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Hockey Chat: When you’re on defense, one of the worst things you can do is let your opponent stand in front of your net waiting to tip the puck, get a rebound, or just screen your goal tender. Detroit scored buckets of goals against Colorado in 07 doing just that and swept them right out of the playoffs. You cannot let that guy stake his position there. It takes work to get him away but if you let him stick around, he’s bound to cause trouble.
Just prior to pregame warmups during my rookie season with the Kansas City Chiefs, one of the officials introduced himself to me as the father of a friend of mine. After a brief chat, he suggested I let him know if I was having any trouble in the game. Not thinking too much of his comment, I thanked him and joined my teammates for drills.
The perfect season was in 1972 when the Miami Dolphins did the improbable. They won seventeen games (including the Super Bowl) in a row. People still call them one of the greatest teams of all time. On the other side of the coin, Northwestern lost thirty-four games in a row over a four-year period. The adjectives used to describe these teams were much different. Streaks—either you love them or you hate them. If you are on a roll and winning games, then everything seems to go your way. But if the steak is the other kind—the bad kind, the losing streak—then it seems the harder you try, the more small things grow into huge problems. When you have been on both sides, you learn the difference between winning and losing is very small.
Coaches work hard to get the job done for their programs, but the head coach spends even more time in preparation for his or her meetings. It’s not just the season preparations that need to be done, but also pre-season, postseason, and summer workouts to consider. The head coach must think of everyone in the program and blend every person together for the success of the next year.
Hockey Chat: Passing is a key in the game. Have you ever seen someone try to go end-to-end around 5 attackers only to get stripped before he’s able to get a shot off. Players that try to do it all to get the glory usually lose it all and are left empty. What’s all that hard work for if it gained nothing?
One of my favorite baseball movies is A League of Their Own starring Tom Hanks. In one famous scene Hank’s character tells one of his female baseball players to stop crying. The reason behind his command is that in baseball there is no crying. There may be a few emotional Cubs fans who disagree! Handling emotions can be quite difficult for coaches. We want our team to be on edge and ready for a big game, but when athletes or coaches cry or display personal weakness, they are often looked down upon. Does this mean that in sports and in other areas of life it is acceptable to exhibit only tough-guy emotions? No, because Jesus was not afraid to express emotion.
All-star quarterback Jack Kemp and his teammates boycotted the 1965 AFL All-Star game in New Orleans “as a statement against the racial climate in the city.” Jack’s black teammates were not treated with the same respect as he and his white teammates, and because they were a “team united,” they did something about it. As a result,the game was moved to another city.
It appears that our hearts are the repositories for both confidence and fear. When we feel overmatched by a seemingly superior opponent, it’s our heart that keeps us from fearing him. When it seems like everything is going badly, when all the momentum has swung to the other team’s bench, it’s our heart that brims with confidence in spite of it all. A coach’s heart is the key that enables his or her team to compete strongly.
Many times we think about the starting lineup for an athletic team and how we as athletes work to make the cut. What about God’s starting five—not five people, but five direct commands from His Word.
Throughout my years of training as a wheelchair athlete, I have found that memorizing and reciting Bible verses helps me in many ways. It helps me to stay focused, to get to sleep and to stay calm in anxious moments.
Prior to a race, I often recite a verse in my mind to calm my heart. I know that God is going with me as I race and that He will give me what I need on that particular day.
One of my strengths as a wheelchair racer is my endurance, but I’m usually slow off the start. I will never forget the time when one of my coaches shouted at me after a race about my slow start. “What were you thinking? Where was your mind, anyway?” she asked.
History always repeats itself because man fails to learn from his failures. Therefore, we do well to remember historical events such as the Holocaust, the Civil War, and the Israelites’ forty-year wilderness wandering. The Bible tells us why the world is like it is: sin. The Bible has much to say about the blessings that come as a result of obeying and the curses, or consequences, that occur as a result of sin. We find these truths from Genesis to Revelation. God certainly forgives the sin of those who belong to Him through Jesus Christ; however, there are still consequences to be faced. Are God’s people today settling down comfortably in the society in which we live, casting out our distinctive Christian focus?
Hockey Chat: You may not remember Ned Harkness when you think of hockey’s greatest, but he truly was. His name is not inscribed on the Stanley Cup but it is in the Hockey Hall of Fame. He didn’t run up the scoreboard with goals but filled the hearts and minds of the players with knowledge and passion.
Who are you? Don’t pull out your ID; that’s just a name. Don’t tell me you’re a coach; that’s your occupation. Don’t tell me you’re an American; that’s your nationality. As coaches, realizing our identity is one of the hardest things to do because a lot of our self-esteem is based on what we do for a living, what our win-loss record is, or how long we have been coaching or playing our sport.
Historically, many last names came into being based on a person’s occupation, like Black or Smith for a blacksmith. Other names were based on whose son you were, like Johnson or Thomson. Based on how others view you, do you think they would give you a name based on what you do for a living, or based on the fact that God is your Father?
