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The Wins Aren't Always on the Field
127 Plays2 months ago
In this heart-to-heart episode, I’m joined by my husband, a high school football coach, as we talk about how success in sports goes far beyond the final score. We dive into the lessons that kids learn from football that shape them for life, from resilience and teamwork to perseverance and leadership. Sometimes, the true victories aren’t measured in touchdowns—they’re found in the way players grow off the field and the lasting impact coaches have on their lives.
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Transcript
Beyond the Score: Deeper Wins in Football
00:00:23
Speaker
shape the lives of countless young people in ways that go far beyond the football field. It's really easy to think that success is all about the final score, but when you dig deeper you realize the wins are not always on the field. We're going to talk about football football, which like so many other experiences in life teaches us more than just the technical skills of the game. It teaches us about who we are and who we want to become and how we face life's challenges with strength and grace, character building moments, struggles, setbacks, and so much more. So whether you're a coach, a player, or a parent, or just somebody that loves the sport,
00:01:02
Speaker
I hope that you give this conversation a listen to today and I hope it gives you a fresh perspective on what success truly looks like. We're just going to dive right in. Hi guys, how are we today? How's it going? It's going good.
00:01:18
Speaker
Your one and only husband? My one and only husband. That was quite an intro. And you know what the great thing is about this podcast? 24 years, one and only.
Authenticity: The Unedited Podcast Experience
00:01:27
Speaker
I refuse to edit these podcasts because the whole point of this podcast is we're authentic, we're living our most vulnerable, graceful life. And I just don't care. And so it's so interesting when we started doing this, Chantal said,
00:01:41
Speaker
Oh, gosh, I'm going to have to go in and I'm going to have to edit. And I talked to other podcasters and they're like, we spent a couple hours on editing and I'm like, we're not doing it. We are rolling tape and we're just going to. te maybe Well, we'll see about that. Maybe you want to add it after me. You know, the one the coach is in the
Meet Christian Jones: Coach & Mentor
00:01:58
Speaker
room. yeah But so that everybody knows, this is my one and only husband Christian Jones of 24 years that is a coach at Dover High School, which is here in New York. For those of you that are listening in Italy and Argentina and Australia and all these great places we're seeing downloads, welcome. We're in the Hudson Valley. The podcast has been named after my charity, which is Sparrow's Nest of the Hudson Valley. And we feed cancer patients. And the whole reason for the podcast is because I, Krista Jones, am exhausted. And so Tom has come in with our radio days. I'm like, Tom, get in here, say some things. And um we're just talking about all kinds of topics and how throughout everything there are struggles for all of us. Whether you want to filter that or not on social media, we all face it. And this whole podcast for me
00:02:48
Speaker
is just, if I can get you to embrace your imperfections and not feel that you have to live up to everybody's perfections, then I've done my job. So my husband, Christian, has been um a football coach for years, ah first at Arlington High School here in New York, and now at his home school where he went to school, Dover High School, and um you know he's he's got a lot to his story. So I think I want you to tell us a little bit um about your football days when you were in high school and that what just transpired in the last seven, eight years of your life and where you are now. Yeah, sure. So I graduated from Dover High School in 1995, played football in 1994 as a senior.
Community & Family: Coaching at Home
00:03:34
Speaker
So that's pretty much 30 years um since I graduated there. ah I started off at Arlington High School where our children um graduated from. So ah it was important to be part of that community there when our our our girls were growing up. Our oldest Madison was on her cheer team.
00:03:54
Speaker
Let's be honest, you also wanted to vet the football players. That's true. That's true. ah So that actually worked out really well because they never ended up dating any of the football players. Terrific move. Although Krista ended up with the football players. Yeah, exactly exactly. Yeah, never date the football player. Find the one with the biggest backpack because he's probably the one that's going to be the most successful.
