COACHES: It’s not always what you say that determines your culture but rather what you are willing to accept. What you reinforce, permit, allow, or promote determines your team's culture.
If a player doesn’t play hard all the time, no skill they bring to the table can offset that. Playing hard is a prerequisite to playing. Period. Nobody succeeds by making half an effort. Make sure your players understand that laziness is unacceptable. Competing to WIN is a skill!
Turning the other cheek is not the withdrawal of the loser, but the action of one who has a greater inner strength, who defeats evil with good, who opens up a breach in the heart of the enemy, unmasking the absurdity of his hatred. It is dictated not by calculation, but by love.
Your athletic career is most likely temporary; your character lasts a lifetime. The person you are is far more important than the player you are! What are your habits/routines? Are you grateful, humble, honest. Do you care for others? Be someone people respect on & off the court!
Give yourself a break sometimes. Failure and mistakes happen to everyone; even the most successful people. That is a given. A 100% truth! But so is the fact that successful people never waste them. They learn from them. Never underestimate the lessons of failures & mistakes!
Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” (John 14:27)