Football – like life – is a game of inches.
Where your foot lay at the line of scrimmage Friday under the lights or Sunday evening during sprints in the fieldhouse. Where the mesh can produce a drive sustaining gain or series ending fumble. How a sharp break on a route can stymie a defender instead of providing an interception opportunity. Why pad level and leverage will always overcome size. And precise pursuit angles eclipse an explosive offense.
One would think that given those game changing possibilities, more personal focus and investment would be granted those details.
The inches.
I can say with the utmost certainty that if you cannot attend to them now, in the present, you will never be able to call upon them when you choose to define yourself in that one moment.
So to better understand the inherent gravity of details, I challenge you to consider this:
If a detail by itself is but an ounce – then embracing one, mastering it, incorporating it into how you live and finally making it a part of your being – becomes a pound. Not just in terms of pure weight. But mass. How you increase your width, depth and breadth. As an athlete. And as a person.
In effect, the mere ounces you choose to carry, overcome and own will in time translate into pounds of impact, pressure and “want to”.
A force for good that you can exert upon a challenge or chosen endeavor. To the extent that you can essentially roll over a challenge. Capture a goal.
Or, crush an opponent.
Now this assertion has absolutely nothing to do with any known math or science; only the inversely proportional and lasting impact experience has shown me to be true.
That creating the self discipline to attend to the details will in time assure the success of one’s pursuits.
On the field.
And in life.
Both of which are games of inches.
...my temporary assignment. 