When I was serving as an Athletic Director several years ago, I recall a conversation I had with one of my baseball coaches about a young man on his team. This particular player was loaded with athletic talent and possessed the tools to become a highly successful player. He had the type of talent that had already caught the attention of college and professional scouts. The coach was having issues with this young man’s attitude and as a result he was performing way below his potential and causing a rift on the team.
In our conversation, the coach made a comment to me, “He needs to learn to respect the game. He spends more time promoting himself than he does the team. It’s all about him.”
If you participated in athletics, you have heard that phrase before, “respect the game.” But what does it mean? It is really no different than anything else you do in life. It does not matter if you work at a bank, a law firm, a tire store, or in the oil patch. Whatever you are involved in, that is your game, so respect it.
When my dad was in the restaurant business, he was a stickler about the uniforms his waitresses wore. If anything was missing or out of place, he would correct it and remind them that they was a team and not being “suited out’ was a lack of respect for yourself and others. That may have been a small thing, but from what I can tell in life, when I ignore the little issues, they eventually morph into big issues.
I had a boss tell me one time, “What you permit, you promote.” If my dad would have permitted his waitresses to be out of uniform, then he would have been promoting a lack of excellence. It is a simple concept; if you allow ‘less than best effort’ from others, then you are promoting their ‘less than best effort.’ I have never heard anyone speak after receiving an award thanking someone for helping them become average.
In athletics, respecting the game can be boiled down to showing up every day and working your tail off for your teammates. Following team rules, taking your eyes off your personal success, and putting the team’s success first. That sounds like a rather good approach to business as well, but that is hard to do, especially in today’s world of self-promotion on social media. One can try to put the cart before the horse, but that won’t get the job done in the long term. There is a lot to be said about showing up and grinding day in and day out. Hard work always pays off, just not Instagram fast.
Taunting and showboating have become the norm in athletics, at all levels, and I for one hate it. It is disrespectful and classless, but then again, I’m sixty-one. When I was coaching, I never allowed my players to behave in a disrespectful way toward an opponent. If they did, I would correct it immediately. I was not about to promote poor sportsmanship by permitting it. Some may call it old school; I call it manners.
I grew up watching “Hammerin Hank” Aaron play baseball. He hit 755 homeruns in the Major League, and I do not recall one time where he flipped his bat in the air, taunted the opposing team, or stood at home plate to watch the ball land in the bleachers. He let his bat do the talking, and it had plenty to say. Hank Aaron respected the game, he respected his opponent, he respected his teammates, and he respected himself. Even through all the hate he received for breaking Babe Ruth’s homerun record, he promoted respect, and he won.
Eventually that talented young baseball player figured it out and ended up having a phenomenal season. When asked by a local reporter about what triggered his turnaround, he replied. “I started playing for my teammates, and it all just came together.” He learned to respect the game.
Working with a group of students a few years ago, one of my coaches led them through an exercise on respect. It was simple and powerful.
- Make a list of all the things done to you that you hated.
- Don’t do them to others, ever.
- Make a list of things done to you that you loved.
- Do them to others, always.
- To be respected, first be respectful.
Respecting whatever game you are in – be it in business, life, or sport – begins and ends with self – sacrificing hard work, not self-centered promotion. At least that is how I see it, but my take on things might be outdated.
“Make no display of your talents or attainments; for everyone will clearly see, admire, and acknowledge them, so long as you cover them with the beautiful veil of modesty.”
- Emmons
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Todd Howey is a columnist for BrownwoodNews.com whose articles appear on Fridays. Email comments to [email protected].