Stay in the Game!

Wow, it always seems like some key player or team member gets injured in the length of a sports season. Last year it was Tom Brady of the New England Patriots. This year we have already witnessed Heisman Trophy Winner, Sam Bradford, fall to injury. And in baseball with 4 weeks to go in the season and in a pennant race, the two key leaders for the Texas Rangers go down (Michael Young and Josh Hamilton).

These seemingly tragic blows leave their respective teams scrambling to stay focused and shifting personnel around to make things work. And in the dugout or on the sideline you see these ambassadors of the game encouraging their teammates and trying to instill any leadership they can to help the team win. All the while on the inside they only desire to be on the field, leading by example.

Question: How good is a leader that is not in the game? How much impact can they really make?

In the real world, coaches aren’t the ones keeping us out of our game. No, most of the time we pull ourselves out. Maybe it is self-perception, bad decisions, or just a bad attitude. The bottom line is you create your own playing time.

Stay on the field, your team needs you!