Iceland. What a story.
This an excerpt from Mark Batterson's A Trip Around the Sun.
"Life is full of goals to be identified and kept in sight. When we lose sight of the goal, we simply drift. Sometimes drift can mean disaster.
My friend Paul McGarvey had a phrase he posted in the locker room for his football team-"Without desire-disaster! Among the towels and helmets and gear, there was a call to do something greater. At the gut level this team had to actually want to win before it could happen. All the practices, all the drills, all the sweat and all the hustle had to fueled by that desire. If they didn't have the desire, the game was lost before they stepped on the field.
The same is true for this adventure we call life. We have to have the desire to reach our goals. Desire moves mountains and breaks down walls. Sometimes we get off course, desiring things or setting goals that will lead to no good end. But if our desire is in the right place, loving Jesus and loving others, there is no telling where Jesus can take us. He out-dreams us, out-plans us, and out does us every time.
Philippians 2:13 says, "For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure" (ESV)."
Dogged Pursuit of Excellence
“Excellence is deliberate actions, ordinary in themselves, performed
consistently and carefully, compounded together, added up over time. Excellence
means doing your very best in everything, in every way. Excellence requires
planning, commitment, focus, discipline, and the sacrifice of time and energy
to move towards the goals of the team/program.”
Deliberate
actions, sacrifice, consistency, best in everything, planning, commitment,
focus, disciple, excellence…this idea that excellence is the compounded result
of our actions day by day is driving. These last couple months have been a
grind, our team workouts have been tough, the sacrifice of time has been
draining, but it’s all for the end result – excellence.
"This
team is a group of brothers working towards a common goal. You aren’t alone
when you’re dead after a workout and you can barely walk to your car – we can
all feel it too. This summer is a defining moment in your development as a
player – don’t let it slip. I’ll be candid with you, I let the opportunity to
improve and pursue excellence slip my mind this last season. I coasted, I was
complacent as a player, I wasn’t focused on this idea of sacrifice…but I can
promise you this…it’s never going to happen again. This summer I’m working
harder than I ever have because I let an opportunity slip. The dogged pursuit
of excellence is engrained in this teams blood, we work hard everyday so we can
perform on the field and make our fans, coach, parents, and heavenly father
proud. Don’t get left behind.
To
the young guys coming in – take this opportunity to play the beautiful game and
WORK HARD. Don’t let your pursuit of excellence falter – you’ll regret it.
Every chance you get to become a better player is a blessing. God gave you the
talent to play soccer, use it to glorify him, work hard and make him famous.
This summer go above and beyond in laying the foundation to have a breakout
season.
To
the returners – lets show the young guys how it’s done. Continue to work hard
like I know you have; continue to pursue excellence. We aren’t done leaving our
mark on Cornerstone yet – we’re just getting started.
Our
goals as a program will be met this year. We will show this conference what a
Cornerstone team on fire looks like – a band of brothers who will stop at
nothing to be the best. I’m proud to be a Cornerstone University soccer player.
Pursue excellence this summer like your life depends on it so we can reap the
rewards of our sacrifice and hard work this playoff season."
-
Caleb
Good to Great
So far, we have talked about Getting Right People on the Bus, 20 Mile March, Aligning our Team with its Vision and Level 5 Leadership. Today is another piece of the puzzle. I would venture to guess that everyone on this team (right now at least) thinks they are the Right Person in the Right Seat on the Bus. If that were the case, we would see dramatic changes in our spiritual lives, our fitness, our level of play, our relationships on and off the field, etc. Listen to this 3 min clip about what Collins has to say about The Wrong People.
The Wrong People Can't be Motivated to Do the Right Thing.
I brought this up after our Monday session. What makes us think we are the Right Person on the Bus? We are always quick to point the finger at someone else after a play. We continue to work in practice as if we are not really concerned about the results. Collins talks about looking for 3 things from the Right person:
- The Right Person Produced Results. As a program, we have many parameters set as a team and as individuals. Plenty of soccer ones of course (game reports), our core principles, as well as our off the field character.
