I was reading this morning, and the first words of Colossians 4:2 stood out to me:
“Devote yourselves to prayer…”
προσκαρτερεω (proskartereo) =
to be devoted or constant; to be steadfastly attentive to
I looked up a few other passages where this word (devote / proskartereo) appears in the New Testament:
Acts 1:14 – Believers, with one mind, were continually devoting themselves to prayer.
Acts 2:42 – Believers devoted themselves to several things, among them prayer.
Acts 6:4 – Apostles appointed deacons so they could devote themselves to prayer and ministry.
Romans 12:12 – Devotion to prayer listed as a key element in church unity and function.
Early every morning I pray alone — usually over a list I keep. Then Christie, Baylor, and I pray together after reading scripture at breakfast. Every run I go on involves at least a little bit of prayer time, and sometimes a lot. Also, Christie and I pray together every night before bed. I can certainly say I’m “devoted” to these four prayer practices. But I’m not sure I can say that I’m devoted to prayer. I want to be. And perhaps I’m on my way there…
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Committed to a Game
But I’m forced to think about things to which I’ve been truly devoted in my life. When I coached high school soccer, I spent:
12 hours a week practicing with the team
5-10 hours a week taking care of the logistics of practices, scheduling, and travel
5-10 hours a week coaching in, and traveling to, actual games and tournaments
2-4 hours a week scouting other teams
2 hours a week painting and caring for the field
That’s over 30 hours a week I spent on soccer (in addition to a full-time job). A game. I was truly devoted to a game. And it paid off. Our team was very successful. But I was devoted to a game.
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Consider This
So if prayer truly is powerful — and if New Testament authors were right to encourage us to be devoted to it — I can only imagine what would result from a deepened level of commitment to prayer in my own life. Or in our families and churches.
Consider how devoted you are to:
your job
your children
your blog
Facebook
church attendance
other churchy opportunities* and activities
college football teams
television
I wonder if we even committed to a “least common denominator” approach to prayer — devoting to prayer only the amount of time equal to what we spend on the least frequent of the above activities — what would happen?
I want to challenge you to pray more. I’m not suggesting that you start by attempting to pray for an hour a day. But pray more. I’m convinced we begin to devote ourselves to particular activities by increasingly devoting small increments of time to those activities.
Tomorrow I’m going to post some practical ideas on how we can begin to devote ourselves further to prayer. And I’m not just thinking through these as an exercise for others. I desperately want to learn to pray without ceasing; and I could use your help in getting me there. If you’ve got some practical ideas, feel free to post them below. [I'm not compiling my list until late tonight or early tomorrow morning.]
I played football for one season. It was 7th grade, and your author had played soccer every fall from the age of 7 — but was up for trying a new sport one year. I didn’t try out for the school football team, and instead played city league ball. There were four teams (each complete with its own cheerleading squad), and I played for the Packers.
I remember amazingly little about the season. But there was this one coach with really bad breath — I mean chronic halitosis of the worst kind. The guy ate sour-cream-and-sewage flavored Chex mix before every practice, and brushed his teeth with eggs. His breath was so bad that, had I been smarter, I would’ve purposely played mediocre ball so as to not be lectured for poor play OR congratulated for good play.
The other coach I remember was named Jack — or maybe his son was named Jack? But he dressed and looked a whole lot like Steve Spurrier — visor, clipboard, and all. I don’t really remember any of the players or much else about the season, other than my role on the team (and that I liked speaking with Jack Spurrier much better than with dragon-whisperer). I played defensive tackle on the left side and tight end on offense. Pretty much I tried to tackle the quarterback and occasionally ran the reverse. I also ran a lot of pass routes, but 7th grade football isn’t generally considered to showcase an electrifying, through-the-air style of play. I’m not sure there was ever actually even a pass thrown. I had four sacks on the year, no touchdowns, and happily returned to the soccer pitch the following year.
It’s not that football wasn’t fun; it’s just that, at the end of every game, I felt like we’d not done much. I wasn’t sure if the games were too short or if running routes for nonexistent passes just wasn’t my thing. I later realized the problem: there really wasn’t a whole lot of football in football games. The majority of our time was spent in a huddle, calling plays, or lining up for a new play. Soccer was a sport where I could run and play for every minute of the game; there was always something happening — and I didn’t have to wear a view-obstructing helmet or anything called a butt pad. So I returned to the gentleman’s sport.
But I have nothing against football. College football is actually my favorite sport to watch — in person and on television. I love it. These days I’m staying up until 3:00 am on Sunday mornings just to read the play-by-play of Auburn games scrolling across the bottom of my computer screen. [I love Auburn football.] And I enjoyed playing intramural football every year I was in college (and even a few after I graduated). So I don’t have anything against the sport, but I am calling it like I see it. It’s kind of a slow game.
