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Hockey Chat: Yup, that new guy on your team just blew the play. And guess what, you probably will be in the wrong place at the wrong time and make the wrong move too. Don’t criticize your teammates for the same things that you do…. making mistakes. Just watch an NHL game and you could play arm chair coach all night. It’s easy to say in hind sight what they should’ve done but much harder to actually be there doing it.
As coaches and athletes, we put all of our hearts, bodies, and emotions into our endeavors. We’re instructed to “give it all we’ve got,” and as we do, we begin to understand what Paul was saying to the Colossian Christians.
A recent study reports that only six percent of teens today believe that moral truth is absolute. Not good. Young people basically see life as a sliding scale. Truth has become relative, depending on the situation. In athletics, there are many truths that cannot be relative. Imagine if every athlete defined winning differently—one by score, one by hustle, one by the best fans, and so on. It would be chaos! Fortunately, or unfortunately, winning is defined by the scoreboard. Life without absolutes and boundaries leads to chaos.
As coaches, we are supposed to teach our players about the game and about life lessons. Sometimes, the reverse happens and our players teach us a valuable lesson. The day before my first home football game of the season, my senior quarterback boldly stood up in front of the entire team and coaches and quoted the above Scripture.
I read a newspaper article last year about a professional baseball player who couldn’t seem to make the necessary adjustments needed in his approach to hitting. The player contended that his hitting was fine, but many of his current and former coaches disagreed. They pointed to the fact that his batting average had continued to decline and that he was striking out at an alarming rate.
In one game, the player might have 3 hits, but in the next 4 games he wouldn’t get a hit, striking out 9 times. It’s not that the player didn’t have good coaching—one of his previous coaches was a former batting champion. The problem was that he wasn’t doing what the coaches were asking. James 1:22-24 says:
The fifteenth chapter of John’s Gospel is all about love, the nitty-gritty of life, and faith. In this chapter Jesus teaches that He is the vine and that we, His people, are the branches, and that by being united to Him, we will bear fruit. Coaches are responsible for recruiting athletes; Christians are responsible to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ to a lost world. God delights to use Christian coaches to recruit players and then open to them the truths of Christianity. He often uses us to plant the seed of faith and to expose the lost to Christ.
Hockey Chat: We’ve seen it at every level. From the pee-wee’s up through the professionals. As much as skaters on the same team try to move fluently and work together, there is always some moment in some games where two guys on the same team cross paths and trip each other up. The lack of proper communication or the way they communicated caused them to run into each other. One misjudged the other and they both wound up in the same space and down on the ice.
A man named Guy Dowd was once given the National Teacher of the Year award. One of the turning points in his career came, he said, when he was frustrated and couldn’t seem to reach his students. God impressed upon him that he should pray more for them. Each morning Guy would arrive early to pray with his students, sitting down with different ones each day. Over time Guy began to notice a difference not only in the way the students responded to him, but also in the way he taught and responded to the students. Prayer changes our attitudes and helps us see people as God sees them. When we can see people through God’s eyes, it makes all the difference.
There is more than one person who mentors me and speaks into my life. If I have an issue, I have five mentors on whom I can call, and they all give me different perspectives. It takes many advisers to win the war. That doesn’t mean we should ask 100 people for advice. But there’s some godly counsel that you can have around to pour into your life, and it will keep your steps straight. That’s what happens with strength in numbers. That’s why I believe in accountability. If some issues are popping up, we can all come together in agreement and pull each other out of a bad situation. That’s a powerful thing. A lot of times, we don’t get enough people around us. We might just have one.
On the second Sunday of every March, you will hear teams all over the country proclaiming how they should be invited to the NCAA Basketball Tournament. More than 30 teams get automatic bids through conference tournament championships, but 34 other teams have to be invited. These teams boast of the great things they have done—and how they deserve to be in the tournament.
As I stood in the phone booth, tears came to my eyes. I had just called my parents to let them know that I would be flying home that night to Los Angeles. The Cleveland Cavaliers had become the third straight NBA team that I had failed to make.
How could this happen? I had such high hopes of realizing my dream to play in the NBA when I was drafted out of the University of Iowa, but it was becoming clear to me that dreams don’t always come true.
As the tears ran down my face, I thought that my days as a basketball player were over. I had lost my identity. Basketball was my life. What would the future hold now? I should have known that my future was in the hands of Someone bigger than myself. Yes, God was still in control, even if I was not aware of it.
In the arena of sports where score is kept and there are always winners and losers, how do you know whether or not you are successful? While much of the world defines athletic success in terms of wins and losses, legendary coach John Wooden writes in his book, Coach Wooden’s Pyramid of Success that “success is peace of mind that is the direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming.Within this framework, each person becomes the only one who can ultimately judge his or her own success.”
