oO} Floridee pee eee Philosophy of a Champion Characteristics and Traits of Peak Performers ..........sssscesssesseereeeeneereeeseen | How We Defeat Ourselves ...........escccseceseeseeseesesneeseeseesesseseseeeeseseesneseeesesees 2 Winters and LOSe?s.........ccessecsesssssecsesteseseesseeneeseecesseseneesecsecseeareesensancansreeneenee 3 Profile Of a Champion .......c.-cccecsesscsessesseesneeseeseeneeseeeneeesssecanensearereseseeeees American Creed / Prayer of a Champion / Press On .........scecesceseeeereeeees Having Hard Times / What it takes to be Number One ........eeceeeeeeeeeeeee O Yesterday - Today - Tomorrow. They said it couldn’t be dome .......c.cecececescsseseesseseseeneeseeeeeeesteeneneesteeneseetaeeeees 8 Secrets to Happiness and Success .........cccsesseseseseeseesteeesseeseenestesseresseseneene D Notes on Media Relations .........c:ccescsesssesseseesesseesessseeseesesseesseesescssesetseasees LO Florida SOngS oo....cceseseessesecsescsessneseseseeseseesnsececenesesusacseeecseeneaeaeecseeaeeneeeeees 11FLORIDA FOOTBALL ATTITUDE - Ability to set short term and long term goals and see them through. A commitment that there will be no short cuts, no turning back from achieving his goals, EFFORT. COURAGE - A trait anyone can acquire with no talent necessary. LOVES TO COMPETE - Loves to step into the arena - A performer, not a spectator. RESPONSIBILITY - Wants the success of the team or organization dependant upon him; take the last shot. Throw last pass, hope they’re coming at me. Wants the important as- signment. RI IVE RISKS AND HIP OF NEW IDEAS - Not afraid to try some- thing different. TRAN ND PREVIOUS A‘ (MENTS - Ability to not become compla- cent or overconfident after success. Ability to prepare for next opponent or next event without suffering from a let-down. WILLINGNESS TO PREPARE - Ability to inspire yourself to practice and prepare. Knows the vast importance of preparation and repetition. ADVERSITY - Learns from his mistakes. Does not make excuses when things go wrong. Ability to bounce back, not get depressed, not lose confidence PERSISTENCE - Ability to keep on keeping on - Keep trying as hard as you can no matter the setbacks CHARACTERISTIC AND TRAITS OF PEAK PERFORMERS. Dr. Charles Garfield “Almost Anyone Can Acquire These Traits”HOW WE DEFEAT OURSELVES By Sidney J. Harris Watching the National Clay Courts tennis tournament recently, | saw a player come within one point of winning his match. He lost the crucial point, and his opponent finally came from far behind to win the match From where I sat, it seemed clear to me that the player who lost had really beaten himself. His game was at least as good as his opponent's; his strokes were clean, his footwork agile, his strategy sensible. But it was bis own temperament that finally broke him. When he lost a point, he blamed himself. On a close decision, he scowled darkly at the umpire. When the breaks went against him, he forgot that his opponent had bad breaks, too. He was an unat- tractive personality. It has been unwavering observation over the years that 90 percent of us beat ourselves. Nobody else does it to us. We beat ourselves in various ways - by too much confidence, or too little, by blaming the other person, or by blaming ourselves; by too much pessimism when things look good. The one trait in common that all great and consistent winners have is an absence of the “hlameworth” sense. They do not pout when others are at fault, and they do not rage at themselves sen they are at fault. Occasionally, they may be beaten, but they never beat themselves. And over the long pull, they win more often than they lose - and they win, in many cases, by simply allowing their opponents to beat themselves. Why nature gives an equable temperament to some and not to others is a mystery we can never solve. But I am convinced that jt is temperament, more than talent or brains. that determines whether we are self-fulfilling or self-destroying. The difference between one champion and another may be trifling in terms of pure ability; it may be vast in terms of spirit. We hear a great deal about the so-called “killer instinct” in champions; and that the reason one man failed to reach the ultimate goal was his lack of killer instinct. All this means, I think, is that in the ultimate crisis the real champion forgets himself entirely, and centrates with passionate fet uy jis object, The “near-champion” never forgets himself, never subdues himself to the object, never truly subordinates himself to the game. Itis not the instinct to kill, or even to conquer, but the instinct for perfection - a perfection too uisite in itself that it obliterates the man who is achieving it, He is beyond praise, beyond blame, yond all our subliminary ambitions. He does not beat himself. for he doesn’t fight himself, rather, he forgets himself in an almost holy manner.