Guarding our Games

by Dan Salzwedel, NMAA Executive Director

I recently saw an article in a kindergarten classroom that struck me as important at all levels. It read something like this, “We need to fill a child’s bucket with self-esteem so high that the rest of the world can’t poke enough holes in it to drain it dry.” Self-esteem is probably the most important thing that we teach and affirm through the interscholastic educational process. While there are many other values associated with the experience, including integrity, a sense of caring, learning what justice is and having the ability to honor rules and regulations, being responsible, persevering through the most difficult of circumstances as we would perceive them during this period in our life-all of which are important to obtaining and maintaining success in one’s lifetime.

As coaches and administrators, we attempt to have our participants, be they athletic or non-athletic, live within a team or community structure if you will, in an effort to exhibit a sense of discipline in terms of their personal conduct, as well as the ability to make sacrifices toward a greater goal as established by the unit we’re playing for and with, as well as the school we’re representing. Each of these traits contribute greatly to the chemistry of the unit and will most assuredly determine the ultimate success of the team, whether it’s elementary, junior high, senior high or collegiate and eventually, “life”.

In shaking out the cobwebs of materials from the past (my own coaching past), I’ve found some statements that were for the most part constructed and/or modified by myself to one extent or another, and interestingly are timeless in terms of their response to the children from one generation to another. Let’s examine a few.

If there’s no wind, row-all too often we wait for somebody else to create the impetus for movement and lack self-direction. This is a critical quality for success, regardless of endeavor.

You are the only person on earth who can use your ability-the Great Coach in the Sky gives us all a set of cards and abilities and it’s our responsibility to make sure we maximize our potential, regardless of what those abilities might be. Everybody can contribute, you simply have to have.

Character plus the pursuit of excellence equals success-nothing says it better than this statement that we’ve used over many years in developing people, as opposed to players or participants. If you don’t possess both sides of that equation, success will never be ultimately accomplished. There is no “blue trophy” or medal that can adequately represent the depth of these qualities in and of themselves.

Success is fleeting, while character endures-unquestionably, based on our own research, the most important measure of success one will achieve, regardless of the pursuit, is ten, 15, 20 years out, when our bodies have changed, our dispositions have been adjusted, and we simply can’t perform the moves we once did (physical or mental exercise). It is, in fact, the character and the manner in which we conduct ourselves that reflects how successful our interscholastic educational experience truly was.

The best thing to do behind a teammate’s back is to pat it-can you think of anything more important or prophetic in real life, regardless of how that person has arrived in your family (personal or professional)?

Courage is contagious. When a brave person takes a stand, the spines of others are stiffened-interscholastic activities, regardless of the skill, activity, level of play or participation, mental or physical, courage truly is one of those learned behaviors that is featured in our experience if properly taught.

As we’ve discussed with regard to the many goals attached to the NMAA, it’s important to model the pro-active and positive view of where we think things should be, including the increase in participation, numbers of activities, the Dream Center, etc. We attempt to teach through activities (and by the way, better than any other aspect of education) that being positive is an important attribute towards ultimate success. It’s critical that kids understand that if opportunity doesn’t knock, you simply should build a door-find a way to be successful. Everyone is a craftsman of their own future.

Each of these qualities defines our student participants’ futures as spouses, parents, employees, friends, etc. Keep playing-you’re framing our future.