00:04:16
Speaker
That's really what he taught our kids. yeah yeah There you go. The one that's getting bullied by the football team, yeah that's the one that you want to get. Hold on, hold on though. We are joking. Plenty of football players are amazing young men and are very capable. We are honestly, like that's just a joke. Especially the ones coached by Christian Jones over here. My one and only husband. yes So um you know that's that's where my journey started. I actually started coaching our girls through rec sports, you know basketball, ah softball, more predominantly. um Our middle child, Olivia, for the most part, on travel softball, where I learned a lot of um ah a lot of hard lessons and a lot of um you know running of a program and and stuff like that.
00:05:04
Speaker
And I really feel like through the 30 years experience, it's kind of all culminated and and led me to ah taking over my alma mater, Dover Plains, the Dover Dragons.
Life Priorities: Family, Faith, and Football
00:05:18
Speaker
um You know, i i I tell my players all the time, there's three things in my life that, you know, are kind of more important than playing high school football. And that's um having um a beautiful wife that I'm married to for 24 years. I'm glad that I'm her one and only husband. Is she your one and only wife? that I don't know. that That may be a question right now. We'll check into that later. yeah So um having our three wonderful girls, because you know um in in life, you're going to experience some things like ah you know the feeling that you get on Friday Night Lights. And those are some of the more significant things.
00:05:58
Speaker
And the last one is, you know, when our family accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior. And I say that to the to my to my players because I want them to know how significant what they're about to take part of on a high school football team is, um you know, from um the the the hard work that it takes and the discipline. I tell them, you know, if you put one word in front of Every single thing in your life you will be successful in that one word is discipline. you can't You can't supplement any other word in front of every single adjective you do in your life than discipline because if you took take that word discipline, you are going to be heavily
Coaching Fulfillment: Influencing Lives
00:06:40
Speaker
successful.
00:06:40
Speaker
So this leads me to 30 years of my life coming back to my alma mater and seeing the people that I grew up with that I haven't seen in a long time, coaching players of friends of mine and teammates of mine. um And it's just a special time. And so when I said that I wouldn't want to do anything than going back and playing high school football. Right now that's wrong because I feel like coaching, I have more of a um opportunity to influence and get into the lives of these individuals where when I was playing, it was more for myself.
00:07:26
Speaker
I think I have to interject here because too, you know, um I think part of the cool thing about the fact that you're coaching now is, you know, we we we go to a local church that we've really become a big part of. And I think what happened is it started stirring in Christian that he wanted to influence young men in a positive way. you know Anybody can be a coach. i'm I'm not saying that to be disrespectful. But I think you know this vision that you wanted to bring more than just the winds on the field to these young men, you wanted to teach them respect and believing in themselves and putting others first. And all of these great life lessons, you know some kids have no other opportunity to have a mentor in their life than they do on the sports field. So I think you know it was really cool to see that as he started growing, you Christian, as ah you know spiritually, it was really cool to see that you felt that you should then put yourselves in the lives of others, a younger you know the younger generation, to to kind of mold them into being just amazing young men you know and women.
Inclusivity in Sports: No Player Left Behind
00:08:50
Speaker
Yeah, so one of the biggest things that I wanted to make sure happen when I went back to Dover is to make sure that no no one on my team or player on my team would not be able to do something because of money.
00:09:05
Speaker
Right. So um we got involved in a lot of fundraisers that we did as ah as a program every and and I'm happy to you know report that every single thing that we've done, whether it's camps, whether it's varsity letter jackets, you know, no kid is deprived of that. That's really awesome. That's really cool. but and and And because everything's so superficial in this world, exactly yeah I would never want one of my players not to have a jacket and and not have a varsity leather jacket and walk down the hall. That's an important symbol. Because I remember that. yeah You know what I'm saying? and
00:09:40
Speaker
I think as a as a coach, if you don't if you don't take a stance like that, and you don't, you know, because there's there's players on my team that need the program more than the program needs them 100%. And those are the kids that get left behind, you know, yeah, unfortunately, and I and I say it all the time, like we we need to develop, we need to build and we need to not only develop football players, but when we're developing human beings, right, they may not be the best football players.
