Showing Up Starts Here
Scott Boss • August 25, 2020
You've probably heard...
...how you perform on game day is determined by the quality of your practice. But have we given much thought to how the quality of our practice is measured or do we make some assumptions? Is a quality practiced measured by how many starters were present? Is it measured by how much sweat equity was paid out? Is it measured by how quiet the team was when coach spoke? Or is there more to it than this?
3 Ways to Care for Coaches/Athletes Mental Health
What if I told you that the quality of a practice is set way before coaches and players show up to the field.
Where there is no vision, the people perish. (KJV 29:18)
The quality of practice is determined by ‘why’ coaches and players choose to show up. It's determined by a vision bigger than themselves, bigger than running sprints and memorizing plays. It’s even set by something bigger than winning a state championship. The quality of a practice is determined by a vision that brings a team together for a purpose beyond themselves. As the ‘why’ is formed is determines ‘how’ players arrive to practice and the mindset they find themselves in as they step onto the court, field, etc. In short, the ‘why’ determines the ‘how’ and thus shapes the quality of that practice.
So what? Well its often easier for us to see this discipline played out in sports. But this same discipline plays out in everyday life, specifically as we enter the start of the school year.
COVID has turned the world upside down so many times few of us could probably tell if we were even right side up. As the school year begins with most of the learning taking place via distance learning you have a choice to make. It would be easy to focus on the hurdles and what you dislike about the current format. Instead, make a decision for how you want to show up this year and make it before you sit down at your computer. What’s your vision? What’s your why?
Unlike any time in your education before, you will own and determine what you will learn this year. Hint, it’ll be more than how to structure a sentence. Leaving your why or vision unanswered will probably lead to a long list of excuses. We see this happen in sports all the time. However, taking the time to be proactive and set a vision for yourself could be all the difference in the world this school year.
Hopefully, it’ll be a determination to show up despite all odds seemingly being against you fueled by a vision that reaches beyond yourself. This is what winning teams do. This is what competitors do. When the odds are stacked against them, they choose how they want to show up, lock arms with their teammates and chase after their vision.
Below is a link for some quick thoughts on how to care for the mental health of coaches and athletes.
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