Introduction
What are some things that come to mind when you think of a winner or a champion?
Coach Terry Bowden coached over 300 college football games over a span of 4 decades. In 1993, he led Auburn to a perfect 11-0 season and said that his team’s success boiled down to one word… attitude. To remind him of the importance of attitude, Coach Bowden carried this article around with him throughout the season.
“Attitude: The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill. It will make or break a company… a church… a home.
The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past. We cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10 percent what happens to me and 90 percent how I react to it. And so it is with you. We are in charge of our attitudes.”
– Charles Swindoll
Attitude determines how we respond to challenges and opportunities in life. Today, we’re going to talk about three key ingredients of a winning attitude. Each of these ingredients begins with a D, and each of them makes a major contribution to individual and team success both on and off the field.
Determination is the ability to stick with it and persevere in the face of challenges and setbacks.
The Three D’s
Who can tell me who Florence Griffith-Joyner is?
“Flo-Jo” is often considered the fastest woman who ever lived. She set the world record for both the 100 meters and 200 meters way back in 1988, records that still stand to this day. (To give you some perspective, the men’s 100M record has been broken 14 times since 1988!)
Shortly after winning the gold medal at the 1988 Olympics, Flo-Jo was asked to what she attributed her success. She replied, “Desire, Dedication, and Determination.” Those three D’s are what I’m going to talk to you about today.
1. Desire
How would you define “desire?”
Desire can be difficult to define, but you know if you have ever experienced it. It is an urge, an impulse, a longing to experience or accomplish something. It motivates you to strive and sacrifice for the result you are hoping for. There is an expression in Spanish to do something “con ganas,” which literally means “with desire,” but expresses so much more. It might be better translated to “put your guts into it,” or “give it all your strength.”
To be successful as a player, as a team, or in life you need desire. How strong is your desire to compete in your sport?
Check out this story about a 13-year-old boy who went on to become the greatest scorer in NCAA basketball history:
“I began to eat and sleep with my basketball by my side. I was so dedicated to perfecting my skills that when Mom came in to kiss me good night, without fail I was lying in bed shooting the ball to the ceiling. and catching it. I’m sure she heard me repeating, ‘fingertip control, backspin, follow-through … fingertip control, backspin, follow-through.’ As Mom said good night, she would tuck the ball under my arm, as some mothers would a child’s teddy bear, then turn out the light. Sleep didn’t come easily because my mind constantly churned new ideas regarding the ball-handling and dribbling drills my dad had taught me that day.”
This 13-year-old boy was none other than “Pistol” Pete Maravich, who in 3 years between 1968-1970 averaged 44 points per game and scored a total of 3667 points … A record that stands to this day.
Ted Williams – one of the greatest hitters in baseball history – said this: “All I want out of life is that when I walk down the street folks will say, there goes the greatest hitter that ever lived.”
· What do you want people to say about you?
· How strong is your desire to achieve success?
The first ingredient is desire – you’ve gotta want it!
2. Dedication
The second ingredient is dedication.
Desire will only take you so far. To be successful, you must have the dedication to actually follow through on that desire. You have to actually do it! Dedication is often what separates average players and teams from champions.
Bobby Knight put it this way: “The will to win is the most over-estimated phenomenon in sport. It’s not the will to win – everyone wants to win. It’s the will to prepare to win that makes winners.”
A lot of people want to win, but aren’t willing to pay the price. There has never been a great sports champion who wasn’t dedicated – Steph Curry, Michael Phelps, Peyton Manning – all of these guys had or have intense regiments of training that helped them reach their desired goals.
What about you? Are you willing to work hard to win? If coach was to ask you to do some extra drills after practice, what would your attitude be?
Ok, let’s review:
· The first ingredient: Desire
· The second ingredient: Dedication
3. Determination
Our final ingredient is determination. This is the ability to stick with it and persevere in the face of challenges and setbacks. Every great champion has had to overcome challenges and failures along the way. The examples are endless: Many of you have probably heard the story about Michael Jordan. As a sophomore he was unable to make the varsity basketball team. Apparently, there were 15 kids better than him at his high school. Jordan turned that into motivation. He worked out relentlessly, became the best player on the JV team, and a year later was the undisputed leader of the varsity squad.
Many of you may know that Tom Brady was drafted in the 6th round of the NFL draft, the 199th pick overall. Every NFL franchise had the opportunity to select Brady and passed, multiple times. Tom used that snub as motivation throughout his NFL career, winning 7 Super Bowls (more than any NFL franchise) and becoming arguably the greatest NFL player of all-time.
· What is your attitude?
· Are you easily side-tracked or are you determined to press on?
To be a champion in life requires desire, dedication, and determination in every area of your life- the physical, the mental, and the spiritual.
Conclusion
Let’s review the 3 D’s:
· Desire
· Dedication
· Determination
Ask yourself where you can apply these ingredients to help you achieve your goals. Also, what about applying it to other areas of your life so you can excel off the field as well.
To be a champion in life requires desire, dedication, and determination in every area of your life- the physical, the mental, and the spiritual. A lot of professional athletes have acknowledged the key role spiritual motivation has played in their success – players like Clayton Kershaw, Steph Curry, and Cooper Kupp. These guys have learned how to strike a balance in these three areas of their life.
Cru is an organization that supports students who want to develop the spiritual area of their lives. Addi (Cru student leader) has been involved for the past 4 years and she and our Cru staff team want to invite anyone who is interested to hear a bit more about Cru and how we seek to serve students in our community. If anyone is interested, we will have pizza and popsicles tomorrow after practice and share a little bit more about Cru and how we can grow as spiritual champions as well.
Comment Cards
Thanks again for having us, coach. I do have just one favor to ask. We’re going to pass out some brief comment cards. We would love it if you could take about 2 minutes to give us some honest feedback about the talk today. It is always helpful for us to know what students find most helpful, as well as what topics you might be interested in hearing about. There is also a place on the card where you can provide your contact information if you would like a reminder text about our pizza and popsicle event taking place outside the locker room tomorrow after practice. Thanks, guys. Best of luck with the remainder of your season.
Next Step
Decide on a team for a team talk, and offer this talk or Successful Teams to the coach.
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