"Sports do not build character, they reveal it." John Wooden

With club season quickly approaching I'm reminded of how much competition can bring out the best... or the worst in people. There are so many aspects that I love about sports... as an athlete I learned what it meant to desire something and then make every effort to attain it. I learned what it meant to have a goal, work towards that goal and achieve it. I learned part of working towards that goal meant sacrifice, sweat, and at times, tears. I learned what it's like to meet that goal and I've learned how to handle defeat and walk away gracefully. I've learned what it means to be a teammate and to be a competitor... to win with confidence and to lose with integrity. I've learned that I am capable of more than what the world would expect from me and in turn am able to give the world more than they deserve from me.

It is the things listed above that drive me to coach, to teach, to give part of myself to the next generation. I look at my players and pray that they are my legacy... that they live up to the expectations that I have for them... not the empty expectations of a shallow worldview.

However, it saddens me to learn about others in the sports world who believe the very opposite... they take what is good about sports and taint it with their own selfish desires. Forgetting along the way that we are affecting young lives... and at times even adult lives. When a competitor has only negative things to say about myself or the club (which offends me for my coaching staff)... or when a competitor has delusions of grandeur about themselves and "their"coaching... or when a competitor is so self involved that they fail to communicate honestly with their own players it saddens me.

Where are the traits of "personal integrity", "self-confidence", and "character"?

But then I'm reminded that sports do not develop character... they only reveal it.