00:10:08
Speaker
And you know next Sunday, we have our award banquet. I don't have MVPs. I don't have um awards that you know take kids and put them in a light where they're better than the other kids. I have awards about work ethic and um ah you know giving us good looks on a defense you know or an offense. Leadership, stuff like that. Yeah. yeah you know so That was one of the biggest things for me when I went to Dover, is that I'm going to show these kids things that, you know, they probably haven't
Life Lessons: Teamwork and Perseverance
00:10:45
Speaker
seen yet. yeah last Last year, and for the spring game, we we took ah two buses down to West Point and we watched the the the black and gold game and we were yeah we went on the field with coach, coach Monaghan, listened to him talk and, you know, they got pictures. Some of these kids probably never been to a live sporting event. Yeah, it's more about um it's more about the the growing of of of a person than it is about the X's and O's. Sure. So let's talk about the growing of a person. Let's talk about what a sport can teach you in in in real life. Right. Perseverance, teamwork. How does how does that work? How do you take what's on the field and and how does that help you become an amazing adult? Like what type of lessons are on the field that are are going to help them later in life? Yeah, well, leadership is number one, you know, being a good teammate, being able to take criticism. um You know, if you're not able to take criticism, you're not able to learn from your mistakes and, and build on what someone's telling you, um constructive criticism or learning after a loss is some of the best value that you can get as a as a young athlete growing up. um
00:11:58
Speaker
You know, I say it all the time to our staff, I say, you know, we we learn much more after our losses than we do from our wins, because when you win a football game, a lot of things had to happen for those for that game to be won. When you lose, there's a lot of things that you could take and you could build. So, you know, sometimes and and you see it in in college or in the pros,
00:12:20
Speaker
ah Team will lose a game but the next game and especially like when they're going into a playoff run maybe they lose the last game in a season and then they go into the playoffs and they go on to this run because they've learned a lot from what they've experienced with that loss but you learn that as well right you know it also goes in in the real life humility.
00:12:39
Speaker
you know being humble um the importance of trying something again right a lot a lot of people will just give up like you know thinking i failed i'm not going to be able to do that again so there's like a lot of lessons that you know you can you can take from from sports Well, but also sometimes in in winning, ah the final score kind of hides a little bit of the mistakes that did happen. You kind of look the other way. Hey, we we ended up winning. Yeah, but you threw three interceptions. Yeah, we won. Yeah, but you fumbled twice at the goal line. Yeah, we won.
00:13:12
Speaker
Yeah, but we didn't we didn't score on that last play when we when we could have gone, we could have put the game out of hand. We didn't score on it. Yeah, but we won. The winning becomes the excuse for the mistakes versus the losing is like, OK, here's where we have to make corrections. And the same thing happens in life. Hey, listen, if we're winning, quote unquote, winning at life all the time,
00:13:33
Speaker
um It masks a couple of the things that aren't going well in our lives or the things where we need to to work on versus, hey, this thing went wrong. I have two choices. I can either wallow in the misery of that happening or like you, like coach Jones is here you're saying and um you can, I don't
Developing Good People: Success in Coaching
00:13:52
Speaker
know why I have to call you. to Can I call you Christian? Is that okay? But coach Jones, I'm i'm a fellow coach. So it's like coach Jones. say get thomas coach just coach When people say Mr. Jones, I'm like, Mr. Jones, just call me coach. Mr. Jones is a different thing. um But but yeah, in the in the losing, you find you find where your vulnerabilities are. are are And you can, like I said, you can either wallow in that misery or you can learn from those things and and make corrections and and make improvements from that. If you don't know what's wrong, you you can't make improvements from from that. And in the winning, you oftentimes aren't dissecting, yes right? The vulnerabilities because the ultimate goal was you won. Yeah. Like in the NFL, a lot of times they'll have, if we win on Sunday, there's no practice on Monday.
00:14:39
Speaker
No, no, no, no, no, hold on. Wait a minute. I don't like that idea because, yeah, we won, but we squeaked one out where we should have put these guys away real early. We didn't and we made a couple of mistakes. We meant a lot of mistakes. You know, there was that penalty on fourth down. There was this thing. There was that thing. We're going to work on those on Monday. Yeah, but we won, coach. Yeah, but we're not.
