Recently, I had inquired about why a certain athlete was not making the workouts.  I asked two teammates and they said basically that it boiled down to this person being lazy.

And to be honest, I already had figured that out.

It got me thinking that young athletes can make the same assumptions about their peers as we can as their coach.  They know which athletes are talented.  They also know which athletes work hard, respectful of others, are a good teammate, etc.

They also know which athletes are the opposite.  Who are lazy.  Who don’t put forth the best effort on a consistent basis.  Who you know you can’t rely on when the heat is on.

Basically, the impression an athlete has about another athlete, a coach probably has that same impression.  The coaches also realize who the athletes are that will bust their butt all the time for them and those that slack.  They know who will do what they are told and those that won’t.

So if that is easy to figure out then you athletes should be more cognizant of this fact.  If we can figure out what other athletes are like, don’t you think we have a good bead on what you are like as an athlete and a person?

We can’t agree on each athlete, but when it comes to you we are way off base right?

Every coach is different and has his/her own opinion on what defines a hard working athlete.  But, I think they can all agree on what does NOT define a hard working athlete.  To be honest, this shouldn’t be too difficult to guess the things that cut you out of that hard working label:

  • Missing practices.
  • Being late to practice, games, or anything on a consistent basis.
  • Having every excuse in the world for the first two items.
  • Being lazy.
  • Having to be coaxed into working hard way too often.
  • And anything else you want to put in here is probably correct.

That being said, if you ever have a coach having to talk to you about your effort or some of these things, chances are it is probably a correct assumption about you.  Maybe you should listen.  They don’t just make this stuff up for some secret type of motivation.

You probably are the way that they describe to you.

Look yourself in the mirror then if the coaches think that way about you, then it should bug you that your teammates/friends might think that way too?  Shouldn’t you be embarrassed that they view you as the opposite type of athlete that they’d really want to play with?

Where is your pride?  Why do you have to be late all the time?  Why does coach have to take time out of practice to chastise you not for a mental mistake, but for a lack of effort, hustle, or basically not caring?

That is inexcusable.  If you are really that selfish where you are going to pick and choose when you give the effort, how are your teammates going to rely on you to perform at a high level when it counts the most?

The simple answer is they can’t.

Take a moment to ask your friends what they think about you as an athlete.  If they say something you don’t like, understand you asked and this is a way for you to improve yourself as an athlete.

They aren’t saying they don’t like you, they just don’t like certain habits you have picked up.  Honestly those certain habits affect them as well if you are teammates.  Correct those bad habits and be a better person/athlete.  If not for yourself, then do it for your teammates.

If you can’t do it for them, then find a new team and/or coach that will put up with your awful traits.  I know I wouldn’t want you on my team.

Photo courtesy of https://imgur.com/gallery/LO5d1QM