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Hockey Chat: Have you ever tried to skate with your hockey pants around your ankles. It doesn’t work. It’s happened before to Marc Savard when during a game in Calgary when his belt broke. When your belt fails, the essential protection in your hockey pants doesn’t do much good slipping down your legs will you’re trying to skate. Little strap of fabric has a very important purpose.
I was blessed to play one season of basketball with my hero, two-time Olympic Captain, Naismith Award Winner, first female Globetrotter…Lynette Woodard. The first day I practiced with her, I tried to do everything like she did. I stayed after practice with her and as she touched the rim ten times and made ten free throws in a row, I touched the backboard ten times and made five free throws in a row (It was a start!). I even went so far as to get my hair permed into a curly white-girl’s afro … anything to be like Lynette.
Eight years ago, I started the simple discipline of picking a one-word theme for the upcoming year. That’s right—one word—not a phrase or statement, just a single word. And to this point, it has been nothing short of life changing. Through this exercise, God has stretched me spiritually, physically, and emotionally. This exercise cannot be approached alfheartedly. Satan will come out in full force. This is truly a discipline for those who want to press in and see God do great things through them.
It’s for those who want to live life to the fullest—no retreat, no regrets. It’s also a process of teaching, correcting, and molding, for when we are soft in the Creator’s hands, He can form us into His vessel!
We need people in our lives to push us to make us better. If we surround ourselves with people who don't require us to give our best, we are being cheated. Going one-on-one with the worst player on the team won't help you get ready for the big game, and it's the same in life. Surround yourself with people who will challenge you and who will require you to be honest, trustworthy and faithful. Do the same for them.
It’s been a while since I was in high school, but I still vividly recall one day during my junior year. It was the day my coach called me into his office and told me he was moving me from fullback to tackle. As a sophomore, I had weighed 200 pounds and was pretty fast. I gained 35 pounds over the summer and was a little slower at that weight. The coach told me I was too good of a player to sit on the bench, but that I was now too slow to be a running back. He asked me to make a personal sacrifice and move to a new position on the line so that I could help the team have a chance at the conference title.
When you see a glass half-filled with water, what do you think? Is it half empty, or is it half full? It all depends on your perspective. So many different circumstances and situations happen in life. Uncertainties and challenges make life difficult, but attitude or perspective can make a positive difference. If you have the right perspective you can experience God's presence, power, promises and peace.
In Philippians 4:9, Paul said to learn from him, to put into practice the right perspective of faith in God no matter what your situation. There are three things we can learn from Paul when it comes to proper perspective.
As coaches, we have a rule on our hockey team. If you get hurt during play, you must do your utmost to stay involved in the play or get yourself to the bench. We expect this not because we are hard-nosed or don’t care about the well-being of our players, but because we expect our athletes to persevere and work through adversity.
Did you ever notice that too much of a good thing can become a very bad thing?
Ok, so you’re an athlete. You’ve probably read or heard this verse before. But when was the last time you stopped and thought about it? What was Paul trying to say? Is the athlete the metaphor, or how the athlete trains? My take on this passage is that every Christian is an athlete; so, that leaves the training in this verse to be the focus.
Hockey Chat: Have you ever seen a guy who looked like the puck glued was to his stick. It may have looked like it from his puck handling. Those guys frustrate every defenseman. They have such control of the puck that it’s nearly impossible to take away. A poor puck handler will leave the puck behind every time.
I fell in love with my wife in 1993. In 1999, I fell in love with our first child, Jaycee. Then, in 2002, a new love entered my life when I was tricked into running a marathon. And I have been addicted to long-distance running ever since. I have completed the Oklahoma City Marathon and the Gardens of the Gods 10-Miler. What is significant about this addiction is that I had absolutely no running history before 2002. In college I was an All-Conference, 305-pound offensive lineman. I once told a running back that if he ran more than 40 yards, he better have some sort of moves because I was done blocking after 40 yards. But, oddly, the running addiction has gotten a hold of me.
In today’s world it seems like every one defines success in numbers of wins and losses. Not everyone is going to win all the time so it is not a very good measure of success. With all the pressure put on players and coaches to put up the big win numbers we are all losing sight of why we really play the game.
John Wooden defines success as, “the peace of mind that is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best you are capable of becoming”. How many times have you seen people wanting success but not wanting to put the work in to achieving it? I like to work out on the stationary bike and treadmill.
Fourth and five, with less than a minute in the game, and Peyton Manning had one more play to make something happen. He took the snap, rolled to his right, lofted a pass to Dallas Clark and…it was dropped. The Colts will not defend their Super Bowl Champion title. Immediate disappointment set in for players, coaches and fans. There were questions asked, but not many answers.
April 13, 2008, was a day that marked a historic change for one man. Trevor Immelman walked up the 18th fairway and, with one final putt, forever altered his life. Before he hit that putt he was known as Trevor Immelman, PGA Tour player. After the putt, he earned the title Trevor Immelman, Masters Champion. That is a worthy goal to which all golfers aspire. Only a few days prior, Immelman had been a virtual unknown, but now he is a household name all over country.
Baseball is a game that can be dominated by a pitcher. It seems that no matter how well a hitter prepares for a game, if a pitcher is “on” and executes his pitches, there is really nothing a hitter can do. Many times a hitter will try to “step out” in order to disrupt the rhythm of the pitcher. Or, in other situations where a pitcher is dominant, the hitter may try bunting in order to get on base.
After routing Oklahoma University for its second straight national title, USC coach Pete Carroll was asked when preparation for the next season would begin. Carroll replied:
“It’s already going. We live this thing. If you’re competing, then you’re always competing. That’s just part of it ... I have people tell me, ‘Just relax.’ Don’t tell me to relax. I’m having a ... ball. We get to do this for six months, be on top of the college football world. We’ll likely have a great chance at being the No. 1 team coming into next year. Shoot, that’s awesome, awesome stuff.”
When you are playing a sport, teammates are the most important people with you on the court or field. Sometimes it’s hard to love them, and it can be even harder to stand up for what you believe in when you are around them. The devil is always around, wearing a disguise, making it harder for you to stand up for your beliefs. He can even be wearing the same jersey as you.
I learned this lesson during my basketball season. I was the newbie, the one no one knew. On the day of tryouts I only knew one other girl. Yes, I saw the others in the hall, but I didn’t talk to them. It was hard to start a new season with only a couple real friends.
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