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"Iron Sharpens Iron": Motivation in the weight room and beyond. (Powerline).


WE HAVE ALWAYS believed that the greatest thing about being a strength and conditioning coach is the close and constant interaction you have with the athletes. At times, in fact, such as when the other coaches are out recruiting or attending to other duties, the S & C coach can become the most visible member of the staff.

The proximity of athlete and coach presents the coach with a wonderful opportunity to prepare the athletes for extremely competitive challenges and, at the same time, help them develop into mature and responsible individuals.

Can coaches really make "good people" out of anyone? Or is that just wishful thinking wishful thinking Psychology Dereitic thought that a thing or event should have a specified outcome ? Why are people so ready to sneer at the term "character building?" We have always wondered about that. Is it the message that is viewed so cynically, or is it the messenger who delivers it?

Tough Love

The sign on our office window offers a terse Terse - Language for decryption of hardware logic.

["Hardware Logic Simulation by Compilation", C. Hansen, 25th ACM/IEEE Design Automation Conf, 1988].
 message on our teaching philosophy: "Tough love is in effect here. We will not accept you as you are. We prefer to show you what you can be and help you achieve it."

We want our athletes to know that this will apply to every endeavor in their short time with us. The one common thread that will join them will be their staunch desire to be successful. Many of them won't fully understand how to go about it, but we will supply the direction, encouragement, and proverbial pro·ver·bi·al  
adj.
1. Of the nature of a proverb.

2. Expressed in a proverb.

3. Widely referred to, as if the subject of a proverb; famous.
 kick in the pants.

Self-Discipline

It all begins with discipline, which is nothing more than making the effort to do the right thing. It may be something as simple as learning to get up in the morning for 8:00 a.m. class or being punctual punc·tu·al  
adj.
1. Acting or arriving exactly at the time appointed; prompt.

2. Paid or accomplished at or by the appointed time.

3. Precise; exact.

4.
 for a lifting workout Workout

Informal repayment or loan forgiveness arrangement between a borrower and creditors.


workout

1. The process of a debtor's meeting a loan commitment by satisfying altered repayment terms.
.

Or it may be as awesome as a life-altering decision in a critical situation. Disciplined people tend to make better decisions because they take the time to weigh all the possibilities.

Our point: We want the athletes to inflict the discipline upon themselves rather than take it from the outside. Self-discipline is the only kind that is meaningful and enduring. It requires a change in attitude from "having" to do things to "wanting" to do things.

We teach our athletes to identify what is really important in their lives, formulate a plan for it, and seek it aggressively.

It is easy for coaches to determine their athletes' priorities by the decisions they make and by how they conduct their lives.

Defining Priorities

We are constantly talking to Noun 1. talking to - a lengthy rebuke; "a good lecture was my father's idea of discipline"; "the teacher gave him a talking to"
lecture, speech

rebuke, reprehension, reprimand, reproof, reproval - an act or expression of criticism and censure; "he had to
 our athletes about the importance of establishing priorities in their academic, athletic, and personal pursuits. Without priorities, there can be no direction or purpose in their everyday lives.

We ask them to examine what they have accomplished and what they have failed to accomplish thus far in their lives. Then, we tell them to match these accomplishments and failures with their priorities and to draw a correlation.

If they are truthful with themselves, they will begin to understand that the results they have achieved in all of the critical areas of their lives have been determined mostly by the decisions that they have made. And those decisions have stemmed from their priorities.

Some will claim that they have been guided by their priorities, but that it failed to produce the desired result. A priority overhaul may be on order.

The priorities may have to be redesigned to meet the difficult challenges and then be undertaken with the requisite effort and sacrifices.

The priorities will often be unspoken, existing as quiet, yet true commitments to positive action.

Strive for Excellence

Excellence doesn't just happen. It takes talent, but also a huge helping of courage, character, spirit, perseverance Perseverance
See also Determination.

Ainsworth

redid dictionary manuscript burnt in fire. [Br. Hist.: Brewer Handbook, 752]

Call of the Wild, The

dogs trail steadfastly through Alaska’s tundra. [Am. Lit.
, and commitment.

The road to excellence doesn't need a finish line -- a tape that you run through. It is put together block by block, with plenty of obstacles and temptations along the way. It provides an endless challenge for everything we do on the practice field and in the arena.

Iron Sharpens Iron The Team Concept

Many of our players' T-shirts carry a message: "Iron Sharpens Iron." We borrowed it from an impeccable source -- The Holy Bible Holy Bible

name for book containing the Christian Scriptures. [Christianity: NCE, 291]

See : Writings, Sacred
, Proverbs Proverbs, book of the Bible. It is a collection of sayings, many of them moral maxims, in no special order. The teaching is of a practical nature; it does not dwell on the salvation-historical traditions of Israel, but is individual and universal based on the  27:17: "Just as iron sharpens iron, one man must sharpen sharp·en  
tr. & intr.v. sharp·ened, sharp·en·ing, sharp·ens
To make or become sharp or sharper.



sharp
 the other."

We accept it as a responsibility to help, encourage, and empower each other with confidence and knowledge. It is a matchless idealization idealization /ide·al·iza·tion/ (i-de?il-i-za´shun) a conscious or unconscious mental mechanism in which the individual overestimates an admired aspect or attribute of another person.  of the team concept: We need each other to be successful, and it emboldens us to step up and assume a leadership role.

The Good Word

We were deeply moved by the way our players responded to the calamity of September 11. Several of our senior football players approached us with the idea of concluding our workouts with some kind of good word: something that the athletes felt in their hearts and wanted to share with the team.

It could be inspiring, spiritual, encouragement to team members struggling with injuries or personal problems, or remembering a family member who is ill or has just passed away.

In honor of the victims and the rescue workers in New York New York, state, United States
New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of
, the players also had an American flag sewn sewn  
v.
A past participle of sew.


sewn
Verb

a past participle of sew

Adj. 1.
 on their football jerseys and the words "Remember September 11, 2001" printed on the T-shirts worn under their shoulder pads This article is about football protective equipment. For shoulder pads in fashion, see Shoulder pads (fashion).
Shoulder pads are a piece of protective equipment used in American and Canadian football.
.

And just about every day during the season, the "good word" included mention of the team and coaches, their families, and what we all had to do to be successful in athletics and life.
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Article Details
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Title Annotation:athletes apply lessons to life
Author:Mannie, Ken
Publication:Coach and Athletic Director
Article Type:Brief Article
Geographic Code:1USA
Date:Jan 1, 2002
Words:906
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