Monday, July 26, 2010
No Excuses
The following comes from No Excuses by Kyle Maynard and should be mandatory reading for high school athletes that think life is too tough or unfair.
"In my heart I deserved to win the match. I had invested so much time and effort, so much sweat and passion, into prepare for this moment that preparation itself was now the source of my fear. I was never afraid of the hard work and dedication that wrestling demanded of me -- instead, I was afraid of experiencing the heartbreak of defeat after all the relentless training that had brought me to this point. I was no stranger to that fear, but know this could be my final match made it more acute.
Now I had to plow my body into my rival; I had to dominate not just his muscles but his mind; I had to drive him to submit.
While I was stronger, we all knew this wrestler had the advantage of agility and speed. We analyzed and planned, coming up with dozens of tactics to use or avoid -- but I new that winning, as always, was ultimately a matter of desire.
Yet I still believe that everyone on the wrestling mat is equal, competitors standing on even ground. Everyone learns the same rules, steps on the same scale to weigh-in, walks onto the same mat alone, and listens for the same referee's whistle to start the match. I knew from experience that a clever, well-trained, and determined wrestler could always beat a buff, but unprepared, opponent. The key is using everyone of your God-given abilities, not just strength, to the utmost.
Since the age of eleven, I've had a passion for wrestling. I'm a competitor. I believe that anyone can conquer any obstacle if they truly want it more than anything else; if they are ardent in their work; and if they refuse to be stopped by any barrier.
I've met people who wonder why I wrestle. Am I attempting to prove something to the world? Am I trying to have people fell sorry for me? Or am I simply trying to make friends, to be the token member of the team? Some people can't see the trust -- that regardless of my physical differences, I am as fierce a competitor on the inside as anyone can be. On my shoulder is a tattoo of a tiger; that how I think of myself, and that's how I fight.
I am an athlete driven by competition. Without the sport of wrestling, I would not be where I am today. There are so many problems and difficulties that I will never have to endure because of the character I've developed through wrestling. It is my discipline and my passion.
It was Dan Gable, one of the greatest wrestlers and coaches of all time, who said, 'Once you've wrestled, everything else in life becomes easy.' No phrase describes my life better.
My philosophy is simple: No excuses."
Kyle became one of the top high school wrestlers in the state of Georgia. In 2005, he broke the world record in the modified bench press by lifting 360 pounds -- three times his body weight. He is currently a student at the University of Georgia.OUR DEEPEST FEAR
Click on this link below:
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear
is that we are powerful beyond measure
It is our light, not our darkness,
that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous,
talented and fabulous?
Actually who are we not to be?
You are a child of God.
Your playing small doesn't serve the world.
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking
so that other people
won't feel insecure around you.
We are all meant to shine as children do.
We were born to make manifest
the glory of God that is within us.
It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone.
And when we let our own light shine,
we unconsciously give other people
permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear,
our presence automatically liberates others.
- Marianne Williamson
Saturday, July 10, 2010
WORDS TO LIVE BY
- Believe while others are doubting.
- Plan while others are playing.
- Study while others are sleeping.
- Decide while others are delaying.
- Prepare while others are daydreaming.
- Begin while others are procrastinating.
- Work while others are wishing.
- Save while others are wasting.
- Listen while others are talking.
- Smile while others are frowning.
- Commend while other are criticizing.
- Persist while others are quitting.
Poet William Arthur Ward
JIM ROHN ON GOALS AND GOAL SETTING
When Andrew Carnegie died, they discovered a sheet of paper upon which he had written one of the major goals of his life: to spend the first half of his life accumulating money and to spend the last half of his life giving it all away. And he did!
Some people are disturbed by those tough days because all they have is the days. They haven’t designed or described or defined the future.
Goals. There’s no telling what you can do when you get inspired by them. There’s no telling what you can do when you believe in them. And there’s no telling what will happen when you act upon them.
We all need lots of powerful long-range goals to help us past the short-term obstacles.
