You can learn a lot from football
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It’s been said that ‘sports imitate life’. I believe this is especially true in football. One can learn perseverance thru adversity, teamwork, and self-discipline from the game of football, and those who train harder, work smarter and are highly dedicated to the game, tend to be more successful than others, even those who might be more naturally gifted. That nugget is not only true in football, it’s true in life.
Yesterday I was reminded of another great lesson learned from the game that applies to life. As I watched a young high school coach and his team run the same two plays over and over again resulting in the same exact result.....no gain.... I couldn’t help but want to scream, ‘Try another play! That one ain’t workin’!’ Of course, as a coach I know that many times we feel our options are limited. Our star player might be injured or the fact we are missing several of our starters may very well dictate how we call the game. And sometimes....we’re just out matched by our opponent. Whatever the reason for not changing our game plan, it usually feels like it’s what we have to do. Again, this is the way many folks feel about their life.
I’ve always felt though, that if somethings not working out there, we might just as well try something different. Who knows, maybe it’ll work. And if it doesn’t....well, at least we tried something different and failed, rather than continuing to repeat the same things over again and acting surprised when it doesn’t work!
So if the landscape of the game or work is starting to just blur together and the results of each day are the same....’no gain’....perhaps it’s time to change it up a bit! And if by chance, you experience a victory.....never act surprised!!!! Act as though you planned it that way all along, and people just might begin to think you know what you’re doing after all!
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The Times is pleased to have Dane Johnson blogging his thoughts on high school football throughout the season. Johnson, a football coach at San Dimas High, has been a football coach for more than 20 years in the San Gabriel Valley and is also a pastor at Christ’s Church of the Valley . You can connect with him on Twitter @PastorDaneJ.