00:15:00
Speaker
Winning today isn't the goal. It's winning the the ultimate one at the end. That's where we want to win at. And it's the same thing, you know, with um with life, you know, to to Christian's point, you know, because I coach baseball as well. So I can I can relate to a lot of the things here that we're talking about is that, you know, I think you said it before, before we open the mics here.
00:15:22
Speaker
Johnny's and Joe's before X's and O's. We gotta we got build good people before we're building good players because good good people make good players.
Corporate Lessons from the Football Field
00:15:33
Speaker
Yeah, i will i will take I will take one of those players that are going to work hard over talent any day. All the time. every You can mold those players. you know if you If you have a kid that's not going to listen to you, not going to be coachable, chances are when they get into the real world, they're not going to be really good employees either. and And I think this is where that all kind of comes together, because for myself and my own profession, I mean, I manage 11 people underneath me, right? and And there's no difference between Christian Jones as a football coach and Christian Jones as a manager, right? they're they're They're all in the same.
00:16:10
Speaker
Yep. So so a lot of my directors and the people that are higher up in my in my corporate America, real job, love the fact that I'm a football coach, love the fact that I'm able to talk to people in a way that it's coaching them up and not breaking them down. Exactly. Right. And and I think that, you know, we're gonna we're gonna be successful in this country if we get away from the um you know, breaking people down and instead building them up. Because this is who we have, right? And I say it all the time, I didn't I didn't make my money in football, I make my money because of football. And what I mean by that is the life lessons that I learned on the football field are the ones that I take for the rest of my life. And I've and I've had ups and downs. I mean, me and Krista have have had some Evan flows with
00:16:57
Speaker
financial and and business decisions that have not, but you know what? At the end of the day, the past 10 years have been the most successful from Sparrows Nest to my corporate job to me coaching, right? so So it's those peaks and valleys that you need to grow. And, you know, me as a coach and me as a manager at 48 years old is much different than where I was when I was 28 years old. Of course, yeah.
00:17:25
Speaker
And I think it's important that, you know, for parents out there that are listening, for coaches out there that are listening, you know, you get less results out of degrading someone than you do out of finding what they did right in that situation and bringing it out. They are more apt to listen to you. They are more apt to be responsive and they will respect you more.
00:17:49
Speaker
right yeah It's all in the way that you you talk to people. you know Christian's very honest with this. He used to be somewhat of a screamer. He was. He would scream and be like, the ball is over there. you know but We've all been there. That would just scream at the rest. It's true.
00:18:07
Speaker
but But he hasn't been kicked out of many games lately, so that's good. now yeah and you know And the kids were five. But you know it's interesting to watch how these young kids and adults react to him yelling because that causes chaos for them and anxiety, and or him just very directly reorganizing the way that he's saying something and and and and just telling them. like it it It completely has something to do, I believe, with the wins that you are seeing last year, Dover, you took it over for the first year, you went from blank man football to wet man football.
Transition to 11-Man Football at Dover High
00:18:48
Speaker
So they were in 2017, they had to move to eight man football because there was a lack of participation. So they they went with that approach to play eight man football and and and took the approach that eight man football is better than no man football.
00:19:03
Speaker
So, um when I took over there, they, they um actually the staff that was in place built up the um amount of kids that were wanting to participate um after COVID and everything that happened from 2017 to 2023.
00:19:20
Speaker
And when I took over the program, we went right into 11-man football. So we were 0 and 10, which, you know, it's it's difficult to not only take over a new program and and put in your culture and um start teaching and and building relationships with kids that you haven't had, you know, since they were they were freshmen.
