Ruminations

SEVENTEEN REASONS WHY FOOTBALL IS BETTER THAN HIGH SCHOOL by Herb Childress As an ethnographer, Mr. Childress was able to watch more than a hundred high school students in a variety of circumstances. Here's what he learned. WE DEFINE SCHOOL as a place of learning. But as I visited classes in the high school in which I was an observer for a year, what I saw mostly — and what the students told me about most frequently — was not learning at all, but boredom. I saw students talking in class, not listening to lectures, having conversations instead of working on their study guides, putting their heads on their desks, and tuning out. Teachers talked about what a struggle it was to get students to turn in their homework at all, much less on time. Students picked up enough information to pass the test, did their work well enough to get the grade, and then totally forgot whatever it can be said that they had learned. We adults could see this as yet another moral problem. We could call young people lazy and tell one another that they won't put any effort into their work. We could press for more testing to tell us that — sure enough — test scores are declining. We could seek more penalties when students don't do well in class — more ways to coerce them into doing their work. We could talk about going "back to basics," which is to say making school an even less appealing and more restrictive place than it is now. But as an ethnographer, I had the advantage of hanging around with more than a hundred of this school's students outside the classroom, and I got to watch them in a variety of circumstances. For example, in February I spent one Thursday through Saturday with Bill, a junior who had good grades during his first two years of high school but lost interest in school during his third year. I watched him not bother to study at all for a French test and fail it. I watched him skip a class and play a computer game instead of writing his article for the school newspaper. I watched him get busted in a couple of classes for tardys and talking. But that same guy on that same weekend spent two hours running full out in a soccer practice and spent more hours than I can count playing hacky sack. (He taught me how to play acceptably well, no small achievement in itself.) He cooked a wonderful dinner at home one night and worked five fast-paced hours at his restaurant kitchen job the next night. He spent most of his home time playing games invented by his little brother and sister, who loved him. He spent two hours surfing on Friday and three more hours preparing for another surfing trip on Sunday. When I was with him in school, he was an archetypal slacker, but when I was with him outside school, he was a person with a lot of interests — things that he was dedicated to and good at doing. And that pattern carried over to many of the students that I followed. I watched other young people operate computers and wash horses. I saw them playing video games that had dozens of rules and literally hundreds of decisions to be made every minute, and I watched them play card games that I couldn't begin to understand. I watched them drive four-wheel-drive trucks at insane speeds on dirt roads and watched them working on those trucks as well. I watched them acting, opening their hearts in front of hundreds of people. I watched them wrestling and playing the piano. I was privileged to see them doing the things that they loved to do. The things that they put themselves into without reserve, the things that they were damn good at. The students I knew were a skilled bunch of people. So why didn't those skills and capabilities and that enthusiasm show up more often in the classroom? In the school that I observed, I saw striking — and strikingly consistent — differences between the perfunctory classroom sessions and lively extracurricular activities. The same students who were emotionally absent from their classes came alive after school. We say, "If only she'd spend as much time doing her algebra as she does on cheerleading . . ." with the implication that students blow off algebra because they're immature. We don't usually think to turn the question around and ask what it is about the activities they love that is worthy of their best effort. We don't usually ask what it is about school that tends to make it unworthy of that kind of devotion. But if we're interested in looking at places of joy, places where students lose track of how hard they're working because they're so involved in what they're doing, places where teenagers voluntarily learn a difficult skill, places that might hold some important lessons for schools, football is a good choice. Let me give you 17 reasons why football is better for learning than high school. I use football as my specific example not because I love football; I use it because I hate football. It's been said that football combines the two worst elements of American society: violence and committee meetings. You can substitute "music" or "theater" or "soccer" for "football," and everything I say will stay the same; so when I say that football is better than school, what I really mean is that even football is better than school. 1. In football, teenagers are considered important contributors rather than passive recipients. This attitude is extraordinarily rare in teenage life, but it is central to both learning and self-esteem. A football team is framed around the abilities and preferences of the players; if there's nobody who can throw the ball but three big fast running backs and a strong offensive line, the team isn't going to have an offense that dwells much on passing. But the geometry class — and every student in the geometry class — has to keep pace with the same state-ordained curriculum as every other school, regardless of the skills and interests and abilities of the students. Football players know that they, and nobody else, will get the job done. Students know that they are considered empty minds, to be filled at a pace and with materials to be determined by others. 2. In football, teenagers are encouraged to excel. By this, I don't mean that players are asked to perform to someone else's standards (which may already be limited); rather, they are pushed to go beyond anything they've ever been asked to do before, to improve constantly. There is no such thing as "good enough." We congratulate players on their accomplishments, but we don't give them much time to be complacent — we ask them to do even more. In the classroom, we give them a test on polynomials, and the best result they can get is to score high enough to never have to deal with polynomials again. 3. In football, teenagers are honored. Football players get extraordinary amounts of approval: award banquets, letter jackets, banners around the campus, school festivals, team photos, whole sections of the yearbook, newspaper coverage, trophies, regional and even state recognition for being the best. The whole community comes out to see them. We put them on floats and have parades. That doesn't happen for members of the consumer math class. 4. In football, a player can let the team down. Personal effort is linked to more than personal achievement: it means the difference between making the team better or making it weaker, making a player's teammates and coaches grateful for his presence or irritated with his apathy. A single player can make his peers better than they would have been without him. That's a huge incentive that we take away from the classroom with our constant emphasis on individual outcomes. 5. In football, repetition is honorable. In the curriculum, we continually move forward, with not much opportunity to do things a second time and get better. Students have to do new things every time they get to class. In football, students do the same drills over and over all season long — and, in fact, get better at them. The skills get easier, and players start to use those skills to do things that are more complex. 6. In football, the unexpected happens all the time. Every player will line up across from the same opposing player dozens of times during a game, but he knows that, each time, his opponent could do something different, and he'll have to react to it right in the moment. There's no opportunity to coast, to tune out, to sit back and watch others work. Every player is required to be involved and absorbed in his work, and a talented player who holds back is typically held in lower regard than his less talented but more engaged teammates. Contrast that with a normal class period, scripted by a teacher with the idea that a successful class is the one that goes as planned, with the fewest disruptions, and it's clear why apathy can be a problem in the classroom. 7. In football, practices generally run a lot longer than 50 minutes. And when they end, there's a reason to stop: the players work until they get it right or until they're too tired to move anymore. There's no specific reason that a school class should run for 50 minutes instead of 35 or 85, and there's no reason why classes should run the same length of time every day. The classroom schedule responds to pressures that come from outside the classroom — state laws, other classes, even bus schedules. The football practice schedule is more internal — the coach and team quit when they're done. 8. In football, the homework is of a different type from what's done at practice. Students do worksheets in the classroom and then very often are assigned to do the same kind of worksheet at home. Football requires a lot of homework that comes in the form of running and weight training, things not done at practice. Players work at home to find and build their strengths and then bring those strengths to practice to work together with their teammates on specific skills. The work done at home and the work done in common are two different jobs, and each is incomplete without the other. 9. In football, emotions and human contact are expected parts of the work. When players do well, they get to be happy. When they do poorly, they get to be angry. Players are supposed to talk with one another while things are going on. But we have no tools to make use of happiness or frustration in most classrooms, and we generally prohibit communication except for the most restricted exchanges. When we bring 30 students together and ask them not to communicate, not to use one another as resources or exhort one another to go further, then we make it clear to them that their being together is simply cost-effective. 