yourself and your accomplishment because you achieved it with hard work and integrity!
