Football coach Vince Lombardi once said, “Winning means you're willing to go longer, work harder, and give more than anyone else.” That's so true. To be a winner you must make a commitment to sticking with a task and following through with it. We all want to be winners, but many things, including the many temptations to make bad choices, stand in our way. Those choices often keep potential winners on the sidelines.

Life is full of trade-offs. The bad choices you make today are the down payments on your problems tomorrow. It's all a part of living under God's law of sowing and reaping (Galatians 6:8).

This can’t be happening, I thought. Not with only three and a half weeks to go! But as hard as I tried, I couldn’t deny the worsening pain in my right shin. As soon as I got home from my 12-mile run, I collapsed into a chair and cried. Three months of marathon training were headed down the drain.

Following the advice of my running peers, I didn’t run for two days. I was going crazy. A friend noticed my distress and offered a challenge. She encouraged me to pray during the time I would have been running. “Don’t get out of the daily training habit, just train a different way,” she said.

Let’s consider who has had the biggest influence on our athletic careers. Has there been more than one person who has made a significant impact on our abilities as athletes? First Corinthians 3:6 speaks about compounded influence.

In Paul’s first letter to his friends in Corinth, he used a familiar farming illustration. Let’s turn Paul’s farming comparison into a sports analogy.

Growing an athlete is like growing crops. There’s obvious collaboration among those who plant, cultivate, irrigate, and harvest. In the same way, growing a champion involves the compounding influences of parents, coaches, teammates, opponents, and so on.

As Thanksgiving comes around, I am getting so ready to go home and be with family. I am excited for turkey, football, and, of course, sleeping. But with all these activities I tend to rely on them to refuel me over the school break. I find myself thinking that if I can just get through this week then I will have rest and fun with my family.

When I step back, I realize that I have started trusting in my activities to get me through this grueling week rather than relying on the Lord. I am trusting in my family, food, football and fellowship more than I am trusting in God. But God is a jealous God and wants our full attention and for us to completely trust in Him—to understand that He alone can bring meaning to our life.

Ask a coach to list the qualities of a complete player and discipline is always in the list. A disciplined player has a work ethic that sets him or her apart. He or she makes a strong player, but not always a strong person. It’s amazing how many NFL players leave the league bankrupt, divorced, or addicted to alcohol or other drugs. While many NFL players show extreme discipline athletically, some show little discipline in their moral decisions and relationships. The quality they lack is self-control.

Everyone wants to be a winner, whether it’s in sports or life in general. Cindy Todd, a world waterskiing champion, spoke about winning. She said, “When I first read Philippians 3:14, which tells us to ‘pursue…the prize promised by God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus,’ I was reminded of a waterskiing competition. Everyone aims toward a prize. We all want it, but only one person gets to win. God has given me a talent for waterskiing, but thanks to Him, I’m a winner in another way. I have been cleansed of sin through the blood of Jesus. I have received salvation by God’s grace. This is the most important victory in my life, and it’s a victory we all can have. ‘…Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved’” (Ac 2:21).

Fifteen girls sat throughout the locker room avoiding eye contact with their coach. They had lost previous games but none this badly. Coach paced the quiet room finding his words. “What happened to this team?” Each word grew louder, leading into the speech the girls had heard before. “Three years ago we won state, now we can’t even win one game! I have never coached a team with less …” His words droned on, drowning the girls in further defeat.

Louis Garza moved into our neighborhood when he was in the sixth grade. He was big, strong, fast, . . . and humble. He was easily the best athlete in our whole group, and we had a lot of really good athletes. But Louis was different; he willingly did anything for the good of the team.

It’s always tough trying to fit into a new group, but Louis slipped into ours easily. He didn’t demand anything. As a matter of fact, Louis was so humble that he always tried to get his weaker teammates to experience the more glamorous positions. He wanted others to feel special and succeed.

Baseball is often a game of controlled failure. Failing 7 out of 10 times can be considered a success. Unfortunately, this isn’t the same in our relationships.

In a large local tournament, one of our top players chose to play with a stronger team—a choice he was allowed to make. I was glad for him because he made a decision and stuck with it. Some families were offended because they felt we could win the tournament if we had him with us.

As a high school basketball coach, I often notice that my players are influenced by the past. After a winning streak, they can begin to believe that they are better than they actually are. Such overconfidence often leads to deflating defeats. Of course, the same deflation typically occurs after a losing streak because the team loses confidence.

In order to avoid either extreme—overconfidence or none at all—many coaches encourage the team members to stay focused. In our program, we remind our players to focus on what lies ahead rather than on the past. After each game, we say, “The season starts tomorrow.” This helps us remember all we can achieve as a team.

Our family plays a game at the dinner table called “Would you rather . . .?” When we ask this question our children have to answer with such questions as, “Would you rather win a World Series or a Super Bowl?” One night, I asked my three kids: “Would you rather be a great leader or a great servant?” I barely had time to finish before my ten-year-old said, “Dad, they’re the same thing. If you serve someone, you’re showing and teaching someone what Jesus would do!” After overcoming my astonishment at the maturity of one so young, I realized how right she was. She already understood that a great servant is always a great leader, but a leader is not necessarily a servant.

When President Thomas Jefferson was traveling with companions across the country on horseback in the early 1800’s, he approached a large river that needed to be carefully crossed. A stranger appeared and wondered how he was going to get across. He looked at the President and asked if he could get a ride across the river. Thomas Jefferson said, “Sure, hop on!” As the stranger slid off the horse on the other side, one of the companions questioned why he asked the President for a ride. The stranger replied, “I didn’t know he was the President. All I know is that his face said yes, and all your faces said no!”