00:19:42
Speaker
um Some of the kids that I have now, you know, that were freshmen when I took over the program are going into their junior year next year and and that's and that's how it happens and that's the biggest um grade that I have right now I have 18 kids at the sophomore level and you know it's like when a college coach goes in and takes over a program those are kind of my kids those are the kids that were with me from the start that i was there that are there the ones that are bought in there the ones that you know have have listened to me and i think i think for for krista she's she's seen the development and growth that i've had as not only a coach but also as
00:20:21
Speaker
in my career, and my profession, you know, i've I've gotten promotion after promotion after promotion, and it's really sky's the limit. And I want to continue to grow in my profession. But these are all the tools that I need to be successful. And this is what I want to give to these kids, right? um I want to be able to say to, you know, one of my players, I will hire you tomorrow, because I know the type of character that that kid has. And let's be honest, you know, last year was, it was a tough year for you as well. I mean, I kept reminding him over and over again. It's tough to go through a losing season without winning a game. It's tough for those kids. It's tough for the coach. I went from three years undefeated in a row, three undefeated seasons in a row. And then, you know, you go to this, and then, you know, it's tough for the parents, right? You have parents that judge that, that don't understand that. And I just kept saying over and over again, the wins this year are not in the field. The wins this year are not in the field. You're building good kids. You're building this this trust system. and Culture. That's what you said before, Christian, was culp you building culture.
00:21:23
Speaker
And I've been there as well. I coached a a travel baseball team that we started me and a couple of dads. We started this team um ragtag bunch of kids, you know, that we coached in little league and we we wanted to, you know, experience the travel game. And I'll tell you what, we didn't win our first game till the second season. And yeah I'm not saying these games are even remotely close.
Character Building: Beyond the Field
00:21:41
Speaker
But while we were getting our butts handed to us, there were a lot of lessons along the way about how we do things, how we handle ourselves as as gentlemen, how we because even ah ah when I talk to my players, I refer to everybody as gentlemen, gentlemen, can we do this? Gentlemen, can we do that? I don't say, hey, guys, hey, you know, and throw out expletives. I'm not, you know, ah we're gentlemen here. We got to act like gentlemen, got to behave like gentlemen. So, um again, it's something that we talk again, we talked about off mic. But, um you know, the reality is,
00:22:13
Speaker
Most of these kids are just going to turn into regular. Every day, moms and dads, not well, some of them are going to be moms. I coach boys, so I don't know if they're going to be moms, but you know what I mean? Their mom, when you come to coach a different podcast, they're coaching softball. They turn into moms, right? So they're going to be, but they're going to turn into regular people.
00:22:37
Speaker
And I say regular people, not in a demeaning way, but just like they're going to work regular jobs like we do. They're going to have they're going to have kids of their own. They're going to have their own families. They're not going to turn into major league baseball players or NFL football players. The number of players that play college football from the high school level to college is it it's a it's a fraction of a fraction. yeah So we're not building the all stars of tomorrow. We're building the citizens of tomorrow is ultimately as as coaches.
00:23:06
Speaker
But I think parents need to hear that. They do. i want I want to talk a little bit about that then, just as a coach's wife sitting in the stands. Certainly. You know, obviously, you know, I hear things too. But that's really important for a parent to grasp. Yes. Because sometimes you're putting expectations on these kids from you not being able to live that out yourself, from you feeling that, you know, they're, you know, you're blinded and you feel that they're way better than they are.
00:23:32
Speaker
And you're really doing such a disservice, not only to your child, but to the entire team, to every single coach's wife that hears you trash her husband or hears you trash other teammates because you think your
Parental Expectations: Impact on Sports
00:23:46
Speaker
child is better. I mean, we could do a whole segment on that. on that What are some of the things that you hear?
00:23:52
Speaker
Again, I think that's a different, I think that's a different podcast. is a different podcast But these expectations. A hundred percent, yes. Because again, i've in coaching baseball right now, um you know, there's ah there's parents that have been on the teams that have expectations that are beyond what, the you know, We're coaching 12 year old kids. Your kid's not going to be in the major leagues next year. So it's OK to share time on the field with players who are trying to develop. We're trying to develop players as well. So it's not always about the the wins and losses. Listen, at the end of the day, we all want to win. That's that's that's really what we're trying to do. But in the process of winning, we're trying also to develop, like you said, good character.
00:24:36
Speaker
So in those situations where, um, you know, there's, there's, uh, playing time is a situation or, uh, you know, their parents are very passionate about winning and losing. And sometimes they get a little overly passionate about a call or a play or this or that.
