(Source: THE SPORTING NEWS, 1/21/02 Belichick Deserves Credit for Turnaround - Insider - Bill Belichick of New England Patriots, by Dan Pompei)

Reflections

1. If you were Belichick, which criticisms or actions would have discouraged you the most? 
2. Do you think some of the criticism was deserved, or that it was all due to unfortunate circumstances? Why or why not?
3. Do you think Belichick examined himself and changed as a result of the criticism? Or, was the change in perception due totally to new circumstances?
4. Why do you think he kept going forward, in spite of the criticism?
5. How do we know when to listen to critics and when to tune them out?
6. What are some areas of life where we need to move forward in spite of opposition and criticism?
7. What can we do this week to make sure that we don't fold under pressure?

Games, Activities and Clips

The people we often consider the movers and shakers of this world - the entertainers, sports heroes, and business successes - are often making a temporary spash that will be forgotten within a generation. Take this jar of water as an example. By shaking it vigorously (Shake it before the group, or, get a fish bowl and let a couple of people come up and splash around in it), I represent the big splash that many of today's stars, and many of our heroes, are making at the moment. 

But once that pretty model gets her first wrinkle, or the athlete begins to slow with age, the spotlight moves on and most are soon forgotten. (Stop shaking the jar.) Look at the water! Although we seemed to be making such a huge splash for a moment, now that the splash is over, we see that there's no evidence that we were ever even there. To make a long-term mark that will be evident long after we're gone, concentrate on helping, molding and building those around you. Your kindness to the people around you will make a mark in their lives that can never be erased.  ( © Copyright 2002 Steve Miller - All Rights Reserved)

Know What It's All About

Business is a good game. Lots of competition and a minimum of rules. You keep score with money.'' (Mortimer Zuckerman, ''Zinging in the New Year,'' U.S. News & World Report, Jan. 8, 1996, p. 64) In a sense, I agree with Zuckerman. If a business doesn't make a profit, it can't stay in existence. But what if a business made more money than any other business, yet was abusive to its employees? How would you say that we should "keep score" in the game of business?

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In order to get to the essence of your sport, try to explain it to an alien who's never heard of it.  

Football Player: "Well, you take this strangely shaped ball and get it across a line or kick it through a goal post."

Alien: "You mean all this time and effort and national TV coverage is all about trying to get a ball across a line?" 

Football Player: "I guess so, but you see, it's more complicated than that. You see, there's an opposing team which tries to keep you from getting the ball across the line. Each team has strategies and goes through rigorous training and..."

Alien: (Interrupting) "All that just to get a ball across a line?"

There's nothing wrong with football. It's great fun and a great challenge. But if winning is all there is, then you're just getting a ball across a line. Baseball is about hitting a ball and getting around bases before someone tags you. Golf is about hitting a ball into a hole. Do you really want your legacy in life to be that you got a ball across a line more than any other person who ever lived? 

Again, there's nothing wrong with sports. But isn't it really the building of character, learning to put forth effort, the experience of working as a team, that is really important in the end? (© Copyright 2002 Steve Miller - All Rights Reserved)

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Successful basketball coach Jim Valvano took North Carolina State to eight NCAA Tournaments and, in 1983, led them to the National Championship. But fighting bone cancer in his 40's, he was forced to realize that what he'd defined as success, what he'd thought defined a person was wrong.

You see, as a 23-year-old coach of a small college team, his players asked him why winning was so important to him. He responded, ''Because the final score defines you,'' he said, ''You lose, you're a loser. You win, you're a winner.''

''No,'' the players insisted. ''Participation is what matters. Trying your best, regardless of whether you win or lose -- that's what defines you.''

It took him 24 years to realize that his players were right. While suffering the ravages of bone cancer, and repeatedly dreaming of his own death, he realized, ''Those kids were right. It's effort, not result. It's trying. God, what a great human being I could have been if I'd had this awareness back then.'' (Source: Gary Smith in Sports Illustrated, as quoted in Reader's Digest.)

For discussion: How do you think Valvano's view of success and significance affected his priorities and relationships? Why do you think he saw this false view as keeping him from being a great human being?