- The Right Person Pointed out the window, acknowledging all the people that helped get the results. Are you looking in the mirror, patting yourself on the back maybe evening telling yourself-"well, I did my part." A lot of people are looking in the mirror.
- Did the results of the team continue once the Right Person moved to a new responsibility? This could mean serving a different role on the field-whats best for the team, leading off the field due to an injury or even graduating.
Reminders
- Preseason Camps starts on August 6th. Alumni game is set for 7pm on the 6th.
- All physicals must be completed and turned in no later than July 22nd. As of today, Ben Stump is the only one who has completed everything. I will get an update from Phil tomorrow.
- PLAYNAIA: New players must be declared eligible by PLAYNAIA before you come in to camp. Ben Stump, Joshua Busscher and Joshua Mitchell are all eligible. Good job guys!
- If you are cleared to come in to camp, please make sure you have your passport and if you are an international, check to see if you need a visa to go in and out of Canada. We will be leaving on Sunday, August 7th for 3 days to train near Toronto area. You must take care of this asap if you are going to make the trip.
- Tuesday nights SCOR training: Meadow Ridge Middle School, 8100 Courtland Dr NE Rockford 4934. 6-8 pm. I need everyone to help work it. Get there early so we can set up. This is a great way to give back. Thanks to the guys who worked it last night-Nick, Manny, Josue, Dary, Coach Kern. We will be doing these every Tuesday for the month of July.
Kopion Run Results.
*DNC = Did not complete/do correctly *DNP = Did not participate |
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Team Makes it Back From Zambia! Next week, we will have guys share some of their experiences in Zambia.
"Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Jesus Christ.".
1 Thessalonians 5:18
"Many different events or moments have led us to where we are today and where we will be tomorrow. Trusting in His plan and honoring the gifts He has given us, can teach us another lesson unseen in the near or late future.We must be constantly reminded that we must first put Him atop the throne before we can truly begin to express who He really wants us to be and the maximum capacity of our potential to help others."
I hope everyone was able to watch Chile destroy Mexico in Copa America. If you didn't, find a way. Forget about the score, the thing that immediately stood out for me was how Chile was absolutely relentless from the start. TENACIOUS, INTENSE and ABSOLUTELY FUN TO WATCH. Every player was locked in to how they wanted to play from the opening whistle and they didn't stop until the final whistle. I love it.
Food for thought....
Example of Pochettino's Tactical Philosophy
"The underlying principal is simple – when in possession, patience and purpose in your passing, pace and dynamism in your attack. Without possession, persistence and pressure on a level you’ve never been asked to reach before. Under Pochettino, not all players need to know how to attack, but certainly, they all need to know how to defend."
I think as a team, we struggle to buy in to the way we want to play. Every time you are with a ball, at a training session or in a game, the focus should always be on our Technical and Tactical Philosophy.
I think as a team, we struggle to buy in to the way we want to play. Every time you are with a ball, at a training session or in a game, the focus should always be on our Technical and Tactical Philosophy.
Continue to pray for Zambia Team. Couple of pics of guys in Zambia taken by our good friend Daniel Daka
Thoughts from Co-captain Kevin Nimmo
"In my opinion, for a team to reach their goals, whatever they may be, you have to have a team full of players that want to make each other better. We need to focus on that more this next season. I think the first step in solving a problem is identifying the problem. Over the last two seasons, one of our problems is that we got complacent. Towards the end of this last season, we weren’t hungry and we weren’t pushing each other to be the best team we could be. That being said, there were a ton of positives from this past spring. We are starting to gel and play better as a team. We won all of our spring games and we did well in the Bethel tournament. I’m not bringing up this problem to discourage us, I brought up the problem because I believe our team can be a great team if we are all completely committed to making each other better every time we step on the field. We can build on the progress we made this spring. We have to be focused, committed, and willing to make sacrifices for each other and for the team.
If we come into preseason with the mindset that we will do whatever we can to make each other better and make the team better, we will get a lot more out of this season. We have a lot of talent, but we need to stay hungry all season, and never become content with where we are at. This means we constantly push each other in training and in the weight room even when things are going well for us. Even if we are undefeated, we have to focus on improving and making each other better.