10. In football, players get to choose their own roles. Not only do they choose their sport, but they also choose their favorite position within that sport. In the classroom, we don't allow people to follow their hearts very often. We give them a list of classes they have to take, and then we give them assignments within those classes that they have to do, and we don't offer many alternatives. We've set the whole school thing up as a set of requirements. But sports are a set of opportunities, a set of pleasures from which anyone gets to choose. Each one of those pleasures carries with it a set of requirements and responsibilities and difficult learning assignments; but youngsters still do them voluntarily, following their own self-defined mission of seeking their place in the world. 11. In football, the better players teach the less-skilled players. Sometimes this teaching is on purpose, but mostly it is by example. Every player is constantly surrounded by other players who can do things well and who love doing what they do. The really good players are allowed to show off — in fact, it's demanded that they show off, that they work to their highest capacity. The people who aren't as good observe that. They don't simply see skills they can learn; they become inspired. They get to see another person — not just the teacher but a peer — who knows what he's doing and who loves to do it. In the classroom, the best students aren't often given a chance publicly to go beyond what everyone else is doing. They're smothered, held back, kept to the same pace as their classmates. We give the appearance of not caring so that we won't be hurt when the students don't care either. 12. In football, there is a lot of individual instruction and encouragement from adults. A coach who has only the nine defensive linemen to deal with for an hour is going to get a pretty good sense of who these youngsters are, what drives them, what they can and can't do. And those players are going to see the coach in a less formal and more human frame; they get to ask questions when questions arise without feeling as though they're on stage in front of 30 other bored students. Let's admit a basic truth: bigger classes make personal contact more difficult. The school I was in had an average class size of 27 students. That was considered pretty good, since the statewide average was 31. But as I looked around the halls at the team photos in their glass trophy cases, the highest player-to-coach ratio I saw was 13 to one; sometimes it was better than 10 to one. There was one photo of the varsity football team with Coach Phillips and his three assistants surrounded by 35 players; erase the three assistants from the picture, and you could have had a photo of any one of his history classes. On the first day of freshman basketball practice, 23 hopefuls tried out, and by the end of the first week, there were still 17. On the next Monday morning the coach said to me, "I sure hope some more of these kids quit. You can't do anything with 17 kids." True enough — so why do we expect him to do something five periods a day with 25, 30, or 34? 13. In football, the adults who participate are genuinely interested. The adults involved in football are more than willing to tell you that they love to play, that they love to coach. And they don't say it in words so much as in their actions, in the way that they hold themselves and dive in to correct problems and give praise. But the teachers I watched (and the teachers I had from grade school to grad school) were, for the most part, embarrassed to death to say that they loved whatever it was that they did. It takes a lot of guts to stand up in front of 25 students who didn't volunteer to be there and say, "You know, dissecting this pig is going to be the most fun I'm going to have all day." We're candidates for the Geek-of-the-Month Club if we let people know that we really love poetry, or trigonometry, or theater, or invertebrate biology. And so we often hide behind a curriculum plan, a textbook, and a set of handouts, and we say, "You and I have to do this together because it's what the book says we have to do." We give the appearance of not caring so that we won't be hurt when the students don't care either. But it was only in those few classrooms where the teachers said, both in word and in action, that they absolutely loved what they were doing, that the students were engaged, that they learned. I talked with a lot of students — and their teachers and their parents — about what they loved to do, whether it was photography or surfing or hunting or reading — things that are real skills. And when I asked how they got involved in those activities, both the young people and the adults always answered that it was someone who got them interested, and not anything intrinsic in the event itself. They followed someone they respected into an activity that that person loved, and they discovered it from there. 14. In football, volunteers from the community are sought after. No sports program in a high school could ever operate without assistant coaches, trainers, and other local people who aren't paid to help out. These people give hours and hours to the school in exchange for a handshake, a vinyl jacket, and a free dinner at the end of the season. Volunteers are a natural part of human activity. There are almost never volunteers in the classroom — no adults who seem to believe that math or chemistry is so interesting that they would help out with it for free on a regular basis. There's no sense that anyone other than "the expert" can contribute to a discussion of ideas. 15. In football, ability isn't age-linked. Freshmen who excel can play varsity. In a ninth-grade English classroom, an extraordinary student can't go beyond what the other ninth-grade students are doing, even if he or she could profit from what's being assigned to the seniors. When a student tries out for football, he gets a careful looking over by several coaches, and if he's really good, they're going to move him up fast. In the classroom, if that same student is really good — if he's inspired — one person sees it and gives him an A. Big deal — it's the same A that someone else gets for just completing the requirements without inspiration. The pace of advancement in football isn't linked to equal advancement in another, irrelevant area. If a boy is an adequate JV basketball player but an extraordinary football player, the football coach isn't going to say that the boy has to stay with the JV football team so that he's consistent with his grade level. No way! The coach is going to tell that player, "Come on up here; we need you." Have you ever heard an English teacher recruit a young student by saying, "We need you in this classroom"? Have you ever heard a science teacher say, "Your presence is crucial to how this course operates — we're not at our full potential without you"? 16. Football is more than the sum of its parts. Players practice specific moves over and over in isolation, but they know that their job at the end is going to mean putting all those moves together. In school, we keep the parts separate. We don't show our students how a creative writer might use a knowledge of science; we don't show them how a historian might want to know about the building trades; we don't show them how a mechanic can take joy in knowing about American history. We don't let our students see the way that all these different interests might come together into a worthwhile and fascinating life. We pretend they're all separate. 17. In football, a public performance is expected. The incentive to perform in front of family and friends was a great motivating force for the athletes I knew. The potential for a poor performance was another motivator — nobody wants to be embarrassed in public. These students were contributing an important civic service to their small community, with over a thousand home fans at every game, and they took that responsibility seriously. But schoolwork is almost always performed and evaluated in private. Successes and failures are unseen and have no bearing on the happiness of others. No single one of these 17 patterns taken individually constitutes a magic potion for a good learning environment. But when we look at these patterns taken together, we can see that football has a lot to recommend it as a social configuration for learning. I'm not going to argue that we should give up on school and focus on football. What I am saying is that we have a model for learning difficult skills — a model that appears in sports, in theater, in student clubs, in music, in hobbies — and it's a model that works, that transmits both skills and joy from adult to teenager and from one teenager to another. We need a varsity education. Herb Childress holds a doctorate in Environment-Behavior Studies from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. His ethnography of a Northern California high school, "Landscapes of Betrayal, Landscapes of Joy," is available from University Microforms International, Ann Arbor, Mich. He can be reached via email at miaktxca@aol.com.   LIFE'S THOUGHTS   -YOU ARE WHAT YOU DO EVERY DAY...THEREFORE EXCELLENCE IS A HABIT-    Socrates "Things refuse to be mismanaged long." -Roman Maxim
"Some people live on what they know; Some people live for what they don't." -Sheik Abu Hanif
"There are tough guys and there are smart guys, but there are only a few tough/smart guys...What are you?" -Robert E. Stevenson Sr.
Seriousness is the last refuge of the shallow
Every morning in africa, a gazelle wakes up.  It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed.  Every morning a lion wakes up.  It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death.  It doesn't matter whether you are a lion or a gazelle:  when the sun comes up, you'd better be running!
"Progress always involves risk: you can't steal second base and keep your oot on first"-Frederick Wilcox
We don't stock the fruits-only the seeds.
Instead of pointing a finger, why not hold out a hand.
You take a setback and turn it into a comeback.
"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.  The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena...." -Theodore Roosevelt
Loser:  "It may be possible, but it will be difficult."
Winner:  "It may be difficult, but it is possible."
A man's worth should be judged not for getting ahead of others, but by surpassing himself.
The highest reward for man's toil is not what he gets for it, but what he becomes by it.
You can't get anywhere today if you're bogged down in yesterday.
Cherish yesterday, Dream tomorrow, Live today.