This little chart shows what I’m talking about:
a televised nfl game contains 11 minutes actual play
But now on to more important things, and the reason I’m posting today. In the newest issue of Sports Illustrated, there’s a great article on Auburn quarterback, Cam Newton — your next Heisman Trophy winner. The article: Catch Cam If You Can (You Can’t).
This is the most interesting paragraph in the article, which explains that Newton’s first choice was Mississippi State — though he gave his father final say in the decision:
Last December the choice of which college to attend came down to two schools—Auburn and Mississippi State. Newton preferred Starkville because of his close relationship with Bulldogs coach Dan Mullen, who had been Newton’s offensive coordinator at Florida. But Cecil thought his son should choose Auburn, which had an experienced offensive line (four starters were returning) and was only a two-hour drive from Atlanta. Newton let his father make the final decision, and a few days before Christmas, while sitting at the dinner table in his brother’s house in Jacksonville, Cecil Sr. uttered two words that would radically alter the college football landscape: “It’s Auburn.”
Thanks, Cecil. And tough luck, Bulldogs. Maybe next time.
Oh, and in addition to being obedient to his father, Cameron Newton gives back to his community… despite his incredibly busy schedule and high profile. Here’s a great article on Newton’s involvement with a local elementary school: Newton Giving Back.
Newton for Heisman. And coaches, have you considered breath mints?
I remember several years ago discussing the idea of incarnational ministry with a group of students. We were talking about how a church might better serve and share God’s love with a large group of Mexicans who played soccer nearby every Sunday. Entire families were making a day out of their soccer league play; there were children running around, women sitting and talking on blankets, and picnic lunches everywhere. An entire community was coming together each and every Sunday. After a dozen or so conventional ideas about inviting them to our “worship services” by posting signs or cooking a meal for them, we determined that all of these ideas would force these good folks to leave their group in order to become a part of ours. One individual suggested we play soccer with them. But someone else interjected that we could not ourselves miss “church” in order to do so.
Allow me to take a few (or many) liberties with Luke 14:1-6:
One Sunday, when Jesus was on his way to worship in a large church building with a well-known and respected community of believers, he was being carefully watched. On the way he happened upon a group of Mexicans playing soccer. Jesus asked the pastor and Sunday School teachers, “Am I allowed to be late to church — or even miss it altogether — to bring healing to this group of people?” But the religious leaders remained silent while checking their watches, cell phones, and day planners. So Jesus put on his cleats and kicked the ball around for a bit, as he shared the good news of the kingdom with his fellow footballers.
Then Jesus asked the preachers and pastors, “If one of you has a son in jail* or a friend who is sick on a Sunday at 10:00 am, will you not go pay his bail or take her to the hospital?” And they had nothing to say.
Just some thoughts. Yours?
* I know, I know… a pastor’s son would never go to jail — other than to witness to the criminals who are present there.
A lot of people have been asking why Ronaldinho didn’t play in the 2010 World Cup. The Brazilian footballer certainly has been an exciting fixture in tournaments past. I think he’s won FIFA World Player of the Year on three different occasions. I’ve read that it was form, and not fitness, that kept Ronaldinho off Dunga’s roster this year…
But I wouldn’t be so sure:
before
after
The two players whom I myself have missed the most are Sacha Kljestan of the U.S. and Michael Ballack of Germany. Their coaches couldn’t find room for them on their 23-man rosters? Sacha is a lot of the reason the U.S. even qualified for the World Cup, and you can’t tell me Ballack wouldn’t have been (at the very least) a quality substitute.
Prediction for the Cup
Last summer, during the Confederations Cup, I picked Netherlands as my winner for the 2010 World Cup. In every bracket I filled out, I cast that same vote. I love the way the Dutch are playing these days. Of course I’m sticking with them through the one game that is remaining. I think their defense is too strong for David Villa to score, and Torres has done absolutely nothing for his team. Puyol won’t score from the back again, and Holland will possess the ball against Spain like Spain did against Germany. Go Orange! Netherlands 2, Spain 0.
David Watson on how our model for mission teams may be hurting our efforts. This one was difficult for me to read (being on a somewhat traditional mission team). I’ll give you a brief excerpt: ”Traditional missionary teams often represent the worst of the modern mission movement.”
As a kid I was always fascinated with dinosaurs — especially because it sounded like there were a few in the Bible. So, I have to admit… my heart jumped just a little when I found these two articles; I felt like a 5th grader opening up a dinosaur book while making plans to become an archaeologist. NPR covers the same leviathan story here.
Good news for those of us who like coffee. And by “like coffee,” I mean “drink at least five cups a day.” It’s looking as if coffee helps a body fight Alzheimer’s — but two or three cups a day won’t cut it. Me, I usually drink six cups a day.
