“A winning effort begins with preparation.” - Joe Gibbs
I grew up as a
“locker room brat”. My first memories of my Dad coaching are of him hitting fly
balls after High School practice had ended to kids on his baseball team who
wanted the extra work. At the age of 4, sitting on a canvas equipment bag and
peering through the chain link backstop, I might as well have been at Fenway
Park watching Ted Williams hit a Home Run over the bullpen in right. Dad
coached basketball too. I became official team mascot early on and some of the JV
cheerleaders were given charge of keeping me entertained during the games. I
wasn’t so enamored of basketball at that age but I LOVED the attention of the
girls!
Over the
course of his 30 year career, Dad coached boys and girls Varsity and JV sports
including Track & Field and served as Athletic Director in the final years
before he retired. He was the kind of guy who would pretty much take on
whatever job needed to be filled because he just loved coaching but basketball
was his true love.
Dad was a
proponent of the theory that smarts and teamwork would trump talent and the
consistent success of his teams pretty much proved that to be true. I remember
watching him put his teams through what he called Panic Drills. These were game
situation drills complete with game clock timing that were designed to
“de-sensitize” the players to the stress they’d experience in a competitive
game. He’d watch intently from the sidelines, peering over the top of his
glasses with whistle poised to signal that time had run out. “Do it again!”
he’d shout and the players would take their assigned positions and repeat the
drill until Dad was satisfied that everyone knew every possible offensive move
and the proper defensive reaction. Years later, I met one his players at a
local shopping mall. She said that she had carried the lessons learned from
Dad’s coaching techniques, particularly the Panic Drill, into every facet of
her life. In fact, she was now coaching and the one thing she tried to impress
on her players was exactly what Dad had always said: “Panic comes from fear. Fear
comes from not knowing what to expect. The team that is best prepared controls
the game.”
I’m not
proposing that any of us can be prepared for every challenge life will present.
A basketball game, because it has rules and a time limit, is not a parallel to the
broader uncertainties of life. However, if you build a strong foundation of
faith and are confident in your relationship with God, you’ll find you’re much
more resilient when it comes to any adversity. The Bible, as my wife says, is
an instruction manual for life. Knowing His word, and the promises He’s made to
us all, is the best preparation any of us can have for life’s trials.
Possessing confidence borne from faith is anyone’s best preparation to face
adversity.
What I’ve Learned: When life throws
something at you that you’re not expecting, take a deep breath and be still for
a moment or two. There are very few events that can occur for which there is no
solution. If you’ve done everything that YOU can do, it’s time to step back and
let God do the rest. He always keeps His promises.
“This is my command—be
strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you
go.”– Joshua 1:9
