Coach Bruce Brown
Recently I had the thrill and privilege to hear Coach Bruce Brown speak at an athletic directors’ conference. Brown clarified how he defined a true athlete, or what he called simply an athlete in contrast to those non-athletes or selective athletes that also inhabit various high school or even college sports teams.
He defines non-athletes not as people who don’t play, but rather as people who play but just don’t get it.
Coachable
In contrast, what Brown calls an athlete is a person that is coachable – someone who has learned to take correction as a compliment. An athlete looks the corrector directly in the eye, is not fearful, and feels that s/he might get something useful from what s/he is being told.
Discipline
An athlete has discipline – discipline to focus his/her attention and to focus his/her effort. It includes the discipline to respect authority, to prepared, to practice, to model good sportsmanship, and to do what is right regardless of what anyone else does to her/him. Non-athletes see discipline only as punishment.
Accountable
Athletes are accountable – which Coach Brown defines as being reliable for doing the work that needs to be done. An athlete works out just as hard when the coach isn’t right there watching. An athlete holds herself/himself accountable and a team holds each other accountable.
Integrity
An athlete has integrity – in which yes means yes, no means no, your handshake seals the deal, and his/her signature has meaning. A non-athlete says what others want to hear and then goes on to do what s/he wants to do anyway. To Coach Brown, if you don’t have integrity, nothing else matters; and if you do have integrity, nothing else matters.
Mentally Tough
An athlete is mentally tough. Mentally tough people’s spirits can’t be broken. Mentally tough people are priceless to a team, and mentally weak people are like dragging around a dead carcass. The mentally weak get discouraged and indulge drama. A team that has drama is not a team. Coach Brown believes the test for mental toughness is how fast a person recovers from a mistake. If in a volleyball match, a player that shanks the ball when it is served to her/him and doesn’t recover quickly before the next serve should not be surprised to shank it as well.
Selfless
An athlete is selfless, not selfish. An athlete puts the team first. Everything a player does impacts the rest of the team. Every decision a player makes impacts the rest of the team. An athlete does nothing to hurt his/her team. Coach Brown made very few rules for teams he coached. He had one overall standard: don’t let your teammates down. An athlete feels s/he owes it to his/her teammates to listen and get it the first time, or to seek help if s/he doesn’t understand.
Selective Participants
Coach Brown describes some non-athletes as selective participants. These players usually are born with talent, but believe that their talent is enough. They often believe that the team might lose without them and therefore they’re the exception who is above the rules. Selective participants often choose when to listen or when to tune out, when to work out, often criticize others, take short cuts, have easy days, take days off, avoid responsibility, view something only for what they get out of it, come late, leave early, and often claim to have injuries when the practice gets physically tough.
Conversely, athletes give you their best, thrive on the challenge, and don’t need to look at the scoreboard to know how they’re doing. In their heart, they know. The don’t make excuses.
Why Play Sports?
Now questions can be asked as to why play sports, and if the importance of sports isn’t blown out of proportion. In response, let me answer these questions with other questions. Where else in high school is a student pushed fully to be a participant, more than merely a passive observer; where else is a student challenged to go beyond whatever their current limits are intellectually, physically and most importantly, emotionally? How better to prepare a student for the emotional, intellectual and physical challenges that lay ahead in real life; how better to have the motivation and opportunities to practice and develop the kind of skills one needs to be successful in the real world – both as an individual as well as a member of a team?
4th Quarter and Down Two Points
Now imagine that it is fourth quarter, there are less than two minutes remaining, and your team is down by two points. Who do you want out on the court, the athlete or the non-athlete?
Real Life
Now imagine further that the game is not football or basketball, but rather some real life challenge such as facing cancer or some other serious illness or injury, or coping with a financial setback or loss of job, or a house burns to the ground, or having to overcome any number of other obstacles.
Imagine that instead of athletes, we are educators; instead of a team, we are a school district, and imagine that instead of being behind in the score, we are behind financially. When the challenge is the toughest, a coach wants the true athlete in the game. Imagine if with only two minutes left, the non-athlete chooses then to publicly and loudly criticize the coach because the team is not winning. What coach at the very least wouldn’t want to bench the non-athlete, if not send her/him to the showers or out the door permanently? In real life, would the urge be any different with true professional educators and non-educators when facing a crisis?
It is at times of adversity while under pressure, that a team can either pull together or pull apart. A true team finds ways to pull together, support each other, and face the challenge head on – together. The final question: which are we?
