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Post by kylem56 on Apr 11, 2009 8:11:41 GMT -6
Right now I have been re-reading the Winners Manual by Jim Tressel. For those of you who havent read it yet, buy it now! Even though I despise Ohio State  It is filled with a ton of good stuff. Anyway, a certain passage in the book realy struck me and its something I will be sharing with my players next week during meetings about being grateful.. THE GLOBAL VILLAGE If we could shrink the earth's population to a village of precisely one hundred people, with all the existing human rations remaining the same, the village would include... 60 Asians 12 Europeans 15 from the Western Hemisphere (9 Latin Americans, 5 North Americans, and 1 Oceanian) 13 Africans Of those one hundred people... 50 would be female 50 would be male 80 would be nonwhite 20 would be white 67 would be non-Christian 33 would be Christian 20 would earn 89 percent of the wealth 25 would live in substandard housing 17 would be unable to read 13 would suffer from malnutrition 1 would die within the year 2 would give birth within the year 2 would have a college education and 4 would own a computer. |
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Post by touchdowng on Apr 11, 2009 8:41:40 GMT -6
Anyway, a certain passage in the book realy struck me and its something I will be sharing with my players next week during meetings about being grateful..
Question?
How do these breakdowns help players feel grateful? I think I've missed something here. What I mean is most history and contemporary world problems teachers cover this stuff in class.
How do you plan to connect this information to get a positive response from your guys?
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Post by coachorr on Apr 11, 2009 8:59:32 GMT -6
I am confused.  |
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Post by touchdowng on Apr 11, 2009 9:09:20 GMT -6
coachorr if my reply created confusion let me explain. I have coached many players who would look at the information shared from Tressel's book. They would say, "So what?" because they've come from tough situations. Situations that I can't related to. I think the info being shared by kylem56 is valuable. The value is in how it is going to be presented and how it is going to be used. This is what I'd like to know and learn about. Maybe I should just keep quiet and buy the book  |
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Post by schultbear74 on Apr 11, 2009 9:18:51 GMT -6
I think you are right. I need to read the book as well. I have a lot of these "so what" students around me. They just don't get it.
Read a book by Robert Jackson called "No More excuses: Black Men Stand Up!". It relates not just to Black men, but to any man deprived of a decent father figure growing up in America today. It explains why some kids don't get it.
The guy who wrote it gives credt to two men, both white football coaches (among others), who helped him get it. Kudos to Dave Enright a long time Indiana High School coaching Icon and Jack Harbaugh a Western Kentucky University legend for their positive influences.
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Post by husky44 on Apr 11, 2009 9:31:57 GMT -6
One of the most important things I took from Tressel's book was the idea of having an "attitude of gratitude". How do you develop this idea? Tressel has his players write two things they are thankful for each day before practice begins. This changes your perspective on life and forces you to look at the positive things in your life and not what is wrong with it. We all know that the positive person is going to be the most successful individual and we need to "feed the good wolf" and not the bad one.
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Post by coachorr on Apr 11, 2009 9:41:48 GMT -6
Tuchdowng, I am not confused by your comment, but at the global community percentages. I am not clear on how this contributes to "gratitude". I too need to read the book. I am going to buy it in the next month. I am in your boat. I think kids would have the same reaction, "so what". I do like what Husky44 is taking away from the book and make kids write down what they are grateful for.
As a teacher, and a coach for that matter, I want to get better at causing students to internalize information and come to their own conclusions as they relate to their background.
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Post by coachorr on Apr 11, 2009 9:46:04 GMT -6
Schultbear, what is your opinion on the ability of a teacher/coach male figure to assume the role of a fatherlike figure in a young man's life. Do you believe it is possible? Or is it all smoke and mirrors?
Does anyone have ideas on how to foster a young man's belongingness to a team to increase his self worth and encourage his own self respect? Simpler question: What can I do to improve my ability to create successful youth, who otherwise do not have the same opportunities as some of their peers.
Note: I already relate well to players and I do command respect from them, however, it seems at times superficial.
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Post by touchdowng on Apr 11, 2009 10:32:19 GMT -6
coachorr
Maybe at times it does seem superficial but don't stop mentoring (as a coach or fatherfigure).
Some of the lessons the students will gleen from you and others like you may not surface until some of these kids reach adulthood. Some of the things my coaches told me/the team didn't begin to make sense until I began to take on real responsibilities as an adult. I've expressed my gratitude to some of my coaches when our paths have crossed but I know I haven't reached out to all of them. I just try to pay it back by doing the same for the young adults I work with.
We talk about the law of influence within our program with our players and our coaches. The only thing a person cannot do is NOT influence. Everybody has the power to influence both negatively and positively whether they are doing it intentionally or not. People influence people and Coaches influence players. FB coaches influence young men in some of the most profound ways.
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Post by fbdoc on Apr 11, 2009 10:33:33 GMT -6
The statistics are interesting but each coach has to apply them as they relate to their team. My team is in South Florida...