The ultimate reason for setting goals is to entice you to become the person it takes to achieve them.
The ultimate reason for setting goals is to entice you to become the person it takes to achieve them.
Don’t set your goals too low. If you don’t need much, you won’t become much.
If you go to work on your goals, your goals will go to work on you. If you go to work on your plan, your plan will go to work on you. Whatever good things we build end up building us.
We all have two choices: We can make a living or we can design a life.
Friday, July 9, 2010
THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE BEST PLAYER
Every team has a best player. Some of these “best players” understand the responsibility that goes with that and others don’t. We have found that those who do have two things in common:.......... ◦they have earned this designation (not just been given it)
.......... ◦they understand it’s an everyday responsibility
Kevin Garnett made an interesting comment on the bench the other night when he was talking to a teammate about consistency. He said, “an All-Star has to be a pit bull; he has to bring it every night!”
Everyone wants to be Michael Jordan or Paul Pierce or Tim Duncan or Steve Nash, but they don’t want the responsibility that goes with it. What Kevin was saying is being the best is not a one time thing. It is an everyday commitment to excel as a player who gives maximum effort every time he hits the floor. That means every game, every half, every quarter, every minute, every second, and every possession!
And this will be the case for anyone in any field who is — or wants to become — the best. It is a personal commitment that takes incredible daily focus. I encourage you to use Kevin’s statement with the player or players on your team who may be taking this for granted. You can tell them that Kevin not only talks the talk on this but he walks the walk. He understands that being the best requires more!
THE BEST NEVER REST
Nice post from: http://www.basketballcoachesclub.blogspot.com/Nearly three months after cutting down the nets in Indianapolis, the 63-year-old Krzyzewski insisted he's feeling plenty refreshed as he prepares for the U.S. national team's training camp next month in Las Vegas.
"I'm on to the next thing, and the next thing is getting better as a basketball coach," Krzyzewski said Monday during his annual midsummer news conference. "You've got to get better each year, so the opportunity to coach the United States gives me an opportunity to get better. I'll coach this summer more than anybody in the United States.
"As long as I take my breaks and stay fresh, I think that's a good thing," he added. "You would want the guy defending you (in a courtroom) to get better in law. You would want the guy or woman treating you in health to keep up to date, and I think as long as you're in any profession, you should get better, because it's constantly changing."
"I'm a basketball coach all the time. That's what I do. I don't play golf. I chase my dog, or he chases me, and I whack down some trees and bushes and play with my grandkids and drink a little bit of wine," a smiling Krzyzewski said.
"I like to socialize, but I'm a basketball coach every day of my life."
DEVELOPING THE RIGHT HABITS
Darren Hardy of Success Magazine discuss the development of habits:
My dad used Larry Bird as an example to teach me about habits when I was a kid. "Larry Legend" is known as one of the greatest professional basketball players, but he wasn't known for being the most athletically talented player. Nobody would have described Larry as "graceful" on the basketball court. Yet, despite his limited natural athletic ability, he led the Boston Celtics to three world championships and remains one of the best players of all time. How did he do it?
It was Larry's habits—his relentless dedication to practice and to improve his game. Bird was one of the most consistent free-throw shooters in the history of the NBA. Growing up, his habit was to practice five hundred free-throw shots every morning before school. With that kind of discipline, Larry made the most of his God-given talents and kicked the butts of some of the most "gifted" players on the court.
Like Larry Bird, you can condition your automatic and unconscious response to be those of a developed champion. This chapter is about choosing to make up for what you lack in innate ability with discipline, hard work and good habits. It's about becoming a creature of champion habits.
With enough practice and repetition, any behavior, good or bad, becomes automatic over time. That means that even though we developed most of our habits unconsciously (by modeling our parents, responding to environmental or cultural associations, or creating coping mechanisms), we can consciously decide to change them. It stands to reason that since you learned every habit you have, you can also unlearn the ones that aren't serving you well.
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