Hockey Chat:  There is a technique play in hockey know as “cycling”.  It’s a matter of one guy skating with the puck then passing it off to another player, moving the puck in the same way while the first guy takes the second guy’s position.  Sounds confusing?  It’s much harder to defend than to understand.  The premise is to skate until you get in trouble and then pass the puck back.  When that guy skates and gets in trouble, you’ll have skated back to be open so he can pass it to you.  The constant helping out the guy in trouble becomes a “cycle” that draws the defense and helps keep control of the puck.

How many of you have played with Lego's, Lincoln Logs, or Erector Sets? When you were young the potential for building cool designs was huge. Sometimes my brother would spend hours designing items, and when he was done he usually had a pretty amazing creation. There was no greater frustration, however, than to be missing a piece. You put time into building something perfect and then it couldn't be finished because you were missing a window or door.

One of the most damaging aspects of sports today doesn’t happen on the field. The media, team members, and many others all take part in this meaningless act. It is called gossip. People love to tear something or someone apart with their words. They would rather say what they heard about others than search for the truth. I have seen more teams ruined by gossip than by performance.

David was a leader with great skills and a pure heart, qualities that make for a great leader, whether he or she is a monarch, a coach, or a teammate. David was both skillful and full of integrity. The world is full of skillful leaders, but they often have hearts full of compromise and mixed motives. It is the rare leader who has purity of heart, uncompromised by self-interest or divided loyalties.

We must be leaders like David. We must work diligently to develop our skills and guard our hearts in order to maintain integrity. Beware of those who would have us violate our players’ trust. Watch out for the crouching lions of division and strife that would disrupt the unity of our teams. We need to shepherd our teams with skillful hands and integrity of heart.

After I completed seven marathons, I decided to focus on running shorter distances and lowering my times. I trained hard using a diverse plan and felt ready to get out and test my improved half-marathon run time. However, I became so focused on the run time that I ignored my overall strategy and failed to run in such a way as to prevent injury. I knew the how and what of the race, but my focus became blurred because I was fixing my eyes on the wrong goal. I did not improve my time much and aggravated an old injury in the process. God taught me a valuable lesson.

Big Red was a hot head. He was a part of the team, but wanted nothing to do with team activities. He was selfish and arrogant, and he made life miserable for his coach. All in all, he was the most difficult player on the team to work with. And his twin brother Jake? He was as deceptive as his brother was angry. The combination of the two boys wore their coach out.

Sound familiar? Isaac’s sons Esau and Jacob were definitely unique. Esau was the hunter and outdoorsman who wanted nothing to do with his father’s God. Jacob was the mama’s boy who would do anything to gain his father’s love. Here is their distinguished list of “dis”:

A key determinant of success in sports is something we refer to as “heart,” which is an invisible quality that comprises the soul, strength, and mind of the team. Although we cannot see or measure it, we also cannot win without it. While every coach knows that the team must have heart, it is often difficult to cultivate. Heart is also the most elusive factor to quantify when recruiting or evaluating an athlete; the best of coaches are perplexed by it. Even the prophet Samuel, when given the opportunity to pick King Saul’s successor, was fooled by appearance and overlooked the important heart issues.

When I played football as an 8 year old, I remember parents pulling their cars up and shining their lights on the field when practice ran late. As players, we saw the light.

As athletes we need to SEE the light. SEE stands for Sleep, Eat, and Exercise. This kind  of light deals with our God-created bodies. Many competitors train hard on the field, but not off it. As true  competitors, we need to get enough sleep, eat right, and exercise properly. These three physical anchors are extremely important.

When trying to SEE the light, we need to ask:

“How much sleep do I need?” Since the physical affects the spiritual and emotional, if we do not sleep, other areas of life will suffer. When we are tired, we cannot be the athletes God desires.

After defeating Sonny Liston to win his first title in 1964, Muhammad Ali proclaimed to the press, “I am the greatest!” The sports world has given Wayne Gretzky the nickname, “The Great One.” But what exactly does it mean to be great? Is it determined by winning percentage? Championships? Fame? In the passage above, Jesus explained that greatness is being a servant. Today, I’d like to focus on three ways to serve your teammates:

How many times do you make a promise and really keep it? Every day, my 7-year-old comes to me with my baseball glove and asks me to play catch. I sometimes catch myself saying, “I promise, in a few minutes.” Then he walks away, and time goes by without me keeping my word. He gets disappointed, and I feel bad for forgetting. I never intend to go back on my word, but it does happen from time to time.

One thing we know from God and His Word is that when He makes a promise, He always follows through. Here is a great definition of a promise: an assurance that God gives His people so that they can walk by faith while they wait for Him to work. Here are four promises that God has given us:

Rulon Gardner and Dremiel Byers were both vying for one spot on the 2004 U.S. Olympic wrestling team. Gardner was the 2000 Olympic gold medalist and 2001 World Champion and Byers the 2002 World Champion. Gardner won a pair of 2-1 overtime matches at the Olympic Trials and Byers laid down his pride and went to Athens to help prepare his friend for another gold-medal run by serving as his training partner. Gardner came home with the bronze medal and a gold-medal friend. Would he have done the same for Byers? No doubt about it!