Goalkeepers
Goalkeeper is my favorite position to play and to coach. For several teams in the states, I’ve needed to “create” keepers for the teams I was coaching, having no one who’d traditionally played the position. I coached goalkeepers at a university in China, and was also able to play some semi-pro keeper while there in the “middle country.” I’ve had a (very) few chances to stand between the posts here in Tanzania. I’ve found that, all over the world, it takes a “different” kind of athlete to play goalkeeper. In honor of the World Cup, I offer you some reading on the lonely position:
It’s Saturday, and I’m waiting for football matches to begin. Readership generally drops over the weekends, so I was thinking I wouldn’t write anything today. Plus, I just don’t have a whole lot to say. But there’s a computer sitting open on the desk, and I’m drawn to write at least something. So I give you a very unimportant blog post:
In the last week…
After rereading this opening paragraph, I’ve decided that if there’s one thing I dislike on blogs, it’s when authors begin by apologizing for any of the following:
not posting in a long time
posting twice in one day
the quality of a particular blog post
the quality, appearance, or organization of their blog in general
stealing your girlfriend at summer camp in 8th grade and making you look like a fool in front of all of your friends, because you got super dressed up to go the banquet and then didn’t have anyone to go with — or to whom you could give the flowers and the card you were sheepishly holding while tears began to fill your eyes (and even if you had been able to think fast and give the flowers to someone, you would have needed to hide the card because it already had someone else’s name in it — and plus the poem you wrote about the moment you met her and how it changed your life wouldn’t have made sense for someone else anyway). How could he do that to you?
People, just begin your blogs. None of us are upset that you haven’t posted in a week. And if we are, you apologizing will only remind us of it again. Just start your blog post already. And because I want to follow my own advice, please allow me to begin again:
In the last week…
New Hissing Houseguest
The other night I was alerted to a visitor in our home by a slamming door and loud gasp. My wife told me there was a huge cockroach in our bathroom and motioned with her hands about 6″ apart. I was a little annoyed and said there was no such thing. Then I opened the bathroom door and immediately slammed it. I had seen my first 4″ giant hissing cockroach. I hit him pretty hard with my shoe, and he did nothing but get angry. The loud hissing didn’t stop until I flushed him down the toilet alive.
A Strange Gift
I recently had problems with a defective bike pump from a particular company. They took a great deal of time in replacing my pump, and so, said they’d send a gift in the mail with the pump. They actually used the words, “bicycle care package.” In the “care package” was the pump and 49 other items:
a vise whip tool (used to change bike cassettes and cogs — a very nice gift)
48 tire levers (for the bicycle-challenged among us, levers are used two at a time — and they are NOT items intended to be disposable)
I have now surely seen the worst episode of West Wing ever. It was titled “Access” and aired in season 5. It was written and recorded as a documentary about C. J. Cregg, and is likely the worst episode ever aired of any television show. That’s exaggeration, let me reword: It is likely the worst episode ever aired of any good television show.
Most Boring World Cup Match Watched
The only redeeming factor in an incredibly boring Brazil – Portugal match was that Portugal’s Tiago was carded in the 32nd minute for diving in the Brazil penalty box.
Favorite Comment (of my own) on Another Post
The author waxed poetic about how she loves reading library books because of the belongings she regularly finds, left behind by others (things like bookmarks, business cards, love letters). She said she keeps all of them, to remind her of the real people who read books. Weirded out just a little, I responded:
I kind of do the same thing with bowling shoes and roller skates. Whenever I’m renting shoes at the lanes or the rink, I like to keep whatever the person before me left behind.
Usually it’s dirty socks.
But I keep those socks… to remind me of the real people out there who go bowling.
Ah, soccer. Definitely the un-gayest sport in the world. I mean, you have a perfect storm of euro-trash, men wearing capris, swarthy guys with greasy mullets, and I’d assume there are an abundance of man-purses. I’m getting a testosterone rush just thinking about it.
What I’m Currently Reading and Memorizing Every Morning
Matthew 5:1-20 and 1 Corinthians 13:1-8a
Chance You Could Guess the Gender of My (still) Nearly Bald Daughter Wearing Only a Diaper
50%
Chance You Could Guess the Gender of My (still) Nearly Bald Daughter, Wearing Only a Diaper
100% (if SHE’S wearing clothes) but that would just be strange.
Can I pause to tell you how much I dislike the Italian soccer side — bunch of divers, divas, and complaining whiners who play for ties and desire nothing more than to win matches in PKs?
Today, we’re going to look deeper into the “art” (read that “loathsome and reprehensible act”) of diving (aka flopping). For our soccer-challenged friends, see the following (very official) definitions:
Dive (verb):
to deliberately fall when challenged in order to deceive the referee into awarding a foul
to commit the most despicable foul in sport, feinting injury for gain
to cry like a little girl on a football pitch when you were never touched
to play football like either an Italian or Cristiano Ronaldo
One of the most obvious dives of all time — Brazil’s Rivaldo (which, by the way, resulted in a player from Turkey being sent off the pitch):
Before moving on, I need to confess that I used to dive when I was a little kid. Not in attempts to deceive the referees, though, but rather the crowd. It also wasn’t generally in soccer, but other sports. You see, I hated failure — yet, I did it all the time. I was uncoordinated when I was little, and I was always embarrassed when I was tagged out in t-ball or missed a shot in basketball. So it seems I developed a defense mechanism of pretending to have been injured. Now that I think about it, I’m not sure whether I flopped in order to hide my failures… or my tears. I think my tears might have been real; I was crying because I’d failed. So I feinted pain in order to make the tears seem justified. It must have looked ridiculous to the adults who knew better. But now I’m wondering if Ronaldo and the Italians aren’t diving to mask their own sorrows? Either way, I admit I was wrong and apologize for wounding the integrity of sport. And let it be noted that I surely stopped by the age of 11. Now for a few worthwhile links exploring the dive:
Time Magazine addresses the issue of diving, calling it “arguably the worst aspect of a dark art which has infiltrated football over the past few years.”