Recently I had the thrill and privilege to hear Coach Bruce Brown speak at an athletic directors’ conference. Brown clarified how he defined a true athlete, or what he called simply an athlete in contrast to those non-athletes or selective athletes that also inhabit various high school or even college sports teams.
He defines non-athletes not as people who don’t play, but rather as people who play but just don’t get it.
Coachable
In contrast, what Brown calls an athlete is a person that is coachable – someone who has learned to take correction as a compliment. An athlete looks the corrector directly in the eye, is not fearful, and feels that s/he might get something useful from what s/he is being told.
Discipline
An athlete has discipline – discipline to focus his/her attention and to focus his/her effort. It includes the discipline to respect authority, to prepared, to practice, to model good sportsmanship, and to do what is right regardless of what anyone else does to her/him. Non-athletes see discipline only as punishment.
Accountable
Athletes are accountable – which Coach Brown defines as being reliable for doing the work that needs to be done. An athlete works out just as hard when the coach isn’t right there watching. An athlete holds herself/himself accountable and a team holds each other accountable.
Integrity
An athlete has integrity – in which yes means yes, no means no, your handshake seals the deal, and his/her signature has meaning. A non-athlete says what others want to hear and then goes on to do what s/he wants to do anyway. To Coach Brown, if you don’t have integrity, nothing else matters; and if you do have integrity, nothing else matters.
Mentally Tough
An athlete is mentally tough. Mentally tough people’s spirits can’t be broken. Mentally tough people are priceless to a team, and mentally weak people are like dragging around a dead carcass. The mentally weak get discouraged and indulge drama. A team that has drama is not a team. Coach Brown believes the test for mental toughness is how fast a person recovers from a mistake. If in a volleyball match, a player that shanks the ball when it is served to her/him and doesn’t recover quickly before the next serve should not be surprised to shank it as well.
Selfless
An athlete is selfless, not selfish. An athlete puts the team first. Everything a player does impacts the rest of the team. Every decision a player makes impacts the rest of the team. An athlete does nothing to hurt his/her team. Coach Brown made very few rules for teams he coached. He had one overall standard: don’t let your teammates down. An athlete feels s/he owes it to his/her teammates to listen and get it the first time, or to seek help if s/he doesn’t understand.
Selective Participants
Coach Brown describes some non-athletes as selective participants. These players usually are born with talent, but believe that their talent is enough. They often believe that the team might lose without them and therefore they’re the exception who is above the rules. Selective participants often choose when to listen or when to tune out, when to work out, often criticize others, take short cuts, have easy days, take days off, avoid responsibility, view something only for what they get out of it, come late, leave early, and often claim to have injuries when the practice gets physically tough.
Conversely, athletes give you their best, thrive on the challenge, and don’t need to look at the scoreboard to know how they’re doing. In their heart, they know. The don’t make excuses.
Why Play Sports?
Now questions can be asked as to why play sports, and if the importance of sports isn’t blown out of proportion. In response, let me answer these questions with other questions. Where else in high school is a student pushed fully to be a participant, more than merely a passive observer; where else is a student challenged to go beyond whatever their current limits are intellectually, physically and most importantly, emotionally? How better to prepare a student for the emotional, intellectual and physical challenges that lay ahead in real life; how better to have the motivation and opportunities to practice and develop the kind of skills one needs to be successful in the real world – both as an individual as well as a member of a team?
4th Quarter and Down Two Points
Now imagine that it is fourth quarter, there are less than two minutes remaining, and your team is down by two points. Who do you want out on the court, the athlete or the non-athlete?
Real Life
Now imagine further that the game is not football or basketball, but rather some real life challenge such as facing cancer or some other serious illness or injury, or coping with a financial setback or loss of job, or a house burns to the ground, or having to overcome any number of other obstacles.
Imagine that instead of athletes, we are educators; instead of a team, we are a school district, and imagine that instead of being behind in the score, we are behind financially. When the challenge is the toughest, a coach wants the true athlete in the game. Imagine if with only two minutes left, the non-athlete chooses then to publicly and loudly criticize the coach because the team is not winning. What coach at the very least wouldn’t want to bench the non-athlete, if not send her/him to the showers or out the door permanently? In real life, would the urge be any different with true professional educators and non-educators when facing a crisis?
It is at times of adversity while under pressure, that a team can either pull together or pull apart. A true team finds ways to pull together, support each other, and face the challenge head on – together. The final question: which are we?
No comments:
Post a Comment