Home is not where you live, but where you are understood.
"Moving beyond your comfort zone-that's how you achieve things."
"I learned if I tried harder for a longer period of time than enyone else, I could win, even if I didn't have the greatest talent."
How you finish a play, a day, or a life itself is mor important than how you start it.
If you never stick your neck out, you'll never get your head above the crowd.
"He climbs highest who helps another up. "  -Zig Ziglar
"Character is victory, not a gift."  -Ivor Griffith
"Great souls have wills, feeble ones have only wishes."  -Chinese proverb
"The greater danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it."  -Michelangelo
"Democracy is based upon the conviction that there are extraordinary possibilities in ordinary people." -Henry Emerson Fosdick
"The next best thing to solving a problem is finding some humor in it." -Frank A. Clark
"Shoot for the moon.  Even if you miss it, you will land among the stars." -Les Brown
"We must always have old memories and young hopes." -Ronald Reagan
"Pray for a good harves, but keep on plowing."  -Anonymous
"Use the past as a springboard, not a sofa. "
"Never measure the height of a mountain until you have reached the top.  Then you will see how low it was."  -Dag Hammarskjold
"Discipline is not what you do to someone; it is what you do for someone." -Lou Holtz
"Flaming enthusiasm, backed by horse sense and persistence, is the quality that most frequently makes for success."  -Dale Carnegie
"Take a lesson from the mosquito.  She never waits for an opening-she makes one." - Kirk Kirkpatrick
"He who receives a benefit should never forget it; he who bstows one should never remember it."  -Charron
"Don't find fault.  find a remedy."  -Henry Ford
"The nice thing about teamwork is that you always have others on your side."  -Margret Carty
"A diamond is a chunk of coal that made good under pressure."  -Classic Crossword Puzzles
"If you keep on saying things are going to be bad, you have a good chance of being a prophet."  -Isaac Bashevis Singer
"In the long run, the pessiimist may be proved right, but the optomist has a better time on the trip." -Daniel L. Reardon
"Love cures people-both the ones who give it and the ones who receive it."  -Dr. Karl Mennninger
"No one can make you feel inferior without your consent." -Eleanor Roosevelt
"You can't have everything.  Where would you put it?"  -Steven Wright
"Be not simply good; be good for something." -Henry David Thoreau
"The easiest way to have your way is to go out and make it."  -Thoughts for Today
"Even if you can't prevent another's sorrow, caring will lessen it." -Frank A. Clark
"Success is getting what you want; happiness is wanting what you get." -Anonymous
"There is no danger of developing eyestrain from looking on the bright side." -Cheer
"Live your life and forget your age." -Frank Bering
"Friendship doubles our joy and divides our grief."  -Anonymnous
"Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence.  Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent.  Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education alone will not;  the world is full of educated derelicts.  Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent."-Calvin Coolidge
"You've got to be smart to be #1 in any business.  But more important, you've got to play with your heart; with evey fiber of your body.  The objective is to WIN...fairly, squarely, decently, by the rules...but to win."  -Vince Lombardi
"No race can prosper until it learns that there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem." -Booker T. Washington
SINCERE:  composed of Latin terms "sine" and "cere"= "without wax."  If a potter stamped "sine cere". there were never ny cracks in the pottery, therefore, no wax or glue was needed.
You have thousands of opportunities to keep quiet, use every one of them.
The missing ingredient in most of our talking is a little shortening.
Always watch the sords you speak,
Keep them few ans sweet;
There may be some bitter words
You will have to eat.
"Keep Quiet"  (Proverbs 10:19) Matthew 12:36)
If you believe what you say, what you say will be more believable.
Learn from the mistakes of others; you may not live long enough to make them all yourself.
"Whenever you start-give it your best.  The opportunities are there to be anything you want to be.  But wanting to be someone isn't enough; dreaming about it isn't enough; thinking about it isn't enough.  You've got to study for it, work for it, fight for it with all your heart and soul, because nobody is going to hand it to you."  -General Colin Powel
"No dream comes true until you wake up and go to work." -Banking
"No power in the world can keep a first-class man down or a fourth-class man up."  -Defender
"You can't turn back the clock, but you can wind it up again."  -Bonnie Prudden
"Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there."  -Will Rogers
"Be dissatisfied enough to improve, but satisfied enough to be happy."  -J. Harold Smith
"Why not go out on a limb?  Isn't that where the fruit is? "  Frank Scully
"There is a time to let things happen and a time to make things happen."  -Hugh Prather
"It may not be your fault for being down, but it's got to be your fault for not getting up."  -Steve Davis
"Don't be against things so much as for things." Col. Harland Sanders
"What you get by reaching your goals is not nearly as important as what you become by reaching them"  -Zig Ziglar
"One of the secrets of a long and fruitful life is to forgive everybody everything every night before you go to bed."  -Ann Landers
"A gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man perfected without trials."  -Chinese Proverb
"There's no traffic jam on the extra mile." -Unknown
  "Fame is a vapor, Popularity an accident, Riches take wings. Only one thing endures- Character" -Horace Greeley  
"Raise your voice only in enthusias." P.S.
"Fall seven times, stand up eight."  -Japanese Proverb
"It is a happy talent to know how to play."  -Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Moderation in temper is always a virtue; but moderation in principle is always a vice."  -Thomas Paine
"The world is not interested in the storms you encountered, but whether you brought in the ship."  -Journal of True Education
"The only way to have a friend is to be one."  Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Your life is either a celebration or a chore.  The choice is yours."  -Anonymous
"Success doesn't come to you...you go to it."  -Marva Collins
"Failure is only the opportunity to more intelligently begin again..."  -Henry Ford
"Life in abundance comes only through great love."  -Elbert Hubbard
"It is not fair to ask of others what you are not willing to do yourself."  -Eleanor Roosevelt
"When nobody around you seems to measure up, it's time to check your yardstick."  -Bill Lemley
  ROLE MODEL The Bible says it would be better for a person to hae a lage stone tied around his neck and drowned in the ocean than to be a stumbling block to a youngster. 1.    Compleiment three people every day.
2.    Watch the sunrise at least once a year.
3.    Be the first to say, "hello."
4.     Live beneath your means.
5.    Treat everyone like you want to be treated.
6.    Never give up on anybody.  Miracles happen.
7.    Forget the Joneses.
8.    Never deprive someone of hope.  It may be all he has.
9.    Pray not for things, but for wisdom and courage.
10.    Be tough-minded but tenderhearted.
11.    Be kinder than necessary.
12.    Don't forget, a person's greates emotional need is to feel appreciated.
13.    Keep your promises.
14.    Learn to show cheerfulness, even when you don't feel like it.
15.    Remember that overnight success usually takes about 15 years.
16.    Leave everything better than you found it.
17.    Remember that winners do what losers don't want to do.
18.    When you arrive at your job in the morning, let the first thing you say brighten           everyone's day.
19.    Don't rain on other people's parades.
20.    Never waste an opportunity to tell someone that you love them.
                                                                                                -Life's Little Instruction Book
  TIME TRIALS But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.                                             -James 1:4   Instant cash. Ten-minute oil change.  One-hour photo processing. Same -day dry cleaning.  You would think waiting is one of life's most trying experiences.  We've created for ourselves instant lifestyles.  If things don't happen right now, a trubulence of impatience blows through our inner-world. A student asked a college president. "Can I take a shorter course of studies than the one prescribed?"  "Oh, yes," replied the president, "but it all depends on what you want to be.  when God wants to make a giant oak. He takes many years.  But when He wants to make a squash, He takes a few months."   YOUR OUTLOOK COUNTS!   Belief sets up the conditions that make success, health, and happiness possible. To turn potential into reality, you must do something about it. If you think you can If you think you can't You're right!  
