In my 3rd year coaching, I was on my way out to the field with an older, veteran coach. He was the current d-line coach and I was still very new to learning about the line on both sides of the ball.
"How do you decide which drills you're going to run each day, Coach?" I asked. I'm sure I was really just looking to make conversation, though I'd like to say I was always such an avid student of the game. But for some reason I have always remembered his response.
"Oh I just wait till (defensive) individual time rolls around and decide on the fly. I always work better that way." At that time I remember thinking, 'That can't be the best way.' And as each year passes, that former opinion has now become glaring fact.
No plan? Every human works better with a plan. You mean to tell me that you can't think of a better way to use time when given 20 minutes to think about it than when you're given 20 seconds? You don't seem to be giving yourself much credit.
Just last night I stumbled across an incredible website and was glued for a solid hour. The site? Personal Development TV. It started with a quick video of the famous Tony Robbins. Man, that guy can motivate. And it ended with an old man behind a desk in the 50's, Napoleon Hill. But let me tell you about my favorite for the evening.
The speaker said, "If I were to ask each one of you what 3 x 3 is, all of you could immediately shout out the answer, but if I asked you what is 5,128 x 2,165 odds are enourmous that not many of you could tell me the answer. But if I was to give each of you a pencil and paper, in a few moments all of you could tell me that answer. Why? Because you know the formula." It was a man named Zig Ziglar speaking. Turns out... he's pretty good. See the whole clip here: http://www.personal-development-tv.com/videos/zig-ziglar
I believe whole-heartedly that there is a formula for winning football games. We all know that football is not all about X's and O's. But do we all know that the rest is not just guess work? There IS a list of best practices for coaching football. It is up to each of us as coaches to find that list. I've got a pretty good list myself, but I know for a fact it's unfinished.
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Hello Coach Albaugh,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your kind words about my website Personal-Development-TV.com.
The site’s mission is to inspire people to be the best they can be – and hopefully when my 3 year old daughter grows up she’ll enjoy the site – if the internet doesn’t go the way of the 8 track cassette, or VHS!
I launched the site last week and will be adding in the near future more personal development videos and other self improvement services, and will make available for purchase a book I am finishing about how to lead a fulfilled life and achieve your personal best. The book synthesizes success lessons from the psychological “inside game” in sports, successful business people, martial artists, great inventers, artists, musicians and others.
I sincerely believe that that the lessons and principles that develop character and abilities in people to excel in their pursuits is exemplified by the leadership, commitment, dedication, discipline, sacrifice and teamwork that very talented and passionate coaches such as yourself inspire and develop in those under their supervision.
I think you and your coaching friends and mentors have put together an awesome website with Chiefpigskin.com to provide free video clinics to teach winning football principles, techniques and strategies.
I can think of no one more inspirational and committed to personal excellence and teamwork than the late great football coach Vincent Lombardi. Coach Lombardi was simply an indomitable force of nature! I’ve attached some of my favorite quotes from Coach Lombardi which will be in my book.
Coach Vince Lombardi
A man can be as great as he wants to be. If you believe in yourself and have the courage, the determination, the dedication, the competitive drive and if you are willing to sacrifice the little things in life and pay the price for the things that are worthwhile, it can be done.
Winning is not a sometime thing: it’s an all the time thing. You don’t win once in a while; you don’t do the right thing once in a while; you do them right all the time. Winning is a habit. Unfortunately, so is losing.
Once you learn to quit, it becomes a habit.
Gentlemen, we are going to relentlessly chase perfection, knowing full well we will not catch it, because nothing is perfect. But we are going to relentlessly chase it, because in the process we will catch excellence. I am not remotely interested in just being good.
I’ve never known a man worth his salt who in the long run, deep down in his heart, didn’t appreciate the grind, the discipline. There is something good in men that really yearns for discipline.
Practice does not make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect.
The measure of who we are is what we do with what we have.
The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor.
Once a man has made a commitment to a way of life, he puts the greatest strength in the world behind him. It’s something we call heart power. Once a man has made this commitment, nothing will stop him short of success.
Unless a man believes in himself and makes a total commitment to his career and puts everything he has into it - his mind, his body, his heart - what’s life worth to him?
There’s only one way to succeed in anything, and that is to give it everything. I do, and I demand that my players do.
The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor.
If you’ll not settle for anything less than your best, you will be amazed at what you can accomplish in your life.
Confidence is contagious and so is lack of confidence.
……………………………………….
Wishing you the best!
Jerry Bruckner
Hello again,
ReplyDeleteMore Coach Vincent Lombardi Quotes:
(I couldn’t fit all of the quotes in my first reply)
The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will.
The dictionary is the only place that success comes before work. Hard work is the price we must pay for success. I think you can accomplish anything if you’re willing to pay the price.
It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get up.
Mental toughness is essential to success.
Mental toughness is many things and rather difficult to explain. Its qualities are sacrifice and self-denial. Also, most importantly, it is combined with a perfectly disciplined will that refuses to give in. It’s a state of mind-you could call it character in action.
Winning is not everything, but wanting to win is.
We would accomplish many more things if we did not think of them as impossible.
Individual commitment to a group effort - that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.
People who work together will win, whether it be against complex football defenses, or the problems of modern society.
The achievements of an organization are the results of the combined effort of each individual.
A leader must identify himself with the group, must back up the group, even at the risk of displeasing superiors. He must believe that the group wants from him a sense of approval. If this feeling prevails, production, discipline, morale will be high, and in return, you can demand the cooperation to promote the goals of the company.
Leadership is based on a spiritual quality; the power to inspire, the power to inspire others to follow.
…………………………
Jerry Bruckner