Some further quotes from “The Value Of A Coaching Philosophy” in this quarter’s edition of TRACK COACH.
“The person who is only an athlete is too crude, too vulgar, too much a savage. The person who is a scholar only is too soft, too effeminate. The ideal citizen is the scholar athlete, the person of thought and a person of action.”—Plato
“A life without a cause is a life without effect.”— Paulo Coelho
“What is as important as knowledge, said the mind? Seeing and caring with the heart, said the soul.”—Flavius
“What is as important as winning, said the coach? “Whether or not I mattered to you, said the athlete.”—Russell C. Smelley
“Leadership is not a popularity contest. It is putting beliefs into action and placing one’s self in a position to promote those beliefs. What are your beliefs? What are your goals as a team leader? What are your goals for the team? When leadership becomes more concerned with being nice and popular, the team attitude dwindles and team performance suffers. When expectations are set high and action is taken to achieve those expectations, people may grumble occasionally under the burden of the challenge. Still, they know where they are going because leadership has made this clear and the fact is that people want to be led to reach their goals. They will follow someone who knows where he is going. Where are you going?”—Smelley
And that readers, is my middle name.
And so is Everett, named after my maternal grandfather. And what prompted today’s quote fest was the appearance of a quote in the OWH. Illinois Senator Everett Dirksen visited the Atwood Grade School nearly 50 years ago, I still remember his striking poise and demeanor.
His quote: “When I feel the heat, I see the light.”
And another from this great statesman: “There is no force so powerful as an idea whose time has come.”
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