NPR with Irish author Frank Delaney. We learn that Italian players roll over three or four times, Russians fall with a thud, the French attempt faces of anguish, while the English just sit and swear. He even blames Argentina’s theatrics on a large Italian contingency in their country. This is a good read.
image courtesy of photobucket.com
Italy: Divas of the World Cup
And now we turn to the Italians themselves. Can I just tell you how happy I am with their non-advance in the 2010 World Cup? This blog post, actually, is written in honor of just that. I’m not one to revel in the pain, misfortune, or shortcomings of my enemies, but on this one day, please celebrate with me that the Italians have gone home. Today we salute the Slovakians, New Zealanders and Paraguayans of the world. And a toast to the Italians’ failure to win a single match in what was arguably the weakest group in this year’s World Cup. [Did I just negate my tribute to those three countries by referring to their group as delicate and fragile? I feel a little bad, but my disdain for Italy's soccer club blinds me to what is polite and proper; I become an uncivilized man].
Daniele De Rossi demonstrates everything I despise about the Italian side (okay, half of what I despise — I also don’t care for playing for ties and penalty kicks). [Notice that Daniele has a girl's name to go with his portrayal of a 6-year old princess -- or a 10-year old me...]
Speaking of the New Zealand match, NPR’s Dick Meyer comments, “Everyone on the Italian side looked like Cristiano Ronaldo at his worst. If the Italians had directed the energy devoted to their play-acting into some heart and hussle, they surely would have beaten the outgunned underdogs. Their low-rent play made the New Zealand performance that much more noble.”
Oh, I love it. Ronaldo and the Italians both called out in the same paragraph — Ronaldo as a deplorable brand of play, and the Italians as that brand of play at it’s worst. Bravo, Meyer.
This is Meyer again, saying goodbye to the Italian side; this guy’s a man after my own heart. And I learned a new word during all of my gloating. Schadenfreude. Apparently it’s German for “a mischievous delight in the misfortunes of others.” Don’t say my blog’s not educational.
typical italy
Brazil vs. Portugal
Now we turn our eyes to the future. [I'm starting to feel guilty for all my schadenfreuding.] Here are a couple of previews of the next match I’m really excited about — Brazil vs. Portugal. I’ll be honest, I don’t really like either team, though I respect their play a great deal. Cristiano Ronaldo is my least favorite player in the world, but I think I still may cheer for his side — because they’re the slight underdogs. Though Brazil playing without Kaka just might level the playing field. I’m taking Portugal, if only because Kaka’s sitting and Brazil’s had two goals scored against them this tournament (to Portugal’s none) — Portugal 2, Brazil 1.
And lastly, a few previews of our USA vs. Ghana match. This is a huge match here in Tanzania. Africa really pulls together and cheers as a continent. We have advertisements in every commercial break encouraging viewers to cheer for Africa… as a whole. There’s one commercial (I really enjoy) that shows an emotional homecoming for African players who have previously gone away to play in Europe — the advertisement celebrates their return to the dark continent for the 2010 Cup.
But Tanzania also loves the United States. Just yesterday a local friend was reminding me that the vast majority of Tanzanians think very highly of both Clinton and Bush — Clinton for his work to help alleviate AIDS and Bush for his fight against malaria. He said that if I walked into just a few homes and asked about their mosquito nets, the owners (or renters or squatters) would likely credit the US and George Bush for those very nets.
I’m going to go out on a limb here, and say this is the first match in which we (the US) start the game well and take advantage of a slightly higher percentage of our opportunities. [Remember, we're playing to avenge our 2-1 loss to Ghana in the 2006 World Cup.] I think our defense holds up well against a Ghana side (without Essein) who hasn’t scored in actual play, and I’m looking for our best match in quite some time. I predict Michael Bradley plays a pivotal role by shooting from long-range, and leads us to a victory and advancement in the Cup. USA 3, Ghana 0.
Today is “Football Day” on aliens and strangers. Welcome to my scattered thoughts on the game of soccer.