Nine Affirmative Principles
1.    I can achieve far beyond my horizons, and in avenues of life I have never explored.
2.    I posess a basic goodness which is the foundation for the greatness I can ultimately achieve.
3.    I must take responsibility for my actions, my well-being, and the attainment of my maximum potential.
4.    I must seek self-awareness, self-approval, and self-commitment in order to attain self-fulfillment.
5.    I must commit myself to building and maintaining relationships that are critical to the social development of my family and community.
6.    I must manifest the belief that mutual respect is the fundamental element of all relationships.
7.I will enrich my own life by helping others to enrich theirs.
8.I will work toward my goals by planning, executing, and measuring my progress.
9.I will make commitments with care and honor them with integrity.
                                                                                                        -Les Brown
  ARE YOU STRONG ENOUGH TO HANDLE SUCCESS?   Unfortunately, the road to anywhere is filled with many pitfalls, and it takes a man of determination and character not to fall into them.  as I have said many times, whenever you get your head above the average, someone will be there to take a poke at you.  That is to be expected in any phase of life.  However, as I have also said many times before, if you see a man on top of a mountain, he didn't just light there!  Chances are he had to climb through many difficulties with a great expenditure of energy in order to get there, and the same is true of a man in any profession, be he a great attorney, a great minister, agreat man of medicine or a great businessman.  I am certain he worked with a definite plan, and an aim and purpose in life and, will be eenvied by those less successful.  I have always thought that the following little verse contained a good philosophy for every coach: By your own soul learn to live, and if men thwart you, take no heed, If men hate you, have no care; Sing your song, dream your dream, hope your hope and pray your prayer. I am sure that if a coach will follow this philosophy of life, he will be successful.  To sit by and worry about criticism, which too often comes from the misinformed or from those incapable of passing judgment on and individual or a problem, is a waste of time. -Adolf Rupp        * college basketball coach*     ARE YOU STRONG ENOUGH TO HANDLE CRITICS?   It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.  The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes short again and again because there is no effort without error and shortcomings, who knows the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the high achievement of triumph and who at worst, if he fails while daring greatly, knows his place shall never be with those timid and cold souls who know neither victory nor defeat . -Theodore Roosevelt, Twenty-sixth President of The United States   The above is one of the most impressive and impacting philosophies I have ever heard.  It was a thought expressed by one of the greatest competitors of our time.  Theodore Roosevelt, our twenty-sixth President.  It embodies my basic feelings as to what success is really all about.  The same philosophy applies to just about every phase of one's life.  The common thread of thought for people in our sports world is to always try, try and try again...to know in your heart that you did your best.  Then, if victory does come, you will know that you made a very special contribution -Texas E. Schramm   NFL President   IT CAN BE DONE   Somebody said that it couldn't be done. But he, with a chuckle, replied That, "maybe it couldn't," but he would be one Whow wouldn't say so til he tried. So he buckled right in, with a trace of a grin On his face if he worried he hid it. He started to sing as he tackled the thin That couldn't be done and he did it . Somebody scoffed:  "Oh, you'll never do that; At least no noe ever had done it." But he took off his coat and he took off his hat and the first thing we knew he'd begun it; With the lift of his chin, and a bit of a grin, Without any doubting or quiddity; He started to sing as he tackled the thing That couldn't be done, and he did it . There are thousands to tell you it cannot be done There are thousands to prophesy failure; There are thousands to point out to you, one by one, The dangers that wait to assail you; But just buckle right in with a bit of a grin, Then take off your coat and go to it; Just start in to sing as you tacle the thing That "cannot be done" and you'll do it! STATE OF MIND If you think you're beaten, you are; If you think you dare not, you don't. If you'd like to win, but think you can't; It's almost a cinch you won't If you think you'll lose, you're lost; For out in the world you'll find success begins with a fellow's will; It's all in the state of mind. full many a race is lost Ere ever a step is run; And many coward fails Ere ever his work's begun. Think big, and your deeds will grow; Think small and you'll fall behind. Think that you can, and you will; It's all in the state of mind. If you think you're outclassed, you are; You;ve got to think high to rise. You've got to be sure of yourself before You can ever win a prize. Life's battles don't always go To the stronger of faster man; B ut sooner or later the man who wins Is the fellow who thinks he can. Its All In The State Of Mind! WHAT WILL TODAY BRING? This is the beginning of a new day. God has given me this day to use as I will. I can waste it or use it for good. What I do today is important Because I'm exchanging a day of my life for it. When tomorrow comes this day will be gone forever, Leaving in its place something I have traded for it. I want it to be gain, not loss; Good, not evil; Success, not failure, In order that I shall not regret the price I paid for it Because the future is just a whole string of todays. THE MAN IN THE GLASS When you get what you want in your struggle for self And the world makes you king for a day, Just go to the mirror and look at yours And see what that man has to say. for it isn't your father or mother or wife Whose judgement upon you must pass, The fellow whose verdict counts most in your life, Is the one staring back from the glass. You may be like Jack Horner and chisel a plum And think you're a wonderful guy, But the man in the glass says you're only a bum If you can't look him straight in the eye. He's the fellow to please-never mind all the rest; For he's with you clear to the end. And you've passed your most dangerous, difficult test If the man in the glass is your friend. You may fool the whole world down the pathway of years, And get pats on the back as you pass- But your final reward will be heartache and tears If you've cheated the man in the glass. -Nothing splendid has ever been achieved except by those who dared to believe that something inside of them was superior to circumstances.-   DON'T QUIT   When things go wrong as they sometimes will, When the road you're trudging seems all uphill, When the funds are low and the debts are high, And you want to smile, but have to sigh, When care is pressing you down a bit- Rest if you must, but don't you quit. Life is queer with its twists and turns, As everyone of us sometimes learns; And many a fellow turns about When he might have won, had he stuck it out. Don't give up though the pace seems slow- You may succeed with another blow. Often the goal is nearer than It seems to a faint and faltering man; Often the struggler has given up When he might have captured the victor's cup; And he learned too late when the night came down, How close he was to the golden crown. Success is failure turned inside out- The silver tint of the clouds of doubt, And you never can tell how close you are, It may be near when it seems afar; So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit- It's when things seem worst that you mustn't quit.                         -Leo Piggott   WINNERS VS. LOSERS   The Winner    Is always a part of the answer
The loser        Is always a part of the problem
The Winner    Always has a program
The Loser        Always has an Excuse
The Winner     Says  "Let me do it for you"
The Loser        Says "Thats not my job"
The Winner    Sees an answer for every problem
The Loser        Sees a problem in every answer
The Winner     Sees a green near every sand trap
The Loser        Sees two or three sand traps near every green
The Winner    Says "It may be difficult but it's possible"
The Loser        Says "It may be possible but it's too difficult"
When a winner makes a mistake, he says, "I was wrong;"
When a loser makes a mistake, he says, "It wasn't my fault."
A winner works harder than a loser and has more time;
A loser is always "too busy" to do what is necessary.
A winner goes through a problem:
A loser goes around it, and never gets pat it.
A winner makes commitments;
A loser makes promises.
A winner says, "I'm good, but not as good as I ought to be;"
A loser says, "I'm not as bad as a lot of other people."
A winner listens;
A loser just waits until it's his turn to talk.
A winner respects those who are superior to him and tries to learn something from them;
A loser resents those who are superior to him and tries to find chinks in their armor.
A winner feels responsible for more than his job;
A loser says, "I only work here."
A winner says, "There ought to be a better way to do it;"
A loser says, "That's the way it's always been done here."
