IT’S TIME TO PLAY!
It is finally football season again. Some of you are familiar with my passion for football, especially college football. Some of the leaders I admire most are head football coaches. Couches put together a team of assistants. They find the right people to put on the coaching bus and leave them to do their specialty jobs. But the coach takes the responsibility and sometimes the unwarranted blame when things go wrong. Often the coach gets the axe, yet some of the staff stays. That is the plight of leaders in a high stakes game.
Coaches have to be motivators. They have to evaluate talent and get the most from each player on the team. The coach’s job depends upon each player doing the assigned role and doing it well. Each player must also depend upon teammates to do their role. If you try to cover your role, and cover someone else’s, the team concept breaks down.
One of my favorite pre-game speeches relating to teamwork comes from Coach Jim Tressell of the Ohio State Buckeyes before a Fiesta game.
"Play within yourselves. Remember what you’ve been taught and play within that. So often teams lose a game because guys start playing outside what they’ve been asked to do. Trust your mates and know they have your back. ..............
All season long we have talked about what it takes to be considered truly extraordinary and what it takes to be considered great. There are people in this world who are afraid to be great! They’re afraid to be champions only because they are afraid of the work and commitment required to be in the champion’s pantheon."
Our goal of one million members to help impact the future of the world can only be accomplished by a committed team. Are you ready to play your part? Can your President count on you? Do you have the backs of your club members, your Lt. Governor, your Governor, and the President of Kiwanis International? If your answers are yes, Kiwanis will be a winner.
Sylvester Neal
Kiwanis International Vice President