life – Page 6 – …my temporary assignment.

“anonymous”

If I may beg your indulgence a bit, I have a love story of sorts. Inspired in part by “anonymous”.

If you love the game:

“…then life truly began when the season started.”

Team dinners are the best sit down meal of the week.

Hudl is your preferred form of social media

Bruises are your favorite fall colors

Wearing white to out of town events is still permissible after Labor Day

Tape has become your socks

You accessorize with ice packs

Eye black brings out your cheekbones

And the hitch in your giddy-up later in life is still your source of pride and joy.

If you love the game:

Having the opportunity to practice the day after a game is as big a deal as playing under the lights on Friday nights.

Scout team is the ideal way to contribute. A golden opportunity to make the team maximize its potential and achieve its goals.

A role on special teams may be your ticket to change the course of a game – or season – through superlative effort and will.

If you love the game:

Then no matter what – A or B, JV or reserve, starter, or finish out the rout – “just get me on that field. “

Being wedded to a position will never supplant being bonded to a unit or the team.

Still being there for them though hurt casts a lasting impression.

You can’t be hung up on the division. Just play on in college.

If you love the game:

Embrace the blessings and needs of being a member of a large, multigenerational, extended family

Depend upon the friends you found in the weight room, during speed and agility, at morning misery, during two a days, and with your back to the goal line.

They are here for you now – and most likely will be later on in life.

If you love the game:

Stop an errant “brother”, diffuse a bad situation, console a friend in need, and raise another up even if you are down.

Invest. Time given freely to another is a precious gift.

Smile the most when accolades and attention for your team and teammates are delivered.

Be humble; you are but one in a long line of fine athletes that came before – and will follow you.

Commit. Relentless effort, stellar character and extraordinary leadership regardless of your role is the best way to honor that big family.

If you love the game:

Honor all of this for what it truly is; a rare and fleeting privilege.

Lean in. A challenge of this magnitude – to work harder than you ever have at something, and then, work even harder than that – is an extraordinary opportunity. One that needs to be accepted with genuine and lasting gratitude.

Let go. Giving up all of you for something bigger is a life-changing event.

If you love the game:

Trust. That all of them will honor the sacrifices you make on their behalf in kind.

Respect. Everyone has something in them that can make this team like no other – before or after.

Affirm. Prove their genuine worth to you through your thoughts, words and deeds.

Be accountable. Yes, to the ones with the whistles.

But more so to your partner in the weight room. Those sharing morning misery. The one next to you on the bus. Your teammates doing up-downs. Your unit when you huddle. The three-tech on the line of scrimmage. And that guy next to you right here, right now.

If you love the game:

Make it about all of them by leaving all of you on that field.

Because if you can love the game this much, then because of you, they will love the game too.

Thanks for the inspiration, “Anonymous”

I love it.

There.

Being fully present entails a great many responsibilities.

But first and foremost, it all comes down to the need to just be “there”.

Right where you are in every aspect of the word. Physically, mentally, spiritually and emotionally. So you can make the most of the “now.” By being “all in” Leaning into and embracing this one of a kind moment.

And yet, there is always this sense that runs in parallel to the need for presence. A pressing need to know who you are, what you can become and where you are going now. Because at the end of the day, if you are only where you are now but simply cannot conceive what that means in the bigger, deeper and longer scheme of things that are yet to come, then, for all practical purposes, you are not truly, “there”.

Much of this has to do with age and experience. But when one does not have the benefit of those blessings, they may find themselves lacking in an understanding or appreciation for what is truly happening at this moment. And by extension their friends. Siblings. Teammates. A program. A company. Or the community as a whole.

So think about it.

“See ” what it is that you currently “are”. Then envision what you are now in the process of becoming. Bring all of the essentials everyday. In terms of energy, focus, presence and commitment.

Not for me.

But for you.

Never once has this been phrased so anyone could achieve their corporate goals.

But only so you could become what you are meant to be.

We “coaches” – regardless of the uniform/company/station – are not in it to win a moment. A quarter. A budget. Or a year.

We are in it to get you to relish all those moments now so you are ready for those that you are working towards.. Whether individuals. Units. Teams. Company. Or community..

Hear what it is that we are truly saying.

Conceive of what that means in the bigger, deeper and longer scheme of things that are yet to come.

So you can go beyond throwing out some arcane/trendy/juvenile response.

And truly just simply be “there”.

PF

One of the most influential mentors in my life is Pastor Ellsworth Freyer. “PF” to those close to him. “Coach” to me. I was blessed to be one of many he coached throughout his life as a man of the cloth. He coached me to coach. To mentor. Serve others. And write.