  YOU   You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift. You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. You cannot help the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer. You cannot further the brotherhood of man by encouraging class hatred. You cannot help the poor by discouraging the rich. You cannot establish sound security by spending more than you earn. You cannot build character and courage by taking away man's initiative and independence. You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves. -Abraham Lincoln-   THE COMMON DENOMINATOR OF SUCCESS   Like most of us, I had been brought up on the popular belief that the secret of success is hard work, but I had seen so many men work hard without succeeding and so many men succeed without working hard that  had become convinced that hard work was not the real secret even though in most cases it might be one of the requirements.
And so I set out on a voyage of dscovery which carried me through biographies and autobiographies and all sorts of dissertations on success and the lives of successful men until I finally reached a point at which I realized that the secret I was trying to discover lay not only in what men did, but also in what made them do it.
I realized further that the secret for which I was searching must not only apply to every definition of success, but that it must apply to everyone who had ever been successful.  In short, I was looking for the common denominator of success.
And because that is exactly what I was looking for, that is exactly what I found.
But this common denominator of success is so big, so powerful, and so vitally important to your future and mine that I'm not going to make  a speech about it.  I'm just going to "lay it on the line" in words of one syllable, so simple that everyone can understand them.
"The common denominator of success-the secret of success of every man who has ever been successful-lies in the fact that he formed the habit of doing things that failures don't like to do."
It's just as true as it sounds and it's just as simple as it seems.  You can hold it up to the light, you can put it to the acid test, and you can kick it around until it's worn out, but when you are all through with it, it wll still be the common denominator of success, whether we like it or not.
If the secret of success lies in forming the habit of doing things that failures don't like to do, let's start the boiling-down process by determining what are the things that failures don't like to do.
The things that failures don't like to do are the very things that you and I and other human beings, including successful men, naturally don't like to do.  In other words, we've got to realize right from the start that success is something which is ac hieved by the minority of men, and is therefore unnatural and not to be achieved by following our natural likes and dislikes nor by being guided by our natural preferences and prejudices.
Perhaps you have been discouraged by a feeling that you were born subject to certain dislikes peculiar to you, with which the successful individuals are not afflicted.  Perhaps you have wondered why it is that the most successful seem to like to do the things that you don't like to do.
They don't!  And I think this is the most encouraging statement I have ever offered to a group of individuals.
But if they don't like to do these things, then why do they do them?  Because by doing the things they don't like to do, they can accomplish the things they want to accomplish.  Successful individuals are influenced by the desrire for pleasing results.  Failures are influenced by the desire for pleasing methods and are inclined to be satisfied with such results as can be obtained by doing things they like to do.
Why are successful individuals able to do things they don't like to do while failures are not?  Because successful individuals have a purpose strong enough to make them form the habit of doing things they don't like to do in order to accomplish the purpose they want to accomplish .
 
DON'T APOLOGIZE FOR TRYING TO WIN After you've worked to develop you character, after you've spent the long hours practicing to get your edge, after you've brought yourself to a mental and a physcical peak, you find out.  You step onto the field, the court or the mat and you find out who the winner is-you or the guy staring you in the eye.
Don't be afraid to be a winner.  Win with class, win with character.  You've worked hard, you've paid the price and you deserve to win.  You can fight like the devil to win and still have class.  the harder you fight, the more you try to win, the more people will respect you.
Get used to competition because you'll be competing all your life.  In school, you compete for grades.  In business, you'll be competing to make the sale.
Don't let people convince you that winning insports is not important, that grades aren't important or that making the sale is not important.  If you don't have hour share of victgorie, you won't be on the team for very long.  If your goal is to get into graduate school, you had better plan on getting your share of A's.  and if you want to keep your job, you better make a sale now and then.  Nice tries and great efforts don't buy many groceries in the real world.
Another reason why winning is so important is that success will help you to maintain your enthusiasm.  How long will you remain excited about your sport if you go out each week and get beat?  Without enthusiasm, you are likely to work less than you should and you are likely to lose again.  Losing is a tough habit to break.
Don't say that you're not in a sport to win.  No apologies are needed.  somebody is going to win, you or your opponent.  You make that decision-but before you do, remember it doesn't matter if you win or lose until you lose.
  WINNING EDGE:  USE OF VISUALIZATION   1. Basic Theory
a.    All actions start with thoughts.
b.    Learn by trial and error.
c.    Once a correct or successful response is learned, it is remembered for future use (forget failures).
d.    Every person has a built-in guidance system or goal-striving device.
e.    Mind cannot tell difference between real and imagined experience.
f.    Principles:
      1.    Must have a goal or target.
      2.    Must be oriented to and on results.
      3.    Do not be afraid of mistakes.
      4    Skill learning is by trial and error.
2. Picture said in a certain manner-nearly same as actual performance.
3. Before we can be, we must become, before we become, we must be able to visualize our goals.
4. If you want to achieve a thing, see it, visualize it, close your eyes a moment.  Get the mental picture.  Practice learning to think in pictures.  It must be mentally accomplished before it is materially accomplished.
5.    USE OF VISUALIZATION ON OWN:
    a.    You must believe that mind cannot tell difference between real and imagined     experience.
    b.    If you repeat something successfully over a long period of time, it becomes a habit.
    c.    If you practice something successfully in your mind, it is almost like actually doing it.
    d.    Visualize techniques, skills, charges, etc. but always successfully.  Remember, the more realistic you visualize, the more closely it will be associated with the real technique, etc.
    e.    This is easy practice - requires no physical effort, only concentration of mind.
    f.    You can visualize at anytime - in the morning, or before bedtime, at lunch, one the"throne", etc.
    g.    If you visualize something enough when you do actually do it, you will have a feeling of having done it before successfully.
    h.    Helps to develop the habit of thinking positive.
    i.    Does not replace npractice or on field technique - it is only a learning aid - it can give you the extra edge.
    j.    It is not easy to do at first - it requires concentration on your part - you must develop the habit of visualizing.
  "AND THEN SOME"   A prominent salesman summed up his success in three simple words - And Then Some. "I discovered at an early age," he said, "that most of the difference between the average and top people could be explained in three words.  The top people did what was expected of them - and then some .  They were thoughtful of others;they were considerate and kind - and then some.  They met their obligations fairly and squarely - and then some.  They were good friends to their freiends and they could be counted on in an emergency - and then some."  
MENTAL STANCE
1.  Believe that you can achieve success.
2.  Believe in your ability.
3.  Believe in hard work.
4.  As a player believes, so he is.
5.  Belief enables a player to do the impossible.
RECIPE FOR GREATNESS
To bear up under a loss; to fight the bitterness of defeat; to be victor over anger; to smile when tears are close.  this is what any man can do and be great.
FOR A GREAT TEAM
1. Talk of Winning..
2. Talk of confidence, Poise, Knowledge.
3. Talk of becoming a Great Team.
4. Talk of Enthusiasm, of always trying.
5. Talk of Agressiveness.
DYNAMICS OF A WINNER
DESIRE:    The enjoyment of competition and the ability to be assertive.
DEDICATION:    The willingness and determination to work toward the common goals.   Working tirelessly, never quitting.
CONFIDENCE:    The belief in one's ability and the willingness to take the responsibility for one's actions.
LOYALTY:    The willingness to make a committment to one's coaches, team and oneself.
  TEN REASONS WHY I SWEAR   1.  It pleases my mother so much.
