Coaching Football's "Little Things"

To all of you guys out there— especially my coaching friends!— who read these posts, please remember this:

20 years from now, what will your players remember most about you?? How intense you were on the practice field and game sideline?— so much so, that it wasn’t fun to even be around you? OR… how loud and how frequently you yelled at them for noticing all of the mistakes they made? OR… for all of the times that they needed a male adult to just listen to their problem but, you were too busy doing scouting reports?

I hope it’s just the opposite. I hope your players 20 years from now will remember all of the encouragement you gave them. OR…they remember the time you spent just “being there” for them. OR, though, winning was important… you took the time to teach and show them that who (or Whose!) they are is more important than what they accomplish on the playing field.

As I’ve shared about what FCA’s 3D Coaching emphasizes about our role as coaches, capture the heart inside that jersey!!!

Happy Father’s Day!!!

There’s an interesting dichotomy here… first, without self control we end up hurting ourselves and others. But, when we become overly controlling of ourselves or others, it’s an indication that we are not trusting God nor the people around us! I love Proverbs 3:5, “Trust the Lord with allyour heart…” If you see yourself being a control freak, consider implementing these strategies for developing the right perspective on being in control.

1) Understand that you are not an independent, self-reliant person. Jesus described His people, us!, as sheep. Sheep are pretty helpless animals— they need LOTS of attention and care. We need to look to our heavenly Father for our care.

2) When the unexpected happens, work on responding calmly. God is never taken by surprise; we shouldn’t be either. If we trust in His care, we can stay calm knowing that He is going to work things out for our good. Take a deep breath to slow down the adrenaline, say a short prayer… then turn the problem over to God.

3) Focus on the internal and leave the external to God. We need to settle in our minds that we cannot control most external events… only the internal response to those events. When you come to that realization, you’ll be better able to stop stressing out over the uncontrollable.

Learn to relax and start trusting God— He knows what He’s doing and He has our best interests at heart!

Wellllllllllllll…. it’s been a battle but I’m finally back up and running! I had major problems with my host (for the 3rd year in a row) so I dumped them for a new host. It’s taken longer than I thought to transfer my domain name to a new server! Gulp! But we’re up and running now. I’ll get back to my normal schedule of trying to post every Tuesday.

I want to bring everyone’s attention to a book I’m just finishing up. If you’re a football coach, salesman, manager or business owner… you need to read this little book! It’s just 100 pages long but it is chocked full of pertinent information if you are in a competitive situation with your job! It’s entitled Warfighing by General A. M. Gray— former Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps.

In the Foreword, it says that “Like other books which were written as guides for military officers, Warfightingcan be put to use by people in all fields.” It goes on to say, “Replace the word ‘combat’ with competition, ‘officer’ with manager, ‘soldier’ with front-line worker or player, ‘enemy’ with rival, and Warfighting becomes a remarkably trenchant management handbook.”

Warfighting shows how to use the Marines’ strategies of “maneuver warfare” to manage your way to victory. The Marines have mastered the tactics that manipulate and control the basic elements of conflict (on the battlefield or on the football field!)— speed, surprise, disorder, intuition and confusion— to throw an opponent into disarray and subsequent defeat.

I love the closing statement where it says “Warfighting inspires leaders who understand that “courage is not the absence of fear, but the strength to overcome it.” When high school football players take the field on Friday night or Saturday afternoon…. if you have, as their coach, taught them how to overcome their fears, you are helping your players to mature as young men— but you’re also helping your team be more successful during the game.

I highly recommend this powerful little book to you!!!