We have to have every single person on the team committed to making each other better each and every time we step onto the practice field or the game field and the only way this will work is if we also have every single person on the team be able to take criticism from each other. When someone on the team says something to you, you have to keep in mind that they are telling you these things because they want you to be better, and they want the team to be better. This kind of team requires humility from every player. Every player has to be willing to accept the fact that they might not have all of the answers.
This spring, we played some good soccer. We have a lot to be excited about this season. We have a lot of very good additions coming into the program this year and we have the opportunity and the ability to make some noise in the WHAC this year. However, in order to do this, we have to strive to make each other better. This has to be our focus at every training session. " Kevin
This weeks thought from Jim Collins-Good to Great
"Disciplined people who engage in disciplined thought and who take disciplined action: this framework captures much of what separates greatness from mediocrity. The Army has long embraced this concept with its own framework of leadership: Be-Know-Do. This framework runs through these chapters, like a thread of DNA. The beauty of this book lies in the dualities of leadership—knowing when to follow and when to not follow, the responsibility to question and the responsibility to execute, dedication to mission first and dedication to your comrades above all. These dualities highlight the point that disciplined action does not mean rote action. Disciplined action means that you begin with a framework of core values (be), you meld those values with knowledge and insight (know), and finally you make situation-specific decisions to act (do). Leadership, the chapters in this book teach, begins not with what you do, but who you are."
Nine years ago, business authors Jim Collins and Morten T. Hansen, along with a team of 20 researchers, set out to answer this question: Why do some companies thrive in uncertainty, even chaos, and others do not?
The 20 Mile March
Collins and Morten dubbed the slow and steady approach taken by Southwest and other 10X companies “The 20 Mile March.” They took this moniker from imagining a man determined to walk across the United States, and how he could accomplish his goal faster by committing to walking 20 miles every single day — rain or shine — rather than walking for 40-50 miles in good weather and then very few miles or not at all during inclement conditions.
The pair later came upon the story of the race between Robert Falcon Scott and Ronald Amundsen to be the first to reach the South Pole, and they were amazed to discover how the differences in the way the two expeditions were executed also aligned with their 20 Mile March idea. Amundsen beat Scott to the Pole and had a pretty smooth and uneventful journey both there and back. Scott reached the Pole only to face the crushing realization that the Norwegians had been there first, and he and his four men perished on the grueling 700-mile return trip. Collins and Hansen found that among the many other lessons comparing the two expeditions can teach us, is that much of Amundsen’s success can be traced to creating his own plan, and then carrying it out with methodical, disciplined consistency. In other words, sticking with his 20 Mile March.
Your 20 Mile March
As I read Great by Choice, I was struck by how applicable the 20 Mile March principle was not simply to corporations or polar expeditions, but to individual lives as well. Many of the people I see struggling to improve themselves usually tackle their goals through an inevitably fruitless series of fits and starts. They get all excited about a new goal or program for themselves and throw themselves into it with gusto, only to soon get burned out, sidetracked by the next cool new thing, or demoralized by a setback. This pattern leaves an unending trail of unfinished projects in their wake.
I completely sympathize with these people, because I’ve done that too! But as I evaluate the times I’ve been successful in life, I notice a pattern. It usually wasn’t through big Herculean efforts, or snazzy new productivity plans that I achieved my goals, but rather through steady, consistent efforts. I reached my goals by throwing on my knapsack every single day and setting off on a 20 Mile March."
Brett McKay-What's Your 20 Mile March? January 2013
Jim Collins Podcast
Important Reminders
- Send in your Test Results for Kopion Run...Once again, Report all your actual times. You will be ranked again. Are you attacking the workouts or just getting through them? Your results will let the coaches and your teammates know. Results come to me no later than Saturday evening.
- Monday Nights: 7pm on Bradford or Baseball depending on the field.
