A Challenge to our Players:

In many years of both coaching and playing football, from the junior

high level through college, I have learned many lessons about the game of

football and life in general. Throughout these years I have seen thousands of

football players, most of which were of average level, some that were above

average, and a rare few that were outstanding.

Common to all of the outstanding football players was that they

possessed certain attributes that made them successful, regardless of their

individual playing style. Obviously, all had been taught the fundamentals of

the game throughout their lifetimes at different levels of the game. Things

like proper footwork, blocking, tackling, throwing technique, were evident

and put to successful use. Fundamentals such as these are the easy things to

teach and learn. Most football players can learn and execute the basic

fundamentals to an average level, but only a few will have the focus and

work ethic to master them and thus have the potential to be a great player.

The true key to success in any endeavor is the possession of intangible

skills, which are skills that the average competitor does not possess nor

comprehend. These intangible skills are much harder to teach and to learn

than the basic fundamentals. Here lies the great, difficult lesson. At first

glance, the questions seem simple, as do the answers, yet the answer to this
lesson is a paradox requiring a blend of personality and physical abilities

that can only be tempered on the forge of competition.

Indeed, to succeed in any sport, it takes a mix of personality traits and

physical abilities to reach and sustain a level of greatness. Although the

mixtures are different for all different players, the ingredients are essentially

the same. They all have Heart; a term by which I use to describe a passion to

play that is driven by a burning desire to win. They have Courage, which

means they are competitors who have no fear, they never give up and they

never quite, regardless of situation. They have Commitment, which means

that they care about their teammates and the success of the team more than

their personal glories or ambitions. Lastly, they have Honor, a code by

which they conduct themselves to the highest accord. This code is founded

on the principle of doing things the right way, with a high degree of self-

confidence and discipline.

It seems so simple, heart, courage, commitment and honor. These are

the four simple words are the ingredients of the “intangible skills”. It is a

pity that so very few people will ever have the joy of possessing them,

because they can only be learned and earned on the forge of competition. In

life, as in football, the spectators and teammates can see when a competitor

lacks these qualities, they can see the quitter in the person who points
fingers, blames others and makes excuses to deflect from their deficiency. In

both football and life, the success of these persons always comes to a falter

and a stop when the pressure mounts past their tolerances. The reality check

comes when they are required to look within themselves for the intangible

skills to carry them through the task at hand and they find that they do not

possess them.

Do you possess these intangibles?