WIN THE DAY

One of my favorite requests I make to my teams who are overly concerned with beating their opponent is: "Simply WIN THE DAY". You win the day by BEING a champion in all that you do on and off the court,field,arena... being as tough as you can be, work hard, be tenacious, fearless, courageous and NEVER, ever give up.

I tell them prior to a game that "you never win the tough games with physical strength...you win tough games with SPIRITUAL strength such as courage, perseverance, resilience, sacrifice, love, connection, respect, trust, integrity.

Then I tell them to go from "let's work together to beat our opponent" to " Let's work together to compete like crazy with our hair on fire doing the stuff we love to do together".

I call this "soul food", the spiritual supplements that feed the athletic spirit. This is a huge part of the culture I help teams to build, one where we compete with heart and coach with heart so that we all go the distance, stay loyal and remain mentally tough. Mental toughness is a natural reflection of training the heart to develop the essential core values that drive a competitive environment. I teach this to athletes and coaches. It is learned...not something you are given at birth. AND...it's FUN.