It’s that time of year again…maybe the best time of year. School year begins, fall sports begin, NFL and college football are getting going, Usain Bolt is running 9.58 in the 100 and 19.19 in the 200 (seriously, that dude is on my list of two candidates for most athletic person ever born. You can watch video of each of the two races here). What does that have to do with speaking greatness? I’m glad you asked. Actually, not much, I’m just fired up about all those things.
OK, so what is the deal with speaking greatness? I heard or read recently, although I don’t remember where (which is too bad because I love to give credit where it’s due), that those we lead don’t become what we think they can. They don’t become what they think they can. Most often, they become what they think we think they can. Sounds simple enough, and it is. But it’s also tremendously powerful. To think that my attitude about a person, and their perception of my attitude can play such a role in shaping who and what they become. We talk about Coaches as influencers and impacters of lives, that’s not news to any of us. But how are we intentional about impacting and influencing? One of the best tools we have is the ability and opportunity to “speak greatness” into others. Basically, this involves communicating specifically and realistically about the potential we see in others. We can’t tell every kid that if he/she can be all-state. But there are some we can. And I bet we can find some goal to put in front of every player and every team we serve. But most likely, we must really believe it ourselves if it is going to become reality.
I remember 1999. Our team wore t-shirts the entire season that said “11/19/99”, which was the date of the first round of playoff games. This school’s football team had not been to the state playoffs since the mid-80’s, so making the playoffs was a big deal. Those kids got there. Two years later, a state title had become the target and that year’s t-shirt said so. Those kids won a state championship. The following year we had lost something like 19 or 20 starters and really didn’t know what to expect. There were no predicitions on that year’s shirt. Those kids ended up making the state semis, which was awesome. But I remember hearing after the season that they had been disappointed to not have been challenged to win it all, especially having seen how it went down the previous year. Maybe as Coaches we didn’t really believe they could do it. I don’t think I did.
Sometimes I think we Coaches are so determined to fix the mistakes that we fail to paint the big picture for our athletes. Here’s the thing; we can do both. I remember hearing about an 11th grade quarterback who was hoping to become the starter for his team. That was all he wanted, to be the guy out there on Friday night. That’s not a bad goal at all, but his Coach saw more in him than he saw in himself. One day at practice, during a drill, the Coach says something like “if you do it like that all season you’ll be all-conference this year”. It would have been easy to say nothing, or “great job”, but this Coach chose his words perfectly. Buoyed by the confidence that he hadn’t realized the Coach had in him, that kid became all-conference that year.
Of course, not every team that believes its Coaches feel realistically that they can win a championship wins one. Not every kid who believes his/her Coach sincerely expects them to be all-conference or all-American gets there. It’s definitely more complicated than that. But what’s the downside in sharing our hopes, goals and expectations for others with them? I don’t see one.
I see an opportunity to lead others to become what they cannot become on their own. That is the job of a Coach.
80’s Lyric