ON DISCOVERY

Here are three things that I have recently been reminded of (which is like a new discovery) or have discovered to be true:

Recently science has discovered or learned or whatever, that there are tiny receptors, reservoirs, at the tip of all nerve endings where either endorphins & enkephalins or barbiturates & depressants are retained for hours on end. Two things here:

a. The runner’s high is for real. Endorphins & enkephalins are pain killing drugs that are produced by the brain so ease the pain of hard physical exercise. All runners know that the ‘high’ they experience after working out lasts up to 24 hours – till the next run. That’s why if they miss a day or two they get really antsy.

b. Same thing holds true if you are sad or depressed. The ‘mood’ continues. You get into a funk. The feeling perpetuates itself until you break the cycle and do something to clear out the ‘downers’ and replace them with something else . . . endorphins & enkephalins.

Your perceptions have the power to change your genetic makeup; Your beliefs can and do control your biology. One of the things that I used to teach in psychology class was, “Don’t think Bad thoughts, think Glad thoughts.” Thinking makes it so. If you are thinking or surrounded by dark, depressing thoughts, words, actions, then your brain will produce a corresponding set of drugs that will flood the system and be retained in those reservoirs in all those nerve endings. Correspondingly, if you are thinking good thoughts, then those feel good drugs are entering the system and being retained. Zig Ziglar preachers to fill your mind with the “good, the clean, the pure, the powerful and the positive” and I would add to stay away from the “bad, dirty, tainted, weak, negative” inputs.

We also know that you are motivated by your current most dominant thought and the mind completes whatever picture you put into it. So . . . knowing this, which kind of day, week, month, year do you want to have? Good, clean, pure, powerful, and positive; or bad, dirty, tainted, weak, negative? The choice is up to you.

A recent study concluded that physical performance was significantly improved when the subject (player) has a goal, feedback and encouragement. In the study, people who were challenged with setting a better personal mark, given feedback on how they were doing and provided positive encouragement did 30+% better than they had no goal, given no feedback or encouragement.

So knowing these three things, what should you be doing as a coach to provide the best possible training and guidance through the season? What are the perceptions that they take with them out the locker room door at the end of the practice day? What will stick in their system for the next 24 hours till the come back for more? What kind of feedback are you providing? How do you encourage them to do their best?

We now know more than ever what you say to them affects not only their emotional but physical chemistry and is retained for an extended time period.

You can get them to play above their heads. You can get them to achieve beyond what anyone ever expected – even themselves. You can actually orchestrate it. “Your vision of the future, determines your future reality.” What you say to them becomes what they ‘see’ (perceive) which alters their chemical balance for better or worse.

The question is, “Which do you want for your team?”

• How to Stay in First Place
  
  1. Passion: Passion gives credibility. Passion creates energy.
  
  Passion Principles:
  
  Connect your passion with your Values
  
  Connect your passion with your Giftedness
  
  Connect your passion with your Team
  
  Connect your passion with your Growth

• 2. Practices (every day drills):
  
  First Place Practices:
  
  Make Every Day Your Masterpiece
  
  Make your Attitude the Difference Maker
  
  Run like you are in second place
  
  Stay with your Strengths
  
  Strength your talent by making Right Choices
  
  Enjoy success but Learn from your losses.
  
  Set your own high standards for success.
  
  Develop the right set of Attitudes and Habits
  
  
  3. People – Teamwork
  
  Why teams are superior to individual effort:
  
  Teams involve more people, thus affording more resources, ideas and energy than would an individual.
  Teams maximize a leader’s potential and minimize his weaknesses. Strengths and weaknesses are more exposed in individuals.
  
  Teams provide multiple perspectives of how to meet a need or reach a goal, thus devising several alternatives for each situation.
  
  Teams share the credit for victories and the blame for losses.
  
  Teams keep leaders accountable for the goal.
  
  Teams can simply do more than an individual
  

Time OFF

Got a MSG from a coach who asked about taking 'time off' - Here is something I wrote years ago:

The idea that we need “time off”
Comes from working for another,
To fulfill another man's dream.
If your life is directed
Toward fulfilling your dream,
Why would you want to take
“Time off” from that?

