Motivate Your Team! Cheer Up A Friend! Inspire Yourself!
Motivate Your Team! Cheer Up A Friend! Inspire Yourself!
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| Wooden's Wisdom - Volume 13 | Issue 760 |
| Craig Impelman Speaking | Championship Coaches | Champion's Leadership Library Login | |
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"TAKE OWNERSHIP OF YOUR FUTURE." (TONY FULLER) Tony Fuller, my dear friend, mentor, Author and Coach, and Wooden’s Wisdom contributing author told me a story that reminded me of one of Coach Wooden’s favorite quotes: "The worst thing you can do for those you love are the things they could and should do for themselves." I asked him to write it up as a new issue for Wooden’s Wisdom. Here is Coach Fuller’s great work:
I was once an assistant basketball coach at UCLA on the coaching staff of Head Coach Jim Harrick. It was a highly visible, very demanding, and challenging position, that also came with great perks. The major perk for me was that every few months or so, our entire staff would get to spend time with Coach Wooden. I eventually got to know Coach Wooden to the point where he would actually call me by my name, and during one of his visits with our staff I felt comfortable (or "Stupid") enough to ask him for a favor.
I said: "Coach Wooden, there is a Head Coaching job that I am interested in. If I gave you the Athletic Director’s phone number, would you be willing to place a call on my behalf?" Coach Wooden Replied: "Have YOU called on your behalf?"
"No Coach, I haven't" was my weak response. Sensing my utter embarrassment, Coach Wooden paused wisely and said "Have you ever heard of "The Courtship of Miles Standish?’ It’s a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, I recommend you look into it."
That was all he said. He didn’t tell me what the poem was about, or why he recommended it, and I surely wasn’t about to ask him another stupid question. Coach just pointed me at the story and trusted that I would discover why he did so.
Coach Wooden always considered himself a teacher and like all great teachers he didn’t give me an answer. He gave me an assignment which allowed me to discover the lesson/answer on my own.
In that Poem, both Miles Standish and his friend John Alden love and want to marry a beautiful young woman named Priscilla. Miles (a recently widowed military captain) feels a bit awkward and asks John to approach Priscilla on his (Miles’) behalf and propose marriage. John agrees and while delivering Miles’ message, Priscilla senses that John has feelings for her and says: "Why don’t you speak for yourself John?"
Priscilla and John eventually marry and live happily ever after, while Miles ended up with nothing.
At the time, I did not totally grasp all that Coach was teaching me that day, but after learning the story, as well as how, why, and the manner in which Coach Wooden recommended it, more than 35 years later the lessons and wisdom I was exposed to that day continue to flow!
"Why are you sending me to make your case when you haven’t made it yourself?"
How can you expect anyone (Athletic Director) to place trust and confidence in you to lead their Basketball Program, if you don’t have trust or confidence in yourself?
Authenticity and Honesty matter more than Appearances.
Be True to yourself, rather than trying to impress others.
Initiative is a form of character.
Only after you have spoken for yourself should you ask someone else to speak on your behalf.
Take ownership of your future.
Develop self-confidence.
Blessings,
Coach Fuller Yours in Coaching, Craig Impelman
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The Courtship of Miles Standish (Excerpt) "For there are moments in life, when the heart is so full of emotion, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882) The Lesson (An Interpretive Excerpt) Then the heart has revealed itself, and the pent-up feelings
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