Cable in Tanzania
Christie and I have owned a TV and DVD player the entire time we’ve been in our house here in Geita, but we’d never had cable, satellite hook-ups, or the like. Prior to the start of the World Cup, I had inquired at the cable company here in Geita about installation and pricing. The monthly fee of $10 wasn’t bad, but installation at $100 was more than I was willing to pay. Three days after the World Cup began, though, we discovered that our Tanzanian neighbors were having cable installed at their house. [Did I mention the World Cup is really big here?] Because we’re neighbors, and the cable company was able to use one wire to feed both our houses, the price of my installation dropped to $55. So we did it. I am really excited about it, too, let me tell you. [I had figured that, without cable, I definitely would have considered a drive to Mwanza to watch any US match beyond group play -- and the championship game. The diesel for a trip to Mwanza, two tickets to put the truck on a ferry, and a meal at Tilapia, where I enjoy watching matches, would have cost around $100. So I figure I'm making 45 bucks by installing cable...]
Match Times
Living in Tanzania allows us to watch the World Cup matches at decent hours. The USA match started yesterday at 5:00 pm here. I know many of you are jealous. As well you should be. For us, watching football doesn’t involve playing hooky from work.
US Play
I can’t remember the last time I saw the US team play well in the beginning of a match. And I’m thinking back years, not months. That being said, I appreciate a great deal that our team never gives up, playing hard to the end of every match. We’ve been in every game I’ve seen us play in recent years. I was especially happy with Italy having to play us for a tie in the last World Cup. [Can I pause to tell you how much I dislike the Italian soccer side -- bunch of divers, divas, and complaining whiners who play for ties and desire nothing more than to win matches in PKs?]
The Third Goal Controversy
And the third goal the US scored last night to put them ahead of Slovenia with only four minutes remaining in play — how about that whistle being blown? A clean goal disallowed. Here’s a video in case you didn’t catch it:
My thoughts on the situation are that many people are (wrongly) leaning to either one extreme or the other:
1. ”The US deserve to lose or tie. Who cares about a third goal that should have counted – the Americans should stop whining; it’s their own fault they didn’t play well the entire first half. Stop blaming the referees.” [This is generally a European take on the match -- Europeans if you don't know, need to put the US down when it comes to football and politics, because it's all they've got on us. If we pass them in "their own" sport, bad things will happen -- the US would rule the world. And that means European men would stop wearing capri pants, their women would start shaving their pits, and the Euro would drop like a brick -- wait... one of those is already happening. I hope the other two follow shortly.]
This line of thinking makes no sense whatsoever. If you don’t start a game well, or if you miss opportunities to score goals (or to defend against them), the referees are no longer responsible for calling a fair match? Only teams who play up to, or above, their potential deserve decent referees and accurate calls? That’s a bunch of crap. This is what haters say, because they enjoy watching the US fail. No fan of the game would ever say this if it were his own team hurt by poor refereeing. And no honest and objective fan of the game would say this… ever.
2. ”The whole world is out to get the US. All the referees are against us. The match was rigged; they always are.” [Generally, this is the American take on things. If we're not champions of the universe in every sport, we were obviously wronged. It doesn't matter that our best athletes don't play soccer, that our soccer programs are funded at a much lower level than most other big sports, and that our lower-level coaching in general is probably sub-par. We believe a British accent equals soccer knowledge and skill.]
While I’ll give you that most of the world IS against US success in football, we shouldn’t jump to this conclusion every time there’s a bad call. Bad calls are a part of sports — it’s either that or hours of referees standing under black sheets watching replays. Soccer’s not a game of timeouts; we don’t want that. Referees make mistakes. A ref may be inexperienced (more on this in a bit), but I doubt there are many referees willing to put their jobs and reputations on the line just to make a bad call against a US side. [Or a German side -- did you see the call on Klose?]
No, what happened was poor refereeing. [Warning: I'm about to spew a great deal of conjecture, speculation, and personal opinion.] Koman Coulibaly (or is it Coulibalu) is from Mali and, I would assume, has never reffed anywhere close to the level of World Cup matches. I’m sure he does a great job in some Malian “professional” league, and he’s probably called many a match between Mali and Niger, Burkina Faso, or Algeria (our next opponent). But these are not high level matches.
Let me use my current home of Tanzania as an example. A few months ago I was able to watch Tanzania and Uganda play (for about $4). While still fun to watch, these are not respected football teams, nor was there anything important riding on that match. A few weeks ago, Brazil came to play the Tanzanian side; they are an extremely high-level football club. BUT, Tanzania has no chance of winning that match, regardless of how good or bad the referees are. My guess is Malian Coulibaly’s experience is limited to matches similar to these.
