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At the beginning of a new year many people set goals, and for the first several weeks they stay on track to achieving them. Sadly, many people get derailed even though we intellectually know what coaches, personal trainers, teachers and mentors tell us: that there is payoff when we persevere.
Hockey Chat: When a coach sends his players out there, he is sending them to do the best for him. If the player was to go out there and played just with consideration for the other team, he’d be letting down his coach. But good players go out there and play for the guy standing behind there bench, and that will always clash with the opposition.
Hockey Chat: What if you were to get to spend a month with Wayne Gretzky (or Martin Brodeur for you goalies) and they spent day and night giving you tips and coaching? That would make you pretty great. But if the month was over and you went back to playing your way and forgetting everything you had been taught, losing your talents you had been just gained. It would seem foolish. Like a waste of a great opportunity.
Hockey Chat: When a player is called up to the big leagues of the NHL he has got the chance to make a name for himself and an impact on the hockey world. He knows it’s his big break. Years of training had lead up to this and now he’s been called upon to be the best player he can be. But if he uses that chance to be a puck-hog or run up the penalty minutes, he has not used his big opportunity wisely and he’ll be a big let down to the ones who believed in him.
Take a deep breath … Can you smell it? The air puts a special swagger in your step … Can you feel it? Today is not any other day. It is GAME DAY! Game day is a special day. Thoughts and feelings rush through your mind as you wait for the game to arrive. I can still feel, hear and see the home crowd at our season opener in basketball as if it was just yesterday. The songs played by the band, the smell of popcorn in the air, the sounds of people moving around, anxiously awaiting for what this year's team will give the crowd. Every player and coach works for one thing: game day. Game day is about preparation mentally and physically for the battle ahead. Game day is here now. Let the game begin!
In sports, how many times have we heard someone tell us to get our game face on? It’s a saying that’s used to bring up the idea or feeling of focus. When a person has their game face on they are ready for competition. They’re ready for the trial ahead of them and prepared to give their all. They are totally 100-percent focused.
As athletes or coaches, most of us would at one time or another in our careers have put on a game face of our own in sports, but what about as Christians? Have we ever thought about a spiritual game face?
Rich and I are very competitive friends. We are like brothers in so many ways. We both love to serve and work hard at it. He is in the restaurant industry, and I am in sports ministry. We both serve on the Welcome Team at church and lead small groups. A common phrase when working together is “game on.” This basically means we will do all we can to serve others the best we can.
As servants of Christ, Rich and I both understand that we are to love others as brothers and sisters in Christ, holding them in the highest of regard. This truly becomes evident when we practice these habits with nonbelievers. When we strive to outdo each other in honoring others, this bond will hold any team together whatever problem arises.
Game day is here. Have I lifted enough? Have I practiced enough? Have I worked hard enough to be ready to compete tonight? These are all questions that run through our minds before we take the field of play. As we sit in the locker room readying for battle, the question we have to answer is, “Am I game ready?”
Everyone has one at least one favorite game-changing sports moment. It’s that one play during a game that changes everything. In a single moment, momentum shifts, and it alters the outcome of the game. Sometimes, the play not only changes the game, but also an athlete’s entire career.
“If the rush gets close, fall down and act like you were hit. We get an automatic first down if we draw a roughing-the-punter penalty.” If the referees are not calling holding for offensive linemen, have we ever instructed our athletes to hang on just a little? Do we influence the referees by showing our players how to have “hinged heels” when drawing an offensive foul in basketball? Ever silently wished that the best player would miss just this one game so we don’t have to play against the best of the best? Do we coach gamesmanship, win-at-all-costs attitudes with manipulation of the rules? Is winning more important than teaching character in sport and life?
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