Tuesday, November 22, 2011

MORE WISDOM FOR THE BUSY COACH

As I have said before, Stephanie Zonar has been a hero of mine since she wrote "Leader of the Pack," a very touching book about the courageous Kay Yow. It's a very well written tale of how Coach Yow not only shaped the young women she coached at North Carolina State, but how through her incredible will and determination, she galvanized a nation through women's basketball to fight against breast cancer. Stephanie has gave portions of the book sales to the Kay Yow Cancer Fund.

Stephanie has a great website (http://lifebeyondsport.com/) with an inspiring blog and has travelled the nation to work with teams.

And now she has a new book out and I love it -- I believe it should be in every coach's library. I have reviewed it already but wanted to do so again with a different topic.

"Wisdom for the BusyCoach" -- is just that -- a book filled with short passages on a variety of subjects that can help us with our teams and more importantly -- with ourselves.

Each topic starts with a quote such as:
"As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them."
—John F. Kennedy

That is followed with a passage of wisdom:
BusyCoaches can easily get stuck in the day-to-day grind of managing a team and lose sight of the big picture. But if you step back and re"ect on your life and team you’ll see the blessings you may have missed. Recounting your abundant blessings may remind you that giving thanks through words—while certainly important—is not the highest form of appreciation. Saying that you’re thankful for your players, for example, doesn’t carry much weight if you disrespect and degrade them the other 364 days of the year.

And then an action question:
Make it your goal to show gratitude both in word and deed, and the people around you will know that you truly mean what you say.

Followed by a biblical scripture on that subject:
"And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father."
—Colossians 3:17

Purchase this book at: http://www.lifebeyondsport.com/mybooks