- Physicals Update: I only have 1 official Physical confirmed-Ben Stump
- PLAYNAIA: Completed process-Joshua Busscher
- SCOR Training. I will need as many guys as possible to help run training sessions for SCOR Club in Rockford. Here are the dates: Starting Tuesday 6/28-6-7pm is U6 through U11s. 7-8pm is U12-U18. Sign up with Captains and cc me on the email. The Club is making a donation to the soccer program and I need everyone's participation. We will be running conditioning exercises for the group.
Support the Mission of the Team
Please be Praying for the group going to Zambia this week-Nick, James, Eric and Reid. This picture was taken on the my 2013 trip to Zambia. This was a group of kids we met on our visit to a community a couple of hours away from the city (in the bush). For 3 hours, we just knocked the soccer ball around. The thing that struck me, was the pure joy they had doing it. We take so much for granted. We are given the opportunity to play college soccer while getting our college education. Yet, how much joy do you feel/share when you are playing for this program? You have 4 years to play college soccer with a group of guys that you will consider brothers for the rest of your life. That is a lot to be thankful for.
Co-Captain Regan Billings shares his thoughts on one of our core values-Support the Mission of the Team. Regan has been a true warrior for the last 4 years. He has had 2 major surgeries that cost him his junior and senior year and he could have given up but instead he chose to Support our Mission regardless of his circumstances. That's what real leaders do.-Coach Bell
"As I was looking through which foundational principle I wanted to write about supporting the mission of the team was one that stuck out. Coach has defined it as "You must value being part of something bigger than yourself." This is vitally important when it comes to being a team. I feel as if we have more of a chance to have more connection as a team this season. Things already have a different feel to this season already. First, we have to understand what TEAM means.
T is for trust. We cannot be a team without trusting one another. Trusting on the field to do what we need to do or trusting that things shared within the team do not leave the locker room. This season we are going to be a close knit unit. Trust amongst each member is imperative.
E is two fold. E is for Everyone's Effort. Everyone has to be on board and on the same page. Lots of communication and understanding of each persons role within the team. Not one person on this team can do things on their own. Significant amount of effort and determination separates one in college soccer. Kopion.
A is for achieve. With everyone working together, trusting in coach's plan, buying into the season we will achieve what we want. We can be friends and hangout all we want (which is great) but if we go below .500 and don't achieve our goals, then we are not a team. Great teams have chemistry, trust, effort, but they get results. Great teams achieve.
M is for mission focused- our mission is simple, but hard to do. I say hard because it requires sacrifice and effort. You have to sacrifice your comfort zone and work as hard as you can, giving your all. Our mission is to play our brand of soccer, give back to those we can help, take care of our business academically.
Our brand: hard-nosed defense, tenacious, simple (1 and 2 touch), never giving up and outworking the other team, KOPION.
Our mission off the field: Using our abilities and resources to advance God's kingdom within Grand Rapids and the world. This is done through our work with Night of Nets and other ministries we work with as well as developing ourselves as christ followers.
Academically our goal is for everyone to graduate with a college degree. If you don't have your academics straight, you cannot play. If you want to have maximum impact on the field, you have to be eligible to be on the field. " Regan Billings
Jim Collins Podcast
Aligning Your Organization with Its Vision
Gauntlet Results
Congratulations to Kyle for winning the top spot. Who is going to knock him off the top spot? 2 new players, Habin and Kachi, made it in the top 10-great job guys. Guys who are not in top 10 need to find a way to take someone's spot. You have to be competing for the top spot. You are competing with yourself as well as your teammates. I want to also acknowledge the guys who actually apologized for not doing better. The true test will come with their results for the our next test.
