I love the above quote from arguably the greatest coach of all time, John Wooden. I grew up in Indiana just like Coach Wooden, and when I realized I wanted to be a coach, who better is there to look up to? This quote resembles so many other quotes from successful people and athletes, that when you mess up, that is a learning opportunity to grow and reflect on what went wrong, and how to rectify the error. Eventually if a person has corrected and learned from enough errors, they will have narrowed down the correct recipe for success. This requires an amazing persistent attitude and desire to keep getting better and not dwelling on past failures. When a coach can motivate and instill confidence in ALL of the players to learn from unsuccessful attempts and keep a positive attitude, that is creating a championship team. The team might not win every game or the last game of the season, but to me a championship team is one that has a positive attitude, works well together, learns from their mistakes, and is confident. Because that is a team that will pay attention to details, which translates not only to success on the ball field, but to future success after their sports career is over. Building character in student-athletes far more important than wins. Wins can get you trophies, but a great mindset and work ethic will create many more opportunities for much higher accolades through life.
And these values are what I, as a coach, try to implement to my players: having a great work ethic, a positive attitude, sportsmanship, learning from their mistakes, and above all else--being a man of character..
And these values are what I, as a coach, try to implement to my players: having a great work ethic, a positive attitude, sportsmanship, learning from their mistakes, and above all else--being a man of character..