David found trouble because he was in the wrong place. At the season when kings go off to war, he was at home. We cannot afford to be in the wrong place when we understand the eternal consequences. Our daily decision making is too crucial to have a momentary lapse in judgment. David’s lapse led to a lifetime of heartache.
God had chosen David, given him position, promise, and a plan—and made him the greatest king to ever live. God has great plans for us as well and provides His Word to help keep us in the right place. Scripture tells us that we must: (1) hide the Word in our hearts (Psalm 119:1-3); (2) understand temptation and ask God to help us be obedient (Psalm 119:37-39); and (3) remember who we are in Christ (2 Samuel 12:7-8).
In sports, every time we compete there’s the possibility of defeat as well as the opportunity for victory. So much would be lost in this world if throughout history, people had succumbed to their fear of defeat and not fought for what they believed. Yet the possibility of defeat often keeps us from fighting, from moving toward what we desire and believe.
Regardless of the trip, this is the conversation my wife and I usually have and for many of us, it’s a part of the vacation tradition. We plan, arrange, pack, plan some more and make sure all the details of our destination are in order. We fill up our days making sure we get as much as we can in while we’re away. After all, it is our vacation.
But God shared something very profound with me during the 12 hour car ride. It was so profound for me that I was curious as to how I could have overlooked it in all of my previous family vacations, treks and trips.
Hockey Chat: Carlton "Mac" McDiarmid, a long-time goal judge at the Montreal Forum, recalls one of his first NHL games in the early 1970s. When a Toronto Maple Leaf player wound up to take a slap shot at his net, he excitedly, and prematurely, signaled a goal. The puck was stopped by the net minder. Referee Andy Van Hellemond came up to him between periods to offer him some sound goal-judge advice. "He said, 'Look, Mac, it's better to be a second late than a second early.' "
Hockey Chat: Wood, aluminum, carbon composite, fiberglass. Hockey sticks are made up of all kinds of different materials. It takes time and practice, but once you find YOUR stick, you know it and use it with confidence. You puck handle and shoot the best you can with your stick. Have you ever broke a stick and had to grab a different one quickly. Right off the bat you know it’s not going to work well. Your not use to it. It’s not yours. You have to play with it before you get comfortable using it regularly.
As coaches, what do we expect from our athletes if we want to improve their performance? If they are going to be champions in the weight room, we expect them to be torn down. We expect them to push beyond their boundaries. When they do that, their bodies rebuild stronger than before. How do our athletes get faster? We put them on a treadmill, increase the incline, and again push them beyond their boundaries, beyond their comfort zones. Again, when their bodies recover, they are faster. Sometimes the increase is small but they are faster.
I once was leaving my office late after a challenging day. Just as I was locking the door, a student whom I barely knew asked if he could speak with me for a few minutes. My initial thought was to ask him to come back tomorrow. I’d already worked later than usual and I was tired, but I noticed something in his eyes, so I unlocked my door and invited him in.
Most know the story of Job and how he lost all of his children, property, and possessions. What was he like
before he lost it all? He was blameless, had complete integrity, feared God, and stayed away from evil. I believe that athletes and coaches often live dual lives—one way on the field and another off the field. We justify it saying they are two different areas of our lives that shouldn’t cross over. Job wasn’t like that. Job was blameless. No one could accuse him of wrongdoing. If he did wrong someone, he kept a short account and asked forgiveness.
Who’s the best? Who’s number one? Who is the greatest? These are all questions we ask in our culture—all very important questions. As a coach, I’ve spent much time and energy trying to persuade young people to work in order to win a game, to determine who is best on a playing field.
Ask almost anyone in America who is great, and they will answer with names of those who score touchdowns, hit balls a long distance, and slam dunk basketballs; people who sing great songs or are great actors; strong people; powerful people who tell others what to do; people who can have anything they want, go anywhere they want and do anything they want to do. Such is greatness as we define it in our time. And then along comes Jesus, who changes everything.
Hockey Chat: 2008-2009 season marked the first time in the 82 year franchise history that every game of the Chicago Blackhawks was televised. This moved was a big change from the “blackout” ruling that had been in place from earlier ownership. With the new ability to watch the games came a great interest in the sport making the Hawks games the highest attended of any hockey venue for the entire season.
Perhaps more than anyone else, we coaches can appreciate the athletic imagery used in the Bible. The writer of Hebrews encourages his readers to “run the race” that is set before them, and from his words we can draw four encouragements as we run the spiritual race of faith set before us.
A few years ago I was privileged to participate in the memorial service for a faithful servant, a dear friend and a former head football coach. More than two thousand of this man’s family, friends, colleagues, and student athletes attended the service. As I stepped into the pulpit of the church, I thought, Look at all these people. The grandstands are packed for him today. Everyone here is a cheerleader! What a great send-off for a coach, and a great testimony to a life well lived.
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