Rank Score Name
1 13 Doornbos, Kyle 2 20 Colp
3 26 Pipe
4 28 Bang
5 29 Anthony
5 29 Moon
7 33 Hamilton
8 44 Silwamba
9 62 Doornbos,Ke
10 63 Mitchell, R
11 67 Overholt
12 69 Uquillas
13 71 Mitchell, J
14 72 Flynn
14 72 Nimmo, K
16 73 Busscher
17 74 Stump
18 76 Waterway
19 81 Kim
20 82 Areche
21 83 Nykamp
22 92 Bayer
23 96 Ramos
24 101 Bergquist
25 107 Nimmo, G
26 124 Bowes
27 125 Hopkins
27 125 DeWalt
27 125 Billings
27 125 Mutembezi
The Ranking System:
After you have completed the Gauntlet, your times are recorded for each part (1 mile, 800 M, 400 M, etc.) and then ranked from fasted to slowest. Whichever place you end up receiving, gets you points. If you get first in the one mile, you receive one point. If you get ranked 17th, you receive seventeen points. If you did not run the Test, you were given the maximum assigned points.
Important Reminders
August 6th is the start of Preseason Camp.
August 6th is the Alumni game at 7pm.
Physicals: You must have your Physical in to me no later than July 22nd. There is a new tab on our Athletics website that will help connect you with SWOL and paperwork. Remember, if you are a returner, you do not have to fill out Health History Form. You must show Proof of Insurance as well!
http://www.cugoldeneagles.com/sports/2016/6/6/athletic-training.aspx
No mattr what, I need to know when you send in your paperwork. Preferably you send everything to Phil Keith (Athletic Trainer) and not me. I will update the list each week so everyone is aware of status.
PLAYNAIA: All Freshmen and any ineligible players from last year, must go through PLAYNAIA and obtain your ELIGIBILITY # before you can participate. This needs to be done before you come in to camp.
Monday Nights at 7pm on Bradford. 7 v 7 or 8 v 8.
Have a great week.
Communicate Effectively
James 4:1-6
I was challenged by a couple of things in my devotions today and I think it was interesting on how well it ties in with what we are learning from some of the other readings that we are working through as a team this summer. James is urging us to return to the core values of the Gospel. If we ignore these principles then the grace of God is ignored and the work of the Church (team in our case) is compromised. It always comes back to our core values. It is how we make our decisions. It is tough to be on a team that has players with core values that don't match up. Everyone would do what is best for them, not the team. Secondly, in vs. 3, James is challenging the people of the Church about how when you ask but you do not receive because you ask for the wrong reasons in order to spend what you got on what you want for yourselves! As Christians, we are called to seek the good of others, not ourselves. "The Bible is God's single story of great sinners in need of and being met by a great Savior. We set time apart for God through prayer and Bible reading, for example because it is in those places where God reminds us again and again that things between us are forever fixed. They are the rendezvous points where God declares to us concretely that the debt has been paid, the ledger put away, and that, in Christ, everything we need we already possess. This convincing assurance produces humility, because we realize that our needs are already met. We don't have to worry about ourselves anymore. This, in turn, allows us to stop looking out for what we think we need and liberates us to love our neighbor by looking out for what they need." (Tchividjian-It is Finished)
I hope the workouts are going well and you are enjoying you time off. Just a few reminders so that everyone is on the same page:
- Preseason camps starts August 6th. You can officially move in to your dorm at 2pm. Admissions should be sending out an official letter with a schedule.
- We play the Alumni on the 6th at 7pm.
- Everyone needs to have a Physical. Please complete and submit no later than July 22nd.
- Freshmen-make sure PLAYNAIA is completed asap. You can't participate unless you are declared eligible.
- Please make sure you are following through on summer reading.
"Communication is the foundation of every great relationship. Communication builds trust-trust generates commitment-commitment fosters teamwork and team work delivers results."
Mike Smith-You Win the Locker Room First
As an Athletic Department Staff, we have been reading and going through, "You Win in the Locker Room First" by Jon Gordon and Mike Smith. They identify 7 C's to Building a Winning Team. They are Culture, Contagious, Consistent, Communicate, Connect, Commitment, and Care. In regards to communication, one of the quotes that I found interesting was, "People often think of communication as talking, but for me it's all about listening. The best communicator is not the person who is the most eloquent speaker, but the person who has the ability to listen, process the information, and use it to make decisions that are in the best interest of the team and organization. The best listeners truly hear what a person is saying and trying to convey." When Nick sent me his thoughts on the core value of Communicate Effectively, this really made more sense to me. Nick has come a long way on with his ability to communicate effectively both on and off the field. One of Nick's strong points has always been his heart for his teammates. Nick is a very good listener and someone that earn's his teammates trust day in and day out.