95% are RICH
80% are not in divorced family
75% are 1000 + on the SAT
60% are Bi-lingual
50% are 2 or 3 sport athletes
5 % are going to play college sports
As far as Gratitude, almost every one is involved in our school/team community service programs and over half of our team went on at least one mission trip this year.
Don't stress out about the Global statistics. Focus on your team and create opportunities for your players to grow as young men.
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Post by kylem56 on Apr 11, 2009 12:57:04 GMT -6
my point was, how many of us take for granted that we have full meals daily, have a computer, cell phone, have a roof over our heads, have an education, etc. Things could be alot, alot worse.
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Post by schultbear74 on Apr 11, 2009 13:16:50 GMT -6
I'm like you coachorr. I demand respect from players and I get it. I do believe that a bunch of it is superficial.
By the time we get them, they are so bent that we can do little to change their true character- that requires a commitment that few of them can take on for themselves when you are not watching.
FBdoc- my kids are the polar opposite of yours. I have worked at such schools as yours and would love to again sometime. But, wherever you go- there you are.
But there are those few, and it is for them that we keep doing what we do.
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Post by fbdoc on Apr 11, 2009 15:12:23 GMT -6
Schultbear - I forgot to add that probably 90% play football because they think its fun! With everything else they have we still have our collection of leaders, followers, and knuckleheads. A projected 2 way starter just got expelled last week for posting racial slurs on his facebook.
Kyle - I agree 100% that we all tend to take our lifestyle for granted and that we need to be grateful for our many blessings. I also feel that my battle is going to be on a different front.
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Post by coachd5085 on Apr 11, 2009 15:17:59 GMT -6
Right now I have been re-reading the Winners Manual by Jim Tressel. For those of you who havent read it yet, buy it now! Even though I despise Ohio State It is filled with a ton of good stuff. Anyway, a certain passage in the book realy struck me and its something I will be sharing with my players next week during meetings about being grateful.. THE GLOBAL VILLAGE If we could shrink the earth's population to a village of precisely one hundred people, with all the existing human rations remaining the same, the village would include... 60 Asians 12 Europeans 15 from the Western Hemisphere (9 Latin Americans, 5 North Americans, and 1 Oceanian) 13 Africans Of those one hundred people... 50 would be female 50 would be male 80 would be nonwhite 20 would be white 67 would be non-Christian 33 would be Christian 20 would earn 89 percent of the wealth 25 would live in substandard housing 17 would be unable to read 13 would suffer from malnutrition 1 would die within the year 2 would give birth within the year 2 would have a college education and 4 would own a computer. I am having a hard time connecting the concept of "gratitude" to this list as well. I think a better theme would be PERSPECTIVE. |
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Post by coachbw on Apr 11, 2009 16:39:00 GMT -6
Kyle, I have reread that chapter of the Winner's Manual several times in the past few months. I think that the Global Village stuff would be interesting to put in front of a team. I have used it in geography classes to talk about perspective, but to also show a group of young people that if they have a computer they are in the elite 4% technology wise, and a great reminder that even if we take things for granted, we have much to be thankful for.
The other quote in the chapter that I have been very intrigued by is "It is impossible to be grateful and unhappy at the same time."
When reading through Tressel's stuff on Gratitude, I kept thinking back to the stories I have heard from Lou Holtz at clinics where he would talk about how he had to spend a lot of his time reminding his players and coaches how lukcy they were to be a part of Notre Dame Football.
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Post by kylem56 on Apr 11, 2009 16:43:08 GMT -6
coachd I agree, maybe I should have put the importantance of perspective as the subject but regardless, my point in showing this to the players is that I want them to realize how fortuante their lives are (education, a home, meals, technology are not just a common thing to the rest of the world). Instead of them bitching about how hard a practice may be or how tough one of their classes are, I want them to realize that theres thousands and thousands of people out there who will never gt the opportunity to be apart of a team or take a college class.
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Post by jgordon1 on Apr 11, 2009 17:54:23 GMT -6
Please don't judge the book by that passage. I had trouble with that as well. The book talks of love hope gratitude stuff not ordinarily found in the "normal leadership stuff that you might purchase
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Post by kylem56 on Apr 11, 2009 17:57:13 GMT -6
jgordon1 I completely agree . I was just reading that chapter and it struck me at the time. I mean dont get me wrong, I totally despise Ohio State (being from Michigan, its genetics), but I would put it in the Top 5 for most helpful books for building a program. After you read this book, you will know why Tressel is so successful.
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Post by coachorr on Apr 11, 2009 21:14:45 GMT -6
Sometimes if you get too philosophical, you begin to see that glaze in their eyes.
DCOHIO stated: "and we chose to be teachers." I was a Human Resources manager before that and I chose to be a teacher and did so at the age of 33. I loved coaching, loved kids and knew that I hated screwing people over.
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It is filled with a ton of good stuff. Anyway, a certain passage in the book realy struck me and its something I will be sharing with my players next week during meetings about being grateful..
