Turning Around

I am often asked how are BFS/Be 11 schools able to turn things around in a very short period of time? After some recent discussions in our Be An 11 Class, conversations with coaches and some recent clinic experiences, I can offer up the following explanation.
I recently read a piece by Jim Rohn entitled “How to Turn Nothing Into Something” which got me to thinking about how I have used BFS/Be 11 principles to reestablish winning traditions at several schools that I have had the privilege to coach or taken schools with winning records to ever higher levels of performance previously thought to be unattainable. Of course, there are hundreds of coaches across the nation that are doing the same as well.

It is especially gratifying to turn a program completely around. There is no greater thrill for a coach than to see the change that takes place on the faces and in the hearts of kids when they go from O-For to Champions, to literally turn what others may think is a “Nothing” program into “Something,” a Championship program.

The process begins with an idea, a vision, one that is so real, so compelling that it stirs you to action. I now live at the end of the Oregon Trail and have often wondered what kept those pioneers going day after day, 10 to 15 miles a day, hardship after hardship, tossing out their belongings along the way to lighten the load. The next time you speed along the interstate at 70 mph between Missouri and Oregon, remember it took more than five days to travel what you do in less than an hour. What kept them going? It was the vision of a better tomorrow. They had dreamed of making a better life at the end of the trail. They were now on that trail in the active process of bringing that dream to life. As Rohn states, “Dreams are a projection of the kind of life you want to lead. They can make you skip over obstacles, they unleash a creative force that can overpower anything in your path.”

So it is with BFS. Invariably at BFS Clinics and Seminars athletes achieve at levels they had not previously not thought about much less envision. Once at a recent clinic there was a group of O-Line athletes whose goal for the year was to dead lift 350 pounds. On the night of the clinic two of the athletes pulled 405 pounds and two more went on to pull 525 pounds. They astounded themselves . . . and their teammates . . . . and their coaches as well as everyone else in attendance. They all began, right there, to think of themselves differently and what they might possibly be able to do as a team, as a school, if they committed themselves to Being An 11 and making that effort to help each other achieve at the highest levels, to encourage each other to make a State Championship Effort each day. Creating this vision of what might be possible is putting Power Axiom #1 into action: Establish Noble Goals (Visions).

BFS reignites the fires of the imagination and people envision all the possibilities. Coaches, athletes, communities catch on fire with what is possible. When athletes see their teammates smash their records, they begin to adopt an attitude, a belief, that “If they can do it, I can to.” Everyone then goes to work to perform at levels previously thought to be out of reach.

They also begin to create a picture of what their future athletic seasons will be with their newly created size, strength, speed and explosiveness. Like those Oregon Trail pioneers who had a dream, these kids dare to dream again, BIG Dreams. Those pioneers created a compelling vision that pulled them along. In their minds they were already on the other side of the mountains, living a better life in the Williamette River valley. Their bodies just hadn’t gotten there yet. Stories in the Be An 11 Guidebook like Kevin Wilson, Jeffrie Banks and Andrew illustrate that point. When Kevin Wilson was in the hospital and wrote “Today I Win,” he created a vision of what was possible, of what was going to be. His body just had to catch up to the vision. He overcame the greatest obstacles to don the uniform again when everyone said it would be impossible. He created a compelling vision of the future to pull him along into reality.

BFS helps people believe in themselves and their teammates. Once everyone on the team starts to realize the benefits. Once those eight or more records a week begin to fall, teams begin to imagine all the possibilities. As their individual and team strength develops, so does their vision of the future. They allow themselves to Dream the Biggest Dream again. They develop a picture of the perfect end result that pulls them along. The harder they work together (Power Axiom #2: Work Ethic) the more clearer and compelling the vision becomes. Just like those Oregon Trail pioneers, BFS/Be 11 athletes are already in the Champions’ Circle. Their bodies just haven’t gotten there yet.

Rohn concludes, “So the first step is to allow yourself the freedom to imagine all the possibilities, the second is to have the faith that what is possible is possible for you, the third step is to go to work to make it real. You go to work to make it a movement, you make it tangible. You make it viable. You breathe life into it and then you construct it.” Think about it. You are performing CPR on your own dream making process; that same process that you used when you were five years old and able to envision worlds to conquer on a daily basis.

When you put this process to work, you will achieve success previously thought to be impossible. Outside people will search for reasons why. They will call you lucky. They will say it’s a “miracle season.” They are people who do not have the strength of will to create a vision and work hard to breathe life into it and make it real.

The process works. It has been done hundreds of times in hundreds of schools across the nation. There are schools right now in the process of realizing their next Dream Season. We will write about them in the Journal. It all begins with an attitude, an expectation, a dream coupled with a commitment to work to make it happen. What are you waiting for?