"There are two questions a man must ask himself :
- Where am I going ?
- Who will go with me?
If the order of these two questions are wrong you are in trouble."
Howard Thurman
I have made it my life's mission to define and respond to the question(s) regarding winning.
· What is it ?
· What is the responsibility of the Coach/Teacher in defining and illuminating thisThing!, Term, Word, Verb called Winning, Winner, Won. To Win.
For a linguist it is simply defined by Webster's Dictionary as is defined "to get possession of by effort or fortune" or "to gain in or as if in battle or contest" or the act of it.
Hence to make a correct call for a flip of a Coin correctly fits this definition.
Clearly this must not be the acceptable definition for a Teacher/Coach. When an individual chooses to accept and desires the important and Honorable Title of a "Coach/Teacher" the individual must clearly and absolutely be clear in his or her Mind, Heart and Sole all reasons why they are willing and do accept such a position, must know and identify their motives, clearly understand their role and the responsibility and their influence in the lives of whom they intend to Coach and Teach.
It is a Solid Package all bundled in one. They must bear the clear and full outright possession of their Philosophical, Ethical, and subject related Road Map for their commitment. Needless to say that an Ethical and a philosophical position can be relative and one can choose to define, desire and accept to win at any cost if one would accept Coach Lombardi's definition of "Winning is not everything it is the only thing."
Through out my Coaching/teaching Tenure I have a held an absolute commitment to the
Theory and the Fact that winning is not the only thing nor it is or should be a destination. It is clearly and absolutely a "Side Effect" or a "By Product" of a process of the chasing , seeking of the relentless, non compromising pursuit of Excellence. I wish to further share the distinction between Excellence and Perfection.
Pursuit of Excellence is a Life Time effort to catch the Rainbow which one can chase and it encapsulates a never ending purpose of being and doing it better. Perfection on the other hand is a Final Station and Destination by which when arrived at it brings to conclusion an end and a death to the process. What is there beyond Perfection?
In fact it promotes complacency and mediocrity. In the land of mediocrity every one tends to think they are at their best, why attempt to be better?
Robert Ingersoll said it best… "In the republic of mediocrity, genius is dangerous."
Which begs the question if "winning is the only thing ….?" I suppose I can in the absence of any attention be placed at the highest peak of Mount Everest via a Helicopter while waving a trophy in Celebration of being at the Peak while claiming or creating the Perception that I have Climbed every inch of the way using my superb mountaineering skills, plans and tactics.
The Primary purpose and objective of a Coach/Teacher must be to instill a Blue Print of a
Ever lasting Life Style in the Learner/Athlete. To teach and to make it permanent that one must hold on to high Ideals, goals and dreams while using all of every individual's God given talents. In a tenacious, non compromising commitment to the pursuit of excellence with a pre-determined passionate knowledge that an enduring process of accumulation of the knowledge, skill combined with one's ability to adapt an improvise in a baby step pace along with an absolute lack of willingness to ever accept to compromise one's conscious, sole and integrity will allow and is the only way for an Individual to Reach The Mountain Top.
As a Chinese Proverb expresses it best;
"He who Sacrifices his conscious to ambition, burns a picture to obtain the ashes - ."
The Coach must set this process in place by his/her own demonstration of commitment to such a Philosophical Blue Print for a life Style before attempting to create and find converts in his/her Student/Athletes.
If manipulating a due process is used to establish a "Winning Team" by any means and
cost is the objective, what is then the true message for the Athlete ?
We must teach a life style in Teaching and Coaching Soccer, it becomes amazingly similar to our Daily life. No one is sin less, certainly not I! Yet there must exist an Echo, a Loud voice with in us to right us from the wrong.
I am also of the conviction that a life is lost and stolen if one does not participate in the
absoluteness of the Joy of achieving and conquering the Goal of being at the TOP, it is
an incredible moment of joy which encompasses an aggregated climax of all human feelings. Yet it must be reached through the process of the Pursuit Of Excellence. Mean while it is a must to experience the incredible pain and the misery of Failure, because it is only at this juncture that one truly can distinguish the difference. Both extremes are necessary In an Athlete's life before the appreciation and distaste for one or the other develops in an individual.
It is the process that clearly establishes a life style adoption. It is clearly the process that creates the obvious cleavage between Excellence, Mediocrity and Failure. In teaching we must help the Student/Athletes clearly be able to distinguish the difference between the light and dark, right and wrong, black and white, joy and sorrow, hot and cold, integrity and the lack of it.
It is our most single responsibility to teach that owning anything and claiming ownership
to any thing in life without the attachment of having earned through a well defined process
which it's two most important components are Honor and the due process of The Pursuit Of Excellence is not worth the ownership. There is No Victory or Trophy on a mantel that is worth looking at if it carries the weight of the Guilt of Cheating.
We must also teach endlessly that the middle space between failure and achievement known
as mediocrity is unacceptable. Having failed while given one's all efforts and abiding to highest moral codes is a learning pathway. Accepting and living in mediocrity is a volunteered life style and must be unacceptable and defined as such in our teachings.
The real challenge of Coaching is to transfer and exchange those athletes who are and
have accepted Mediocrity and Failure as life style to the Pursuit Of Excellence " POE "
life Style. The "POE" attitude is not occasional and must be permanentised, other wise what is then the challenge for coaching ? Kafka said it well…" what is upon us is to accomplish the Negative; the positive is Already given. "
The Coach must separate, dispose his/her personal, selfish desires of glory and replace it with those of his/her Athletes. Ironically, when the Team members succeed in this life style endeavor...the Coach also is rewarded with the side effects of being a "Winner" as well !!!
Metternich stated it best as " The men who make history, have not time to write it.- "
To be a Coach is truly an Honor. Difficult, yet easy. It is a "Leadership" position that continuously offers many temptations for the Good and the Bad, Strength and Weakness, Integrity or the lack of, fairness and unfairness, Honor and Dishonor ", Glory, Sacrifice and eventually it demands to "Walking the Talk".
In Coaching we learn that life is not all lollipops and a bed of roses, and yet it is not all a field of Blisters. Yet and BUT it is what separates us from any endeavor is that we teach a moldable youth to make Lemonade From a Lemon, to make white from the black, black from white and NOT to ask for a Winning Hand of cards at the beginning every game.
The best way to Start and Begin a Coaching season or tenure is to start a season with Lemons and see if you can deliver Lemonade at the End? And History will write itself.
Build a Legion of good and right, to win with shame is and should be Odious.
Hence Coach, May I suggest in your attempt to the helm of glory…
CHERCHEZ LA VERTITE.
Veni, Vidi, Vici. , WILL FOLLOW.