I think we have a case of an experienced, but lower tier, referee deciding one of the 40 most important matches in the world. I’ll bet Coulibaly had his whistle in his mouth, expecting a foul, and blew it prematurely. It seems clear to me that, if there was a foul, it was committed by a Slovenian player. Generally, it’s become acceptable (something I deplore) for defenders to push, pull, and grab a great deal on set pieces in front of their own goal. But if the call were on a Slovenian defender, there would have / should have been a penalty kick. Coulibaly blew his whistle on accident because his inexperience allowed the pressure of a big match to get to him.*
I assume the World Cup Committee (or whatever they’re called) want to get refs from all over the world, so as to show no biases. Herein lies the problem: They can choose between having the best and most experienced referees in the world OR having refs from a number of nations, allowing some smaller and lesser-respected football countries to be represented. They can’t have both. I’d love to see a really diverse group of officials, but that’s not the option I choose if I’m in charge. Get the best referees in the world for the most watched sporting event in the world.
* I’m not suggesting there is no such thing as bribery and corruption in Africa. The two are very well-known here. But I don’t think that’s what happened — nor do I think we should jump to conclusions like this. It makes us sound like a bunch of whiny Italians…
[For USA Coach Bob Bradley's take, see this article.]
Maradona and Messi
Just because it was interesting to me, I want include this unrelated video. [I saw it first on this blog.] While Maradona’s “Goal of the Century” was scored on a much bigger stage (World Cup semi-finals vs. England), there are some pretty amazing similarities between it and Lionel Messi’s long and winding run to score against a lesser known Spanish club. Both Argentineans took 13 touches in 13 seconds to weave through six opponents and score from nearly the same spot on the field. Have a watch:
I’m not a Maradona fan, though I greatly respect the skills he once had. It’s integrity that I believe he lacks. And I think Argentina would be better off without him at the helm.
Netherlands
Later today, several of my Tanzanian friends are coming over to watch the Netherlands / Japan match. I’m cheering for the Netherlands right behind the US. I love their creativity and overall style of play. I enjoy watching any team who plays control and possession, but especially if they do so with artistry and imagination. I’m hoping they really put on a show versus Japan. I’m calling it Netherlands 4, Japan 0.
Michael Bradley as…
Just wondering — does anyone else think Michael Bradley looks a lot like Smallville‘s Lex Luthor on the field?
I love football — soccer that is. And I’m keeping up with the World Cup. I’m cheering for the U.S. (and second for Netherlands). I played goalkeeper and coached goalkeepers. I currently live in Africa. And witch doctors and their spirituality and medicines are of particular interest to me these days, as the practice is so prevalent here in Tanzania.
So I can’t help but repost this article which combines all of the above. For those of you who don’t keep up with football, Rob Green is the England goalkeeper who bobbled a U.S. shot into the goal, tying the two teams at 1-1. This article was originally posted in England’s Daily Star.
david james is watched by rob green and joe hart
Rob Green looks on in amazement as he gets a lesson in how to catch the ball.
The bungling stopper received a few hints as team-mate David James gave a quick guide to goalkeeping.
England fans have berated the West Ham stopper for his clanger and even nicknamed him Cinderella because he always misses the ball.
But Green, 30, was all smiles yesterday as he joined James, 39, and Joe Hart, 23, for training.
He has pledged to bounce back from his nightmare and has received the backing of his England team-mates. But it remains to be seen if Fabio Capello, 63, will keep faith with him for the crunch Algeria clash on Friday night.
African witch doctor Musa Ronald yesterday prescribed the perfect cure for Green’s on-pitch jitters – powdered Omwetango leaves.
The herbalist, 32, said he should rub the plants into his gloves to ward off bad spirits.
He said: “Omwetango is a medicine we use to boost our inner power.
“By rubbing it on his hands, Green could help to improve his concentration.”
This is the third post in a 3-part series on “Concepts of Leadership from Coaching Soccer.” To view the first post in the series, go here. And the second, here.
David, Keith, and I were not the perfect soccer coaching staff. But I think we did a lot of things right — and to be honest, I did not initially understand all the advantages of us working together. As a head coach, I didn’t sit down with a list of all the leadership concepts you’ll find in this post and then decide whom to ask to join the staff. Rather, I was looking only at the three major areas I named in the last post, plus one:
knowledge of the game and the ability to communicate it clearly, making it applicable to our team
the ability to clearly perform and demonstrate skills
passionate love of the game, a vision of what can be, and the ability to motivate players towards those ends
unity in the coaching staff and the ability to present one front to the team
I felt David, Keith, and I could cover those first three well — with a great deal of overlap, I might add. It’s not as if all 44 eyes turned to David every time a player asked, “How does this work?” David and I didn’t refuse to touch soccer balls in practice, for fear we might demonstrate skills poorly. And David and Keith didn’t roll their eyes when I talked about the great potential I saw in this team. No, there was a lot of overlap in our roles, even though each of us did seem to have greater strengths in one particular area. We were also able to be united in decisions we made, and in how we presented them to the team. I believe a leadership team is almost always better than an individual leader — and a leadership team that’s able to be united, requiring humility and patience, is at an even greater advantage. Anyway, that was our coaching staff, and we enjoyed every minute of working together.