00:24:55
Speaker
Those things are going to happen in life as well, outside of sports. And how you respond to them is kind of your already role playing for how your child is going to act as well. So we talked about it before. I'd rather have 10 guys on my baseball team who are outstanding characters, who are great workers. They work hard. They keep their nose to the grindstone. They don't complain. They do their job.
00:25:22
Speaker
They are willing to learn and be coachable. They take all the good stuff. I'd rather have 10 guys like that who bat 200 versus ah a team full of guys who are all full of themselves who all bat 650 and are hitting home runs left and right. I don't want to win that way that badly. I'd rather coach a group of guys who are going to be good human beings later on than coaching guys who are just about winning.
00:25:47
Speaker
Yeah, and sportsmanship is one of the one of the things that I think all parents should really be teaching their kids like, you know, that sportsmanship award or being a captain is more important than being a good good player or a talent because talent talent is um something that that God gave you ah an ability to run fast and ability to be strong, you know, you have God given talent and then you have Talent that you get from the name that's on the back of your jersey and that's your family and that's who you represent when you're out there and if you're Acting like a punk right or you're a parent that acts like
True Sportsmanship: Handling Wins & Losses
00:26:22
Speaker
a punk. What do you think your kids gonna do exactly? Yes, so I was watching a um college football college football playoff. You you watch college. Yeah, of course. Yeah, so Arizona State versus um Texas, right
00:26:34
Speaker
So Arizona State played a great game, a lot of heart, a lot of grit. I was rooting for them because they were the end of the club. So was I, actually. And running back, unbelievable the way he was playing. So at the end of the game, what I got was the whole winning and losing with dignity. I mean, this coach could have been really upset, showed his players how upset he was. This father, this running back, could have been so upset. But I saw so much love, and I saw so much empathy for his players,
00:27:04
Speaker
what they are going through and instead of instead of you know making it about the loss, he took every single player on his team and made sure that they went and congratulated Texas and shook hands. exactly and and this And this coach is like 28 years old. like you know So so like to see that in in that type of moment, why can't Why can't we all be like that? Right. Why can't we all, you know, there's all this talk about kindness and this and that and the other thing. Right. That was just a ah ah perfect example of a man that was coaching a group of young men going through a real tough time and how he was able to elevate his players. Right. And show them this example of leadership. And I think I think that's what is most important, you know,
00:27:57
Speaker
because we're building we're building good human beings at the end of the day. And and we have to model that as parents. yeah like you absolutely You said about expectations. you know your Your son, he pitches well now when he's 12, but when he's 14 or 16 or 18,
00:28:15
Speaker
How he prepares or how he works at it is really what's going to determine it because the kids listen Nobody's made the major leagues at 12 years old. I don't have to be the best player at 12 years old I have to be the best player when I'm 16 or 18 if I want to get into if I if I do want to go and play beyond that so really what I what I try to teach my kids is How you do things the the manner in which and that's what kind of what we're talking about here is that ultimately sports is not about the X's and O's the the wins and losses on the on the field. It's about.
Sports as a Tool for Better Adulthood
00:28:49
Speaker
Preparing kids to be better adults, better citizens, better moms, better dads, better ah parents, better husbands and wives. You know what I mean? It's to be better people.
00:29:01
Speaker
um And I think if we all focused on that more as coaches and as parents and as players, I think we would i think we'd get a whole lot more out of sports in general from ah from youth sports.
00:29:14
Speaker
Absolutely. I mean, parenting is everything. The way that you handle a situation will stay with your kid forever. If you are that parent that keeps calling the coach and complaining about the time that your child is out there playing, they're playing time and you know, Johnny is better than Billy and he should, you know, be doing this more. One, you're degrading another child, right? Yeah. Who's just just as as as talented. Yeah, too. You are now taking the authority of the coach who is the boss and you're now challenging that. You're you're you're showing your kid traits that are not going to fare well for them in the real world. Exactly. it's not going to do good for you in the middle of you know what the your work day to go to your boss and go, well, Johnny, you know he gets to you know do this more than I get to do this, and and I'm really better than him. and like That doesn't bode well. yeah And there are times in life that things are not fair.
