Panic and Fear

“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