I want to list several concepts of leadership that seemed to emerge throughout our years of coaching. Some will probably come across as being more for coaching, while others may have already been adapted to leadership in ministry situations. Very few will come across as leadership concepts for business, politics, or military endeavors — though I bet we could make some of them applicable if we tried. We could probably even adapt them for use in girl scouts and chess clubs. Here are my rather scattered concepts of leadership learned from coaching:
Leadership teams are better than individual leaders. A coaching staff is better than an individual coach. Granted, there is generally going to be one head coach with assistants, which does offer some semblance of an individual leader. But a good staff or leadership team will always possess a head coach who is humble and able to listen to advice and critique. How can a head coach expect his athletes to play as a team, if he himself is not willing to do so?
Unity is necessary for a leadership team. Uniformity is not. Differing ideas and the ability to question, critique, and weigh one another’s thoughts is crucial. But so is presenting a united front to the team.
It is necessary to have a thorough knowledge of the game if you’re going to lead others to accomplish anything in it. This is the downfall for many a small, private school’s athletics programs. It’s also the downfall for many of the lesser attended and/or funded sports programs (ie. soccer, volleyball, women’s sports, depending a great deal on where you live). I think it’s probably the downfall of many a church movement into heresy, as well.
There must be present an ability to demonstrate that which you want others to learn. An example must be set. In coaching, you can get away without this one in a pinch, though it’s always better if you’ve got a coach who can shoot free-throws or throw a football. In religious movements, I’d argue this has much greater importance; if there’s even one individual on a ministry staff who is not modeling stewardship or prayer, yet is attempting to teach others to perform in those areas, you’re going to lose your ability to lead.
Leadership must have a passion for that which they are leading. And they must share this passion — though enthusiasm of this nature seems to be naturally contagious. I have a passion for soccer played beautifully, and if my team can come to appreciate the aesthetics of soccer played well, I have found the beginnings of success. Because that passion must be present before the play that corresponds with it can be.
Leadership must be passionate about leading itself. Here’s a decent test: Would they do it for free? I think our 3-person staff worked (on average) 20-hour weeks for four months of the year — and made a combined total of $6,500 or something like that? One of the guys actually made cash contributions to the team, helping to pay for what our budget would not cover. Good leaders are worth their salaries, but the best leaders would lead whether given monetary incentives or not.
Leadership looks forward and sees what can be. I often hear that leaders dream big, but I think what good leaders are actually doing is envisioning what is the highest potential. It’s true that some just dream and try to lead others to something big, possible or not. I think these “leaders” will have some success. But when a leader is able to correctly evaluate potential, and motivate others to reach a goal which was specifically set for them as achievable, he has reached a higher level. At the beginning of our second season, I believed that we would make the district tournament with a strong chance of advancing to regionals. With good play, we would be a top-32 team. With great play, a top-16. And with great play, good calls, and some luck, top-8. We finished in the top-16, and were put out of the tournament by the team who eventually lost in the championship (making them 2nd in the state). I didn’t tell our team we could win state that year; we couldn’t. A good leader sees actual potential and sets goals accordingly.
So assessing where we are now is crucial to good leadership. That means an ability to evaluate the team as a whole, but also each individual player.
In seeking the highest potential for a team, a leader necessarily seeks the highest potential for each individual.
One size does not fit all. This is one of my pet peeves in soccer. A flat-back four is not the answer for every team. Neither is attacking with three. Too many coaches begin with their own predetermined and rigid strategy, and then try to force players into that design. It’s impossible for a team to reach its highest potential in this manner, because each player cannot reach his. You’re playing to a mythical and make-believe formation and strategy, rather than to individual and team strengths and weaknesses. A good coach builds his strategy around his athletes. And not the opposite. [However, I will concede that you can find success in the "predetermined strategy" route if you are able to recruit or buy players (ie. college, pro, or some "select" leagues) that fit your ideals. But, even then, adaptability seems necessary.]
Leadership must be strong on people-skills AND strong on task performance. A coach who bullies his team into correct performance, without having first established some kind of respect and rapport, will fail. And a coach who is absolutely loved by players, but doesn’t pursue (and/or demand) excellence in play, will never help the team reach its potential. This is becoming more and more important in high school sports, as kids are no longer “committed” to a team or sport for the sake of team or sport. Kids used to play football because it was football, and coaches were respected because of their title; strict authoritarians could be successful. Now athletes have to like the coach, feel they’re being treated fairly, not have too much demanded of them, get the position they want, get enough playing time in that position, etc. Or else they change sports or quit to hang out with their girlfriends. Coaching in high school is almost as much about convincing the players to play for you as it is training them for play.
