PUT ME IN COACH!

Pearl of the Day: Glory Days Await

The late and beloved UCLA coach John Wooden has said the powerful pearl, "it's the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen."

Yes the devil lies in the details and like many great coaches, teachers and mentors, it’s but a necessity to painstakingly watch over and fine-tune those small details that affect your students, athletes and protégé’s end game.

My father coaches me every day. He taught me how to play volleyball, softball and throw a punch to protect myself (yes, I am a girl – someone please relay).

For decades my grandfather actively engaged in a physical regime. He ran marathons well into his 80’s (trailed by an ambulance nonetheless), rode his bicycle to and from work and questioned me constantly about my fitness regime. He was an emblem of how to treat your body like a temple and be good to it. And good it was, he passed on at 95 years old and was still physically fit.

There are natural athletes and trained athletes. My mom remembers holding me in a baby pool where I studied the kids swimming in the big pool and then proceeded to lie myself down to copy. No, I didn’t swim, in fact I almost drowned (in the baby pool) because I refused to get up when she pulled me. Cut to a few years later at our friend’s pool where I studied the guys who dove in and swam like pros. I was now ready and upped out of my chair, dove in and took to water like a true blue fin.

To me there’s only one acceptable way into the pool and that is head first. A good coach will know where you are at and guide you in a manner that is safest for you. A great coach will be able to assess where each individual player is at and where the team collectively needs to go to perform at its optimal level.

Not all sports came as naturally. On the Junior Varsity Volleyball team I mostly played the position of “Left, Out” where I sat on the sidelines watching and waiting for a turn on the court. I knew I could do it! I could dig, set, spike and (once upon a time) had a killer serve. At least, I could do these things at my level. Despite my pleas, I was not quite ready yet to join in and keep the game competitive.

On team sports “you are only as good as the coach thinks you are.” (Brian Williams, American Pitcher, Detroit Tigers & Astros)

I stayed benched and found other ways to contribute by cheering and supporting my teammates. I needed practice, development and maturity. So I followed my coach’s instructions, enlisted my dad’s help and practiced.

The next try outs I made the Varsity team and by my senior year our team was awesome, synergistic and made it to the semi-finals in the State competition.

The game that led us into the semi-finals was magic. We were all so into it, focused and determined. Our years of training, teamwork and friendship paid off. Every team has its moment of glory and that game was ours. We earned it.

While my serve may be long gone and spike may have aged into a dink, I still carry the knowledge and love of the sports I played. My coaches and teammates helped develop a part of myself that otherwise would be greatly repressed.

How we play sports is very indicative of how we’ll chart our course in life. The great coaches inspire us and direct us how to improve our game. Certain words and techniques stay with me like “keep your eye on the ball”.

I apply this pearl daily in my legal career and my life. I know enough to know when to seek out a mentor. I knew I couldn’t competently take on a full-scale film production by myself until I had experience. Yet, I still face curve balls.

Life will always throw curve balls, yet with training, you learn how to spot it and adapt your swing to hit it out of the park!

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Copyright © 2010 Cynthia Litman d/b/a Tigris Imprints. All Rights Reserved.