Resilience through Unfairness in Sports
00:30:15
Speaker
Let's be honest, sometimes as a coach, you might make decisions that aren't fair to other people. like you really You're human. You really might. But then that's a learning experience for a parent to say, I understand that you're disappointed. I understand that this doesn't seem fair, but this is the decision that they have made. like And you have to be able to pivot from it. You have to be able to deal with it. We can't always cry and get our way. Exactly. And how are you going to be able to persevere? Like, so to relate to what you do as a professional with Sparrow's Nest, I mean, how are you going to respond to that cancer diagnosis, right? Because it could happen when you're later in life. And I mean,
00:30:50
Speaker
that's another life lesson that you learned on the football field, persevering. right and when about When things don't go your way, like like are you really gonna worry about ah ah a loss of a game right yeah when when you're faced with that type of thing? Well, I think that's the thing, putting it all in church perspective. We're putting so much emphasis on the loss of this game. And you know I say all the time to our kids, our kids live it. There are so many things in life that are so much worse. And talk about not being fair. The cancer diagnosis isn't fair. no at all, but guess what? It happens. It does. Life is not about being fair. And so it's realizing there are situations that you have to pivot, that you just have to figure out, you know, and that is the best life lesson that we can give our children because we're not going to be around when they're 25, 30, 40, 50, making all of these different decisions. And we have to teach them that you've got to be able to take that situation and just figure out how you exist in it.
00:31:48
Speaker
Yeah. the The ultimate legacy that we have on this earth is our, is our offspring. Yeah. No, I don't know. And understand and and I take it a step further as a coach that my players are my legacy too. Yeah, but absolutely. It is. So those are the influences that we need to ah nurture and and build.
00:32:05
Speaker
Yeah, I want to be I always picture myself as ah the old ball coach, you know, 70, 80 years old. And I have, you know, so you know, 50 or 60 year old, you know, guys who are coming to me and saying, hey, coach, you know, I know you're you're an old guy now, but I want to tell you, I'm coaching my own kid now and I'm coaching the same way that yeah I'm learning the lessons. I'm teaching them the lessons that that you taught me back then. So thank you. That's that's the that would be the biggest compliment.
00:32:34
Speaker
Yeah, I saw my one of my old high school football coaches at All Sport the other day was getting ready to play pickleball and he's sitting there, he's warming up and I seen him with his racket and I'm like, hey, coach, how are you doing? He's like, I'm so proud of you, coach. yeah He's like, I'm he goes, I'm proud of what you did at Dover. You know, hes this is a guy that that is one of my mentors. Right. You know, to hear that from him, you know, and he's like, hey, you want to play pickleball? And I'm like, um when I'm too, when I'm too old to play real sport, I'll take a pickleball. But listen, every month I'm getting closer and closer to playing pickleball. There you go. Maybe we'll, maybe we'll play pickleball together one day. Oh guys. I don't know. There's so much that we can do to unwrap this. I think we're going to have to have a few episodes. I really do. You guys were absolutely amazing. I appreciate both of
Life Lessons: The True Victory in Sports
00:33:17
Speaker
you being here. Of course. and
00:33:18
Speaker
You know, I'm really hoping that you guys just remember it's so easy to get caught up in the scores and the victories that you see, but the truth is the most important victories are the ones that shape us as individuals. They're the lessons in resilience and teamwork and self-belief that ah our kids are going to carry with them for the rest of their life.
00:33:40
Speaker
So if you've taken something away from today's episode, whether it's a new perspective on coaching or the importance of membership, or it's just a reminder to look beyond the scoreboard, we encourage you to share this episode with someone that might just need a reminder of what success really looks like. We often need to hear that the wins aren't on the field.
00:34:01
Speaker
especially when life gets tough. So until next time, remember the journey matters just as much as the destination, the growth you experience, the people you meet, the lessons you learn along the way, they're all your true victories. Take care of yourself, keep showing up, and let's keep building each other up. One moment, one lesson, one victory at a time.