2.  It is a fine mark of manliness.
3.  It proves I have self-control.
4. It indicates how clearly my mind operates.
5.  It makes my conversation so pleasing to everybody.
6.  It leaves no doubt in anyone's mind as to my good breeding.
7.  It impresses people that I have more than ordinary education.
8.  It is an unmistakable sign of culture and refinement.
9.  It makes me a very desireable personality among women, children, and respectable society.
10.  It is my way of honoring God who said, "Thou shalt not take the nome of the Lord in vain."
  MAXIMS OF FOOTBALL SUCCESS  
1.  NEVER QUIT (Make this a habit in everything you do.  Don't take the easy way out and be a quitter.)
2.  Think in terms of TEAM success.  Learn to get along with one another, to help one another, and to enjoy playing together as a TEAM.
3.  Never be annoyed by a coach's criticism.  Be worried when you receive no criticism, as this shows you haven't made yourself noticeable yet or you are slipping.
4.  Do not make excuses-make good!
5.  Plan to be a hard worker, welcome tough situations.
6.  Practice develops habits of behavior; only perfect practice, therefore makes for perfection.
7.  DO NOT EVER THINK YOU ARE GOOD ENOUGH TO BE ABLE TO MISS PRACTICE:  NO ONE IS GOOD ENOUGH NOT TO BE ABLE TO MAKE HIMSELF A LITTLE BETTER FOR THE TEAM'S SAKE.
8.  A player who places personal glory and success above the best interests of the team is a liability rather than an asset.
9.  Football and academics come first; everything else is secondary during football season.
10.  Have a tough mental attitude.
  WHAT IS CLASS?   Class never runs scared.  It is sure-footed and confident in the knowledge that you can meet life head-on and handle whatever comes along.
Jacob had it. Esau didn't.  Symbolically, we can look to Jacob's wrestling match with the angel.  Those who have class have wrestled with their own personal "angel" and won a victory that marks them thereafter.
Class never makes excuses.  It takes its lumps and learns from past mistakes.
Class is considerate of others.  It knows that good manners are nothing more than a series of petty sacifices.
Class bespeaks an aristocracy that has nothing to do with ancestors or money.  The most affluent blueblood can be totally without class while the descendant of a Welsh miner may ooze class from every pore.
Class never tries to build itself up by tearing others down.
Class is already up and need not strive to look better by making others look worse.
Class can "walk with kings and keep its virtue, and talk with crowds and keep the common touch."  Everyone is comfortable with the person who has class--because he is comfortable with himself.
If you have class, you don't need much of anything else.  If you don't have it, no matter what else you have--it doesn't make much difference.
  IT TAKES ONLY TWO PERCENT... By Gene Emmet Clark, D.D.   Have you been working like a horse?
I've been thinking about that expression--and at least one horse I can name has earned a pretty fair hourly rate.  someone has figured out that the race horse, Nashua, earned more than a millon dollars in a total racing time that added up to less than one-hour!
That's pretty good pay.  Of course, we know that many, many more hours went into preparing for that winning hour of racing.
But there is something else here that interests me.  What is there about a horse like Nashua that mad him such a consistent winner and made him so valuable?  You'd probably pay a hundred times as much for a horse like Nashua as you would for an ordinary race horse.  But is he a hundred times faster?  No.  To be a consistent winner and to be worth a hundred times as much as the average, he needed only to be consistent in finishing just ahead of the rest.
All he had to do was win a good share of the time by a nose to be worth a hundred times as much as an also-ran.  And so it is with human beings who are on top in the game of life.
A writer in a national magazine made the assertion that the difference between a man of achievement and that man of mediocrity is a difference of only about two percent in study, application, interest, attention, and effort.
Only about two percent separates the winner from the loser!  A boxer can win the world's championship simply by winning one more round than his opponent--or even by being only a point or two ahead.  And this narrow margin can make the difference between fame and fortune or never being heard of again!  Its often a matter of only two percent.  We have no idea of what a change we could make in our results if we would simply add that two percent more time and effort than the average person is willing to put in.
  THE GREATEST CHAMPIONS REACT TO DEFEAT IN A POSITIVE WAY LEARNING FROM FAILURE   There are times when the ability to learn from failure is a great tactic.  Olympic decathalon champion Rafer Johnson develops the point: "The most enjoyment I had in the past was not always winning: What gave me the biggest thrill was the way I reacted when I was beaten--what I thought about and how I came back from defeat.  To my mind, the geat champions are the ones who are able to react to defeat in a positive way.  I'd much rather climb into the head of someone who's lost and see what made that person come back to be a victor, than climb into the head of a winner.  You can probably learn more from the failures rather than the successes of others.  That somebody wins all the time does not necessarily mean they are successful."
 
CONFIDENCE...FAITH IN MYSELF   God gives me faith in myself.
Not only on the days when I am going great and winning and nothing seems impossible, but on days when I wonder if I am brave enough, smart enough, strong enough.
Don't let me quit, not ever.  Let me keep faith in myself.  No matter how many people discourage me, doubt me, laugh at me, warn me, think me a foot, don't let me listen.  Let me hear another voice telling me, "You can do it, and you will!"  If nobody else in the whole world gives a darn or believes in me, let me believe in myself.  I know thee will be times when I doubt my own ability, I will be discouraged, on the verge of despair.  Don't let me give up, hang on to me.  Fan the fires of my faith so that I will try even harder.  Give me even more faith in myself.  You are the source of my abilities and my faith.  I know that you will give me what I ask...Faith in myself.
  FEAR AND FAITH   Fear imprisons, faith liberates; fear paralizes, faith empowers; fear disheartens, faith encourages; fear sickens, faith heals; fear makes useless, faith makes serviceable--and, most of all, fear puts hopelessness at the heart of life, while faith rejoices in its God -The Treasure Chest-   I AM A WINNER   ...because I think like a winner, prepare like a winner, and perform like a winner. ...because I set high but attainable goals, work toward those goals with determination and persistence, and never stop until I reach them. ...because I am strong enough to say "No!" to those things that would make me less than my best, and to say "Yes!" to the challenges and opportunities that will make me grow and improve my life. ...because total commitment is my constant comanion, and personal integrity is my lifetime mentor. ...because I am learning to avoid the tempting shorcuts that can lead to disapointment, and the unhealthy habits that could result in defeat. ...because I have a well-earned confidence in myself, a high regard for my teamates and co-workers, and a healthy respect for those in authority over me. ...because I have learned to accept criticism, not as a threat, but as an opportunity toexamine my attitudes and improve my skills. ...because I persevere in the midst of obstacles and fight on in the face of defeat. ...because I am made in the image and likeness of my Creator, who gave me a burning desire, a measure of talent, and a strong faith to attempt the difficult and to overcome the seemingly impossible. ...because of my enthusiasm for life, my enjoyment of the present, and my trust in the future.             -William Arthur Ward   DISCIPLINE   DEFINITION: "Training that is expected to produce a specified character or pattern of behavior."
1)  Bobby Knight's Definition:    Do what has to be done; When it has to be done; As well as it can be done; and do it that way all the time.
2)  Tom Landry: "Setting a goal is not the main thing.  It is deciding how you will go about achieving it and staying with the plan.  The key is discipline--without it there is no morale."
3) Vince Lombardi: "You teach discipline by doing it over and over; by repetition."
4)  Bob Richards:  "One of the greatest lessons I've learned in athletics is that you've got to discipline your life.  No matter how good you may be, you've got to be willing to cut out of your life those things that keep you from going to the top."
5)  Jerry West:  "You can't get much done in life if you only work on the days when you feel good."
6) Discipline in football is executing fundamentals and techniques the right way under pressure.
7)  Hebrews 12:11:  "For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant; later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it."
8) United States Army: Self-Discipline is doing what you are supposed to do when a person in authority is not there to ensure that you do it.
9)  Discipline implies subjection to a control exerted for the good of the whole, the adherence to rules or policies extended for the orderly coordination of effort.