Senior Captain Nick Hopkins and his thoughts about Communicating Effectively.
John Maxwell, a well respected leader in the topic of being able to connect says, “Many communicate, but few connect.” When it comes to communicating effectively it involves connecting and investing in each others lives. And within a team, communication is one of the most important things, without this a team falls apart. The best example of a leader communicating effectively is Jesus Christ. We see this in the gospels with the way that Jesus communicates through parables and stories to His disciples. With the communication that Jesus and the disciples have, they are able to relay the same information to thousands of people by being able to preach the good news, the gospel of Christ. All because Jesus and 12 disciples invested and connected with each other. When I was asked to write about this topic, communicating effectively, I immediately started to brainstorm about things that I could say because communicating does not come easy for me. It takes time, commitment, and discipline. Not that I don’t have any of those but communicating is a flaw of mine. One thing I have been trying to do this past year and even more so in the summer is working on my communication skills. The more I read about it the more I see just how important it is to communicate within families, relationships, and teams. And to communicate effectively, to connect, invest, and care about ones life. Communicating goes deeper than just words, but it involves actions. Being able to do what you say and say what you do. As a captain, this is one that I will need to focus on the most. It is something that has never come easy and probably never will. It is a true honor to be serving and leading you guys on this team as a captain because it is not a light load. The fact that my team has entrusted me to take this role is something I am thankful for. I continue to pray that I am what my team needs me to be and not what they want me to be in order to make this team successful. To wrap up the blog post, I want to say that many things make a team, not just one and communication can rip a team apart as fast as it brings it together. To communicate effectively means more than just words, its actions, and time, and effort to make it come together to make sure that there is a unity within the communication.
Last week, I talked a little about Jim Collin's book-Good to Great. I would like to take this a little further and learn a little more about what he calls Level 5 Leaders.
Here is a brief article on Jim Collins and the history on how his book, Good to Great came about. Go through the article and take a listen to what he has to say about the characteristics of Level 5 Leaders.
Definition:
"Level 5 leadership consists of the duality, some would consider to be paradoxical, of professional will and personal humility
Professional Will --
- Creates superb results, a clear catalyst in the transition from good to great.
- Demonstrates an unwavering resolve to do whatever must be done to produce the best long-term results, no matter how difficult.
- Sets the standard of building an enduring great company; will settle for nothing less.
- Looks in the mirror, not out the window, to apportion responsibility for poor results, never blaming other people, external factors, or bad luck.
Personal humility --
- Demonstrates a compelling modesty, shunning public adulation; never boastful.
- Acts with quiet, calm determination; relies principally on inspired standards, not inspiring charisma, to motivate.
- Channels ambition into the company, not the self; sets up successors for even greater success in the next generation.
- Looks out the window, not in the mirror, to apportion credit for the success of the company-to other people, external factors, and good luck.
Men's Soccer Core Values
Grand Rapids Baptist College/Cornerstone University Men's Soccer Record Book
Our record book is littered with a handful of benchmarks that are incredibly impressive and seemingly unbreakable.
40-40 Club
Dan Santos (1979-1982)
80 goals and 55 assists
Steve Adolph 1983-1986
73 goals and 56 assists
200 Point Club
Jeff Dresser 1991-1994
223 points
Dan Santos 1979-1982
215 points
Steve Adolph 1983-1986
202 points
Most Career Points
Jeff Dresser (1991-1994)
223 points
Most Career Goals
Jeff Dresser (1991-1994)
92 goals
Most Career Shutouts
Dan Cooke (1983-1986)
40 career shutouts
Fastest Goal to Start a Game
25 seconds by Phil Walsh in 1978 vs. Concordia
Have a great week!
"When there is a void in communication, negativity will fill it. Fill the void with great communication."
