I am currently reading “Flow –The Psychology of Optimal Performance” by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. In my continuing pursuit of knowledge that might help me improve as a coach (and person), I began this book with the hope that it would provide some valuable insights, into how to help my student athletes improve their own performance. I have not been disappointed. While it is not an easy book to read, and I am only halfway through it. I barely finish a page without feeling the need to make note of something. This morning, on page 140, Csikszentmihalyi says, of modern society “what is admired is success, achievement, the quality of performance rather than the quality of experience.” This reminded me about the importance of “the Journey” as compared to “the destination”. It also raises an old question about the definition of success. How do you define success? Are you only successful when you win, or make mountains of money, or become famous? John Wooden, perhaps the greatest philosopher/coach and teacher in American Sports History, often referred to his own Coach at Purdue University, Piggy Lambert, as having had the most influence over Wooden as both a player and a coach. After a season, when Lambert was asked if he had been successful that year, he replied “Ask me in 20 years , and we’ll see how successful these boys are. Then I will be able to tell you if I succeeded as a coach.” In Corey Winkoff’s Blog entry on November 3, 2016, he talked about how FLG’s Goal is to Build More Than Just Athletes. As a Lacrosse Club how much of our focus should be on winning games and tournaments and getting players recruited early? We should be more concerned with helping our players develop into the best players and people they can be and helping them find the college that is the right fit for them, academically, socially and athletically. When they are finished with college (and most likely not playing competitive lacrosse anymore), my hope is that they will all have grown up to be fine people, good parents, and productive and positive members of their communities. If they are able to become those things, then perhaps, the excellent training, we hope we provided, that models a good work ethic and attention to detail with focus on long term goals, played at least a small role in their development.