Don't Seek the Credit

Warren Buffett, America's most successful investor, on the primacy of character in choosing a business partner: ''I think you'll probably start looking for the person that you can always depend on; the person whose ego does not get in his way; the person who's perfectly willing to let someone else take the credit for an idea as long as it worked; the person who essentially won't let you down, who thought straight as opposed to brilliantly.'' (Quoted by Andrew Kilpatrick in ''Of Permanent Value'')

Concentrate on Character

The 2002 University of Georgia Freshman football team has a new signal. One team member taps another on the shoulder pad. They know what it means: Stop cursing. It wasn't instituted by the coaches. The team members decided in a breakfast meeting that they swore too much and needed to do something about it.

So when did character become a priority to this team? And is there some connection between their emphasis on character and their outstanding 11-1 record this season and their No. 3 ranking in the Bowl Championship Series standings?

This year, following their 6:00 A.M. weightlifting, the youngest players take a required 15-minute class called ''Men of Character Between the Hedges.'' A local sheriff talks about the penalties for drinking and using drugs. Another session focuses on losing with dignity. A former teammate acquitted of rape, ''talked to the players about what led to his arrest and how they could avoid such a situation.'' Being in the wrong place at the wrong time severely impacted his life.

Players say that the sessions help. They are staying out of trouble. According to defensive lineman Kedric Golston, ''People think they know what's right and wrong, but until you put it out in the open, they don't think about it.''

Instructors challenge them to think ''beyond the image of dumb guys trying to punch a ticket to the NFL.'' They emphasize that football players can be smart - and influential. Coach Mark Richt says that it means little to win with players who lack integrity and honor. Besides, players with character have a better chance of winning. ''If you have a good character, you're a diligent worker and you do what people tell you to do.'' ''Everyone's talented, but that extra baggage of being in trouble academically, socially or something else, that's what makes you not good enough.''

''In 10 years from now, if all these men are better men because they went to Georgia, I'm more interested in that than national championships and public opinion,'' he said. ''If a guy comes back and says he is a better man or better husband or father, or better person because of going through our program, that would be more gratifying to me.''

The class is led by former pro scout Bobby Lankford, UGA's full-time ''assistant coach for character and leadership,'' and Dave Van Halanger, their strength and conditioning coach.

The freshman players voted on three top values and three top beliefs, which each carry with them, etched on a laminated card. The three values? Trustworthiness, hard work, respect. The three beliefs? God, team, family.

(Written by Steve Miller, Source: ''Bulldog Course Teaches Team Class,'' by Michelle Hiskey, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Dec. 5, 2002, pp. A1 & A20)

Don't Cut the Non-Athletic Types

A young teenager named Steven didn't seem to fit in at Middle School. Everyone thought that to be important you had to be good at sports like baseball. But Steven was a terrible player. Schoolmates would call him names. But Steven took an interest in photography and movies and found other people who had the same interest. In high school, he called them his ''Leper colony''. 

He continued to develop these interests in later years and has become quite famous. You may have heard of him. His name is Steven Spielberg. (Ask youth to name as many movies produced by Spielberg that they can remember.) The same people who laughed at him would probably love to have his autograph now...or at least a week's salary! 

So whatever you're really into, don't look down on others who don't share your interests. You never know what people will turn out to be. One day, you may really, really want their autographs!

Learn from Your Leader's Criticism

Stephen was a 10th grader when he took a job as a sports reporter for his hometown newspaper. His first assignment was to write a story about his school's basketball team. A player had broken a scoring record, making it big news in a small town. So he wrote the story and turned it into the editor, who proceeded to put lines through everything that he thought unnecessary. Stephen could have gotten mad at the editor for tearing apart his hard work. He could have ignored his comments, thinking that he knew quite well how to write. Instead, he loved it, taking everything to heart. 

Looking back, Stephen says that this editor's ten minutes of criticism taught him more than any of his English Literature, composition courses, fiction courses, or poetry courses in high school and college! He kept on writing and became one of the most successful authors today, Stephen King. (Written by Steve Miller, information from Stephen King, On Writing, Pocket Books, 2000, pp. 56-58)

Play Your Best

Professional golfer Curtis Strange has had many successes including being named Player of the Year by the Golf Writers Association of America in 1985. How does he stand out amid so many outstanding golfers? According to Sports Illustrated, ''Along with immense talent, immense desire is the reason Strange is the decade's most steadily improving golfer.'' Strange says, ''I don't think I have hit a shot in the last 6 years where I haven't given 110%.'' (© Copyright 2002 Steve Miller - All Rights Reserved, Source: Sports Illustrated, Jan. 13, 1986)