Coaches & Leadership
The season ends in a few months. The record will be what it is. The trophies, if any, will go on a shelf.
And the people you coached will carry something you gave them for the rest of their lives.
That’s the long game. And it’s worth keeping in view, especially on the days when the short game feels all-consuming.
Read this passage slowly.
We will not hide them from their descendants; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power, and the wonders he has done.
Psalm 78:4 — NIVLet that sit for a second before you move.
We will tell the next generation. The psalmist is talking about passing on what has been received — the story, the knowledge, the formation that was entrusted to one generation being faithfully delivered to the next. That’s a picture of the deepest kind of teaching.
Coaching at its best is exactly that. You received something — from the coaches who shaped you, from the experiences that formed you, from the values and the discipline and the insight you’ve developed over years of the work. And you are passing it to the next generation. Not just the plays. The formation.
The athletes who go through your program will forget the specific drills and the specific game plans within a few years. What they will not forget is how you made them feel when they failed. Whether you saw them as whole people or only as performers. What the standard looked like and whether you held it consistently. How you handled the hardest moments. What you said and did when it would have been easier to say and do something else.
Those things travel with them. Into their families. Into their careers. Into how they lead other people. Into how they think about what it means to work hard and compete with integrity and treat people well.
The record is this season’s story. The legacy is a much longer one. Coach with both in view.
Athletes forget the drills. They don’t forget how you handled the hardest moments, whether you saw them as whole people, and what the standard actually looked like.
When your athletes are fifty years old, what do you want them to say about what they learned from being in your program? Is what you’re doing today building toward that?
Long-view question. The gap between the fifty-year answer and the daily behavior is where the growth is.
The record is this season’s story. The legacy is much longer. Coach with both in view.
This devotional works at any point in the season. It’s particularly useful during a difficult stretch when the short-game pressure is highest and the long-game perspective is most needed.