Five Reads For Friday April 17th

The Week got away from me. It has been typically crazy spring time around here. But I think overall a successful week. Here are my 5 reads for Friday.

Larry Bird on Running -- Runners World
There were a couple things that caught my eye about this article. Larry Bird was one of the greatest basketball players I have ever seen. I remember hearing that he liked to run and that he put a mile or two in before or after games. But what also interested me is like Michael Jordan, Bird had a routine that he developed over time that worked for him. The bottom line is it involved a lot of extra work. You don't truly maximize your potential without following a daily routine of practice and work. Bird and Jordan knew that.

The Moral Bucket List -- David Brooks NYT
The first sentence of this article really grabbed me. It is "about once a month I run across a person who radiates an inner light." There are all sorts of reason I like that sentence. In part it reflects a sense of spirituality we don't talk too much about but it exists. I have seen this too in a couple people I know well. You can't help but be drawn to them. But I also liked what Brooks says about the career resume and the eulogy resume. I worry a lot that schools over emphasize the career resumes -- many sports programs do too. But the great teachers and coaches somehow get their students to see how to develop their eulogy resumes too.

Eat the Fish and Spit Out The Bones -- Tim Elmore
I meant to add this last week but ran out of room. How do we make our students and athletes more resilient? In an era where there seems to be trophy or an award for everyone, I think we need to think critically about this. I liked this piece by Tim Elmore on the topic.

The Job of Coaching -- Vern Gambetta
The most rewarding parts of the job of coaching is the part that is never seen. Last night it was 6:15 pm and I was over at New Trier throwing the discus with two freshman. I had been tired and exhausted all day long from many early mornings and late nights. But all of a sudden I felt completely invigorated by the engagement of these two throwers. I had promised their mothers that we would be done by 6:30 pm but I wish we could've gone on for an hour more. Coach Gambetta explains this well in his short post.

I'm Not The Kind of Person -- Seth Godin
I am in the process of trying to create a track team which covers 17 events. At some point every week, I have to convince a young person to try an event in track they have never tried before or don't particularly like. Most of the time -- maybe with some persuasion -- they agree to do it for the team. But it is amazing to me how some kids get pretty fixed about what they can do and what they can't based on how they see themselves. This can be even worse in adults. Sometimes though in the trying a switch gets flipped and that person almost immediately sees themselves differently. That's when the true magic of coaching happens.