A good coach is proactive, teaching the team ahead of time what to do in particular situations — and then standing by their athletes when they do this, even if it ended in “failure.” Too many coaches respond to breakdowns by offering solutions to that breakdown itself; these coaches often contradict themselves. If a goal is scored against this guy, he tries to think of a reason that goal was scored, and tells his team how to “fix it.” His coaching is reactionary; and he’s assuming that because a goal was scored, there was a problem. The real problem is that often players have done the right things, and still a goal was scored against them. Too many coaches cause their athletes great confusion by not clearly stating ahead of time what is expected and then standing firm in this. Rather, they “correct” everything along the way. Or they state clearly what is expected, only to contradict themselves later in search of a quick fix. It’s not a bad thing (it’s actually very good) for a staff to say, “You guys are doing everything just like we told you, and we appreciate that. We take responsibility for that goal, and stand by what we’ve taught you to do in those situations. We may have to concede that goal every few games in order to prevent others and to run our own offense properly.”
Good leadership admits when they’re wrong, and takes responsibility for their mistakes.
In doing so, good coaches model and teach their own players to take responsibility for their actions — and to admit when they are wrong. I always find it amusing when coaches who defend every decision they make — never admitting fault or even the possibility that they’ve made a mistake — are upset by players who constantly defend what they’ve done on the field, not listening to reason or taking responsibility for their mistakes.
Good leadership invests in other leaders. A good coach recognizes who among his team are leaders, or have that potential. He then offers them extra time and/or attention, knowing other players will follow.
Motivation is defined as “the reason(s) someone has for acting or behaving in a particular way.” That means true motivation always results in action. If a coach “moves” his players to have great emotion or feeling alone, they are not motivated, but touched. Let them cry in a movie; it doesn’t improve their play. [Motivation, however, does require that emotions be addressed. Feeling comes before action.]
This list is not exhaustive, and I probably have missed some valuable concepts of leadership. What would you add? Or change? Have you had experiences with good or bad coaches that might elaborate on, or better explain, any of these concepts?
My name is Brett Harrison. I begin each morning with several (4-8) cups of coffee and a prayer that's scribbled in the front of every notebook I own: "Today I will seek God's face. I will seek his rule in my life as I live in his kingdom. I will strive to live into the reality of my right relationship with God."
Then I pinch myself as a reminder of two other realities -- 1) that I married WAY up and 2) that my wife, Christie, and I have two beautiful daughters, Baylor Adelaide and Harper Mae. The four of us live together in Geita, Tanzania, where Christie and I are working as servants. It's not really our home, though, and we're often reminded of just that....
image courtesy of heavenawaits
in the last week…
It’s Saturday, and I’m waiting for football matches to begin. Readership generally drops over the weekends, so I was thinking I wouldn’t write anything today. Plus, I just don’t have a whole lot to say. But there’s a computer sitting open on the desk, and I’m drawn to write at least something. So I give you a very unimportant blog post:
In the last week…
After rereading this opening paragraph, I’ve decided that if there’s one thing I dislike on blogs, it’s when authors begin by apologizing for any of the following:
People, just begin your blogs. None of us are upset that you haven’t posted in a week. And if we are, you apologizing will only remind us of it again. Just start your blog post already. And because I want to follow my own advice, please allow me to begin again:
In the last week…
New Hissing Houseguest
The other night I was alerted to a visitor in our home by a slamming door and loud gasp. My wife told me there was a huge cockroach in our bathroom and motioned with her hands about 6″ apart. I was a little annoyed and said there was no such thing. Then I opened the bathroom door and immediately slammed it. I had seen my first 4″ giant hissing cockroach. I hit him pretty hard with my shoe, and he did nothing but get angry. The loud hissing didn’t stop until I flushed him down the toilet alive.
A Strange Gift
I recently had problems with a defective bike pump from a particular company. They took a great deal of time in replacing my pump, and so, said they’d send a gift in the mail with the pump. They actually used the words, “bicycle care package.” In the “care package” was the pump and 49 other items:
Blogs To Which I Subscribed
Blogs From Which I Unsubscribed
Worst TV Episode Watched
I have now surely seen the worst episode of West Wing ever. It was titled “Access” and aired in season 5. It was written and recorded as a documentary about C. J. Cregg, and is likely the worst episode ever aired of any television show. That’s exaggeration, let me reword: It is likely the worst episode ever aired of any good television show.
Most Boring World Cup Match Watched
The only redeeming factor in an incredibly boring Brazil – Portugal match was that Portugal’s Tiago was carded in the 32nd minute for diving in the Brazil penalty box.
Favorite Comment (of my own) on Another Post
The author waxed poetic about how she loves reading library books because of the belongings she regularly finds, left behind by others (things like bookmarks, business cards, love letters). She said she keeps all of them, to remind her of the real people who read books. Weirded out just a little, I responded:
Favorite Comment (of another) on My Own Blog
JMF on the third goal controversy and cable in tanzania:
What I’m Currently Reading and Memorizing Every Morning
Matthew 5:1-20 and 1 Corinthians 13:1-8a
Chance You Could Guess the Gender of My (still) Nearly Bald Daughter Wearing Only a Diaper
50%
Chance You Could Guess the Gender of My (still) Nearly Bald Daughter, Wearing Only a Diaper
100% (if SHE’S wearing clothes) but that would just be strange.
What’s happened with you in the last week?
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