10)  Discipline:  Do it Right! Do it hard! Or Do It Again!!
 
DISCIPLINE   Discipline is what you do when no one is looking!  It's being considerate of the other person.  Having good personal habits--you are polite, on time, taking care of business with pride.  We must be disciplined as individuals first, and than as a team.   DISCIPLINED PLAYER:
  1.    Knows the importance of BEING ON TIME.
2.    Hard work in practice has taught him the value of regular hours and good training habits.
3.    Has learned that the TEAM comes before himself.  This strengthens his character; as he is sometimes called upon to sacrifice for others.
4.    Has learned to take orders; in taking orders he learns how to give them.
5.    Knows discipline is the essence of every successful organization; as a member of the team, he understands the need for it.
6.    Has learned that many of these things establish a degree of self-discipline.
  DISCIPLINED FOOTBALL TEAM:
1.    Doesn't beat itself by mistakes.
2.    Keeps penalties to aminumum.
3.    Is always ready to play--INTENSITY.
4.    Has the guts to come back from behind.
5.    Rises above adversity.
6.    Never, never quits.
TEAMWORK   T    Together
E    Everyone
A    Accomplishes
M    More
TEAM TEAM TEAM TEAM TEAM ME     THE CHEMISTRY OF A GREAT TEAM   1.  Must be worked at--nothing for granted.
2.  All seasons are different--none the same.
3.  Founded on respect.
 
 
Commitment is the thing.  soldiers in the ranks have rarely, over the ages, fought for king, county, feedom or moral principle.  More than anything else, men have fought and winners have won because of a commitment--to a leader--and to a small brotherhood where the ties that bind are mutual respect and confidence--shared privation--shared hazard--shared triumph--a willingness to obey and determination to follow.
An anonomys Marine once wrote:
"And then in one of those great thundering jolts in which a man's real motives are revealed to him in an electrifying vision, I understand at last, why I jumped hospital that Sunday 35 years ago and, in violation of orders, returned to the front and almost certain death.
It was an act of love.  Those men on the line were my family, my home.  They were closer to me than I can say, closer than any friends had ever been or ever would be.  They had never let me down, and I couldn't do it to them.  I had to be with them, rather than let them die and live with the knowledge that I might have saved them.  Men, I now knew, do not fight for flag or country, for the Marine Corps or glory or any other abstraction.  They fight for one another.
Any man in combat who lacks comrades who will die for him, or for whom he is willing to die, is not a man at all.  He is truly dammed."
SAMARAI PRINCIPLES
Revere your fellow Wariors because it is through them that you will be motivated and sustained through the difficult battles.  --Motto of the Miami Redskins Football Team.
  TEAMWORK You can pitch a no-hit game, But it's just another loss If the errors of your teammates Put opponent's runs across. You might be a brilliant runner, Pass and kick with easy grace, But you'll miss the winning Touchdown, If a teammate's out of place. In the sporting world of business, In the office or a mill, Nothying can produce a winner, Like a little teamwork will. -Unknown   TEAMWORK   The world is full of problems, There's much to cause distress; We all are bowed beneath the cares That daily round us press. There's only one solution. "Tis simply stated thus: "A little less of you or me, A little more of us." The rule of each one for himself Most foolish is to follow; It brings no savor to the game, Its victories are hollow. But the other plan has neve failed To bring satisfaction, plus: :A little less of you or me, A little more of us." A flake of snow is very small, "Tis lost to sight quite quickly; But many flakes combined will fill The roads and pathways thickly. United we can face the fight Without distress or fuss; "A little less of you or me, A little more of us."   TEAMWORK   It's all very well to have courage and skill and its fine to be counted a star, but the single deed with it's touch of thrill doesn't tell us the man you are; for there's no lone hand in the game we play, we must work to a bigger scheme, and the thing that counts in the world today is how do you pull with the team? They may sound your praise and may call you great, they may single you out for fame, but you must work with your running mate or never you'll win the game. For never the work of life is done by the mabn with a selfish dream, for the battle is lost or the battle is won by the spirit of the team. You may think it's fine to be praised for skill.  But a greater thing to do is to set your mind and your will on the goal that's just in view; it's helping your fellow man to score when his chances hopeless seem, it's forgetting self til the game is o'er and fighting for the team.   TEAMWORK   Definition:  Work done by a number of associates, all subordinating personal prominence to the efficiency of the whole.  -Webster's Dictionary TEN THOUGHTS ON TEAMWORK
1.  Teamwork is the sure short cut to a good season in sports--the difference between an in-betweener and a real champion.
2.  Teamwork teaches people to sacrifice personal feelings in the interest of a group--his teammates.  It's a quality not for showoffs or big-heads.
3.  Teamwork makes for execution in a team--something fans enjoy watching; something they'll back and support.
4.  Teamwork upsets the best laid plans of opponents.  They can stop an individual star, but can't uncover a scheme to stop a group of players working as a team.
5.  An ant by itself seems to be an insignificant insect, but as a horde it terrifies even a giant elephant.  So does a well balanced team working in unison.
6.  The man sitting out a game on the substitute's bench is as important in a good team as one in action on  the field of play.  For it is his rooting, his enhusiasm that makes the men on the field fight all the harder.
7.  When facing adversity or defeat there is nothing more assuring than men pulling together in a common cause.  It may not always win ball games--but it does make for life-long friendships and memories.
8.  Teamwork requires self-control and self-discipline-elements good atheletes must posess to make for a winning team and season.
9.  Although teamwork accomplishes victories, it is essential to ward off bitterness of defeat--by group determination to practice plays and conditioning that much harder to assure future wins.
10.  Teamwork between coach and players--between children and parents--between students and teacher depend on respect for one another, a common goal, ability to make sacrifices, loyalty and above all, LOVE .
 
 
TEAMWORK   GEESE   Geese don't get high powered press coverage like sea gulls, hawks and eagles.  They are seen as dull, ordinary birds which only attract notice twice a year during migration...Like the Blue Angels, they fly wing tip to wing tip...you can hear the beat of their wings whistling throught the air in unison...and that is the secret of their strength...together operating as a flock... When geese fly in formation, they travel about 70% faster than when they fly alone. Geese share leadership.  When the lead goose tires, he (or she) rotates back into the "V" and another flies forward to become the leader. Geese keep company with the fallen.  When a sick or weak goose drops out of flight formation, at least one other goose joins to help and protect. By being part of a team, we too, can accomplish much more, much faster.  Words of encouragement and support (honking from behind) help inspire and energize those on the front lines, helping them to keep pace in spite of the day-to-day pressures and fatigue. And, finally, show compassion and active caring for our fellow man a member of the ultimate team: "mankind". The next time you see a formation of geese, remember that it is a re- ward, a challenge, and a privilege to be a contributing member of a team.   TEAMWORK   INDIVIDUAL COMMENTS ON THE MEANING OF TEAM BABE RUTH
Major League Pitcher/Outfielder
The way a team plays as a whole determines its success.  You may have the greatest bunch of individual stars in the world, but if they don't play together, the club won't be worth a dime.
JIM PALMER
Major League Pitcher and Sports Broadcaster
You can't win if nobody catches the ball in the outfield.  You're only as good as the team you have behind you.
KAREEM ABDUL-JABBAR
NBA Center
I don't get a big charge out of being the leading scorer.  The object of competing is winning.  I just try to do what has to be done for us to winb.  That might be anythin at any time--defense, rebounding, passing.  I get satisfaction out of being a team player.
