Wooden's Wisdom | Leadership Resource Center

Issue 279 - The Strength of Gentleness


Wooden's Wisdom - Volume 6	Issue 279
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THE STRENGTH OF GENTLENESS Click here to watch Coach John Wooden video clip. I believe the influence of social media, internet and video games will continue to grow with our youth. As this continues, our youth become more and more enamored with power and strength. I think it is important that by example and storytelling we continue to teach our young people the power and strength of gentleness. It’s in the moments we apply kindness that our strength is revealed. Here are some thoughts on the strength of gentleness: There is nothing stronger than gentleness. – Abraham Lincoln Gentleness breeds peace, calm and consistency of character. Compassion and tolerance are not a sign of weakness, but a sign of strength. - Dalai Lama Coach Wooden’s favorite stories were not about National Championships, but rather stories like this one about his father Joshua: When I was a young boy, I was at a gravel pit with my father and a young man. They had a team of horses and were attempting to pull a load up a steep road. The young man driving the horses was loud and abusive. In response, the animals were agitated, worked against each other and couldn’t pull the load. With a gentle voice and a gentler touch, my dad calmed the horses and walked them forward with the load. It was an incredible reminder that gentleness can fix in a moment what an hour of shouting fails to achieve. My favorite NCAA Tournament story this year was when Josh Hart (Villanova) picked up a trumpet he had knocked on the floor and handed it back to the band member before returning to play after diving in the stands for a loose ball. That was a strong move! My favorite basketball camp story is from 1996 when Omar Wilkes (11 years old at the time), after blocking an opponent’s shot numerous times during a game, went over to the disconsolate young man after the game and cheered him up, made him a friend and worked with him on his moves to avoid getting his shot blocked in the future. That was a strong play! As Roxy and Joshua Wooden influenced John; Valerie and Jamaal Wilkes influenced Omar. Who will you influence? How? Click here for personal development exercise. Click here for Printable Poetry. Yours in Coaching, Craig Impelman www.woodenswisdom.com Follow @woodenswisdom	COACH'S FAVORITE POETRY AND PROSE Character of a Happy Life How happy is he born and taught That serveth not another's will; Whose armor is his honest thought And simple truth his utmost skill; Whose passions not his masters are; Whose soul is still prepared for death, Not tied unto the world with care Of public fame, or private breath; Who envies none that chance doth raise, Or vice; who never understood How deepest wounds are given by praise, Nor rules of state, but rules of good; Who hath his life from rumors freed, Whose conscience is his strong retreat; Whose state can neither flatterers feed, Nor ruin make accusers great; Who God doth late and early pray More of His grace than gifts to lend; And entertains the harmless day With a well-chosen book or friend; This man is freed from servile bands Of hope to rise, or fear to fall; Lord of himself, though not of lands; And having nothing, yet hath all. Henry Wotton (1568 -1639)
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