Are you engaged in a job or a career? A job is something that you do to make some money so that you can maintain a certain standard of living. High School students bag at the food market, flip burgers at the fast food establishments, bus tables in restaurants to make a few bucks to buy some stuff.

Making a career out of, “Will that be paper, or plastic?” however, is not what anyone would visualize themselves doing ten or fifteen years down the road.

A career is what you do, not only for money, but there are a great deal of other “intangibles” that are involved such as: rewarding, satisfying, fulfilling, actualizing. James A. Michner paints a good picture saying, “The Master in the Art of Living simply pursues his vision of excellence at whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing. To him, he’s always doing both.” When you are in the active pursuit of making your dreams come true, why would you ever want to take time off from that?

People have been criticized as workaholics. Are they really workaholics or do they just love what they do? When you love what you do, are absolutely enthralled, so totally engrossed in the task at hand that you transcend time, how can that be considered work?

Is this totally transcended state of being a rare occurrence in our society? Not if we look at our children who become infatuated with the latest computer or arcade game. They can sit and play that game for hours and hours and never tire of it. Parents have a hard time understanding how their kids can spend so much time with the same game. It’s not too big a stretch to say that the same type of misunderstanding may exist when those people engaged in “work” view those who are on a career mission.

Many of us have to rekindle those feelings of youth when we were enthusiastic, dedicated, committed, and absolutely determined to succeed.

Determine what you want to be, do and have; summon up the courage to follow that dream and attack it with the freshness of youth.

Each year during 2-A-Days a Super Booster would host the team for a Bar-B-Que at his house and pool. We would always have a belly flop contest judged by coaches wives and filmed for lifetime memories. We had prelims and finals.
After the feed and the flop, we would form the team into a circle surrounding the Seniors who made up the inner circle. Each Senior, including the cheerleaders would stand and talk about “what it means to be a Ranger” in this their final season.
Very emotional; You may want to try it.

2-A-day Activity

One of the things we started to do prior to each fall season would be to take athletes from school (all sports that wanted to go) to a BFS/FCA camp experience.

There are no FCA camps near the Pacific NW and the kids would have to travel to CO or CA to attend and spend lots of money to go, so I organized a camp of our own. We would drive with the help of some parents to Southern Oregon on a FRI and come back on Sunday afternoon.

We would combine Be An 11 activities with FCA devotions wrapped around white water rafting on a wild and scenic river. We have a great youth minister in town who conducted the devotions and another BFS clinician and I did the motivation stuff.

One of the activities we would carryover when we came back for two-a-days. You can use this with your team.

Break the team down into sub teams of 11 athletes on each team and use team competitions at the end of practice for conditioning. When you make it a competition, the intensity rises, and there’s a lot more fun.

At the end of practice, the winning team would be presented with a Prize – sometimes the cheerleaders would show up with popcicles for the winners, a mom would show up with cold lemonade, ice cold watermelon, or ice cream bars or whatever – be creative. Doesn’t have to be much to get them excited.

One more thing. At the end of camp we would conduct the Slip-N-Slide World Championships. Go down to Home Depot and buy a roll of plastic, find a gentle slope to put it on, water it down, soap up and let the judging begin. Want to see 16 year olds become 6 again (and even some 36 year old parents and coaches)? Roll out the plastic.

To start off the competition we would have some crazy competition. Like one year we had doughnuts on a rope. Team members would have to sprint and slid to one end of the run, eat a doughnut off the line with their hands behind their backs, relay back to start and repeat till all doughnuts are gone and winner declared. Everyone has a great time. Note: do not soap up till the doughnuts are eaten. There are other competitions you could dream up. Use your imagination.

When we got back to practice…….got to the point that on the last 2Aday practice, we would get the plastic out, make several runs across the field and would have 3-5 slip-N-slides going at the same time.

Make those conditioning activities at the end of practice fun sometimes and create some lifetime memories.