Adam Funmaker

Baylor Ed.D. Grad, Husband to Erika, dad to Olivia, Ellie & Bear, follower of Christ. Christian Educator

[Adam Funmaker @coach_funmaker7]

If I was 18-19 and could go back in time, this is the type of degree/program I would pursue!

[Brandon Warmke @BrandonWarmke]

It’s true. 146 majors in its first year.

[Adam Funmaker @coach_funmaker7]

So much gold in this story!

[Sahil Bloom @SahilBloom]

This is a story about my father, parenting, and my rule for the strongest relationships in life…

When I was 12 years old, I tried out for a baseball all-star team in our area.

I really wanted to make this team. The tryouts were my first adventure beyond the confines of my small town. An opportunity to see how I stacked up against kids from all around the state.

When the results came out, the coaches called my house.

They were taking 16 players for the team...and I was the 17th on the list.

I was devastated.

It was my first real experience with failure. Something I wanted, worked towards, and came up short. I went into my room, sat on my bed, and cried.

A few minutes later, my dad walked in. He sat down on the bed next to me. After a few minutes of silence, he offered a few words:

“I know you’re upset. I understand. It sucks. But here are the three things the coaches said you needed to work on. Let’s go out every day this summer and work on them. Together.”

And we did.

I’d patiently wait for him to get home from work, holding our gloves, a bucket of balls, and a bat. He took me to the local field damn near every single day that summer. I’m sure there were days when he didn’t want to. When he was exhausted from work or travel, but it never showed.

And I came back the next year a completely different player. Years later, when I got a scholarship to play baseball at Stanford, I still thought back to that one summer as the turning point.

But it was more than the practice that was the real turning point.

It was what my dad said in those moments as we sat on my bed, with tears streaming down my face—and how he followed through on it every day that followed.

He had two options when he walked into my room and sat next to me.

Option 1: Tell me the coaches were idiots. I was the best player. They had made a mistake. They didn’t know what they were doing.

Option 2: Acknowledge the pain. Tell the truth about the opportunity in the failure. And be there to support the work to meet that opportunity.

Honestly, in that moment, I probably wanted Option 1. It would have made me feel better. It would have told me that the world was the problem. That an external thing was to blame. That I was great.

Option 2 was the tough pill to swallow. But also the right one.

I believe that the strongest relationships in life stand on two pillars:

The first is high expectations.

The belief that the other person is capable of excellence. That their potential is only limited by their own views. The willingness to tell the truth about that opportunity and the work required to meet it.

The second is high support.

The ability and willingness to provide the love, support, and engagement to help the other person meet those high expectations.

A lot of relationships fall short of this standard. They hit one pillar, but miss the other.

Low expectations and high support will provide comfort, but no growth. High expectations and low support may spark short-term growth, but breed long-term resentment.

Sir Isaac Newton famously said:

“If I have seen further than others, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”

It’s a beautiful line, but I think it leaves out the part that matters most.

The giants had to bend down. They had to choose to provide energy to lift him.

That’s exactly what my dad did the night I didn’t make that all-star team. He didn’t lower his shoulders to the level of my disappointment. He didn’t tell me the high heights didn’t matter.

He told me that I was capable of the climb—and then he gifted me with his attention and energy to help complete it.

I think about this constantly now.

This, to me, is the highest calling in our relationships:

To create an environment of high expectations with those we love and show up to support them to meet (and exceed) those expectations we’ve set.

This is something I’ve been thinking about a lot as a father. I hope it resonated with you.

[Oscar Ortiz Duarte @OOrtizDuarte]

A good text doesn’t give itself up right away.

It makes a student work.

That’s part of the formation.

[Adam Funmaker @coach_funmaker7]

Ejected?

[Adam Funmaker @coach_funmaker7]

No fouls on either of those?? That’s rough.

[Adam Funmaker @coach_funmaker7]

What are we even doing.

[Pete Nakos @PeteNakos]

Mario Craver has inked a contract extension with Texas A&M, sources tell @on3.

The deal makes him the highest paid WR in A&M history.

https://t.co/bpGJCCHhGM

[Adam Funmaker @coach_funmaker7]

Boozer is fantastic…

But he has traveled all over, set illegal screens, and had at least three offensive fouls not called on him.

[Adam Grant @AdamMGrant]

It's time to remove laptops from classrooms.

24 experiments: Students learn more and get better grades after taking notes by hand than typing. It's not just because they're less distracted—writing enables deeper processing and more images.

The pen is mightier than the keyboard.

[Adam Funmaker @coach_funmaker7]

Jokes on @Disney and @espn

I didn’t even want to watch Arkansas play football.

[Adam Funmaker @coach_funmaker7]

There is no reason for Clark Lea to leave Vandy. But if I’m the leadership at Arkansas I’m throwing everything at him.

[Adam Funmaker @coach_funmaker7]

Pulling for a Commodores v. Hoosiers national championship game !

[Adam Funmaker @coach_funmaker7]

Or … a bad defense and bad offense…

[Adam Funmaker @coach_funmaker7]

This game is answering the question…

What is better?

A great offense and bad defense

Or

A great defense and bad offense

[Adam Funmaker @coach_funmaker7]

@jay_mcguirk lol okay… respect may be a better word for you

[Adam Funmaker @coach_funmaker7]

Gotta love Clark Lea and how he’s lead at Vanderbilt.

[Adam Funmaker @coach_funmaker7]

A backup QB comes in and runs it 10 yards … can’t make it up.

[Adam Funmaker @coach_funmaker7]

I know that usually … with a normal football team you’re playing to kick a FG…and that’d be the right call … but we aren’t a normal team.

You gotta put the ball one the end zone here

[Adam Funmaker @coach_funmaker7]

Notre Dame 0-2.
Ranked 24?

[AP Top 25 @AP_Top25]

Texas A&M jumps to No. 10 in the AP Top 25 college football poll while Notre Dame is the first ranked 0-2 team since 1988. See where other top teams landed: https://t.co/7dTTUiSC1j

#APPhoto by Jay LaPrete

[Adam Funmaker @coach_funmaker7]

Very Arkansas of us.

[Adam Funmaker @coach_funmaker7]

Throw in the towel!!!