JACK HAM
NFL Linebacker and Sports Broadcaster
This  is going to sound corny, but I really want to contribute my one-forty-fifth that goes into helping the team win a championship.  I remember one year when I made All-Pro and our team didn't do very well--the All Pro thing didn't have much meaning.  You can talk to your mother and your wife and kids about being All Pro, but that's about it.
CHARLEY TAYLOR
NFL Wide receiver
You can't do it alone.  Be a team player, not an individualist, and respect your teammates.  Anything you do, you'll have to do as a team.  Many records have been made, but only because of the help of one's teammates.
FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT
Thirty-Second President
People acting together as a group can accomplish things which no individual acting alone could ever hope to bring about.
Y.A. TITTLE
NFL Quarterback
My job is to try to direct the team over the goal line in some way.  It doesn't make a heck of a lot of difference whether it's 100 yards passing and 300 yards running or 300 passing and 100 running.
HOHN WOODEN
College Basketball Coach
The main ingredient of stardom is the rest of the team.
TOBY HARRAH
Major League Third Basemen
Talk about batting averages, batting titles and hitting .300 means nothing to me.  I don't even know what my batting average is.  It took me a long time to break myself of the habit of checking my average on the scoreboard before every at-bat.  Baseball is a team game.  What really counts is the standings--wins and losses.  Besides, statistics don't measure the full worth of a player.  They don't show when he advances a runner, or when he drives in a player from third with less than two outs.
JACK WHITAKER
Sports Broadcaster
The sports world is aclassic example of the game of life.  Much can be accomplished when nobody becomes too concerned with who gets the credit.  Great plays are made possible by unselfish and disciplined individuals who are more concerned with the end results than with personal ones.
ROBIN YOUNT
Major League Shortstop
It feels great to get this type of praise, but I enjoy the wins more because that's what it's all about.  We're out to prove we can beat anybody and prove we're the best in baseball.  My goal never has been to break records.  My goal, my only goal, is to help our team win a World Series.
VINCE LOMBARDI
NFL Coach and General Manager
Individual commitment to a group effort--that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.
KNUTE ROCKNE
College Football Coach
The secret of winning football games is working more as a team, less as individuals.  I play not my 11 best, but my best 11.
WALTER ALSTON
Major League Manager
Baseball's a team game.  It's not just the nine guys on the field but all 25 of them.  No one man or two men can do it all.
MIKE ERUZIONE
Amateur Center--Olympic Gold Medalist
We all cam together six months before the 1980 Winter Olympics with different styles of hockey and different ethnic beliefs...but we made ourselves a team.  Individually, we could not have done it.
WAYNE GRETZKY
NHL Center
One guy can't win the Stanley Cup or the Boston Bruins would have won it seven straight years with Bobby Orr.  The better the team plays, the better you play.
JIM CLARK
Race Car Driver
Preparation is a combination of a lot of effort by a great many people.  The enjine manufacturers and our own mechanics, who strip the cars from the last race, test everything to make sure that we're setting up as good of a car as we can for the next race.  I get a lot of the glory, but it is not a one-man effort.  It is all these people working together very enthusiastically to make certain I've got the best car possible.
B.C. FORBES
American Publisher
Large-scale business today is spelled "Teamwork."  The successful teamworker doesn't wear a chip on his shoulder, doesn't look for slights, isn't constantly on the alert lest his "dignity" be insulted.  He puts the good of the house-the company or team-first.  And if the whole prospers, he, as anactive, effective, progressive part of it, will prosper with it.
VINCE LOMBARDI
NFL Coach and General Manager
Teamwork is what the Green Bay Packers were all about.  They didn't do it for individual glory.  They did it because they loved one another.
LARRY GURA
Major League Pitcher
As far as I'm concerned, you shouldn't keep individual stats.  Baseball is a team game.  The only thing that counts is how many games the team has won.
PETE CARRIL
College Basketball Coach
In a team sport like basketball, every time you help somebody else, you help yourself.
RUDYARD KIPLING English Poet/Novelist Now this is the law of the jungle- As old and as true as the sky; And the wolf that keep it may prosper But the wolf that shall break it must die. As the creeper that girdles the tree trunk, The law runneth forward and back- And the strength of the pack is the wolf And the strength of the wolf is the pack. BLANTON COLLIER
NFL Coach
It's amazing how much can be accomplished if no one cares who gets the credit.
FRANK GIFFORD
NFL Halfback/End and Sports Broadcaster
I was a better football player because the team was better-the same is true today with Don and Howie.
KEITH HERNANDEZ
Major League First Baseman
The only statistics I pay close attention to are the number of runs scored and the number of RBI's because those are the production categories.  They are the only ones that help the team win ball games.
ROY CAMPANELLA
Major League Catcher
I am proud of all my trophies, but truthfully when I was playing, I never thought of records.  I just tried to do all I possibly could to help the team win.
BILL FOSTER
College Basketball Coach
There is no letter I in the word teamwork.
FRAN TARKENTON
NFL Quarterback and Sports Broadcaster
Quarterbacks don't win or lose footbll games.  Teams do.
SIDNEY POWELL
American Clergyman/Author
Try to forget yourself in the service of others.  for when we think too much of ourselves and our own interests, we easily become despondent.  But when we work for others, our efforts return to bless us.
PHIL ESPOSITO
NHL Center and General Manager
In the game of hockey, it takes six to tango.  You gotta stand up for your teammates.
TOM LANDRY
NFL Defensive Back and Coach
There's a misconception about teamwork.  Teamwork is the ability to have different thoughts about things; it's the ability to argue and stand up and say loud and strong what you feel.  But in the end, it's also the ability to adjust to what is best for the team.
BOB BERRY
NHL Coach
My coaching ph8losophy won't fill a book.  Stated very simply, it's to be prepared for anything.  There has to be discipline and strong defense.  What I mean by strong defense is not only having good defensemen.  It means all six men playing good defense at the same time.  We are a group...a team.
DIGGER PHELPS
College Basketball Coach
A few mistakes don't worry me; what worries me is when you make the mistakes and then forget your role on the team and start to worry about your ego.
JOHN MADDEN
NFL Coach and Sports Broadcaster
There is one key point about picking the so-called "great athlete."  It doesn't mean a thing if he doesn't perform with the team in mind.
RED HOLZMAN
NBA Coach
Work as hard as you possibly can within the team structure.
JIM ZORN
NFL Quarterback
I'm only a reflection of what our team is.
JULIUS ERVING
NBA Forward
When people tell me fans are cheated because they came to see me do this or that, I tell them that supposedly they ae coming to see the team win.  The role of a player should be results first, effects second.  I don't go in to dunk the ball or dribble behind my back for the effect of doing it.  Those were skills that were developed in the course of trying to reach my potential as a player.  My methods have created a reputation for myself because it has a certain effect on people watching the game.  If they like it and dig it-hey, that's cool.  But if they don't like me shooting a lay-up instead of dunking the ball, theyll have to realize that I'm out there to help the team win.
ALAN ALDA
Actor, Producer and Director
On the set, I like for everyone to eat together, share food and stories, and kid and joke because some of that comes over into the working day.  The comfort you estalish among each other shows on the screen.
JACK PARDEE
NFL Linebacker, Coach
The finest compliment that anyone can pay to a person is to say that he is a complete team player.  To deserve this tribute, your every thought , action, and deed should be one that you are doing for the team.
TOMMY LASORDA
Major League Manager
If you take 25 players, seven coaches, a manager and the front-office staff and put them all on one end of a rope pulling together, they will win.  They can't be stopped.

You wonder how they do it
you look to see the knack
you watch the foot in action
or the shoulders or the back
but when you find the answer
where the higher glamours lurk
you'll find in moving higher
up the laurel covered spire
the most of it is practice and
the rest of it is work.
              Grantland Rice