Tom was not a good athlete, but loved sports. He could not dunk a basketball, but was a valuable member of the program. He could not spike a volleyball, but his impact on the team was greatly appreciated. Who was Big Tom? He was a servant and worked for buildings and grounds to prepare the gym before each contest.
In Romans 12, Paul lists spiritual gifts. One gift is out front where everyone can see and hear it. The other gift is behind the scenes and often goes unappreciated. Big Tom was a student worker who took his gift very seriously and made every effort to serve the Lord as he served our teams in Oklahoma. Each year teachers were awarded for their excellence in the classroom, but Big Tom went unnoticed.
As an English teacher, I instruct my students to look for symbols in literature. As a basketball coach, I often use symbols from literature to teach my players, such as in Genesis 3:11 where God asks Adam and Eve if they have eaten the forbidden fruit. Instead of telling the truth and asking for forgiveness, Adam blamed both God and Eve. When God asked Eve the same question, she blamed the snake. Since then, mankind has been pointing fingers and playing the blame game.
A while ago I went on a training run with my wife to get ready for my first 5k race in over a year. It felt great to get back out on the road, and the run was pretty uneventful.
Later that night, we headed to a friend's house, and when I looked down, panic set in. My wedding ring was missing from my hand. I checked my pockets; nothing. I quietly walked outside to retrace my steps, and still nothing. When was the last time I'd had it? How could I lose the one thing that symbolized this important commitment in my life?
During our training run the weather had been cool, my hands sweaty. Somewhere, during the four miles of sidewalks, intersections and city streets, my wedding ring had slipped off.
How bad does it hurt to be rejected? We’ve all been there. We’ve all been rejected by teammates, family members, boyfriends/girlfriends, co-workers and bosses. And when it happens, it hurts!
I was reading in John 10 this morning, coming fresh off a rejection myself, and it struck me just how important it is for us to understand Jesus’ role as our shepherd during these times. In John 10:12, Jesus talks about a hired hand who doesn’t stick by the sheep through tough times. He abandons them because they aren’t his own, and he’s not committed to them. Why would he stick around to get eaten by a wolf himself when he’s not the true owner of the sheep? So, he flees the scene, leaving the sheep abandoned and vulnerable.
Hockey Chat: Wood, aluminum, carbon composite, fiberglass. Hockey sticks are made up of all kinds of different materials. It takes time and practice, but once you find YOUR stick, you know it and use it with confidence. You puck handle and shoot the best you can with your stick. Have you ever broke a stick and had to grab a different one quickly. Right off the bat you know it’s not going to work well. Your not use to it. It’s not yours.
Last night our FCA Huddle completed our city clean-up project. While the act of adopting a one-mile stretch of the city streets in our small town is a small service, the fact that we had six Huddle members show up in cold, wet conditions said wonders about their dedication and commitment to serving their community. It would have been easy for them to blow off the event and stay home where it was dry so that they could work on homework or the 15-page paper many had due for their composition class. But these kids chose to take the path less traveled and work through steady rain showers to make their community a little nicer.
Matthew’s Gospel contains a sermon Jesus gave—a talk we refer to as His Sermon on the Mount. In this sermon Jesus taught about humility, love, the law of God, prayer, and how to live the Christian life. There were two aspects to this sermon that made it truly revolutionary. The first is that this sermon was preached by God incarnate, the God-man Jesus Christ. He was the living Word, preaching and teaching with authority.
Our lives are strengthened when we focus on that which gives us strength. As a pitching coach, three words often come out of my mouth: use your eyes. The theory is that our eyes tell our body where to release the ball. Thus, by focusing on a target, we are more likely to hit it. There is much to think about and many distractions as a pitcher, just as in our daily lives. However, like a pitcher, if we put our whole focus on our target, we no longer have any room to focus on distractions.
Hockey Chat: A few years back, the Chicago Blackhawks started a post game tradition at home. When they won they would gather at center ice, raise their sticks, and wave to the fans as a salute to those who supported them. It was their way of giving acknowledgement and thanks back to the those who cheered them on throughout the game.
Man, I am a workout-aholic. Can I get an amen from anyone else out there? Ever since I was in high school I’ve lived by a motto I read on a t-shirt: “Somewhere, someone is working out. And when you meet her in head-to-head competition, she will beat you.” I think somewhere along the line I adopted that as my personal mantra (especially when I started running), and I have been a gym rat ever since.
In a pro basketball game in South Africa, I drove the baseline and dunked on the guy guarding me. I then stole the inbounds pass and dunked it again. After that, I received a pass from a teammate who stole the ball on the next ossession and yet dunked again. I had three dunks in a span of about 60 seconds. However, in that same game I also was dunked on and fouled the guy on the play. As it was my fifth and disqualifying foul, I went to the bench to watch my team lose the game.
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