When I would run into writer’s block penning some words of encouragement to those I served, he would reach out and share some of his words of wisdom. The most inspiring were found in his motivational pieces, he called “Power Thoughts”. Aptly named. I happened upon this one tonight (in 2017):

“One of the most sobering thoughts I have ever been confronted with is this: ‘What you are someday going to be, you are now becoming.’

Right at this very moment in time, you are exactly what you have been in the process of becoming – all your life.

So? Are you the person you dreamed of becoming?

How close are you to becoming the type of person you want to be?

Even right now, you are in the process of becoming the person you will be in an hour. In a day. Next month. The coming year. In two, five or in a decade.

And the habits? Those you have now – and will begin to acquire and accumulate – determine the person you will eventually, someday, become.

If you are not now doing the things that you need to do, to become what you want to be, what makes you believe that you ever will?

What is preventing you from becoming that person? The one you want to become?

It is incumbent upon you to choose to begin now.

Situations or circumstances should never determine the when, if or how you begin.

So?

Just begin. And begin right now.

For what you are now becoming, is what you will someday be.”

Saints

“Something I shared with all back in 2017. Came across it tonight and thought it good to share again. This made me misty eyed, but he still makes me smile. “

To set the tone for this day and his homily this evening, Father Matthew sought to describe the essence of a saint. Part of which resonated with this author.

“Someone that does what they do, the way that they do it”.

Rick Hader left this world today.

All too soon. And the hurt is palpable. But it is All-Saints Day. He has a chance to play to a much larger crowd, in a storied venue. Doing what he does. The way he does it.

I had the honor of blocking for him in college as a Siwash. He was All-Conference as a running back, and All-American as a role model, man and friend if you ask me. (Rick is #44)

He was just as gifted running between the tackles and catching the ball coming out of the backfield as he was cracking us up. The voices, faces, mannerisms and making his teeth squeaky clean with only an index finger were recurring bits in the dorm, on campus and in the huddle.

He found great joy in making us smile, laugh and forget about things for only a little while.

Now, 37 years later and aided by some hindsight, I now realize he was building his schtick there at Knox College. And creating his persona.

For Myron Noodleman was right there with us all along. But it was just Rick. Doing what he did. The way he did it.

I would encourage you to take a few moments and read about this national nerd.

It details a wonderful life’s journey from Park Ridge to Broken Arrow. Starting as a janitor, to being a beloved high school math teacher and becoming a diamond doofus.

An All-American role model, man and friend to many that found great joy in making thousands upon thousands of people smile, laugh and forget about things for a while.

Go deeper, between the lines and you will come to know them both as I. A match now made for heaven. A pair with the guts to listen, heed their calling and fearlessly follow it. And from what I understand, all the way to the end.

Your departure has left a big hole in the lives of many. But there are warm and lasting memories enough to fill it back in, bring a smile to the face, some laughter for the heart and offer many a respite from things for a while.

Just Rick and Myron doing what they did. The way they did it.

Saints if you ask me.

Tradewind

“We can’t direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails.”

― Thomas S. Monson

A simple yet poignant bit of wisdom on how to navigate the currents and wind that take you through life.

During a discussion earlier this week, aspects centered on responses made when an event blows in and makes its presence known in your life. Whether it was an externally generated circumstance making itself known over time or suddently – or – one generated from within. No matter the origin, how we choose to respond makes all the difference in the world.

You see, regardless of its conception and incumbent inception into your existence, what will ultimately follow hinges on how you choose to respond.

Should it happen to be a positive occurrence, perhaps the response is to make your self “as one” with it to then follow a path of fulfillment, affirmation and growth. In situations such as those, perhaps Mr.Monson’s offering, “”For maximum happiness, peace, and contentment, may we choose a positive attitude.” applies.

But what if the event that presents itself, externally or internally, appears as a gust. Carrying with it utter calamity, the potenial for loss, harm and destruction? Perhaps not where you think you chose to be. Or worse yet, the application of poor choices, self-centered behavior and a penchant for dishonesty brought with it an ill wind.

Some time ago, a mentor fervently espoused that “adversity is never an if proposition, but always a when event.” And despite the readily negative connotations, adversity also always carrys with it the grace of opportunity. Though it may not be readily apparent, if we open ourselves and “…may we choose a positive attitude”, it will become visible.

As we moved along towards closure of the discussion, the analogy of the wind and sails was offered and with it, produced a profound and lasting resonance.

You may encounter a trade wind of sorts, beckonging you to employ a varied deployment and orientation of sails so that you may capture all of the good it brings so that you may end up where you chose to be.

Or, perhaps the contrary occurs and you find yourself colliding with a potentially self generated gale or worse. There is nothing you can do to counter that wind and force of nature other than choose to adjust and change course.

It may come to represent a pattern of gales of adversity you have had to endure, or have created, through out your life.

And therein lay the opportunity.

So choose to adjust.

Seek the tradewind.

And embrace where it takes you.